February 22, 2012

Hello Family!!

Yes, we eat at a member’s house every day except for Mondays, in which the members that really like us usually invite us over to eat anyway. It is with random sisters of the ward; they just print a calendar and give it to everyone. I get about 1400 Pesos a month, which is about 120 dollars and that is how we pay for transportation and breakfast and dinner. To give you an idea about what we spend it on: a box of cereal-30 to 50 pesos, a half gallon of milk-23, peanut butter-45, oatmeal without flavor I think 400g-10, 1k of bananas-10, bus-10, metro-4.5.

As far as the question about what Tristan should do to prepare to serve, I really am not sure. If you are looking for a secret recipe there is one, and the prophets have told us lots about it -- studying and praying. Tell Tristan not to study weird things but to study about everyday situations that he has (or with his own questions). Doing this, he will really be interested in the subject and will be able to recall what he learned later. Another thing is, he could think about all the commandments that the Lord has given us and think or write down specific times when he as seen the blessings of keeping them in his life, or when he has not wanted to keep them and wasn't as blessed.

We have had a riot this week. I'm pretty sure I've told you about Lucy. We saw her all this week until Friday morning when she left out of town and got back Saturday night. We talked to her a lot about getting baptized this week. She said she would if the weather was good and we had hot water - she has told us that before and she decided to not do it at the last minute so I didn't really believe her. Sunday morning we decided to pass by her house and see if she was going to go. Turns out she was already there and had been for a couple hours. She had to escape from her house early because her daughters don't like the church, but she was lost for a while because she told her daughters she had gone with a sister from the ward that is her friend and lives close. Nobody knew where she was for a while. We got to church after the sacrament and found her there. She told us she was ready to get baptized (luckily we already did the interview) so we went to start the font filling, but the boiler didn't work so we called the zone leaders and they started their font filling with ´´hot water´´. Meanwhile we found a brother who could take us and got everything worked out to go to the zone leaders building. When we got there the water was just above my knees and not hot. But I wasn't about to wait for it to fill because she still wasn't sure if she was going to do it. We had a quick service (I don't think she understood much, she's basically deaf and blind) and then I baptized her. I had to do it twice because old people don’t really bend. The second time I put my leg over hers and my shoulder pushed her down (good thing that she isn’t either tall or fat (remember how deep the water is). I was a little worried I drowned her but she got up and the testigos said it was good.

I am running out of time (tell Tristan to learn how to type fast). Yesterday I was the sickest I've been the whole time I've been here. We ate some pretty shady stuff and on top of that I have been stuffed up with a sore throat. I got diarrhea around 5:00 and around 7:00 we were on a bus. It was about 110 degrees in there and packed with people so I could barely move and I got really nauseous. I got off the bus just in time and threw up more than I ever have in my entire life, meat and fried potatoes with agua de Jamica. I feel bad for all the people that had to see it, because it was on the side of a 4 lane highway during stop and go traffic. I didn't even think about getting back on that bus. We started to walk the rest of the way home, took a little nap on a random slab of concrete and walked for about 45 minutes until we gave up and took a taxi to the house. When we got to the house I couldn't even rest because we still hadn't picked up our clothes from the sisters house (about a half mile away). Needless to say we did not go to the temple today as planned. I think it's going to be a couple days before I can get on another bus. Thank heavens we live with otros elders and they could help and give me a blessing last night. I feel pretty good today.

Anyway, I've probably made you all sick in just reading this so I think I'll stop. I hope the best for you all and I love you.

Elder Waite

February 13, 2012

Dear Family,

I'm glad to hear my fame hasn't diminished at home. The funny thing is, I don't even know the little girl that you are talking about, but you can tell her I say HI. As far as melatonin I have lots still from the MTC so I wouldn't worry about sending any, I haven't tried taking it for a while. I lost about 10 pounds, but I'm staying at a steady 195 now. Mexicans are always amazed when I they find out I weigh that much... I think it’s funny to tell them. It’s true that I'm not really eating like a legit rhinoceros but I do eat. You don't need to worry about me, I feel fine and it’s not that bad anyway.

It’s been really cold this week. We were going to have a baptism - her name is Lucy. She has lots of faith; she just doesn't want to get wet on a cold day. Today isn't cloudy and tomorrow should be better so any day now she will get baptized. Other people we have: Alàn, the college student - we saw him on the metro this week and he asked us when we were going to come by. This semester his schedule is busier but that is a good thing... now he doesn't have time to party. If everything goes well he will get baptized this Sunday. Ana Maria, Tabatha and Daniela are a family that we are working with. My goal is for them to get baptized before I leave this area. It’s possible that I only have about two weeks left... sad but true.

Anyway, we are doing great. I hope you are all doing fine as well.

Love,

Elder Waite

February 6, 2012

Hello Family,

Thanks for your email. I like hearing from you as well Mom. I'm glad to hear you are all doing well. I am doing fine also, I guess I can't complain. We had a baptism yesterday, however it didn't count for us, she is a little girl named Lesslie. She asked me to baptize her. It was pretty fun. It didn't count for us because she is 8 and her parents are both members. We normally leave it up to the ward to do everything in this case, but they were sleeping on the job so we just decided to do it. The mom, Theresa is a recent convert and active - actually she feeds us sometimes, and she gave us the reference for Lydia and Uriel who just barely got baptized. She also talked to you on the Christmas tape that I sent. We made invitations and legit programs, and I was content doing it because they have many friends that would and did come to church. Our pool of possibilities is now lots bigger and some more people know a little about us. That was the big thing that happened to us this week.

It is a cold day in Monterrey, tomorrow is going to be colder. My fingers are having trouble typing. I miss the cold like it is at home but I would probably die if I had to live in a concrete house in Idaho. I haven't been feeling great lately. I lost a little weight and haven't been sleeping good so I decided to talk to Sis Romney about it. She said it was normal for missionaries that have a long time in the mission. I didn't realize I was one of those that had a lot of time. I'm not telling you this to get you worried (Mom) I still eat and work like a rhinoceros. I just thought it was funny that she thought I had lots of time in the mission...weird.

Anyway, have a good week!

Love,
Elder Waite

January 30, 2012

Dear Family,

I'm glad you enjoyed the tape. I think the story of The Little Engine That Could was a copy and they just changed the story a little or maybe it wasn't the original or something. I don't remember how the colors were and Elder Riley is far from here right now. I am glad that Janie enjoyed listening to me read it.

Thank you for your letters and mail again, they encourage me.

Happy Birthday Dad. I remembered - I promise. I wanted to send you a letter - I have had the letter written and everything for a while but just haven't had time to send it. It will be a late birthday present. Mom it’s not a bad thing that there isn't very much to write, no news is good news; I've decided that I'm happy as long as I am never bored.

I've been reading back in my journal lately (I wrote some of the weirdest things) but it’s cool to see the change that has happened in the past year. some of the things were really good. Keeping a journal has been pretty interesting. It’s kind of like studying yourself. I encourage you all to do it. I was also thinking a lot about the way you raised me. Thank you very much for all the sacrifice.

Maren, are you in 8th grade or 9^th? Hannah, are you a junior now? That means Jr. Miss right? You've probably already started but keep me updated!!

Love,

Elder Waite

January 25, 2012

Greetings Family!

How is everybody doing? I have had a great couple days because I finally got mail!!! A bunch of Christmas stuff and more from you guys and other various persons. Also the weather here is perfect, apart from being a little humid, and has been for a while; mid 70's with very mild clouds and winds. Now I only sweat when I walk fast or for long periods of time.

For the Questions: Picadillo is browned ground beef with potatoes in little cubes. Yes, I love shakes, I've moved on to papaya and oatmeal. Sometimes I eat it with vanilla whey protein if I worked out hard in the morning. I just put about 1/8th-1/4 of a gallon of milk with about a quarter or a half of a papaya, or if it is a banana shake, two bananas. Blend it up with a little bit of honey, put it in a yogurt container and mix the oatmeal in raw. It’s one of the best parts of my day because I eat it during personal study.

We had Zone conference yesterday. It was pretty cool. Sister Romney always delivers the most powerful message – at least for me. She talked about Christ-like attributes, and especially humility. Consequently, that chapter in Preach my Gospel is my favorite. I had actually been studying it lately. I think I am often like a horse in the harness that is just fighting and using more energy to get out and do my own thing than to just go and do like Nefi. If we all just had the faith to be humble enough to accept the Lord’s will we would suffer a lot less and get a lot more done.

We have a baptism today at 6:30. Lydia - she is really excited and so am I. I just hope her husband follows...we might just push him in tonight, de una vez, because he is just making up excuses now.

Congrats on the new arms. Looks like the girls are going to turn into either magpie killers or world helpers.

Love,

Elder Waite