Hola

Well this week has gone fast. Eveline and Josafat are so great. Josafat has his interview to be ordained to the aaronic priesthood this week and Arturo already had his. We hope they will be ready to recieve the Melchizedek in stake conference in a few weeks. They are already serving by helping clean the church and they are always prepared for the classes. 

Ask Bro Kinney what the ward/branch was called and if he remembers where the church was? Our building is old and all of the others nearby are newish so it could be the same one. That would be super cool if he was here and met some of the people I know. I also keep thinking about Michael because he served in Tampico and theres a lot of missionaries from there or people that served there. Theres a brother in our ward that is 40 that went there named Hermano Arzate Im not sure how old Michael is but they might know each other.

Thanks for the line of authority, its interesting, and cool because we know where the authority comes from.  

Well its good you're busy. They report to the high council during the week? I thought it was on sunday. 

Its been all busy here too. Its a little bit hard because everyone here is busy with christmas stuff too. This weekend was their version of Black Friday called Buen Fin. Its weird that everything for christmas starts here early because theres no thanksgiving. Which is sad.

I've realized...again...from talking to Elder Anderson that I talk weird in English from hardley not speaking it and thinking in spanish and I also have an accent in spanish so I cant speak normal to anyone. 

This week we will have the baptism of Evelyn Perez!!! Shes the mom of the victoriano family that has been listening to the missionaries for a long time. We visited her on thursday and she started to cry. She said shes tired of waiting for her husband to give permission to the kids to get baptised she said she realized that maybe she needs to get baptised first and then she can help her family. We also started teaching her brother which is cool. 

Well Im excited to get the package. Im sad because I wanted to send some of the cheap mexican candy that they sell in the market close to our house for christmas but turns out you cant send candy into the US. Mexico doesnt care if you send stuff here but the US is super strict. Ill have to find something else. 

Umm... Well good luck in stake conference and with everything. Here soon we'll be talking over skype haha. Time goes so fast!!!! In 2 days Ive been here 9 months. Tell everyone hi. Love you lots and hope you have a good week!

Hasta luego

Elder Inskeep

 Me with Kevn right before he left in the park in front of the house (the bluish green building)
Evelyn and Josafat's baptism

Buenas Tardes

The baptism went great. I´ll send the pictures, they´ll be better because Yulieth took them for me haha. Im excited for them and they are so excited to prepare to enter the temple! 1 year! 

Sounds like you´re all busy and doing a lot of painting! You´ll have to send pictures when you´re done. I got a whole bunch of emails from friends in the mission today which is fun. Emily in Bolivia has 6 months in the mission, Kevin got to Monterrey today, Elisabeth is in Carolina and sent me a funny video of her and her companion singing songs from the prince of Egypt, Cooper sent me an email to tell me he didnt die in the hurrican in Texas, Caleb had transfers in Costa Rica, and Jared is training in Wisconsin. Did you hear Taylor Smiddy is going to London? Eduardo and Andrea still havent got married so we´re hoping thats soon...still hoping. We found another family last night that live behind the church, Israel, Guadalupe, Brandon, and Toño Mendoza. They are so great! They´re catholic for tradition and because they want to be close to God but they dont like the church because they dont feel its focused in the truth! We taught the restauración and they liked it, we´re going to go to the temple visitor center this week! Israel is a tour guide so he gave me his busness card for when you come to Mexico. We also found another family that live in the same building as Darinka, the mom is super sick and in the hospital so we havent met her but we taught the daughter one day and the dad the other. Gervacio (the dad) has a friend that is a bishop and he seems pretty interested the only thing is that they´re both super catholic and its going to be hard for them to get rid of their saints and stuff. We also put a date with the Victoriano Family again and this time the dad didnt say no (he didnt say yes either but theres hope), Its cool because theres the mom and dad, 3 kids and a nephew and 2 nieces that we can baptise. 

The pictures of the dance looked fun. I think I know everyone but Anna´s date. The pictures of Carter and Cole looked great too and its funny to see that Cameron is still reffing. Hows Kelsey going with violin? 

Im sorry Im not thinking of very much to say... After we get done writting we´re going to go to Subway in the other ward Balbuena, with Elder Navejas from Sonora close to Arizona, and Elder Anderson from Arlington Virginia. Elder Anderson just got here 2 weeks ago and hes pretty fun to be with. I also feel bad for him because he always says hes frustrated with spanish and I know how he feels, the first few weeks are hard. He keeps asking me how long it took to learn spanish which makes me feel good because he thinks I know it well haha. In the morning got up and started the laundry and then cleaned the apartment. When we finished the clothes were already dry so that was nice. Laura our landlady (Kevin´s aunt) is opening a cake business downstairs so its going to smell really good in a few weeks haha. Now she has a gym and a cake business which is kind of funny. People can eat the cakes and then go to the gym to burn the calories. 

Why does the site give free physicals? What class did you teach in gp dad? We´ve been teaching the class too because the teacher went somewhere. I really love teaching it because its full of all the people Ive worked with that I love in this ward, the twins Monica and Veronica, Jasmin, Yulieth, Arturo, Erika, Eduardo and Andrea, Josafat and Evelin, a guy that got baptised in Chiapas and then moved here named Fernando, and a few people that are reactivating. They´re all progressing so well! Veronica, Monica, and Jasmin all have callings that they are working hard in, Yulieth is going to give the prayer in stake conference (shes nervous haha) and Arturo is going to be ordained next week and we´re hoping Jose Armando (one of the kids we baptised almost 3 months ago) recieves the aaronic priesthood too! 

Who knows if the cookies will send well. I think they´ll be fine if you seal them real good. People send food to missionaries all the time so it should be alright. 

Im loving it and learning a ton. Its not easy but everyday I remember how worth it it is. Love you lots and have a good week! 

Elder Inskeep

Hola

Well sounds like youve all had a busy weekend. Weve been less busy this weekend and we even had to be at home early saturday, sunday and today because its day of the dead and people get crazy in the streets. Honestly I dont like day of the dead. Its a holiday when the people remember their ancestors, more traditional families set up an "offering" which is a picture of the person they are remembering, candles/incense, and food that the person liked. They believe that the spirits of the people can eat the food and that maybe you can communicate with them. Then they combine it with Halloween and all the kids (and some adults) dress up as dead people and go to parties and walk the streets, asking for candy. We even had some kids ask us for candy last night when we were walking home but we didnt have anything and they werent very nice about it. Then theres all kinds of drunk people and fireworks so its loud all night. They always eat a sweet bread called pan de muertos or dead bread haha its actually really good even though it doesnt sound like it haha. 

Well to answer your question mom its not really like New York but it is at the same time. I know that you would like it less than you liked New York but for sure when you meet the people (I think its probably the same everywhere) you would like it more. Its sure is big but in the part Im in the majority of the builds arent that big because Im in the historic part, which is cool. We have a neighboorhood that has some pretty big buildings but theyre not that nice. The nice part of the city is outside of the mission. The Moctezuma stake is pretty much full of normal people not rich or poor but our ward has a variety because downtown is pretty poor, then theres a lot of normal neighboorhoods and then some nice apartment complexes that we hardly ever enter unless a member lives there because they have guards and high walls. Its nice to be downtown because there is a ton of transportation we have the 11 metro stations that are part of 4 different lines so we can go where ever we want in metro and it costs 5 pesos. Then Metrobus costs 6, Microbus is 4, Trolleybus is 4 or 2 depends on which one. We almost never use taxi but theres a lot of those too. You could look up Zocalo, calle Francisco Madero, Mecado la Merced, Parque de los periodistas, El pueblo de Magdalena Mixihuca, for pictures. We live in colonia "el Parque." Youve seen the ward limits right?

The weather has been pretty nice, cloudy from the storms in the coast and its only rained at night so its been great. I think theres probably always a chance of rain because it rains a lot, almost everyday in the afternoon, luckly it hasnt rained too hard in a while. I think we´re done with the rainy season. It was pretty hot today, we had the zone activity and Im pretty sure I got a little sunburned so thats fun. We always play a sport in the activity and today we had an American football and a soccer ball (football). In the first 5 minutes somebody kicked the soccer ball on the roof of one of the stake center so we had to play american football. It was kind of ridiculous because the Latinos dont really know how to play and neither do the sisters (and neither do I) so that leaves the Elders from Las Vegas and Virginia to teach everyone. It was wierd but fun. Later someone got on the roof for the soccer ball and we played soccer like always.

Josafat and Evelin got married on friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So theyll get baptised on thursday (Josafats birthday, he turns 32) Now we´re hoping Eduardo and Andrea have an appointment with the judge to get married this week and baptised the next... Darinka also needs to get married and quit smoking but we still havent met her husband and she isnt too motivated to get married. She told us the other day she always thought that she and her husband had enough commitment together with their son (Mateo) but if things didnt work out she´d find someone else...

We changed time last week too so who knows what is the time difference right now. My companion is good.

The pictures of Carter, Cole and Jace looked good! Is Anna playing something right now? She probably between x country and basketball right? Kelsey and Jo are still jump roping? Id like to see pictures of that too. Youll also have to send me pictures of the dance.   Id also love to see the leaves  (they dont fall here) and the snow when it comes. Anna didnt write me this week so Kelsey is officially the best.... Theyre all good but Kelsey is la mejor. 

How are the Curtis.s? And Marcus and Star?

Good luck with the Tater Trot Mom! Hope the weather is good. Ill think about the talk...I still have time right? When is the conference? I think youll do great with whatever because you have the experience in the primary and youll have the spirit to tell you what is important to say. The Mixihuca primary president is really good, its really cool to see the primary and everything they learn and how much Luna (Andrea and Eduardos daughter) loves it. 

Welp I think thats all, love you lots and have a fantastic week! 

Hasta luego

Elder Inskeep