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

Email from Elder Tellez 3-26-12

Hello, how is everyone doing.

I won't be sending photos this week, because the camera doesn't want to connect with the computer and usually I had this device that I used to plug my card up to the computer, but E. Lastra took it with him. For some reason, there isn't a slot for the card on the computer. It's all good (although I did waste 20 min of my time trying to fix it so this will be a small email). E. Barnes is cool. You would think that people would be talking to me more now, but Marcos still comes with us everyday and now people are coming to him for missionary matters that he doesn't know. During the weekend, I lost my voice, due to the extreme change in weather and the fact that Papa (E.) Lastra is gone and I teach almost all of the lesson. E. Barnes speaks really good spanish and clearly knows more words than me, but he speaks incredibly white, haha. The people in this town are a little think and just act like they don't know what we are saying, haha, it's all good though. People have said that I sound mexican when I talk (I wonder why?? haha). So, E. Barnes told me that he is just waiting on the elders from the MTC to get their visas so they can come to Mexico and then he will train, he actually only has two more transfers left not three. So, either this week or next week, I'm gone. This past tuesday, Mexico had an earthquake, my first one!! Yay!! E. Barnes and I were sitting at the bus station in Veracruz when all of a sudden, I thought my head was hurting and that everything was getting dizzy. Then I realized that it was the ground that was moving, we ran outside and waited for it to be over, yup, that was cool experience, haha. Thank you everyone for the emails. Brother Smesny is getting baptized!! He is cool. I love you all, talk to ya later.

On the Roof 3-26-12

3-26-12

Hey! Thanks for the emails and pictures! I'm doing well here in Anchorage. I am definitely speaking Spanish more often. It's kind of tuff just because the only Spanish I knew was the mtc Spanish and that was 6 months old.  So the one getting trained is better than me ha. But my companions are really good and help me a lot.  Oh yeah I did get the package thank you for that. We'll be sure to dye some Easter eggs.  Oh and I got a package from Nicole!  Thanks Nicole!  So is it only strange to me that when we go out and do stuff we always try to fit in an Ikea visit?? Haha!!  Congratulations D'nel, keep it up!    Megan needs to take one of those actual drivers ed courses where they drive with you and everything lol, no offense of course :) The work in Anchorage..... It's more hectic that's for sure.  And I see a lot more missionaries.  Oh and sorry I was wrong, "breakup" is definitely starting now ha.  It's terrible. We went through a carwash and in the 2 minutes it took to get to the next persons house there was already icy mud on the windows.  And by the end of the day I could write on it already.  No more moose encounters as of yet but don't worry they'll happen.  Yeah the sun is already staying up until a little after 8. So yeah, there’ll be long days.  Dad’s mowing the yard now? I saw some grass yesterday.  Well,  the work has been fast here. We're teaching people English more or less,  then asking if they're interested in the Gospel.  If they're not we still teach them English of course.  But yeah we had four people we're teaching come to church yesterday so that was awesome!  Oh yeah and it's a branch you know so there are no young women and like 2 young men and 1 High Priest. And probably like 5 Gringos that speak Spanish ha. One person passes the sacrament.  Quite a change from 7 in Ketchikan.  It's great though.  The people are awesome and don't make fun of me too much for not being able to speak well. I'll probably be here for a while,  which I don't mind.  Elder Samuelson has been here two different times and it totals to 12 transfers which is like 14 or 15 months haha.,so yeah things are pretty good here. We're excited for General Conference!  I'm not sure if we're going to listen to it in English though..... I'm a little worried about that. Oh yeah before I forget. You know that "Mexican blanket" I brought with me? How am I supposed to wash it?  Well thanks again for the email!  Everything is great with me here. I hope you guys are ready for May. It's coming fast and I remember that was always a ridiculous month.  All is well in this part of Zion.

Love,

       Elder Waddell

Email from Elder Tellez 3-19-12

Hello lovely people that live in Texas,

How are you all doing? I'm good. So, tomorrow morning, E. Lastra is being transferred to Xalapa, finally, haha!!!! My new companion is E. Barnes, he is from Idaho. He leaves his mission in June. The way I'm thinking, I will be transferred the next transfer which is in April (every 6 weeks). I say this because I think the E. Barnes will become a trainer of a new missionary (the training takes 2 months or 2 transfers), and since he ends his mission in June, two months before that would be April. My reasoning is why would they put someone with experience that is about to end his mission just as senior companion, he has to do something. So, that's that, after 6 months in "La Goma", I'll explain what that means when I come home, or Isla, I will finally go to a different area. Aunt Becca, thank you for your email. I am glad that everyone is doing good and that band is a part of the kids' life!! Music is great. What instrument will Logan be playing? Bianca, thank you for your email. I have 13 baptisms. After this week, I will have 15. I'm glad you kind of like your job, haha. Gramma, as always, thank you for your emails. They always impact me in some way. Mama, thank you for your email as well, haha. I haven't gotten letters or emails from anyone yet. The way it goes here in Isla is that they basically ignore the missionary that has been in Isla for less time than the other. They always talk to the other missionary that has been here longer and always ask him questions, EVERYTHING, in this case, it was E. Lastra. But he said that that is how it was when he first came to Isla, he would tell a joke or something and they just ignore him. It is just the way they are. I'm not straight or square or stiff, I'm friendly and cheerful. The kids love me, like always. Not much new other than this. I have to go because my compa. is ready to leave. Love you all. Take care.