Scottie and the Missionaries from his previous District

 What's up family?!? So this new area is way cool, I really like it. It's always hard to leave an area when you've been there for almost 5 months, you really come to love the people, but this new area is definitely a blessing. I'm serving in the Hunter West Stake in the Hunter 19th Spanish Ward (not a branch this time) (wards and branches are both local congregations, wards are larger than branches). The people are way nice, and Elder Chavez (his new companion) is a stud! I'm super excited to work with him.

Monday 3/10/14:

Best P-Day (preparation day) to date. A few of us were getting transferred so we finished with a bang. For shopping, all I bought was a kickball :) Buying food would have been a waste since I was getting transferred. We got to do email from the iPads, then we biked on over to the pday building. While we finished emailing, Elders Johnson and Jung showed up and we made some Cap'N Crunch fried chicken, Oreo truffles, cookies, and it was all soooo good. We just laughed and had tons of fun. Then, we went and played kickball as a zone and it was so fun. This zone has become like a family to me, we were all so close. I'm going to miss these missionaries. After kickball, we came inside for some basketball. We played a 3 point shooting competition and some of the elders thought it would be funny to put me on a team with one of the sisters, Sister
Sydall. But she's a baller and has a scholarship to play when she gets back, we took 1st place haha :) We went home, changed, visited people to say goodbye, then we went on back to the apartment.


Tuesday 3/11/14:

Transfer day!! I spent all morning packing and then we went over to the Peachwood building. After the meeting I found Elder Chavez and we loaded my stuff into Hermano Baquerizo's car. He's from Peru, our ward mission leader, and an amazing cook and nice guy, so I was excited to meet him. We then unpacked my stuff, went over to a dinner that had this amazing breaded chicken and Habanero sauce, so good. I met some of the people in the area, then we went home. We live in this super nice member’s house with a pool table, I have a queen sized bed (most missionary apartments have twin beds!), and we’re super spoiled. We even have a dog named Dude haha. It's awesome, and we live with Elders Stimpson and Brooks.

The house dog - Dude!

His new house

A little nicer than his last place!

He is excited about the bigger bed!

Wednesday 3/12/14:

Today was cool. We got up, studied, and then we went and had lunch with our ZL's (Zone Leaders) at this place called Atlantis Burger. Elder Ulu'ave is from Hawaii (6'8", monster of a guy, has a scholarship to play football for University of Utah after the mission) and Elder Driscoll is from Panama City, Florida. They're two of the best, so I'm glad I'm in their zone. After lunch we did some teaching, I conducted a baptismal interview for Elder Jacobson in the other district,(he conducts interviews with individuals wishing to be baptized as part of his District Leader responsibilities) then we taught some more. I'm definitely staying busy!

Thursday 3/13/14:

Weekly planning day! It was good because I got to meet the entire district for the first time (much bigger than my last district): Elders Brooks, Stimpson, Concidine, Stancliffe, Chavez and I plus Sisters Unga, Ashcroft, Alusa, Maxwell, Knudson, and Yepez. Everyone seems awesome, then we did a baptismal interview for Unga and Ashcroft. Afterwards we had an amazing dinner with the Valencia family (super nice recent converts). We did some more teaching, and then the night was done.

Friday 3/14/14:

Happy Pi-Day! Today for district meeting, there were a ton of people. The AP's (Assistants to the Mission President) showed up and that made 18 in total, I'm used to like 7 haha. And we have a new AP now, Mauinatu was released because he goes home next transfer and they called Elder Isabell as assistant, he seems really cool. After district meeting we had District Leader training with the ZL's, then dinner. Then we had correlation meeting with Hermano Baquerizo (his ward mission leader), and went and taught the Chiriboga family. It was awesome.

Saturday 3/15/14:

Today was another busy day. We got up, studied, went to choir practice (which was good because Elder Baliño brought me all the stuff I'd forgotten at the last apartment haha). We grabbed some lunch, did some visits, and then had a good dinner with the Lopez family. We then went to visit with the Garcias and they are way cool. We walk a ton right now. We can't bike because Elder Chavez (his companion) is in a sling. He broke his clavicle really bad in a bike accident before the mission, and since he's only been out 3 months he hasn't healed up fully. He's got a plate and 9 screws in it, so that's intense. He's healing up well though!

Sunday 3/16/14:

Awesome day. We got up, studied, went to church and it was great. I was asked to say the closing prayer and then something funny happened. Several people came up to me and asked how I learned Spanish so well and where I was from, which lead me to 2 conclusions: 1) serving with Elder Baliño definitely improved my Spanish a lot and 2) I now have a super Mexican accent haha. I actually told a member I was from Guadalajara the other day and they believed me! That was kinda cool :)  After church we went over to Hermano Baquerizo's and helped him cook, then we all ate (Hermanas Knudson and Yepez were there too because the 4 of us serve in the ward). Then we had the mission president devotional and it was super special. We ended with I Believe in Christ and it's such a powerful song, always gets me. I also got to see Hermano Carrasco and a ton of the missionaries I miss serving around, like Elers Ghramm and Moleli and Burgin. Then I gathered and called in numbers from the district, and it's been a crazy day and I'm ready for some sleep!

Love Always,

Scottie

Ooh, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This is Hermano Baquerizo (bah-keh-ree-zo). He is our new ward mission leader, and after he fed us yesterday he just passed out on the couch. This is us taking a siesta on the couch haha. (I wasn't really sleeping, just posing for the picture). Love this guy!

The Zone!! Granger C

BIG HIGHLIGHT: I'm getting transferred! See Saturday :)

Tuesday 3/4/14:

Pretty solid day today. We did our normal morning routine and then went to read the Book of Mormon with Geovani. We made afternoon contacts, then went to eat dinner with Pres. Perez and his family: carne asada and then cheesecake for dinner, so good! We had our branch missionary correlation meeting with Bro. Pons, then went and visited the Bedoya family, genuinely good people. That was about it for today!

Wednesday 3/5/14:
Today was pretty busy. Hermano Bayona picked us up early and we went to Taylor's Bike Shop to pick up my bike. The brakes are now back on the bike, gears are working again, it's in solid condition! We had our meeting with Pres. Higginson, then we practiced the song our district is going to sing at stake conference this weekend: #26, Joseph Smith's First Prayer. We grabbed lunch at Subway then watched some training videos for (Elder) Balino (Elder Balino is still a new missionary and Scottie is his “trainer”). We ate dinner with the Galvez family, and Padre would have loved the dessert! It was homemade strawberry shortcake, so good!! Not as good as yours, but it was pretty solid! We visited with Angie and then Edilberto, and then headed home!

Thursday 3/6/14:
We had a really full day today! We were up and studying, then we went and taught Norma Obando with Hermano Arellano. Then our apartment went out to Chow Time for lunch (we got some coupons in the mail, I only paid 3 bucks for an all you can eat buffet). It was way good, and as usual, we all waddled out of there having eaten way too much food haha. It's way good though! We practiced our song again as a district and then had weekly planning all afternoon. We had a really nice dinner with the Montoya family, lots of laughs. Then with the help of Hermano Pons, we taught: Alejandro Guzman, Manual Corona, The Fernandez Family, and Hermano Islas. It was a solid day!

Friday 3/7/14:
Today was a great day. We got up and studied (I'm close to finishing the New Testament, I'm down to Timothy-->Revelation) and then we went to teach Rocha. During our lesson it started hailing randomly, and we were on bikes so instead of leaving to go get lunch, she offered to make us lunch. It was super nice of her, and good food too! We then had Zone Training! There were lots of new announcements and mission policies, the biggest thing being that we are now doing email from the iPads! So I'm super glad y'all sent me this keyboard, muchisimas gracias :) Then we talked about accountability, obedience, working with ward members, all that good stuff. We taught the Rodriguez and Vazquez families, then headed home! Good stuff.

Saturday 3/8/14:
The phone call finally came in. After a calm morning of studies and a few lessons, around 4 o’ clock Pres. Swain (his mission president) called. I'm getting transferred; I'll be heading over to the Hunter West stake and I'll be the new district leader over there. I'll be serving with Elder Chavez, who is also pretty new, he came out with Elder Balino (Scottie’s current companion). It's going to feel so weird leaving this area, it's been my home for almost 5 months, and I really love it here, but I know that my new area will be great and I'm looking forward to learning from new experiences and new people. During the nighttime, we had the adult session of stake conference. Pres. Swain spoke and it was really good, and then we got to sing our song. I've never sang in front of that many people in such a small group (8 of us), so I was super nervous because I'm not very comfortable singing in front of people, but I think it went well overall! After the conference, we biked home and I'm ready for some sleep.

Sunday 3/9/14:
Another pretty solid day today. We got up and went to the Sunday session of stake conference, (stake conference is held twice a year for all of the congregations in each particular area –or stake) which was really good. Bro. Thompson from the 1st ward took Elders Duke, McNeil, Balino and me over to his house afterwards for lunch, then we had a meeting with Bro. Holden. We had another meeting a bit afterwards with the stake young women/young men presidencies to talk about a missionary extravaganza activity they're having soon, and we helped them plan that. I was really excited for it actually, y'all should do something like that back home!! We then had dinner with Pres. Perez again - milanesa de res, super yummy. Then I spent the night trying to drop by and visit and get pictures with as many people as possible before I leave this Tuesday, I'll send some of those home for y'all to see.

The Thompsons!!! He's gonna miss these guys

President Higginson and his wife

Scottie and Edilberto

President Perez, his wife and his son Mahomri

This upcoming week is going to be crazy busy with the transfer, but I'm kinda looking forward to the chaos :) It's what makes the mission unique right? I hope y'all are doing really well, love and miss you tons! I'll get you my new address asap!

 I'm sad to leave, but excited for a new area, so I'm okay with it :)

And I'll be super busy packing, worst part about transfers: packing stuff up. 

Love you tons,

Scottie

(From his email to his Aunt Tammy):

Hey Tia Tammy!!

I don't have a ton of time to email cause I've got a crazy day today! I just learned I'm getting transferred tomorrow, so we're going to be packing and running around all day. I'll have more details next week that'll be more exciting :)

Please send my love to your whole family!

Word of the day: habilidades, it is: skills. If we develop our skills, we can receive more and more blessings as well. 

Love you so much!!!!

Scottie

His desk with scriptures, CTR ring, name tag and new family photo

2/4/14 - Tuesday:

Today was a pretty long day! We got up, exercised, it had snowed more so our running has been on hold a bit because the sidewalks are icy and super slippery. We went and read the Book of Mormon with Hermana Hernandez and then we had an awesome lunch. We have a grill on our porch that we'd never used before, so even though it was snowing we fired it up and grilled some chicken hahaha. It was way good, we then made brown rice with steamed broccoli and carrots and that was our lunch. We had a good lesson with Minnie, then we went and gave Angie a blessing because she's going to have her baby tomorrow!!! We had dinner with the Olivares family and then we had our branch missionary correlation meeting. Afterwards, we went out with Bro. Thomson. We gave a blessing to someone the sister missionaries are teaching, then we went and had an awesome lesson with some new investigators: The Tinoco family. They're from Mexico and they're really nice, so we're excited to go and work with them!

They fired up the grill!!

Lunch is served!

2/5/14 Wednesday:
Today was pretty solid. We had our meeting with our stake president, Pres. Higginson, and then we grabbed some Subway for lunch. Afterwards, I had District Leader Training with our ZL's (Zone Leaders) and the other DL (District Leader) in the area, Elder Jung (he's a really awesome guy!). We went and ate dinner with the Galvez and Paz families, then we went and had an amazing lesson with Dallana Heredia and her mom. She now has a baptismal date and we're super excited to help her work towards that goal.

2/6/14 Thursday:
Good stuff today! We were up at 6:30, exercising, we had good studies (I finished John in the New Testament), then we had another healthy lunch (leftovers from Tuesday). I also got my package from y'all today! Thank you so much for the cards and treats, those piedras de chocolate (the almonds) were super yummy, and I've already torn through The Mix (caramel popcorn/chex mix that I make and he loves!) haha :) Y'all are so thoughtful, thank you so much. We had weekly planning which went well, then we ate with Rocha, taught Vazquez, taught Edilberto, and then visited with Hermano Campillo for a bit. He's super funny and we're glad he's staying in the area (he was going to move, but it looks like he's staying!)

2/7/14 Friday:
Today was really good. We got up and I spent the morning preparing for district meeting, then we headed down to the chapel. I gave a training on finding and how we can help people make and keep commitments and why commitments are important. I also shared a bit from a talk Elder Holland gave in 2011 called Feed My Sheep, it's an excellent talk and I learned tons reading it. Afterwards I cooked lunch for the district: teriyaki stir fry, complete with vegetables: mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, and red pepper. It turned out pretty solid, I really like cooking! Then we helped Hermano Midence set up the gym for our branch's Valentine's Day activity tonight and then we grabbed a snack at Arctic Circle. Afterwards, we headed over to the pachanga (Mexican slang for "party"). The fiesta was pretty fun and midway through we got a call from Angie. She had her baby early Thursday morning, his name is Anakin Sky Razo. He's the cutest little kid, born a little early so he's pretty small, but he's very calm and doesn't cry much at all. We gave him a blessing, he's got some jaundice-like symptoms, but he'll pull through just fine!

Angie's Baby - Anakin Sky

Elders Higgins, Balino and Hermano Montoya at the Valentines Party

2/8/14 Saturday:

Today was a tiring day. We got up and went to play basketball with the 1st and 8th wards (other congregations in his area), and it was awesome. I was on a team with the 8th ward Bishop, Bishop Tidwell, and he can play pretty well! Two of the other elders' investigators were there, Moses and Bradon, and afterwards when they taught them they put them with a baptismal date, so that's way exciting! Our branch had a little sporting activity that we went to for a bit, then we came back and showered and changed and had an awesome dinner with Bro. Thompson from 1st ward (the one who fed us for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s). He's just an awesome guy and an example of integrity and member-missionary work. We went and taught Maria Diaz, and now she has a baptismal date in early March, we're really excited for that. The Gospel will be a huge blessing for her and her family.

2/9/14 Sunday:
Pretty long day today! We got to get up and do some solid studying, then we went to church for branch counsel followed by church followed by a normal meeting. All of that went well and Maria came to Church and we were really excited for that. We had dinner with the Perez Almanza family again and it was just super weird. The food was beyond spicy, he gave us enough to feed a sumo wrestler, he kept telling these crazy stories and these radical opinions he had, and we kept trying to leave and he just wanted to talk more and more. Then he made dessert and I almost exploded I was so full, but we finally got out of there and were able to go and see Angie's baby (he got to come home today). That baby has been a huge blessing to that family already. Sometimes we go to their house and there's a lot of contention or arguing, but today there was just a really powerful spirit. It's cool to think that just a few days ago Anakin was chilling with Heavenly Father, and now he's here, about to start his life's journey. I have such a strong testimony of the Plan of Salvation, it truly is Heavenly Father's plan for us to obtain happiness throughout all eternity. I love the Gospel.

Elder Higgins

2/10/14 Monday:
Hope y'all are having a great week, love and miss ya tons!! But thanks for all the support, it means a lot to me :)

Today was a super sweet P-Day...minus the concussion haha (playing basketball and getting run over by a big Samoan guy!). But it was super productive, we had great basketball, got showered up and went and had a dinner and FHE with the Gonzalez family. We watched the Finding Faith in Christ video and it was an awesome experience for that family, I think they got a lot out of it. I love that video, it's amazing to see how incredible our Savior is. I was pretty exhausted so I fell asleep promptly, and even though I didn't sleep well, it was good to get rest.

Tuesday 2/11/14:

Today was a pretty good day. We tried out a new restaurant called Chow Time for lunch, it's like a big buffet with Chinese food, American food, all kinds of stuff. It was actually way good. We had District Leader Training afterwards, visited some people, then we went and had dinner with the Martinez family. We then taught our new investigator family, The Tinoco's, and then had our branch correlation meeting (missionary correlation). Elder Balino (Scottie’s companion) went out on splits (where the 2 companions split up and go out with other members of the congregation) with Bro. Pons and I hung around the building with Pres. Perez because I wasn't feeling too hot (lingering results of the run-in with the Samoan no doubt!). We met up afterwards, did some planning, and then I went to bed.

Wednesday 2/12/14:

Pretty solid day today. We got up, did some studies, and then went to read the Book of Mormon with Mary Hernandez. We had our stake missionary correlation meeting with Pres. Higginson, then we had a good lunch at Subway. We did some planning and contacting then went and had dinner with the Guzman family, they're really nice. We had a productive lesson with the Vazquez family then visited Edilberto and then called it a night.

Thursday 2/13/14:

We had Zone Conference today! Zone Conference is basically a big 6 hour meeting (lunch in the middle) where our entire zone gets together to get training from Pres. Swain (his mission president) and the Assistants: Elders Russell and Mauinatu. Pres. Swain is such a good leader and speaker. He taught us about listening, teaching with the Spirit, planning, all sorts of stuff. Afterwards Pres. Swain actually gave Balino and I a ride back to our apartment, then we had dinner with the Pons family (he's our new ward mission leader, so we're way excited about that). We updated some referrals and then had an awesome lesson with the Fernandez family - a new investigating family. Their daughter is recovering from an extensive brain surgery after a priesthood blessing by Pres. Higginson - that's just a powerful testimony that the power of the priesthood is real and that God really does love His children. Then we went and met a new family that just moved into the branch: the Bedoya family. They seem really nice.

Friday 2/14/14:

Valentine's Day! Kind of a super funny day as a missionary haha. So we got up and had a really good lesson with Geovani - he loves reading the Book of Mormon and it's so cool to see him excited about reading. We had weekly planning today since Zone Conference was yesterday, and then we had our dinner down at the Hispanic Swap Meet at the bottom of our area. I had some solid enchiladas then some good churros, then we biked back home and spent the night contacting referrals. It was hard to find people since a lot of people were either out all night or were at home and already had plans with their spouses, but we worked with what we had :)

Scottie with his churro form the Hispanic Swap Meet

Bro. Thompson brought us all Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcakes for Valentine's Day...soooo good! maybe you've heard of them since they were on food network.

Cupcake box  from Sweet Tooth Fairy

Saturday 2/15/14:

Today was a super tiring day. We got up and biked a couple of miles over to choir practice - it's always fun to go to choir practice and it gives me a good chance to see Elders Jarvis, Rosdahl, Burgin, Chapel, and some of the other elders I hope I get to serve with/serve with again soon! We biked back, ate Subway with the ZL's, and then had a good lesson with Hermano Islas We visited with Leo and then had an awesome dinner. The Oliver family wanted to take us out to this restaurant called Dickie's BBQ Pit. It felt like home a little bit, but they certainly wouldn't let me eat just a little bit of food. I ended up eating about 10 ribs with these spicy bbq sauce, 2 bowls of mac and cheese (that's a vegetable right?), fried okra (definitely a vegetable...albeit fried haha), and then there was ice cream. It was super fun and the food and conversation were great, it just killed my stomach! We then spent the night biking all over the area to get from appointment to appointment, 2 blessings, helping someone tie a tie, inviting people to church. Wow, I think between 6:30 and 9 we biked about 20 miles, it was insane, but so worth it! I love being on the mission! (They can be back on bikes as long as there is no ice/snow on the roads)

Thank you so much for the Valentine box you sent, that was so kind of you. And please don't worry that it got here on Saturday not Friday, it meant so much to me (his box was delayed due to the snow/ice storm we had last week). I love the family picture you sent, it's on my desk right now. And the cards were super sweet and I loved the treats too! Y'all are the best :):)

Valentine box we sent him!

Sunday 2/16/14:

Today was a good Sabbath day. We got up, studied a bunch, ate lunch, and then went to church. We heard some good talks and learned about Noah and the flood in Sunday school, then we went and had a very pleasant dinner with the Galvez and Paz families afterwards. We shot over to the chapel where the Mission President's Devotional was, practiced for choir, and then we had the devotional. President Swain bore powerful testimony of the Savior again, and the spirit was super strong, especially when we sang I Believe in Christ. Then we came back, taught Tony, and then I had to call in numbers and all that good stuff (part of his duties as District Leader). But all in all it's been a great week, I feel tons better (after sustaining the concussion earlier in the week) and I'm ready for a new week to start. Time is definitely flying by! Time is crazy. But I’m happy and safe so no worries :) I’m going to work as hard as I can here in the mission field, but I definitely can't wait to see y'all again :)

 I hope you know how much I love and appreciate you, you're truly the best family in the entire world. And that's not just words, I mean that!


Love always,

Scottie

Elders Ghramm, Biggs and Higgins 

 (I'm not sure who is photo-bombing on the  far right)

Hola hola! It has been an awesome week!

Tuesday 1/28/14:
Transfer day! I'm staying put, but it sure was a sad morning helping Ghramm pack up. We've gotten really close over the last 3 months, he's an amazing elder with great gospel knowledge, and he's hilarious and a beast at basketball. But it's alright, because that's a brother I'll have for life right there. I'm super thankful I was able to serve around him and learn from him. Elder Duke is taking his place here, and I've heard good things about him so that's exciting. We had a really good dinner today with our Branch President and his family: enchiladas rojas with cheesecake for dessert. We had our missionary correlation meeting and went on splits tonight. I went out with Bro. Pons and we had a great lesson with Iyali (someone we met for the first time), the Heredia family, and then went to give Sis. Thurston (sister missionary in his district) a blessing because she caught some sort of stomach bug. Lame! But the priesthood is real, and I have faith she'll feel better tomorrow. It was a busy but good day!

Wednesday 1/29/14:
Today was a good day! We got up and went running (2.5 mile loop around our area) and then we got into studies! I'm loving reading the Book of Mormon and New Testament together - they truly testify of one another and our Savior, Jesus Christ. We had a correlation meeting with our Stake President and then grabbed lunch at Subway. We set up some appointments, had dinner with the Paz family, and then learned some awesome doctrine from Bro. Paz - he knows a ton! We spent the night visiting with Edilberto, and he's cut back on drinking so much! He said praying has really helped him a lot - I know that God is our Heavenly Father and that he listens to and answers our prayers! Bro. Pons called and told me about the crazy snow/ice storm in Atlanta that was shutting y'all down! I hope everyone back home is safe and warm and not stranded on the interstates, I'll be sure to keep the Atlanta area in my prayers!

Atlanta Snow Jam 2014!

Thursday 1/30/14:
Today was great! It snowed last night and was still snowing a bit in the morning, so we didn't go running and just worked out in the apartment. We studied, grabbed some lunch, and then had weekly planning. My new district is awesome, only a couple of changes. Now it's Sisters Martinez, Despain, and Tasi (in a trio) and Sis. Thurston is training Sis. Hubbard. We finished training, ate a great dinner with the Pons family, got to teach his less active son-in-law, then we had a great night of visits with the help of Hermano Madrid. We taught the Islas family, set up a return appointment with Minnie and then a new investigator family, and it was just a good night. On the way back to the apartment we saw a ton of police cars and they were blocking the road leading into our apartments. Later on we found at that somebody got hit by a car while walking on the side of the road...kind of scary news since that's what we do all day and all night every day, but the person will make a recovery so that's good!
                                                                  

No Explanation needed!

Friday 1/31/14:

Another good day here in West Valley City!  We had district meeting, and I put together a training on the relationship between true conversion, the Book of Mormon, and the Holy Ghost. After we grabbed lunch at CFA as a district, it's the first time I've had that in so long!! I miss Cookie (manager at our local Chick-fil-A) and the southern hospitality though, nobody even said "My Pleasure." I love saying thank you to hear my pleasure! It was lame.   Still delicious food though. We taught Minnie, had a great dinner with the Bayona family, and then we went to Temple Square with the Heredia, Thompson, and Pons family. It was a spiritually powerful experience and it just really re-enforces my testimony of the restoration every time. I love it. I'll try and send some of the pictures we took of that trip too :)

At Temple Square

Saturday 2/1/14:
I can't believe January has already flown by! Today was such a busy day though, we loved it! We got up and went to play basketball (a few investigators were on my team, and it was awesome). We had a solid run this morning, went 6-0 in games to 11. We came back, showered, had a lesson with a guy named Jesus, then grabbed lunch with  Elders Duke and McNeil. Then came the busiest day we've had in a while: lesson with Sharon Vazquez, dinner with the Rocha family, lesson with Jhovi, lesson with Edilberto, lesson with Maria Diaz, lesson with Iyali, picked up tamales for tomorrow (see tomorrow's entry), and then got home. It was an awesome day, so busy that it flew by in the blink of an eye, and we're very excited for the progress we're seeing in our area.

Sunday 2/2/14:
Today was a great day. We got up and had a long time to study, I finished Luke in the New Testament, and then we went to church. We heard some really good testimonies in church, we got to teach the High Priest's group about missionary work, and then we had a meeting with Bro. Holden. We went over to the Perez-Almanza family's house and had this great chicken, rice, and beans dish cooked with a serrano pepper sauce - so good! Then we picked up the tamales from the apartment and headed over to the Lopez's house. On January 6th (Dia de los Reyes) we were at the Lopez's house and I ate a piece of the rosca (celebratory bread) (Rosca de Reyes – Three Kings bread) and it had a little plastic doll in it - which meant that on February 2nd I was in charge of tamales for the second fiesta. I think the real custom is that you have to hand-make the tamales, but that takes way too long for our tight schedule so we picked some up from our tamale hook up haha :) We had tamales, atole (pink, delicious drink), and then because Bro. Lopez is from Argentina we had a traditional herbal tea called mate. It was pretty gross, but it's all about the experience right? We came back, I collected all the numbers from the district, handed them off to the zone leaders and then passed out. It's been a good week.

                                                                  

Atole

Mate (It even looks scary!)

 
Monday 2/3/14:
Today's looking to be the average P-Day. Up, laundry, shopping, email, then we're gonna play some basketball. Sis. Martinez is a really good cook and she's gonna show us how to make some Chilean empenadas, so I'm super excited for that! Hope y'all are having a great week!! Love and miss y'all tons! :)

I'm finding a lot of happiness in the Gospel and y'all as my family, and I'm just smiling and happy and so busy with the mission it's a blessing because I have no time for other distractions. But no worries! I'm good, promise. I'm happy,  I love you, I gotta run.

Love you,

Scottie

(From his email to his Aunt Tammy):

Hey Tía Tammy!

This last week has been very good, we're doing well and I am very happy, although it's about to get super cold out here!

Running is good but it's so cold, just that takes getting used to for me. 

We met a new family this last week, the Gomez family, and they're super friendly and humble and want to come to church, but their jobs prevent them right now. But they're working on it since they know what a blessing church is!

Word of the week: Somos hijos de Dios. It's not one word, but it's a phrase: we are children of God. I know that's true, and because of that he loves us and wants the best for us. 

Love, 

Scottie