Weeks #52 and #53

Gran noticias! Visita del Elder Oaks y... soy viejo.

Great news! Visit from Elder Oaks and...  I'm old.

Quite a big week, as I briefly told you all it would be in my last letter.

First we had interchanges with our district leader, but this time I went with his companion to Loma Florida (not anything like the state of Florida).

The following day (Thursday), I had to make a trip to Puebla and the mission offices, for the grand moment of renewing your visa.. Because it expires after one year! That is right.. Soy viejo.. And here we are in the last week of the change already. It is just crazy how fast time flies when you are a dedicated missionary of the Lord.

Finally, the best moment of the week was the special conference with Elder Oaks. But he wasn't the only one. We were also in the presence of Elder Clayton, Elder Valenzuela, and Elder Walker, and their wives too. It was awesome! Everyone passed to share a quick message, about obedience, working with members, exercising faith, and ultimately how to become greater Christ-like teachers.

It was also fun to be reunited as the whole mission for the first time since... August? Wow! So it was super duper fun.

I have to say the opportunity to hear from one of the Lord's very own Apostles was one of the greatest encouraging moments that I have had while here in the mission. And now, I need to make sure that I use every second wisely, because it is a very short time..

Thanks for all the support, and love you all.

Here are some pictures I snagged off the mission's Facebook page.

 

 

Can you find Landon?

 Can you still find Landon (enlarge photo by clicking on it).

Now you can see Landon!

*** Step Stats *** 

Monday, February 15 - 25261

Tuesday, February 16 - 26308

Wednesday, February 17 - 21022

Thursday, February 18 - 14793

Friday, February 19 - 23202

Saturday, February 20 - 21699

Sunday, February 21 - 9072

Cooper is still in the #1 spot ... no surprise there, as he hasn't slowed down at all. But the #4 spot? It's Grayson making an impressive appearance in Landon's Top10! Keaton is missing, as he recently became the proud owner of an Apple watch. He had been wearing the Fitbit Flex (a wrist version). I did have an old Zip around that we switched him too, and it SHOULD be counting more steps, as he would wear it during basketball games (where he couldn't wear the flex) but alas ... it hasn't been working (which was why it had been just laying around). Although the apple watch counts his steps, it doesn't sync with Fitbit to see how he stands in the step stats. I'm working on a solution (there is a SyncSolver app to route Apple info to Fitbit) but I think I'll be buying him a working Fitbit to get the most accurate step count.

***Between Brothers ***

02142016 #52

Dear Landon, wow, I am the first one writing you AGAIN. So, I went to Cooper's Shakespeare play. It was pretty funny. Oh, and I forgot t tell you about the Super Bowl last week. Really surprisingly, the Broncos won, but, that is not it. They won by 14! Against the Panthers! This week, there was the skills challenge, three point contest, and the dunk contest. In the skills challenge, Karl Anthony Towns, a center rookie (the first pick) won! In the three point contest, Klay Thompson actually won Stephen Curry! [The best shooter on the planet. (Not really)] But, the dunk contest was probably one of the best dunk contests ever in history! Arron Gordon and Zach Lavine both were in the championship and went crazy! Zach Lavine won...... Again. But, Arron Gordon deserved to win though. They were only supposed to do two dunks in the championship but they did three extra! I wish I could describe what the dunks were like but they were undescribable! We're about to go to grandma's, soooooooo bye! Love ya.             ColtBolt

Dear Landon, this week was pretty crappy for me. Not only did I have to do Shakespeare, but I also had to be the lunch worker and miss my lunch recess. I only got to be scraper once, but I wanted to do it more times because we go out earlier, and we do not have to wash tables. I did not mess up in the Shakespeare plays, despite some distractions from the audience (Colton and my friends). The first day was the worst because my leg ended up hurting the rest of the day from being nervous, but watching the Harlem Globetrotters play at Vivent Smart Home kind of made up for that. Tights I really hate, but I have been wanting spandex leggings to wear during winter, and I finally got some, they are so comfortable! All-Star Saturday was absolutely awesome. Karl-Anthony Towns won the Skills challenge against Isiah Thomas in a neck and neck competition. Klay Thompson made every ball on his final money ball rack, beating Stephen Curry. But the Dunk Contest... was seriously the best one in the history of the NBA. Aaron Gordon (Magic) and Zach LaVine (T-Wolves) got into an insane dunking duel. For the first two dunks, they were without a question going into the championship round. There were supposed to be only two dunks each, but they kept tying each other with dunks with 50 scores. There were three extra dunks, but Zach LaVine got his 2nd consecutive slam dunk champion. They were both winners, even Zach LaVine thought there should have been another trophy in the building. The All-Star Game is in a few hours, and to pass time, we are all going to grandma's and grandpa's to have the special breakfast.     Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, I'm not sick anymore! I still have a little bit of a cough, but I'm totes mgotes fine. We haven't really been playing Battlefront much lately because of a really stupid update that came out a few weeks ago. It nerfed (to make worse) everything except for one stupid thing; a lame sniper that nobody used and still doesn't use. Seriously, all of the things that Cal and I used got so much worse. The first time I played after the update, I had to chance my custom entirely, and the weapon that we used (Han Solo's pistol the DL-44) sucks! It used to be awesome. Now, it's trash unless you're Han Solo. The last time I played was maybe a week and half ago, but I tried again today and killed it! We usually play a game mode called Droid Run. It's pretty much Domination from CoD with a few small tweaks. A really good score to get on Droid Run that Cal and I usually get is 10,000 points. That's way good! I held the highest score for us with 12,000 that I got before the update. My first game back today with a whole new custom, I got 14,000! Then, I played another game and went 28-2 and got 21,000!!! I was freaking out that's so good! I pretty much shrekt the other team, but 28 kills in a game isn't a lot. The most kills out of me and Cal is 46 or 48 kills, and I was the one that got it! I don't know how I got 21,000 though because that was insane. Another crazy thing this week was that Dad got me an Apple Watch! He gave me the 38mm black one since I helped out with lot of derbies in the past year. It is just as awesome as I thought too! The notifications come to my wrist, and I can reply right there! On Friday, my first day using it, I barely even touched my phone that day. We got back into Trivia Crack and when I get a notification that it's my turn, I can just play it from my watch! My friends were so jelly and Cal was pretty jelly too. It was a fun week this week not being sick. So yeah... Wuv, Keat

02212016 #53

Dear Landon, this is the 53rd time we have written you! And there is 52 weeks in a whole year! So, halfway done! I did have three games this week. I won one of them, but lost the other two. But, if I count up all my points from all three games, I had 18 points! In the first one,  (this is the one we did win) I got nine points in this game! One of them was a three pointer. In the second game, I got 5 points. In the third I got four points. For Callahan's birthday, we got him a big red velvet cake! He shredded through a couple pieces! Other, that those things, it was a pretty boring week. Plus, it's really late right now and I have to get something done before school tomorrow, sooooooooooo, bye, love ya. Congratulations for one year in Puebla!              ColtBolt

Dear Landon, it has now been a year since you have gone to Puebla. It was a few days ago, but the time is going by way fast. This week is definitely better than last week, but we did have to have a sub for one of those days. Shakespeare is finally over, and since we were doing those plays, we have to make up math, and we had like three math assignments in one day. I got to see my friends McKay and Bridger play in "A Comedy of Errors" a few days ago, and they did really good. I now have 3three pairs of spandex leggings, and they are awesome. They are so much more comfortable than tights, and they are actually made for sports. The main reason I wanted them is that I can wear my shorts over them and still keep warm. It has been sunny these past few days, and it has also been around 50 to 60 degrees! It is so good, I can play basketball, football, soccer, and wall ball. League Pass has been very useful this week. There was a lot of close games this week, (despite the All-Star Break) and they were all really close. There was just barely a close game right now, and I was happy that the Pacers won. Today was Callahan's birthday, but he was at work for half of the day. Mom wanted him to take a break and enjoy his birthday, but he did not really listen. He came back at 5:00, and that is when we had the mashed potatoes, steak, and chicken. They got a red velvet cake for him, and we just barely sang happy birthday to him. Kind of has been a big week, because of Callahan's birthday, and that it has been a year since you've been gone. So I guess I will see you next year!      Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, the district league is over for us since yesterday we lost in the playoffs to Sunset. They were playing way good and we were playing way bad. We only lost by 10-ish though. Out of the five times that we played them, we beat them three times. We're going to do a combined team of the best players from both teams to play in the state tournament. It'll be me, Ty, and James from West Hills and Corbyn, Cameron, Griffin, and Landon from Sunset. We'll also have an eighth grader from Sunset that's way good. Not much to talk about this week. I got a 4.0 on my midterms. So yeah... sorry I couldn't think of a lot of stuff to write about. We had to SuperBowl Sunday dinner today for Callahan's birthday since last week we had the breakfast for dinner with the Westras. Delicious steak! Wuv, Keaton

Callahan SAYS he has written on his own ...

• Dear Colton: Haha I know! It was pretty awesome to officially hit the one year mark! Feels awesome! Dang three games?! That is a lot of games.. What happened that you lost two of them?! Yikes.. But at least have fun! Thanks Colton.. Even though I am technically in a different state called Tlaxcala.. :p
• Dear Cooper: Yup! It has officially been one year since I came to Mexico! Pretty crazy right?! Haha that is good that those plays are over and you can get caught up on your other stuff that you have missed. Haha you really like spandex? Now you just need it in bright neon colors, and you could look like a Power Ranger! Ha! Just kidding, wear them if you like them. 
• Dear Keaton: Aw.. Poopy. Darn Sunset Hills... But that is pretty cool that you too are going to make a super team for state! Hopefully it won't be too dramatic either. I doubt it, you are all boys that just want to play basketball! Keep rocking those 4.0's that is awesome! Yummy, Super Bowl dinner.. :) I will include an awesome picture that Elder Seewer sent me, because he is a super fan of Battlefront and needs to cope that right now he cannot play it. I love the picture!