Elder Tellez 2-25-13 email

Hello family, So, I was transfered this week. I am now in Xalapa again. I am still zone leader. My area is called Estación. My companion is Elder Jarman. He is from Las Vegas, Nevada and he has 13 months in the mission. This week we found an amazing family of 5. They will be getting baptized on the 10th. We have 7 people set to get baptized this week. I am so glad that the Spirit of God is touching the hearts of these people. My week has been good. Who is Maria? Adam really got married? Wow, congradulate him for me please. It feels good to be back in Xalapa. I really miss Martinez, mainly for the converts there. I made many friends there in those 6 months. The members in my new ward are amazing. They help us so much. There are 200 active members. It is so well organized, I feel like I'm in America. Well, time to go. I love you all.

ELDER EVERETT ESCOBAR 2/25/2013

Hey, 

We are on the computers earlier today and yes there has been quite a bit of snow. I'm kind of getting tired of it, even though it is pretty and fun to play in. So we haven't really had church for the whole entire span of time that I have been in this area due to the snow, it's kind of ridiculous. And the last snow that we got was heavy and slushy. We have been able to work, but of course the snow does get in the way. I don't know how New Englanders go through this year after year. Eck! Snow is nice every once in a while but not all the time. We have been working with members primarily, as of right now we have 2 investigators and one of them has a baptismal date set for April 21st, there's a lot of work to be done here in trying to pick up the missionary work. 

 

Now about the room. Most of the stuff that you see scattered about the room, is not mine. The stuff on the desk is mine, I always have a messy desk. You should have seen the apartment when I first got here, I'm working on it one room at a time. I have cleaned the kitchen, living room, and bathroom (now the bathroom was filth). Elder Metcalf is not much help in cleaning right now. By the way, on Wednesday we are going to go to Boston to get Elder Metcalf's finger detached from his palm. Then he will be going through therapy. We are going to be getting a membership to W.O.W. (Work-Out World) which is only $10 a month so that we can really workout in the mornings. 

 

So just like last week we went to Brother Ciunci's hockey game and it seems to serve as a good opportunity to share the gospel, by talking to people that are watching the game and it's fun. 

 

Sounds like things have been tough for Elder Morales, hopefully everything continues to go well. It's pretty cool that Dad was able to give Gilberto the Holy Ghost. 

 

New England is beautiful Mom, but you would hate to be here right now. I guess beauty has it's own price (I have some pics of a part of our area). 

 

I'm glad that Aaron got his Eagle Scout Project approved but what is it? What's the project? I don't think you ever specified. Sounds like Aaron is definitely on the ball with things. Danny is growing up fast! Before ya know it he will be a deacon. By the way, Danny I've heard a lot of good things about you from someone (and no it was not just from Mom, Dad, or Aaron) keep up the good work.

 

It's good to hear that Grandma and Grandpa are doing well, of course extend to them my highest regards for me. And please continue to tell everyone that I love them very much. Continue to stay strong physically and spirtitually. Hopefully, I will have church this week (fingers crossed).

 

Love,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

ELDER EVERETT ESCOBAR  2/19/2013

Good morning!Well these past few weeks have been interesting, due to Nemo. Don't worry Disney I think that we have indeed found Nemo...you can stop the long search already. The night before transfer meeting I said goodbye to the Candelarios, it was hard and I miss them (I have some pics of them and me). I told them that we would definitely stop by when we tour the mission. At transfer meeting, I saw a surge of missionaries going home. Most of them I knew fairly well, Elder White (my companion in Weston), Sister Broekhuijsen (we were in the MTC together), and Elder Mitton & Elder Woodruff (were some of my favorite ZLs) were among the group. Elder White's grandparents came from Rhode Island to see him bear his testimony at transfer meeting. I dislike seeing people that I worked alongside with just leave, it's just so weird because you know that it will soon be your turn to be at that same podium giving your last witness to the mission. I don't even like thinking about it. Anyways, my companion is Elder Metcalf. He is a pretty cool cat, however, he can't do too much because he has recently had surgery on his hand. Before the mission he was in an accident playing tug-of-war and his finger literally popped off. They got his finger back on, but while he was in the mission field the same finger got infected so part of the finger had to be removed. So now his pointer finger is sewn to the palm of his hand right now, apparently that's how they are doing a skin graph on his finger. Talk about a series of unfortunate events, eh. So he can sometimes be in quite a bit of pain. I love our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Rob Ciunci, he is a recent convert that goes above and beyond his calling and he's pretty darn funny. We probably get 10 or more calls/texts from him checking up on us after lessons, meeting, and what not. He actually owns the apartment that we live in. He's a little over 50 years old, but he's a ball full of fun. He took us to one of his hockey games last Thursday evening, it was cool. That was my first time at a hockey game (I have pics of that too). So I have already started a list of memories for the Worcester 1st Area. I haven't quite been to church due to snow, so I haven't met that many members of the ward. We have 2 investigators that we are working with right now and hope to gain 2 more investigators this week. This area reminds me a lot of Weston, because you have a little bit of the city and you have the boonies!!! I love it. 

So Nemo was alright, we played a bunch of board games and saw a lot of gospel-related movies, it got tiring being at the apartment for so long though. We got 3 feet of snow where we were and yes we had to shovel it, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get out of our apartment. It was crazy seeing the blizzard because the snow wasn't just coming down, it was coming down horizontally and everything was swaying back and forth. It was kind of like a hurricane, it was quite a sight. Anyways, yesterday we had the opportunity to go to the temple since it was a holiday. So we took the opportunity and had a great time and we also spent some time in Boston. I was reliving the days that I spent with Elder Yim, I enjoyed it. I think that sending mail to my apartment would be alright here is the address: 700 B Main St   Boylston, MA 01505. 

Sounds like a lot of goes have been set in the stake back home, 1 million names to index, that's quite a bit. And it still sounds like great things are happening in Liberty Ward, especially with Gilberto's baptism. Tell him 'CONGRATULATIONS' for me. By the way, thank you for answering your phone yesterday (: Oh and I was told at the Walmart where I got my new prescription that I could get both contacts and glasses and that I would be covered. So could I get glasses here? Just curious because my frames on my current glasses are starting to take there toll and they aren't my current prescription. Anyways, love you and tell everyone that I love them.

 

Sincerely,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Tellez 2-18-13 email

Hello lovely family, All is well in Martinez. This week was amazing. We baptized a man named Miguel Angel on Sunday. We also finally finished baptizing the family of Rosalba (we baptized her two oldest sons [Eduardo and Kevin]). President and Sister Lopez came to the baptismal service of Kevin and Eduardo, because they were with us when we first taught Rosalba. An interesting fact: Kevin is the reason why all of his family are members now. One day in November, he was sitting on the curb when our companions in downtown Martinez sat down and talked to him. Later, they passed the referral to Elder Carmona and me and that same day we went over to talk to him. He wasn't there when we went to his house, instead we talked with his brother, Yosemir, there at the gate (he wouldn't let us enter). Now, Yosemir and Carlos (another brother) are priests and bless the sacrament every Sunday and go out visiting with us almost everyday. Rosalba has a calling in the Relief Society. Her niece and her two kids were baptized. This Sunday, Kevin will recieve the aaronic priesthood and baptize his girlfriend. We are getting Eduardo and Kevin ready to recieve the melchizedek priesthood (Eduardo is 25 and Kevin is 19). Kevin, Yosemir, and Carlos are preparing to go on a mission. All in all, 8 people in this family have completely changed their lives in the past 3 months for the better, TRUE CONVERTS. I won't know if I am being transferred until tonight. So, I will tell you next Monday. I love you all.

Elder Waddell 2/11/2013

Hello hello. I'm doing well today. Excited for transfers. We got our
call Friday night. Elder Wood is going to Sitka....lucky dog.. and I'm
training again! more than likely it will be Elder Jaco. The guy who
already speaks Spanish. So I'm super stoked. Maybe I'll really learn
Spanish instead of this gringo stuff i'm speaking. We'll see. I'll be
with him for just 12 weeks probably then I'll only have 12 weeks left,
so I'll hopefully be in Juneau or somewhere outside of the Anchorage
Wasilla area. Thank you for that. It's been good here in the
Branch. The problem with a branch like this is that the members need
to be ridiculously busy to get the branch to grow. so hopefully things
start moving. the members are getting pretty excited about things it
seems. I don't know. We can always work harder. I'm not sure if the
summer is busier. It's less depressing, and the people are out doing
things more often. sooo it levels out. Yeah 6 months isn't very long
when you're busy. Hopefully i can do all I need to in that time.
After training I will have spent 10 and a half of my 22 months in
Alaska in the Branch. That's not too bad. The girls are going to give
me a homecoming? for some reason I feel like my awkward missionary
personality will destroy whatever fun their homecoming would be. 
hmmm I'm not sure about that decision, I mean it is up to Emily, and
I would like to be in school with both of them for a semester but
that's a dangerous thing to put off. Well I guess it's not that bad.
Oh cool event that happened this week. We almost got t-boned by a
moose! we were going about 40 and a moose was charging towards the road
and I swerved to dodge it but it stopped right before the road. It was
pretty exciting. yep well I hope things keep going well down there.
love you
Elder Waddell

ELDER EVERETT ESCOBAR   2/6/2013

 

Well, Elder Jensen is getting transferred out of Newport, RI and is going to Woodbridge, CT is think. And I'm getting transferred to Worcester (it's pronounced 'Wooster'), MA I'm going back to the city, somewhat! I love it, but I am kind of sad to leave. I only spent 2 transfers in Nashua but it feels like I have been here longer than that. Last night I had a dream that I was having a conversation with President Packard and he gave praise to the accomplishments that were done in Nashua and talked about Worcester and how it will be a place of many great opportunities. It was a cool but interesting dream. This morning all of us woke up to fire alarms going off at clocktower, thankfully there was no fire but we lost valuable sleep. Personally I didn't like waking up at 3 am, getting dressed quickly, and standing out in the cold. Oh well it is was it is. So the majority of this week I have been saying goodbye to members and investigators. We have had a lot of activities that have enabled us to invite less-active members and investigators to, so that has been good. By the way, Elder Gibson is training...the whole Nashua Zone is going to be at transfer meeting, which is wild. The Candelarios still aren't to happy that I'm getting transferred, they said that they want to come to my ward in Worcester one of these Sundays and Brother and Sister Candelario are thinking about taking me and my new companion to a Celtics game against the Knicks in March 26. That would be legit, I wouldn't let them pay for my ticket though if it does happen.

 

That's cool that you had dinner with the missionaries, Gilberto, and his girlfriend. So you gave Gilberto the VHS of 'The Other Side of Heaven'? I haven't seen that movie in forever and yes you should get it on DVD. I am going to put my testimony in an e-mail so that you can give it to them, because I don't have any stamps right now. That's crazy to think that Adam is going to be married soon. 

 

Our teaching pool is expanding in the Nashua Ward, I feel like I am leaving them in good standings. I have 6 months left that is CCCCRRRRAAAZZZZZYYYY!!!!!! It feels like I was just with my son and he is pretty much 6 months into the mission! There is definitely something wrong. HOUSTON we have a PROBLEM! It's the last haul of my mission... Don't worry I'm not trunking out, that's ridiculous, okay I may be a little trunky (there are some things that I miss). But I'm not trunky, as in being a definite trunk clunk. Focus is key. That's cool that the electrical is done upstairs, sounds like it's coming along. Did you ever determine/settle/clear a date for picking me up? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It would just be nice to know so that I can tell people around what time in August I would be visiting them. Anyways, this is a new chapter in my mission and in life. We will see how it goes. I have plenty of pics this week! Where's the report on how Aaron, Danny, and Dad are doing? Haha

 

Love all of you a lot,

Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Tellez 2-4-13 email

Hello, Thank you for the emails. I am so happy that MoMo is now resting. I am also so glad that you sent pictures. It makes so happy when I see everyone happy and goofy at times. That's the way it should be. The passing away of a loved one should never be a time of mourning and sadness but a time of joy and peace. With the understanding of our Father's great plan, the process is so easy. Death is just another part of our pathway to happiness and MoMo is now ahead of us resting in the spirit world for the rest of us. Families are eternal, that is the truth, there isn't a doubt in my mind of it. It will be an amazing reunion and I cannot wait to be with all of my family. So, stay happy, move along, and choose the right. My week was good. We went to the pyramids again. This week is going to be an amazing week. Time to go. I love you all.