Elder Everett Escobar  4/16/2012

Hello mi familia,

I am doing very well! Suzanne, the Sister from Lebanon and her son, Danny, have agreed to get baptized. So yes they are progressing. Our last meeting with them was such a blast, the spirit was really strong and Suzanne boldly told us, "I know that Jesus has brought both of you into my life, thank you for everything that you have done for me." And as you can probably guess at that point my eyes got a little watery, however I didn't cry amazingly haha. Well Jade and Jean are getting better, Jade has a baptismal date for the 26th of May and Jean just got a job so he's not discouraged anymore and he is coming back to church.

Monday was pretty hot it was in the 90s, Monday was also Patriots Day! So we were able to go to the temple which was great. While I was there the University Elders told me that Ran Jan, a guy who I found and started teaching before I left is getting baptized. They also told me that Nic Petre another person that I found and started teaching is finally coming around in his faith and what he believes (he was and probably still is a hard egg to crack). I was also able to talk to Chris Battoo over the phone that evening, seems like life is still tough for him but he is still coming to church and he is going to meet with Bishop Porter because he wants to receive the priesthood and soon after that go to the temple.

Oh Dad and Grandpa (or any man) would be jealous of this. There is an Aston Martin dealership close to our apartment and on Friday last week they had a car show, it was amazing! They Aston Martins, Shelby Mustangs, Lotus', Audis, and Ferraris - galore! It was so sweet, however, we did not stop and give into temptation but I did take a few pictures while driving by.

I received an e-mail from John (Elder Tellez) today, just so you know. So Shane is working for Brother Farrell now that's pretty cool. You should tell him to convert, Don and Saint, for me or at least invite them to events at church. Sounds like there are plenty of changes in Liberty Ward. Well before I forget, I have to tell you that Elder White and I are staying together for another transfer and so apparently I am his only companion that he has had for 3 transfers, he was pretty excited about that. Oh and I have a boat load of pictures for you. By the way it is very GREEN here right now! At the beginning of the next transfer will be 9 months out, crazy! And next transfer 30 missionaries are going home!!! That's a bit ridonkulous! Anyways, time keeps tickin'...
 

Love,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Waddell 4-16-12

Hey! Thanks!  I'm doing pretty well today. Things are going good, I can't complain. This week went pretty fast. Looking back things that happened a couple of days ago seem a long time past , but last pday seems like yesterday. sooo I guess the lesson is don't try to measure time. But we've had a productive week. The other day we were talking to a guy on the street and a bunch of little kids were running around. I recognized one because we had been in the area before and the last time he stuck his tongue out at us like some little kids do. But this time while Elder Thorne was talking to the guy the little kid walked up and looked at Elder Thorne in a strange way. Then he stomped on Elder Thornes foot. Then he started to hit him with a stick and try to stab him haha The guy we were talking with yelled at him then called him "nino del diablo" ,  so that was interesting. And I've decided that it would be much nicer if some people would just tell us they're not interested. Because being invited into someone’s house then after half an hour of conversation being told you worship the devil and you're going to hell isn't the most fun or productive thing I could be doing.  And it's not very easy to leave. Just a thought . So there's a lot less snow on the ground now. And it was about 50 degrees all day today! woohoo!  So that's been nice. We've met some new people and the work is just going rather well. Especially considering we have to actively seek out people who speak Spanish. Right now the Branch is split in two areas west and east with 5 missionaries. But next transfer Elder Samuelson will be gone and Elder Smith might finally leave the Branch. So we think It will just be one area covering the entire city and we might get Elder Petersen so we'll have a trio again ha. That would be pretty cool I think. But we're definitely worried about Elder Samuelson leaving....We need a native speaker so we can learn at a faster pace. Today we did some hiking. It was pretty sweet. It was Elder Samuelson's last real pday.  We have a Family home evening with a family we're teaching and some members tonight, so that should be good. Things are going well and we're excited for the success we're seeing. I hope things are nice in the lone star state. All is well in Zion.

Elder Waddell

Elder Tellez 4-16-12

Another week gone bye,

¿Que dicen? ¿Como estan? I am feeling super lazy today. I woke up with a massive headache this morning. I think it is safe to say that I am definately used to Mexico. We I go back to America, my little head will just explode. I find it better to speak in spanish. I am trying this crazy tecnique (probably spelled wrong, spanish words are popping into my head instead of english) to where I speak with more of an spanish accent and less gringo. Surprisingly, I never really sounded gringo to begin with, haha. But I want to sound really good. Just think of it, in less than a month we might skype or maybe just a telephone call. So, last night, I was looking through letters and stuff from my time in the MTC and first couple of months here, and I made me think how supportive you all really are. If it feels like at times that I don't appreciate all that y'all do, don't feel like that because I really do appreciate each and every one of you. I am sure it is harder to have a grandson, brother, and especially a son 800 miles away in a completely different country on the Lord's errand than it is for me here. Because I spend all of my time dedicated to all of this that it is almost impossible to think about anything else. Don't get me wrong, every night I think about home, but my mind wanders back to "Ahhhh, what do Enrique and Elizabet need" or "what am I going to teach tomorrow to Sachari!!" In other words, it is harder for the family than the actual missionary. So, thank you for your support. "What do we do when we fall down......we get back up." -Alfred (Michael Caine) Batman Begins Cheesy movie quote, but it is so true. Sure you may stumble at times but you will always get back up. The first time you bake a cake, it might not turn out amazing. But the more you try again, the more rico it will be. Never give up. So, that is all the time I have. ........... Love you all, now time to eat some nasty fish and papaya!!

Elder Everett Escobar  4/9/2012

Hello,
Well I must say that Easter was great! So about a week and a half ago I ran across a lady from Lebanon (middle-east), while looking for a media referral and we have been able to teach her and her son. She, Suzanne, is a very funny, sweet lady and her son, Danny, has gone through a lot in his life. Our last lesson with them was interesting part of it was in English and part of it was in Arabic so that Suzanne could really understand what we were talking about. They are really open to what we have to say and they came to church this Sunday and really enjoyed it. Before Suzanne was about to leave from church she said that she 'really' wanted to 'keep' meeting with us. So I'm happy about that. Well I'm glad that I don't have to say that I didn't have Easter dinner, because did have dinner. As a matter of fact we had 2 Easter Dinners I was so tired after the second dinner because I had already gorged myself with food, but it was fun. Things are looking up we are bringing more members to our lessons and they seem to have a great time.

That's great that Kenny got baptized, please tell him "Congrats!" for me. That must have truly been a special experience for everyone. Sounds like things are happening in Liberty Ward. Did Grandma and Grandpa ever get my letter? Sounds like Aaron is making money! Tell him not to spend and go ahead and save it for a mission, that's great that he is getting opportunities to make money. Danny is still getting in trouble it sounds like, I guess not much has changed from that aspect of things. So everyone, including myself, thinks that I'm going to be training this transfer, but we will see what happens this Saturday. I still remain in awe, as the time keeps whizzing by, it's so crazy. Pretty soon I will have been gone for a year ayayay! Hope Aaron and Danny are doing well in school. Hope that you continue to feel better and that Dad is able to continue in the work both occupation, fatherly responsibilities, and church calling-wise. We don't know the details about Mother's Day yet, but when we do get the scoop I will tell you.

Love,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar  

Elder Everett Escobar   4/2/2012

Hello,
Christmas all over again was great, personally I don't think that President Monson said anything extraordinary, but all of the talks were great and insightful! A lot of talks were aimed towards family and trying to encourage greater stability and love within the family units (preparation haha). I guess I will send the bill from Boston Childrens Hospital to you, even though I already wrote on it (oops!), I guess white-out will do the trick! So the little/big guy (Danny) is 10 years old and had an Angry Birds birthday party. Ayayayay! Angry Birds is taking over the world, I see something related to Angry Birds almost every single day, I find it annoying but oh well. That's great, sounds like he had a good birthday party. Today we helped a family unload their new couches into their home so that's why I am e-mailing this late, sorry. Back problems, tooth ache problems, what's next? That's rough, hope everything gets better soon. Early this morning my nose started bleeding, I was ticked, I hadn't had a problem with my nose since I got to Boston. I guess my luck or peace of nose (instead of mind) isn't going to last long. April Fools Day was fun all 4 of us came home to beds being sabotaged and messed with ridiculously it was funny, My whole bed was covered with pass-along cards. Elder White's bed was just completely gone. Elder Campos's bed was greasy and wet from lotion and water being put/poured on it. And Elder Hansen's bed contained RANCH DRESSING in between his sheets (it looked disgusting), he always has bad run-ins with ranch. It was funny.
I have only heard from Samuel a little tiny bit (like a 1 or 2 sentence e-mail) and I don't hear from anybody else, I guess I'm out of the loop. Time just keeps zooming by, a week seems like a day or not even a day. AHAHAHAH! The clock just keeps going faster. I'm in my 8th month, 1/3 of the way done and I still feel as if I am the new guy in the mission, but I'm almost considered a veteran.  So grandpa is in scouting now that's a change, I guess he is going to be relying upon you a lot for advice, hopefully he enjoys that calling.

We are striving to get member referrals in our ward, we just started a new program that I created (I will have to take a picture of my idea and send it to you sometime), so hopefully we see some pretty good results. This week has been a sad week mail-wise in the apartment, no one has received a letter or package this week which is quite abnormal. The missionary work is still going, we are trying to get members to come with us to our lessons. We are teaching an elderly woman named, Suzanne. I ran into her when looking for a media referral and she seemed pretty open to me and what I said to her. She is from Lebanon, she used to be a singer there interestingly enough. And now we are teaching her son, Danny who seems particularly interested as well. So the mission life is good right now. Just thinking about my future and from experiences and from what people have proposed to me, while on my mission so far, I'm kind of leaning towards the pediatrics side of the medical field. But who knows, that may change, I enjoy being around kids though so it seems to fit. Anyways, focus on the mission right now haha.

Love,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar  3/19/2012

 That is such great news that Kenny is going to get baptized, it's about time. Good for him and Serena! I remember Sister Smesny said a while back that she said that she wanted to have a temple marriage, maybe that's not too far away now. That's great! Yea you should give the Book of Mormon to Uncle Travis. Sorry about last week, we came to the library a little earlier but today we e-mailed a little later because today is Deep-Cleaning Day! Yay, we clean the whole apartment, it's not too bad though. Please tell Danny, "Happy Birthday!" for me. 10 years old, time flies, I remember when you brought him back home from the hospital after he was born. Feeling old?! I think so... We had 1 investigator (Jade) at church yesterday, finally! It was great, she enjoyed it. So this whole week we have taken 2 hours everyday to help Brother Jodrey, a less-active, clean his room. He is an elderly man, he's a massive hoarder, and he doesn't take very good care of himself at all. I have never cleaned anything so disgusting in my life than his room. He was grateful for the service we gave him and gave me 2 model cars (he's a big collector): Aston Martin (from a 007 movie) and a Ferrari FXX it looks pretty sweet. Jade, one of our investigators, has a baptismal date for April 8th, but that is bound to change because she is living with Jean, another one of our investigators, and they don't plan on getting married any time soon so it's a sticky situation. We met a guy this week who was really open to us, but he was a little tipsy at the time, his name is Jerry. He just has a lot of problems in his life but he wants to come to church and we haven't even had the first discussion with him yet. Tell Aaron to keep going and become an Eagle Scout, no regrets only more opportunities await him. I can't wait for General Conference, it's like Christmas all over again! Well I'm still having fun on the mission, the more stressful it gets, the more fun and entertaining it is. I do need a few things: deodorant, contact solution, toothpaste, listerene, and several packs of protein powder (if you can). And yes I did receive the SD card in the mail, thank you very much and yea I'm pretty sure that will last me for the rest of my mission, haha. Did grandma and grandpa get the letter that I sent to them?

Love you alot,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar
PS I tried uploading a video of me but it didn't work, sorry

Elder Waddell 4-9-12

We get to use this parking spot!! 

Hey! thanks for the email! I'm doing pretty well today. We had a good Easter. We ate dinner at a really cool family's house for Easter. It was pretty fun.  Oh,  Sister Searcy. ha She always catches you unaware. She just appeared outside of the church after we had a lesson and said  "I need an Easter video for your family!" haha!!  I hope it wasn't tooo strange.

I think one of the best things about a mission is the fact that we have almost no stress relief valves. We can't listen to music or watch tv or go randomly play sports or games. We have to always be working. So it kind of forces you into one of two choices (if you want to be obedient ha) either eat.....  or unload yourself in prayer. I guess I haven't had all that much stress before to where I felt like I needed to do that. So it kind of feels weird at first. But it kind of helps me to understand that the Atonement wasn’t  just for the times I mess up and need to fix something. It was for my sicknesses, my doubts, my trials, and burdens in general. Well I didn't mean to make this a mini sermon but I feel like I learned something kind of significant from this week that will hopefully help me out till I die.   I hope things keep going well for you guys!  Keep me updated! All is well in Zion.

Elder Waddell

Email from Elder Tellez 4-9-12

Hello hello,

How is everyone doing? Thank you for the emails. I appreciate them much. So, I am in Isla until the next transfer, which is at the end of April. Well then, news from this part of the world: They will be starting construction on the new stake center in San Andres (where are little district center is at (2 1/2 hrs away!!)). With that being said, we will be made a stake then. Isla will become a ward, actually from what I've heard, 2 wards. I think after the stake center is completed, they say that they are going to construct a new church building here in Isla to fit the 2 wards. We haven't had a baptism in 4 weeks. Every week there is something that happens to our "golden" investigators. It is all good though, I still have faith that we will baptize 10 this month, me and E. Barnes have prayed and we know that we can do it. Remember mama when you send me a package to put my InsideOut CD and some other church CD like those ones that annoyed me back then with the girl singing. Don't forget the beef jerky. Wait another month or two before you send it though because I don't want you to spend a bunch of money on a package.................... This week was even hotter than before and my face is baked, my arms however are just getting tanned. Yes, I am using sunscreen, but I sweat so much that it just slides off. They don't sell very much sunscreen here. But I bought some that was water proof and still it kind of just dripped down my face. I think, however, that it kind of worked. Time to go. Send me many emails and pics, Love ya all.

Elder Tellez 4-2-12

Still no new pics :( But he sounds so great!!!

Greetings to all,

How is everyone doing? Thank you for the emails and such. This week has be pretty normal, I can't lie haha. E. Barnes is awesome and we are pretty sure that this is going to be my last week here in Isla. Thank you for all of the "Happy Birthdays" Saturday was good. Everyone forgot it was my birthday, even me, until about 2:30 when hermana Treviño (wife of the mission pres.) called me and wished me a happy birthday. The baptisms aren't coming as much lately, but I have faith that we will see many this week. Conference was great, as always. I watched every session. I liked Boyd K. Packer's talk Saturday morning. I interpreted that we need to have faith and hope, they are essencial together like it says in Moroni 7:41-42. We need to be like a little child, like it says in Mosiah 3:19. Families CAN be together forever. I know that all of this is true through personal revalation and ferverent prayer. Through Elder Hales, I learned we need to come back to the light of our Savior's love. With Elder Oaks, I learned it is so important to ask God, not just pray just to pray, but pray with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Also, missionary work is only but a small sacrifice of what the Lord did for all of us. Listening to President Eyring, I wrote: How dare I ask "Why?" We need to choose the right constantly, not every now and then when the time feels right. Also, trial happen, make the most of them. Ahhhhh Elder Holland, I got that we don't need to be envious. Envy is a mistake that just keeps giving. He said,"it is like downing a jar of pickle juice everytime someone has a happy moment." The men need to "step it up". Elder Scott got me a little teary eyed. Death is but a small separation. We need to trust in the Lord. I will not write all that I have learned because I don't have all of the time in the world, but I have plenty of notes. I will just tell you that I weeped at the end of all of it. The music and all was just grand. For everyone sending packages, I would love black socks and a bunch of snack food that is ony in America. I can't send pics this week either because there isn't a slot for my card on this computer either. I will end my decent email by saying that I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!! I really do, I feel your presence with me constantly. You are all 100 times stronger than I will ever be. Stay firm in the Gospel and keep sending emails. -Elder (guapo) Téllez

Trinity 4-2-12

Hey! Thanks for the email! Conference was great. It always is. The only problem this go around is that we watched it in Spanish.... Which means I need to rewatch them. I enjoyed the stuff I understood but especially with conference I want to hear more than just the basic idea.  Man the girls are always on the move. When are they supposed to go to Hawaii?  Counting down the Mondays. Anchorage is good. Learning Spanish, always on the move, the occasional moose, lots of nasty melting ice.  What do I need?... music never hurts,  but I’m definitely stashed as far as hygiene goes, haha, thanks. Well let's see this week has been good. One really cool experience was we got to go to the swearing in of one of our investigators. It was sweet. There were 75 people from 26 different countries becoming citizens. They all went up and said where they're from and some stuff like that. Man. America is a good place. So that was cool.  Most of the people we teach are from the Dominican Republic. They're notorious for slurring words and speaking like they have peanut butter in their mouths, but not all of them are hard to understand. Well let me rephrase that. Because it's hard for me to understand no matter how clear it is. Not all of them are impossible for ME to understand. One thing we do to try and meet new people and speak in Spanish is visit the little Spanish stores. We always buy a Jarritos. So tasty. Oh the other day I didn't realize it but we ate lengua! (tongue) haha it was rather tasty. They were some members from El Salvador. I'm glad things are going so well back home! Things are still moving along here. I'm a little worried for when Elder Samuelson goes home but there are still a few weeks. We'll see. Well I think that's about it besides I was wrong about the breakup stuff and it's definitely in full nasty swing right now. It's like the in-between snow and washing away in Ketchikan except it takes a lot longer to leave. We've gotten stuck in the slush a few times. But yeah anyways all is well in this part of Zion. I love you

Elder Waddell