The Great Christmas Honk

This week was full of really great as well interesting experiences. Monday, I had a really neat opportunity to talk to this Barber guy who was cutting my companions hair. He had lived in Arizona for 27 years, illegally and so his English was perfect. I was able to share our beliefs and clear up all the misinformation about our church that he had, all in english so that was very very nice haha. As well as testify of the power of the Book of Mormon, and I gave him a copy and he was excited to read it. On Wednesday December 11 at 6 pm, about 800 trucks passed by the main street, all of them honking their horns non stop, and they all had a picture of Mary on the front of their trucks. And so tons of people gather on the sides of the street to watch. This is a Catholic tradition to celebrate the virgin Mary. But, the tradition with the trucks passing by is apparently only celebrated in Parral. We had a few Christmas/Light the World Activities this week. All the missionaries in Parral gathered in central, and for the first activity, we set up a table filled with Light the World calendars, Book of Mormons, and treats to entice all the kids to get their family to come over haha and it worked. We invited the people to accept the calendar, and to do the small act of service that was listed for the day. We also went out and contacted the people in the Plaza area to bring them over and it was a success! The next activity was 2 days later, and it was similar as the last one. But this time we had more tables, and more candy haha. And we also invited the people to write letters to the kids in the hospital, that we would then go and deliver the cards to these kids. On Sunday, we had an amazing experience with this family that we found. So a few days earlier, we were contacting and we contacted this house and a guy came out and we talked to him and asked him how he felt his relationship with God was. And his response was "Pues bien, gracias a Dios" which means "Well good, thanks to God." However, this is also the exact same response you will get to just about any question regarding how they are doing haha so I don't think he fully understood the question. And so on Sunday, we came back and contacted his house, and he wasn't there, but there were people that were shouting at us asking who we were. Eventually, they came out and they asked us if we wanted to come inside and have homemade tortillas with them. And so we accepted the invitation and went inside and got to know them. Living in this house, is a mom-Rose, of 2 boys, 2 girls and a grandma-Selena. And the mom told us that she Selena needed council, and so we talk to her and find out that her brother was the guy that was just recently killed just the other week. And so we had an amazing lesson with her and taught her the Plan of salvation. And when we explained to her where her brother is right now and that she will be able to live with him again, she was in tears. And so the lesson that I was able to learn here was that, part of Gods plan for some people, might be experiencing something devastating, such as the loss of your brother in a murder, that will then prepare that person to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This experience in particular really opened my eyes to see how God works in different ways to accomplish his work for his children here on the Earth. Church on Sunday was very very different. For one, we had a homeless guy walked in ,before sacrament meeting was about to start, and started asking the congregation for money. That Sunday was also the presentation of the primary, and so we had over 40 people at church! But, there wasn't enough kids to sing all by themselves, so everyone just sang for every song haha. Then afterwards, they served al the kids cake, coke, and sandwiches, and they enjoyed that. Later that night was when we had our experience with Rosa and Selena. But after them, we went to go visit Sotero and Vicky However, before we got there, this other homeless guy stopped us and he said a bunch of crazy stuff, like he had a pistol in his bag and that he had killed a lot of people. He also asks for our number and for pamphlets, and so I hand him a pamphlet. However, I accidentally handed him one in English, and so I try and take the other one back in exchange for a Spanish one, but he wouldn't give it back haha. Then, he says that he's going to leave and he goes to shake our hand and grabs my hand forcefully and does the Catholic cross thing using my hand on himself, finishing by kissing my hand and doing the same to my companion. So that was wierd haha. So yea that was my week, I hope yall had a good week! Take care everyone!

Elder Talbot

Meeting Azucena

Another week in my training is done. I have 3 more until I finish my training and change my companion. Monday, December 2, we had a zone activity and we played soccer and basketball. Then afterwards, my companion and I went to this buffet and you can probably imagine how that went for me. I made sure that we went just before they were about to change into lunch hours, so we could eat and try the most amount of food. And so they had all sorts of food,but the empanadas were definitely my favorite. The next day we had our district meeting, and afterwards we learned the Aunt of ruby and Jose wouldn't sign the form form for them to be baptized, so that was really disappointing. And we also learned that their parents were in prison for stealing, so they are having a really hard time. Anyways, that day as we were riding the bus, the bus driver hit the curb and then we heard something crash, and turns out the door completely fell off so that was interesting, never happens in the United States that's for sure. We also heard that day that there were 2 deaths in the colony next to where we live, so yea. The next day, we have an amazing lesson with Jorge, and his inactive family. He was struggling to know about to know which of the churches really is true. And so, we watched a conference talk together in their house, by Tad R Calister about the Book of Mormon, called Man made or God given. This has to be one of my favorite talks, because it makes it so simple and clear. If you read the Book Of Mormon, and think, ponder, and sincerely pray about it, you will find out for yourself that the book is indeed a true book. And when you do this and get your answer that the book is true, this book then confirms so many things about the church. For example, Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, who restored the true church of Jesus Christ on the Earth. That our church is the only church that has the priesthood, or power of God as given by Peter James and John and John the Baptist. And that our modern day prophet, Russel M Nelson, leads and guides our church and the world to prepare it for the second coming of Jesus Christ. All of this is can be confirmed to you, all you need to do is read The Book Of Mormon and take Moroni's Promise to pray about it. If you think really want to know where the truth is in the world, you will take this leap of faith and read the book, that's all you have to do, and there's absolutely nothing to lose by doing so. And so this talk that we watched, strengthened his testimony so much and it can do the same to you. I'd like to invite everyone to watch and listen to this talk, and really think about what it means, and how it can affect your life. This week we did a bunch of contacting and we came across some very bold people. We asked this lady if we could share a message about the teachings of Jesus Christ, and I couldn't believe how she responded. She said, "Oh I already know it all". On Friday, I had the best experience on my mission so far. So we were returning with our contacts that day, and all of them were busy "Segun". So then, we start contacting, and the very first house we contact, we were let in the door by this 19 year old girl named Azucena. We get to know her and we find out her family is catholic, but she just wasn't interested whatsoever. She was born in Utah, but moved to Mexico before she was even one. But every year she goes on vacation to Utah, but all that time, she never talked to anyone about the church. So, then we teach her about the Restoration and I share the First Vision of Joseph Smith her, but I was interrupted by a very loud Food truck haha. But this girl, has to be the most receptive person I have met and maybe that I will ever meet on my mission. She intently listened to every word we said and we gave her a Book of Mormon and she was so excited to start reading it. I knew afterwards that this was a very special experience and so we made sure to cherish it. And she is going on vacation on December 15th until January 20th to Utah, so we will see what happens. Afterwards, we taught the Plan of Salvation to some other investigators. Then we returned with Jorge and his family and we watched the first Book of Mormon video together with them to show them that they can use both the videos and books to learn. And their kids and the whole family loved it. Some other things to note for this week, we talked to this really drunk guy who couldnt find my hand to shake, this other guy that was inhaling this yellow stuff in a bottle, and this lady that grabbed my forearm for 3 seconds and then walked away. There are a lot things around here that change, but the one thing that does not change is the amount of weird people I see and meet every week. Stay normal everyone  

Birthday Cake

Monday November 25 - We had a zone activity and we played a bunch of soccer and basketball. Then we went inside the church to do something...the zone leaders pulled me aside and told me they needed to interview. And after a minute into the interview, one of the sisters interrupts the interview and says that our President is here to talk to me, but she said it so fast in Spanish I didn't really understand. And so they were like what did you do! So then she leads me into the room where...the zone says Happy Birthday! There is a cake on the table and they then tell me that I have to eat the cake, and they all knew that I don't like to eat junk food, anyways so I agreed, to eat a small piece. But then they tell that I have to stick my face in the cake to eat it. So I was like alright, I bit a little piece. And then the next thing I know, I feel a hand on the back of my head and then my face in the cake. So yeah that's apparently the tradition for Birthdays here. But I was the first birthday, so I didn't know it was coming haha.

Tuesday November 26th We had our district meeting, and then contacted and visited people the rest of the day. One experience in particular was pretty interesting as we tried to visit the guy named Eldier. We knocked on his door and someone came out another door, that wasn't him. He asks us what we want and then he says "Tengo una pistola, ustedes tienen una pistola!?" Which means, "I have a pistol!, do you guys have a pistol!?" As he holds one arm behind his back. But my companion didn't believe him and he said yea I do too. Then we explain that were just missionaries and he calms down haha but yea he didn't actually have a gun behind his back. Anyways, we then went to talk to the aunt of Jose and Ruby to verify that they could be baptized because their parents were out of town. And, she says yes. And then we go visit and teach Sotero and Vicky, and this visit I showed him some US Dollars and he started asking me about the Presidents. And he then tells me that he knew George Washington, so yea this dude is just crazy, but so funny haha.

Wednesday November 27 was my 3 month mark on the mission. We went to teach Ruby and Jose, and review previous lessons as well. That night we were invited by one of the members to one of the school assignments. And we go to this museum place and my companion shares his culture with the other people. I guess it was a cultural night, and people from Columbia and Spain were there too. But the people from Spain, talked so fast, I honestly couldn't understand what they were saying which felt bad haha.

Thursday, November 28 - My companion hit his 1 year mark so he lit his shirt on fire, so that was cool. This day, I witnessed my first car crash about 10 yards in front of me! While we were waiting for our bus, a car turned in front of this motorcycle and he tried slowing down, but he couldn't and so he crashed and flipped of his bike and landed on the ground. Luckily, everyone was ok, but that was crazy to witness it so close to me. Later that day, we went to visit Alma, who we have knocked on her door like 6 times and finally we were let in. We got to know Alma and her sister and then we taught the Restoration and gave them Book of Mormons and it was a really good lesson. They both thought that we were really old. They thought I was 25, so when I told them I was 19, they were very very surprised haha. After the lesson, we left to go visit other people. But as we were walking away, one of their daughters came after us and told us to come back. So then we come back, and they feed us bread and milk, so that's always a good sign that people like you haha.

Friday, November 29 - We went to the church to obtain the white clothes and to prepare for the baptism service. Then we return and our District interviews Jose and it turns out they had been drinking coffee, which they hadn't told us so they didn't pass the interview. However, they promised us that they will stop drinking and so now we are planning to have their baptism in 2 weeks.

Saturday November 30 - We had an activity to prepare for Light the World. We made these bags that we are going to pass out to people and then we are also going to wrap up Book of Mormons and then hand them out. On the way back from the Activity this crazy Sotero sees us while riding his motorcycle, gets off and buys us some drinks. And then rambles to the cashier about San Antonio Texas and a bunch of random stuff and then we leave haha. The rest of the day we try and find people and everyone is busy, except this less active member family who is not sure if they are in the right church. So our next appointment with them, we are going to teach them and help bring them back into the church.

Sunday December 1 - I listened to a bunch of General Conference talks and we had hour fast Sunday. Pretty much every Sunday, our branch starts late, as we are waiting for all 15 to show up. Then after church, we had our correlation meeting with the Branch Mission Leader, and he explained how we need to change the way we are working, better way of contacting, teaching more with the Spirit, etc and it was all good advice. However, to actually implement it is the hard part and is something we have been struggling with. But overall, I had another great week, full of learning and practicing and I know that it just takes time to figure everything out. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, because I didn't have one at all haha

Elder Talbot

Drew's 19th Birthday

This week went by pretty slow for a change. November 19, Monday we did a bunch of contacting because the majority of our investigators have been cancelling like crazy and don't seem interested anymore. We went to teach Ruby and Jose and we taught them The Restoration, on the side of the street, while a bunch of kids were playing soccer. And Jose was baptized like 5 years ago, but he wasn't confirmed, because he didn't attend church again a single time after that. So we asked our mission president and he said we need to rebaptize him and then have him confirmed. So that is planned to happen this Saturday, Jose and his sister Ruby.

On Wednesday , Elder Stevens joined our companionship until his companion returned from Mexico City. So, I had my first experience of a trio companionship for a day and a half. We also went to practice singing for the meeting on Thursday, in which our zone was going to sing to recognize Elder Pino, of the seventy, who came to visit the Mission with his wife. I also received my Christmas package from my parents, which was a pull up bar that doesn’t require a door frame, since the doors here don't have door frames. I set it up, and it works amazing!!! Later that day, we hopped on a bus and headed for Chihuahua for the meeting the next day. And we slept in the assistants house again and it was insane like always. I didn't get to bed till 12 AM because it was so loud and there was no space to sleep, until I just stole my companions bed haha.

Thursday, we got up at 6 AM to get ready for the meeting and to practice singing again before it started. The meeting was about 5 hours long and we learned quite a bit. For example, our mission gets 1 baptism for every 10 Investigators, 25 baptisms per month, which is only half a baptism for each companionship each month. And he set a goal to get 2 baptisms per month, per companionship. After the meeting, we hopped back on the bus and returned to Parral.

Friday, we went back to work and the eleven people that we planned to teach were unavailable. But along the way, we taught 2 new people that we weren't planning on teaching.

Saturday, we contacted for most of the day since 12 people we had planned on teaching weren't there. Comida that day was Discada, which is chopped up hot dogs, sausage, ham, and hamburger in tacos and it was soo good and I had so many. One of the contacts name that day was Elder, and when we told and showed that our names were Elder too, he couldn’t believe it haha. Oh and as we were walking back from comida, I saw Sotero, the crazy guy and called him out and so he stopped his motorcycle and he met and started saying a bunch of crazy stuff to the other 2 missionaries that were with us. And when he started spitting on them, my companion and I started laughing so hard because of their faces haha. After he left, they thought he was the craziest guy too and they wanted to know who that guy was. Sotero also told us that Vicky, doesn't like when we invite her to church and talk about Joseph Smith. 

Sunday, we went to church with Jose and Ruby again and 3 Missionaries gave talks, including me. And after Sacrament Meeting, there was no 2nd hour. Apparently, if there's not very members at church, we just don't have 2nd hour. The Sacrament meetings here are very very different than back at home. It takes like 3 minutes for the whole ordinance and the pieces of bread are huge, like 10 times the size of the Blackhawk Ward Sacrament bread. Anyways, after church, we had our food and then went to a correlation meeting with the branch mission leader. After that, we had been invited to a members birthday, so we went to that and had even more food. So that was a fun way to celebrate my 19th birthday haha. Have a great week everyone!

Baptism Date for Ruby

November 4th was a PDay and we went to Samsclub with some other missionaries, because one of them was using his dads card since they have the same name. But it was way more expensive than the store that we normally go to, so that day we just went to walmart since it was close. But for some reason Walmart stopped bagging the items so then we had to take a taxi back home. Later that day we left for Chihuahua for our 5th week meeting. And once again we sleep in the Assistants house with a bunch of missionaries from the CCM so that was fun to see those guys again.. The next day, we had a
 meeting and one of the main things we discussed was to never lower our standards and be examples for the other missionaries that have more time in the field. After the meeting, we returned to Parral. November 6th, we did our normal routine and on the street this man named Abel called us over to come and talk to him. He seemed pretty cool and we gave him a pamphlet and told him we would come visit him later that night. After that, we had our normal comida at 2 pm with one of the members and then we taught Martin lesson 1, and he has a hard time retaining the information we teach him so it's tricky. But afterwards, our other 5 people that we were planning on visiting were unavailable, so we went to talk to Abel. And at first we thought it was going well. Then we start talking about our gospel and that's when things got interesting with him. But, before we got to his house, we found the same pamphlet that we gave him in the street. We thought he had just accidentally dropped it, but while he was talking to us, he told us that he believes the images of Jesus Christ on the pamphlet is a sin and that it breaks the commandment about graven images because it is not actually him on the pamphlet. I thought he was just kidding but nope he was being serious. And so he wouldn't accept any of the pamphlets. So then we start talking about the Book of Mormon, and believes the whole thing is fake. Also, after we gave 3 clear examples, in the Bible, where it is clear that the Godhead is 3 separate people, he still thinks that they are all one person. He had a lot more to say than just that, but that's all I'm going to write about him.
November 9th, we visited Martin and reviewed Lesson 1 with him and he said that he would go to the church the following week. We also talked to Belen, one of the Testaments of Jehovah for an hour outside her door because she said because we are different religions she didn't want us to come inside her house. November 11th, we had a soccer zone activity on the concrete, in the rain. It was a lot of fun, however I was being held back by the giant holes in my socks and shoes and that they have no absolutely no traction on the bottom. This week it got super cold and rainy, and I still didn't have a jacket because I couldn't find any good ones. Also for some reason, there are small rocks in the bag of beans that you buy here, but I didn't find that out until after I tried biting down on it. But, I know for next time that I need to sift through and get rid of all the rocks before I cook my food.
November 13th, while we were doing companionship study outside, a family came and talked to us about the church. And it turns out the son is a member, but the rest of the family wants to become members. After we talked to them, we had our food with a member and then we went to visit Sotero and Vicky. And she says she is so confused, because she has been taught one thing for so long and now we are teaching her something different, so we are trying to work with her through this. I forgot to recount our first encounter with Soterno. So, about 4 weeks ago, we were walking to an appointment and this old guy on a motorcycle tells us to come to him, but we just keep walking, So then he rides to where we were going and stops in front of us and starts to spitting I meant talking to us about who were are, and he just starts rambling about a bunch of stuff I wasn't able to understand. But this man spits so much while he's talking, so we stepped back to get out of his range. So that was our first impression of him, and then one day we were contacting and we saw him in his house, because his door was open. Anyways, I have been timing how fast how I can shower and change and get ready and right now my record is 9 minutes.
November 14th, Testaments of Jehovah knocked on our door and we ended up talking to them for an hour and we asked them a bunch of questions and they said they are going to come back next week with the answers, so I'm real interested to see how that's going to go. Later that day, we went and visited the family that came and talked to us and we found out a lot about them. Both of the parents have problems with smoking, they told they each had been doing it for the last 15 years. And then we asked them if they wanted to stop and they said yes. Then moments later, the mom lights one in the house haha. But the boy named Jose was baptized about 4 years ago but he said he wasn't confirmed. And the parents want to be baptized, but they aren't married. However, the 9 year old girl named Ruby wants to be baptized and so our goal is December 7th for her. She said she wants me to teach her English and then she wants to teach me English.
November 15th was the day before our branch activity so we went and bought everything that we needed for that. Then after comida that day, I went on divisiones with the District leader for a day and that was good to see how every missionary works in their own manner. We went throughout his whole area, inviting people to the activity in person instead of over the phone. But only one person was actually there. Along the way we stopped in the street to play soccer with some kids for a bit and that was fun. That night, I was able to learn so much Spanish grammar just by talking in English with him about it, so there are definitely advantages in having a companion that knows both English and Spanish. But he is an interesting guy for sure haha so back at home he said he would dump soup that went bad down the toilet. And so he did that here before I got there, and by doing that, he clogged the toilet full of potatoes, so we had to make several stops for a bathroom.
November 16, ended divisiones with him and we had our branch activity. We brought the 2 kids with us and it was a really good turnout. There was a question game, lesson about temples and family history, and then food at the end. There were about 35 people that attended the activity, which is way more than the church attendance. November 17, we brought the 2 kids to church, which was our first time bringing people to church so that was exciting. After church, we got a ride from a member from a different branch in the back of their caged off trunk in their truck, so that was different than just taking a bus.Then we had comida with the branch president family and I talked to Gabriel, the Branch mission leader about working out and food because he is very into it like me haha. Finally today, we got up, ate, went to central Parral to buy a bunch of stuff and did our groceries. There is a store that sells ties for 34 pesos which is less than 2 dollars so we got a bunch of those. And I finally found and bought a jacket that is actually good. I hope this very long letter made up for those times I wasn't able to send letters haha. Have a good week everyone!

Meeting some interesting people

So I'm at October 22, that day we had our first lesson with an investigator that was a mom and had 2 daughters and we taught them the first lesson. Unfortunately now, she’s has been working a ton and we haven't been able to even to get an appointment with her since that day. There's this one spot that we have to pass by if we want to go to a certain colonia and these same 5 smokers are always there and they think it's their territory or something because they always say pasale as if we need permission haha.

Anyways on October 25th, I met one of the craziest guys, who claims he is from SAN ANTONIO TEXAS! He says it just like that, so we have been teaching them and the wife is a Jehovah’s Witness. We have taught them the First and Second Lesson. And after much talking with her about what counts as a true and correct baptism, she reconsidered her baptism. She works Sundays so we also reminded her taught about keeping the Sabbath the Day Holy, and so she knows this. So now we are just waiting to see if she wants to change her life or not. We were there at their house for like 3 hours, and the husband also bought us these really expensive hamburgers that were super good for Mexico. The next day October 26th, we contacted and taught this lady named Valeria. And after we had left, my companion told me some of the things she had said. And I realized I didn't understand nearly as much as I thought I did haha. For example, turns out she was sexually abused from the age of 8 to 13 from her brother and her mom's new boyfriend. And when her mom found about this, she didn't do anything about it, which is just terrible. She too at the moment hasn't been in contact with us, because of some more family problems. So once again, we weren't able to bring anyone to church that week. And then Valeria is now living by herself with her son, because her boyfriend cheated on her. And I didn't get any of that in the moment, until my companion told me later.

Anyways October 31 came around and because we weren't in the central of the city, it was pretty lame. So we didn't get to experience or see much of Dia De Los Muertos. But we bought some candy and gave it to all the kids as we were walking. November 1rst we contacted another Jehovah’s Witness, who had also been baptized 3 times already. And so we shared the same things like Vicky. About how in order for a baptism to be correct, the person baptizing must have the Priesthood of God. And that after the baptism, there must be a confirmation of the Gift of the Holy Ghost, because this is how it was done and taught by Jesus Christ. We gave her some homework to read Acts 8 where it talks about this.

November 2nd, we came back to one of our contacts named Martin and he was there and we got to know him and we also taught him part of the first lesson. He too has some family problems, but not nearly as bad as Valeria. All of his family lives in the United States, and he isn't legally allowed to go back because he tried to illegally bring people across the border. But I believe at the moment, he is our best investigator as he's the only one that really progressing. I forgot to share this story earlier, so I'll do it now. One day while we were walking in Central, we were stopped by this older looking man, and he pulled out of, what looked like a trash can, and I guess this was his bag. Anyways, he started pulling out a variety of pictures, one was of Joseph Smith. And turns out he was asking if we had a copy of our current prophet, Russel M Nelson. But the reason why he wanted it was to show everyone on the street, that he was a fake prophet. I have never met so many crazy people who have such obscure beliefs in my life and I've only been out in the field for 5 weeks haha. Have a good week!

14 People at Church

I'm going to go through the weeks really fast because I am very behind. So the process in which we fixed our water was a lot longer than I had anticipated. We went from having green water, to no water, then to lighter green water, and then clear water that was actually still dirty. So here in Parral every house has a water storage and ours had not been used or cleaned in who knows how long. So all of our water was coming from this nasty water storage, because our house hadn't been connected to the street water yet. We also found out that our house used to be a house owned by narcos and that someone died in our house, so that explained why our house hadn't been rented for so long,  the water was green, and why we got such a good deal living in a mansion for only two missionaries.

I had my first zone conference and that was long, but very good and applicable. At church we had a whopping 14 people show up, so that shows how much work needs to be done. I had my first Pday and we went bowling, shopping and organized our house.

There are a lot of people that like to say things like Hey Satan and Diablo to us while they drive past us in their car, as we are walking. And then there is one lady who has got some sort of problem, not sure what it is. But she always passes by our house and she looks at me and says something in Spanish, that I don't understand, but my companion always tells me it’s bad haha. A lot of interesting people here, that's for sure.

One of the things I miss a lot is being able to go to the bathroom in just about any building, without paying. However, one of the good things here is that protein is the first on the food labels. Some of the days we don't get inside a single house to teach. And I'm quickly learning that just because you call ahead a time to call to line up an appointment, and they say yes, that doesn't actually mean they are going to be there. We have been teaching quite a few people, however, they aren't progressing for a few reasons. For example, we were teaching this lady named Guadalupe the 3rd lesson about Baptism. And then she told us that she believes that talking about Baptism is a sin, so that was the end of that lesson. She also believes that you have to be baptized with the special water of life, made by certain prophets and that Jesus and John the Baptist are actual stars in the sky. Anyone have any ideas on how to teach this, send them my way. Anyways, I gave my first talk in Spanish. We are leaving for Chihuahua today for a meeting, so I have to go now. Next week I will actually have more time to tell more.

Extra Gatorade, Let Me Know if You Need Any

I sent an email last week, but for some reason it didn't go through so that was frustrating. So heres a brief recap. We had the opportunity to watch general conference at the CCM, and I loved it, and I'm so curious what is going to be so unforgettable about the next one. Sunday into Monday felt like the longest day of my life. That night I stayed up all night with my district until 2 AM when we left on a bus to the airport. Our flight was at 5:30 AM so I did quite a bit of sleeping. We get to the mission home and we are fed real food so that was nice. We have our interviews with the Mission President, then we go to the Assistants house and sleep haha then we go to the church to meet our companions and find out our areas. My companion is Elder Fernandez, from Bolivia and he doesn't speak any English, so that has been fun. And our area is Parral, a small city in southern Chihuahua, but we didn't leave until the next day because it was too far away. Then we go to a sample contacting activity in downtown Chihuahua. After we go back to the assistants house and fall asleep with like 20 other missionaries in that house. The next morning we get ready and then head to our individual areas by bus. And It was probably a good 2 hour drive but I honestly dont know because I was asleep, just like every time haha. When we get there, we have to go live with other missionaries, because our house wasn't ready yet. We spent the rest of that day contacting and trying to figure out our house situation. The next day we get our house figured out, but it was quite the process. We walk to our house, and wait for the Landlord to get there with the key. When he gets there, we go inside and he starts talking and walks over to the sink and turns it on. Green Gatorade starts gushing out it looked so good, no that was our water. I guess making sure the water is the right color, isn't a part of the preparation process here in Mexico.

Dark Green Water from the Faucet...Welcome to Parral

We haven't received a letter from Drew the past two weeks.  He arrived in Parral and is getting accustomed to the new culture, food, and language.  He is only able to write and talk to us while he's at an internet cafe.  So far he has struggled to get the connection to work, so our chats with him have been static-laced.  Sometimes we can see him but can't hear him.  Other times we can't see him or hear him but he can instant message us while we talk to him.
In the time that he has at the internet cafe, he hasn't quite mastered tackling technology issues and juggling getting a letter written. We are also still figuring out how to get access to his pictures.  This week he sent us over 20 but when we tried to open them it said we need to request access.  Ah, the joys of technology.  So I thought I'd give an update on what we've been able to glean from our conversations.
Drew is on the southern tip of his mission.  He is in Parral, on the southern border of Chihuahua.  It is a city with 130,000 people.  He says the weather is HOT and the food has been good.  The main meal of the day is at 2:00.  He eats with church members each day for that meal.  The food is good, lots of meat, beans, rice, and tortillas.  But not as much meat as Drew is used to.:)
He makes his own breakfast and dinner with lots of egg a, yogurt, oatmeal and chicken.
His companion doesn't speak any English.  He is from Bolivia and has been serving for 11 months.  Drew reports that his Spanish is coming quickly.  He does a lot of listening right now, but is understanding more and more.
He is living in a fairly large home with just his companion.  It hasn't been lived in for four or five years.  When they turned on the faucet, imagine Drew's surprise when dark green water came out! He had no idea what to do and he couldn't communicate with his companion very well.  Drew says it was a challenge and time consuming to figure out how to get this corrected. Turns out they use a cistern system, a large tank on the roof where the water is stored.  After that many years of the water just sitting, it was pretty nasty.   They had to turn on all the faucets and let them run overnight to empty the storage tank.  Someone came out to clean the cistern and then they had to pay 100 pesos to get connected to "street water".  And after all that, they still can't drink the water.  But at least they don't have to shower in sludge.  They gave him a filtration water bottle for drinking water.
The house doesn't have any work out equipment.  It doesn't even have door frames, which he would need even if he is able to find a pull up bar.
He is teaching lots of less actives and hearing Spanish rap music in the streets.
He has gone bowling with his district of six elders.  A few of them speak English which is a nice respite.  He sees sports courts around town, like cement basketball courts that also have net-free soccer goals.  He does see a few soccer fields.

Arrival in Chihuahua

Hey Mom and Dad I made it to Chihuahua and my first area is Parral, we leave for there tomorrow and its about a 3 hour drive. We did our first contacting activity earlier tonight. Can't wait to call next Monday!

Thank you for sending Elder Talbot to join us in Chihuahua!

We are grateful to serve with him.

He is pictured with his new companion, Elder Fernandez

Presidente y Hermana Ingalls 

Last Week in the Mexico MTC

This week I starting eating a bunch of bananas and toast with honey because I went to the enfermeria and they put me on the brat diet with pills and this other liquid medicine. That day we got some very bad news from our teacher Hermana Vasquez. Her new fiance passed away and so she had a sub for her for a few days. So I had like 11 bananas and 20 pieces of bread. Then I tried to toast a roll and it caught on fire, but luckily I had my chef amigo right there to help me. Anyways, we got our flight times for Chihuahua. Our flight is at 6 AM and we have to wake up at 2 AM because they want us there so early. We helped the new missionaries coming to the CCM get settled and they appreciated that. We learned all the tenses for the grammar so now we can start using all of it. On Wednesday my companion and I were notified that we needed to go to migration of Friday, our Pday and so that's what I did the first 7 hours of the day today. I finally got a haircut from one of the guys in my district who got his haircut parts from his parents. Thursday, was the last day to be with our teachers and it was very memorable experience, because it was our last time teaching them, being taught by them, and seeing them again for 2 years. I started packing all my bags and I got them weighed, I'm soooo ready to get out of here. Our service project this week started off with an arm wrestling tournament to see who was going to be in charge of the fun part of the service project, throwing the sheets to all the Elders to then fold them. I was in the final and I lost to this biiiig body so I wasn't feeling too bad about it haha. Then we did TRC and we taught this guy who spoke super fast and he handed me a book of Mormon and said teach me a message so that was interesting. I taught him about faith in Ether 12 and it turned out really well. Then that night we saw our teachers one last time together and took pictures and said goodbye.  Its been a great week, hope everyone is doing well.  Chihuahua here we come!

Elder Talbot