Nov. 29, 2010

"hey guys, well this week has been pretty crazy with all the trips to the mission offices, etc. but we were still able to get some work done so that was good... we were able to find a new family.. its acutally just a couple.. their names are José and Yoli and they are older..(like in their 70s) but they acccepted the invitation to be baptized and came to church Sunday so that was pretty awesome! also there is this one convert named Andrea whos parents are REALLY SUPERDY DUPERY CATHOLIC::: anyways, it was her birthday on Sunday and so her parents asked her what she wanted and she said come to church with me, and they came!! so that was cool, condsidering that before they wouldn´t even let her go to church... we have been blessed with lots of investigators right now i just hope we have time to get to all of them! it has been so so so hot down here! i´m jealous of all of you at home with the snow!

That's about all for this week."

Elder Eddington

Nov. 27, 2010

"Well, this week was great... we got moved on Tuesday, then Wednesday trough Saturday we were in trainings with the leaders all day from 8 to 5 each day.. it was really good we learned a ton .. we learned about the importance of the atonement and we now have to talk about the atonement in EACH lesson no matter what we are talking about... its actually really cool i can see the difference in my teaching... Saturday we worked really hard but still weren’t able to find too many people.. so Saturday night we prayed and told Heavenly Father that we had done all we could and we asked for a miracle... .. well we got it!!! We arrived at the church to an attendance of 148(we average about 80) and 10 new investigators in church.. even though not all of them live in our area, it was still awesome! so we are stoked for this week to start teaching some of them.. it was the primary program that brought so many people, so we were stoked... the Lord almost always gives us our righteous desires... and we need it cuz our area is seriously struggling right now... it has always been a tough area... actually it was closed to missionaries for like a year cuz it never baptized... but we are going to change that...

so its weird to think that its already Thanksgiving again... lol then before we know it, it will be Christmas again and I will be calling home... ha-ha the mission flies by... so yeah this week we are going to work our like crazy cuz the president is not happy with the efforts of the mission right now... the church has raised the bar again for new missionaries and also their expectations for us that are already here.... and they are sending missionaries home for practically nothing - the attitude of the church is now "work or go home" so yeah hopefully it will get us to work even harder... well that’s about it... just enjoying our new house, and trying to find people

That’s funny about your blizzard and snow - cuz its been unusually hot here... i miss snow a lot!! lol"

Elder Eddington

Nov. 11, 2010

"hey! well this week was pretty cool... we actually had kind of a difficult week with the work but we are excited for this week... i sprained my ankle Wednesday but today it was better and i played basketball with our ward.. that was way fun... but yeah elder Drussel is awesome... so chill and so much like me.. he played basket and football and baseball before the mish... he is so cool I’m so happy to get a comp with similar interests... but yeah we might change houses this week.. we found one in a WAY better location for WAY cheaper and its WAY bigger and WAY better.... so we´re probably gonna be changing... so that will be fun... obviously Mom, we have to get the move approved..... lol we took pix and sent them to the sec and if its tight then we change and they make up a contract... but yeah i learned this week that a lot of times the Lord doesn´t give us our blessings immediately for our work and obedience a lot of times he gives it in his time and his way... its always cool to see that way..

so it has gotten way way way cold here.(60 degrees) lol and so we had to go buy blankets at the mall, but they are so awesome!!! i will send pix

but yeah not much happened this week... ha ha the other night at four in the morning there was a drunk guy outside of our door screaming his head off..that was pretty funny ... also this morning downtown there was a drunk guy dancing in front of this rally fancy clothes store where they had music... it was quite possibly the funniest thing i have ever seen in my life...

in my package i just want some food but like better for christmas in December. the week of christmas everyone can just put some money in my account if they want to give me a gift and I’ll buy stuff i need here in downtown(cheap and there is tons of stuff) also faster and cheaper then sending a package..I could use some garments though – yes we can buy them here but the only day we can go is Monday and they are closed Monday plus they are all mesh or cotton and i hate both. lol! I like dri lux i think... but yeah that would be fine.. oh this week this guy in our ward gave us a bunch of ties he brought home from the mish.. it was cool!

Have a great week!"

Elder E

Oct. 25, 2010

"Hey fam! Well this week was pretty hard as far as the work goes, but we`re hopin this next week will be alot better! so this Sunday i got the oppurtuniy to ordain our recent convert, Josè Farfan, as a priest... i didnt want to do it and the bishop asked my comp to do it..(i`ve never ordained anyone to the priesthood before) but my comp said no and that he felt like i should do it (who knows why... ) but then after we ordained him he was crying and said that when we put our hands on his head that a warmth went from his head through his whole body and he felt something that he couldnt describe... it was really cool! this guy is so awesome! i will always remember him..

so what else happened this week... well we got a ton of way funny pix that i am going to send... just wait.. lol

also this week we had a movie night at the church and watched Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration and the members didnt bring investigartors only one... but we are grateful for that .. lol... also it is finally starting to cool down a little bit here ... "

Elder Eddington

October 11, 2010

"Hey fam! sounds like your week was awesome! this week was pretty cool here too... we had the batpism of the hermana Gabriela.. it was awesome! in the baptismal service one of the families of our ward sang a hymn in harmony and their dad played the guitar it was awesome! I'm back in my own area now I only went Thursday and Friday and came back for the baptizm... but i got to teach Elder Sosa, the kid from the other area alot, and i learned from him too..(he has 4 months just barely) so that was fun... also José is getting baptized this week, he is SO awesome! I forgot to tell you guys but he was a professional wrestler(a famous one here in mexico) his name was doctor misterio... lol pretty funny.. he acutally showed us his mask the other day. but he is way excited for his baptism.. and so so so humble! this guy reads the Book of Mormon 2 to 4 chapters a week man!!! its nuts!

so this morning we had a pretty crazy experience.. we got up early and went running around the block a few times.. well we had just turned the corner to go back to the house when an old volkswagen beetle came roaring down the street.. my comp and i jumped out of the way on the sidewalk,(dont worry mom it didnt even come close) but then it smashed into the car in front of it, then went around it up onto the sidewalk,(still going about 50) until it ricocheted off a light post, then smashed into another car where it came to a stop in the middle of the road... we ran to see if the lady in the first car that got hit was ok,(She was) and then went to see about the second that got hit... the guy in the second car had his baby in the front seat in her car seat, but luckily they were both ok.. the guy was pretty mad though.. we stayed with his baby and he ran to the other car and started cussin em out... it was two stupid teenagers that im pretty sure were wasted... the driver had no clue what was going on... lol we realized that had we been running on the other sided of the street we wouldnt be here right now... but luckily the Lord protects his missionaries... but yeah everyone turned out unhurt just a lot of stuff got smashed and a lot of scared shaken people... lol

so this weeek the mission president changed the rules and now on p day we can go wherever we want,,(before we had to stay in our area) so today we went and lost ourselves in the deep jungle of the downtown Merida and the historic center..(we´re still here lost, we just happened to find an internet place) but no worries we´ll just take a taxi out... this place is so so cool cuz there are tons of ancient buildings and castles but also it's modern - there are outdoor malls markets music in the parks all kinds of crazy stuff! you guys would love mérida.. but also its crazy traffic.. both on the sidewalks and in the streets.. its just like new york city in that aspect no joke...(even though ive never been to new york) but i love it here!

oh also this Saturday Elder Benjamin de Hoyos (a seventy) is coming for zone conference!! so we´re pretty stoked about that! so that means this Saturday we have training with a seventy AND a baptism.. lol all those tihngs you told me about in the animal show at the Living Planet Aquarium in SLC are everyday things down here.. there are as many giant flying cockroaches here as there are birds.. it doesnt even scare me anymore i'm used to it... lol

but hey here is some good news... my comp and i have been having a really hard time getting up in the morning and we decided that its becuasse for dinner we always just eat junk food and nothing healthy.. so we made a pact that we will not eat anymore pizza or take out for dinner, that we are going to quit being lazy and cook dinner, but good things with vegetables lol.. that will give us more energy and also save us money! lol"

Elder Eddington

Oct. 4, 2010

"hey fam!!!

yeah! conference was awesome!!! the one that hit me the most was of elder Holland... when he talked about what his parents sacrificed so that he could go on the mission i thought of you guys! and all that your sacrificing for me to be here... it really made me appreciate my mission THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!!

so our two goldens, Gabbie and José came to conference.. José went to ALL 5 SESSIONS!!! wow!!! haha he is so awesome
Gabbie gets baptized this Saturday and José the next... it was great... this week was pretty good. we had interviews with the mission president... he told me the lord expects ALOT out of me so i need to work even harder and be even more obedient! lol conference was great it always recharges my batteries... ok question and answer time.. Yes, we are living in an apartment and my comp's name is Elder Martinez. Yes, I should get packages sooner now that we live like 6 blocks from the mission office. For transportation we either walk or take a bus. I took my torn pants to get them fixed and he did an amazing job so all my pants are back in comission!
there we go!!! haha

so this week we did divisions with the district leaders.. that was fun! Also we had a really cool experience! we were praying all day to find new investigators... and we had an appointment (the last of the day) with an inactive guy.. well he brought his girlfriend to the appointment.. she(they) have alot of problems and she is so so prepared to enter the church! she accepted to be baptized right then and there in the first appointment.. the only thing is they didnt go to any of the sessions this weekend! so pray for them that they go to church!

Jose is so amazing! He is in 1 Nephi 9 and every time we come to an appointment or to take him to church he sits outside of his house and waits for us... he is truly a blessing for me to know him... thats about it for this week!!"

love you all,

Elder Eddington

9/20/2010 "wow! well, where do i start?

well this week we worked our butts off, brought new people to church and found new investigators, had some way cool experiences...

with one investigator named Julio we were reading the Book of Mormon with him... we were reading in 1 Nephi chapter 2 ... the power of the Book of Mormon amazes me! something really cool happened! how many times have we as members of the church read 1st nephi? like a bajillion times right ? well as we were reading something popped out at me i had never even seen before! its when Lehi and his family, after traveling for 3 days in the desert, the FIRST thing that Lehi does is stop, build an altar, and give thanks to the Lord! wow!!! after all he went through the first thing that went through his mind was to thank the Lord!! we started talking about that with Julio and it really brought the spirit to the lesson!! SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES!!! THERE IS SO MUCH THERE!!!!

so anyways last night my comp and I were chilling in the house, (I think I was laying in my hammock reading Jesus the Christ) when we got a phone call from our district leader informing us that today I would be heading for Merida to an area called Esperanza and Elder Nichols to Cancun area Kabah(the area i started at) AAAHH!!! hahah Merida is at the other end of the mission again! so i got to ride in a bus for 6 hours today! my area is SO CRAZY!!! i think when i was in Merida before I failed to realize just how ridiculously huge this city is(i was way in the north before) but anyways, this area is DOWNTOWN Merida!!! IT IS SO CRAZY!!! I FEEL LIKE IN LIKE TIMES SQUARE!!! I went from a hole in a rock in the jungle to downtown Merida! lol but I am pretty excited... know why? CUZ THEY FINALLY GAVE ME ANOTHER MEXICAN COMP!! lol his name is Elder Martinez, and he has 8 months in the mission... Elder Lucero, the old comp of Martinez, is going home in 3 days, and is here showing me the ropes of this area(when ever an elder gets changed to an area to be senior comp they have to hand over keys phone, etc... )

so all is good here, im excited to work in this new area!!!! love all of you!!!"

Elder Eddington

9/27/2010

"hey fam!!! well this week has been pretty good.. Elder Lucero went home, but he ended his mission good! on thursday night an old investigator called us and told us that she wanted to talk to us! we met her at the church and she said that a bunch of stuff has happened in her life and that she wants to change and she is ready to get baptized! she is so awesome! her date is for the 9th of October.

Also while while walking down the street the other night we saw a guy sitting outside his house so we went and contacted him... he is a 66 year old man who was an alcoholic his entire life... he left it about 16 years ago but because of it they had to take out one of his kidneys and now his other one is failing so he is on dialysis... he has been preserved by the Lord for us to teach him.. the first appointment he accepted to be baptized... he told us..."i know that your church is true... and i am going to baptize, not because you want me to, but because i really want to change!" he is so amazing! he came to church with us Sunday and he said he felt like he was in his house.. he is awesome.. his name is Jose... he has alot of health problems and no money so pray for him eh? he is awesome!

so life here the first week was pretty crazy but fun.. my companion is from Cuernavaca(state to the east of mexico city) he is cool... he is crazy and likes to have fun just like me but he also works hard when its time to work... so we`re doin pretty good! we are super super excited for conference this week! conference is a super awesome way to get people into the church so pray for us that we can bring a ton of people in there ok? it is pretty crazy speaking Spanish 24 hours... also I am the only American in my district... so I will not be speaking english for some time...

lol there is a lot of super super super rich members here who always send us pizza already paid to our house... we are getting fat... not good!

we played basketball today and it was my first time in a ton of months but I actually played really good... it was like I picked up where I left off... (does that make sense?) I'm not really sure how phrases in english work anymore!"

Elder Eddington

Aug 23/30 or Sept 6

"Hey fam! well this week we had the baptism of ubaldo, that was awesome... he and his family are one of the coolest stories i have on the mission... ( think i told you about them) but yeah the inactive family and we came and the spirit told us to promise her that if she came back to church and put her life in order that her husband will get baptized! well the Lord completed our promise! it is awesome! their family has changed so much! they{re still a little bit crazy lol but gettin better...

also today on the way here a tire blew on the bus and i was sitting like right over it so it scared the crap out of me cuz i was like half a sleep... but yeah so then we had to wait on the side of the road for a while until another bus came to pick us up.. .lame! but yeah here we are we made it all safe and sound! also we found a kind of snake this week i havent seen yet! i will send pix of it in a minute! i acutally have lots of pix to send this week!

so we had another REALLY challenging week! silviá, the one with the abusive father fell....something happened and when we called her to set up an appointment she said she didnt want anything from us anymore, which is CRAZY cuz she was SO SO SO excited! i have no clue what happened but she wont even talk to us so who knows... also Mar, (girlfriend of the ex missionary) came and we had a lesson with her and she is golden golden golden but the only problem is she is taking a course for 8 weeks that is saturday and sunday... so she doesnt want to get baptized right now and then inactivate for like two months so we are going to wait until the 1st of november which is lame cuz im almost sure i wont still be here in carrillo in november(I SURE HOPE NOT! ) also almost none of our investigators came to church AGAIN... except for giselle, but she cant get baptized either cuz she has to ask permission from her parents and they are crazy catholics and she is scared.. so we basically have nothing!!! last night we were both REALLY frustrated and my comp and I got in a dumb fight which just made things worse... but today we're a little better.... all we can do is keep working...."

Elder Eddington

Hey fam! i don`t know how much sense this letter will make, cuz last night we didnt sleep... we had to travel to chetumal in the middle of the night for a early morning meeting.. .then this morning i got REALLY REALLY SICK!! i have honestly never had diarhea like this in my life! it is so ridiculous i also have had a fever all day! but dont worry im on a constant supply of tylenol and pepto pills... and yes mom, if i don`t feel better in the morning, i will call the mission president`s wife... lol i have no clue what i ate but there is another elder in our district with the same thing... uggghh

so this week we blanked bringing investigators to church again, so we were pretty disanimated (i dont know if that is a word in english or not... i think it is.. bueno in spanish it is desanimado and means like.. upset, or not excited lol)
in our district meeting today it was about just keep moving forward and the Lord will bless us... the Lord is SERIOUSLY TRYING ME RIGHT NOW.. .with the sickness, the probs with the comp(which are fixed) and the lack of success, its been pretty rough, but all we can do is keep going with faith....the brothers of Ammon were locked in a prison for months while Ammon was out baptizing entire cities, and they didn`t whine, so i guess i will be ok! haha

Well, that's about it for this week. The day after tomorrow is the independence day here, so there is all kinds of crazy stuff going on here.... I can honestly say, without being racist, that when there are holidays here the ENTIRE COUNTRY gets drunk.. it is so ridiculous! I am so sick of dealing with drunk people... also in our ward we have like 9 couples that can't get baptized cuz they´re not married!

I have learned lots of valuable things on the mission ... most importantly
1. NEVER DRINK
2. marry your wife!
3. SAVE YOUR MONEY!!!

lol

Also this morning running out of the house to catch our 3:45 bus... I ran out, slammed the door and smashed my finger in the door.. I`m smart.. lol so my fingers are all bloody and swollen but they will be alright cuz im typing ok with them...

Elder Eddington

Aug. 16, 2010

"Well this week has been pretty good... Elder Nichols and I got to the house and got all settled and then we got to work... we had a baptism this week and that was pretty awesome... we also had to go to Chetumal on Wednesday for zone conference.. which was AWESOME!! I got the package with the pants, shoes and shirts! Thanks a ton mom!

Well let´s just say my comp and I aren't the best of friends... he is a great missionary but very very very very very controlling and very obsessive compulsive about everything... it's ok though we will work hard, that's for sure... we are like completey opposite people... at first I pouted but I realize now the Lord is just giving me another oppurtunity to learn patience and humility! lol I miss Elder Rose!

My skin got really really bad this week so I had to buy some random pills and stuff that was not fun... but it looks like its gettting a little bit bettter... the mission president thinks that I have psoriasis... not good! He say if it's not completely cleared up in a week I have to go to Cancun to a dermatologo.. not fun either... lol but it's starting to look a little bit better!

So we were knocking doors the other day and this guy told us to come in... I felt inspired by the spirit and I said... "the Lord has sent us here to your home to help you. What do you need?" he opened right up and told us he has been an alcoholic his whole life... my comp all of a sudden said "will you prepare to be baptized by someone holding the authority of God?" I looked at him like, are you crazy!? But the guy accepted! The problem is we´re kind of strugglin with him... he isn't completing with his commitments (expected from an addict) so pray for him lots.. his name is Victor... we only had one investigator in the church this week so that was kind of a bummer... but the one we brought is awesome!! He is getting baptized the 4th of September! His name is Hubaldo.

Well that's about all that happened this week ...

I am at a year!!! Can't believe it! Hope the second year is even better than the first!!

PS - tell everyone if they write me it has to be through the pouch, not the mission adress or I never get it... Tell them I want some written letters too!"

Elder E

Aug. 9, 2010

"We had the week long conference in Chetumal which was AMAZING! The twelve and the first presidency has completely changed the way we teach.. it is 100 percent by the spirit now.. there are no more lessons or outlines or anything... we find the person's needs by the spirit and teach what they need to know personally.. I have seen miracles in just three days of using it... when you teach this way the Lord DOES give you revelation for your investigators... there is nothing better than to teach this way... you are sitting in a lesson praying with all your might to know what to say to the person and the spirit brings the answer to your mind like an explosion of knowledge and love for the person - it's ridiculous... we will work miracles with these new techniques... this is it... this is what will prepare the world for the second coming... the Lord is digging about his vineyard for the last time... and I get to be a part of it!!!

Elder Rose got changed to Cancun today.. my new comp is.... believe it or not.. ANOTHER AMERICAN!! ridiculous! 4 comps americans now!!! His name is elder Nichols and he is from Tooele utah... lol

We have zone conference in Chetumal Wednesday morning so even though we just got back from there today we get to turn around and go back tommorow night.. yay! Yeah we're pretty excited... excited but tired! "


Edler Eddington