Another changes meeting has come and gone once more.. And here I am in my new area with my new companion! I am now in Apizaco.. Translation, "Very far, and very big" . . . After the changes meeting we needed to take a big bus for an hour to the area.. And Apizaco is also one of the biggest areas of the mission!
My new companion is awesome, Elder Acosta from Sanora! We both actually came to Puebla on the same day, just back then I couldn't speak anything of Spanish.. He is a real hard worker, and I am excited to be working with him now in Apizaco.
Some of the highlights for the week would be during the weekend.. Saturday was "Día de la Virgin" which I learned is a pretty big holiday for Mexico.. So what happens is at midnight, they all party and get drunk during the whole night.. Then sleep during the day, and repeat the process for Saturday night. It was actually quite spooky how abandoned the place looked on Saturday.
Then yesterday, we had the dedication of the Tijuana temple! Awesome! Second dedication in the mission! Pres, Uchtdorf and Elder Oaks were present for the dedication. Awesome and kinda funny to hear them try a bear their testimonies in Spanish.. haha.
I will keep it short for this week.. But you all can check out the blog, in which mi mamá will post a little bit from my journal (in which I am actually writing now!) and pictures.
Thanks everybody! Love you all!
Plenty of pictures this week, I just need to find an easier way to send all the photos... Not an easy thing to do (even with the nice wifi camera!) First off, from my old area ...
Pictures from the Changes Meeting
(mi mamá pulled from the mission Facebook page)
Pictures with Elder Acosta!
***Journal Entries***
- 12/08: Well, day of the changes. E Chacon and I spent the last hours preparing our stuff and cleaning the house. After we were all packed I got a call from E West and Carrasco telling me they got a call from the assistants to close the area. TODAY. At first I didn't believe him but then the zone leaders told me it was true. Yikes! To close an area in a couple of hours? We made it to the changes meeting. There was a choir and it was quite impressive. As we finished up, I asked E Acosta how we get to our area. I asked if it was by taxi. He just laughed. Nope, we have to take a big bus for an hour. It was about 7:00 when we finally arrived. We visited a less active family, then went home so I could unpack.
- 1209: First full day in Apizaco! It was an interesting one. We had our first district meeting, and it was weird not to be leading it. Our district is all elders. After, we traveled an hour by combi into the mountains to our lunch meeting. The house of the hermana who fed us was very humble. The food was some kind of boiled squash, and then vegetables with mole. Our first two citas fell through, but we found a lot of street contacts. We ended up having two more lessons for the day. At the end of one with a less active family, they offered us coffee. E Acosta was surprised and said "As members we don't drink coffee, remember?" and they responded "No one ever told us that!" We left them with a W.o.W. phamplet ;) We had another meeting with an investigator family that is great, but not ready for baptism. The hermana has a problem that we don't believe in "The Virgin". Until this point in my mission, I have never seen the grip of the Virgin so powerfully.
- 1210: Planning day, it was a good one with E Acosta. We went to lunch with the family of the president of the relief society. The father and oldest son serve in the young men's stake presidency. The son returned from his mission right as I left. Correlation meeting later, where I got to know a lot of members. We had to leave early because the combis stop running at 8:30.
- 1211: A lot of walking today. We got a surprise visit from the zone leaders who told us we were going to do divisions for the day. I was with E Quinata (in his area) and we visited an inactive family. Now I don't know a lot of cuss words in Spanish, but I do know that the father here used quite a few of them. We had walked half and hour for this cita so that was a little confusing and frustrating. We went to another area after lunch to look for new investigators but were not successful. We walked the whole day, the area was practically abandoned. I rejoined my companion for a cita with Angel, a new investigator.
- 1212: Dia de la Virgen. Fireworks at five in the morning! We had a big day planned, but it didn't work out. Today is a big holiday for Catholics. They started at midnight and partied until dawn. Then they slept, recovered during the day, the came alive at dusk to party some more. We had planned six lessons, but only had two.
- 1213: Today was cool because we got to go to the dedication of the Tijuana temple (by broadcast). Afterward, we went to the chapel for a lesson with Fred. There was this old guy hanging around the church, who followed us as we left. We walked a bit faster, and he did too. I'll admit it. We ran. I didn't think he wanted to hurt us, but ... that was the day!
*** Step Stats ***
Monday, December 7 - 11035
Tuesday, December 8 - 11743
Wednesday, December 9 - 18735
Thursday, December 10 - 11057
Friday, December 11 - 28231
Saturday, December 12 - 26161
Sunday, December 13 - 12608
Well, I have slipped a bit in my stepping this week. A bit of a cold, and just the holiday rut (you know, just get through the holidays then New Years Resolution to do better *Ü*) Cooper is still CRAZY. 30k average? And Colton is right up there too. Landon had a big day (28k) and more walking in his new area, so three boys had me beat. Callahan's Fitbit was a little wonky Sunday/Monday ... I think his steps should have been higher.
*** Between Brothers ***
Dear Landon, finally, the streak is over. The Warriors have lost to the Milwaukee Bucks by 13. It was a back and forth game, but the Bucks still managed to hang on to their lead, then the Warriors gave up and put Curry and Thompson back on the bench. The Jazz still not doing their best, but at least getting a win, but two losses. They whooped the Knicks, and fell short to Sacramento and Oklahoma. At practice for Jr. Jazz, there were only 6 out of the 10 people, but we still practiced some stuff. Then at my game, we had another great game, and Keaton was watching me and keeping the stats of me, so I ended up with a double-double! I got 10 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, and 5 steals. Don't think that I'm a ball hog for just getting two assists, I would have gotten a lot more if my teammates would have finished off of my passes, but it was alright. I won't be there for our next game because Dad, Colton, and I are going to go to Las Vegas to see the Utes go against BYU. I am really excited for it, because It is going to be warmer there than in Utah, and I will also swim. After this week of school, it'll be Christmas Break, but it is bad because it won't be warm outside, so I won't really be able to play outside. Well there is twelve more days until Christmas, which means 12 more days until we get to see you again, can't wait! Love, Cooper
Dear Landon, guess what, the Warriors lost. To the Bucks. The two biggest streaks in history were both stopped by the Bucks. Anyway, I had three games this week. One on Wednesday and two on Saturday. In game one, my team one 19-16. I didn't get any points, but I did do pretty good. In my second game of the week, I lost 39-17. I got two points in that game. In the third game, I won 24-19. At least I think. I did get four points. My teammate Gordon, went for a full court pass to me, but he almost made it in one of the extra hoops on the side! He hit the rim! So overall right now I'm 3 and 2.(Three wins and 2 losses.) We are going to go to Las Vegas in a week! We are going to see a football game. We will be staying at a house that has it's own pool and hot tub! I went to a friend's birthday party. We did paintball wars! I did get nailed a few times but it doesn't hurt because we were using kid guns. I nailed like 7 guys. Now there is only 12 days until Christmas which means we get to Facetime you! Finally! Well, that it is for this week. Love ya. Colt
Dear Landon, so we won Elk Ridge yesterday 43-25. One of the point guards on the other team threw an elbow at me and got my braces stuck to my upper lip and split my bottom lip. I was sucking the blood so I wouldn't have to sit on the bench and wait it out. We lost our game on Thursday to a comp team by three. They're a fun team that I've played a few times. I always guard their best player, but he's really nice. At the end of the game I went up to him and said, "I always have to guard you when we play you" and he said, "yeah I know I hate it when you guard me and when I have to guard you too." It's pretty funny. This Saturday we play Joel P, so a few of my friends from Columbia will be on that team. This is the last week of school before Christmas break!! I had a geography test on Friday where I had to name all of the European countries AND capitals! Only honors geography does capitals. I felt pretty confident about it though because I was in the top 10 for a game between the whole 9th grade! I even got ahead of my teacher. I got all of the about 50 countries in Europe within a minute. There wasn't a speed game for the capitals though, but I memorized them on the same site that I had to memorize the Middle East countries and capitals. We've been watching a few of the "Brain Games" episodes again. I forgot how cool they were and how fun the games they let you participate in were too. When I'm all done with my stuff then I usually play NBA Jam or NBA 2k14. I play Jam on my phone and on the Xbox. We get to watch Star Wars this Thursday!!!!!!!! I'm so excited, and some of my friends invited me to a Star Wars marathon on Friday. We'll watch all the episodes of Star Wars and have a sleepover (if mom will let me). So yeah... my lip is bugging me a lot and it hurts! Wuv, Keaton P.S. - If Callahan doesn't write you, the varsity Copper Hills team won the Elite 8 tournament in American Fork against Layton, American Fork, and Bingham. There was a commentator that was doing play-by-play in the game and he kept pronouncing Blackham "Blackman." LQTM (Laugh Quietly To Myself, it's more realistic than LOL)
Dear Landon, so Orlando is almost here and I couldn't be more excited to get away from work and school for a week and just play basketball with friends and go to Disneyworld. I am so excited for it. Copper Hills won the Elie 8 tournament this past week against Bingham in the championship which was a lot as fun as well. Basketball is just going crazy for the next two weeks which is okay, I'm loving it. All my grades are good besides Language Arts which is ridiculous because we have taken 10 tests just in that class, in the 2nd quarter which is hard to keep up with. Other than that everything is all good. Hope everything is good for you too. Love and miss you a lot bro, almost half way through with your mission! - Callahan
- Dear boys! I quickly read all your letters.. Sorry that I can't respond to you all this week, I have run out of time. But just remember I will see you guys on Christmas! Love you my brothers!
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