What happens when it rains in the desert! 

Hola!

Monday:

Today was a really chill P-Day (preparation day).  Thanks for sending the pictures and keeping me updated, I really appreciate that! We went out to eat at Zupas Cafe with Hermanno Carrasco and he brought his 3 year old nieto (grandson) Danny, who is hilarious! I was laughing so much, the kid never gets tired of talking! We went to the outdoor basketball court at our complex and shot some free throws. I shot for like an hour and a half, it was really nice to just play some basketball and relax that way. I really do miss playing basketball. We then went and visited with the Sandoval family for a little while and then we were riding down the street and spotted a guy up on his roof cutting down some tall trees. We offered to help him move the branches and he thought we were kidding cause we were in our dress clothes but we were like "no we're so serious!" We ended up helping him for about half an hour and then his wife came out and we talked to their family for a while, they've only lived here in Magna for like 2 weeks. Then they invited us in for dinner, and we were both starving so we gladly accepted. Apparently Nikolas and Virginia love to cook and are quite good at it, and we had this awesome chicken with beans and pico de gallo and tortillas and then for dessert these pastries with rice pudding (it basically tasted like hot orchate: milk, sugar, and cinnamon). 

Tuesday:
So today was a pretty good day. We did exchanges (where they make visitis with different companions)  for the day, but it was just with the other elders we live with so I didn't have to go anywhere else overnight or anything. I was with Elder Coffey (from New Zealand) and we stayed in our Spanish area. The day started off a little funny when someone knocked on our door at 7:15 am  and we were all like what?! Turns out, it was (Elder) Van Horn's friend Andrew just stopping by to drop a package off for Van Horn, but he brought all 4 of us breakfast from McDonald's  which was really nice of him. We did the normal morning studies and all that good stuff, tried to contact some referrals in the afternoon, and then ate dinner with this really eccentric guy from an English (English speaking) ward. We then got to have really good lessons with Jesus, Javier Sandoval (Judith's Husband), and Dixon Bautista and his dad. We set goals to have Jesus read the Book of Mormon before January, he's excited! Then Javier met with us, he seems like a really good guy and we're going to start teaching them as a family. Dixon was excited to see us again, and his dad, Eliud, was there too. I learned they're from Honduras and they said this past Sunday they took a trip down to temple square just to hang out as a family, they said it's just really peaceful. The Spirit is so strong on Temple grounds that it's amazing, I'm glad they could feel that and recognize that as a family. It was a good day!

Wednesday:
Today was a pretty solid day! We woke up and I did some studying and then lunch and then cleaning. We're all trying to do a good job of keeping the apartment really clean so it doesn't look like we live in a sty haha. We ate lunch and made some more cookies (this was more of a cookie bar thing) and then did some online proselyting and then we made our way over to dinner. It was this super hilarious old guy named Bro. Simpson and he was super late making dinner but he told some hilarious stories! Then we met up with (Elders) Coffey and Vanhorn and Terry and Moore (our Zone Leaders) and we did a power hour for the rest of the night. We each did splits and got paired up with a member (from their local congregation) and then we went out and just visited a ton of people (we were in an English (speaking) area, so we were basically just being helpers for the other elders). It was a cool experience, I got to set up later teaching appointments for a lot of the members, and then we got to give a blessing to a baby who had pneumonia at the end of the night. That was a powerful experience and the baby was crying the whole time and as soon as we said amen the baby stopped and just fell asleep, it was pretty awesome. Now I'm just ready to get in bed and get some sleep. Oh, I almost forgot, I got your postcards today! (We sent him postcards from our weekend trip to Amelia Island, we try to send one from any place we visit) Those are awesome, thanks so much! Y'all are the best, I definitely want to go back there with y'all!

Thursday:
Today was a busy day! I really got geared back up for working out with a good workout this morning, and we had good studies. Around lunch time we went and taught Anna Gomez for the first time, it was a good lesson and we taught her about how the Book of Mormon just supports the Bible, not contradicts it. We ate lunch (I made oatmeal from raw oats and protein powder haha) and then we had weekly planning. After dinner we went out with Hermano Paredes and visited Ernesto y Melissa. They're about to move out of our area and I'm bummed that we can't visit with them anymore, but they're an amazing family and I've really seen the message of the Gospel bring some powerful changes in their lives.  We also had another visit with Dixon and we talked about how the Savior loves us and wants us to be happy, even after we've made mistakes. I'm about to do a nightly workout and then it's time for bed!

Friday:
Weird weather day today. The morning started off dry, we did workouts and study and all that good stuff, and then we left the apartment at 10:25 to walk over to the chapel and have district meeting. Still dry, not really cloudy. We leave district meeting at noon and it is POURING! Like, torrential downpour outside, we were lucky to get a ride with the senior couple in our district, but it was bad! Our apartment parking lot had standing water, and when we rounded the corner to go to our unit there was a standing water puddle about ankle deep leading to our place. We're up on the 3rd floor, which is good, because the ground floor unit got flooded! And then we go up, do some lunch/cleaning and then I look out the window at 4:30 and it's sunny and almost dry outside. So weird!!!! But then we got to go to a quinceanera (15th birthday celebration in Latin American cultures) for someone in Elder Burgin's last area, free Mexican food!!!! I love it :) We then met up with Bro. Gerardo Lizarrage and visited with Judith Sandoval and Javier Peña (her husband) and answered a lot of their questions about baptism and the Restoration of the church and all that good stuff. Javier had a lot of questions but the way he was asking them was not in an antagonistic way, and it seemed like he had a true desire to learn. And Judith, who we had taught before, even stepped in and answered some questions for him and it was awesome to see that Judith has a testimony of the veracity of the Gospel. It was really cool :) Now I'm ready to hit the hay, it's been a long day haha.

Photo from Scottie's balcony after the rain!

Saturday:
Long and tiring day today! We woke up, worked out, played soccer with some beasts, and then went and helped Ernesto and Melissa move and then paint their new house. They bought us chilequiles (fried eggs over tortilla chips, salsa verde, lechuga, sour cream, and queso) from Rancho Market and then this fruit from a road-side vendor. The fruit was fresh-cut and covered in lemon juice and chile powder. Ernesto told us it might give us E. coli, but it would be delicious! I thought he was kidding, but he seemed mildly serious haha. It was good though! Then we came back and showered and changed and went to the baptism for a girl in Burgin's old area. We sang I Am A Child of God and When I am Baptized (songs from our church's children's hymn book) (in Spanish of course) as a little missionary quartet, it was really cool and powerfully spiritual. Then we went to the post-baptism party and ate really good pasole, and then Bro. Ortiz picked us up and took us to this restaurant called El Habeñero. I had my first tex-mex since I've gotten here, had a chimichanga but it was actually pretty authentic Mexican. We also ordered and talked to all of the staff in Spanish the whole time which was pretty cool! They seemed nicer to us because we spoke Spanish haha, I can't wait to come back and speak Spanish to all the people at Monterrey's! After we were more full than I care to explain, we made a few visits, including a good visit with Jason y Angelica about what charity means and how we can apply it to our lives. I'm tired now. Oh fun fact, a lot of the members here were talking about the big "pelea" (fight) tonight. Apparently Mayweather and Canelo are boxing, and it's a big deal because Canelo is like the up and coming star from Mexico so all the Mexicans out here are rooting for him haha. I'd like to know how that fight turns out. Oh and I got your package today, thanks so much for the extra pillow! It definitely will make for more comfortable sleep. And I polished my shoes tonight with that stuff we got from the store at the mall, it really helped and they look much better than they did . Love you all! Goodnight.

Scottie and his happy chimichanga smile!

Sunday:
Hola hola! So today was interesting. We went to correlation meetings and then church, I translated (the high council and stake people were speaking in English so I translated from English --> Spanish which was fun) and then we came back after church, we were eating lunch and we get an ominous text from Pres. Swain (their mission president) that said "Please call me as soon as you can." That's never a good sign haha, and we were like oh gosh, have we done anything that we could get in trouble for?!? We couldn't  think of anything, and then (Elder) Burgin calls him back and he says that there's an Elder coming in from Peru who needs to come in now, and not wait for transfers next week. So basically this was like an emergency transfer, and he told me I was getting sent out to Granger Stake (another area in their mission) tomorrow (Monday) first thing, to start packing all my stuff. I was bummed because I love this area and the people here and I didn't want to leave, but I started preparing myself and all that stuff and then an hour later Pres. Swain calls back and explains that the new Elder is going to the MTC (Missionary Training Center)  first, so don't worry about it haha.  So that was a whirlwind of an evening, but all is well. Eventually I'll have to leave, (his current area) but I'd love another transfer or so to finish up a few things we've been working on!  We had dinner and then went out and made some good visits with Bro. Carrasco, including a really good lesson about faith in Jesus Christ with Danny Guerrero, he was really participating and it was a strong, spiritual lesson. Elder Coffey and I are about to make cookies and then I'm going to bed, I'm tired!

I love you! Tell everyone I say hi and send my love :)

Scottie

PS:  So I stood on a scale for the first time in months in a member's bathroom this last week haha (gotta do what you gotta do) and I haven't really gained weight.  In a full suit I was only like 4 pounds up from pre-mission, but I still am trying to get a lot more fit. Bro. Lopez hooked me up with more protein and I found a bunch of healthy recipes that I'm gonna try: lots of oatmeal, protein shakes, fruit shakes, chicken, and I'm picking up some quinoa today. I know that's healthy :)