Elder Tellez 6-24-13 email

How is everyone? I'm good. Soooo, the tropical storm, haha, that was fun. We live on a hill so nothing happened. Most of our area was flooded. I figured out that it was a tropical storm while it had already started raining. We just worked and visited people. It was just a lot of rain and not too much wind. The same thing happened last year, we were working through the rain and after it all passed, they told us that it was a tropical storm. So, one of my old companions, Elder Carmona has been assistent to the president since February (he was my companion at the time). Now one of my other ex companions, Elder Lee is now his companion as the other assistant. A brother in our ward installed our AC unit, ahhhhhh, it is paradise!!!! Time for me to go. I love you all.....

Elder Everett Escobar  03/24/2013

'The New England Missionary'
I stand here with a purpose.
I didn't used to be this confident and determined.
I have changed.
I have become selfless and devoted.
I have resided here for a time.
I've stood on vast areas of greenery, of lush foliage, and of stone.
I have seen the rising sun.
I have walked these many hills.
And have stopped at many doors.
I have trudged through knee deep snow.
I have withstood winter's blasts.
I have not done these things in vain,
I have done them with a purpose.
Pouring out my soul upon this land and tho this people,
I have overexerted myself.
I have given my all.
I am tired, but I move on.
I have consecrated my time and efforts to the One who basks in glory.
He is my Father and He is your Father.
It is this Father who gives us a true sense of belonging, a purpose.
And it is He that shows us the meaning of life through His pure and infinite love.
And through His love I am able to withstand persecution, pain, and sorrow.
Through His love, I can do all things.
Who am I?
I am a missionary, callled and set apart to do the will of the Father.
I am a child of the Father.
We are all children of God.
We are of a true, divine, royal heritage and we are striving to return back to Him.
This is the message that is in my heart and this is the message that I share.
I take part in showing others their true identity, their purpose.
I bring happiness to those that I come in contact with.
This is my purpose, this is the righteous cause that I will forever stand by.
This is my joy.
Others have gone before me and I have gone before others.
I have fought a good fight and I will continue on my journey back to the Father.
The foundation of which I stand upon is sacred to me.
I love my mission.
I am forever changed.

-Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar  06/24/2013

Hello,

In like manner this week has just ridiculously zoomed on by. Everyday reminds me that my days are short (and I don't know if I like that idea.) Anyways, this week I spent a good part of our weekday mornings fixing the two bikes that we have. We are currently out of miles, so we need to use our bikes (: So the bikes are all set and in working condition now. We have lots of biking to do!

Yes I do hope that this family does get baptized before I go, that would be sweet. They still don't have a baptismal date yet but we will be meeting with them this week.

This week I started re-reading the Book of Mormon, I am currently in Enos. I want to finish the Book of Mormon and possibly read it again before I go home. By the way, you never answer my question; when I asked you if it would be alright if I went with you to seminary.

By the way, I saved you bukoos of dinero on my stuff that I sent home. I was going to send my stuff in flat rate boxes but I found a better way. Since the majority of my stuff that I was sending home was media, I was able to classify it as media mail = discounted price. So instead of using the flat rate boxes I grabbed my stuff and put it in a big box. All in all, the box weighs 51lbs 4oz which at first would have cost $256.00 but with the media mail discount the price became $26. So yes I saved you BUCKOOs of dinero (: However, you might want Aaron or Dad to pick the box up and bring it into the house, because it's a little heavy haha. So I didn't procrastinate, I sent it on Friday. So for our flight back home are we allowed to have 2 carry-ons? And the 2 other bags what is the weight limit? Is it 50lbs? Let me know so that I can plan ahead. And you still didn't tell me if you wanted to do anything while we are in New England /:

By the way, for the Hartford temple the planned ground breaking is set for August 18th, but that may change. They still have to demolish a building that is currently on the land, President Monson will be here for the ground breaking. That would be awesome if we could attend. Has Bishop Thomas said anything about me speaking in church the following Sundays that I'll be back?

You'll be happy to hear that I'm back to not playing sports. However, I only came back to this conclusion because of another injure (yes I am having the greatest luck at the end of my mission) haha (: I didn't get hurt playing basketball. I was barefoot and I was taking one of the bikes down to the basement to fix it up. On the way down the stairs, I slipped and lost control of the bike. I got my big toe caught in the chain and I fell down the remaining steps. I must say that some words did slip out of my mouth as blood was profusely spewing out of my toe. I was so angry, because I had been trying to be cautious. I stopped the bleeding at looked at my wounds of war, I had a few gashes in my toe (not deep enough for stitches though), part of my toe nail had been sliced off, and about half of my foot was bruised. So I cleaned everything up, made good use of the Neosporin, and put a ziploc bag on my foot to set it in ice cold water. After that I went right back to fixing up the bikes again.

Since then my toe isn't as swollen and my toe isn't infected, but it's still very sensitive. So for the past few days I've walked with a slight limp and as you'd guess members noticed and asked me about it. I guess it didn't pull on their heart strings enough because only one family signed up on our dinner calendar for this week. However, they signed up for random days next month. Why couldn't anyone sign up for this week? I don't know. That 2 or 3 weeks without that many meals, but next month looks promising, the Ward Mission Leader realized how few dinners we had and started getting on member's cases.

Well that Book of Mormon Quest Youth Conference sounded amazing. I wish that I could have seen it. You didn't send any pics and I don't see any changes on the Stripling Warriors blog, but I know you're busy. Hopefully Drum Major Camp is fun for Aaron and that Sea Base Camp is fun for him and Dad.

The world-wide training was cool, I wasn't surprised by anything that was said because it has alrighty been initiated within our mission. Previous to this world-wide training our mission was the only mission that had developed a massive internet database that would make it easier for people on the internet to be referred to mormon.org and other blogs that could answer their questions and refer the user to missionaries. Our mission released a pilot run of the database for a space of time prior to the world-wide training, so that the general authorities could determine whether it would be well-worth the change to digital proselyting (such as facebook and other databases). And as you'd guess it was indeed worth it, many baptisms have come from it especially within the urban areas of our mission. We were the fore-running mission in this development and similar programs to ours will be given to missions throughout the world. There are currently 6-8 missionaries that have been called as 'digital missionaries' (computer geniuses). They are in charge of running and making changes to this database on a day to day basis. I didn't tell you this previous to the world-wide training because it was semi-confidential at the time. By the way, I haven't knocked on a single door for 1 year, other than trying contact less active members and yes knocking on doors can be dangerous.

At one of the dinners that we had this past week I did a little bit of networking with a member that was there, who is a healthcare administrator at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital and he said that he can hook me up with another administrator who is lds and is in Houston. We have a few more dinners with the family so I will be able to talk to him a little bit more about the matter. Dad you would have been proud of me haha.

Have you been in good contact with the Stones? You should send the missionaries over there, maybe the Sisters. People seem to be more open to them in first contact.

That stinks that Aunt Jean broke her foot, hopefully she gets better soon.

I wonder when the Spanish Branch will be approved, hmmm.

Anyways, I love you all. Hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

PS I need to get some new socks and garments sometime soon, so could I use my debit card for that? No pics sorry. I will take some this week.

Elder Everett Escobar  06/16/2013

Well hey!

I hope that you all had an awesome Father's Day celebration! I feel like I just e-mailed you guys the other day and here I am again. But anyways, this week has just gone by. This week, I've been viewed as the handy-man. I've been fixing things left and right. I fixed our dryer (The plug had apparently burnt out and stopped working, so I grabbed a plug from a dryer that someone had thrown away and switched them out. Now the dryer works.), a blow-up mattress (There was a hole in it. So I came up with the idea of sealing the hole with plastic wrap and a lighter. I folded the plastic wrap tightly, stuck it on the mattress and took a lighter to it. After some time of heating the plastic it melted and bonded with the fabric of the mattress, which became a perfect seal for the hole.), and a pair of Reebok shoes (So we were doing service and someone told us to throw away a pair of high-top Reebok Classics. So like the frugal person that I am haha, I asked if I could have them instead. The shoes weren't beat up or old, they were just really dirty. And I was pretty sure that I could clean them up and make them look new again. So I took that challenge and cleaned them up and they turned out quite nicely.) I have pics of some of these things that will be attached to an e-mail.
This past week we aided and assisted the members in going into greater detail with their member missionary plans and setting specific goals. We drove the 'troublemaker' missionary to Providence, Rhode Island to be picked up by the APs to take him to the airport. Everything has been running more smoothly now. Not to dog on him but it's the truth. We had an awesome lesson with Gloria and Ian, we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We committed them to baptism and praying about a specific date for baptism. We are trying to gain more investigators as well. I talked with a member from Worcester, Liz Needham on the phone this past week. She called me (I don't no how she got my number, I guess the missionaries gave it to her) and opened up her home to us for when we tour the mission in August, so we would have a place to stay. She told me to stay in touch with her and to let her know what our schedule will be like when we have a little vacation.
I also received my 'Gold Plates' in the mail this week. Gold Plates are gold-colored documents that are sent to missionaries who will soon be departing. In the documents you write certain things about your areas, companions, investigators, testimony, and you write a final letter to the mission president and his wife. It's about 5 or 6 pages long. I haven't started it yet, we haven't been home that much and haven't had time for me to start it. So I should probably get it done and out of the way because I will need to send it back to the mission office soon. Ugh, I have so much stuff to write and plan, plus my regular proselyting stuff. But it's all fun though (: So you didn't tell me what you guys wanted to do while we are up here? How do you expect me to plan? And this vacation isn't just about me. 

I forgot to tell you that I played basketball this week. The temptation was too great! But I didn't feel any discomfort in my arm and I think that I played even better than I did before I hyper-extended my arm. I was surprised. This whole entire time I've been done a lot of good stretches in the mornings. By the way, all of the members are talking about the NBA Finals and how close the games are. You better be rootin' for the Spurs!

I don't think that I've gotten 'trunky' quite yet. I'm still in the game. As a matter of fact, I am trying to get everything done and out of the way just so that I can solely proselyte and finish strong. I don't really want any of this 'trunky' monkey business.

On a side note, I'm interested in being an attorney now. I know, I keep flipping back and forth. This past month it seems like everybody has just brought up that profession and put it in the spotlight and it's starting to peak my interest.

Answering your question, I do miss southern women. But do southern women miss me? That's my responding question (: I've been getting my southern draw back a little bit, because we work really closely with the Farmington Elders, Elder Farr and Elder Boren. And Elder Boren is a devote country boy and he has definitely been rubbin' off on me.

What Danny had a sleep over?! Isn't he too young for that?...or maybe I'm just old. I hope Dad passes that swim test. Does Aaron have to take the test too? Has Dad been losing weight like the doc told him?

I will be sending my boxes of stuff home this week. So expect 4 boxes to be at our house sometime. Alright so I hope you guys have a great week.

Love,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar 06/09/2013

 Hi,

Six Flags was awesome! We had a blast and we are planning another trip for later this month, put that season pass to work and get the most out of it! 

Things have calmed down a little bit, but there always seems to be something opposing each and every single one of us. As of right now there is one missionary in our district who is causing quite a bit of trouble and hindering the work, but he goes home in 4 days so that solves the problem. Only 4 more days... Then we can breathe and have peace. Anyways, this week we did service at a local food pantry, 'Gifts of Love' which was good. We serve there 3 times a week for 3 hours. We have been teaching our overwhelmingly solid investigators Gloria and Ian. They are so prepared and ready to get baptized it's ridiculous. The next lesson that we will be having with them we will be setting a baptismal date for both of them. They're amazing and they are pretty much already a part of our ward. It's amazing to see all of this happen just in 2 weeks! It's a privilege to just behold something like this happen. They are just soaking everything in. We have also been working with members in trying to help them develop a family missionary plan. So overall this week was good. I expect the work to pick up even more near the end of next week, we'll be able to accomplish a lot more.

So why is Dad, Aaron, and Danny breaking in the upstairs for me? And that's hilariously-gross that all three of them pretty much had a gas bath up there. Well it's good to hear that the Spanish Branch is back on track and as expected there are a lot of changes that have and will be made because of that. These next 2 months are going to be crazy for all of us, but it will work out and we'll meet back up with each other for the first time in 2 years. And about the boxes, no I do not have the reimbursement money anymore. I have 5 large flat-rate boxes packed and they each cost like $17,  however I'm going to try and see if I can get the boxes discounted because all of it is literature and media. So I don't know what the total cost will be in the end. But without the discount it will be like $85 or somewhere around there. I came up with a 20-week exercise regimen (I've been putting it together for almost 2 transfers now) but I'm done now. I will show it to you in August and hopefully it will help Dad as well in his journey through weight-loss. Actually I don't hope that it will help, I know that it will help. I'm pretty sure that he could do it. I'm going to start it when I get home as well. Hope you guys have a great week and that you keep progressing like investigators to the church should haha.

Love,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

PS You better let Danny swim all summer! Plus, you never know, he might be the next Michael Phelps. Probably not, but you never know.

Elder Everett Escobar  06/02/2013

Hey!

I'm am doing better. I have gotten more sleep. This week has been great! I forgot to tell you last week that we were going to have the baptism. Well the baptism was held this past Saturday for Julianne Good (10). And she and her mother were both confirmed by Elder Watson and I on Sunday. It was a great experience. We also gained 3 new solid-investigators. It's a golden family, I don't think that they can get any golder than what they are now. They are so prepared and they are just embracing the gospel. We have only had 1 lesson with them, but they have attended every single church meeting and activity throughout the week. We talked with them yesterday and asked them how church was. They said that they had a great time and that they learned more in 3 hours than they had at any other particular church and that the doctrine is solid and understandable and that everything makes sense. They said that they felt blessed to have come across members of this church and to have just came across the church in general. They also mentioned that they enjoyed the confirmation of Mary and Julianne Good and that they would like to have this ordinance done for them in their lives. So next time we meet with them, should we setup a baptismal date? Yea, I think so.

This past week we found out who would be transferred. Found out that neither I or Elder Watson are being transferred, so he will most likely kill me. President Packard called me before and after he organized transfers. The first time he called, he asked me what I thought should happen in the zone that I'm currently in (Which was interesting to me, since I'm not in any leadership position.).  And I just replied, "President Packard, I don't have any problems with it. Then President Packard called me up before he was going to send transfers out to the mission and talked to me again. He told me that he knew that I had gone through a lot in the short time that I had been here and he said that he feels like I am beginning to realize why I am in this area (Which is true, I realize why I'm here more and more with each passing day.) He then told me that Elder Watson and I will stay together. He then mentioned that he would talk to me more on the subject a little later and that he would speak with me in a more in-depth manner in my last interview with him. Haha welcome to my crazy missionary life! It's so funny, I love it. I actually have to talk with him in a more in-depth manner as well sometime, it will probably be in my last interview though. So yea, I have a lot to tell you as well when I go home, but you probably already knew that.

Anyways, you should know that things are going well. I have had peace all through this week ((((: Yea. I'm still expecting something else to happen though, things will only be in this mode for so long till something happens. That's the way it always works. Oh, I forgot to tell you this, this past Sunday our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Love, got up and bore his testimony about missionary work. At the end he expressed to the ward that we have some extraordinary missionaries and that they are doing a mighty fine work. Then he said (I'll say that he prophesied), "I expect all of those empty chairs in the over-flow to be full by the end of this year." He then said the ward is doing well in helping the missionaries, but that they still need to pick up some more of the slack. I have to say say that I was impressed, we had at least 50 chairs in the overflow that were empty when he said that. But I know that it can happen, this ward can probably have at least 1 baptism a week if all of the members were to wrap their minds around missionary work. When Brother Love said that in sacrament meeting, my eyes bugged out and I imagine that the biggest smile just came across my face as well. I know it can happen and I want it to happen. So with only 1 1/2 transfers left on my mission, it's all or nothing. As you probably guessed I'm picking, 'all'. Haha

Just let all of you know my summer fun is about to start, so don't get jealous when I say this. Today we are going to take a tour of ESPN Studios which is legit. However, on Wednesday we got permission to go to Six Flags: New England, some members are taking us. How sweet is that?! Yes, Aaron and Danny are probably complaining right now, I'm sorry. But normally I don't get to do anything like this so it's cool.

Well from you e-mail Mom, it sounds like you got some wise words of counsel from Bishop. It's good to keep hearing that the boys are still not only involved in extracurricular activities, but are also involved in missionary work. Graduation 2013?! Geez I felt young till you brought that up haha, it's crazy. It doesn't even feel like 3 years have gone by. Hey this thought came to mind as I was reading your e-mail. Would it be alright if I were to go to seminary with you, I think that would be legit. And I would start off my day studying the scriptures and helping you and the youth. That would be cool, I guess that I would kind of in a sense be your 'assistant'. I don't know, you can do whatever you want with me. What are your thoughts on that?

By the way, I've heard of Elder Wetkisser (if that's how you spell it) but I don't believe that I've actually met him, the name rings a bell though. And also greenies training greenies isn't all that rare up here, but it's always been interesting to me. That's a lot of faith and trust to be putting in new missionaries. Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed my long letter of random excitement haha. I love and prayer for all of you as well. Hope you have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Everett Alan Escoba

Elder Everett Escobar  05/19/2013

Hey!!!

I understood it for the most part. Connecticut is good. Elder Watson is doing well, as a matter of fact, it's his birthday today. So to celebrate a member is taking us to Cheesecake Factory for lunch (: We'll probably be playing b-ball today, I going to take it a little easy though. I really don't want to get injured before I go home, that would stink. We are getting fed dinner pretty much everyday, but lunch has been hard because we seem to always be on the run. So you've probably seen transactions for fast food. And it stinks because we pretty much don't have anything in our apartment, just oatmeal and condiments. Neither my companion or I have any money (I have just a little bit but that's been set aside for the packages that I will be sending home sometime) and to top it off our monthly msf is going to coming late next month. Egh! It's so annoying not having a steady income of some sort cause you feel somewhat stuck at times. However, I have been enjoying my time here in Connecticut. Most of the members here are just loaded, it's beyond ridiculous and there are quite a few members here that are dentists. We had stake conference yesterday in which we had a live broadcast meeting from Salt Lake City, where President Packer, Elder L. Tom Perry, and a few other speakers spoke to the congregation about temples, missionary work, and strengthening families. It was nice, everyone is excited for the Hartford Temple. The building process of the temple will most likely start in June or July.

Mom...come on, you know that I forgive you about the blog. It's not like I'm going to get mad or upset and hulk smash everything haha. Sounds like you had a pretty full week. You can probably guess what our week was full of SERVICE, of course to the members. 

It's good that the Elders finally got a car. We heard that our car might be getting stripped from us and will be given to the new Sisters coming in. I don't like the idea because we have a fairly large area and it is going to take a blow to the work here if we are on bikes, we won't be able to do anything (comparably speaking). A lot of changes are about to happen yet again this transfer, because 18 new Sisters and 1 Elder is coming into the mission. So there is probably going to be 6 or 7 new areas being added to the mission. There have been a lot of rumors going around the mission. For some reason or another some missionaries, including our Zone Leaders, seem convinced that I'm getting transferred this transfer in which I will be made an Assistant to the President. I highly doubt it though, come on, my last transfer getting made AP and leaving right after that, it seems silly and ridiculous to me. I've had a lot of people predict and tell me that I will or should be AP throughout my mission but I'm completely fine and happy where I'm at. I find joy in being a proselyting missionary and that's enough for me at the time being. Plus I don't know how much more tired I can get before I might snap, just kidding. But I am super tired.

Love,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar  05/06/2013

Good morning!

It is a beautiful day in Worcester, Mass. It has been a beautiful week. Things are starting to pick up quite a bit in the Worcester 1st Ward. This past week Elder DeLong and I have been striving to reach out to those that have been on the minds of the auxiliary leaders in the ward and trying to get in contact with referrals that we had received from members in the ward. We were successful in our endeavors and have gained some new investigators. Yesterday was a blast! The whole ward was fasting for a strengthening in the ward and when we got to church we saw a large amount of members in attendance (a lot of the members that we had contacted that week showed up to church, there were several non-members at church also), fast & testimony meeting was amazing (almost everyone talked about missionary work), and there seemed to be a sense of unity throughout the entire 3 hour block of church and even afterwards too. Things look bright and the work is picking up. After church we had a break-the-fast linger longer, it was Cinco de Mayo themed. It was so good, it seemed more like a ward activity than a linger longer. There were decorations, pretty much the whole nine-yards. Throughout this week we have been given many opportunities to serve others. We helped in a American Red Cross Blood Drive, we help a lot of people in the cleaning up of their yards, we assisted in a Stake-wide Relief Society Conference (Sister Evans was there, but I didn't see her. We took care of kids, we got permission of course, and we cook and prepared food) and we were able to minister to some of the members who were sick and to some that were in need of comfort. This week was long, but short at the same time. One thing that I have noticed for sure is that it just keeps getting harder and harder to wake up on time, I have to literally force myself out of bed. I thought that I was already exhausted but this past week has really pushed the limits, but the Lord provides. I can clunk out for a good long while, when I get back home. As a result of my tiredness, I haven't been exercising twice a day, you can probably imagine why. I guess that I will get back up in the 'fitness' bandwagon when I get back home as well.

Sounds like the Liberty Ward is just booming! Pretty soon you might be bursting at the seams, haha. It's good that Aaron will be getting more involved in the missionary work of the ward. That's what all of the youth need, especially now since the young men can go on their missions pretty much right out of high school. Going out with the missionaries and serving with them will give them a good perspective of what their mission might be like and hopefully their experiences with the missionaries will continue to kindle or spark a desire to serve. Oh, by the way who is this "friend" that Aaron will be escorting to this Choir Concert? Come on, we need details (: Anyways, Danny sounds like he is doing some rather academic things, such as the Science Fair. 

By the way, it's funny that you mentioned the topic of 'dusting our feet', I have been intrigued by that as well and have been tempted to do it several times. However, just as you said it is something that you should take into deep consideration. You wouldn't want a guilty conscious, especially if you did it just out of anger and frustration. It's definitely something that is not done often at all.

It's good to hear that the Smesnys' are now sealed together as a family, that truly is something beautiful. So Dad is now one of the 'Men In Black'. Is he going to be in the next movie with Will Smith? That would be awesome. It was 40 degrees this morning, wow, it's the same for us too. Except I don't think that is all that 'rediculous' right now but I imagine if I were back home, I would think that it was. Hopefully it doesn't get that much colder, because Mom I know that you JUST CAN'T STAND IT at all. Also I just wanted to let you know that I will probably need one more bottle of contact solution and one more stick of deodorant and I guess that will last me till August, that's my guess, maybe I will need two sticks, who knows. I am looking forward to the Mother's Day call, I don't have all the specifics as for the exact time yet, but we will be working that out today and I guess that I will text you the time (:

Alrighty well, I love all of you and I hope that you have an awesome week no matter how chaotic it might be.

Love,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar  04/22/2013

Good morning,

It was a little hard for me saying goodbye to Elder Metcalf and Sister Crane, who left the district this transfer (Mom, I want you to meet Sister Crane when we tour the mission). I must say that I did get a little emotional during transfer meeting, it was hard trying to hold back the tears that were about to spew out of my eyes. I held it in well though. However, it didn't help that the meeting was super spiritual. It made it harder for me to hold my ground, haha. .I was getting so good at not getting emotional throughout my mission, but this past transfer really put me through the ringer and I've become a crier again. Some people have started calling me, Elder Eyring (because he cries in pretty much every talk)  I have 2 more transfers and it is ridiculous how fast time has gone by, I don't even believe it myself. In the meeting President Packard expressed that the Priesthood Brethern (Prophet, the Apostles, and the Seventy) have had and still have their eye on this mission, because we are exceeding our goals and are growing tremendously. Some of the practices that we've initiated in this mission are now being used in other missions around the world, because of it's much success. Through these past months we have also broken records number-wise and it is consistent. The work is growing tremendously as we strive to have everyone visualize and help in the building of Zion. My new companion is Elder DeLong. I served around him when I was in Nashua, we were in the same Zone. He has been out for 17 months, he's a hard-worker. I like him a lot, we get along really well. To tell you the truth, as of right now I don't think that this is going to be my last area. I have this feeling that I'm going to get transferred for the last transfer that I'm here. That thought has and is pressing in my mind right now. I feel like I have grown a lot this past transfer. A lot was made known unto me and I feel like I have a better grasp or knowledge as to who I am and who I can become. The Lord has revealed many things unto me. I feel like I have talked with him face to face as I have expressed my struggles, my feelings, and the concerns that are existent within the ward which we are striving to resolve. He has spoken to me through my thoughts, through people that I have come in contact with, and through my dreams. All of these ways of revelation which I have experienced have complimented each other and have helped me in doing the will of the Lord. As a result, I have gained a greater sense of happiness, joy, and peace of mind.

So Mom, as of right now I don't have any plans in the near future of attending any sporting events with huge crowds (: Hope your happy about that. I will try to schedule an actual time this week, as to when we can communicate on Mother's Day.

By the way, I found a shnazy wool suit that looks nice. And the best part about it is that it was free. I just have to find someone in the ward who can tailor the slacks for me (I have a pic of me in the suit coat, but with a different pair of slacks).

Tell Aaron and Danny that I am proud of them for their academic and extracurricular success. Keep doing what you are doing and you will have many accomplishments in life.

Elder DeLong and I are pretty much wiping everything that was being done in our ward and start everything over again. Were starting from the ground and working our way up. And we are hounding down on strengthening the ward itself rather than pin-pointing new investigators to teach. For the past three days, we have been coming up with more and more ways that we can interact with individuals and families in the ward. I feel like we are doing the right thing and that what we are doing is the will of God. This Sunday, the bishop made a push for the same thing. He called for a strengthening in the ward and pleaded with the members to have us, the missionaries, in there home so that we can help and strengthen them. So that they may be better prepared for trials to come and for missionary opportunities. We did not have our expected baptism it got pushed back due to family issues, but it should happen sometime this coming month. Anyways, hope you all have a great day and an amazing week.

Love, 

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Everett  04/24/2013

Hello,

Hey $76.00 in tuition sounds perfect! Why are you calling in about that? Just kidding, yea something's not right about that. Well believe it or not we were shut down when the manhunt was going on, we're not to far from Boston, we're actually in the Boston Zone. Yea pretty much everything is back to normal in Boston. I should know because I was there yesterday when we went to the Boston Red Sox vs Oakland A's game, we got permission to go. Everyone is still mourning the losses that happened at the Boston Marathon and they are supporting the officials that came to their aid. Security is still a little tight but that is expected. I got the opportunity to go to the baseball game because their is a missionary in our district received tickets from a member and got permission to go but his companion didn't like baseball, so he asked me if I wanted to go. And I didn't have to think twice about it, it's on my bucket list. We had a good time and we had really good seats ($200 seats as a matter of fact). The only down side of it all was that it was misty and chilly. Other than that we had a blast. I put pics on this e-mail, for some of the pics I didn't even have to zoom in at all. It was a good baseball game, the Red Sox got smoked 0-12, the Oakland A's wiped their bottoms.

As you can probably guess, this week is transfer week and that's why I am e-mailing you today. We found out on Saturday that Elder Metcalf is getting transferred to Lowell, Massachusetts and Sister Crane (she's blonde, you'll see her in the pics that I sent) is getting transferred to Ellington, Connecticut. They will both be missed, both of them have had a great impact on me. This has been the best district that I have been in on my mission by far. It's going to be hard watching them go and having to deal with change, but we will see each other from time to time I'm sure. My new companion will be Elder DeLong, he's a English/Cambodian speaking missionary. We were in the same Zone when I served in Nashua, he seems like a cool cat, a hard worker. We will see what happens.

So Aaron got to go to Mormon Prom, that's pretty cool. Oh and he fell for a cute Colombian, so he likes the Latina flavor huh? Haha, I guess we might have different tastes in women. However, I expect that we both have the same overlavish, corny charm that we inherited from our dear father. All Hail KING CORNY: Felix David Escobar! He started it all. "Hey, give me a piece of that corn!" Yet again, Aaron good luck on your Eagle Project since your not totally done yet. Get it done, get it out of the way as soon as possible.

And as for Danny, I can totally see him being a lawyer. Many people that don't know me mistake me for being an attorney or physician of some sort. Apparently, I just have the look, apparently. Mom! Pretty soon you're not going to have any little boys anymore... How do you feel about that?

As for the doctor and dentist appointments, I'm fine with doing it then. And for Mother's Day, we don't have anyone set in stone quite yet but a few families have offered to have us over when we make our calls home. So I will keep you up to date on that. Now for my clothes, at the end of my mission I'm just going to burn the majority of my dress clothes, because they are just down-right filthy and nobody is probably going to take them (if they are smart and have anything in their bucket, they won't take them). So I will probably end up buying new garments, a white shirt, and a suit at the end of my mission. Yea I don't know if my dress clothes can last too much longer. I'm pretty sure that I do have plenty of casual clothes between what I have here and back home. If I need to get anything, it will probably be a few pairs of jeans and shorts which I can probably get at Pac Sun when they have their Blue Dot Sale for dirt cheap. Other than that yea I think that I will be all set. So we are both looking forward to the call home on Mother's Day, I will probably Skype. I don't really enjoy talking on the phone.

I love all of you,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar  04/15/2013

Well answering your first question the trip was very nice all the way up until the explosions. We were only 2 streets away from the blasts and we were even closer to the blast area 15 minutes prior to the explosions. After the explosions I wanted to run and help in the moment but decided it would probably be best if I stayed with Elder Metcalf and the rest of the district. We had started walking away from the finish area of the marathon when the explosion happened. When we the first bomb exploded we felt the ground shake and saw all of the smoke rise up into the air. We were 2 streets away from the finish line at that point. Then we heard people screaming and crying and we saw people running away. Seconds later cops ran to the scene with their guns drawn. Our district wasn't sure where we should go because no one other than me had really served in the city. I decided that it would be safe for us to go to Boston Common, because it's a big, open area and it was a short distance away from the city. As we quickly made our way to Boston Common we saw helicopters circling the city and a continuous never-ending fleet of militia, ambulances, fire fighters, police, and government vehicles speed into the city. I've never seen so many emergency personnel in my life on one scene. When we got to Boston Common we found other missionaries there who had taken refuge. Several minutes after talking to our Zone Leaders and Sister Packard, we decided as a whole that it would be best if we just went home. However a lot of the subway stations were locked down so we took a 30 minute journey to the Charles MGH Station where we boarded the red line subway and safely road to Kendall Square where we had parked our cars. When we got to our cars we offered a prayer of gratitude, thanking our Heavenly Father for not having such harm befall us and we asked that all of the individuals and families that were in harms way might be lifted up. That they may be comforted and that they may recover from their injuries. We also prayed that through such incidents that happen like this that people might open their hearts and may be receptive to the gospel so that they may be at peace, even though a world of chaos and destruction now surrounds them. After we said a prayer we embarked on our journey back home which was a little tricky because police officers had blocked some of the roads and there were still swarms of law enforcement vehicles entering the city, keep in mind this was almost an hour after the blasts. When we were almost home we received a mission-wide text from the Packards telling us to take refuge in our apartments for the remainder of the day. Then we heard from the members of our ward that the another bomb had gone off at the JFK Library and that law enforcement personnel found more bombs throughout the Boston region before they had actually detonated. I don't know if any of these other bombs were close to where we were at any part of the day on Monday. But I know that we were being watched over by our Heavenly Father and were ushered  safely home by the Master's hand. My heart goes out to all those whom lost or have injured loved ones and I hope they will one day feel of their Savior's love and come to know of His atoning sacrifice and resurrection.

Anyways, it was a long day, I'm not traumatized or nervous by it all. But I definitely was on an adrenaline rush and on the alert and cautious about myself and the district when I was there and in the moment. 

So transitioning to this week; it was good. We gained 2 new investigators after Elder Metcalf had recovered from his illness. It's good to hear that Aaron's Eagle Project is coming along and that it comes through smoothly. Please tell Aaron congratulations on receiving his Patriarchal Blessing. When he does receive his copy, he should read over it often but don't be obsessive about it and take everything literally and for face value. Because sometimes your interpretation of the blessing may be incorrect. Just live worthily of the blessing and let it unfold before your eyes, don't try to make the blessing happen when and where you want it to. Anyways, I'm about to be booted off of the computer so, I hope that you all have a great day and a great week.

Love you,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar  04/08/2013

Hey ya'll,

Our week has been full of meetings. We had Zone Meeting, District Meeting, General Conference, and today we had interviews with President Packard. This was one of my last interviews with him and it was most enlightening; I am being brought to tears just thinking about it and typing this e-mail. Through the interview we talked about my companion, my eternal companion, and school. We mainly focused our discussion on my eternal companion though, I described to him the feelings that I have been having and I related other details to him (details that I haven't even shared with you, so you only know half of the whole story (: Please don't think that I wanted to leave you out of the action, I feel like it is too sacred to talk about in an e-mail that will be viewed by the public. So I will write out a letter to you concerning the matter of which President Packard and I spoke about.) All I have to say in this e-mail is that my notions and feelings were confirmed to me. 

I have been spending a lot of time on my knees this week in regard to school, my companion, and eternal companion.   Elder Metcalf had been sick, he got a stomach virus so we had a little bit of time on our hands, so i made the best of it and got to my knees in humble prayer. I feel as if my prayers have become much more effective. We gained a new investigator this week, Dave Fallon, he's a recovering alcoholic who is looking for a church to get into. He came to the Priesthood Session of General Conference and enjoyed it. By the way, I thought Elder Robert D. Hales looked like death warmed over in the Priesthood Session, he looked bad. So we saw the Saturday Sessions of conference at Sister Needham's house with the Sisters. Oh and I cooked brunch, I made bacon omelettes. You and Grandma would have been so proud of me, haha. They were really good. Then on Sunday we watched the first session at the church and the second session at a member's house. I enjoyed all of the conference messages, there was just so much to learn. I was sad when they released Sister Elaine S. Dalton though, she was my favorite female speaker. 

Hey from your sentence, 'It is really looking good. We are going to make you wait until you get home to see it, though...now sneak peak video.' What sneak peek video? When and where is this sneak peek video? I'm confused. Please explain.

Sounds like the boys are doing well. Tomorrow will be our actual P-day since we had interviews today, so I will have pics then to share with you.

Sincerely and with much love,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar  04/01/2013

Hey! So I don't know if you noticed but I sent some pics to Danny's e-mail, so enjoy (: We had a good Easter both us and the Sisters spent dinner at the Ciuncis' (Ward Mission Leader's Family) it was really good. I love Sister Ciunci's food, it's probably the best that I've had on my mission and she likes to spoil us too. After dinner we delivered food to and visited one of the widows in our ward, she is 95 years old and is usually pretty lonely. So our Easter Sunday was good we also taught for 10 minutes in Primary, we talked about different ways to share the gifts that Christ has given us to others. As I said before in Danny's e-mail we had 1 lesson with an investigator this week but we had 21 lessons with members. And answering your question about the spirit world, we do explain that there is a paradise and a prison and we do talk about people getting the opportunity to hear about the gospel in the spirit world. However, we do not go into very much detail about the matter unless the investigator has any questions regarding the subject. So generally it's like as you said very short, simply, and brief; very basic.

It's good that you were able to have fun with the Elders by playing Yugioh and Fooseball. Haha I haven't played Fooseball in a while, Elder Curtis might have been able to take me, keyword: 'might' (: The last time I played Fooseball was back when I was in Weston, but I have played a little bit of pool every now and then. 

Uh, Mom you went tracting. Tracting is gross it's the most ineffective tactic in missionary work, it should be the last thing that missionaries should ever do; especially if your in a trio. Too bad all of the Hermanas appointments fell through, that's never fun. So how is Dad doing, being the Ward Mission Leader and taking care of all these missionaries?

Sounds like a lot is going on this week, STAAR Tests, golf tournaments, working on the upstairs, seminary, school, etc Looks like you all have a full week. Good luck in testing and playing golf. I can't wait for General Conference and yes I will let you know if I hear anything from Lee. Hope you all have a great week.

Love, 

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar 

Hey Danny!

That's way cool that you were able to get your Arrow of Light that's quite an accomplishment, pretty soon you will be working on your eagle project like Aaron is now. It's good to hear that you are doing well in school in your behavior and your grades. Keep it up! Keep going strong, try to make the Honor Roll. Do you still get an allowance based on your grades? Now I know that you want me to tell you 'all' about my mission, but that's very hard to do because a lot has happened in these past 2 years. It's very hard to sum things up. It will be a lot easier if I just told you everything in person in about 4 months time (: However, the mission as of right now is going well. We had 1 lesson with an investigator, who is getting baptized on April 21st, and we had 21 lessons with members throughout this week, so we stayed busy and we made a lot of progress with less-actives in our area. We had 3 less-actives that we have been working with, show up to church yesterday. So I'm having fun. We are going bowling today, so that will be relaxing. I have been exercising a lot, both morning and night. I'm glad that I have good genes from Dad to put on lean muscle. I have been seeing the fruits of my labors. I really want to be a trainer again right before I die as a full-time missionary of the Lord. Now on the topic of Yugioh cards. Just be patient, you have waited for over a year and a half. You can probably wait for 4 more months, now don't have an anxiety attack over that okay (: You will see me before you know it. I love both you and your brother, Aaron. Keep working hard and choosing the right.

Love,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar  03/24/2013

Well HOWDY to h'all yah fellers down in Tayxoes!

We have had a good week of strengthening and uplifting the members of our ward. I feel like there is a greater sense of unity now. We have been working well with the Sisters, they are awesome! We went to Ward Council for the first time yesterday, it went well. I don't have very much to report on investigator-wise, but things are going well. I feel like we need to re-convert and strengthen the people that we already have, before we can actually move on and strive to bring more people into the church. I saw President Packard the other night at the Stake Easter Celebration and he mentioned that he had talked to you, I'm that you had a good conversation with him.

Wow it's amazing that Gilberto got to baptize his girlfriend. It sounds like he's just cruising in the gospel. And Aaron's going to be getting his patriarchal blessing pretty soon, that's great. Time goes by way too fast (and I'm pretty sure I've said that at least a thousand times). Sounds like Danny had a good birthday, I guess when I get back we can play a few rounds of Rockem Sockem! Mom your going to start working again?! That's cool, you've been talking about that for years. So is it really going to happen? Like you for sure are going to start working again?

Ok so I will call Mrs. Moreno as soon as I can and fill out the form. I will print it off later today. I can't print things off at the library that I am currently at. And I will be on the look out for my contacts. So if the letter seems kind of short I just don't have all that much to report on, even though we have been very busy. Anyways, I hope you have a great week as well.

Love,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar 03/18/2013

Mi familia! Buenos dias! FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS DANNY!

Estoy haciendo bien. Esta semana fue muy bien. I did understand those sentences, you might have had one or two spelling/spacing errors, I think. You never did respond to my text that I sent you asking if you had mailed my contacts. I have some news for you. Right before the mission-wide conference on Saturday, President Packard came up to me and told me that both he and Sister Packard feel as if I need to go to school and that they want me to go to school this fall semester, of course if I still wanted to go. He also said Sister Packard came up with the idea of putting mini-missionaries within the area after I leave till the end of the transfer. So that the area won't have to be hindered in any way and the work would still be able to go forward. It's good for the youth of the church and it's an easy fix. So you should expect a phone call from President Packard sometime soon. I will be talking to him today, I have been praying and fasting. So flight plans might change...
The meeting with Elder Russell M. Ballard, Elder Christiansen, and Elder Eyring was awesome. That was a very, very spiritual day. I don't think that there was any bit of negativity within that whole entire day it was great. There weren't any big, dramatic changes in the mission, none of the boundaries were changed or anything like that. Elder Ballard gave us the commission to become 'Master Teachers'. The whole meeting was about bettering ourselves and those around us through our words and actions and creating true, loving relationships with the members.

Well we have been making the transition with the new Sister missionaries, Sister Rivera and Sister Crane (I have known Sister Rivera for quite some time, she's cool. Sister Crane is straight out of the MTC, she is quiet for the most part but she's nice.) The work has been progressing within the ward we have received more referrals from the members as well as dinners. We expect to have quite a few new investigators in the coming weeks.Sister Rivera and I made a big push with the bishop to let us be at Ward Council. We knew that the bishop had refused permission to previous missionaries from the meeting, but we were determined to get into that meeting. After an hour long conversation of petitioning and amending we were granted access to go to Ward Council (: Boo-yah! Finally. Now we will truly know what's happening in the ward and how we can best help the members.

That's so cool that Chelsea is having her baby! Please tell Serena that I hope that everything goes well and that she feels better. It's good that the missionaries got to speak in the ward.

Wow you're buying tile already, the upstairs must be coming along fairly well, especially if you are working on the small details now. Such as the door handles, faucets, knobs, and what not. No you hadn't told me that Matt and Kristen moved to Utah, I had heard that they were in Utah, but I didn't know that they had actually 'moved' there.

Hope that you are successful in all of your endeavors and that the Spirit of the Lord will continually go about you throughout the course of this week.

Love you,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

PS I won't QUIT. "I'm too legit, too quit" (Not that I'm prideful or anything, I'm quoting a movie).

Elder Everett Escobar  03/11/2013

You might be wondering why I didn't e-mail you on Monday, that's because we had a short 5-week transfer. And we have good news neither I or Elder Metcalf are leaving Worcester and we are getting Sisters in our area as well. Do I feel a little heat, yes. Spanish is going horribly, I haven't studied for quite some time now, however with the down time that we have had for the past few weeks the apartment has been cleaned (have some pics for ya). By the way I'm not sure if I get 'chilly willies' haha. 38 degrees sounds alright to me right now. I can't wait for spring when everything turns into a vibrant green, I will have to make sure to take a lot of pics then. Elder Metcalf is doing well, he's not drugged up any more, which is nice. The area seems to be turning around, we have been meeting with the ward auxiliary leaders and have been trying to gain their trust, in one of our meeting with Sister Herrera who is the Primary President, we got 6 member referrals! So now we have a lot of things to work on and more auxiliary leaders to visit. So yes I would say that things indeed are a lot better than they were before in this area. We've been hearing rumors that there are going to be a lot of changes in the mission and the mission boundaries might be tweaked and Elder Ballard (Apostle Ballard) is visiting our mission on Saturday and will be holding a live broadcast with us and the Manchester Mission, hmmmmmm...I think I smell something fishy(: I will let you know what happens next p-day.

So this week I have been contemplating more heavily about leaving the mission and working instead of going straight to school. I felt and still feel good about it, but I wanted to know the reasons as to why I should go forth with this decision so I started to pray. So a couple of days later in my studies I decided to read my Patriarchal Blessing and I came across the line which states: "Not long after you return from your mission, you will meet a young lady who you will take to the temple to be married for time and all eternity." Right as I read that I felt a greater abundance of the Spirit and I just started balling. I felt like I couldn't control myself or hold back the tears at all (Answer to my prayers? I think yes.) I was reading my Patriarchal Blessing for personal inspiration and that was definitely the highlight of what I read. Although I don't know to the fullest extent what all of this means, my guess would be that the time is near at hand for me to meet my eternal companion and that I need to keep preparing myself both spiritually and physically. Oh I don't know if I told you this but Elder Metcalf is dyslexic so he has a hard time studying and memorizing the discussions. So a few days ago I was praying to know how I could help him have a better study and I received some inspired revelation as to how I could help him, it kind of just popped into my mind. So I'm having him read each principle in the discussions individually and visualizing what the passage is saying in his mind. Then I have him draw out what he sees on paper and after he draws these principles out I tell him to shut his Preach My Gospel and explain to me what each drawing represents and it works! He remembers! So now it's just going to be the repetition of this process that will have the discussion ingrained in his mind. So anyways, it's been a good week. You should keep talking to Mrs. McCracken and her family and you should invite them to family home evening. Ask the missionaries what you/they can do, they can help. That would be good. I love all of you. Hope you have a great week.

Your son/brother/friend,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar  02/25/2013

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. No he hasn't written me.

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 02/19/2013

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 goals 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 Waddell 6-17-13

​

Hey hey. Well I hope things are going well over there. 

Things are going great here. Some of the people we've been trying to teach are panning out and we're beginning to teach more. It's been beautiful here. 60's and 70's for the past two weeks. Supposedly it's rare for this to happen, and what's even more rare, you know how when a hurricane is coming you'll be watching tv and randomly it will switch to the national weather service stuff and warn you? Well I guess that happened here but the reason being is that it will be in the low 80's here and they're not equipped for that kind of weather. haha I don't think most people have air conditioners. 

One of the strangest announcements I've heard in Elders Quorum. 

yep so things are fun here.

This whole "the end of the mission" thing is weird. It's really teaching me the concept that you can't tell yourself not to think of something. for example, if I told you..... don't think of a purple alligator. .....you just thought of one, immediately it flashed through your mind. But if I don't want you to think of a purple alligator in reality I should just keep your mind engaged with other things.... So that's what I'm learning now. I've been doing pretty well in losing myself in the work for the past two years I just need to stay lost in it for a little while longer and keep the momentum of progression going after my mission. I'm not going to be the same person when I get back as I am today and most definitely as I was two years ago. 

life is exciting.

well I hope you're enjoying the Texas heat. I was sweating the other day when it was 65. 

love

Elder Waddell

Elder Tellez 6-17-13 email

How is everyone? I am good. We baptized yesterday. It was a crazy miracle. We found him on Tuesday. His brother is the ward mission leader in another ward here in Tuxpan and his mom is a member too. He had already gone to church many times before. He has a strong testimony in the church, but he didn't want to get baptized yet. So, we invited him to a baptismal service in another ward and we handed him some white clothes and said, "ready to get baptized" and he said "yes". So he changed into the clothes and his brother baptized him. This Sunday, we are going to be baptizing his wife. I am thankful that we have a Loving Heavenly Father who watches out for us and answers our prayers. You know something? Tuxpan reminds me alot of Galveston. Today we recieved our washer a AC!! Tonight will be the first night that we don't suffer, haha. Time for me to go. I love you all.

Elder Waddell 6-10-13

I am great. I got my last transfer call, no transfer. I will be dying on the Kenai peninsula near the river. 

Man the Toups are moving? What are they going to do in Katy? 

What's youth conference going to be on? We shared our testimonies at the youth conference here. The youth are soooo excited for missions here. Is it the same there? 

Things are great here. We're really working with the ward to try and have some awesome missionary experiences happen around here. It's been kind of dead for a little while so we're trying to resurrect it. It's been fun.

We're also going to be fishing on pdays.... hopefully and we're possibly going to Kodiak.

We just got a lot of potentials this sunday. little miracles happening all the time! wellllll after the trial of our patience haha 

sorry I gotta go again. love you!

Elder Waddell

Elder Tellez 6-10-13 email

How is everyone? I am good. They haven't fixed the AC yet. We didn't baptize this week but we will baptize this week. The picture is of my zone here in Tuxpan. It is still super hot here. Nothing new has happened this week. I'm sorry. I'm healthy. Is everyone reading the scriptures and praying? Family Home Evening? Time to go. I love you all.

Elder Escobar

He is doing great!

Elder Tellez 6-3-13 email

How is everyone? I am great. We didn't baptize this week. But we are definitely baptizing this week. Flor, the 18 year old girl didn't get baptized. We have left her for the time being. This week we are going to baptize a 20 something year old girl. Things are finally starting to pick up. It is super hot, haha. A brother in our ward is going to try to get us an AC unit. It is super difficult to sleep at night. Even with the fan blowing in my face, I still end up sweating, haha. Almost 3 months left!! I sent many pictures of the house and other things. Everything is good here in Tuxpan. Time to go. I love you all.