May 16, 2011 -email

Hello Family!!

Well like what I said to you on Mother’s Day, I got changed!! Pretty cool, I am now in a ward called Morelos 1 and it is a completely different life, but I like it. When we get changes the zone leaders call and tell us what is going on at around 9:30 the night before we leave, and then we have to be at the bus station at 830 the next morning. At about 6 on Monday President called me…a little startling…and told me in person that I was getting changed. He didn't tell me where he just said that I would be getting a companion that I would learn lots from. I'm not going to go into more details about what he said, but it was sort of a warning call. And now that I have been with him I know why. He is a very good missionary and has exploded this area. We live with another companionship, which is sort of fun. During the day I never speak English and rarely in the night.

I am excited for this change here. I am learning so much more in every aspect of being a missionary in Mexico. I am sending some pictures of where I study, where my clothes are, outside the window from the study room, and of a bird that was in our house last night. I might be able to write you more later...  If not goodbye.

Love

Elder Waite

May 16, 2011 -letter

Dear Family,

Well, today is Monday.  I wrote you guys this morning, not very much.  I hope this letter will maybe fill you in on what I didn’t say this morning.  We are at an Hermana’s house washing.  They have a washer and a dryer.  It’s the first time that I’ve used a dryer since being in Mexico.  I actually think they don’t exist in Salinas Victoria.  I had to come into the big city.  Our area really is in the big city, but it is mostly residential.  It is so weird being here.

My new companion was born in Brazil, his mom is Brazilian and his dad is Mexican.  For the past 10 years he has lived in Chiapas, Mexico.  He is short and really dark.  He knows how to talk to people and can gain their confidence really fast.  I am glad that I am with him.  For one I am going to be able to speak Spanish better, the other is I hope to be able to talk to people like he can.  This week that I have been with him has been interesting.   Obedience is related with everything we do. 

Monterrey is awesome.  I am still amazed at how big this city is.  It pretty much never ends.  The mountains all around it are really cool also, they are huge.  From our house you can see the Silla (Saddle Mountain), and in another direction another group of mountains that look bigger, but I think it is just because they are closer. 

Today, and all this week it has been raining and one day it even hailed.  Not quite as bad as it was on the hike with the Waldrons but it was still pretty intense.  It’s been pretty nice weather lately.  I have been using my long sleeve shirts more.  I forgot how much I like them.  The primary song about earth right after rain makes a lot more sense to me now that I have been in a city that doesn’t get clean very often.  Sunday afternoon it was really cool.  It rained really hard so everyone went inside and about 45 minutes after, it stopped and everything was silent.  Nobody was outside but us and everything was fresh.  It was pretty cool, or a different experience at least. 

22 May

I fell in love with Mexico a little more last night.  We got to go to a birthday party of one of the sisters in the ward (We baptized her future son-in-law my first Sunday here.  That was cool.)  Mexicans really know how to party.  They got these huge speakers from somewhere and had some karaoke going on and there was also a piñata.  I had the honors of breaking it.  Right now it is early Sunday morning.  We don’t have any baptisms planned but there are lots of people who showed up last week and if they come today they could theoretically get baptized.  We are taking the white clothes just in case.  I am pretty sure we are going to be in church at the same time as you guys.  It is cool to think about that.

Sister Romney (Mission President’s wife) is going to mail this sometime, hopefully soon from Texas, so it should get to you guys pretty fast.  I think about you guys all the time, and I love to show the pictures of us to people.  The usual comment is, “Wow, 7 kids, didn’t you guys have T.V.? “  Anyway, I love you.

Love,

Elder Camden Waite

May 16, 2011 -email from President Romney

Thank you, Bro and Sis Waite, for your letter and your concern for your son.  Let me first put you at ease and tell you that your son is doing very well. 

The warning call that I made was to let Elder Waite know that his companion had had some challenges in the past, had been changed from a senior to a junior companion, and that I was once again making him a senior companion.  I wanted your son to be aware of a few of his companion's past challenges to ensure they were not repeated. 

I am actually very pleased to hear that your son's companion is responding so well to the move to make him a senior companion again.  It sounds as if they are doing very well together.

I very much enjoy having Elder Waite in our mission.  He is one of those Elders that I anticipate will always be "part of the solution" as opposed to "part of the problem".  Thank you for sending me someone with such great desire and ability.

May you be blessed in all you do,

President Brent Romney
Mexico Monterrey West Mission

ps - I am unaware of any problem with Dear Elder.  It does sometimes take a while to actually get the letters in the hands of the missionaries.

January 29, 2011

January 29, 2011 – Letter received May 7^th (14 weeks later) – retyped by Eve

                I’m here in Mexico and I’m safe.  Monterrey is sweet.  We flew in last night around 6:30.  Our president met us there and took us to the mission home.  We had our last American meal.  I really like President and Sister Romney.  Monterrey is really clean, at least what I’ve seen so far.  Lots of American companies are here, and there are probably more American cars than any others.

                We are going to probably be put in temporary assignments for the next two or three weeks and then hopefully our more permanent assignments will come.

                I keep having lots of surprises.  That’s pretty much what my whole mission has been so far, but I’m glad to say they have all been good surprises. 

                I am already in love with Mexico, and Monterrey is probably one of the prettiest cities I have seen.  It is about 60 ̊̊ here right now, no snow, which is really nice for a change.

                I’m doing great and hope you all are as well.

Love Your Son and Brother,

E. Waite

May 9, 2011 -pictures

May 9, 2011 -email

Hello Family!
Dang it was sure fun to get to talk to you all. It’s going to be a short letter today but I´m going to try to send you guys some pictures of the house and of an activity that we did today. My companion went with his trainer to another area so I was with other missionaries from the zone. Elder Kartchner (the tall one) is from Logan and the other white guy is our zone leader Elder Braithwaite is from Perry UT. The Mexicans are Elder Hernandez, Elder Perez, and Elder Becerra. They are all pretty cool. I’m the best friends with elder Kartchner. His cousin owns Kartchner Homes in Logan.
Love you guys! Hope the pictures turn out.
Elder Waite
p.s. For the activity we went to a military expo.

May 2, 2011 -email

Hello Family!!

How is everyone doing? Probably not as good as me, today has been a legit day. It’s cloudy and I felt a couple rain drops. It’s been around 25 degrees. Really not cold but I had to dig my blanket out of my bag around 2 last night, it was kinda fun to get to use a blanket for a change, I'm lovin it. I guess it’s the little things in life that matter, for example, I finally having a pillow (I broke down and bought one this week), hot water (not that we need it because the cold water is usually pretty warm anyway but we found out that propane is reimbursable) and having a toilet...with a seat...or basically just a place to sit that is a little secluded.

Yesterday we had Stake Conference, it was pretty cool. President Romney, the Temple President and an area seventy were all there. The talks were all very simple but really good, and I understood basically everything. The church rented a bus for our branch to get there, I was pretty excited for people to come but only about 20 people from the branch showed up, and none of our investigators that promised us with their lives. It was a little disheartening.

This coming week is going to be a little different, sort of like a vacation for me. We are going to be doing divisions with our District Leader and the next day with the Zone Leader and it just so happens that for both I will be leaving the area. I'm excited, it’s been a long time since I have been out of Salinas.

A quick word about a family we are teaching: Geraldo(dad) Naomy(mom) Geraldo Jr. ( 17) Jackalin (12) Arlett (10) Michele (2). They are really cool. They have a ranch about 20 minutes away from Salinas, so it’s pretty fun to talk to them about ranching stuff. I hope they are another golden family.

I have a blog?

I think the best time for the call would be 5 on Sunday, and I will be waiting. I can’t wait to hear from all of you, I hope everyone from the family will be there.

Love
Elder Waite