Week #85 and #86

As Autumn hits Utah back home, the climate change is notable here too. In the mornings during the studies I will usually put on my sweater. But when it is time to leave, and during lunch, I am easily sweating in 2 minutes. I am a bit nervous to see (or touch) snow.. It will be the middle of winter when I get home! My poor body will freeze..

I was asked if the election is making news in Mexico. Honestly, I have not heard much.. Just once in a while people will ask me "What do you think of Trump? He hates Mexicans, do you hate Mexicans?" . . . Obviously not.. I love you ... and your food! Hahahaha. I just tell them if Trump wins the election. . . I am coming back to Puebla.

I will probably gain a few pounds coming back home.. Having all my little snacks that I can eat 24/7 that I have missed so much.. Just think of it. But honestly, I am so excited to present "la comida mexicana" to my brother and dad when they come! They have talked of coming to Mexico to pick me up. Keaton says that he eats "super spicy food" . . . Hot Cheetos here are bascially candy! It has been hitting me. I will miss the food a loooot. Eating with tortilla has become so natural. When I tell people that we don't eat tortilla in every meal, they are soo surprised! Asking, "But. . . how can you even get full?" Hahah it is funny.

It was hard hearing the news that a friend (from church/neighborhood/school) passed away. I heard it from both my mom and another missionary from the neighborhood.  I thought that he was doing well. I remember when I saw Kody in our home after my farewell. I never had the thought that that would've been the last time seeing him. Why would I have thought that? Here I am so close to the end of my mission, and Kody was one of the people I was hoping to see afterwards. I know very little of all the challenges and difficulties he has been going through. I surely will miss Kody, we had numberless fun times together. 

***Between Brothers***

10022016 #85

Dear Landon,so almost every week is going to be mostly about basketball. I'm just going to tell you the last game was the craziest. In the first game, we won by 2 points. It was against the first team we played and the first time we lost to them. We got revenge. In the second game, we played what it looked like were 9th graders! We lost by a lot because they has tall guys and small really fast guys. I think they were the best team in the league. Now moving on to the 3rd game. It started out really bad in the first half. We are losing by 5 when the second half starts. The third quarter wasn't so good either. But in the fourth quarter, I get about 10 points in 1 minute, we are losing by 3 with about 3 minutes left to go in the game then they give the ball to me for a three and I make it. Then they take a shot but miss, we grab the rebound, bring it upcourt, I'm open for three and I drain it! So they have the ball and they take a shot and airball! So they give the ball to me and I'm open for three but when they jump out at me, I pump fake it, then I go in for two and make the jumper. So they are coming up with the ball then I swoop in and steal it! I finish it off with a left handed layup. We end up winning 23-16! That was the best run I've ever done in my life! So pretty much basketball every week now. Any way love you man!          ColtBolt

Dear Landon, I did a lot of walking with the Pokemon GO ever since the buddy system update came out. I only had 7 Jigglypuff candies, and I needed 50 to evolve. And with the buddy system, I need to walk 1km for 1 candy, and I didn't catch 1 of them in the process, so I walked 43km for this evolution. And I am going to do that all over again, but with Clefairy. So far, Middle School is definitely a lot harder than elementary. I have only been late to one class, but the teacher didn't mark due to a misunderstanding. So if she did have everybody tardy, around 10 people would have been. And I have already turned in two assignments late, because I have had so much more homework that I just forgot about it. But I was lucky enough that they still had not have graded them, so they don't have to mark the assignment late. And earlier today, we went to Maga's house, and it was pretty fun. A lot of the younger kids spent most of the time in the backyard playing a game sorta like "Jackpot."    Love, Cooper

• PS. Did the Brothers not write me? I don't see their email. (Colton and Cooper wrote, but I kept waiting for Keaton, who never got around to it. Then I forgot to send it. But see boys? Landon looks forward to your letters!)

10072016 #86

Dear Landon, sorry I didn't write you last week. I think I just forgot to and went to bed. Anyway... I've got pretty good grades right now. On Wednesday, we did grade runs in 4th period for basketball class. Basically a C was a lap around the track, a D was 3-4 laps, and an F, or a no grade, was 6 laps. My worst grade was an A- in Spanish lqtm. I blame the teacher because he never tells us when we have homework, and we have to print it out on our own. Haha but Mason ended up having to run 6 and a half miles because he's been gone a lot for golf. That day, I just did a lot of push-ups, bear crawls, and duck walks for other people. Just a few more days till the end of the quarter, and I'll have my license! Sure there's that to look forward to from Driver's Ed,  but the better thing from that is NO MORE EARLY MORNING!! So yeeeaaaahh... Wuv, Keat

Dear Landon, so the term is almost ending, and overall, my grades are really good. The only "bad" grade I have is in Science where I have an A-, but tomorrow it should go back to an A because he made a mistake on Skyward and said that I have an F for not turning in a starter which he has actually graded (and I got an A). This week was the last for Football in Gym Class, and we ended up winning the championship. We were really overpowered compared to the other teams, and we had a record of 7-0. I haven't been playing a lot of Pokemon GO this week, but that is just because I am more focused on other things like basketball or other sports, homework, and keeping up on how the NBA is going on. And if you didn't know, when it was my birthday, I didn't get a lot of stuff. So with the Pre-Season in NBA starting up, she got me League Pass and NBATV. But yeah, I do think it is stupid that we can't watch any Pre-Season games without buying channels, but it will be good for regular season as well.        Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, this Saturday I had to miss one of my games because it conflicted with one of my other games. We went against the team that beat us 4 points in the championship and we were down by a lot in the fourth quarter then we went on a run. We brought it up to only a 5 point difference but the game still ended up us losing. In our next game, I think we went against the second hardest in the league and we lost by a bit. But I did get assists and 2 three pointers. They had one really small kid who can do everything. He was so good at drawing the foul, I got 4 fouls because of him! I dont really have anything else to write about this week. So love you man!!           ColtBolt

• Dear Keaton: Eso es un buen chico.. Bien que te va bien en la escuela. Tuvieron que correr por tener grados malos? Que feo! Jajaja Mason.. que chafa! Ya vas a tener tu licencia? No manches.. Loco! Y ya tienes tu propio coche para manejar! Tienes mucha suerte.. Sigue así, hermanito mío..
• Dear Colton: Dang.. Chance for revenge and they still won.. Darn.. That can be rough.. But it doesn't sound like you are complaining too much. Just enjoying the game, and that is the most important. Haha now he wasn't flopping right? That is when it is just dumb.. Just one more and you would've been pulled out! That really sucks. Haha you need to be doing something else apart from basketball everyday.. How is it going in school!?
• Dear Cooper: Haha Skyward. I remember well that experience. It is really awesome in fact! I imagine that it has changed quite a bit in the two years I haven't used it. Sounds like you are doing a lot better than I did.. I only got a 4.0 maybe 2 times.. Yikes. But keep doing good! I saw a bit of Pokemon GO when a member was playing it.. I still don't know how it works.. But I will learn in about 4 months..! 4 months! Crazy right?!