Weeks #78 and #79

Well hello all! It was QUITE the crazy week. It was the last week of the change, and we got a call from the assistants on Wednesday morning. Just a simple question, to ask us if we had printed off a talk the mission president had sent us. With that call, we though we were "safe" ... but NO. Another call a bit later and ... closing the area. 

It's not too surprising really if you think about it. The house was a disaster, and there was no work in the area. President wanted to switch out the Elders for Sisters, but certainly couldn't have sent sisters in with the house in the condition it was in. They probably would have preferred to go home! So, the president needed some Elders to come in and fix up the area, and the house. Elder Diaz and I got the call. We fumigated and cleaned up the house, met with the members and even had a baptism. All fixed up. So we closed, and sister missionaries will open and try their hand.

Honestly, I was pretty sad to leave Mananatiales so quickly. Even with very little time in the ward, I learned to love it. All the members were so ready to work with the missionaries, it was a blast.

Now I am in my new area with a new companion, Elder Cocneja from El Salvador. He is a convert of about two years. We actually already me in Apizaco. He was in one of the neighboring wards and we had one day of interchanges. It has been fun to reconnect. 

 Getting settled in ...

New View ...

My new area is in the same stake (LaLiberatad) in Antequera. It is bigger, richer ... and dirtier. Here the cornfields have disappeared and are replaced with businesses. Again, we are opening the area. It's a similar situation to how I found Manantiales (the previous missionaries hadn't worked very hard) but at least the house is clean!

These changes remind me that I am old. The sister missionaries that I was with in the CCM and going home. That means I am down to the last four changes of the mission. Got to make it count!

*** Between Brothers ***

08142016 #78

Dear Landon, I drove to Italian Village and Maga's house this weekend. I'm getting a lot less nervous driving, but I still have flaws lqtm. I really hate backing out though. Si, yo tengo seminary para la clase 2 con mis amigos (nuestra mama no tiene una idea que estoy diciendo porque estoy escribiendo en español teehee!). It's been a while since I've talked in spanish, so sorry if that doesn't make sense lqtm. Yeah, I would have much rather taken Driver's Ed in the summer too, but it was the same week as Dixie, and Dixie was the same week as Seattle. Which didn't end up happening :( so... Sophomore orientation is this Friday only for like 3 hours. I'm not excited for that. Summer is too flipping fast! I went to Seven Peaks on Friday with some of my friends and it was sooo fun! I went on all of the slides, and my favorite one was a straight-up drop off! My friends were watching my from the bottom and they said they saw my whole mat and feet not touching the slide. I was flying!! We're probably going to go again this week. There's this new DC-ish movie that came out called Suicide Squad, it looks so cool! It's pretty much most of the DC bad guys being good guys to kill aliens or something. Idk, but the trailer is litt! This Thursday I'm probably going wave running with my friends and Cal and TraviClaus. Yesterday, Dad made ribs on the smoker and I think they were the best ribs yet. I had two of my friends come over and we had so much fun just doing stuff downstairs. So yeah... this week might just get crazy XD Wuv ya boi, Keat

Dear Landon, the Rio Olympics have been very cool right now, and we have finally been able to watch some USA Basketball. They do have some really good players, but some of the best ones are not. That includes: Stephen Curry, Lebron, Harden, Westbrook, Isiah Thomas, Anthony Davis, and that is just to name a few. They are definitely not going to win the gold medal if they keep playing like they are playing, because the three games they have played have been within 3 points. And they have not been against the 2nd or 3rd best teams yet. We have been watching a lot of other Olympic events, but it is harder to explain them to you, because it isn't basketball. But we have watched a lot of running and swimming events. I got a 10km egg in Pokemon GO, so I wanted to hatch it fast, because they have the rarest Pokemon in them. And these past few days, I walked a lot, and when it hatched, I got a.... Onix. I've already caught like 5 of them, and I could of gotten a Lapras, Dratini, an Aerodactyl. But I had to get an Onix. I got my shots for middle school a few days ago at Walgreens. They didn't hurt a lot, but I was kind of nervous to get the shots. There is less than a week of summer left, which is really weird, but it will be cool to see my friends again.    Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, the Olympics have been happening now, all I really like watching is running and basketball. I had a double header this weekend, I lost one and I won one. The one I lost was against the hardest team in the league, but we only ended up losing by 11. This team has won others by 50+! We held them to only 38 points. They have gotten to 72 points before! My teammate actually dropped someone and finished off with a three pointer in the game! In the second game, I don't exactly remember the score, but we dominated. I got six points. I also got like five assists and three steals! We went to Italian Village earlier today, all I can say is that it was soooooooooooooooo good. The pizza benders is delicious. I only got sausage and pepperoni on mine. Next weekend we are going to do another sleepover in tents at Maga's backyard. That all that I have got to say. So, love ya man! ColtBolt

08212016 #79

Dear Landon, So on our campout to Maga's house, it took me  hours to fall asleep. It was still really fun though. Addie, Will Aiden and I kept trying to balance and walk around her garden. I got the most in a row at 5. I almost got 6 in a row. The movie we watched there was, "The Angry Birds Movie." In the morning, we were going to have breakfast at a little place by the prison. Right when we got there, we found out that it was closed on Saturdays. So we ended up just going to McDonalds. The Olympics are over now. USA has won the Gold Medal because they just obliterated Serbia by a lot of points. We had just gone to Italian Village. While we were waited, we played Paper Football on the tables. Dad, Keaton Cooper and I played and I got the most points at 45, Keaton got 2nd with 39, Cooper was 3rd with 24, and Dad came in last with 12. After dinner, we went to Maga's house to celebrate Courtney's birthday. It was a lot of fun. That is all I have to say, so love ya man!           ColtBolt

Dear Landon, a lot happened this last week of school. First of all, I got to go to my new school (Elk Ridge), and got to see where all of my classes are and where my locker is. I got my combination down, and I am still working on where to go to my classes, but I have been doing good. My orientation is tomorrow, and I hope I will do good, because it will be a lot more crowded. And it sucks that I only have 1 class with 1 friend out of 4. I still need to see if any of my other friends have classes with me. But our lockers are pretty close to each other, so we will get to talk in between classes. And we had the backyard campout at Maga's. A lot of Pokemon had spawned there, but I had no Poke Balls, so that blew. The movie we watched was the Angry Birds Movie. It was a great movie, and had a lot of funny moments. Then it was time to sleep, but I did not want to sleep in the tents. So I slept on a recliner under the stars. It was kind of cold, but it was also very comfortable. But the things was that I wasn't used to sleeping that way. So I woke up multiple times in the night. And the Gold Medal game was today with USA going against Serbia. The first time they went against each other, USA only won by three points. This game was a lot different, with USA blowing them out by 33 points. So they claimed the Gold Medal ending the Olympics.   Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, orientation was just as easy as I thought it would be. The night before, I had a bunch of people texting me because they were nervous and didn't know what to do. On Wednesday, my friends and I went to the school and found all of our classes. I'm not scared at all, I just know that I'm going to get criticized my Cal's friends for stupid stuff they'll make up and then his other friends will stand up for me and then make fun of something else. That's just what they do. I have at least one friend in all of my classes, and I have 7 of my 8 classes with one of my best friends and 6 with another one. So I'm pretty much set. We had a backyard campout at Maga's 2 nights ago and it was way fun! It's become pretty obvious that I've officially taken over your position of occupying the little ones (Amare and Sam are with me all the time lqtm). I just slept on the ground in a sleeping bag without a tent. In the morning, we were planning on having breakfast at a cafe near the prison where some in-mates are working, but it was closed on Saturdays, so we just got Micky D's. Everyone, except me, was really scared about going. I wanted to go though because I thought it would be cool. Cal and I have our first day of school tomorrow and Coop has orientation. So yeah... Wuv, Keat

Weeks #76 and #77

Times flies ... it's August? 

The weather here sure reminds us it is August. At noon, it is super hot and dry, but YOU are wet because you are sweating. In the late afternoon, the wind kicks up and the dark clouds set in. Rain. The toughest thing is the roads! A lot of the roads are underdeveloped and turn into a muddy mess. Luckily, I have my boots. 

August here is also the season of "chiles en nagada" ... this specialty food is famous here, and only made in August! Basically what it is, is a big chili pepper that is stuffed with  different types of meats and cheese, then packed with nuts.

Now nuts are a problem for me (I'm allergic) but the family that made us  chiles en nagada was kind enough to make a special no-nuts batch just for me! It's pretty good and I'm hoping to eat some more while it's in season.

I mentioned Miguel Angel was baptized a bit ago. We saw him recently and talked to him about getting the priesthood. He's been attempting to share the gospel with his friends. We talked about missionary work and told him he could come and do divisions with us. We ended up teaching his mom as well.

We've been working with another couple too. Issac and Leslie. They are a young couple with two little girls, like many Mexican couples, they are not legally married. They run a shop from 8:00am - 11:00pm. EVERY day. Quite the workload! So teaching ... we are there in the shop, standing the entire time, with people walking in to buy things.

Yesterday we had an interesting experience. We were locked out of our house. We were in a rush to catch the bus to get to church when we closed the door without the keys. Ultimately, we had to go to a neighbor's and crawl through a little connecting space. That was a fun experience!

Changes are coming soon .. and entering the last six months of my mission!

*** Between Brothers ***

07312016 #76

Dear Landon, lqtm lqtm means laugh-quietly-to-myself lqtm. It's just more realistic than "lol" lqtm. Mommy is not supposed to say lol lqtm. She texted me that one time and I said, "mommies do not say lol lol!" She lol'd and told me not to say that because she will wake Daddy up. Mommy told me to write this lqtm. I love Danimals. Mommy told me to write that lqtm. She bought some and they were so good because they're like yogurt that you drink! I got a root canal last week, and I had to go back to our dentist the day after so they can do the stuff you do after a root canal stuff. My mouth was numb 3 times in a week! They had to take my bottom wire off the first time so the specialist can do the root canal. And since my wire was off for a week, it's sore rn! So yeah... lqtm lol haha ne (nose exhale) Wuv, keat

Dear Landon, keaton is the best brother ever. I wish I could be like him. He is soooo goooooood at e'rything u know? Im gonna tell mommy to tell Santa to make all my presents for Christmas into Keaton presents u know? Happy Saint Patty's day bye bye. Sencearelie Colt and coop (But it was actually Keaton)

Dear Landon, I did a lot of Pokemon stuff this week, and not much else. So I did a lot of playing on Platinum until I beat the Pokemon League, and I did. Turns out, there are 5 wandering legendaries in the game, and I just need one more. I have caught Mesprit, Zapdos, Moltres, and Cressilia. I just need Articuno now, but that will still take a while. I have also been on walks on the canal with mom to feed the ducks, and it also helps with my egg-hatching on Pokemon GO. And today my 10km egg finally hatched, and I got a Snorlax! He is one of the rarest and strongest Pokemon in the game right now, so I was really happy about it. Livi came over again, and this time she did mom's hair. She dyed it blonde... super blonde. And after that we all enjoyed some Skookie (I don't know how to spell it). Mom got some of that drinkable yogurt called Danimals. I bet you have never heard of it, but it is really good. Dad, Colton and I went to see the Secret Life of Pets. It is a really funny movie, and the cat in it totally described Oreo.      Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, actually I didn't have a basket ball game last Monday but I'm going to have one this Monday. I had a practice that wasn't fun because in the start I had a bad headache and felt like I was going to throw up. A little late in the practice I started to feel better. Just earlier, Dad, Cooper, and I saw a movie called the secret life of pets, it's hard to explain but it was really funny. On fire red, I beat the pokemon league and the game again, and my party was, Charizard, Gyradose, Rhydon, Raichu, Hitmonlee, and Alakazam. Anyway, almost nothing happened this week soooooooo, love ya man!           ColtBolt

08072016 #77

Dear Landon, I had two pretty tough games this week. In the first one, I got seven points, one of my baskets was a buzzer at the end of the game and I barely got it off. In the second game, I only got two points but I still really did good. My next game is against the hardest team in the league. I have started to play Bloons Tower Defense again, it is really fun and I like it a lot. We just had Westra waffles. We also played remikube while we were there. That is all the stuff that happened this week, well for me, anyway I love ya!          ColtBolt

Dear Landon, I spent a lot of this week on the tramp, because I made a new game. It's a mix between lava ball and basketball. The rules are kind of complicated, but I have convinced almost everybody in the house to play it. We have not been to the church in a while to play basketball, I just don't feel like it anymore. But I still have been playing a bit outside, and it is so much hotter. But I really like to sweat. It seems weird, but when I start to sweat a lot, I just feel better. I think I'm done playing Platinum, but not Pokemon GO. Cal is done because of the new update. Some people who updated the game, all of their data got erased. Unfortunately, he was one of the ones who had all of their data erased. I hatched a lot of eggs, and got a lot of new Pokemon. And whenever mom goes somewhere, I'll go along and hit the Poke Stops and catch some Pokemon. We got Wii Fit U, a few days ago, and it has more stuff than the regular Wii Fit. Like it has a new category of dance. I tried it, but it was no fun and kind of hard. And we can also register pets into it. So of course we registered Oreo and Joy. I don't think it is very accurate because the second day, it said they gained 1.1 lbs. But it was a pretty fun week.     Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, we had the Westra Waffles today and I drove us there. Dad and Cal couldn't come though. I'm getting more comfortable driving and I should be getting my license after the first quarter of school because I'm taking Driver's Ed early morning. If I were to take it during school hours, I'd also have to take an extra worthless class for the next quarter in the semester Driver's Ed is in. School is starting in about 3 weeks though. Summer went by too fast (like it always does lqtm). That means only a few more times of wave running :( Dad is wanting to take me and my friends and same with Cal. So yeah... Wuv, Keat

Dear Landon: Trek was actually really fun. I got to the church at 6:00 that Tuesday morning to leave, and at that time I really didn't wanna go you know? But you come so close with your families so fast that it doesn't matter. I also learned that we had an ancestor who was in the Martin handcart company which is really cool because with her and her family then we could be living somewhere completely different and possibly not in this church. But I was really glad I went and it was a great experience. I surprising even thought it was fun. We even did a little square dancing. To be honest it wasn't very hard it was just long. We even had a camera crew filming our group the whole time which was different. I learned that Andrew McMullin just left to his mission in the Phillipines while we were on trek when I was talking to his brothers. Ammon Maynes also got really sick and is really skinny and is back for a while until he can go back out to his mission. I also have a lot of friends for the basketball team who have their calls and are leaving. It's just crazy how fast time flies and soon enough I'll be leaving. I miss you so much and can't wait for you to be home. Callahan.

• Dear Colton: Dang, the superleage is quite tough! Good that you still enjoy it. BTD never gets old, right? They haven't made a 6th one yet? Rumicube! I had to think about that when I read it, what is that again? I think my mind went to Rubik'sCube, but that is completely different!
• Dear Cooper: Isn't it ridiculously hot outside to be jumping on the tramp? I'll have to try out your new game with you when I get home. You like to sweat? I HATE sweating! Oh well, personal preferences. Pokemon Go keeps going on. It has hit here in Mexico as well. We'll be on the buses and see people playing. Is it still just the 151 Pokemon, or are there more now? Wii Fit U ... I remember Wii Fit, and it being quite fun.
• Dear Keaton: I remember being so nervous the first time driving out to Grandma's house. So if you are taking driver's ed early in the morning, do you have seminary during the day? I do remember many of my friends complaining about that extra "worthless" class. I took driver's ed during the summer. Take advantage of these last few weeks. Love Susie and Roxy all you can.
• Dear Callahan: I remember the trek feelings. It is very true though, you bond with your "families" so fast. Question: Who was your Ma&Pa? I don't really know any of the youth your age, but as they had the older kids being the "parents" I might know some of the "oldies" like myself. We never ended up with a movie of our experience, never even saw many pictures! Andrew McMullin, Parker Littlewood .. gone on missions! Who else of that "generation" is left? Too bad about Ammon, our ward has had quite a few missionaries who have had to return early. Knock on wood! You are the next generation. Be prepared!