SWEATER WEATHER

Charming how younger bro Elder Eli gets legit coldness (-24°F) — and in the same week los Mexicanos clamor for sweaters and extra blankies at 50°.

10 November 2014

[The blog title is] actually true. In case you heard me mock the mission packet that suggested that I bring a winter coat, I would like to apologize for my pride. I sleep with socks on, and Presidente Morales gave us all new, extra blankets, because IT’S COLD. To shower, we fill a pan with water and heat it up on the electric stove, pour it into a bucket, carry the bucket into the shower, mix it with the ice water that dumps from the whole in the wall, and use a little tin bowl to bath. It’s pretty sweet.

I know you’re all already counting down the days till I return, but in case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve already got 3 months of my mission! That’s nuts! It’s already flying by, and I’ve heard that the first 6 months are the slowest.

Check out this monster mosquito!

Contest time! If you can figure out the theme of the subjects of my past emails, I will personally email you a series of pictures acting out a high-five. Send your submissions to maxwell.webb@myldsmail.net, with the subject line “Subject Line”.

I’ll get to the fun stuff, I promise. First, Curious George was on in a house we visited, and I left with more questions than we asked the investigator. How does Jorge el Curioso know English so well? Why do the people he interacts with understand him? Why is he so good at math? What kind of monkey is he? What the the Man in the Yellow Hat do for work? Why is he only identified by the yellow hat, when his whole outfit is quite yellow? Why does he let George just hang out in his house? Is it an allegory of something much bigger? Perhaps something sinister?

Los élderes con los Reyes

I promise I spend just as much time with Gospel questions as I do with stuff like this. It’s just that I have all the answers to those in things like the standard works and True to the Faith.

Guess whose arm is whose! Elder Santana only wears long-sleeved shirts.

I thought you’d like to know, I made grilled cheese, and it’s now a favorite of Élder Santana y yo. I make it like twice a week because it’s fast, filling, easy, and warm.

Baptism!

We had baptisms this week! Élder Santana baptized Diana and confirmed Reyna, and I did the reverse. It was my first baptism, and it was such a cool experience. There’s a special spirit at baptisms. It’s like it’s ordained of God or something. Again, I was really nervous to confirm Diana porque no hablo español, but (and I think I mentioned this about Naylea’s confirmation) it’s amazing that the Spirit will still bring words to my mind that I should say, even if they’re super simple, or I conjugate them wrong. I’ve read 2 Nephi 31:3 like 8 times this week. It’s a great quick testimony of the gift of tongues.

Earlier this week, I was on exchanges with my new District Leader, Élder Macedo, teaching another investigator, Greendelia. We were reading Enos 1, and talking about how the Book of Mormon happened to her ancestors. It was so cool to sit in México and think that just a few leagues south of where I am (probably), all of these stories actually happened, and that the people we read about are real and are related to the people I’m teaching. It was so cool, and such a great testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

Spanish scriptures be gettin’ street

I may have mentioned how everything, everything, everything is different here. I’d make a list, but it would just be everything I’ve seen, heard, smelt, tasted, or touched over the last. Or, I should say, almost everything. Primary is exactly the same. The Primary program was yesterday, and it was so comforting to see that 3 kids didn’t know a single word to the songs, one kid was just rolling up his tie and watching it fall the whole time, I didn’t understand a SINGLE one of the testimonies (and not because they were in Spanish), and more than once, the nursery-age little girl tried running up to join her big sister on the stand, but was snatched half-way up by her fortunately-athletic father. It felt like home. The church is true in México, too.

Les amo. Guarden la fe. Padre Celestial les ama infinitamente, y quiere que sean felices. Escuchen a sus consejos, asistan a la iglesia, lean las escrituras, oren al Padre en el nombre del Hijo, y ustedes serán felices.

Élder Webb

Just climbin’ my house