Hola everybody!

Sorry that I have been slacking with the emails. I just keep forgetting... But this past few weeks have been great! I know I say that every week, but it is kind of hard to not have a good day when you are a missionary. I have found that no matter what kinds of challenging things happen, I find that I am happy again within about 5 minutes. Being a missionary is one of the happiest and hardest things I have ever done. I love it.

Last week we went to a foot doctor to see if she could fix my blisters on my feet. I have had those blisters for my entire time here and I figured I should probably get them checked. Apparently they were infected and therefore unable to heal. Because of all of the walking we do, the callouses on my feet were too thick to sand down with her filer thing, so she used what was basically a power drill with a sanding bit to get them down and be able to thoroughly clean my foot. It was pretty gnarly. I think she did a good job though because I haven't had any pain since. It has been great.

The bus drivers are basically super-human. One of the bus drivers we had this week on the way to church had a laptop on his dashboard and was watching a movie while driving the bus (which is stick-shift), watching for people who wave for the bus to stop, counting money and giving change to the people on the bus, and all of this while driving in Mexico City traffic which is like nothing any of you have ever seen. I was pretty impressed. The drivers here are all crazy but I haven't seen one accident. I guess they know what they are doing.

Anyways, our investigators are still doing pretty well. We had to change Akane's baptismal date because she hasn't been coming to church. Turns out that her boyfriend doesn't like us and doesn't want her coming anymore and it is causing problems in their relationship. It is too bad because we were able to be there when Akane received her answer that the church was true and it was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had on my mission. Nobody that witnessed it could deny the spirit that was there.

We also have another investigator named Enrique who is still super solid. He has a date to be baptized on may 6 and is super excited. He said he wants to learn enough to be able to teach the youth of the church. He has had some tough trials due to some mistakes he has made and wants to be able to help the youth not make those same mistakes. He is awesome. He is already inviting people to his baptism and everything. He loves the temple as well. He is excited to be able to enter one day, and has even set a goal to enter the salt lake temple. I really hope he keeps up with his excitement.

Teaching Enrique has been very humbling. He is 58 years old. While teaching him it has really hit me that I am a 19 year old American kid in Mexico City who speaks hardly any spanish, and I am teaching a 58 year old man how to find peace in his life. It doesn't really seem to make sense that anyone should listen to me. But people do. There is hope in this gospel that brings peace like nothing else. It has been amazing to see people make changes in their lives such as to quit smoking or drinking, or to commit to live the law of chastity, or any other commitments that we leave with people. I can't think of any reason that people would listen to what we have to say, and keep the commitments we leave with them except that they have felt the love of Christ and it has given them hope. It has been an amazing experience to see people feel that love for maybe the first time in their life. I have realized how much I have taken Christ's love for granted and I am so grateful to be a member of this church and know the things I know. I love you all, have a great week!

Elder May

A motorcycle. We aren't allowed to ride them so I just sat on it for picture purposes.

Where we teach Enrique

My area

This week has been one of the most eventful weeks of my mission. Many milestones were made, and new investigators were found.

For starters, we fixed our shower, so we are no longer bathing out of buckets. That was a happy day for our house. Our next project will be to get rid of the bugs.

The food this week has been a good experience. On Thursday we ate with a member who is a really good cook. She gave us some enchiladas that were super good. She was very kind and told me that she took into consideration that I am a gringo and didn't make the enchiladas spicy. I thanked her and then took my first bite. She was mistaken. They were some of the hottest food that I have ever eaten. They were so delicious though so I ate 7. She felt bad when she saw how bad I was sweating, and I felt bad that she felt bad. I really did enjoy them. It just was kind of painful. The next day we ate with another lady and she also gave us the exact same type of enchiladas and told me the exact same thing, that she made sure to make them mild for me. They were just as hot. I think the relief society is trying to strengthen my spicy tolerence. It is very kind of them. On Saturday I was prepared for another round of spicy enchiladas but what she gave us was something new. She said "Espero que les gusta la pata de rez" which means "I hope you both like cow feet" and gave us each a plate with some good looking cow feet. She was even kind enough to leave some little hairs on them to give us some extra nutrients. I'm not sure what was easier to eat between the fiery enchiladas or the hairy cow feet, but either way, I think I walked away from that dinner appointment manlier than when I entered.

The work here in Espartaco has been progressing a lot more. On Tuesday, we were walking to our appointment when a 19 year old girl named Akane, and her mom, Gladys, ran up to us and asked if we would teach them. That like never happens so we were pretty excited. We told them we could teach them later that night if they wanted, and they accepted. We return to their house and taught them the restoration. We asked Akane if she would take Moroni's challenge and pray  about our message and about the book of mormon. She started the prayer and when she was about to ask if it was true, she paused for a little bit. After a few seconds I realized that shew as crying and then began to thank our Father in Heaven for putting us in their path and that she knows that out message was true. It was one of the most spiritual lessons I have had on my mission. There is something very humbling and very happy to hear and see somebody pray for the first time. We were able to teach them 3 more times last week and even read every chapter and pamphlet that we left them. They are so great and they even came to church yesterday too. They both are preparing to be baptized as well.

There is another investigator whom we found yesterday named Enrique. He just decided on his own that he wanted to come to church, so he came all by himself and didn't know anybody. We were able to meet with him later and taught him the first lesson as well. He also has agreed to be baptized.

There have been so many more miracles that have been happening lately but I don't have time to write all of them. I can definitely see and feel the Lord working here in this area. There is no way that my companion and I alone could be accomplishing what has been going on. I have loved being a missionary and feeling so close to the Savior. This week I will have completed 6 months. The time is really going by fast. I love you all and enjoy hearing from you every week!

Elder May

Hola everybody,

A lot has happened in these past two weeks. We had transfers and Elder Cruz left and I got a new companion named Elder Sanchez. I am going to miss Elder Cruz, we got to be pretty good friends. Elder Sanchez is awesome too. He served in this area about a year ago so he knows all of the tricks. He knows all of the good restaurants. The restaurants here are awesome. You get a soup, spaghetti, a main course, and a dessert for about 60 pesos. Which is about $3.00. The desserts here are usually jello. I don't know why but jello and cheese are like delicaces. They are super expensive in the stores, it is kind of frustrating.

Elder Sanchez also remembers where all of his old investigators live, so it has kept us busy to re-contact them. A lot of them have accepted to start taking the discussions again and it has kept us very busy. We are teaching a guy named Jose and his son, Edwin. Edwin is only 10 years old, but when we taught them, he asked just about every deep question you can think of. He likes to learn and is very accepting to the gospel, the same goes for his dad. They have a date to be baptized on the 6 of May and we are super excited about them.

Conference was absolutely amazing and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Luckily for me, they had a room for the gringos where they played the sessions in english. There were just 3 of us, and the rest of the stake was in the chapel/gym. I was able to all of my questions answered that I had as I began watching. there were times when I felt like the speaker was talking directly to me. Being a missionary has made me appreciate General Conference so much more, and I already can't wait for the next session.

During conference, there was a lot of mentioning about Patience. I have been studying patience really closely this week and I have learned a lot. I learned that patience and humility go together. Being here in Mexico has taught me a lot about these two christ-like attributes. I see people everyday in the streets who are struggling just to get by and support themselves, and their families. There is one family in our ward who I think is the perfect example of patience and humility. They are the Lopez family. they are a family of 6 and live in a 3 room house. The dad, Javierre, works as a door-to-door salesman for some product (I don't really know what it is), and the wife and kids help out by making cups of jello and walk around every day trying to sell it. This family are some of the happiest people I have ever met. They are some of the most faithful members in the ward and are always happy and smiling. I found a scripture while studying patience and humility that I think accurately describe this family, and many others that I have met here. in 2 Cor. 6:10 "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things". There is no better scripture to describe some of the church members down here. They are all such amazing examples to me of patience and humility in this hard world we live in. I hope I can be like the members here some day. I am loving my time here in Mexico City. I learn new things every day about myself, the gospel, and which street food tents I should and shouldn't eat from.

I love you all. Have a great week!



Elder May

Over-priced hamburger

Me and Elder Sanchez

Contaminated water that I thought was a field of grass

Well, first of all, we finally got our refrigerator. That was a happy day.

This week has been another week of weird and great experiences. I am pretty sure the about half of the people I meet, whether they are members or not, have never seen the color green. A lot of times when people meet me they will mention something about my green eyes and they just stare at them for a while and it kinda freaks me out. We met with a less active lady named Yolanda the other day and that was a fun time. She asked us what we believed about God and we told her that we know God exists because of all of the blessings we have. We have this beautiful earth and all of the animals as well. There are so many things that couldn't have "just happened", and proves that there is somebody watching over us. Her reply was a big "No. You are both wrong". I wasn't expecting such a bold response and didn't really know what to say. I was about to start talking again but then her brother came into the room. He had to have been on some sort of drugs or something. When he saw me, he looked at my eyes and told me, in english, that I deserve a "good marriage woman" because my eyes are green. Then Yolanda told him to be careful what he says to me because Donald Trump was my uncle and he got all scared and left. Super weird. The rest of the meeting just went kind of down hill from there.

This week was a little less exciting as far as investigators go. We have been struggling to keep investigators for more than one or two lessons. Finding people isn't an issue because here in Mexico City there are more people than I have ever seen. We found a new investigator named Bemmy. Bemmy was taking the discussions with some other Elders a while ago when he lived in a different part of Mexico. He found us in the street and asked us to come by on Wednesday of this week. that was a pretty cool experience and I have faith that he will have the desire to progress in learning about the gospel. He also has a pet monkey.

We have also been working with a part member family named the Valasquez family. They are all super great and have a sincere desire to learn and progress in the gospel. They have a piano in their house but nobody knows how to play it, so every now and then they ask me to play a song for them. Well, in our last meeting, after we had finished they asked me if I would play something for them. I had already played all of the songs I had memorized for them so I didn't really know what to do. I ended up playing a little version of "I am a Child of God". After I was done, the mom, Paulina (she is a less active member), told me that I must have been inspired to play that song for them because that was always her favorite one when she was coming to church, and that it really helped her to hear that song that day.

 That was a really neat experience for me to be an instrument in helping Paulina feel the Spirit. It was a simple testimony to me that truly, we are all children of God. He has sent all of us here to this earth to learn and grow, in hopes that we can return to live with him again afterwards. He has given us so many blessings to help us through this life and often times we take these blessings for granted. Being here in Mexico has definitely helped me recognize God's hand in my life. and helped me recognize the things that really matter most. I hope we can all remember where we came from, and what our potential is. I know God lives and loves each and every one of us.

Have a great week!  -- Elder May

Hola everybody, it has been another exciting week here in the Ciudad de Mexico.

I will give you all an update on my apartment, and way of living. We have upgraded from the one cup, and one spoon for each of us. We now have some bowls and plates and even a pan to cook some eggs. We are still working on getting a refrigerator though. Our water heater went out, so we were taking cold showers every day and that was a little rough. Then we found this metal stick thing that we can plug in to the wall, and set it in a bucket of water and it warms the water up. We have been using those buckets to bathe ourselves now instead of the shower and I actually like it more than the shower.

We went on exchanges within our district on Friday and that was a good experience. I went with Elder Jones, who is still being trained. He is probably the whitest guy I know and neither of us speak very great Spanish. It was a fun time. There is a word that all of the American missionaries get called, which is "Güero". It isn't offensive or anything, it is just how they refer to us. During this exchange was the most American that I have felt since I arrived in Mexico. We found a Burger King and had lunch together there before we split up into our exchanges and that was one of the happiest days of my mission. You don't realize how much you miss some good fast food until its gone.

We had a list of investigators and less actives to go see, but none of them were home. It was pretty frustrating because we would walk like a mile just to knock on their door and have nobody answer. We decided to forget the list and say a prayer. Elder Jones said the prayer and he prayed that we would find a new family of investigators. After the prayer we both just started walking and expected to find our answer as we did our best to talk with people. Well, we passed a house and I really felt a strong feeling to knock on the door. So I did. Some guy answered and we started talking to him a little bit about families. At first he seemed really interested but then as the conversation went on, I found out that all he really wanted some tortillas. I had to tell him about 3 times that we weren't selling tortillas. He got upset and didn't want to talk anymore. So that wasn't our answer. We kept trying for the rest of the night and ended up finding 2 new families that both have a lot of potential. the other companionship also found a familiy that they said was really solid and they were super excited about.

In our prayer, we only prayed to find ONE family... But Heavenly Father blessed both companionships and together we found 3. It was a really strong testimony to me that prayer really works. Often times we will pray for things but then don't do anything about it. I know that as we work and expect to find answers to our prayers, that they will come. They may not come as fast as you want, or in the way you hope, but when we pray in faith, we can be assured that whatever answer we recieve is the right one.

I love you and I am grateful that I have had yet another week here in Mexico City. I love it here and I love being a missionary. Thank you all for your examples and emails. Have a great week!

Elder May

Hola everybody. I hope everything is going well. This week has been another great week. Every day I have a new story I could tell, but I don't have enough time to write all of my experiences, whether they are spiritual or weird.

On Wednesday, a member asked us if we could do some service for her and weed her yard. We gladly said we would. I quickly learned that weeding in Mexico is different than it is in the U.S. (At least at her house). We came to her house and she gave us our gardening tools. She gave my companion a machete and gave me an axe. It made sense to have those as our gardening tools because her weeds were basically trees. When we finished she made us some enchiladas that were super good. However, while we were enjoying our enchiladas, her neighbor ran into the house and told us that her mom (who is also one of our investigators) had just passed out and wouldn't wake up. Well, we all ran over there and tried to wake her up but nothing was working. they decided to take her to the hospital, but didn't want to call an ambulance so they had Elder Cruz and I carry her to the car and put her in the back seat. It was super weird, and probably not the safest option but oh well. The next day she was fine and we had another lesson with her like nothing happened. She then informed us that she would be moving to Cancun the next day, and that we wouldn't see her again. It was kind of sad because she was our strongest investigator. Those two days were just a weird experience with her.

Saturday I experienced hoe Mexicans celebrate birthdays. It was my 19th birthday and the members treated me well. We had lunch with a family in the ward and they had a bike tres leches cake for me and sang all of these different birthday songs and even smashed me face in the cake. It was really fun. We then celebrated with gigantic sparklers. Later that night, Elder Cruz and I celebrated by grilling some burgers and having french fries to remind me of home. We burnt the burgers so that made it feel that much more like home too.

On tuesday we had a pretty neat experience. We had a lesson with one of our investigators named Edgar. Edgar is not a very solid investigator, and doesn't really take the lessons seriously so sometimes it is hard to feel the spirit. Well, in the middle of our lesson, his brother, named Jaime, came in. He sat down and participated with us. He told us that he really felt something in our lesson and wants to know how he can feel it more. We explained that he was feeling the spirit and that we can have the gift of the holy ghost with us constantly after we are baptized. It was a really good lesson, and we are meeting with him again tonight, so I hope we can have another good experience with him. I was able to bear testimony of how the holy ghost has impacted my life. I am so grateful to have a member of the godhead with me constantly. In John 14:27 it says "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" I know that with the holy ghost, we can feel Godly peace that the world can never bring. There are so many people in the world that are searching for rest, and for peace, but don't know where to find it. I am so grateful I have been called to serve as a missionary to help people find this peace in their lives.

Until next week...


--
Elder May

Tres Leches birthday cake (before)

Tres Leches birthday cake (after)

Birthday sparklers

Grillin some burgers

Things have started to settle down a little bit here. My feet are feeling better and I am getting used to all of the walking. People always say that you love your mission because of the people. that is very true. I met some interesting people this week.

We were walking down the street and we passed this lady who was bent over like she was looking for something on the ground. We kept walking a little bit and watched her and we saw that there was a pigeon a few feet away from her and she was trying to catch it. I don't know why. My companion and I looked at each other and thought we might talk to her. We went over and asked her if she needed help with anything and she said yes, that she wanted us to help her catch this pigeon. She took off her sweater and gave it to me to use as some sort of net or something to catch it. well, a few minutes later, I had caught this pigeon and gave it to her. She then walked to a police officer and gave it to him and walked away. I still don't know what the point of all of that was. We tried to share a message with her, but as soon as she gave the pigeon to the police officer, she ran away. Super weird but funny.

We were also having lunch with one of our investigators named Laura. She is nice and not too crazy. We had lunch, and shared our message and we were getting ready to leave when she starting talking about marijuana. She said that her son really likes it and she taught us how he uses it. She then said she wants to start a marijuana farm for him so he can have a lot more of it. As she said this she got all excited and went to her cupboard and brought us a bottle of marijuana seeds that she is going to plant for her farm. We had another appointment to get to, so we decided to have that conversation another day.

The people here are so great, I love them. This week we had exchanges with the zone leaders. It was a pretty good time. I went to their area and my companion stayed in ours. We visited a couple different people and two of them had the same quote from president Nelson (I think) on their wall that really stuck out to me. It said: "Every day is a day of decision, and the decisiones we make determine our destiny". I was thinking about how true this is. every day we have the opportunity to make tons of decisions. We have many opportunities to decide if we are going to keep the commandments or not. In my favorite scripture in Mosiah 2:41 it says "consider the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God..." I know that being obedient in all of our decisions brings us so many blessings and happiness. We have been so blessed to have been given commandments. It is easy to think of the commandments as restrictions, and that they hold us back from doing things that we enjoy. In reality though, we have the commandments as a guideline to help us achieve true, Godly happiness that can't be attained any other way. I know obedience brings blessings, and especially happiness.

 I miss you all, have a great week

--
Elder May

Best tacos I have ever eaten

A fountain at Coyoacàn

Playing music with a guy on the street at Coyoacàn 

Elder Mayo!!

More graffiti