Pictures

9/22/14 Almecatla 1a with Elder Rivera

On saturday Genoveva (pronounced like Henobeba) and Alhelí were baptized. They are super awesome and they were very prepared to accept the gospel. When the missionaries contacted them in the street a little over a month ago, they received them very quickly in their home and now the are members of the church

This week we had a Zone conference with the president. And he taught us a some awesome teaching techniques that I think will help me for the rest of my life, with teaching classes at church, children, etc. My mission president, President Christensen, is just super awesome! I have learned so much from him in the whole time I have been in the mission.

Now I´ll answer some of the questions that Justine asked me:

How often does it rain there?
at this time of year, it is raining just about everyday super hard. The streets flood and turn into ankle deep rivers. In the picture there is a drainage river that connects with the street. Usually that river is just a trickle that we can jump over without much effort, The picture shows the same river just after a huge rainstorm

Does your companion snore haha?
Luckily, no. I have only had one companion that snored. my first companion, Elder Alejandre.

Do you play the piano?
In this ward, Almecatla 1, they don´t have a pianist. So I play the piano every Sunday at church, but I am starting to forget all the songs that I used to know because I don´t really have time to practice

Do you have toothpaste???
yes, there is toothpaste here in Mexico

And mom asked me about getting a passport and visa. I am pretty sure that you´ll need some sort of visa to come here to Mexico. Given that you guys won´t be in Mexico for very long, I don´t think that it will be very hard to get.

Anyways, The mission is awesome, as I'm sure you have heard millions of times. I have learned so much and I am happy to be here, but I am sad because I only have a little more than 6 months left. That does not seem like a whole lot of time to me, but i am gonna make it count.

I love you all!!

Love,
Elder Shane

9/15/14 Almecatla 1A with Elder Rivera

Hello family! I hope that all is well at home! Happy september 15th (justine´s birthday and Mexican Independece day)

We had a pretty good week this week in Almecatla. I really like this area. We are starting to find more people to teach. Here it´s actually not that hard to do it. As we contact in the street, usually a fourth of the people that we talk to give us the address for us to visit them another day. The hard part is finding them in their houses with time to listen to us. But things are going good in this area.

This Saturday we are most likely going to have the baptism of Genoveva and Alhelí. They are two awesome investigators that the missionaries taught before I got to this area. They pretty much taught everything, When I got here we just taught a little bit more and now they are pretty much ready for their baptism on Saturday. They both already seem like members of the church and I am sure that they will be very strong members of the church

One goal that my companion has is to work hard until the end of his mission... which is the end of the next transfer. Which I think is a great goal, so I am also going to do that. I won´t let him "die" as the missionaries say. It´s kind of fun being with Elder Rivera again

I sent a photo of my district. Me, my companion and 6 sisters. Luckily they all get a long well (from what I´ve seen). And luckily, as district leader, it isn´t responsability to make sure that they do get a long well with their companions... that is the job of the Sister Training leaders (if you have questions about that, ask Ynez). My job as district leader is just to encourage them to work their hardest. I am learning alot from being district leader. At first I really didn´t want to be a leader, but now I realize that you learn alot from it. And I also like the having the power to boss other people around... just kidding. One rule we have in the area of Mexico is that we can´t do any activities with sister missionaries on Pdays... so to answer dad´s question as to whether or not we do district activities, we are all on our own.

Anyways, This week we are going to do splits with some of the members so we can teach more people at once and use time more wisely. Things are going great in the area. Right now we are in the process of finding more people to teach and helping the few people we are teaching to progress. That is something that I noticed about the state of Tlaxcala is that there are alot of people willing to listen, but not that many that are willing to change their lives. So we are also learning to teach with more power to help the people learn the gospel and live it.

But, I love you all so much. Keep working hard and sharing the gospel! Happy September 15th. Christ lives and this church is His!

Until Next week
Love
Elder Shane

9/8/14

Well, I am now in my new area, Almecatla 1A, and I am also back in the state of Tlaxcala. It seems like a great area, there are a lot of people to teach here. This area is sort of a small town, with a lot of farms, corn fields etc. I think that I am going to love it here.

I have kind of a funny story with my companionship situation. On Tuesday, I got to this area with Elder Gonzalez as my companion. So on tuesday we started working together in the area, and then on Saturday, we got a phone call, and one assistentes told us that elder Gonzalez had emergency transfers and that we would have to change companions on Monday. So, just a little bit ago, we went to the offices with Elder Gonzalez´s suitcases, and now my companion is Elder Rivera from Honduras... the same rivera that was my companion for two weeks almost a year ago in Teotlaltzingo. So, that is sort of a funny coincedence. And right now Elder Rivera has only 2 tranfers left in his mission. So I might be his last companion. (I sent a pictures of me and gonzalez, next week I´ll send of me and rivera)

And right now I am still district leader. In the district it´s me, Elder River, Hermana Cuevas, Hermana Flores, Hermana Gaona, Hermana Peñalosa, Hermana Cuevas (a different one), and Hermana Lindsey. So yeah... I am the district leader of 6 sister missionaries, and my companion. The members say that I am the relief society president (hahaha). So it´s kind of a funny situation in this district. Next week I´ll send you a picture.

So this area will be a new adventure. Things seem to be going pretty good in the area. There are some people that might be baptized in the coming weeks. Right now, I still don´t know the area very well yet, so that will a challenge, because my companion knows it less than I do.

But we are going to work hard in this area. There are plenty people to talk to in the streets, and there are 6 sister missionaries depending on my example. I am excited for this new transfer.

So i´ll let you all know how things go in the area next week!

I love you all!
Love
Elder Shane

Week of September 1, 2014

Hello and buenas tardes todos. I hope that all is well at home. I hope that Kannon is doing alright in the mission field. I say that I hope because he doesn`t tell me much. But things are going great here.

But last week, they told us that me and my companion are leaving the area! I feel like I got here just a short time ago. Things are starting to go pretty good in this area, and after just one transfer here, I am already leaving. This area is a pretty difficult area, but I would have liked to have been here at least one more transfer, but its alright. I learned a whole lot in Los Angeles. I feel like after the time I had here, I`ll be able to work more efficiently in my next area, so I`m pretty excited to see where I am going to go tomorrow.

Last week Juan Rojas was baptized and on Sunday confirmed. He is super awesome! He has absolutely no support from his wife or his kids concerning his conversion. To be baptized, he had to get permision from his wife to do it (to avoid causing problems in families). Telling his wife that he was going to be baptized was probably his biggest challenge to join the church, but he did. He told us that she wasn`t happy but at least she accepted it.

The other funny story is that we had some problems with our house. Ever since I got here, the kitchen sink and the counter that it`s placed on has been loose, as in not very well placed on the wall. Then while I was cleaning the bathroom, i heard a big crash, and look out and saw my companion standing up with the sink at his feet with water squirting out of a broken pipe. We shut off the water, and then a brother in the ward soddered the pipes back together. Then the owner of the house  came over and put the sink back in place with screws and two pieces of wood to hold everything in place. Elder Rosales claims that it just fell on it`s own... hahaha, I don`t believe it for a second! Luckily the owner didn`t charge us anything.

Anyways, as usual, Ill let you all know about my new area and companion next week. I still feel like I was just getting started in this area, we starting seeing progress with investigators... but I`m excited to go to a new area. The mission is awesome, as I usually say. Tell Ynez that I said hey.

I love you all a ton! You are awesome!
Love
Elder Shane