Week #57 - Simply Awesome

This week was pretty awesome! Simply that...

(the end?)

Haha just kidding, I should say more concerning the week.

Well the week started out how it usually starts out.. .uper duper slow. But from Thursday on, the rest of the week was pretty awesome.

To start with the good, we had our zone conference on Thursday which was a really great experience for me personally. President Nelson started out the conference very very seriously, talking about the obedience to the mission rules. Which is normal, but this time he was especially serious. In the past week, four missionaries were sent home from the mission. Why? Disobedience. It was honestly really sad, because I knew them, they are my friends. But the temptations got the best of them.

Hermana Nelson got up to share a little talk during the conference as well, and her few words were filled with love, and concern. She talked about the time when she was a seminary teacher, and one of her favorite little videos to share with the class. Basically it is about this young man, who conquered this big mountain, and when he got to the top of this mountain, he found a snake. The snake spoke to him, saying "Please help me, the top of this mountain is cold, and there is no food. Put me in your shirt and carry me down the mountain." But the young man responded, "No. I know what you are. You are a rattlesnake. If you bite me, I will die." Then snake goes on persuading the young man that he wouldn't bite him, but just to help him down the mountain. Eventually, the rattlesnake did convince the young man, and he put him in his shirt and carried him down the mountain. Once they got down to the bottom, the young man took the rattlesnake out of his shirt and placed it on the ground. And in that moment, the rattlesnake curled up, shook its rattle, and bit the young man. The young man was very upset, saying "But you promised that you wouldn't bite me!" The rattlesnake responded, "You knew what I was before you picked me up."

Thanks to the Light of Christ, we already know was is sin, and that that isn't. And as members, we have the additional help from the Spirit, to make better decisions concerning right from wrong. But, if we make one wrong decision, it is easier to do it again. And again. And again. So we need to do all that we can to make to decision that is according to the will of the Lord.

I heard somethings that I really needed to hear. Knowing that my obedience wasn't perfect in that moment, we returned home from the conference, and we committed ourselves to be exactly obedient missionaries of the Lord. And with that commitment, we immediately saw miracles. We had more lessons, found more investigators, set baptismal dates, and with other such miracles, we had a great rest of the week. 

I know the obedience isn't always easy, but it is certainly possible. As we are constantly being tempted and persuaded by that rattlesnake, we are more powerful than him. And as we obey and keep the convents that we have made with the Lord, we will surely be blessed.

*** Step Stats ***

Impressive 5k results from Cooper and Keaton! I remember running a lot sophomore year. Then I got out of shape. Here are the steps from this week ...

Monday, March 14 - 20550

Tuesday, March 15 - 22412

Wednesday, March 16 - 20932

Thursday, March 17 - 9984

Friday, March 18 - 15740

Saturday, March 19 - 20243

Sunday, March 20 - 19980

I updated SuperCooper's Fitbit profile picture to the cute one I took after his 5k on Saturday (you can read about it in Cooper's letter below). I did better this week but oops, Daddy dropped off!  He's been doing some biking, and that usually doesn't show up as "steps" on Fitbit counting. Good to see Grandpa in the Top10 again!. 

*** Between Brothers ***

Dear Landon, I did have one game this week, I got 7 points with a few assists. Near the end of the game, I took a shot and a kid full on pushed me to the ground. One ref called a flagrant foul but the other ref overruled it because he just wanted the game to end. Golden State now has 7 losses because they went against the second seed San Antonio. Spurs were undefeated at home, so that was the main reason they won. Warriors will have to win 11 of their next 13 games to beat the record that the Bulls set in 1996. Dad, Keaton, and Coop all went on the 5K run. (3 miles) I didn't go because I heard there was going to be over 300 people there. On the lowest part of the hoop, I was able to dunk on it with a mini ball! I was at school a few days ago playing tornado, the kid in front of me already got his shot off before mine because the ball slipped out of my hand, so I cam hurrying back then I just chucked up the ball and made and got him out! Anyway, I don't have anything else to tell you about, soooooooo, talk to you next week! Love ya. ColtBolt

Dear Landon, this week I practiced a lot with my ball handling (even though I am still really good at it). I have been bringing two balls to school, so I could practice dribbling with both of them, and I learned more stuff. Some of the things I learned is doing them through my legs, behind my back, switching them back and forth, and some sort of juggling that I do not know what to call. And with one ball, I can dribble really low, and it makes it look really cool. But it also comes with a price, because I have cut some of my fingernails too short, and there is a nasty cut on my middle finger. I have had the cut on my middle finger for about two months, but it never bled. But a few weeks ago, it started bleeding, and it can't stop because I keep on hitting hit everywhere. So mom and I bandaged my fingers up, and it has helped a lot. There has been a few cool games this week, like the Charlotte Hornets have been dominating in March. I do not know if I have told you, but the Hornets are my favorite team, and I think they will have a playoff spot at the end of the year! San Antonio, Golden State, OKC, and the Cavs have all clinched a playoff spot, and that means no matter how many losses they get right now, they will still be in the playoffs. On the other hand, Philadelphia, LA Lakers, Phoenix, and Brooklyn have all clinched NOT being in the playoffs, so no matter how much they win, they won't be in the playoffs. One of the games that was cool was San Antonio vs Golden State or #2 vs #1. They are both undefeated at home, and it was at San Antonio, so I was ready for the Warriors losing. And it happened, because SAS only allowed them to score 79 points, as they got 87 points. Now the Warriors are 62-7, meaning they have to win 11 out of their las 13 games to beat the best record in NBA history (72-10, Chicago Bulls). Dad, Keaton, and I all ran a 5K (3mi.) race yesterday, an it was really fun. I estimated that there were probably 350 people there, and I got 19th place overall, and 2nd in my age group with a time of 23:55.5! Keaton got 20th overall, and I got 12 seconds faster than him. We got some cool shirts as well to kind of prove that we ran this race, and there were also some prizes at the end. Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, it's only a three day week for school this week because of spring break on Thursday, Friday, and Monday. Next week we have two days because it's the end of the quarter. I think I have all A's, but I'm still worried if I mess up something at the last minute and I can't fix it. Next week is Easter. Do they celebrate Easter down in Mexico? I'm thinking that we'll go to Grandma and Grandpa's house this Saturday for the Westra get together and Easter egg hunt and we'll go to Maga's on Sunday for something Easter-ish. I forgot to tell you last week that we had daylight savings. Our time jumped forward an hour, so now we have the same time! I actually like this daylight savings better because the sun is out longer at night. In gym, we were playing handball this week and some guy was talking to his teammates and said, "Don't worry about him. He's a cripple!" I was like, "Hmmmmmmm..." I was playing against that guy and I totally bodied him on a pop fly and knocked him into a wall. Also, we were right next to each other and both jumped for the ball. Of course I got it, since I can jump higher, but he jumped for it too and his nails skidded on my cast and started bleeding, and I was like, "Who's the cripple now??" It was so funny. So yeah... Your boi, Keat

• Dear Colton: Ah what a shame.. I would've called it a flagrant.. can't be pulling that kind of stuff on the court! I heard that March Maddness has started, with Utah in as a number three seed, what?! That is pretty awesome!
• Dear Cooper: Wow, sounds pretty impressive with your ball handling skills! I am alright with my ball handling skills in basketball, but now I need to improve them for soccer! I got nothing when it comes to soccer. But I have made some goals, but just thanks to teammates who know how to set me up, haha. Ugh.. That is the worst! I also had the same problem.. It hurts sooo bad. And then you just have to wait an eternity and a half until they heal. Sounds fun
• Dear Keaton: I'm sure you can deal some serious damage with that cast.. You are a bit like Ironman in a way! Haha. So to answer your question, yes. oh yes, they sure celebrate Easter here. But here it is called "La Pascua" or "Semana Santa" (Holy Week), where they actually have all sorts of different activities they do all week. Marches, reinactments, fairs, etc.. The Catholics go crazy during Semana Santa.. One of the traditions that is especially weird is on Saturday. It is called "Sabado de Gloria" (Saturday of Glory) where all the little pranksters of the town get people in the street wet with water (sometimes beer)... Soooo.. Not looking forward to that. Also in general, working is harder, because everyone is either partying, sleeping, or drunk. But oh well. I will let you know if anything "interesting" happens this week.. Hopefully no!

Week #56 - Between Brothers

If you follow the "Between Brothers" portion of the blog, you might have noticed that there hasn't been a letter from Callahan in a while. He SAYS he is writing Landon on his own. He forwarded me this exchange to prove it. Callahan was the only one to actually receive a letter from Landon this week!

Callahan to Landon ...

Alright so with me there hasn't been too much. Basketball is over and now I have a gym pass and I'm working a lot so it's pretty much like before season. It's kinda nice that basketball season is done but it also kinda sucks. I'm just nervous for next year because if I play good during the summer then I'll be starting next year which is nerve wracking. But it'll be good. School has been all right. Not too bad, got s couple grades I need to get up but nothing below a C right now. I'm trying to eat healthier but I'm not sure how that's gonna go because I'm not a very good eater.. But I'll have to become less picky depending on where I go on my mission because some places have some stuff I don't like but I guess I'll get used to it. Has it been like that for you? Or have you always liked Mexican food? Anyway that's most of what has gone on. Love and miss you bro. 

Landon to Callahan ...

Haha so sad.. No basketball.. Right now, of all the Elders that we play with on Monday, I am the best basketball player. There are some other good players, but I am #1.  All the Mexican Elders look at me like I am some professional. Haha 

I have discovered that eating healthy is very hard.. And not to mention very expensive too! Many times we are at the store looking, so there is a healthy Wheat Bran cereal, which contains 400g for $56 (pesos) or Frosted Corn Flakes that contains 850g for $42.... Corn Flakes of course!  Me? I have come to love Mexican food! I rarely ate it before my mission.. And besides, I really isn't Mexican food there in America! Many people ask me what we eat as Americans.... It is surprisingly very hard to answer that question. We just eat a whole lot of everything! Here, basically with every meal, tortillas are served. So that will be weird to return home and eat without any tortillas.

Good to hear from you. Keep up with reading the scriptures and praying! I hope you are going to church. You won't believe how hard it is to get people here to go to church.. Before we can baptize a person, they need to attend church 5 times.. But all the people here have the bad custom of going to "Misa" (Catholic sacrament meeting) when "they feel like it". But you should already be well accustomed to going to church!  Love you dude.

*** Step Stats ***

(This was all I got in my "to mommy" letter!) Hey super sorry! But we don't have much time to write today! We played a bit too much at the church today... hehehe. But here are the steps!

Monday, March 7 - 23498

Tuesday, March 8 - 19851

Wednesday, March 9 - 14697

Thursday, March 10 - 8861

Friday, March 11 - 21014

Saturday, March 12 - 24786

Sunday, March 13 - 14288

Oops, Mommy dropped down this week. I had a bit of an off week, not getting in all of my regular activity. All the brothers are there in the Top10, as well as Grayson! Always glad to see him there. This mission area sure does keep Elder Blackham stepping! No one can catch Super Cooper though! 

*** Between Brothers ***

Landon doesn't always have time to write brothers back,
but here are the emails out!

Dear Landon, I don't have a lot to write, I had a really good report card at school. This week on Thursday, it was Grandparents day. So Grandma and Grandpa Westra came and ate lunch with us. Cooper, Keaton and I have been playing a LOT on the small hoop, it has been really, really fun. Mom made a video of my Jr Jazz tournament. I did really good, so did my friend Tyler. Yesterday, I went to a friend's birthday party. What we did first was go to the church and play a lot of basketball. I was winning by so much that I JUST shot half courts. I made 2 of them! I ended up making about 16 three or something close to that. After, we went and played on his Xbox 360. We had ice cream and cupcakes. I had so much fun. I am about done because nothing that interesting really happened this week, sop, Love ya! ColtBolt

Dear Landon, we had another short week, missing Friday because of Parent Teacher Conferences. I had better grades this term than last term, because the last term I got two 3's, but now I only have 4's. I "bragged" to Colton that I had better grades, because he had one 3. We went to the book fair after, and I got myself a couple of books. And when we were at school, a few hours before PTC, I finished the 40 book challenge! I still have about two and a half months of school left, so I still have a lot of reading to do. I'm the first one to do it in my class, and the first to finish in the grade. Colton, Keaton, and I made up a game for the small hoop called "The 5 Second Game." We pretend it is a tie game with only five seconds left, and we try to be clutch. We have made some pretty cool shots, and it is really fun. I learned a few more dunks to do on the tramp. One of them is an off the backboard pass to myself, catch it one handed 180 dunk. The other dunk is a behind the back reverse dunk, and they are both really hard to do. Thursday was bring a special guest to lunch day, so we brought grandpa and grandpa. My lunch was at 12:45, and Colton's was at 11:10, so we went at Colton's lunch time. My teacher kind of gave me a reward for an extra long recess. She gave me the choice to go at recess the same time as 4th grade, or come back to class and do art, and you definitely know what my choice was. I got nearly a two hour recess of playing basketball. Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, we've been doing a dissection lab in Biology this whole week. We got to choose between a frog and a pig. My partner and I chose frog because it was easier. It was pretty fun and really disgusting. I'm starting to write with my right hand a little bit more, but it's still harder than before. I finally got my permit on 11 de marzo. You had to get 80% to pass (40/50), and I got 40/50 lqtm. I don't really want to drive until I get my cast off because I want to get used to driving regularly. Have you heard about the new Captain America movie coming out? It's called "Captain America Civil War. It looks so awesome. Almost all of the Avengers are in it, except Hulk and Thor; and they're choosing sides between Iron Man or Captain America. There is also three new characters in the movies that aren't Avengers: Ant Man, Black Panther, and SPIDER MAN!!!! Spidey is my fav sooper hero of all time. The trailer shows who is on Iron Man's side and Captain America's side. Spider Man, War Machine (Rhodey), The Vision, Black Widow, and Black Panther are on Iron Man's side. Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Ant Man, and Buck, who is one of Captain's old frenemies, are on Captain America's side. I hate Captain America now because in the first trailer, you can see Cap and Buck teaming up on Iron Man and just completely recking him. So yeah... it comes out on May 6. Wuv, Keat

Week #55 - Finding Four

Adios a Elder Cordero!

Well it is already the end of the first week of the new change. And it was another week of seeing miracles. 

Wednesday I had the chance to do interchanges with my district leader for the second time, which was fun.. He is in the ward Loma Florida, and right now, the elders that are there are only American elders. Four Americans working in Loma. We all ate together in a little business, and since we were all Americans, we decided to have a little competition for who could eat the most "picante".(spiciness... I think that is how you spell that.) There was a super spicy sauce of the Habenero pepper. We were just eating it with tortilla chips.. And we all got spiced pretty good. With no clear winner declared.

But concerning the miracles that we have seen this week was the following experience.. We set the goal in our district meeting to find new investigators, and we agreed on 4 new investigators for the week from every companionship of the district. We felt excited and committed leaving from the meeting, and went to work to reach the goal. But, the whole week we worked hard...looking, searching for those people that are ready to receive the message that we bring from our Loving Father in Heaven. Everyday. We got to Sunday, with nothing! We were feeling a little down.. But we continued working. And finally we found a family of three people, whose challenges of life have humbled them in a very sad way,, But they were willing to receive the message. 

So there were three. One more to fulfill to goal. We went with a less active family planning on meeting one of their sons, but they said that he wasn't home, but they had another son that was visiting at the time! Perfect! We will teach him then! And there it was, mission accomplished.

I know with diligence, this work will be fulfilled. We can't expect perfect results when we give a half-hearted effort.. We must do as all the men of God have taught us since the beginning, ENDURE TO THE END.

***Step Stats ***

Monday, February 29 - 28493

Tuesday, March 1 - 26830

Wednesday, March 2 - 18551

Thursday, March 3 - 16445

Friday, March 4 - 17847

Saturday, March 5 - 245535

Sunday, March 6 - 20039

While it appears I'm a step above Landon ... his average is higher, and my Monday morning steps were added in (whereas his step count ended with his Sunday steps). I really think he's got me beat this week! Crazy Cooper is still #1. It's good to see Colton and Keaton back up on the list again (Keaton updated to a Fitbit One, and I made sure Colton had synced recently). Callahan dropped down though ... there was basketball this past week, but it was the state playoffs for Varsity, so he was sitting the bench cheering instead of getting in steps. Grayson is doing well still. Still there in the Top10! Go Gray!  

***Between Brothers ***
March 6, 2016 #55

Dear Landon, I played on the trampoline a LOT recently. I have done some mean dunks! I did a double clutch reverse, through the legs reverse, under the legs, 360 through the legs, and behind the back dunks! The Warriors now have 6 losses! They lost to the Lakers, the second worst team! Steph Curry did unusually really bad. Keaton now has a blue cast. I keep on getting scared that his cast is going to drill me right to the face while we are playing basketball. My team won the whole entire Jr. Jazz tournament! In the championship, we only won by two! In my third game, I made some pretty clutch free throws. We were only up by one with seven seconds left, and I got fouled and made both of my free throws! We went undefeated all throughout the tournament. Throughout this whole week, I had I think 25 points but a whole lot of assists! Anyway, that is about all for this week. Love , ColtBolt

Dear Landon, Colton and I have been playing on the tramp a lot more often. It is really fun too because we know a lot more tricks to do since we are more athletic since the last times we have been on the tramp. It has been really sunny these past few days, and it has been nearly 60 degrees, and it is so wonderful. I can play outside without a jacket, and I can play with my friends at school and do good at basketball. I still have been playing wall-ball, but I have really improved at my ball handling in basketball. If I told my friends I have improved at ball handling, they will not believe me because I am really, really good compared to them. Today we went to the monthly cousins thing, and Keaton, Colton, and I were playing Heads-Up basketball edition. It was a lot easier compared to the other categories, because we already know everything. We also played the Head's Up "Friends" edition and all the cousins were surprised at how much we knew. Kemery also loaned us this Friends Trivia game, and it is fun because we are getting like everything right. We started talking about "Friends" because she had changed all their family photos to the characters from "Friends". Funny! I still want to play the Friends trivia right now, so I guess I will write you next week. Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, my cast is so much better than the stupid splint. My fingers aren't moist anymore and I can move them, but my arm stinks a lot more and it's harder to take showers. I'm getting a lot better with my left-handed writing. I couldn't really play games with my splint, but now I can since my fingers are free. It's kinda fun to bash people over the head with my cast. I'm a baller at volleyball during gym. I can't spike it with my cast, or serve with my cast because it hurts, but I can spike it with my left hand and I'm like the best setter to spike it. I only use one hand too! It's getting pretty warm out here (except for today; it snowed lqtm). At school, we've been going outside almost everyday after lunch. Golden State just lost their sixth time this season to the Lakers! It was so funny and they lost by 17. The Lakers also have one of the worst records in the NBA this season! I hate Golden State because Steph isn't a team player. Their shots were so bad. I think they were 4-30 from the three. I was laughing so hard. So yeah... Wuv, Keat

Week #54 - No Changes

So I just wanted to write a really quick email to you all, telling you about the changes. Well there aren't any. I will be staying for a another change here in Apizaco with Elder Cocom! We are looking forward to a baptism in week 3 of the change, so that will be great! A little about my companion Elder Cocom. He comes from a very poor family. His parents can't read or write. So think a little about how when we are in the mission, we can only communicate through letters! So he needs for some member from the ward to help them write, and that is only every other week. Tough stuff! It appears we have some early spring upon us right now.. Wish us luck!

*** Step Stats ***

Monday, February 22 - 16379

Tuesday, February 23 - 14831

Wednesday, February 24 - 26032

Thursday, February 25 - 18525

Friday, February 26 - 19007

Saturday, February 27 - 25041

Sunday, February 28 - 16656

Super Cooper still up there at the top! I remember many months ago when he was SO excited to hit that #1 spot for the first time ... and now it's where he's always at. Crazy kid! Mr. Missionary is stepping a lot, still beating Mommy, who has yet to regain her weekly goal average of 22k. Happy to have Grayson in the top10 again. Pretty impressive! Keaton should be there I'm sure, and Colton should be higher I think. Both were having Fitbit issues this past week. Hopefully they will be resolved and we'll see where the other brothers stand.

*** Between Brothers ***

Dear Landon, I had 5 games in 4 days this week. I won three of them. And in all the points I got were around 31 points. The three games I won were the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Although I did some great passes. I got a lot of assists as well! So, the Saturday season is done, and Wednesday. Stephen Curry hit a game winner against the thunder! Cooper and I were so mad! It was a couple meters inside the half court line! He hit 12 three pointers in that single game. He also broke his own record, again! He already has 288 three pointers in this season, with almost 20 more games to go! (The prior record was 286, also set by steph) While Keaton was in gym class at school, he landed awkwardly on his wrist. It is now broken and he is getting a cast tomorrow. Sooooooooooo, I'm really tired, I should have written you earlier. Anyway, Love ya! ColtBolt

Dear Landon, I have been playing wall ball a lot lately, and the more I play with them, the more I lose them. Mom I got me this kind of bucket with a dozen wall balls in it. They were the "Penn' brand, so they were much bouncier, which made it better. Since the snow is all melted, my friends have been playing football again. It is hard to choose between basketball and football at school, because basketball is my favorite, but nobody plays with me. But if I play football, everybody is playing, but I kind of struggle with how they sometimes act while playing. I tried football again, and my first touchdown, better yet, my first catch was an interception that led to a pick-six. I got to see my friends Hunter and Rachel perform in "Merrywives of Winsor" this week, but I did not really like it. Everybody acted fine, it was just very confusing, and hard to follow, which made it a very weird play. I had a substitute for two straight days, because my teacher was in Pennsylvania. I always hate the subs, and it seems like I have one a week. She may be back on Monday, but not for sure. Golden State and Oklahoma City went against each other yesterday, and boy was it a good game. It was close for the entire game, then it came down to the fourth quarter. Stephen Curry had a 3-pointer record setting night. First of all, he tied the most 3-pointers made in a game (12), he passed how many three pointers he made last season (286), and got the game winning shot from almost 6 feet behind the three point line. It went to OT, and when I saw that he made that three with 0.6 seconds left, I collapsed. OKC still had a chance, but Kevin Durant was fouled out, and Russell missed the three to put it into 2-OT. Oh yeah, Keaton broke his arm at school a few days ago, and it has made me to go to these past few derbies. Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, on Monday in gym we were playing dunkball and one of my friends threw me an oop. It went completely over my head (he was a soccer player though lqtm). I had still gone for it and end up with both of my hands hanging on the rim, but I was running too fast and jumped too high that I flipped, someone had ran into my legs in the air, and I tried to catch myself with my right hand. I also landed on my left knee and got a pretty bad bruise, and my head swung down and hit the floor hard. Broken wrist, bruised knee, and headache still today. The doctor in Riverton said there were three breaks! They put me in a splint because my hand was pretty swollen, so I needed to ice it all this week. It's hard to write lefty! Not just because it's not dominant, but when you start writing on the left side, your left hand isn't supporting the paper. And since I have a splint, I could barely support the paper with my right hand, so the paper is always moving around. IT'S FRUSTRATING!! I'm getting kind of used to doing some stuff left-handed though. I should get a cast tomorrow, but when I was icing it today, Dad said it still looked pretty swollen. My fingers were disgusting! They were the size of sausages and felt all sticky and moist with dead skin all around. So yeah... Wuv, Keat

• Dear Colton: Dang.. that is a lot of games.. Sounds like the super league is a bit more difficult. But at least have fun! Haha I thought that you guys liked Golden State? Or just like Thunder more? It should almost be time for Playoffs, right? 12 three pointers?!?! That is nuts! 
• Dear Cooper,: Are you playing at home or at school? I can see it being easy to lose the balls at school.. But at home? How can you be losing them so often? Haha but as usual.. Mom provides! I am really happy here in my area because there are a lot of American Elders, who want to play other sports other than just soccer. So today we got a few games of basketball, soccer, and even football! It was pretty awesome, but I am pretty tired now too.. And I haven't even showered either.. Yikes. Don't worry, I will shower. 
• Dear Keaton,Ouchie dude.. That sure does suck.. I guess there won't be any basketball for a while, right? Dang.. Nor is it easy to hold a controller to play games either! No manches.. Sorry little bro. Hope that you can get through it! This is the third broken bone for you? I can't remember.. Hang in there!

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!

Week #51 - A Package, Pictures and Suspicious "Steps"

A picture, he sent a picture! 

Aunt Courtney had said they were sending a package, 

I told Landon to be sure and let us all know when it arrived. 

It arrived ;)

Viage a Ixtacamsticlan #2!

(Trip to Ixtacamsticlan #2!)

Wow... quite the week of traveling for us this week. Easily more than 10 hours in combis and buses..  But it was all worth it!

The best thing of the week was our visit to a very far land called Ixtacamsticlan.. Just over a month ago was the first time that I went there to visit an hermana. La Hermana Coral, and her very humble family. It is just her and her three little kids that live out in the middle of nowhere. But I was so excited to visit them again (see pictures from his first visit here).  

First we needed to get up early, to catch the combi at 6:40 in the centro. Then it is 2 and a half hours driving to their home. It was funny when we arrived, because their house is right by the road, and once they hear the combi, they know it was us, because it was the only combi that would pass for another three hours. So they were already outside waiting, and so excited to see us.

At our arrival, we ate first, which was just tortillas and salsa. But the tortillas were actually really delicious! But the salsa was quite spicy..And it wasn't just me that was suffering as the American! No one could take that much heat.

I was really looking forward to this trip. I had felt bad that we hadn't visited her sooner. Just from our visit, they were so happy, even though it was for such a short time. But it just isn't with our visit, but they are always happy! It is a very humbling experience to see this family, and the happiness they have, thanks to the Gospel. 

My favorite part of the visit was when we were leaving. We asked the hermana what was the most important she needed that the ward could help her out with, and she said "just enough money to pay for the trip to church." . . . Out of everything; blankets, water, food, electricity... Just the money to be able to go to church, was most important. That hit me, hard.

I know that going to church is a very important part of our worship to our Heavenly Father. There, we can renew our covenents that we have made with Him, and enjoy those blessings. I love you all, thanks for everything!

*** Step Stats ***

Monday, Feb 1 - 15179

Tuesday, Feb 2 - 18481

Wednesday, Feb 3 - 13310

Thursday, Feb 4 - 22466

Friday, Feb 5 - 16445

Saturday, Feb 6 - 31817 

Sunday, Feb 7 - 15414

Hahaha I think more than half of the steps on Saturday are from the combi ride...because there is no way we could've walked that much, because we were in the combi for a good 5 hours that day!

Sometimes a pedometer does pick up "jiggling" as steps. Landon has hit a 30k day before, but he sure felt it the following day!  Super Cooper is still there in first place, and Callahan is up there too with all his basketball. Although they were their Fitbits during basketball practices, Keaton and Colton don't wear them in their games ...

***Between Brothers***

Dear Landon, this is weird, I'm the first one writing you and it is 8:15 P.M. Anyway, that doesn't matter. Sooooooooo, I had two b-ball games this week. (I technically had one.) On Wednesday, we had a game that we lost 40-21. I got two points and I think I got 3 assists. And on Thursday, we THOUGHT that the game was at 9:00, but when I got there, the game only had two minutes left! So it turned out that half of our games are going to be at 8:00. At school, I get to see Coop in tights! (At his ShakeSpeare play. YYYYEEEEESSSS!!!!) This weekend, I got a bucket and put a plastic orange cone on top, then I went into the snow, made some snowballs, and tried to hit the cone off as many times as I can. I ended up hitting the cone six times from about twenty feet away! That is all I can recall for these 168 hours. Love ya! ColtBolt

Dear Landon, still getting ready for the Shakespeare play, and we are getting ready to perform it next week. I'm happy I only have three lines, and that I am only there for the beginning and end of the play, but Colton's class will come see! I have to wear tights, but I think my costume is pretty cool, but I still do not want to do it at all. I got to play wall ball a lot this week, because it was really warm and there was not a lot of snow on the driveway, so that makes up for horrible Shakespeare. Colton and I have been watching "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," and we just got the third and fourth season a little bit ago. There was something wrong with the Jr. Jazz schedule, so there was no game this week, but we did still have practice. I'm still getting a lot of use out of League Pass and there were a few close games this week I wouldn't have seen if it weren't for it. There was a game winner today by Nikola Vucevic, and Avery Bradley stunned the Cavs with a 3-pointer, and the Jazz are now on a six game winning streak, so the NBA is doing great right now. Super Bowl 50 just ended moments ago, Denver Broncos went against the Carolina Panthers. Bruno Mars, Beyonce, and Coldplay performed at the halftime show and I thought it was really cool, and there were a lot of funny commercials. Denver ended up pulling it off 10-24 getting Peyton Manning his 200th win, and his 2nd ring. We didn't have the special dinner because dad was kind of sick, but mom still made fried chicken and yellow rice, so it was all good. Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, since Friday night, I've been feeling the worst sickness in my life! It hurt so bad. I never puked though. I'd have much rather been throwing up. I was really hot, then really cold, then coughing, then dizzy, then numb, then runny and stuffy nose, then soar throat and phlegm phlegm phlegm phlegm phlegm. It was way uncomfortable. I had to miss two games that I wanted to play. We ended up losing one and winning the other. I couldn't even go to watch because I felt the worst ever! It's a lot better today, but I've still had all of those conditions. It has been the two longest days ever, and I haven't even worn my flex for either of them. I was pretty much up the entire Saturday morning. The Broncos won SuperBowl 50 today. We couldn't have our awesome dinner with steak, chicken, and mashed potatoes though because I think I got Dad sick. So yeah... Wuv, Keaton

• Dear Colton: Ouch.. That is a rough loss... But I guess you hoped for some more competition when you joined super league huh? Well, the point is to have fun. That is most important! Haha you want to see Cooper in tights? That is a bit weird, don't you think? Funny, but weird. Sounds like you are a little bored to just be throwing snowballs at a cone.. But I have done silly stuff like that too. So don't worry about it! ;)
• Dear Cooper: I guess I never asked.. But were you forced to do the play? Or did you volunteer? I remember being in a play once.. Nor did I enjoy it. Hahahahaha I love me some Fresh Prince of Bel-Air! Will Smith is one of my favorite actors. Wow, really? Are you talking about the correct team? The Jazz are on a 6 game winning streak?! I would hope that they have a slot in the Playoffs then, right? I did hear who won from one of the other elders today in the morning.. Didn't sound all that exciting of a game.. But you can always enjoy the halftime show and the commercials! No special dinner!? Yikes.. then it really wasn't Super Bowl Sunday.. Oh well.
• Dear Keaton: Yikes.. That does not sound very fun at all. Hahaha but did you play a lot of Battlefront? But that is good that your are feeling better! Get back active!

***Westra Writing ***

Note to our three missionary grandchildren: Some weeks ago, when we were watching our usual Jeopardy show, one of the contestants was an Eric Westra from Omaha. I know there are a number of Westras in the Midwest, and have traced their immigration. So Janika (aka Sister Westra), whenever you are in a different city, always look in the current city phone book and see if there are any Westras listed. If so, and if they are in your area, you could contact them and say that your grandpa has information on their Dutch pedigree. It they are interested, you could get them signed on to Family Search and Family Tree. It may be a good tool to make contacts and it could very well lead to investigation of the church.

Now Landon (aka Elder Blackham) and Corin (aka Elder Westra), you will not likely find any Westras in your areas, but you might use the Family History approach to interest some people in the church. If you don't have trained Family History consultants in your area, we could help you research their lines--the Spanish ones would be more difficult than Janika's converts, but we could try.

On my phone shift each Friday morning, I very often get calls from non-members, and some of them ask: Why do you spend so much time and effort and money on Family History? We aren’t supposed to proselyte as support missionaries, but when they ask, we can answer them and explain to them the important work we are doing. This could easily lead to further investigation of the church. When non-members (pre-members) call, they are so very appreciative of what the church offers free to all genealogists.

We love you all.
Love, Dad/Grandpa

• Thanks Grandpa for the tip!  In my first area, we would actually use the pamphlet for family history while doing street contacts. It was fun. Haven't done it for a while, but I will make it a goal for this next week! Here, everyone appears to be family... Being Hernandez, Sanchez, Gutierrez, Valdez.. Basically whatever last name that ends in "Z".. Haha a bit funny.

Week #50 - Better Week

Vinieron! Sí vinieron!

(They came! They really came!)

Well, first thing to say is that this week was a lot better than last. Last week we really struggled to have lessons with a member present. It isn't that the members aren't willing to accompany us, but every time we were there ready for the lesson with the member, the investigator wasn't there.. A bit frustrating.. But we continued working!

It paid off, because this week we got some. But the best thing that happened was that we gave a tour of the church to two of our investigators, and we put a baptismal date with them! Then, on Sunday they came to church!  That is definitely a challenge that we have had during our time here.. Because we start at 8:00 in the morning for church.. And everyone here are sleepy heads. But, diligence has paid off for this week. So there it is!

Today we played a bit of basketball. Then after, of course we played soccer. I usually dread playing, or just don't play. But today was pretty fun! We had divided up into three teams, and play until someone would score a goal, losers go, winners stay. And my team was pretty good! We lost one time, and then stayed on to dominate until the others gave up. So that was fun. But it was even more fun when we did new teams... USA vs Mexico.. All the gringos against the skilled mexican elders.. That got intense! We played to five goals, I scored 2 of them! What?!?! But we did lose by one.. 4-5.. It was really fun, more fun because I am getting better! Haha we will have to wait until next week for the rematch!

Pictures ...I know, I know.. I am sorry. My camera is just a little big, so I never bring it around with me. And when we are at home, there isn't much to take pictures of...but next week, I promise at least one photo! I shall not fail!

*** Step Stats ***

Monday, January 25 - 12453

Tuesday, January 26 - 19135

Wednesday, January 27 - 21313

Thursday, January 28 - 9885

Friday, January 29 - 18319

Saturday, January 30 - 18527

Sunday, January 31 - 21379

Super Cooper is still at the top of the Fitbit Friends list. 30k a day average! At least I managed to move up the list a little. Aunt Alicia mentioned she'd been taking a lot of walks there in California, and she showed up in Landon's top 10 this week (now just gotta get her to add a profile picture!)

*** From the Brothers ***

Dear Landon, we played Sunset (West Hills' nemesis) on Thursday and yesterday. We won BOTH times! On Thursday, they were winning by 20 at the end of the first quarter. Then, we came back and won by one with my game-winning free throw. It was 42-43. Yesterday, I went 3 for 3 from the 3! We did a lot better this time and a much bigger crowd. We won by 11 and it was a lot funner;) First week of the new semester schedule, and I've already broken a kid's ankles in gym. It was way funny even he laughed. Biology has been really stupid the past few days. I had to write an ESSAY! FOR BIOLOGY? Now, me and a partner have to write a one-page document with four sections on how Mendel's principles are used today. It sucks. In Geography, we're learning the countries of Africa. Since I'm in honors, I also have to do capitals! There's so many! The physical features aren't that hard, and I've already mastered the countries. It'll take a white for me to learn the capitals though. In class, I asked my teacher to play the song "Africa" by Toto. That's pretty much all I've been singing for the past week. It's mine and Ty's new favorite song. Also, "Oh Africa" by Akon, and "This time for Africa" by Shakira we've been singing in class too, but Toto's is better. So yeah... Wuv, Keat

Dear Landon, this week of school was good. On my writing on Utah Compose, I already have a score of 24 on my third paragraph, and I'm planning on doing five. The only thing I am doing that is school related other than writing is math, and all of the other stuff has been practicing for our Shakespeare plays, I'll watch my friend's play this week. We finally got to change seats ever since the end of Christmas break, and we got to choose where we sat. We had a game this Saturday and I went and tied my season-high 10 points. We were dominating in the first quarter, so the scoreboards were turned off. The team scored more in the second half, but that is because our coach didn't want us to steal or block at all, and almost all their points were 3-pointers. I felt sick before and after the game, but I felt a lot more sick after our game. When we came back, I felt so cold that I was shivering. But a few hours after that, I was really hot and had a fever. So Saturday was definitely my worst day of the week. Because it snowed!! Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, so this was certainly a lazy week, even at school. The only thing that I did at school was playing tornado, when I shot my ball, it hit the rim then bounced off and started to roll. So I went to hurry go chase it, I stopped it when it was almost at the three point line, the kid behind me was about to get me out so I chucked up my ball in the air behind me, and surprisingly made it! Then I went on to win the game. (I will probably win 7 out of 10 games because I am the best in my grade.) So I did win one of my two games this week. I won 32-9! I went against a team that had the same coach that Keaton has! I got two points. There was only a minute left in the game, and I didn't have any points, then I got fouled... Made both of the free throws, so yeah. In the second game, I got 7 points, and I think 2 assists. Although I don't remember the score. I should really start doing that. Anyway, so Sunday is my lazy (playing the computer) day, so see ya! ColtBolt