Me and my companion, Elder Higuera, with my bags, haha. 6-15-10

 Pictures of the city. 6-20-10

  A picture of a little girl. She wanted me to take a picture of her, haha. Her family are great members. 6-20-10

Me and my companion in our jerseys. 6-21-10

Me, my zone leader in the blue, and a missionary in my district in our jerseys. 6-21-10 

The whole zone playing soccer! 6-21-10

A picture from the top of our house in the day. I want you to see how many houses there are. It's crazy and they are just all stacked on top of each other. 6-21-10

From the top of our house in the day, right before rain. 6-21-10

A picture from the top of our house at night. 6-24-10

Another from the top of our house at night. 6-24-10 

Me and Rosario right before the baptism!!!!!! 6-26-10

 

Rosario, her two kids and me! Her daughter is a member, now she is, but her son isn't but we are working on that, haha. 6-26-10

Another picture of her whole family, me and and my companion before the baptism. 6-26-10

  A picture of the street in our area and that is Edgar. He is a member. He is cool. He was walking with us to go and visit a family. He is super funny. I traded him that sparkly yellow tie you sent me mom for like 5 ties that he got from a different missionary, haha. He didn't like the ties he gave me but he loved my yellow tie, haha. 6-27-10

  A picture of the city. This is like 3 blocks from our house. The place we are in in this photo is call Zapote. 6-28-10

This is another picture from Zapote. If you look on the left on the side of that hill, that is a cemetery. It's kinda crazy because it is on like the side of a mountain, but then again so is everything here, haha. 6-28-10

1st Baptism!

Hey family,

This week was great!  The baptism we were supposed to have on Friday didn't work out because Daniel, the investigator, didn't come to church on Sunday!  But I still had my first baptism this week.  On Saturday, I got to baptize Rosario!  She is great.   Her 16 year old daughter is a member and we started teaching Rosario like 2 days after I got to the mission.   It has been great to teach her.  We asked her to be baptized on Friday and she said yes for Saturday so it was great.   I only had one day to memorize the words to do the baptism.   That was a little hard because they are big words you don't use in normal talk, haha.  But I did it with the Lord's help and the baptism went great.  Before the baptism, we went to the church and it was so gross.   There were like cockroaches in the font and the water was so gross, so we had to use buckets and carry the water out by hand.  We finally got all the water out of the font and then we cleaned it and began to fill it with good water.   Well it filled really slow and it didn't get all the way full by the time for the baptism.   So haha, ya it was a little weird to do the baptism because there wasn't very much water but it worked!   It was great to see how happy she was after the baptism.   It was just really great!  Daniel is getting baptized on Saturday, so that should be great as well.   We are hoping to also get some of our other investigators to baptism this week, but we will see.

Everything here is just really great.   It was a little crazy here yesterday because Mexico is out of the running for the world cup, haha.  All the people were a little upset about it haha, but its all good now.   So I don't know what the missionaries did here that lost 20 pounds when they got to Mexico, the ones you were telling me about from the missionary mom thing.  I don't know what they did because I definitely haven't lost weight.  I don't have a scale but I do know that I have gained weight here, haha.   I am up a hole on my belt and the pants to my suit that I have had for awhile, the pin-stripe suit that I got in high school, they are pretty tight, haha.  They still work and I don't have to use them much.  I only have to use my suits on Sundays and large meetings so ya, but anyways I think I have gained a little weight.  I love the food so that is probably why.   The food here is amazing!   Some of it I don't really know what it is, but it tastes good, haha, so I like it.  Sometimes I ask what it is, other times I don't think I want to know, haha, so I don't ask.   Everything is great.   We are working hard.   We get our new mission president tomorrow that should be great!   We had missionary changes yesterday but I got to stay with my companion because it has only been two weeks.  There will be different missionaries in the zone and things so that should be good.  I am glad to get to stay with my companion for 6 more weeks.  He is a great companion and he works hard, which I like a lot.   Some of the members say he works like a black person, haha.  It is really funny.  At first I was very taken back by them saying that, but now that I have been here a little I have realized they use that expression here a lot and it is a good thing.   I don't know, it's a little weird but everyone says it, haha.   At first I didn't know if I just didn't get the right meaning because its in Spanish, but I asked one of the older American missionaries in my zone if that is what it meant.   He said that I was right, that is what they mean by it and that they say it a ton, which I know now because I hear it all the time, haha.  Anyways, that was just kinda funny to me.  So it took 6 days for my socks to dry, haha.  So now I have learned to not wait and wash all my socks on one p-day, to wash a few every p-day so I still have some when the others dry because it takes almost a week, haha.  I am very thankful for my microfiber towel because it drys in like half a day and a normal towel takes a long time, haha.  So we have a washer in our house, but it is like messed up and the water won't drain out of it, haha.  You have to scoop the water out by hand after every cycle, haha, and then once you get all the water scooped out then the next cycle will start, haha.  It's funny, but I am very grateful to have a washer, even if it's broken, haha.  Well everything here is great.  I will send you some pictures!  I love you all and miss you all a ton!  But I love it here and I know this is the best place for me!  The church is true and it truly does bless lives!

Love your missionary,

Elder Despain

Week 2 in Mexico

Note from Ann: Randall sent this email as a reply to the one I sent him. No one else sent him one because we are writing through the pouch. We want him to have time to send an email, not use the whole time just reading emails. In his first email he said he couldn't print off the emails. We really aren't ignoring him!

Dear Mom,

I didn't get any emails from you, but I know you still love me haha. I haven't gotten any mail and I have no clue when I will get mail, but ya, haha.  I love you all so much.  I miss you a ton but I am doing so great.  Mexico is amazing, although their computers don't do exclamation points, haha.  I don't know why, haha, but anyways is amazing here.  I feel like I have been here a year but it has only been a week.  My companion is great and he is a very hard worker which is great because some missionaries in the mission aren't.  He is awesome.  We have been doing tons of work to get this area up and going again.  The members are so great and always make sure we have food and just are amazing.  It is so crazy here though, haha, just people everywhere and cars everywhere and houses on top of houses on top of houses.  It is pouring rain right now like it does every afternoon at about this time, haha.  The day can be so hot and then boom it still rains, haha.  I don't mind it though although it rains every day.  I haven't used my rain jacket, haha.  It kinda feels good to get wet after being hot all day.  We finally got gas for our apartment on Thursday, haha.  I was glad to not take a cold shower any more.  Although Wed. we used an iron to warm up a bucket of water and used that to shower so that was not cold.  I liked that, but the gas is a lot easier, haha.  I am just loving it here.  The work is hard but great.  The language is hard, but I love it and as long as I do my best the Lord helps me.  I have grown so much in this week in both my testimony and in the language.  I am getting a lot better at understanding the people.  My ears are getting used to hearing all the words so fast, haha.  We played soccer today as a zone.  It was a blast.  I loved it, although I got a little sunburned because it was the first time I wore a short sleeved shirt here.  It doesn't hurt and it will be a tan tomorrow and then I will look a little less white, haha.  We have 6 progressives(investigators) now which is great because we started the area with none.  One of them, Daniel, has a baptism date for Viernes, Friday.  It's awesome.  We only taught him two lessons and then we asked him and he said yes.  His friend, that is a member that was in the lesson here, dropped her jaw when we asked him to be baptized so soon.  Then he said yes and she went from shocked to amazed and happy.  It was great and funny.  I love the people here.  They are so poor, but so humble and sweet.  I love this work and I love this gospel.  I am seeing the happiness it can give people and it makes me happy to be an instrument in my Heavenly Father's hand to bring his children closer to him.  I have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and that this church is true.  I love this work and I love the people I am serving.  We have a family and then Rosario, the mother of a member, that are both very close to getting baptized and maybe it will even happen this week.  It's great.  Well, I love you all and look forward to hearing from you.  You can write me short emails or long ones but if they are long I will just print them and get back to you on them the next week.  I love you all.  Thanks for everything.  I have such an amazing family, thank you.  I hope you had a great Father's Day, Dad.  I love you.  I am about to go give a blessing to a member with my companion.  I'm sure he will give the blessing but it will still be my first in Spanish.  I am guessing I will anoint which may be very hard in Spanish, but the Lord will help me.  It will be great.  Well I love you all, thanks for everything.

Love your missionary,

Elder Despain

1st Week in Mexico

So ya, I have an hour to email.  I don't really know if I can print stuff.  We just go to little like road side places but I think I can print things out.  But then it would be a week before I could answer back to the things I print out.

So my companion is Elder Higuera.  He is a native and he speaks no English, haha, so sometimes it can be a little interesting, haha.  Everything is going way good.  We opened an area that has been closed for a little while.  The area is called Consituyentes.  I live in the Col. Federal Burocratica.  I was going to send you some pictures but I haven't taken very many and this computer is like ancient and is going really slow, so it would take forever.  This city is so big, it is crazy.  I have never seen so many people in my life.  There are cars and people everywhere.  So because we opened this area, we had nothing to go by and no investigators.  It has been a little slow getting started, but it has been good.  The first day we were here, Saturday, we went and we taught a girl that was working at the tienda, the store, next to our house.  We taught her the first lesson, well mostly my companion.  I taught a little but it's hard because everyone talks so fast here.  It is super hard to know what they are saying but anyways, this is nothing like the MTC, haha.  I was used to the MTC teaching in like a quiet room, haha.  When we taught this girl in the store, her name is Monse, it was way loud and there was a tv on and like people coming in and buying things.  One man came in a bought beer like right in the middle of our lesson, haha.  It's way different teaching here, haha, but it is good and I love it.  There are houses everywhere, haha.  So then after teaching Monse, we were walking to go visit a person who we thought was a member.  We found their name in the area book which, by the way, is horrible.  The missionaries last in the area didn't write down anything, haha, so that makes it tough.  But anyways, we were walking to this member's house and you walk in the streets.  There really isn't like sidewalks so you just walk in the street.  We were walking and then a van was coming up behind us.  It's like a van, like VW busses, and they are like taxis here.  That is what everyone rides everywere so there are tons of them everywhere.  Anyways, so one is coming up behind us and we are to the side so he could drive by, then he starts honking.  I look back and there is a little dog in the road, so this bus-van-taxi is honking at it.  The dog was just walking slow and then the driver just got sick of waiting, just guns it and runs over the dog, like right next to us.  So that was like one of my first experiences in the street, like only two hours into the day, haha.  The saddest part about the whole thing is no one even cared, not even a little, haha.  I mean there are tons of dogs everywhere here but still, it was a little weird for me seeing that happen and no one caring.  Oh, another thing about those vans, they are like taxis so we take them lots of places but almost all of them have like oldies American music playing, haha, like super loud.  It is really funny cuz they just rock out to like 60's, 70's, 80's music, haha, and it's all in English so I don't think they even know what it is saying, haha.  It's funny but the streets are so crazy.  There are millions of cars and I honestly don't think traffic laws exist.  They just make their own lanes and go wherever they want, haha.  They just cut each other off every two seconds.  It's funny, haha, but ya speaking of American music, I am sitting here emailing and the guy working here just turned on Blink 182, haha.  Mom you probably don't know what that is, but I used to listen to them at home and he just turned it on and he has no idea what its saying but he is listening to it, haha funny haha.  It's so crazy how poor the people here are.  They have hardly anything but they are willing to give us anything and everything.  They are so humble and amazing.  After going to church on Sunday, we went with a member to their house and ate.  The food was great.  I love all the food here.  After we eat, the member whose house we went to, went with us for the rest of the day to visit members.  We did tons of walking, but it was awesome.  Here it is like hill after hill, no mountain after mountain.  There is no flat ground.  Our house is on a hill and so is everything so you walk down a hill and then go up a hill haha its funny, but I love it.  Our apartment was so trashed when we got there on Friday night haha.  There was graffiti all over the walls and stuff everywhere.  The bathroom is so gross but its all good haha.  We cleaned it Friday night some, but just the main part of the apartment, and then today I attempted to clean the bathroom, probably the grossest thing I have ever done haha.  I got it a little more clean haha. There is no gas at our house because it has been so long since missionaries lived there so Saturday, Sunday and today we had ice cold showers, haha.  It keeps our showers quick, haha, but we are going to go buy gas today so hopefully then we can light our water heater haha, if not, it's all good.  We live on the second floor above someone and the water heater like hangs out the window over the other persons living room haha.  So, I hope it never breaks haha or they would get a lot of water in their house haha.  But ya, it's great.  I love it here.  I haven't gotten sick like people said I would haha, so that's good.  I just love the food and I guess it loves me haha, so no problems there.  Everything is just great.  My Spanish is getting better every day.  My companion always says "poco un poco," little by little, haha so that's how it is.  I am learning a little more every day.  I feel like by the end of yesterday, my ears were starting to adjust to the speed of talk and ya its just all coming along.  I love this work it's great.  I love you all so much.  Thanks for everything.  Thanks for the emails.  The girls can write me short emails for next week and I will try and print them and get back to them.  The church is true even in Mexico, it's great.  Church was great.  I passed the sacrament and my companion blessed, haha.  So it was good and then we taught a class too, haha.  I love it.  I love you all and I will write more next week.  I wish I had time for more because I could talk all day about it but I don't have time.  I love you and miss you.  Stay safe and know I am doing great and the Lord is blessing me a ton.

Love,

Elder Despain
(Haha, no one can say my name here, haha.  Everyone asks me how to say it, haha. It's funny.)

Note From Ann: He wrote Kylee that he has to say he is from Utah. Arizona is a bad word there.

Like We Could Forget!

Don't forget, I am calling at around 8:15! Answer!

Love you all!

I Got Flight Plans!!!!!

So I just got my flight plans just now!!! I fly out on Friday in the morning, but I get to call you tonight for like 5 min. I am going to call at 8:15-ish so I will just call your cell phone. Please answer it! Haha, but ya so I leave Salt Lake at 6 am and get to Dallas 9:35. Then I fly out at 12:15 and get to Mexico at 2:45!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I fly American Airlines! I love you all so much. Thank you all so much for all your prayers. This is such an answer to my prayers!! I am so excited and ready to get to Mexico. It's going to be awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! So today was good! I went to the temple got to eat real food. It was so great. Then we did sealings and that was amazing. I love the temple so much! So I have been reading the Ensign. Yes, me reading! Haha, don't fall over Haha. But it has really good stories this month. I liked them a lot. Also at our Sunday night fireside, we had these 3 composers talk to us. They all wrote hymns like Press Forward Saints and Families Can Be Together Forever and others. So that was cool to hear them speak! One was like 88 and went 30 min over his time. Haha, it was great. I love old people. They are awesome! So I saw Lucas Bodine! He came in last Wed. and I have seen him a few times, along with others from my high school! So I'm so happy to finally be leaving. I love the MTC but I am very ready to get to Mexico! So we have a devotional in a few minutes and I heard that it is Robert D Hales, so ya that should be great. If it is him, then that will be our fourth apostle since getting here. Haha so ya, nothing else big happened. I am just super pumped to go to Mexico. I bet you can't tell haha! I love you all so much. Thank you for all that you do and thank you for all your prayers! Prayers really are answered. I have seen that here a lot and I know that God knows us all personally and is there to help us at any moment, we just have to ask! I'm so grateful for this gospel in my life! I'm so grateful that I have such great parents, that I had the opportunity to grow up in this great church and to be taught so well about the gospel. All that you have taught me has really helped me here in the MTC! I love you so much! Thank you for everything! So please answer when I call tonight!! Haha, I hope you get this before I call that way you will know that I am calling! I love you all so much and I miss you all so much! So Elder Fotu in my district and Elder Toone, they are getting reassigned because they still haven't got their Visas. I don't know where, but they found out today that they were getting reassigned. I am just really grateful that I am getting to go to Mexico!!! I have learned so much here in the MTC! It has been really great but I am very ready to get out there and be able to share this wonderful message with all the people of Mexico that are waiting to hear it! I know that the Lord will bless me and help me to find those who are ready to hear this great message! I know that my Spanish is not very good but I know that with the Lords help I will be able to share the gospel. I know He will bless me as long as I work my hardest and put my self in the position to serve Him! I am an instrument in His hands and I know as long as I am doing what is right that He will be able to use me to bring people closer to Christ! I know that I have come closer to Christ here at the MTC and I can feel myself coming closer to Him every day! I love the Book of Mormon! I have a testimony that it is the word of God and I know that every time that I read it that my testimony is strengthened. I know that anyone that will read it with real intent will also come to know that it is true! It is truly the word of God! Through reading and praying we can all know what we need to be doing and find answers to all of our questions. There is no greater book on this earth then the Book of Mormon. It is amazing! I know that Christ is my Savior and that He did suffer for me and each one of us personally! I know that He knows us and has gone through what we are going through and if we turn to Him, He can help us through anything! This church is true! This work is real and I love it very much! I love you all so much. Again, thank you for everything you do and for all your letters and prayers. They really do make a difference! I miss you all but I love you!

Love,

Elder Despain

Got It!!!!!!

I got my permiso (permission) on Friday. That is what I was waiting for on my VISA, so that is really good. I went up to the consulate in Salt Lake and signed a bunch of stuff. Now they are just doing the rest of the paperwork so that means I should leave soon, but I don't know when yet. I will email you again at like 4:30 or 5 and tell you more. I just wanted to let you know that I got it and hopefully will be leaving soon. I am pretty sure I get to call you when I get my flight plans so I am looking forward to that. I love you and I will write you more at like 5. Love you!

Love,
Elder Despain

11 Weeks

So this week has been weird but good! We changed into the other district so now there is 6 of us not just 3! It is going good. It is different but good! It is weird having a different schedule! but I like it. It has been good so far! The temple was really good today. I love the temple so much it is so amazing! Thank you for the package. I loved it. It is always nice to have food because the food here is getting really gross haha, but I have a lot of food in my room so it all works out! It was nice to go to the temple and eat there today because it is real food haha and temple breakfast is great!!!!!!!!! Thanks for all your letters and everything! I wasn't able to get any since the last time I emailed because Monday was a holiday, but ya I know that there is letters waiting for me in the mail haha. Thank you for all that all of you do. I love hearing about everything that is going on! So other than me going into the new district nothing has really happened since Friday haha but we are ushers at the devotional tonight so we tell everyone where to sit and stuff. That should be cool. It is someone from the Second Quorm of the 70. I don't know who yet, but I will find out in a little bit ha. Tell Dad thank you so much for the letter! I loved it. It is always great to hear from him! I hope that he is feeling better and that the bee sting is better! That is crazy that he reacts so badly to bees. I wonder if i do. I don't know if I have ever been stung haha. Well, I hope that he is feeling better! Everything else is about the same here just trying to work hard and stay focused. I am just praying that I will get my visa this week! The travel office says that the visas are starting to come in again so I am hoping mine will come soon. I will just keep hoping and praying. Please pray for me and my visa! I know that you do and I can feel everyone's prayers. Thank you so much for them! I am praying for everyone back at home! I miss you all alot but I know that there is no better place that I could be than to be serving the Lord! I am so grateful for this gospel and the joy it brings in my life. I am so grateful for all of you and the great family I have. You all are amazing. I couldn't ask for a better family! Thanks for all that you do for me! So this week I have been reading in Mosiah about the sons of Mosiah. I just love that story how they become better people and turn away from the bad things they were doing against the church. It is just a great story and I loved reading it again! I am growing to love the Book of Mormon more and more every day. It is such an amazing book. I know that it is the word of God! I'm so grateful to have it! It has the answers to everything and it is just so great what we can get from it when we really search them! I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is and was a true prophet of God! I'm so grateful for all that he sacrificed so that we could have this great gospel in our time! I am very, very grateful for my Savior who made the ultiment sacrifice! Without the Savior none of us could make it back to our Father in Heaven and we could not live as families forever. I know that through Him and because of His sacrifice for each one of us we all can return to our Father in Heaven as long as we follow the teachings of the Savior and His servants. This gospel is amazing and I know it is the only way that we can be truly happy in this life! I know that there is nothing we can do that can bring more happiness than following the Savior! I love my Savior so much and every day I love him more. This work is amazing and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a servant and an instrament in the Lord's hand! This church is true!!!!!!! I love you all so much and I miss you all a lot. Thanks for all that you do! Tell all the grand kids that I love them and that I am praying for them. Tell them thank you for all their prayers for me! love you!
Love,
Elder Despain