Deported!!

Hey Family!

I can’t believe that the kids are almost done with school - that went by really fast. Tom wrote me and said he only has one more transfer in the mission! That is nuts, I can’t really imagine that, I think I would be kind of scared. But I am excited for him, he had a great mission. Oh and I found out about the Skype call this week, we can pick any day between the 10th and 13th. I am thinking that Sunday the 12th will be the easiest. Let me know what you think. We can’t do it the 11th because we will either have a baptism or a wedding, and we have a zone activity that we are going to sing in down town and hopefully find people to teach.

So the big news of this week is that I basically got deported! Ha, ha. I guess they changed the laws for the visas about 2 weeks after I got here, and I had been living here in México illegally for about a month and a half. So last Monday they called me and told me I had to be in Léon the next day. When I got there they told me that I had to leave the country to fix the thing with my visa. So the next day Elder Boyce, Elder Daughlburg (they were in the MTC with me) and I flew to México City. I was really hoping to get out of the airport because we had like a 7 hour layover and the temple and MTC there are like 30 minutes away; but we had to fill out a few forms saying that we were leaving the country by choice and it took almost 4 hours. But it was super cool to fly over México City! It is huge! I want to go back and visit one day. Then that night we flew to Houston, Texas! An Hermano from México City picked us up and we went to a hotel and stayed the night. It was really funny he had a rental car and was so super nervous about driving it. He told us how many rules there are in the US and he didn't want to get pulled over. Basically the only traffic rules in México are speed bumps...

Anyway that night we ordered pizza and had root beer! (I haven’t had really good pizza or root beer in a long time). In the morning we went to IHOP! It was so good!!! Then we went to the immigration offices for like 3 hours and fixed the visas. We contacted some people and I ended up being a witness for a lady to get a passport issued by México. After that we got to go to the Houston Temple! That was definitely the best part of the trip. The temple is small but it is absolutely gorgeous!!! And we got to do a session, which I haven’t done since the MTC. It was really good to be there again, it made me super excited for the missionary work. Then we went back to the airport, ate panda express, and flew back.

The trip was exhausting, and it made me excited to work and home sick at the same time... It is so clean in the states, and so much space...and the food is so good! But when I got back I was good again. And I actually wasn't too sad about the food cause it absolutely destroyed me ha ha. I haven’t been so sick since I had salmonella and typhoid fever at the same time. I guess I am accustomed to the food here cause the stuff in the states really made me sick. I’m not looking forward to that when I go home... but I ate it anyway cause it was so good.

Anyway so that took up Tuesday through Friday. Saturday we finally got our house all the way clean and did some visits. Sunday was a payoff day, we are still struggling with finding people to teach but the people we are teaching are really solid. Maria Elena and her family went again, and they are so happy! They are working on their papers to get married this week; we hope they can do it this week, but more probably next week. Then she will get baptized. And her husband stopped drinking and smoking! That is a small miracle or a big one ha ha. So they are both happier about that, he has 2 weeks without a drink! And a family of less-actives that I have been teaching since I got here came this Sunday too! They have had a lot of problems and so it was also a small miracle that they got there. But the Branch Pres. lifted their dis-fellowship and after like 2 years they can now take the sacrament again! And they are working to go to the temple in June!!! And I don’t know if they will get sealed then or a little more in the future but they are going to get sealed! So it was a good day yesterday. I am hoping to find more work this week, but it’s exciting to see the changes in the lives of the people that we are working with!

So that was basically my week, I am going to stop writing now so i can send some pictures.

I miss and love you guys!

Elder Utley