Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Week 10 -- Pictures(112 days)


THE FLOODING!! The time they had to pack up!! In the middle of the night....

OOOOOOH so gross!!!  This is how high the water got into there house!!


Cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning, he said he used a cocktail of chemicals to clean with !!!

Monday, October 28, 2013

Week 10 -- Letter

Family,

Ya I tried to Email as many as I could, but I only have about an hour and a half. No Mondays are fun! We do something new every week. Usually with Emmanuel (Mission Leader). I dont want to risk anything getting stolen, so just money will be fine. I want to but a hammock. I cant believe Trevor is home! That is not good! I know how it is, half the roads here are like that. I hope Brody gets well! 

Weekly Letter, 

I cant believe Kaden got a Deer! That is so awesome!!! I am so happy for him! The food here is great. I really didnt like any of it the first few weeks, but it has really grown on me because now I love it!!! There is alot of soup here! And its bad because it is really hot outside and then when we go to eat they slap down a huge bowl of flamming hot soup, and then like hot chocolate. But all is well I really like it. Im so excited for Halloween! Me and Emmanuel are going to exchange presents! Down here they dont have halloween, its just for us and him jeje. They do have Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) the first and second days of november. They have this stuff called Pan de los Muertos (Bread of the Dead) It is unreal!! The bread here is awesome. I definately got sent to the right place. It is rolls with a sugar like stuff on top and then you dunk it in hot chocolate!! :) I cant wait to make this food for yall when I get home. By the way. The Rollups are a hit in mexico!
Now more about my week. It was a different week. We didnt get the chance to procylite much becasue wednesday night flooded again, but this time it entered our house! And this isnt normal water. It is the river water, which all the drains and sewer dump into the river, entonces we had poo in our house. So we woke up at 2:30 packed up our stuff again and put it in ourt neighbors house, good thing they have 2 levels. So, wednesday was spent cleaning our house. It took all day. The water was up to my waste!!! We did take a break and go to an activity at the church though. We played soccer with all the youth, but no one showed up because of the flooding. So, we ended up throwing dead coconuts at a tree with new coconuts, waiting for them to fall cut them open with a machete and then drinking the water. It is really good for you, and also tastes pretty good. I love all the fruit here. There is nothing like walking down the street and seeing and bannana tree, then just take some fruit and eating it. ;) But back to the story. Then we went home and cleaned some more. Finally it was time for bed. We got ready for bed but the river was still really high. Then it started to rain really hard again. The police Drove by with their lights on which means it is time to pack up again. So we slept at the house of Emmanuel. But that night our house never flooded so that is a good thing. :). After all this we were greatly blessed. Even though we had not hit our goals and our numbers were really low, we had the highest assistencia at church!! We had 3 of the less active families show up (that we had been teaching that week) and a bunch of investigators. We are doing some good work in this area!! The transfers are in 2 weeks and I am nervous because I dont want to leave here.
Pero, all is well here! I am glad to hear about the things back home. I love you all very much!

Con Cariño, 
Èlder Parduhn

Monday, October 21, 2013

Week 9


Familia,
Nothing like logging on to my email and having 23 new messages! So this week will be a little shorter, I am going to try to email as many people as I can. First off, I love the pictures!!! I love Shelbys idea!! hahaha I was laughing so hard in this little internet café. I hope the boys had fun! Thanks for letting me know how my friends are! Poor Josh!  
I am eating too much here haha everywhere I go people offer us food, even if we dont know them. I have gained 15 pounds since the MTC. I am now a solid 200 pounds! haha I cant fit in my homecoming pants anymore hahah but my suit fits great! ;) I am loving it here. Many people here are so nice. I have made life long friends and I am so happy. Hno Emmanuel has become one of my grandest friends! The people here are amazing. They are so faithful! I cant even tell you how bad the poverty is in parts of the city. There are houses the size of our living room, made out of soda can metal! Yet I doesnt bug them, they are some of the happiest people I know. If there is one thing I have learned this week is TO RECOGNIZE THE BLESSINGS IN YOUR LIFE. I cant tell you how blessed I am to know of the correct gospel since birth! I am so greatful to have a church house close to where I live. We have so many families that have to walk 10 miles to get to church every Sunday, AND THEY DO IT EVERY SUNDAY. I have seen the blessings that come from diligent, faithful saints. This week has been a very tender, special week for me. I have had things happen to me spiritually that I cant describe to you now. I just want you guys, and everyone else, to know that I know that we have the correct church on the earth. Through my diligent study on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I know that there is a way in which we can become perfect like our brother Jesus Christ. I have been reading the book The Infinite Atonement, it is unreal good. I recomend it to read. Thanks for your love and support. I can feel it all the way here in mexico! Continue to keep me updated on whats happening (including Elder Berry).

I love you all very much. Les amo muchisimo.
Hunter

Monday, October 14, 2013

Pictures -- 97 days

Flooding

More Flooding!

Turtles!!!


He is so cute!! Hunter....

Week 8 -- Letter



Week8
Familia,
 Thanks for the letters mom. I love to hear about all the things that are going on back home. Let the Petersons know that they are in my prayers always! I love the quotes that you send! 

This week has been a very interesting week! Probably one to always remember. First off. I had a great idea, call it revelation, but we finally posted our area map on our wall and with the little sticky notes I bought in the MTC we listed where all our members, investigators, and less active families are. It helps sooo much with planning. We have been doing good, we had 2 of our investigators come to church! We have the coolest family in our ward! The familia Del Angel. They consist of the papá (johnaton), the mamá (Hna. Del Angel) and there 2 sons (1 almost 8 years old and the other 6 months). The mamá usually attends church with there 8 year old, but the papá doesnt so we have been focusing on there family. During one of our family home evenings, johnatons dad ( David new investigator) decided to stay and listen. He is a catholic and has a strong testimony in God and Jesus. Well we taught about the plan of salvation and he had alot to say. He was very interested. The next day he was at church with his son jonathon!! We were so surprised! He attended all of church. Now I want to talk about the 8 year old son, because he is probably one of the most spiritually strong kids I have ever seen. First off his dad Johnaton shared his testimony and this is what he said about his son (the 8 year old) in his testimony. ''I was sitting in our house and a bad show came on. My son said, Dad please turn it off. Well I didnt because I was doing something else. When I turned around my son was crying. I said ''whats wrong?'' and he said, dad please turn off the tv this show is not good and I want to feel the spirit.'' Wow when I heard this I teared up a little sitting in the congragation jejej. His son also begged him to go to church, every week! He is so excited to be baptized. And I am so excited for him to be baptized by his dad! Now I want to talk about our other surprise attendant at church. His name is Rodolfo. Remember the boy that left on his mission about 4 weeks ago. Well this is his dad. He wanted nothing to do with the church before his son left on his mission. His whole family is members except him and his wife. She wants to be baptized but is scared rodolfo will leave her if she does. But rodolfo has been receptive to our message and the strength of his family’s testimony is helping him to choose right decisions! I can see the power of missionary service and the power of families. And that is why our goal, Me and Élder Rivera, has been to strengthen the families in our ward! We have been having family home evenings every night for the past 2 weeks, and are continuing to have more every week. I can see this broken ward starting to become strong! And I am so glad to be a part of it! And it all starts with the Family. The family truly is the building block of our church!
Now on the non-spiritual side of my mission. Yes it finally happened. It flooded here! We had a happy awakening Wednesday morning at 5:00. Our neighbors were pounding on our door! I didnt know what was going on until I looked out the window! Water everywhere. Apparently It had been raining all night and the river next to our house over flowed. So we packed up all our stuff and put it on our bed. Then we went to help our neighbors with their stuff. Then they let us put our stuff on the second floor of their house. It was quite the day! We didnt get to start procyliting until 5:00. We hung out with Emmanuel that day. :D Other than that, I am doing great!! I love to hear from y’all every week! les amo mucho y son en mis oraciones! We will talk next week!
Love
        Élder Parduhn

Monday, October 7, 2013

Pictures - October 7, 2013 - Week 7

Little Ceasers!!! Yay!

Apparently he bought him some new shoes!! Wow! He has a addiction like his mom...

90 Days

Week 7 – October 7, 2013
(I am not sure why it copies this way, it is his computer in Mexico)

Familia,
 Thank you so much for the letter! It is the highlight of my week to
hear how things are going back home!
 Im still doing very well. I didnt transfer, but I did get a new
companion. Elder Rivera, another native but he speaks alot faster. I
am accually partcially fluent!! The Elders and the people in my ward
tell me that I have picked the language up so fast. I have definately
been blessed by the Lord! I can now understand almost all of what they
say, I have been teaching with power. I love spanish!! haha.
Conference was great! It is not like home though, we have the luxury
of watching it in our homes on our TV, but here they all have to go
to the chapel to watch it in Spanish. I was with another north
American, we watched it in English in the office. The chapel was empty
on Saturday and it was packed on Sunday. There are 2 wards that meet
in our building (4 Missionaries). And the building is about half the
size of ours. The members here are so faithful!! Our ward boundries
are about the size of highland, alpine, and cedar hills combined. And
there are about 70 members that are active and about 400 that are
in-active. We have some work to do! ;). But we have activated 3
families! and Baptized 5 new Converts. We are building the ward really
slowly. We have strong investigators, we have another little boy that
has been reading the scriptures and wants to be baptized but his
family can’t take him to church so he never can show up. I made him a
promise that if he is baptized he could have that bible and book of
mormon I had before my mish, also a hymn book from elder Zuñiga. He is
excited to be baptized ;) haha. Yes I went to sign my greencard. We
had a 4 hour bus ride to Villahermosa. The bus was built for 4 foot
latinos haha It was the worst 4 hours of my life! Then we went to the
offices. I saw Elder Berry. He is extremely sick, continue to pray for
him please, and when you attend the temple please put his name on the
prayer roll. He is in the offices 24/7 studying, because he can’t walk. He has
wanted to go home but Presidente Morales encourages him to stay. I
hope he is able to pull through it. Then we had a nice 5 hour bus ride
back home haha. The rain hasn’t stopped but it has slowed. It is
getting colder here, it is about at 85 degrees. Nice and cool ;) haha.
I did get my package everything was there :) thank you. As I said
earlier, I did get a new companion Elder Rivera. We get along all
right, but he pushes buttons. But I made a goal before my mission that
I would love all my companions. He is a great teacher I have learned
alot. He also speaks really fast so my language is improving. He has
been a blessing. Last thing before I go, It is as funny story. Last
night we were teaching a lesson on the light of Christ, using the
'patterns of light' mormon messages. We decided to do an activity, so
we turned off all the lights and shut the blinds, but it was still a
little light. Then we turned on a flashlight and explained how it was
like the light of Christ. At that exact moment the power in the city
went out due to lightning, our demonstration turned out to be really
effective. When we finished the lights came back on hahah :). The
church is true!! haha
 I miss ya all!! and love you muchos!!!

Love, E. Parduhn