Email from Elder Tellez 2-27-12

Hi sweet family of mine,

Thank you all, as usual, for your emails. Gramma, the weather has been crazy down here too. Wednesday and Thursday we incredibly hot, the sun was insane, and to top it off we had to literally walk from one end of the city to the other and we are dirt poor so we couldn't take a taxi or buy water to hydrate. But we are still alive, haha, and still kicking. Then, Friday and Saturday were incredibly cold and like a mild hurricane type of wind the whole two days. I'm sorry to hear about the internet and somewhat glad that I don't have to worry about the internet being out, or, having internet at all, haha. I have that liahona from 2010 that has that article by Elder Bednar, it is great, and I think I actually used it for one of the Family Home Evenings that I gave to one of the families in the branch. We have soooo many Liahonas in our house that it isn't even funny, and I read every single one of them. I also have read "Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple" and "Our Heritage" and I am almost done with "Our Search For Happiness" and then I will tackle "Jesus The Christ" both in english and spanish. Bianca, I would expect Tosha to have enemies, haha, she is hard to get along with and not exactly the best employee. But you haven't answered my question, who is manager in Dayton? I am glad that you are hanging out with a guy and going on dates (it's about time!!). If he likes you, that is good. If he doesn't like you, then it wasn't meant to be. Mama, I still haven't gotten the package yet and I won't get it until the next conference in Veracruz, which is in April and then I might get it, haha. I have the check, I can't cash it because I can't go to the only place in the state of Veracruz that is capable of doing so, Plaza de Las Americas in Veracruz. Ohhhh, haha, Presidente Maza, my branch president old me to tell you to send him some beef jerky (they don't have that here), so, when you send the next package (don't rush it or anything) can you send some beef jerky, it is highly doubtful that I will be in Isla when that happens but I will most certainly eat it. Also, can you send church music, like that CD that I have of InsideOut. We have a Western Union here, but I don't know if I can go inside, you will have to ask my mission pres. I also eat a bunch of chicken in almost every way, haha, I'm not a big fan of chicken right now, haha. We eat mole, carne guisada, and I can't think of what else, oh yeah tamales. In our house, all we have is rice, so that is all we have been eating here, luckly I watched closely to how you make it and others, and boy do I make some good rice, haha. Since we are poor and all of the members went to the temple saturday, we couldn't eat with the person that we were scheduled to eat with, but luckly we have investigators that love us. Bueno, el tiempo ha pasado. Ya tengo que comer. Nos vemos. Que les vaya bien. Cuidense y otra cosas. Les quiero.

Elder Tellez 2-20-12

So, as always, I'm alive and kicking another week. So I have like 2 or 3 weeks til I celebrate my half-year mark. We finally had another baptism, a 9 year old boy named Beto. His mom is a member but inactive, I mean INCREDIBLY inactive, like 8 years with out going to church. But we brought her back. Her daughter (seen in the pics) doesn't want to ever get baptized, ... The other two little boys in the pic with Beto are his friends and they want to get baptized too, they even go to church with us. We have a couple of more people with baptismal dates for the next couple of weeks. I'm not sick anymore, I just can't [eat]like I used to for some reason or so fast and you know how my companion is, rushing and rushing, haha. Thank you mama for sending the package, I love you. It turns out that we have the worst missionary home in all of our large mission. The rest have normal walls, lights, some have AC, hot water in the shower, and many other things. It's all good though. Like I said, I'm still alive, haha. The conference was great. It was for a special purpose. The whole mission was gathered. President Treviño had amazing news. He was personally told by the Quorum of the Twelve that because of the rapid number of baptisms making this one of the most successful missions in the world if not THE most successful, they are dividing the mission, North and South! The north mission will be called the Xalapa Mission and the south will be the Veracruz Mission. 100 of the 200 missionaries that are in this mission will be in the new mission. This will all take place in June or July of this year! My mission president, President Treviño will be the president of the Veracruz Mission. So, depending on where I'm at, I might be in the new mission. Other missionaries keep saying that I will go there. I kind of actually hope to, haha. My companion in the MTC who is up there in Poza Rica, a city in the north part of Veracruz says that in just his little area he has a Walmart, 2 Burger Kings, Mcdonalds, and 3 Little Caesar's! I have heard that it is so nice up there. You can look up pics of that area, Xalapa, Poza Rica, Papantila(not spelled correctly) and other places and tell me about it or maybe even send me pics. So that is the exciting news. We also heard the one of our neighbor missions, Puebla, is being split into two missions as well. I have 2 friends serving there. When the changes happen this year, Mexico will have 26 mission!! The church is growing so much down here. The saints in Mexico have such great spirits and testimonies, but they can't sing or play the piano to save their lives. Ahhhh, and for that I sing so much louder in sacrament and other meetings just to drown them out, haha. Thank you for the emails Mama, Gramma, and Bianca. Mama, I'll take both thick and thin socks, yup black, haha. Gramma, if you wait 18 months, I'll go on a road trip with you, we'll go to Utah. Bianca, it doesn't matter if you have something to write or not, just write alot. Like what shows you watched and what movies you have seen lately. What you have been eating. Things like that. I love long emails. Wow Mama, that cake looks awesome, I want a piece, haha. About cakes, it seems all of the cakes that I have had here have been the tres leche one, but decorated for birthdays and other things. The elder looks kind of familiar. Time for me to fly and eat more soup, nasty!!!!! Love ya all. -Elder Tellez

Trinity 2-20-12

Hey! Thanks for the picture. Are you trying to make me miss Hawaii??? haha We have not been super busy. And I'm feeling alright.  Yep in a week it will be 7 months. I'm just moving right along. In ways it has seemed fast but in ways slow. But mainly it's just been fast. haha Well I'm glad Regan is doing well. I wouldn't know because she doesn't write to me. ha (I hope you read that Regan) But President Beesley said that our friends could email us and we could send short replies to them. So maybe that will make it easier for her. Man, yeah Provo just doesn't like us. I think when I get home after a year of straight A's in Hawaii I'm going to apply for Provo then when they accept me I'll deny them haha. Or that could just backfire and they not accept me.... but either way. So where is Emily going to room if Megan and Sammi are already rooming together? Man, why do the schools and youth groups always do cool things after I leave???. Well I'm glad everyone is doing well. Things have been slow here this week. We realized the other day we went from around 11 Investigators to 2 without us really knowing what happened . So we've been trying to find people. And people haven't wanted to listen. So we're going to have to change our tactics on finding. It is time to talk to more random people and such. But pretty soon the ward is starting a 40 day missionary fast and we're going to be working with them a lot on that. The only problem is I'll probably leave a week after they start it..... haha But hopefully the members take this to heart and actually act beyond just not eating for their assigned day. That's how they're going to get their ward goal this year, and any other year really. We had three kids get baptized on Saturday so that was pretty exciting, a good ending to a really slow and kind of frustrating week. So I feel like I'm being prepared for something in my future by who I've successfully taught so far on my mission. Out of the 9 people who have progressed to baptism that I have taught only one of them was an "adult". I think wherever I go from here I'm going to feel just like a brand new greenie, especially if I go to the Spanish area. I'll probably just sit there with my hands in my lap wondering what in the world they're saying. So I'll be almost 8 months out on my mission and won't have a clue as to what is going on ha, kind of sad. But I guess it'll be time for me to learn some real humility haha. Oh yeah did you save the pictures from my card onto the computer at home? There are only like 20 on that card right now..... Well I guess things are going alright here. We're planning on heading to Metlakatla next week then President Beesley and the ZL's are coming down for a fireside and interviews and such. Then transfer calls will be the next week. We're halfway through the transfer. fun fun. I hope all is well in Dayton. I miss the flat and green. All is well in Zion.
Elder Waddell

Trinity 2-13-12

6 months out!!

Hey! Thanks for the pictures and emails! The address here is po box 6321 Ketchikan, AK 99901. But by March you probably shouldn't use that one anymore or March 5th or so. I'm glad things are going well there. I'm a little upset I wasn't there for the donkey basketball.... but I’m sure there are videos I'll see in a year and a half ha. It's strange that D'nel will be in the youth group so soon.... she's getting old! I bet the girls are ready to get out of there. I doubt that they'll miss it once it's gone either. Yeah when I finally do leave it probably won't be too fun.  This week has been interesting. Half really fast and half slow. We had Elder Denison from Prince of Whales Island up until Thursday so that time went by fast. There weren’t a whole lot of lessons taught this week so that made it seem slow. Another person decided they want to be baptized so that was good. But then she didn't show for church.  But Ian got the priesthood on Sunday and his mom came for it so that was really good. Anghel, Rheman, and Jhasen are all set for this Saturday and they're excited about it. A lot of stuff has been happening in their family recently so this should be really good for them and the rest of their family. Oh I finally burned my six month tie. It was a little late but it was pretty cool. and we saw some sea lions swimming at the same time. Oh somebody left a box of baked goods on our doorstep the other night. That always worries me a little because there is no name or anything but we figure they're safe to eat haha. I'm still the same size but I think I’m losing muscle (I don't have a lot to spare) so I need to get back on top of the morning work outs haha.  Those baked goods aren't going to help too much haha, but things are going swimmingly here. But i can't lie I am excited for the winter to be ending here. I'm tiiiirred of the rain... soooo much rain. But other than that Ketchikan is great and I'm going to miss it immensely when I leave and I'm definitely visiting after my mission so I can do all those cool things missionaries can't do here haha All is well in Zion.

                   Elder Waddell 

Trinity 2-6-12

Hey, sounds like everyone is still keeping busy. That's always a good sign. We had a baptism on Saturday so that was pretty nice. We're trying to do what Pres. said and finish up what we started here. This week was a pretty good one though it seemed a little slower than normal. We helped one of our investigators more fully understand the need for the Atonement so she's one step closer. We are trying to get another guy to just realize he already knows it's all true. We taught him everything and he likes it all and now he's just trying to get his knowledge of it or a sign or something. So he's a step closer. We got another couple set for baptism at the beginning of March. So hopefully things keep going well with them. But we can see a few things that might cause snags in their progression. Those three kids that are the cousins of Ian and Lianne are on track for the 18th so that's great! They all came to church and to the baptism on Saturday. One of our investigators who has come to church a lot but never stayed for the third hours stayed this week so that was awesome. The kid that got baptized was the son of a recent convert who senior missionaries taught in Dutch Harbor. So for the baptism one of those missionaries called in on the PolyCom and gave a talk. So that was pretty good. I got to baptize him but I forgot to step on his foot so he almost floated to the top! All of his family was there. It was a good day, oh and we always have to stay there while the font fills up (which takes like 4 hours) but this week there was a pinewood derby so we had some entertainment ha. Brother Taylor confirmed him on Sunday and it all went swell. So yeah it’s been a pretty good week. The Prince of Whales elders just got here today and they don't leave until Friday so that'll make an interesting week. Oh I've been trying to finish the Old Testament recently. But that's a pretty big book, and pretty tedious at points. But I'm almost done! I'm in Jeremiah so the only "big" book after that is Ezekiel so I’m pretty excited,  I'll try to think of something that I want for my birthday, I'm a missionary I can't have too much ,haha too much traveling. D'nel is a big girl she's got it covered.  Besides, something like that always has to happen. It's just an opportunity to grow and learn. Consider it a blessing and it'll become way easier. Well things are going great and they don't look like they'll slow anytime soon so I think it's safe to say all is well in Zion.  Elder Waddell