Carmen!

I have SEVEN months now!!!
 I cant believe how fast the time is going!! I am having the greatest time ever! I am so grateful that I am here! And i know i am supposed to be here with all of my heart.
 Sometimes I am teaching and I say something, a personal experience or something, and the investigator has a change of heart, its times like that really remind me that there are certain prepared people that I am supposed to find.
 You may be wondering why the title of this post is Carmen, ha? well its because we baptized Carmen!!!!!!

Carmen is soo awesome! Heres the story: A few weeks ago we were contacting and found this person in a house by the Villa, really positive guy, and so we taught him and all, really cool dude. When we went back a couple days later for a cita we had, he wasnt there...but someone else was! So we teach her! Also really positive. Next time we went for the cita, looking for two investigators there, guess what? Exactly... couldnt find them! But someone elssssse answered the door, she was really quiet and shy, but she let us in because she wanted to be nice. A 25 year college student. Her name was Carmen! The first cita was alright, didnt show tooo much interest but she let us come back. When we went back (mostly looking for the first two investigators) they werent there, but Carmen was, so we taught her again... this time she saw some interest! She even went to church! And from there.... Wow! She progressed soo much! Shes been to church a bunch and she loves it! And now, on May 28th (My 7th month mark) She got baptized!! It was a really good service! Everything worked out! I learned alot from this experience, mostly that you never know which people are prepared, you just need to be willing to talk to everyone. Theres a line that my Mission President said that I loved: There are Prepared People for Prepared Missionaries.

This week was an interesting week for soccer! It was the Champions League championship and the championships for the Mexican league! Walking through the streets and all you see are green screens from all the soccer!haha which make it really hard to contact lol But here is an example. This is the 28 de Marzo (name of the colony), they have a TV screen outside for the public! Arent these people nice? Like this huge colony is really united, but also the most dangerous area we have. It was kind of sketchy taking this picture lol I wanted to take it without anyone noticing... but that awkward moment whent he flash is on and EVERYBODY notices! hahaha

Noche De Hogar

Well hoenstly there is not much to write about this week! 
The same stuff is going on. Working hard! But the cool thing is probably the awesome Family Home Evening we had! 
Im going to try to catch up on some emails this week. 

Party!!

Well this was a pretty great week! 

The highlight of the week was probably David Turner´s party! Who David Turner? Ok. David is our gringo in the ward (theres always at least one lol) And he is awesome! He is from Utah and lives hear with his family because he works for the Embassy. He gives us dinner every sunday night. (Actually, one fast sundays... for dinner he gives us breakfast... get it? Break-fassst!lol) anyway... he is awesome! He helps us sooo much with our gospel principles class because he does a greaaattt job at hermanando all of our investigaros and recent converts! But now he is leaving back to the states :(

 and he knows that everyone is going to miss him and so he had a party for the gospel principles class! Like a farewell. 

We showed up for dinner and we saw what a success it was!! It made me soo baggy because it reminded me of the parties that we used to have back in AZ.

As far as the work goes, its going! We are working hard and finding new people everyday. We have about 10 investigators progressing now! Theyre so awesome! I think our next fijo baptism will be next week! How exciting. Its wierd because after teaching people for so long, and opening up to them, and them to us, you cant help but get attached. Such as, it is honestly heartbreaking when they dont go to church, or dont read, stuff like that. But I know we just have to do our best and keep praying for them. 

Oh!! So this was awesome! So my area is the Villa Olimpica right? Its a very popular place in Teguz. And so anyway, one day we were walking through (because its a shortcut) and out of nowhere I see someone familiar, I see Jose Luis´s girlfriend! (Miraflores mission leader) And all I say is ´Where is he?!´ She laughs and says the In the Gym! And so we run there and we see him there! Not only was he there, but also Chad Hansen (the gringo in Miraflores, see, theres at least a gringo in every ward!lol) But it was honestly soooo nice to see them again! It was funny because Chad is HUGE! But I know that he used to go to a different gym, and so I asked him why he switched gym. He stared at his hands and said ´ohh its because they ran out of, out of...´    He forgot what he was going to say, he meant to say chalk... but i say ´Weights?´ hahah! that was really funny, because he is huge i figured he lifted all of the weights in the whole gym already lol had to go to a different one! haha sorry, that is my julian humor! xD 

The other day after contacting a bunch we took a little break and we bought ChocoBananos, like a frozen banana dipped in chocolate on a stick. But on accident, my stick broke and the banana fell... I was really, really sad because it was so good. And so I go back to the lady and told her, HOPEFULLY she would be nice enough to give me another one right? So she came out and I told her but I dont know if she misunderstood me or what but she came back out with a NAPKIN! Like what?! I didnt say anything, I just said gracias. My comp says it was her way of saying ´Awww thats too bad, heres a napkin to wipe away your tears!´hahaha it was sad lol

Well today we went to Picacho.... AGAIN! It was fun! We have a bunch of new people in our zone and it is alot more united! Including an elder from Peoria! He is awesome! we are always talking about how great Arizona is!! haha
 We played soccer after and it was awesome because two other zones were there (which wasnt supposed to happen lol) but we all showed up on accident. 
Ill attach some photos. 

   

Skype!!

What a great day it was yesterday! It was so nice talking to my family again! 
Now i have to focus back to working! ;)
 Oh and by the way, we found out about changes and I am staying here in Villa Olimpica with Elder Agren for another 6 weeks.
 No changes!

6 Months / Zone Conference / Valle De Angeles

   Well as you can see from the title, alot has happened this week, and i will try my best to summarize.
Well I finally have 6 months!! I cant believe it! Time has literally flew by, I never thought Id say that because in the beginning of my mission, I thought the mission would never end lol
 I love the mission! I love my area, I love my companions, I love the work, I love everything!
I am so happy I am here.
If anyone ever asks, Hows is Julian doing? All you need to say is, Happy.
I have learned so much already and I owe it all to my companions, my mission president, and most of all, my Heavenly Father. Im grateful for all that He has done for me. I love helping people come unto Him, as well as serving others.
There is tradition for when you reach 6 months, you burn a tie. (you burn a shirt when you have a year) And so of course I was super excited to burn a tie! haha and you can also see in the photo what my area is like, as well as some part of the actual villa olimpica.

This week we had Zone Conference!! Each change we either have Interviews with President or we have a conference where all of the zones gather around and we learn a bunch of stuff lol.

 And it was so awesome!! Usually at these conferences it is a time where some missionaries, like the Presidents Assistant´s and some other chosen missionaries, teach us about a certain topic. And I learned alot! But first, heres my favorite part. Ok wait, first I need to give a background story kind of Before I came out on the mission I was of course curious on how the mission is so I started reading different blogs from missionaries that are this mission. And most of them didnt write much, but there was this one blog that I followed every week, And i started from the beginning of his mission and im pretty sure i read all of it. lol this guy was my hero becasue you can tell he was a great missionary! Well at this particular conference, he played a major role! He gave us an amazing class, sang a song with my dad, Elder Westberg, and helped the President sometimes. He is Elder Huff. And the crazy part is that we were instantly great friends! I never thought, before the mission, that we would ever be as good as friends as we are now, its just so wierd. lol God works in mysterious ways. Also at this conference I got to see my other comps, Elder Westberg and Elder Marin. I wanted to take pictures with them because i didnt really take many pictures with them before.

Elder Huff

Elder Westberg

Elder Marin

The funnest thing about Zone Conference is that as soon as it was over, it started raining... HARD! And so it was so much running in rain that was so falling extremely hard! We were literally soaked in 5 seconds. But we had to. You know how they say you shouldn't  run in a lightning storm? well yeah...it was fun! We were completely soaked by the time we ran all the way down the mountain and into the bus. :)

For P-day today we went to Valle de Angeles! Its like going to Picacho, but better. Its like an hour away from the cuidad and its like a forest. We had to walk alot and it was fun, the final destination was a pretty cool waterfall! We took alottt of pictures here! Its always alot of fun hanging out with the zone.

Glenis

  Well this had been a great week! We´ve been working hard, especially with Glenis! She is a 21 year old student who loves the church! We have been teaching her a bunch and she understands all of it! We were really worried the fecha would fall because a lot of things were getting in the way. For example, the days that we were supposed to go and interview her and stuff, she was no where to be found. And sometimes wouldnt answer her phone. It was really stressful towards the last couple days before her baptism. But we eventually made it work! She was super excited! And so we planned the baptism at 12 on Saturday. It was the only time that people would be able to make it! And so Friday night we go to the capilla to fill up on the font...and yes, just as you expected.......water came out! For about 2 minutes, and then it just stopped. We didnt know what to do so we called around, and yes, just as you expected....they answered. But had no answers! Bishop said to just wait until the morning and see what happens. If you know me, than you know how easily I stress out abot this kind of stuff. And so we said a bunch of prayers that night and morning. And in the morning we go to the capilla, and yup, no water! We keep calling, but this time, no one answers! The good thing is that there were some relief society people cleaning the church, well trying to... they couldnt without water! And so they are calling everyone as well! The relieft society president was calling everyone on speaker, and you can just keep hearing the phone ring, but then.. no answer. Over and over again. We were just sitting in church waiting for an answer, we were already planning on calling everyone and changing the day of the baptism, or going to another church to baptize. We were worried because it was already 11! But then, finally someone answers! and he rushes over and fixed the water pump. WHAT A MIRACLE! Now its 11:30 and we´re filling up the font! Just on time too, becasue people start showing up. But it was a really spiritual service! Glenis wanted me to baptize her and it all came out smoothly! She is one of my favorite converts so far! You can tell that this is something that she truly wanted to do!
  Everything is going well! We had a bunch of investigators come to church and they loved it! For example, one of Rocio´s brothers has already came twice, and we thought he was going to be one of those brothers that keeps us from teaching their sister, but in fact, he is the one going! haha I guess you never know who you´re realllly teaching. This ward is awesome and they always willing to help us! I feel right at home.

Divisions

Hey guys! 
Well there is not much new this week! We're still working hard like always!
We are finding a bunch of new investigators! This area is pretty awesome! There are a lot of cool experiences here and there but ill just write a couple, and one of my favorite ones was when we went on divisions. Ok, to start off, this week we met a bunch of people right? Specifically a guy in our residential where we live who was blasting some Pink Floyd one day, and i told my comp that we need to go back some other day and contact him, i didnt want to do there and then because he was probably on something since hes listening to Pink Floyd!! haha jk. So anyway, i end up talking to him one day and he completely rejects us saying he knows everything about us already and is not interested. Well fair enough. Ni modo. I didnt really think of him again. Then early the day of divisions we were walking through the Villa Olimpica and we see this guy skating around with his friend, I remember him because I commented his cool shirt to my companion. Ok so now...we go on divisons at Lujos and Akubeze's area. So I went on divisions with Elder Akubeze from London. He is soo cool! He is also from my CCM group! Ok so anyway, he says we are going to a cita to a really positive new investigator. Ok so im excited! So we go and he is awesome! My companion is doing alot of the talking, which is fine because well its better that the investigator gets attached to him because hes in his area. 10 minutes into the lesson... people walk into the house. 3 guys. The guy I contacted that didnt want anything, and the 2 skater guys!! And it turns out they are all like best friends. And so they are super distracting in the beginning, and my companion just kind of freezes...but i was so excited!! Because i knew that it was not a coincidence that at the very moment that I was at that house, these guys from myyy area, who are like 15 minutes away, show up here. So i said, Wellll... Showtime. And i reach in my bag and take out my scriptures and just start teaching. I did a really good job at controling the situation because these guys were suppperr chistosos and distracting. But they ended up liking us and asking a lot of good questions! That was fun!
 The rest of the day of divisions was fun! We stayed the night with them and the next day we had a service project. We helped some inactives shovel a bunch of dirt! Thanks to my previous job fencing with my uncles, i shoveled away!! haha That was fun! So long story short, we finish divisions and we are on our way home. The other elders are with us to because we were on our way to lunch, then correlation in my area. but on our way there we had to pass some portones of the Villa. And we looked in and saw a bunch of people!! like alott of youth! And someone said lets go check out whats going on. But we were really hungry so we said nahhh, and as we were leaving the enterance I hear someone yell 'Elderrrr!!!' And i look over and i see the Presidente Torres  from Miraflores!!! I couldnt believe it! He saw me from far away and recognized me! haha and so i ran over to him and who did I see behind him? all of the Miraflores youth!!! we were all soo happy to see each other!! it turns out that they were doing a multistake youth competition thing at the Villa and at my ward. So it was supperr nice seeing them again!! 

Hmmm.. what else... Well we have this investigator who is really progressing! She is Glenis and she is awesome! We are planning the baptism this weekend! :) Last saturday we had a cita with her and so we stop by, and she said she couldnt attend us :( Why? because she was trying to get everything ready for sunday to keep the sabbath day holy!! hahaha we were sad, but also really happy! And so she went church, and we were supposeddd to have a cita at 3 but she cancelled us againnnn... something about she had to go to a fireside or something? Idk hahah jk, she is so positive!! 

Ohh! Last night we were walking around contacting, and this car goes by and on top of the trunk we see two little kids holding on! And then they jump off and then after a while, we see them jump onto another car secretly and go for a ride!! WHAT?!? those kids are crazy!!! My companion was not surprised at all.... thats Honduras!