Elder Everett Escobar  5/7/2012

Hello,

This week was alright, no investigators at church but that's okay. We can try for next Sunday. Well we were finally able to get back with Jade and Jean and get them back on track, they have had a few bumps/detours /: We met with Suzanne she is doing well, she was going to have eye surgery on Monday but that didn't work out. Danny seems okay but we think that he may have a question or concern about something. Witerland is still progressing. Yesterday we met with the Ramsay family, they're great, they are a part member family. Brother Ramsay is not a member and he has been coming to church for 20 years! He has not read The Book of Mormon. The Ramsays' are going through a trying time, financially, in their lives and it seems like Brother Ramsay is opening up a little bit. We had a great time with them and you could definitely feel the Spirit. 

To tell you the truth the past weeks just feel like a blur, it's going by way too fasssssstttttttt. It's crazy! But we have had good experiences talking to members and with people on the streets. Oh and answering you question. There's not very much to do in Waltham, compared to the Boston area alone. There is only one busy/interesting street in Waltham, it's not really a touristy spot. However, some good things have happened this week, well maybe I shouldn't say good haha. This week I found out that I don't fit into my spare slacks anymore and yesterday I found that my belt broke so I will get those things. Oh and I am working on my Spanish as well, I have continuously been trying to BASICALLY (as in basic) speak with people on the streets and in neighborhoods and I want to get a greater understanding. I can introduce myself and give them a pass-along card but that's pretty much it. So I was wondering if I could buy a Spanish Learning book and dictionary with my Wells Fargo card. I will also need some more shower essentials body wash, shampoo, and conditioner. I am sharing with all of the guys in the apartment. 

Unfortunately, we don't have a dinner for next Sunday so Skype might be a no-go /: but I planning on touching base with you in the evening around 6 or 7 my time (: Oh and just out of curiosity what was the turning point for Kenny? What inspired him to finally join? What did the missionaries do? I imagine the Book of Mormon was a big benefactor. 

Well it sounds like the whole family is doing some pretty cool things. Danny kicking rear ends/humbling people and being a missionary at the same time. Aaron excelling in music. Dad campaigning. Grandpa is relaxing at home. Grandma is getting out and about.And Mom is awaiting her long-distance call from her missionary haha. Well Mom hope you feel better, vertigo is a no-no and hope you all have a good week. Oh and I guess I will take more pictures in the area.

Love,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

 

Emails from Elder Tellez

He sent this email on April 30th but it didn't go through. So, when he found out that I hadn't heard from him, he re-sent it on May 7th.

Hello, How is everyone? So, I am finally being transferred. Tomorrow I will be going to Poza Rica. I will be senior companion. So more than likely I will be in the new mission unless I get randomly transferred before, haha. Anything new on that side of the world? I will have a companion that has less time than me, just by one month, haha. He is pretty cool, he was in my zone before he was transferred over there. I will have a ward. Wow, it is so hard to say bye to people after having almost 6 months in that area. Presidente Maza, my branch president was awesome. In the pictures: the Hipolitos (the greatest family ever), this massive family who are getting baptized this saturday :( so I had to take a picture because they are awesome, Olga one of my converts, Poncho the parrot of the Hipolitos, the fan we have in the house that we pimped out with crayons while it was moving (i don't know why but it is fun to stick your hand in the fan, haha), and me flexing for everyone, yup haha. This new area actually has things to do during P-day, so look forward to awesome pictures of pyramids and things. Thanks for the pics everyone. Oh and there are pics of my district, the greatest in the world!!!!! I want contacts haha. I really wish there was some way that I could recieve money from home. I need new shoes. My boots are fine but they tear up my feet. My nice shoes are absolutely dead, haha, they have no soul, haha. Also in my area I will have a Little Caesar and Burger Kings, Mcdonalds, Walmarts, and other things like that. I have a coupon for Burger King that I got in a bag of chips for a whopper jr. Well time is up. Love you all!!!!!

This is the regular weekly email he sent on May 7th.

Hello again, So some of the pictures are not all there this past email. I sent it again and I hope you got it. I might even get in trouble. I have a huge headache and I'm sick again. I can't send photos because this computer is ignorant. What luck I had, haha. So, my new companion, Elder García, think about Aaron Escobar back in the day with his hiperness, haha. I won't lie, it was an incredibly difficult week trying to get along with him. But now we are getting along. My area is a place called Coatzintla. It is part of Poza Rica, but it isn't. My area is huge and so spaced out it is so difficult to learn, oh yeah, there is no map in the house, haha. The ward is nice and awesome. Sunday after church, we had choir practice, because soon we will have our ward conference. It is funny, but here, the men sing better than the women, haha. Today in the morning while we were in Poza Rica just after we ate some Burger King, Elder García recieved a called that tomorrow he is going to Coatzamalaupan (or however you spell it) which is in south Veracruz like an hour from Isla. My new companion will be Elder Ramirez, whom, I think they told me, ends his mission in June. So, I think I will get bumped back down to junior companion. But it's all good, haha. Because of the fact that I have to go to Veracruz with Elder García and later return to Poza Rica, which is 5 hours one way, I now don't have money. But I will live, don't worry. Oh yeah, the house is two stories, but small, and has AC in the bedroom. I will be sure and take pictures for next week. Gramma, black socks, preferably tough-like because I have holes in all of my socks. Foodwise, anything american, please, haha. The mailing address is the same, the address that you should have is to the offices in Veracruz. I still haven't cashed the checks, but I will talk to the president. Ok, that is all of the time I have. Time to rest a little and regain some strength. I love you all!!!!!

He sent this later that day. It was titled: "Ohhhhhh, I forgot"

This sunday at 8:40 more or less, we are going to talk. We might not Skype, but I hope so. This computer accept my camera. Enjoy the pics.

Elder Waddell 4-30-12

Hey. So this week has been about the norm. Not that great as far as teaching and stuff but not all that bad either. It seems reeeaaaallly long though. When I remember that Elder Samuelson was with us this week it makes it seem like forever ago. But it was just a couple of days. We got to go to the temple on Tuesday. So that was great. I really needed it. That's where we said goodbye to Elder Samuelson then we were off to the normal work! Elder Samuelson being gone has been good for my Spanish to the extent that now I teach a lot more in the lessons since there are just two of us. So that's good. Oh yeah I gave a talk in church yesterday. I found out the reason I shouldn't prepare a talk with a lot of things to read and stuff. I take fooorreevvver. But it wasn't too bad. Oh and yeah I got the stamp and the box thanks! I got another nametag yes but I still wear the other ones all the time. I just wear the Valdes one to specific places. About the Spanish music,  I guess you can send hymns but I meant more of just church type music that's in Spanish. I don't have the opportunity to look for music ha. Oh and I meant do you know who Indalecio's parents are. Okay well back to this week. hmmm. Well I don't think we really had any adventures. One of our investigators is supposedly in the Dominican Republic for the next month. So that's no fun. The weather is fantastic here right now. It has sprinkled once since I've been here. Recently it's in the 50's to 60's and sunny. The sun is coming up at 6:30am and going down completely around 10pm. So that's nice. We're trying to decide if the Branch should stay split in two areas or if we should combine it again. At this point one area could handle all the work that's happening. And supposedly they need Spanish speakers in Sitka and Dutch Harbor. So we'll see what happens. So things are going well. I'm learning, I'm growing, trying to help others do the same thing you know. Sorry this one is short. All is well in Zion.

Elder Waddell

Elder Everett Escobar    4/30/2012

Hello,
I'm am doing fairly well on this fine and dandy morning, here in Waltham, Massachusetts. Wow Dad's doing a lot, building houses, working in his career and in church, keeping an eye on 2 squirrely boys, and campaigning for 2 people, hmmm. Is he campaigning for Mitt as well? haha. 5 lawn jobs in 3 days, Aaron's just racking up the dough, huh? Well it's good that Danny's medicine is working and he's getting better at taking pills, I guess he's not as much of a sour-pup as I was. 

So the Ramos family is in church again, that name sounds very familiar. Maybe the Liberty missionaries were talking about them with me before I left....oh wait I remember the Ramos family, I went with the missionaries and visited them one time, they are a nice family. That's great! Wow, Uncle Travis is getting pretty high up there in the Mickey D's business, before we know it he will be the CEO of the McDonalds Corporation, okay probably not. Assistant Manager, sounds pretty good though. Holy Cow! The Stake Center is almost done, wow, I have been gone for a while. That's crazy...Yes you should send me pictures in general, not just the stake center but of everyone else too.
 

Well this week wasn't as inspiring in a sense like last week, but had some good experiences. We met with Witerland twice this week and she mentioned to us some of the goals that she has made for herself. She said that she wants to get baptized, then she wants to keep coming to church and progress in the gospel, and then she said that she wants to go on a MISSION! I was impressed and excited at the same time. She speaks Haitian-Creole and English very well, she moved over here right after the earthquake in Haiti. However, she is deciding whether she should go to the Haitian ward or our ward, if she decides to go to the Haitian ward then we will have to pass her off to the Haitian Creole-speaking missionaries ): oh well, if that happens at least I can say that I helped. 

We met with Suzanne this week, she hasn't really been feeling good she's diabetic and is always fighting a low blood sugar so she didn't make it to church on Sunday. However, when we met with her, her daughter was there (she was visiting from Nashua, New Hampshire). It was funny because when we walked up to the door, she kind of shrieked in fear because she thought that we were following her. Apparently, she saw the missionaries in Nashua earlier that day haha. 

We met with Sam and yes he's Catholic and he's from India. Trust me there are many people here with weird/outlandish experiences and views. We started reading the Book of Mormon with him and he said that he will read it throughout the week so we will see what happens. So in total we had 0 investigators at church on Sunday /: oh well let's try for next week. 

Okay so Mother's Day is indeed coming up...I plan on using Skype because that's what you said that you wanted me to do (Mother's orders), but I don't know as of right now where I will be on Mother's Day. That's a mystery that I will have to find out and get back to you on...so till next week.

Love,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar   4/23/2012

Hello again!

Well I'm happy to say that we had another eventful week, we picked up two new investigators. The first, was a media referral that we received named, Witerland. Witerland is 15 years old, she is from Haiti, she has 2 older sisters that are members of the church, she has been to the Haitian ward before, and she wants the same happiness and blessings that her sisters have. We taught her the 1st lesson and she was really open to it, we then extended a light baptismal invitation/commitment and she willingly accepted and she even said that she is 'looking for to being baptized'. I was pretty excited and both Elder White and I feel like she has indeed been prepared. The second, is a man named, Sam, we ran into him tracting, he is from India and is a Roman Catholic. We had our second conversation with him and taught him the 1st lesson and we were very bold and straight-forward with him by continuously explaining in different ways the importance of the Restoration and how we can know that these things are true. I guess we kind of put the ball in his court, so he can do whatever he makes of it; it's in his hands now. He said that he will start reading the Book of Mormon and we will meet with him again soon.

We had two memorable experiences with Suzanne this week. 1) We met with her this week like usual, but we found out that she didn't have much food left to get by this month and that she didn't have any money left. So we decided to give her some of our food that we had at the apartment. So we came back to her place later that afternoon with 3 bags full of groceries (she needed it more than we did, so that's why you may see me use my Wells Fargo card) and like normal, she greeted us with a somewhat feeble handshake and then she asked us what were in the bags. We smiled and replied that it was food for her and Danny so that they would not have to go to bed hungry anymore. At that moment, she politely kissed the hands of which she had previously shaken and started to cry, she cried in joy. Soon after, she explained that we were indeed an answer to her prayers. I imagined that the way that I felt was like unto how the Savior felt when he was in the service of his fellowmen. 2) Well Suzanne came to church this Sunday intending to stay all three hours. And right before sacrament meeting ended the fire alarm went off and everyone had to evacuate the building and go out into the rain. It wasn't very fun. Apparently, a little kid had pulled the fire alarm. Good going kid! haha.

I received Danny's e-mail (Bath-tizing haha) and I will respond to him promptly with a letter. Oh and about the Aston Martin car show pics, believe or not we were driving by. My camera has a setting that you can put it on called 'Burst' and it will take 100 quick-snapped shots in 5 seconds. Most of the pics were blurry but I picked out the ones that weren't. So ha (: you have seen the results of 'modern' technology. Jealous much? Just kidding. This week was fun and it went by oober (super) fast. Danny has ADHD, hmmm, that doesn't seem possible...oh wait yes it does, very much so. Well it's good that you confirmed that he does for a fact have ADHD and is now taking medicine for it, probably makes the load of things a little easier.

Aaron's actual/real 1st Youth Dance, geez! 'Oh bothah...' Outgoing: yes/check mark, but tell him not to get discouraged too easily (dress or appearance-wise, from his 1st experience. It's not bad to look different, it's probably a good thing). You need to take a side by side picture of Danny, Aaron, and you, so that I can see how much taller Aaron and Danny really are. Is Danny going to follow my footsteps and play basketball? Mister Tall Guy! He'll probably be able to dunk over me when I get home. Well I have to say that I have gained a little weight this week (I will not specify how much; that's confidential haha) but I'm eating a lot more than I usually am/was, well isn't that hard to believe, I already ate a lot haha. Well hope you enjoy this somewhat lengthy letter, because I forgot my camera today so no pics this week ): oh well. Hope all of you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Tellez 4-23-12

Hello again, How is everybody doing? So, I would absolutely love to take pics of different things, but there is nothing!!!! So I just get creative with what I have. Hopefully, this is my last week here and then it is off to a different place. There are no mountains, no hills, no statues, no historical sites, they tell us not to look like tourists or terrorists, so I try my best not to take pics of houses and such. The trees and other things look exactly like the trees from Texas, I'm sorry. That kid in the picture is Marcos, the kid that goes with us everyday, I think I have other pictures of him. I have no clue how to change it to .jpeg and I really don't have the time, hopefully it will all work out, I'm sorry. Ok, so we can make food for ourselves, but we mainly just buy cereal and things to make quesadillas. So, groceries, we usually buy cereal, milk, ramen noodles, little bread snacks, cookies, those fruit milk things that you will see in the pics, juices, Tang drink mix, and other things. It sounds like a typical missionary kitchen, haha, bunch of junk food, but don't worry, I'm as healthy as a horse. We eat with a member everyday, 1 time a day. I don't play the piano because this old lady does at times. Yesterday, however, I did because no one was playing the prelude music, like always, and they need it to bring the spirit. By the way HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!!!!!!!!! Yup, that's my story, haha. So, we are collecting those milk things as you can see. I created the Houston Temple with them, haha, enjoy. Nothing much new, no baptisms so far. I think it is time to go. Til next week. Keep your fingers crossed that I get transferred. I will tell you guys where I'm going if I'm going, next Monday. Les amo and all the other stuff, haha.

Elder Waddell 4-23-12

Hermano Morales teaching Elders how to make salsa

Hey! Thanks for the email. This week has been interesting like most of the weeks on a mission. This one was more because it was Elder Samuelsons last full week. So there were a lot of goodbyes and stuff like that. He's been in this area two different times with a total of 16 months. That's a while. ha We got our transfer calls and Elder Thorne and I are called to stay and Elder Samuelson was given the next step, get married. haha so that was fun. I've done a pretty good job this week of not comparing the months I have left to his days. So it hasn't been too bad. It helps that he's an incredibly focused missionary. Let’s see... so what happened this week? Not too much. Oh yeah sooo they have POG in the stores here. We bought all that they had last week. And we're going to do it again, delicious. My Spanish is slowly improving. It's good to be in a trio because I get to hear them speaking it all the time. But at the same time it makes me more nervous to speak it to other people in lessons in stuff. But now I won't have a choice since it will just be the two of us ha. Oh yeah happy anniversary, almost, to you and dad! I think we're taking some people on what's called their "greenie tract" the new missionaries are getting off the plane today and we're going to take them to knock a few doors for their first time. So that'll be fun maybe. We had quite a tracting experience this week. 3 things that hadn't happened to me yet happened all in less than an hour ha. The first one wasn't that weird but I guess since I was in Ketchikan and knew all the members on the Island it makes sense it never happened to me but we tracted into some members. So that was pleasant. Then a few doors later I was about to knock on the door when it swung open. Normally when that happens nothing good follows. But this time it was a missionary.... ha, some of the Elder's from the Samoan ward were talking with some members in that house. That was a first for Elder Samuelson too so that was cool. And the third new thing wasn't as cool, it was more sad. I should've said it in between those two but that's not the order that it happened. The third one, to make a short story shorter, was just a guy that tried to spit on us among other things and words. So,  three experiences to remember. There will be many more with that too. So recently I've become more and more aware of how much the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation has helped me in my life. I think I really took it for granted growing up. I never really had to question why I was here and I never had to be scared about what would happen after death. I never had to worry that at some point I would be looking for ways out of the life cycle. But now talking and seeing so many people who just have no idea where they're headed why they're going there or how to do it has given me a little more of a drive to share that knowledge. I know that If I didn't have a knowledge of that plan I would be succumbing to the weaknesses of flesh all the time. I wouldn't care. I wouldn't know why I should care. I would live for me. Look out for number one. It also gives me a greater respect for those who don't know these things and yet live better lives than I would if I didn't have this knowledge. The key to this plan or the key that's worked best for me at least so far to going on in life with a real purpose and with real happiness is letting the atonement work. I've just decided I'm going to randomly share life lessons I've been learning. Sorry if it's lame or preachy, but it's true and I become more and more thankful for it every day. Love you guys. All is well in Zion.

Elder Waddell 

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!!