Trinity doesn't get to use his Spanish much in the area where he is assigned, but is supposed to keep up with his language study daily. Here he is practicing a lesson with us during his skype call home on Christmas day. 

Elder Tellez 12-19-11

As always gracias por the emails.

I am still alive as you can tell. How is life up there?

Gramma: Thank you for the pics and the spanish, haha, I understood all of it. We don't have a christmas tree and the house just looks normal. We don't really want to decorate and don't really have the money. The weather has been the same here as it has been up there, hot, hot, hotttttt. Yesterday was a little cool, but I was still sweating like crazy. The Ruckers are still in my prayers. I hope you are doing well. That is funny that Zach calls you Gramma, haha, he is practically family. I could teach him the missionary lessons and get him baptized, haha. No, but the missionaries over there should do something like that, have family home evening at our house, invite the missionaries and Zach. Have the missionaries teach the lesson and let them know that you will have a non-member there so that they can prepare something good. Also have some refreshments and maybe a game. Then the following week, if he likes it, invite him again when you have FHE at the Conner's and if the missionaries are good (haha) they will talk to him and see if they can visit him to teach him, maybe even in our house, that might be better. That would also help the missionaries out by giving them lessons with members. Having Josh or somebody in the family sharing a testimony about their love for the church and how it is true will help as well. Also, invite him to church, Josh should do that. That is good,.... Oh, I didn't get that package this month, maybe in January. But I did get the checks, but I can't cash them here because "they are not authorized to do it". I have to wait until I go to Veracruz, which is in 2 weeks. I love ya, gramma.

Momma, I will be calling saturday at 6 or 6:30. I sent that email again, in hopes that you will get it and also hope that I don't get in trouble for sending two emails at the same time. Thank you for the pics. All is well here. We didn't have a baptism this week, but we might have one this coming saturday. I really want one more before the year ends, 6 is our goal for this month. I got that dearelder you sent and said to tell you when I got it, haha. I only get letters and packages once a month, so if you send me something now, I'm sure I'll get it in January. Did you send that message that I told you to send to that elder? I have something else for you to send to him as well.

To mark.coleman@myldsmail.net : So, I talked to Elder Herron, and he doesn't even know his email address, but he said it might be michael.herron@myldsmail.net. It makes sense haha. Take care bro.

Gracias momma. Well time to close my email. I love you all. ¡Feliz Navidad!

Elder Waddell 12/19/11

Bear Sausage

Michael's Baptism

Hey! I'm sorry here to hear about Grandma. But I'm glad you guys got to go visit family. Yeah we got transfer calls Saturday morning from President Beesley and Elder Dean is going to Whitehorse Canada.... lucky haha. I'm staying and Elder Satini from Tonga is taking his place here. So it's pretty exciting. It's a tough move for Elder Dean but he gets to go to another awesome place so I think that balances it out for him. For the Skype I should be able to and it's supposed to be just family and maybe some extended family but we're not supposed to take forever with it especially since we'll be using some members computer on Christmas day. But yeah I'm super excited for that.  I haven't opened the boxes yet. I'm waiting until Christmas. So yeah it's pretty exciting here. It was my senior week last week so I did senior companion stuff which included driving. And it snowed a few inches one of the days and I've never driven on snow, so that was pretty fun. We went all the way out south of the island and the last few miles aren't paved and there are thousands of potholes so that was fun to drive in the snow with. But it started raining again and most of it got washed away pretty darn fast.  I don't know if you got in the email before but before I leave this area it would be nice to have some missionary business cards to give to people and I have no way of getting a hold of such a thing. Hmmm yeah this week has been crazy mainly because we weren't sure what was going to happen with transfers. So the work seemed slower this week. Except on Saturday Michael Jensen got baptized and his Grandma Valree who is investigating came and is talking about baptism so that was really good. But now it's time to wait for my new companion and help the transition for when I leave next transfer. All is well in Zion.


       Elder Waddell 

Elder Everett Escobar 12/14/2011

 

Hello,

 

I hope everything is going well, I will be sending ya'll a letter sometime this week.

Here are my thoughts from Mom's assigned scriptures; "As missionaries the Lord gives us the strength to carry on and perform His work. It is through God's mercy that enables us to work and bring mighty miracles among the children of men. Heavenly Father works through us, it's never us alone and it is for that very reason that all of the glory goes to God. And although through our strivings we may suffer pains and afflictions, the results of our hardships will far outweigh our sufferings."

 

Elder Yim is getting transferred to Connecticut and I'm staying with Elder Huntsman for the time being, and I will be training him. Elder Yim has been packing his stuff, he's leaving tomorrow, we have been taking a lot of pictures this past week. By the way, I received the package labeled: 'From: Liberty Ward' I loved it. Many thank you's to all of those whom put it together. The Christmas Party at Liberty Ward sounded fun and yes I would like to see video that Sister Tellez got from it. This past week was really busy, lots of walking, talking, and teaching. And it's chilly! Especially when we have to walk over the several bridges that go over the bay. This week was fun though, I enjoyed it. It's not really snowing yet surprisingly, although it's been more than cold enough to snow. Some of the local ponds and part of the Charles River is starting to freeze though. I've only had one minor headache so far this week! (: As for phone calls home, we are recommended to call Christmas Day in the afternoon or evening. Now I'm wondering what time would be good for all of you (my bros, parents, and grandparents), because we are as of right now free all day, except for 6-7pm (Boston time) because we have a dinner with one of the counselors in the bishopric. So just tell me a time or if you want me to pick a time, that will be okay too, I will be able to tell you more about our schedule on Monday through e-mail. I want a "White Christmas" that would be cool, oh and our Zone is Christmas caroling all through the month so that ought to be fun. Okay time to send you pic!

 

Love ya'll so much,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Escobar  12/5/2011

 

 

Hello mi familia,

 

I'm glad that everything is okay back home (although it could be better), wow too many people are getting prego (pregnant). The Christmas Devotional was awesome I enjoyed it. The person who played the part of 'Joseph' in the Nativity Video that they showed is a member here in Boston, he goes to one of the Singles Wards. Everything is going great here, as of right now it is not snowing but I'm pretty sure that it will be soon. We have another elder added into the fam this week. Elder Huntsman is from Atascocita/San Antonio, Texas and will be serving in Russia but he's waiting on his visa. This week was interesting, we had a lot of people curse at us, shouting at us, striving to bash with us, but towards the end we saw some miracles. We gained a new investigator, Jason Sandler. We have 2 Progressing Investigators, Matthew Teal and Jason Sandler, both of which are golden. Basically if they don't get baptized it will be completely our fault, because you can just tell that the Lord has just been preparing them throughout their lives. They are really amazing! I'm loving it. Oh and I did read those chapters in Alma, I wrote down my thoughts but I forgot to bring my journal, so I will write my thoughts to you about those chapters next week. By the way, I keep having a strong feeling that I need to get in contact a former classmate of mine.  I feel like she needs some help and I haven't heard from her in a while, so if you could do that and get her info to me as soon as possible that would be greatly appreciated, peas and thank you. Chris Battoo is from a country in the Middle-East (I can't remember how to spell or how to even say the country's name). In the pics that I sent you there is Sister Meier (short, white), Elder Ellis (black), David Johnston (glasses, no tag, was the ward mission leader), and Johnny Palmer (grey suit, brown hair, looks like a politician, he is the ward mission leader). Anyways, Elder Huntsman will be here till probably mid-January. But yea everything is going great so far. Oh yea please pray for Chris, opposition from family/friends have spiked dramatically but so far he's hanging in there. And pray for Matt and Jason so that they can recognize the Spirit and gain answers to their prayers. We had a Zone Temple trip this week as well. We also went to the Museum of Science this morning and had a great time. By the way TRANSFERS are on Dec 15, we will know what is going to happen on Saturday so I will keep you tuned in and up to date. Christmas phone calls 'should be' a maximum of 40 minutes. Oh I also got the 2 packages and THANK YOU for everything. Elder Yim really enjoyed his package as well. 

 

Love you all very much, Best of wishes,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Tellez 12-12-11

Hello again.
I wrote you last week mama. The letter with all of the pictures. We had a baptism last week, I sent the pics, Marcos baptized Jesus. I baptized 2 this week and Elder Lastra baptized one. I baptized Alejandro y Aurora, a couple and Elder Lastra baptized Fransisca, a lady (possibly crazy, no se). So, all in all, I have 5 baptism!! But why stop there, haha. It is incredibly hot, I still sweat soo much. I love Mexico, it is great. Who are the 6 pregnant hermanas in the barrio (sisters in the ward)? We go to Veracruz on miercoles to go to the temple and have a conference, I also think I will eat McDonald´s or Carl´s Jr., ahhhh it will be so nice to taste a burger or chicken sandwich. We do have a little burger and malt shop, it is pretty good. President Maza (branch president) and his brother took us (Elder Lastra, me, Elder Wilhelm (district leader) and Elder Hernandez) there Thursday night because Elder Wilhelm needed to eat because he just came back from the hospital. Oh I think I forgot to tell you that it is just us (Elder Lastra and me) that live in the house. E. Wilhelm y E. Hernandez are from Santiago. I like President Maza, he reminds me of Brother Escobar. Actually this branch reminds me alot of Liberty Ward. It is crazy that is just a branch, there are like 150 members (thanks to the missionaries). But that is how they do it in this area. Right now we are in San Andreas for a Zone activity, we just played soccer, haha. Oh, we will most likely have another baptism this Saturday as well. So, get ready for more pics. Enough about me, how is everybody? I love you mama. Thank you for the pics.

Gramma, gracias por su email. I'm sorry that I don't write you much, I'm given a very little bit of time and this email is for everyone. I really do feel bad :(( See, the frowny face explains how I feel, haha. But I really am sorry. It is also really hard to think of things to write, I'm a person of a few words. So, how was sleeping in your own bed Friday and Saturday night? Did you go to church? I miss you. I plan on sending pics every week. How are you feeling? Is everything good in your life. I will try to write you more.

Oh, mama, can you send the following to this address - mark.coleman@myldsmail.net : Hey man!! No, I'm sorry. I don't have Elder Herron's email address, but I might see him this thursday. How is it going? Are you learning spanish like crazy? Is you companion hispanic? My companion is Elder Lastra, he is from Mexico. He is really cool. He speaks a little english. But for the most part, we just speak in spanish. Pues, keep in touch bro. -Elder Téllez (the greatest companion you had in the MTC, haha)

Thank you mama. Well time for me to fly. Send my love to everyone. Nos vemos.

12-5-11 Zone Conference in Juneau

Hey. Well zone conference was this week. We missed our flight Wednesday morning because we were slightly too lax and missed the ferry. So we got a later plane trip and when we got on the plane there were "mechanical problems" so it took forever to get going. Then it was an island hopper so we went to Sitka and we had a pretty rough landing cause the weather was so bad and windy. So they cancelled the flight to Juneau....surprise... so we went to Anchorage for the night and had to leave early in the morning to fly to Juneau. So we got there and immediately had the 8 hours of Zone Conference. It was fun. We got to meet people from the rest of the areas here. Our district is us, POW, Petersburg and Wrangell so we got to be with them. Then the others were Juneau and Sitka and Hoonah and Whitehorse in the Yukon ha. So it was cool being with other missionaries. And we learned a lot about how to teach the message of Christmas. We all had interviews with Pres. Beesley. He told me I might leave this transfer and If I don’t  I’m 100% for sure leaving the next one. Because my Spanish is about to go downhill fast if nothing happens to strengthen it. We're getting another Spanish speaker this transfer and the next and the next ha so he's looking to do something with us. So either way I'm going to go somewhere cold in the middle of winter. So I’ll have to get a jacket. Oh I got the two Christmas packages. But we haven't checked the mail since we've been gone so we'll see what's in there today. I didn't forget about your birthday haha you'll get at least a card :P  But you realize I have an hour for emails? I cannot write for an hour. That’s just one of those plain and simple facts of life elder Waddell cannot write about his week for an entire hour. Ha, so you can make emails as long and numerous as you want, because this is the only time in the week I consistently hear anything about what's going on back home from anybody. Anyone can email I just have to write the people who are family. So tell Emily, Megan, and D'nel to stop being lazy and shoot me an email. Well the work is still going strong here. If everything works out we'll have at least two more baptized by the end of the year. One of them was supposed to be this last Saturday but we weren't here. And we will hopefully have a few more in January. The people are awesome here and when I leave I'm going to miss it, probably a lot. But I really need to learn Spanish. So yeah everything is good over here so far. I hope Texas is still doing fine. All is well in Zion. Love you

             Elder Waddell

Elder Waddell 11-28-11

Hey all is going well. The weather has been strange but it was beautiful and clear yesterday. Ian and Lianne got baptized on Saturday so that was a good day. Most of the snow is washed away right now and the rain is coming down just like normal but it'll be back soon. I haven't gotten any packages. Maybe they'll be in today. But did you send my sd card??? I haven't gotten it so that worries me. The sun is setting a little before 4 now and we're in the most southern town in Alaska. But it doesn't help that even if the sun wasn't setting we never see it anyways because of the rain. This week is Zone Conference so that's exciting. We get the Prince of Whales elders tomorrow then Wednesday we fly to Juneau and we come back on Saturday. So it'll be nice meeting the other missionaries and being in Juneau. But it will be significantly colder so I’m not sure how well that dog is gonna hunt. We had a good Thanksgiving with the members and we kinda floated from house to house a little. It was nice. Man Christmas is in like 4 weeks. I wonder if I'll still be here. Probably so ha. Hmmm. The work is still going well here. We have another conditional baptismal date so that's cool. My training is almost done. Just 3 weeks left. So that should make it easier to get Language study done. Right now it's been pretty challenging to get that done and it's taking its toll. It's frustrating. It's gonna be so hard to actually become fluent here. Especially here in the winter where nobody speaks Spanish. But I'll probably be somewhere using it soon and with someone who's good at it. Oh you know what would be cool? If you guys made some "business cards" for me, That has  a picture and our home address and my mission address and such so I can give it to investigators or converts or members you know? That would be cool. Elder Dean and I are gonna make some Christmas cards and we're gonna find some ugly sweaters and do something dumb ha. It'll be a good time. Oh man the lack of sun actually kinda takes a toll on your health too. I've been slightly moody and tired and just not feeling healthy recently. I am gonna get a lot of vitamin d3 today. Supposedly they make a vitamin supplement specifically for people in Alaska because of the difference in diet and sun and weather and such haha, So maybe sometime i'll have to get my hands on that. hmm what else is happening...oh.. Tony chacheres... i miss them. oh and I wrote Regan last pday. I better get a speedy response you slacker haha.I feel like I'm forgetting something again.... oh well. Thanks for the update! I love you all. All is well in Zion.
Elder Waddell

Elder Everett Escobar  11/28/11

Hello mi familia,

My Avaira contacts huh (: that's actually funny because, I was going to tell you today that I needed some more. How ironic (I don't know the lot numbers right now but I will look). As for my drivers license it says, " Iss 01/06/2011 Exp 08/18/2011", I don't see 2017 anywhere on my license. By the way, you may be able to get ahold of Elder Bingham today. I also need some more deodorant (I dont know if that was in the package that you sent or not) and I also need thermal garments (I have been told that they are absolutely essential in January and February). I'm glad that ya'll had a great Thanksgiving and I'm a little sad that I didn't get to help in decorating the christmas tree this year too, it's definitely different. But the christmas decorations are being set up all across the Boston area so hopefully I can get some good pics. Elder Yim and I have constantly been singing christmas songs, it's been fun. I have been reading, 'Our Search For Happiness' by Elder Ballard and becomes more and more clear to me that, that book alone would make a great christmas gift to anyone who is investigating the church.

Well Thanksgiving was great for us, Andrew Navarro and Brad Talk took us out to eat at IHOP for brunch (it was muy bueno) and Eric Nicholson (awesome guy, he helps us in our scripture studies every week) from one of the other Singles Wards invited us to a Thanksgiving feast at his friends house in Cohasset, Massachusetts. It was great, we had a awesome time. The day after Thanksgiving Brother Wanamaker (Member of the Bishopric in our ward) and his family invited us to their home in Belmont for dinner. Brother Wanamaker served his mission in Fiji and he has two of the most cutest/polite little girls (Aly 4yrs and Camilla 2yrs old), I've ever seen. We had a swell time with them as well. The missionary work was kind of slow this week, but overall it was amazing. I have been so tired this week, it's ridonkulous, it's mainly due to the sun setting earlier, it gets dark at 4pm here. Oh, Chris Battoo also got confirmed at church yesterday which was another good experience. Chris is doing well and he feels a difference in his life. The mission life is going great so far and the following months will be even more challenging but great (or so I've heard from multiple sources). I can't wait for P-day snowball fights in Boston Common. By the way today is Elder Yim's 14th month mark! Anyways hope everything is going great, hope we can get this DLicense thing worked out.

Love ya'll,

Elder Everett Alan Escobar

Elder Everett Escobar  11/21/11

Hello my family,

I'm happy to say that Chris did get baptized yesterday, however it was a headache/rollercoaster to actually get everything ready, different things just kept popping up. So yea, I baptized him yesterday! It was a great and uplifting experience for Chris, me, and everyone that was there. Unfortunately, Elder Yim forgot his SD-card reader at home so I am not able to send you any pics today ): oh well you'll get plenty of pictures next week.

It's going to be crazy coming back to Liberty Ward and seeing all of these new families and all of their children, Summerwood, huh... Remember Liberty Ward will become a Stake of it's own one day, it's coming. Poor bishop, I'm going to write him today, hope he gets to feeling better. 

This week we have gained two investigators, but we won't be able to meet with them this week because they have tests in school and then right after that they are going home for Thanksgiving, yeah! /: By the way, I talked to Sister Evans and she said that she can reimburse me through my Support Card for some of the meals with investigators and members. This week was great! Tell Danny to try everything on the table at Thanksgiving Dinner, he's bound to like something. Tell Aaron to have fun at camp and to watch out for Sasquatch! As of right now we only have a meal appointment for breakfast on Thanksgiving day and I'm pretty sure that's going to be at IHOP (: Things have been busy this past week and it's all about to slow down especially with a lot of people leaving for the holidays.

By the way, Mom you would die here in the fall and winter, it's not even winter yet and the low for today is 29 degrees with gusting winds. Yep I'm pretty sure that you'd scream till you explode, but I don't mind it being chilly. I heard that it's supposed to snow again this week, why can't the weather just hurry up and make it snow everyday, instead of every other week? Anyways, all of the once beautiful leafs that were on the trees are now gone, they have fallen off. So yea winter is basically right at the door! (scary, just kidding). I enjoy the members in the University Ward, they are so missionary minded and our Bishop is Roger B. Porter. You should ask Bishop Thomas if he's heard of him, Bishop Porter is really famous in Harvard University, the Government, and in the Church. We have 3 other famous members in our stake: Clayton Christianson (he's been mentioned in General Conference, was a member of the Quorum of the Seventy), Henry Eyring (Henry B. Eyring's father), and of course MITT ROMNEY. Crazy stuff, eh?!

Well I gotta go hope you all have a good day and Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Everett Alan Escobar