Parras

"I find your lack of faith disturbing"    Darth Vader    =)

My parents’ -  happiest anniversary to you!  Mom, well done jumping in the pool with the Relief Society ladies; it shows you still have youth flowing in your blood.  Remember when Caitlin pushed me in the pool, so we put my phone in a bowl of rice because it was water logged.  ha       

Well, let’s start with four years ago.  First, I don’t think this thing happened four years ago. I think it was more like a year ago (but something may have happened four years ago as well). There were two elders that were out of their area doing who knows what, and they happened to be in the area of a drug deal.  Not smart.  Next thing they knew they had bags over their heads and in a truck to some ranch.  They were apparently interrogated to see if they saw anything.  They hadn’t and said they were just missionaries.  The dealers contacted the church to verify and to try to collect a ransom.  My understanding is that the missionaries were released and then sent home.  All missionaries were taken out of the stake for a time and my area was closed for a year.  Torreon is a lot safer now and I feel like obedience to the rules provides safety.  

The Fonsecas are coming to Utah and want to meet you!  The parents are so great.    

I am being transferred today.  I will leave at 2 p.m. for Parras, the Eden of Torreon.  It is a ranch area 2 hours away from the rest of our district and is said to be the most beautiful part of the mission.  I will be finishing the training for an elder who has been here for 30 days.   He is from southern Mexico. I am very excited to be with him.  

So my second comp was interesting. He was breaking pretty much every minor rule so we had to sit down and talk about that.  He obeyed more or less after that. But he was often rude and he would sit in the mirror and do his hair for an hour. I am pretty sure the president knew and told me to love him.  So I started giving him compliments and he lightened up. At the end I thought, well that is part of the mission where I learned a lot. There are other stories that I will tell you later.

Meish said in a letter that she bought a bunch of gum to help a kid quit smoking.  Love you Meish - that was stellar advice.  We have been working with a woman that has been trying to quit smoking and now she has stopped smoking! Well, at least she proudly told me that she had gone one whole day without smoking.  Every time we visit her she says "Spencer (which she calls me all the time and I really don’t have the heart to tell her not to – and I kind of like the way she says Spencer with a Spanish accent) look:” and she shows me the gum. Two years ago she willingly went to a rehab clinic for other stuff, but hated it and broke out - which was actually a really funny story.  She had no money, bad relationships with her children and nowhere to live.  There are a lot of houses here that have been abandoned and so she just went and lived in one of those.  She had no light in the house, so spent the day sewing, and listening to Christian pop.  We have been helping her this week put donated furniture in her house and her neighbor is an electrician and we helped him with some wiring.  I learn quite a bit from all the projects we do.  Many of the people here are very handy and very resourceful and know how to fix up a house.   She tried to give my companion a kiss on the cheek in gratitude and the guy almost had a heart attack.  haha She just smiled this great sly smile.  She said to us that she misses us when we don’t stop by.  I stopped by today to say goodbye, but sadly she was sleeping. I am sad to leave this area but I am pretty excited to see Parras.

I have to take off but tell Will I am super stoked for him.  

 

Speen