Thanksgiving Week

Hey Family!

Wow! I cannot believe its Thanksgiving this week! I thought it was next week for some reason. I am super jealous; Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. We ate KFC with the bishop yesterday I think that’s about as close as I will get to Thanksgiving food here!!! Nobody knows how to use the oven here and they don’t even really use microwaves, it’s kind of weird. Just the stove top. Dad asked for my favorite snack here, that’s a tuff one, there are lots of good things. I think my favorite are the little packets of galletas (cookies) that they sell in all the stores, one of them is called Triki Trakes, the other is called Emperodor (they are lots of types all of them are good but I like the all chocolate or half white half brown with white filling). My favorite drink here is definitely Orchada, but I don’t like it in the states, it’s completely different. There are also little stands that sell Agua de Coco (it’s coconut water but they make it really, really good).  They make all sorts of different flavored waters from real fruit, they call them waters but it’s more like juice. What I think you could find in the Mexican store is either pineapple or strawberry flavored Fanta or another soda called Sidral de Mazana (if they have a green and a red one get the red, I don’t know why but it's better).

Sounds like mom has been busy with work.  I can’t believe Coop is almost 12 and is going to receive the Priesthood. Tell him congrats for me! That’s funny that all the neighborhood kids are always at the house, but I’m glad he has lots of friends, he was kind of bored over the summer. I am also glad that Mary hasn’t killed anyone driving yet! Is she driving my stick shift or driving the automatics? Do you still have the Elantra? I loved Brooke’s picture that mom sent me, tell her thank you for me.

To answer your questions no we can’t really see too many stars here at night, some but probably less than back home. My shoes are holding up pretty well, I have only been using the Clarks, mostly because I started with them and my other ones are really clean and nice. The shoes just get destroyed almost every day; it’s super, super dirty here and there’s just crap all over the streets. So I clean and shine them almost every morning. I just noticed this week they are starting to wear a little bit but they are super comfy and I haven’t had any problems with my feet. I think I will wear them until they are just completely worn out and then switch to the other ones. We walk a lot! We walk everywhere we go and our area is pretty huge. I don’t know how far but I would guess like 4 to 8 miles a day, just a guess.

I am glad you guys saw Eric! I haven’t heard anything from him since I left. And I’m not really sure how to write him, I can’t send a real letter and I don’t have his email address. Did you ever give him the letter I sent from the MTC. Tell him I say hi next time you see him and I hope he is doing well.

This week was kind of rough here. We didn’t have the baptism that we thought we would. Although I still think that it will happen. We have also been teaching a family, Angel, Francisca, and their son Alejandro. I think that Francisca and Alejandro will be baptized by the end of this transfer, hopefully sooner. They have been to church like 5 times, and the sister of Francisca is in our ward. Angel seems to learn a lot in lessons but he refuses to go to church and he has a lot of his own ideas. We found another family to teach with three boys: ages 16, 12, and 9 they seem great, although we have not been able to teach their parents yet. We at least know the mom is okay with it and 2 of them have been to church already. Other than that we didn’t get a lot done, I have been a little sick, I think we ate something bad early in the week and I just am not used to the food here. But yesterday I felt a lot better and today I feel almost 100 percent again. So hopefully we can pick it up this week and work hard.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the importance of being humble. I think one of the reasons I was sent to a mission in Mexico is so I could be humbled. And I think I am more humbled every day. I was also reading in the book of Alma this week, the first few chapters. I think it’s in chapter 4 it talks about a people that are very prideful, there are wars and the people for the most part are wicked. Then there is a verse that says some of the people were living righteously, feeding the sick, clothing the naked, and keeping the commandments. I was thinking that that applies a lot to the people in the world today, for the most part the people are wicked, prideful and self-centered. And I was thinking how we can live like the righteous part, and I think the answer is being humble. The people in general were prideful, but those that humbled themselves before God and followed his commandments were happy. They gave service and helped the needy, even when it wasn’t acceptable in their society. As members of the church we live in a wicked self-centered world, but if we humble ourselves and follow the commandments and give of our time for service we will find happiness in an unhappy world.

I know this church is true. I know we have living prophets on the earth that lead and guide us. I know the power of prayer and the power of fasting, if we need something our Heavenly Father is always there. I know we also find strength and answers in the scriptures. I know living the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to find true happiness in this life.

I love and miss you all! Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Utley