Getting Into The Swing of Things

This morning while we were washing our clothes we noticed that the member had a swing. It just so happens here that they have professional washers and dryers. At least a few. Normally you wash your clothes by hand or you put it in a machine that just mixes the clothes around for a bit and hang dry since it is so ridiculously hot in Tabasco. And, it still continues to be hot here in Veracruz, but a few degrees less, so somehow more people have dryers. Poitn is, this week we were blessed to have a dryer. Which naturally left us with not a whole lot to do while waiting for our clothes to dry, so, I hopped on the swing.

And so here I am, halfway through my mission. With a long way to go, but a lot more behind me. It is odd to think about the time that has passed and the little time you have left. 

So I started to think, how could I teach you something from such an awesome picture that we got while I was swinging. And, still, really I wanted to show you this week is how cool this swing was. 

But, I guess I'll talk about not falling into a routine. I feel like that is something that all could benefit from. What happens when you fall into a routine and do the same thing every day? Albert Einstein would call any of you that fall into a routine insane when he defined: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

We are here to progress. Are you progressing? Or are you simply insane? Keep life interesting, keep life going. If you are not happy where you are at, change. If you feel you should be happy with what you are doing, are you doing it right? Take the time to make sure you are on the right path.

Often times in the Church we say if you are not progressing you are falling behind; in a sense, you are getting worse. I always like to put the example of "la Caminata" (the treadmill) when teaching "Endure to the End"--unfortunately I have yet to meet someone with one in their house.

The point is that life is like a treadmill. If we keep going, we will get more conditioned, with practice we will be able to go farther and farther in life. But the minute you stop, you are falling behind, and if you do not catch yourself quickly you can fall off the edge. 

Please, always make sure you are going forward.

Love you all,

Show your love for others,

Elder Andrews

Elder Andrews getting into the swing of things while his clothes dry.

Insurgentes

So, now that I am back and have a little bit of time I'll let you all know what's up. I got transferred here to Barrio Insurgentes here in Zona Mina-Tec. My area is much much smaller than the last. Which you could guess because I can from the largest in the mission. I can walk from one extreme of my area to the other in about 10 mintues. Also, it is my first area with a church. It is a Stake Center and it is a building of two stories.

My companion´s name is Elder Rangel. He is a few transfers older than I am. So it is really nice to be teaching where both have experience since I was going to train this transfer, but the Lord had other plans. So, since we are one of the companionships with a bit more experience we help the other ones to catch up a little bit. The Zone here is way small. It's just like Carmen--everyone is really close to each other. The only downside is that there isn't a beach in our Zone and the garbage truck doesn't have a set day or time. But we cleaned out our house and were able to send off the trash as well this last week. What a miracle.

The area is great. We have an assistance of about 60 which is pretty sad, but means that there is lots of work to be done. The work is the same, the people are different. There will always be people to try to help. But it would help if they tried to understand that is all we want, to help. The hardest part of missionary work is finding someone who wants to hear you. After that, the truth teaches itself. 

So, in this week, take a look at why you go to Church. Sometimes we get lost in WHO has the truth and we lose sight of why it all matters. I invite all of you to look more into the Plan of Salvation--a plan that is only taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This plan is why you are here. This plan is why you should believe in Christ. This plan is why you should not only want, but honestly exert yourself to be a better person. 

Let each of us pray for more desires to improve. 

I love you all. Love yourselves with personal respect and dignity for yourself and others.

Elder Andrews

I had to leave my family in Mercedes to come here to Mina and fulfill the Lord's call. Leaving them was hard. I would hope that everything I do would only increase their faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Do you have someone that is watching you? Don't let them down. Always raise others up whether it be through word or example. One of the most interesting things I have learned is that you can let others down by letting yourself down first. Don't let that happen. Aim high.

Notes: "assistance" is a Spanglish word for attendance. He is referring to Sacrament Meeting attendance averaging 60 people each week.

Elder Andrews' "Family" from Las Mercedes.

Adjusting to Change

My área here in Mina is very small. Veracruz is a lot cooler (temperatura) than Villahermosa. The only sad part is that because of that, I haven't been able to sleep in my hammock. Lots of stories to tell, but no time to share them. Sorry all, catch up with you all next week.

Love,

Elder Andrews

"Be Not Afraid, Only Believe" Mark 5:36

This week we had a special conference with President Morales. He is very different, but it is good. He is a big promoter of English. It's nice, but even rough on us gringos. He had us recite the normal things (D&C 4, The Missionary Purpose) but then he had us all recite them in English. So there I was trying to translate from Spanish to English as fast as I could. It's really going to be rough on the Mexicans now that they can't slide by faking English, because the whole meeting was in English!

Anyway, this week we got hit by transfers. Nearly the whole Zone here in Gaviotas is on its way out. I'm headed to Minatitlan, Veracruz tomorrow morning. It will be my third area and third state in Mexico: Campeche, Tabasco, and now Veracruz.

Anyway, I'm sorry to be short, but there are a lot of things to tie up here in the area before I head out. I'm tell you all more in the weeks to come. So, just enjoy the thought shared by Sister Morales:

"Be Not Afraid, Only Believe" Mark 5:36

Take care,

Elder Andrews

Change

Lots of change this week. Change of President, change of house, change of climate, change of... Well, lots of stuff. So, I still haven't met President Morales yet, but we should be meeting him sometime this week. So, I don't have much to say about him. We changed houses, which shot a lot of our time during the week since we had been waiting for the owner of the house we were to rent to show up to let us in. It was alright house, but the point was, it had water. After agreeing to meet up on three separate occasions and getting stood up each time we got a little angry. So, we did what angry kids do, and went to look for someone else to play with. We asked around and finally when we convinced someone to help us find a house and ask around we found our new house in about 5 seconds. Mother, don't worry about me. I am living in a house much nicer and safer than the one in LA. The term here would be "fresa" literally strawberry, but when used in this context, means a rich looking house. Like it costs a lot of money. But we only pay about 15 USD more per month and we have 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a huge living room. All for me and Elder Sanchez. The bad news is, I've been here for 5 months now and transfers are next week. The owner is way cool and knows he could rent the house for much more but he decided to rent it to us. It's not quite finished since it doesn't have glass in the windows, but it has bars in the windows which is super nice. Ceiling fans too. And even lights in the mirrors. 

We helped him clean it out because he was using it as more of a storage shed, and so we helped moved the stuff out to the roof of his store that is next door. But, our labor wasn't cheap since the wind blew his crates over and fell off the roof onto the windshield of his VW Jetta. He has just pulled it out too to give us space to move our stuff upstairs. The good news is that he told us to put the crates there. But still... He owns at least 4 houses here on the street and is super helpful. The windows should get put in tomorrow for example.

The bad news is that I have not been able to sleep in my hammock, so that's a little sad, but it has been really cold without windows and with a ton of fans. Thankfully I didn't throw away my super soft blanket like they told me to when I got here.

Funny thing is that the lady of the other house we were going to move into finally showed up with the keys when we were already moving. So, that brings us to the gospel principle of the week. 

In the story their are many people in play. Are you the landlord that just doesn't have time? Are you our new landlord that is able to take advesity and still love people? Are you someone that is willing to help? Or are you helpless and hopeless? The great things about it all, is that YOU get to decide who you are now and who you will become in the future. State of mind is not based on race, or , social status. May you each be able to excercise your agency to better yourself first, and then the world. Change has to start somewhere, and it's with you.

Pray always, that your faith in that change faileth not.

With much love,

Elder Andrews