P-day

P-day

Sunday, October 28, 2012

One Month in Mexico!


Hey Family,

Thanks for the letters! I even got one from Coop and Brook this week! So Halloween is coming up, what is everyone dressing up as? Are the kids excited? I hear they celebrate Halloween here but I’m not sure what is going to be like. You can’t really go knocking on doors, mostly because they all have a big locking gate in front of them! How is Mary liking swim? Brook wants to play soccer? I am glad Mom and Dad had a relaxing week of time off, too bad it couldn’t be in Hawaii but I guess it was just as good?

It’s crazy I have been in the field for a month! And, 3 months of my mission are gone! To answer dad’s questions, yes I am still reading Jesus the Christ I am almost 500 pages in and I love it! I don’t wear my suit except on Sundays we are required to. My clothes are great but it is super hard to keep them clean. So I am not quite sure what to do about that...

So our investigating family decided not to get baptized. The Mom is having some real problems in her life. She is separated from her husband, doesn’t really have steady work, she lives with her parents who hate that she is investigating and she wants to move out. So she decided no, and the kids will basically follow what she does. It was pretty disappointing, I wish we could help her and her family more but all we can really do is give the gospel and invite them to be happy, in the end it’s their choice. So I am not sure what will happen with them.

Other big news, we found a house!!!!! And it is really ridiculously nice for missionaries. It has a big patio in front, a kitchen downstairs, and a big living room, upstairs there are 3 rooms and 2 bathrooms. It is hands down the nicest house I have seen for missionaries here. The way we found it was kind of amazing. We were walking to an appointment and got flagged down by a man who I thought was a non-member (I might have already told this story I can’t remember) but turned out to be a less active. He said he wanted to come back to the church and when could we visit him? Well it turns out he sells chicken to all the little shops around here, his business does very well too. He found out we were looking for a house and said he had one that he just used to store his products for his business and we could rent it and basically set the price. So we did, the president accepted it and I think we move this weekend. The man and his wife are very kind and giving like a lot of the people here. I was surprised at how kind, giving, and humble they are for being so well off. They also said that they are going to put a washing machine in the house! So I will have a washing machine for a while. If I have any extra time I will send pictures.

The thing I have really been impressed with this week is how loving and giving the people are here. Like the man who offered to let us rent a nice house for a part of what it should be (and also took his whole crew from work and had them clean it with us). Out of the members of our ward this week, I had about 5 come up to me and offer to have us come eat with them an extra time during the week, for dinner or something because the members already feed us lunch. Most of them don’t eat very well themselves, but they always put their best food on the table for us. Then in Elders Quorum the president stood up and told everyone that there was a couple in their late 80’s who were struggling. The man of 87 years was looking for work, they can’t pay their rent, and they have no food. They discussed what they could do for nearly a half hour. One man talked about how everything we have come from the Lord and we have covenanted to give all we have to the church, and this is a way to fulfill that. They decided that they would meet at the chapel Tuesday and bring whatever they could, whether money or food or clothing and take it to this couple. I have no doubt that that couple will be completely taken care of. I think we could all be a little more like the people of our ward here, and we will be happier for it.

I also have read almost the entire Liahona this month; it talks about so many great things! It focuses a lot on parenting and chastity and messages for the youth. It has been really uplifting; I would challenge you all to read it in its entirety.

I love you all,
Elder Utley

1 comment:

  1. John sounds like he is doing great. Wow! Reading Jesus the Christ is quite the undertaking.

    I am inspired by his commitment to read the Liahona every month. (Being in Spanish even)

    Thanks for sharing his experience with us.

    ReplyDelete