NOT Thanksgiving

Everybody is putting their subject as HAPPY Thanksgiving, so being the hipster I am, I didn't put that subject.

Well, not a lot to say this week. We contacted a soccer team that said they would come to church. That means 17 people that said they would come to church! Guess what happened. We had soooo many people that I didn't see in the church on Sunday. Yeah, this is kind of a normal thing for me. People saying they will do stuff: go to church, read, be in their house; then not doing it. Yeah.

But I have been learning more Christmas songs, singing. Because there is not a sign of Thanksgiving. I'll probably eat tacos for Thanksgiving dinner.  

Oh, and then there's the part where I'm going to have surgery. Woo. I'm excited. First surgery in my life. I'm not going to be able to sit down for a month. I think you can tell how excited I am.  

One of our investigators has royal turkeys! (peacocks)

I got peanut butter, mint lifesavers and meringues. [Mom comment:  I guess food does get in by mail.]

[Mom comment: regarding the cyst on his tailbone]  I have been going to the doctor and I have to get it removed. Right now we are just waiting for the decision from Salt Lake. If I'm going to come home or do it here. I'll probably come home. I have mixed feelings about that from the two ends of the spectrum. NO, I don't want to leave.  I'm going to baptize people! And then, well, it would be nice to be home for Christmas. 

[Mom commented about Christmas and packages sent.]

There is a small fake tree in the apartment. 

Yeah, I hope i get the package. From the first one [that didn't make it past the mission office] to Brooke's package, I'm a bit annoyed, that they aren't getting here.

​I bought leather gloves for when it gets cold at night. I look like a murderer.

​ This is Pepe the Zebra. He is the mascot of the cereal that i buy. (A cheap version of frosted flakes)

What Christmas songs should I learn on the guitar? I know Mary Did You Know and Feliz navidad.

Mexico is Weird

I don't know if there are as many churches in any other part of the world as in Mexico. Some of them like to seem unified but they are not. There are about Eight Parroquin de San Juan Bautista churches in our area. Do you know what they are? Bible study groups. That's all. They have a pastor, but really it's just the person who owns the house. Don't get me started about Santeros. (People who worship saints)

Wow. I'm just going to vent for a bit. About Moses. Moses is Jewish. But not Jewish, because he is Mexican. [Mom comment: I thought Ryan was talking about ancient prophet Moses, but no, it's someone he is teaching]  If you didn't know, If you are not Jewish, and would like to be Jewish, you can buy yourself a Jewish bloodline. Wow. Soooo, Moses is Jewish-Christianic. What is Jewish-Christianic? Ok, basically it is Christians that follow Jewish rules. But they know that Jesus is the Christ. It's the only good thing about them. They know the law of Moses has been fulfilled but still keep the holy festivals, and other things from the Law of Moses. They baptize by immersion, but it has to be in running water. They take the sacrament, but only on Passover. They believe they have authority through the Holy Ghost because the prophets ended with John the Revelator. *takes deep breath* I believe you can see our dilemma. The thing is that the first time we met him, he said he was open to other ideas. (The future would tell otherwise.) We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it. He read some scriptures from it. The way he knows the Book of Mormon, I would say he looked up scriptures online from the Book of Mormon. One time he asked, so who were the first "Mormons"? I said Adam.  OK but in the Book of Mormon? (I'm pretty sure he was trying to use the fact that people were here before 600 BC.) I said, the Jaredites. *His face, priceless* Uhh, *goes to another topic* The thing that bugs me the most is that he refuses to pray and ask if the Book of Mormon is true. Conversation goes like this: Me:Have you asked God if the Book of Mormon is true? Him: I have my answer. *goes to John* If an Angel comes with another gospel you should not accept it. Me: Have you asked God? Him: No, because it's another gospel. Me: Well, ask God if it's a different Gospel. 

Is that all? No, but I won't go on much more. His main points of discussion are: There aren't prophets now, but we are all prophets; The real Church of God keeps the Sabbath day holy. Based on the prophecy of Isaias, that Christ will die in the middle of the week, therefore Wednesday, and Jesus resurrected on Saturday and the Sabbath is still Saturday. We can plainly see in English that the prophecy says in the midst of the week, not the middle, so it can be any day Monday- Friday, and we happen to know it is Friday. 

Please don't waste your time looking for scriptures. I have used them. And they are clear as day, but he won't accept them. 

So I got a package from Brooke. Thanks, Brooke!  I'm sure there were more cool things inside.

I said in my emails that you should put Jesus Stickers or Virgin Mary stickers right? I wasn't joking. It actually protects the  package a little better.

​This is how a package arrives through the Mexican Postal Service, clearly opened and missing things.
[Mom comment: In defense of the Mexican Postal Service,  their rules say "no food" so if someone sends food, they take it out of the package.]

Lamanites and their secret combinations. I was a little perturbed. 

Tres Cerezas

[Mom comment: What can we send for Christmas or birthday?]  We have a dvd player so I can listen to cds and I only have one cd, but I might buy a speaker and a usb so I can download christmas music.


This week Carolina got baptized! We had a last minute scare because she didn't tell us that she smoked, but now she doesn't so it's ok. This time we put resistor heaters in the baptismal font so that it would heat up, because it didn't last time.  Right before the baptism, I took out the resistors and it smelled warm. So I thought it was warm.  I didn't check any further. Elder Nava and Carolina found out when they stepped in the water. Hint: It wasn't warm.

Oh, my heavens. Do you realize that I have been on the mission for nearly 9 months!?  That's enough for a baby to be born. I left in February. It's November. It's almost Christmas. Wow!

Do you get the subject now? I won again! (It's a slot machine.) Yay! Mom isn't happy I won again, but I did! I'm in Mexico.  On Friday I got bit by a dog. Luckily this dog knows me. So it wasn't bad. I'm pretty sure he was just trying to grab my pant leg. But he was angry because I woke him up. The picture looks worse than it is, and the picture isn't bad. 

​This week was a good week for 8 reasons.

​Alma 17. I know not everybody is there but there is only so much distinction you can do with little drawings. So really it includes everyone. [Mom comment:  I'm guessing these must be drawings of friends.]

​Verizon: Raising the Bar. Carolina´s Baptism!

Culture 11/2/2015

Ok, well, this will be short because I've only had half a week since the last time I wrote. 

The past week we went to Templo Mayor, the least destroyed ruins in the city of Mexico. Even this one has a sewer pipe running through it because apparently they didn't know it was there. There were a lot of cool things, but not that cool as other things I have learned of the symbolism. They didn't really explain anything of symbolism. And we also went through it pretty fast. Cause nobody seems to enjoy these things like I do.  I would have spent four hours if I could and read every plaque.  But, oh well.  I did like the artifacts. 

Here Halloween is almost nothing.  It still is known, but Dia de los Muertos is a lot bigger. Day of the Dead is pretty much like Halloween, but prettier. I really like the Katrina, she is like the symbol of the holiday, and she represents generally those who are being remembered. There are offers to those who have passed away, the things that those persons liked, and Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead), which is pretty good. I would buy it more but it's kind of expensive. Well, expensive for a missionary, 10 pesos.

Oh, I love Mexican Culture. It's so beautiful. And strong. Like the cultural celebration I loved and Dia de los Muertos.  Because it is Mexican. And they are proud of their culture. Just watch The Book of Life if you haven't seen it. 

There was a lot of tlaloc stuff, and also for Huitzilopochtli (that one I did learn the story, it is similar to the story of Zeus and the Titans).

Katrina

​No, this is not a kindergarten art project. These knives were used for sacrifices, mostly human.

Mictlantecuhtli God of Death. The part missing shows the souls he has swallowed or hell.

​Elder Hay (Hi) and a member that came with us. The Temple is below.

Our Halloween. An investigator has a hair salon, and it was Halloween, so why not?  And in the picture as well is her niece.  I was singing the Hey song (what's going on). That's why my mouth is open.