Us with the Elders in Tlatelolco (Elder Montecillo (Minnesoda) Elder Dominguez (Veracruz, MX))

Zona Moctezuma!

the gifts the sisters gave them at christmas

the zone at Christmas

the zone 3 weeks ago

Wow well I don't know why you didnt get my letter last week... I sent it again so you can read it, I hope you get it and you get this one. 

Yep I'm alright. These past few weeks have been hard. This week Israel and Guadalupe (the Mendoza family) told us they dont want to get baptised. Israel says he wants to wait until they can be baptised together as a family and its final (Toño turns 8 in November) and then Guadalupe said she doesnt even want to be baptised because she doesn´t want to give up her saints (idols that she prays to) the thing that stinks is I know she knows its true, shes read a whole bunch from the Book of Mormon and shes been to church 5 times in a row with her kids. Israel needs to keeps his commitments better but he always told us that he wanted to be baptised. We have kind of lost contact with Itzel. We talked to her last week but she said her dad was mad and we haven't heard anything sense. We´re hoping that Joselin, (our neighboor (Nancy's daughter) and Itzel´s friend) can contact her and figure out whats going on. The rest of our investigators have all kind of gone down hill too. We did get some more references this week so we have some hope of a better week this week. 

Trenton wrote me a letter this week and it made me laugh because I know how he feels, he said "I don't understand anyone" haha. He says his companion is from Mexico City so we'll see if he's from close to here.

Well I liked the other plan you had for the kitchen before I left waaaayyy better but this one is alright! Is it really going to happen this year?!

Well crazy story of the week, for our ward coorelation meeting none of the ward missionaries could go so Miguel the ward mission leader took us out to eat tacos and talk out the missionary work in the ward. Going out for tacos in Mexico is super cool by the way. I like tacos al pastor and I have no idea how to say that in English but its pretty much just normal meat but we were talking about how they make tacos out of everything here and Elder Gómez said "they probably even have eyeball tacos" we checked the menu and sure enough they did. So we ordered one to try between the 3 of us and it was awful. The worst texture ever. Miguel tried to tell us it wasnt that bad and started to take a second bite but he almost threw up haha. It was pretty great. 

Story #dos. Josafat and Evelin Desantillana finally told us the story about when the missionaries contacted them the first time because they always thought that I remembered. I contacted them one day in divisions with Kevin! I just dont remember, I gave them an invitation to the visitor center and then they left because they were in a hurry but then a few months later they actually went and then the sisters in the visitor center called us! How crazy awesome is that!!! I'm so excited! They are already planning to enter the temple. November 5th, 2016!!

Love you lots and thanks for writting! 

Elder Inskeep

Well the Pope is here in Mexico so everything is crazy. Thursday to Sunday they sent us to another area because the Pope was in our area and its dangerous with the drunk catholic extremists and the streets full of people. It stinks because we had to cancel all our appointments for the weekend. We went to the Tlatelolco Ward which is just north of downtown, the whole ward is one complex of super huge buildings (like a couple hundred), most of them have 22 floors and they are really big, the ward is a small space but a ton of people live there and its a really hard area because you cant enter the building if you don't know someone that lives there that can open the door for you and the space inbetween the buildings is nice but theres not a long of people. The missionaries live on the 11th floor and it was cool because we could see a lot from the window.

We had to cancel the appointment with Itzel and the Mendozas because we visit them on weekends but we've talked with them on the phone and they sound alright, hopefully this week we'll see more progress. Itzel talked to her dad and she said he was mad but we don't really know much more because its hard to get everything over the phone. 

Its really sad that the family is falling apart all over the world. It really is and thats why its so important that we read the proclamation to the family and apply it in our lifes. I'm grateful that I have parents that are united and love each other and that always taught us what is right. I'm pretty lucky. Its cool that the same things that are important in Mom's life are the same in Dad's, I can see it because every week you write about the same things, just from a different point of view.

Thats cool you saw Aleesha! She'll be a good missionary I'm glad she's going. Its really great there're so many sisters, they're great and they can help people so much easier than the Elders, the people in the street trust them and can see that they really love the people more than they can see from the Elders. 

thanks for transferring the money. Kevin said he got the package and he was super happy! thanks! Well this week has been weird I'm not really sure what else to say. but I love you a lot! thanks for all the support. I almost have a year! how weird is that! I can't even believe it, it passed so fast! 

Love you

Elder Inskeep

Hola,

Elder Gómez is from Oaxaca de Juarez, Oaxaca. There is an Elder in my district from Culiacan though, Elder Gutierrez. (someone chewed me out this week for saying they speak spanish here, apparently they speak Castellano in Latin America and Spanish in Spain, which is ridiculous because its like saying we speak American because they speak English in England but whatever its the same thing). That's super cool that Bro Kinney served outside of the city too, I have heard that Guanajuato is way cool and beautiful but I haven't heard of the others...maybe they city by the lake was Texcoco? Yep Moctezuma was the name of an Aztec Chief or something and Mixihuca is named after the Virgin Saint Maria Magdelena Mixihuca haha. There's a neighboorhood in our area that was a small town before the city got big and its called Mixihuca. Its cool because it has the old church with the central plaza in front and the streets are all curvy, but its kinda run down and the people there are kinda weird. I'm anxious to talk to Bro Kinney too. 

This week I had to go to the nice part of town (the Mexico City West mission) to renew my visa....I'VE ALMOST BEEN HERE A YEAR..how crazy is that? I feel like I just got here. I'm going to be extremely sad to leave and I'll always be saving up to come back and visit and visit other parts of the country like Oaxaca. I love it. 

Well the nice part of the city (Polanco) was like an hour away in metro which was super boring but it was so beautiful and probably nicer than anyother city I've been too, the people there are really rich but thats where the immigration office is. 

We've also been going out on visits with some of the ward members to visit less actives and we've actually found a lot of investigators from doing it. Itzel is ready for baptism the 28th but she still hasn't told her dad she's been listening to the lessons and going to church, she needs his permission for the 28th but in April she turns 18 so she can do whatever but we told her it would be better if she told him and then she could have his support and she wouldn't have to hide everything, we hope she does it, we'll probably be fasting for her this week. The Mendoza Family is finally making progress!!! Guadalupe and her sons Brandon and Toño have gone to church 4 times (the past 3 weeks in a row, and even paid there tithing!!) But Israel, the dad, still hadn't gone until yesterday! They all went! It was so great, I know its going to be a change for them and now they can really start working towards baptism as a family. Alberto and Georgina (Erika's parents) have been really busy so we haven't hardly seen them and they haven't gone to church so their date for the 14th will probably be cancelled. But we've got some new families that we hope will have baptismal dates this week! 

Today we went walking in the historic Downtown because Elder Gómez wanted to go, I've been looking for shoes but I haven't hardly been able to find anything in my size...we live in the traditional part of town where everyone is little. Then we went home cleaned the house, and now the day is almost over, time passes so fast! 

Thats funny dad called Elder Gómez Guadalupe haha there are so many people here named that haha. No its not that bad that he can't eat mayo or ketchup he just cant eat a lot of salads when they put dressing on them or with sandwhiches or hot dogs or something (people give us stuff like that a lot because they think I'll like it becuase its American and all we eat are hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza). Well I think thats it. I cant remember what else I wanted to say but I love you lots! Hope you had a great week! Tell everyone hola! 

Elder Inskeep

My companion Elder Gómez and I (mi hijo)

Hola

Well Elder Gómez is the best, we're having a blast which is good because its been a hard week. I feel bad because its his first area but we've been having a rough time with the investigadors. We've lost a whole bunch and now we dont have as many as I'm used to. One good thing is we've had more time to work more with the members, we've been going throught the list visiting active and less active members and quickly teaching one of the first 3 lessons (the Restauracion, the Plan of Salvacion, or the Gospel of Jesus Christ) then we leave them a pamphlet and tell them to study it as a family, pray for a stronger testimony about it and ask Heavenly Father who they know that could benefit from this message and share it with them. We've had a pretty good response and WE're hoping that this week we'll be seeing the results. 

Elder Gomez is from the State of Oaxaca and the city Oaxaca (wuh-hock-uh) which is in southern Mexico... apparently its really beautiful there and he's become one of my best friends so hopefully I'll be able to go someday. Theres a brother in our ward that served his mission there like 20 years ago and the area where Elder Gómez lives was a small branch, now the branch is a stake with 9 wards. Crazy right? He's a really hard worker and really good with people so its great. 

Well we havent been able to find Rodolfo so we don't think he'll be baptised this week, its really frustrating because hes so ready but its his choice. He's 21 but he lives with his grandma so that might be part of the problem because the older people are more catholic than the rest. (by the way...did I tell you the pope is coming to Mexico? Everyone is so excited and there're banners with his face on them everywhere :/ and its still a month away.) The Mendoza family is progressing alright, or should I say Guadalupe, the wife, Israel the husband still hasnt done much or even gone to church, he still says he wants us to come and he wants to be baptized but hes not really showing it that well, but Guadalupe and the 13 year old Brandon have gone to church 3 times and Guadalupe reads them the book of mormon, she really likes it and shes in 1 Nephi 12. Itzel is still progressing good and we'll have some more new investigadors this week. 

Thats cool you have so much snow. I miss it! But its nice not to be cold either. 

The city is doing work on the pipes so we haven't had much water for about a week.... All of the house here have a tank to save water so at least we've had enough to shower and wash dishes...(thats about allwe do with the water) but hopefully we'll have more soon to do laundry...

What else...Tell Aunt Linda Happy Birthday! Thanks for writing! have a great week! Love you lots!

Elder Inskeep

Hola

Well this week has been SOOO busy. Training takes a little extra time because I have to show him how to do everything and we have an extra hour at home everyday for his training but along with that almost everyday this week we had some type of meeting or something, Tuesday- trainers meeting (3 hours in the mission offices), Wednesday- World wide missionary training (2 hours in the stake center, it was really good by the way, it was like general conference but only for missionaries), Thursday- Leadership meeting (3 hours in the offices and then after I had to go to fill out my visa paperwork now that I almost have a year), Friday- weekly planning... then on top of all of that an Elder in my district Elder Rios from Chihuahua got apendicitis (I think thats how you spell it) and was put in the hospital on wednesday, he is also training so his poor companion (Elder Jimenez from Arizona) had 2 days in the mission and had to be in the hospital 4 days and then at home for another week, we had to go to the hospital everyday so that I could go with Elder Jimenez so he could shower and eat and my companion stayed with Elder Rios in the hospital. Super busy. 

But Elder Gómez (my new companion) is really great, I like him a lot! It's super fun to be with him and we are both learning a ton! We're finding lots of new people and I hope we'll have some baptisms soon, Rodolfo has his baptismal date ....again for the 6th and then Erika's parents (Alberto and Georgina) on the 14th and the Mendoza family ...again and a new girl Itzel for the 28th. We're hoping for more in the next few days. We also found a whole bunch of inactive people this week too! There are so many members in Mexico City but a ton of inactives! We're hoping we can reactivate some and recieve some refernces from them.

Today we had the Zone activity we played minute to win it and we ate some really good tacos. Our zone is really great again. My disitrict is Balbuena: Elder Rios- Chihuahua Mexico, Elder Jimenez- Pheonix Arizona, Hermana Fuqua- Moab Utah, Hermana Chavez- Orlando Florida, Olimpico: Elder Gutierrez- Sinaloa Mexico and Elder Gonzales- Memphis Tennessee. Also my friend Elder Pacheco- Yucatan, Mexico from my generation is in my zone.

I know that Heavenly Father knows what we need and where we need to be I'm learning a lot from Elder Gómez and I know theres still a lot for me to do here in Mixihuca. 

Yeah well luckily I was only sick 24hrs, Elder Feller didn't get sick, and the bathroom was way close so I didnt throw up all over everything haha. 

(sad fact: Elder Gómez is alergic to mayo and ketchup). 

Love you lots thanks for writing  and have a great week!

Elder Inskeep