How to eat fried worms

Hola que dice familia!!

We had a better week this week. We have continued growing closer as companions through some of the hardships that we have had and I am really grateful for this chance I have to train. Its hard sometimes because if I dont know how to do something I cant just look at my companion and wait for him to solve it, but It makes me learn that much quicker. I feel like Im learning just as much as he is in this whole training process.

Well I will start off with what we ate this week. We ate in the house of one of our investigators on friday (Maria de los angeles). She gave us some meat and beans and little bits of green something and rice wrapped in tinfoil. We were eating it and my companion asked what the little green pieces were... she told us it was "nopal" which translates to "cactus" in english. :) Haha I thought it was some sort of bean or something but no it was cactus. But it tasted delicious, we ate a ton, haha. (Dont worry, she took off the spines) After we ate that she showed us some worms that she had in a jar. (See the picture of the red worm in my hand) and told us that they were super good if you cook them in a frying pan and put salt on them. We were like, "really, you can eat that? and it wont kill us?" she just laughed and then I told her I wanted to try it, (Im going crazy I know) so she fried up two worms and we salted them and ate them... It actually tasted really good. It was crunchy and just tasted like some type of meat or something. Then she told us that you could eat them raw...I wasnt going to eat it but my companion decided to try it and then i had too. I´ll just say that it tasted better cooked... But I´m not dead or sick or anything so dont worry. :) I took a video and I will show you all when I get home.

We were going to baptize Josué this sunday, (hes the son of Maria de los angeles) but they went out of town, and so we are hoping to be able to baptize them both this sunday. We are excited because Maria and her boyfriend are willing to get married, we might have some complications with some of the papers but we are hoping that everything goes smoothly. Maria and he kids and soooo great. She has two little girls that are just adorable and she has come to church two time and has loved it. She even put her name down twice on the list of food that the hermanas pass around for the month. We will be praying and fasting so everything turns out good with her boyfriend.

We had a meeting with the zone leaders yesterday and it went really well. We talked about what we can improve as a zone and came up with some good ideas to work with the members and be better missionaries. President also showed up on a surprise visit for district class this tuesday and taught us some good stuff. It was really neat because It was president and like 4 companionships, so we got to do practices with president and he taught us a bunch of great stuff.

It has been a little colder here lately, it hasnt rained as much but everyone is walking around in coats, but its like 60 degrees and perfect, its funny. They had dia de los muertos here instead of halloween. They dont make such a big deal out of going around and asking for candy like we do, kinda boring, haha.

The pictures are of the worm I ate and today we went to a sweet bridge with the district and with some members.

Well, I appreciate so much your emails and prayers, my time is up but I love you all soooooo much and hope that you all have a great week!!

Mucho amor,

Elder Eastmond

Pictures: Oct 22 and 29

Responsibility

Hola familia!

We had a tough week. We are getting along great and Elder Serrano is learning really quickly, but it´s been tough here. We are working with only references now, so if we dont get them, there is nobody to teach. We got alot this week but nobody really wanted to listen, only half of the references accepted another appointment. Its hard because I feel like alot more depends on the members and their efforts to help us, we have to put our faith in them and do everything we can to help them see the importance of all this and the joy that they will receive by sharing the gospel with their friends and family.

Isai has had a lot of doubts and I feel like we cant help him. It hurts but I don´t know what more we can do to help him progress. The other day he had some scripture from the bible that says "Jesus is a high priest forever" and he says that it means that he can´t transfer his power to a prophet in these days because he would lose his power and wouldnt be a high priest anymore. We tried to explain to him everything and try to tell him that the scripture doesnt mean that but he wouldnt listen. We explained to him that if he is looking to match everything up perfectly from the bible and the book of mormon, he is never going to find what hes looking for. We told him to make the decision with his faith but he says that he has to have backround info before he can have faith. Hes too focused in little things that he finds in the bible that he wont listen to the spirit or to his heart.

We have also been teaching a sweet lady named Guiermina who wants to get baptized and is really excited. She was going to come to church yesterday and we were waiting for her to bring her but last minute her niece came up to us and gave us a note that said she was going out of town and wouldnt be able to go. Something always happens, every single sunday morning, haha. We never know what but there is always an excuse not to come to church.

We are teaching a neat family right now. The mom is named Maria de los Angeles and she has two little girls and a boy named Josuè. She isnt married with her husband but wants to get baptized on the tenth, so we are going to try to help them get married. She came to church this week (two weeks in a row, woooo!!!) and really likes how the church teaches her kids good things. We are planning on having some family home evenings with the members to help them get ready for everything. The trick is going to be talking with her husband because he is always working.

We had a leadership meeting in Veracruz this week, it was great. They talked to all the district and zone leaders to help us improve and be better leaders. They talked about district classes (what we can do to make them better) This week I have a fun activity planned that should make the class pretty fun. We also talked about putting a good example for the other missionaries in the district. That is hard to do in our district because the Hermanas are incredible, haha. We learn alot more from them than they from us I think.

I´ve been struggling a little bit lately, I havent felt like I know how to train and be a district leader and baptize all at the same time but I have faith that the Lord wants me to learn something and improve as a missionary. I feel like Im in some of the hardest/most stressful times in my mission right now, there is alot of pressure on our zone and the district and more now that I am training but Im hoping that Ï will be able to figure it all out soon. Pray for us that we can juggle everything thing and work hard but at the same time enjoy what we are doing. We know that if we keep searching and looking we will find the people that god wants us to find. I love you all tons and thank you for your prayers and emails!!

Mucho amor,

Elder Eastmond

Greenie coming

Hola Familia!!

This week was a little bit hard. Everything was going all good, we interviewed Itzel for her baptism and she passed and felt ready and everything, and so we were going to baptized her sunday after church. We went to her house to bring her to church on sunday, and she came out in sweats and a t-shirt and we were like oh no somethings wrong. She told us that she had some news and that she wasnt going to get baptized. She said that she didnt have the desire yet and that she didnt feel prepared. She said that we had taught her everything well but she didnt want to do it yet. Lots of times the people here are scared because its a big decision and they dont want to mess up after being baptized, so we tried to help her and find her doubts and everything but she didnt want to do it. She ended up coming to church with us and our mission leader gave a crazy powerful class on faith and we invited her right there to be baptized after church but she has doubts that she hasnt told us and didnt want to do it yet. So we are going to pass by this week and see what we can do to help her.

The picture is of a baptism from 2 of the Elders in our district. This lady is really neat and her name is Pilar. Her whole family had gotten baptized but she didnt want to yet, she had some problems and doubts. Elder Espinosa had been teaching her forever but they divided the area and the other misionaries started to come. They put a bunch of dates with her but they have all fallen through for one reason or another. But she finally got baptized on friday, she wanted Elder Espinosa to baptize her because he had taught her for so long, so we got to go to the baptism. It was really special because it had been a team effort with everyone, Elder Espinosa and I had both taught her a bunch on divisions and stuff and I had to do two interviews with her for some problems that she was having, but she finally made the decision and it was really special with her family there and everything.

So I have some crazy news! This week we have changes, and I am going to train a new misionary!! I´m sooooooooooooooooooo excited!! I´m going to stay here in this area and still be district leader, but I´m going to get a brand new missionary as a companion!! I still don´t know if he´s going to be American or mexican or from central america, but I do know that Im really really excited. Im so greateful for this chance that I get, it really is an oportunity really sacred, and I´m really nervous but greatful because everytime I start getting comfortable with something the Lord changes something up so I have to learn and improve as a missionary. Elder Espinosa is going to Veracruz to be a district leader, we have enjoyed our time together. We are going to Veracruz tomorrow to pick up the news and do changes and everything.

The other thing is that they changed the district up. Hermanas are going to arrive in one of the wards, and it is only going to be them and my companion and I in the district. The other two companionships of Elders are going to be a separate district. Its going to be really different but im excited because the Hermanas are all amazing and they work really hard.

To answer some questions

1. What is the funniest thing that happened to you this week?

That I´m always soooooooo cold in the mornings! We shower with cold water and I always have to wrap myself in a blanket in the morning, and my MEXICAN companion makes fun of me because hes not cold. And i bought my first pillow that ive had in all of my mission, haha

2. What is the weirdest thing you ate?

A sucker with chile powder

3. What are the houses like in your area? Is your area poor or middle classish? (Your apt looks pretty nice from the pix)

The houses are all middle classish , a little different than my other area. We live above an Hermana in the ward, and the house is sweet!!

4. Do you mostly walk in this area or do you take taxis or buses? Are the buses there crazy where every seat is full and then they pack you in like sardines with standing room only so that it takes you 30 minutes to make your way to the front when you need to get off if you're in the back?)

We walk alot but we also take taxi, because with interviews and stuff we are short on time sometimes, so we have to hurry. The busses usually aren{t too packed but there have been a couple of times where we had to stand.

Well, I love you all and hope you have a great week!! Thank you for the emails and the prayers!!!

Mucho amor,

Elder Eastmond

Pictures Oct 1 and 8, 2012

Conference in Spanish

Que dice familia!!

Wow what a great conference!! We watched it from the chapel in one of the areas in the district. We didnt have an english room this time but it didnt matter because I could understand it all in spanish this time. We watched the priesthoold session in english because we had to go to a different chapel and they had it all set up there. I have to say its better in English, haha, because you can hear they voices and everything. I loved Elder Nelson´s talk, ask the misioneries, they can help you. Haha that was such a great talk. Also I loved the announcement about the misioneries. I totally agree that lots of the guys get lost in that year after high school and before the mission, and Im so excited for the young women who all want to serve, they will help the work progress so much faster! It´s going to get crazy pretty soon! I also liked both of President Uchdorf´s talks and there was one about 5 things that we can do in the sacrament that I liked too. Also, it was cool because Elder Scott speaks spanish and so beforehand, he recorded himself reading the talk in spanish and they put that in the conference Instead of someone translating, it was really neat.

We only had one investigator come to the conference. He loved it but we were kinda bummed that no one else came. We are teaching almost only references right now and we assigned all the members to pass by for the references and investigators. Half of the members that we had assigned didnt even show up...haha if the members dont come, the investigators arent gonna come either. We were kinda frustrated, we have yet to check with everyone to see what happened. But all of our converts were in the conference and loved it, that was really special. And a lady that we are teaching (Maria) watched it from her house with her husband who is a member, so that is good and we are going to visit her todayand see how she liked it. We had two baptism dates for this week, Maria and Itzel, both are 20 years old and have at least one familiy member who is a member of the church. We werent able to baptize them this week becuase they were really busy with school and everything and we werent able to teach them very much this week. But they both have dates this week and we are going to focus alot in their answer to the Book of Mormon. Pray for them so they can get answers! They´re really good, Itzel is trying to stop drinking coffee and had a headache today when we went to visit her in the morning, but we gave her a blessing and that is going to help her alot.

This week we have changes! Elder Espinosa has been in this area for almost 6 months and so we are almost sure that he is leaving. This change will be interesting because we are getting 25 new missioneries, and there are already a ton in the process being trained right now. Alot of us feel like we are going to be training this change, but we will see what happens. I have been adjusting alot to new things in the mission and some problems in the district. We have basically stopped knocking on doors completely and we are totally focused in working with the members. It has been I little hard because we cant always get the references we need, we have to be really patient and try to be creative in the activites and things we do to find new people to teach. I am really trying to rely onthe Lord alot and ask for his guidance for how we can have even more sucess here in the area and in the district.

the pictures are of my companion and I with some friends after the conference, the one of me in the blanket is in the morning when I was really cold. I have completely adjusted to the Mexican sun and weather and it has been a little colder here in the mornings, nothing compared to Utah but I have been a little cold in the mornings, haha. Im going to die when I get back in December. And the other picture is of the zone...We were trying to take pictures of the zone in baptismal clothing with the timers on our cameras, and we had everything all set up, but every time we set the timers everyone started jumping on eachother and trying to get in the front to make the best pose/face posible. We took about 5 and they all turned out like these. We may be missioneries but we still have little kids inside, haha.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed the conference, I feel so greateful for all the messages and I feel alot closer to my Heavenly Father. I know that the key now is to apply everything! And we can start today, we should never wait to apply the consels and words of the apostles and profets. I know that as we put what we learned in to action we will be better people and have more happiness in our lives, and be able to touch the lives of other people!

Les amo mucho, a cada uno de ustedes!!

Elder Eastmond

Tough Week

Hola familia!

It was a tough week this week. We had alot of roadblocks and challenges but we worked hard. We had a zone conference with President, his wife, and the assistents, it was soooooo good. We learned alot about references and how we can be more effective with the members. We learned a ton of great stuff and we are excited to apply everthing these coming weeks.

We did all we could to help Jorgina and Francisco get baptized this week but they decided they didnt want to do it. Francisco didnt want to get married and says that he wants to wait because it is hard for him right now that he has cancer. It was hard because we tried to help him understand that making this covenant with the Lord would help him in his trials, but he wasnt seeing it. We taught them one day and we were going to pass by the day after but when we got there, there were kids runnig around out side, and they saw us and ran into the house and then came back out and told us that Francisco had left... but Elder Espinosa saw Francisco close the door. Kinda sad but maybe in the future he will be more prepared to accept the missionaries again.

To answer some of dad´s questions : Yes I now dream in spanish, in fact I have been dreaming in spanish for a while... haha I hardly ever dream but when I do it´s in Spanish. And yes I´m to the point where I can say anything I want, it´s pretty fun :)

I do alot of interviews because the district is awesome and they are teaching and baptizing alot of people. The average has been about 3 per week. Its true dad, the interviews are really special, it´s really neat to be able to talk to the investigadors about the changes they have seen in their lives and see how excited they are to be baptized. The interviews in Huatusco are an hour and a half away from our area so we have gotten home pretty late some of these days, haha.

For district class we have a book that helps us prepare weekly classes with scriptures and quotes from Preach my Gospel. We also talk about what we are doing well, what we can do to improve as a district, and we talk about the investigators that we are teaching and their challenges that they have. Then we do an hour of practices in different teaching situations.

The new program that President organized is working great! We have received a bunch of references, to the point where the members have set up appointments for us and we go to the houses with them. Close to all of our investigators right now are references from the members.

The most delicious food I have eaten... hmmmm that´s a tough one. Probably the cow stomach... haha no there are these taquitos that they do here, they put meat in a tortilla, roll it up and fry it, and then put salsa and lettuce on it. Tostados are good too, I dunno I absolutely love all of the food here!

This week we have a goal to baptize 3 people. All of them are referencias and they have been coming to church. One of them is the wife of an ex misionary (Maria), the other is the wife of a member less active (Nilley), and the other is the daugther of a member less active (Itzel). They are all really great, we are focusing alot in receiving an answer about the Book of Mormon, they all have told us that it they get answers this week they will get baptized conference weekend. Nillely, we have to help her get married, she told us yesterday that she is going to talk to her husband (technically her boyfriend) so they can decide what to do. We are really excited for these people, they are all really neat and we have had some special lessons with them. We are going to be praying really really hard this week so they can get answers to their prayers.

The pictures are from today, we climbed a mountain here in Orizaba, it was way cool and a little bit cold at the top, it felt really good, haha. Good to here that you´re all enjoying yourselves back home!! I got my birthday package and I absolutely love the ties!!! They are so cool, and the pictures are all colored so perfectely inside the lines, haha well done family! Tell camile thank you for the 20 bucks!!

Have a great week!!

Mucho amor,

Elder Eastmond