Elder Andrews' Christmas Call 2012

Here's the call with everyone, completely locked down for only immediate family to view. If any immediate family is unable to view it, please e-mail Derek to gain access.

Here's the call with just Caleb and Mom and Dad. Mom, Dad, and Caleb have access to this private video.

Christmas Week

Primeramente, aquí está algo que pasó en éste mes. Ya lo escribí en español. Perdón:

[First of all, here's something that happened this month. I already wrote it in Spanish. Please forgive me:]

"Tuvimos otro milagro este semana. Por todo mi tiempo aqui en Carmen no tuve yo un Líder Misional de Barrio. Estábamos mencionando eso con el obispo mucho, pero no progreso apareció para mi. Pero un día hacía algunas semanas tuvimos un miembro muy activo que decidió a asistir nuestro clase de Principios del Evangelio un domingo. Había algo en su ojo cuando estaba yo enseñando (sí esto fue antes que usted me corregió en esto) que pensé a mencionar su nombre al obispo como un candidato para un Líder Misional o Misionero de Barrio porque él no tenía un llamamiento.

[We had another miracle this week. For my entire time here in Carmen, I personally have not had a Ward Mission Leader. We were mentioning this a lot to the bishop, but no progress came about for me. But one day a few weeks ago we had a very active member that decided to attend our Gospel Principles class one Sunday. There was something in his eye when I was teaching (yes this was before you corrected me on this) that I thought to mention his name to the bishop as a candidate for Mission Leader or Ward Missionary because he didn't have a calling.]

Ahora él es nuestro Líder Misional despues de un ayuno de nuestro obispo.

[Now he is our Mission Leader after a fast by our bishop.]

Nuestro nuevo Líder Misional compartió su testimonio con nosotros en nuestro primer reunión y dijo que él tuvo un impressión muy especial de la obra misional ESE MISMO DÍA. (Para mi, no es coincidencia). Él estaba en este cuarto este día porque de verdad él estaba perdido pensando que fue la hora del sacerdocio (sacerdocio reúnan en esta misma cuarto durante la tercera hora). Pero algo tocó a su corazón y quedó allá y sintió que necesitaba ser parte de esta obra. Dos días después, él fue llamado como nuestro Líder Misional."

[Our new Mission Leader shared his testimony with us in our first meeting and said that he had a very special impression about missionary work THAT SAME DAY. (To me, this is not a coincidence). He was in this room this day because truly he was lost thinking that it was time for priesthood (priesthood meets in this same room during the third hour). But something touched his heart and he stayed there and felt that it was necessary for his to be part of this work. Two days later, he was called as our Mission Leader.]

If nothing made sense so far, go back and use Google Translate. Who knows, maybe you'll get some Spanish each week to read! Anyway, as for this week, we have been as hard at work as you can this Christmas season. Not a whole lot is really different during the Christmas time as a missionary. But maybe that is more just for the climate. It started off hot this week. Sweating a ton each day still. But then we got a storm during the night. It woke me up. Mainly because the rain drenched my legs. Thankfully that was all. But still, really wet. Second time that has happened to me. And really only the second time it has TRULY rained here on the island. We get a lot of sun. Although after the storm the weather has tamed down. A lot! It got freezing cold. Everyone is wearing jackets and sweat pants and it's pretty insane. It got down to 70 degrees fahrenheit when we woke up one morning! Imagine that. One day I hardly even sweat. It was rather odd.

Today we got our haircut at 6:30 in the morning and then ran 30 minutes to the grocery store. On the way we got stopped by a member to help move gravel (over 30 wheel barrows worth). They gave us breakfast afterward, so that was nice. Also, they were building in there house. It made Elder Pack ask, "Why did I ever play with Lego's when I could have built a house?" Because the houses here are just a bunch of cement blocks and cement. I was sad the world didn't end becuase I even got a Book of Mormon in Mayan and was studying to be prepared.
I also made a make-shift Nativity set with my Book of Mormon action figures. Hope you enjoy that one.

Love you all,
Talk to the Family tomorrow at 5 PM (my time),
Elder Andrews

Notes: Caleb is serving in the heart of what was once the Mayan civilization.

Elder Andrews reading The Book of Mormon in Mayan "just in case."

Elder Andrews' makeshift Nativity from his Book of Mormon action figures. Which ones can you name?

It appears that Elder Andrews played a part in the Ward Christmas Party.

Elder Andrews may be trying to cool down the dog a bit.

America in Mexico

Today I made the trek to the local supermarket where I planned on buying a cool glass bowl. Pretty insignificant, but you learn to get excited for little things. Especially since the bowl was to make jello. Of course I bought American. It was a 1L PYREX glass bowl. It didn't have a price. Turned out it was 160 pesos (about $12 USD). Needless to say I didn't buy it since it cost more than my food for the week. Bummer, eh? Had the money, you just learn to be smarter. I'll be making jello like a Mexican then. Still need to figure out how I mean exactly.

Didn't hear about that terrible shooting in Conn. But, from the perspective of another country, violence exists, sadly, it is not something that doesn't exist. In Mexico, guns are outlawed, and surprisingly, no, I haven't seen any guns here either. But the next thing you know there will be people walking down your streets with machetes. Nacho Libre meets America! Can't wait. Is it true that America legalized marijuana as well in all 50 states? If so, the Mexicans here on the island think America is a disgrace. But, we learned that even if its a legal drug its still against the Word of Wisdom. Just goes to show calling sin good doesn't make it that way. Jacob 6:12

I also got the chance to head to Villahermosa for the Christmas reunion of the missionaries. Things came up that Elder Pack and I might not have gone but in the end I'm glad I did. Not really especially for what was said or done there (I mean we're missionaries, it wasn't exactly a party) but what happened on the way home. For one reason or another Elder Pack and I couldn't sit next to each other on the way home and I got put next to some random person. He turned out to be just that, some random kid. Se llama Angel (20). He was way cool. He is even studying to be a psychiatrist. The similarites were pretty interesting. Anyway, I had the chance to teach him. For three hours on the trip home. There we talked about everything from the Book of Mormon to the pioneers. Needless to say, we talked about a lot. He'll get baptized someday.

Keep going strong. Until next week,

Love you all,
Elder Andrews

Translation: Se llama Angel = His name is Angel.

Head Strong

Friends and Family,

This week has been a bumpy one. I attached a picture of our "weekly planning". It's the one of what has become famous on the island (at least for the missionaries)--the largest first aid kit there is. It just might be larger than the ones they use on the platforms. And unfortunately I haven't had much use of it. But, I still have a year and a half of bump, bruises, and sicknesses to put it to good use. I've found that as a missionary there is always something wrong with your health. But, that's where you learn to just keep on going in spite of it. 

Elder Pack has helped me pick up the pace here on the island. We worked hard to get a Family Home Evening set up for Mario and his family with some active families in the ward. Everyone sacrificed a lot to make it happen. One father drove 3 hours in from Villa that night because he promised a few days before he'd help give the lesson (commendable anywhere, but even moreso here.) Mario and his brother Franklin were there in there house across the street, but didn't feel like coming to the activity the knew had been specifically planned for them and agreed to by them. Then my fever kicked in more and I started shivering as if I were laying in snow. It was lame cause I knew it was hot outside. 

Karen is our most promising prospect, and she just might have ADHD. We were teaching her a lesson and she got up and left right in the middle of it all. She came back about 5 minutes later eating jello. 

The mission life is a lot of run around, and hopefully I am keeping up well enough. Until next week, I hope you all fair well. Sorry I kinda forgot about your birthday last week Dad. I wrote it in my journal though...

Love you all,

Elder Andrews

Notes: Caleb's reference to the "platforms" means the oil platforms.

"Weekly planning" with the mission's largest first aid kit.

Elder Pack with snowball?

Elder Andrews en las mejores fiestas (at the best parties).

Change is Change

Here I am still on the island. It has been interesting. From the looks of how things are playing out, I could realistically stay here on the island (my first area) for 7.5 months. From what President has voiced of his plans at least. So, while that is neat, it seems like a long time. But not as long as those 9 weeks in the MTC did at first, so all will go on and go well. 

Elder Pack is here on the island with me now and he is enjoying it. I'm keeping him safe, so don't worry. The English comes in handy when we get in some awkward situations when we can't let the people around us know what is going on. Island life is safe, you just gotta keep your eye out. It is rough teaching the area to someone else, I just got tired out quicker and quicker each day. But, it was amazing how much success we were able to have. I dragged him around the island and thankfully his 21 months of experience were able to carry us through the lessons. 

We have been running around a lot today, and we have got a full load ahead of us. So I'll be off and talk to ya next week.

Love,

Elder Andrews

P.S. About Mexican customs, December 12th in the day of the Virgen Guadelupe. Happy Birthday, mother! We'll be in Villahermosa that day for a Christmas reunion as a mission seeing we won't be very productive working.

Notes:

"President" refers to "Mission President." Caleb's mission president is President Castañeda.

It is common for missionaries to plan other events, such as mission reunions, when local celebrations would prevent them from being productive. I am not sure if Caleb is using reunion in the English or Spanish sense. In Spanish "reunión" means "meeting."

Caleb used the Spanish word for virgin (virgen) in reference to the Virgin of Guadalupe. In Spanish, this would be  "El día de la Virgen de Guadalupe" or "El día de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe" (The day of our Lady of Guadalupe).

So long, Elder Andrade!

Brasil

This week, was an odd week. Many things happened, while at the same time really nothing. To cut to the chase, Mario decided not to be baptized. We had divisions among missionaries, so I don't really know what happened with all of that, but we will still be working with him hard this coming week.

So, while I was in divisions in Barrio (ward) Carmen, I got hit on. Again. That makes it a solid every time that it has happened when I work in that area. Except since we don't contact on the street any more, who were the culprits? That's right, none other than the Relief Society. They were convinced that I was brasileño, and they assured me it was a good thing. That's all I really have to say about that one, but I got a pretty interesting journal entry that day. Today a 14 year old girl said I have beautiful eyes. There have been lessons where I can't look at certain people because they just stare at me, and it's not because of my accent. At least I can't be too fat, or maybe its just the eyes that can't get too fat. And that leads us to the most interesting story of the week: Karen.

Karen is one of our investigators (9). She's a good little girl who is super excited to get baptized. The only problem is that she has the retention span of...something very small. I taught her a 30 minute lesson all about baptism. 30 minutes of just this: "Baptism is a convenant. A covenant is a promise with God. The promise you make when you are baptised is to help others." After 30 minutes she could finally repeat it all. We went back the next day and she forgot it all. Needless to say, I will be improving my teaching abilities this next transfer. BUT, she comes to church every week and even brought her super inactive mom this last week. She came up to say goodbye to me after church while I was copying down the list for Comida for the month of December. I shook her hand and said goodbye. Then she kissed me. It was super weird, even though kind of normal. Everyone kisses each other here (just on the cheek, ya know?) but still, as an Elder there is a giant X on my chest for that. Don't worry mom, I'm staying out of trouble. But it's not easy. 

While on divisions I got the chance to plan the day. Since we haven't had many investigators, my planning consisted of opening the ward directory and randomly choosing names I'd never seen before. Random, or guided? What resulted would be nothing less than biased to guided. I went with an elderly woman named Francisca. How old? Old. 90+, walker and all. She's awesome though. Hadn't been to the church for 5 years since her husband died. The first thing she said to me? "What a miracle you are here". She then continued to recite to us what happened over the last 5 years (many difficulties) and that during these 5 years she watched the missionaries walk by her house nearly every day. 5 years she just wanted them to stop to talk to her, but her voice was too soft, her body too frail, and she could never time it just quite right. So where is the miracle? Well, I'll get back to you on that. But know that she is happier and helped us find new investigators to teach.

Elder Andrade is getting transferred tomorrow. My new companion is named Elder Pack. I was the first gringo in this area for the last year (not quite) and now we will have two. We'll try not to get robbed too much. Hopefully he can learn to run as fast as me. So, I'll pick him up from the bus stop tomorrow and we'll hit the ground running. He will end his mission in 3 months, and I could quite possibly be with him for the rest of it. And so it continues, on the island.

Until next week,

Elder Andrews

P.S. Love you.

Oh yeah, also my camera broke. You'll be able to tell what happened from one of the pictures. So, before I spent 3 months worth of money for food I tore apart my camera and put it back together. It works now. Not really sure how.

Translations:

Barrio = Ward or Congregation
brasileño = Brazilian
Comida = literally "food," but in this case it means "lunch"
gringo = US Citizen/North American; this comes from the Mexican American War when the US Troops wore green uniforms and the Mexicans yelled phonetically in Spanish "¡Grin go!" meaning "Green, go away!"

Notes:

"Divisions" are when missionaries trade companions for the District Leaders, Zone Leaders, and Assistants the the Mission President can work with missionary companionships

It is very common in Latin America for girls and women to kiss each other--and men--on the cheek when greeting one another or leaving. Male missionaries are often instructed to not kiss any girls, while some missions allow this greeting for girls under age 12 and for really old grandma ladies (Francisca would certainly qualify).

It's worth noting that Caleb mentioned that he had the opportunity to plan the day. When with his trainer--or first companion that essentially shows him the ropes of being a missionary in his specific mission--Caleb starts out as the junior companion. His trainer is the senior companion. While it is preferred to have both missionaries contribute to the planning, this often falls to or is otherwise dominated by the senior companion.

Another picture of Mario?

Caleb doing laundry and writing letters.

Camera malfunction

"Pelea la buena batalla de la fe" - 1 Tim. 6:12

[Subject translation: "Fight the good fight of faith" - 1 Tim. 6:12]

Friends and Family,

A story to laugh at: So, this week I still have my rash. So, I got sent back to the doctor, seeing as it may not be a rash. Not to foreshadow, but did you know you can get herpes from the sun? Well apparently you can. Thankfully, no mother, I do not have herpes, but that is what was scaring me to death as I waddled across the island to the doctor. It's still just a rash, but man is it a good one. So, the real funny part is, well, remember how I loved to talk about Pearl Harbor in my emails while I was in the MTC? Well, my mission is turning out to be more like that movie that you could imagine, I mean, I'm on an island that has great value to Mexico (apparently 75% of Mexico's income comes in through the island because of the oil--it doesn't stay here though). Also, remember back to the immunization scene with all the nurses? That happened to me too this week! (exaclty, watch the movie and you'll understand). Except instead of Kate Beckinsale, it was a very very large Mexican man. We're talking huge. Thankfully he was good at injecting people. But it killed like crazy, which didn't help my waddle.

Another story to laugh at: I love actually SERVING people, so I volunterred us to help a member shovel gravel after we got done teaching a lesson to his neighbor. Elder Andrade is not much for physical labor, so after a few wheelbarrels full of gravel he threw down the shovel and started periodically picking up rocks by hand and throwing them in. It was hilarious at the time, but we were both more tired than ever the next day as we tried to study with our backs aching. Thankfully we didn't quite fall asleep though.

As for Mario, we are still working hard with him, he is still making good decisions, but he still isn't quite sure about his desires to be baptized and follow the Church for all his life. He would like to, it just seems like a lot to him right now. He is only 16, but he is awesome, when he gives his word he keeps it, at what seems to be guaranteed always. So, you can sympathize a bit that he wants to wait to make sure for himself. As for us, well, Elder Andrade is almost for sure gone when transfers come next week, so he is spamming out a little bit. As for me, I'm trying my best that he can feel the desire. Sometimes it seems like we are just sitting there beating him with a metaphorical stick saying "Get baptized, get baptized." since he already knows everything and has already seen the blessing and knows that its all good. As for our job now, we are hoping to just fortalize [strengthen] his faith this week, although he already has more than a lot of people I know.

So that brings me to my studies this last week. I'll try to guide ya through it:

First, read 1 Tim 6:12.

Then read Alma 44 (in the Book of Mormon)

Then go back to the Bible in 2 Tim 4:7

One day, I will be able to stand in front of you and recite the latter. I hope that in that day you will be able to say the same. Until then, "fight the good fight of the faith".

Con amor por cada uno de ustedes,

Elder Andrews

Can you include this? Also Thansgiving doesn't exist in Mexico. How lame.

Translations:

Pelea la buena batalla de la fe = Fight the good fight of faith
fortalize = Spanglish from "fortalecer" meaning "strengthen"
Con amor por cada uno de ustedes = With love for each one of you

Notes:

While Thanksgiving is a US holiday, the way to say it in Spanish is "El día de acción de gracias."

A Picture of Mario