May 26, 2014

Hey mommy!

That was a very big paragraph!! But it’s great! I love reading when you have a ton of stuff to say! The bigger the better! Anyway, all of your field trips sound like they will be a blast! I wish I could be there to go with you too! I am super jealous! :P But, I am in Mexico. :) We barely have time to breathe most of the time because we are so busy! I decided it doesn’t really matter where you’re serving your mission, you don’t have time to notice. But, it’s still a blast and all! :) I would really like to learn Spanish better, though. I feel REALLY comfortable talking, but I still don’t understand everything listening wise. It’s hard. I’ve asked my companions to please speak Spanish, but since we’re all English speakers, then obviously it’s habit to speak in English. I wish we wouldn’t though. I really want to speak only in Spanish. :( I just have to hope that our next transfers will bring Spanish speakers so I can improve. :) I know that eventually I will completely master the Spanish language.

Saucillo had a parade!

More parade stuff!

You asked what the hottest temperature has been down here. Well, so far it’s been 104 degrees. But summer is just starting for me. Everyone says it gets from about 110 to 115 ish. We will see later I guess! The heat is pretty bad, but also the Lord is helping me through it so it’s not that bad! :) That’s awesome about your friend and his son. Elder M is from Elder C’s generation! I don’t know him, but literally Elder C and I talked about him last night! That is super weird. What a small world, and also a cool story! :) I really hope that everything gets figured out about the house and everything. That would be great. Money wise as well. I hope that you get this job too. But I know that you will!! :)

Well, I don’t have anything else that happened this week, it was kind of a boring week, but I think we are going to have 2 more baptisms this week, and 5 total in our district of 3 companionships. :P That will be sweet. Anyway, I love you a ton and I hope that your week is awesome! Write me back!! Love you! :) You will be in my prayers! :) LOVE YOU!!!!

 

Elder Shaddick :)

P.S.  Are you still paying for my car?!

P.P.S. I burned a tie for my sixth month mark! :)

Brae's Testimony!

I wanted to add Brae’s testimony that he shared with his

sister. I thought it was so amazing and profound and I love seeing how much he has grown. Here is a portion of the letter he sent to her:

Thank you so much for your testimony Tay Tay! That was very powerful and it helped me grow my strength, faith, and testimony as well. I want to testify to you as well. If that's alright.

Brother/Sister love!! <3 <3

I want to tell you that now I have a perfect knowledge that this church is the true church. I have a perfect knowledge that Christ lives, and He is our Redeemer. And only through Him can we be saved. Our Father truly wants what’s best for us, and will do all He can to make it come to pass. I know with all my heart that He listens, loves, and cares for us. I know that He is there for you, and me, and everyone who needs and asks for Him. He is literally our Father in Heaven, and the Father of all our spirits. He is our faith, strength, and light. Remember that Christ is our rock. Through Him, we can receive all that we need. I know that we all have the Lord with us, and I know that He lives and loves us. He cries when we cry, and rejoices when we rejoice. Every time I pray the Lord reassures me. He tells me to stay calm, and he has everything under control. I put 100% of my faith in Him. And I have seen amazing miracles! Like my Spanish. I just forgot myself and realized that I am nothing. 'As for me and my strength I am nothing' but anything is possible with Him! :) Keep praying and staying strong! Please know that you ALWAYS have Him with you, and you will always have your little brother that loves you and would do anything for you! I love you Tay Tay:) I miss you!

   Élder Shaddick

May 19, 2014

Hey mommy!

That was a HUGE letter!  I really enjoyed it! Talk about a ton of stories!  How cool! That would be super nice to have a lady come help you out and clean. You literally can sell my guitar and skis on KSL and you can use the money you make to pay for her to clean the whole house! That would be awesome! Or maybe pay some movers to help out when you get everything boxed up! That would be way nice too. You can sell basically everything that’s mine, because when I get back, I will only need clothes and a room! :) I will start all the rest on my own! I’ll buy myself a newer guitar when I get back. I’ll also just leave the guitar I bought here in Mexico and give it to someone who really can’t afford to buy their own and would really appreciate it. YOU SHOULD SELL THE CHRISTMAS VILLAGE. You could make some sweet money off of that!

Daniela is a member friend of ours

What a story about Glen and his wife! That is so odd. He is such a nice guy I can’t even imagine that happening. Anyway, yeah I have realized a ton of things about our religion that I never knew before either. That is the cool part about the mission I guess! :) I have such a huge testimony about everything now its crazy.

Time is broken on the mission. Days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. That’s just the life I guess! I can’t believe I hit 6 months tomorrow! It feels like the time has gone so fast, yet I feel like I have been here for years. I know the Lord needs me here and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve.

We like to have fun!

This week has been really hard because we don’t really have much work here anymore. ALL of our investigators have been rough, so we just dropped them. We are in the process of cleaning out all of our people. Hoping we find more good ones soon! I know we will, because we are already starting to see the fruits of our prayers. Oh, the new Elder in our group is way nice! His name is Elder Uc, like ook. He is a nice kid, and can speak English almost fluently. I just want to speak Spanish though... Well, in time I guess! But I feel really good about my Spanish so it’s whatever! Oh, I am reading Jesus the Christ, and it’s INCREDIBLE. 

"You're a Flamin' Hot Missionary!"
Thanks for the package, Kati!!

Well, I love you and hope that everything goes well!  Please take care and know that you are in my prayers! I hope you have a great week! LOVE YOU MOMMY!!

Elder Shaddick :)

P. S. Read Tay’s letter with her when you can!  Love you!! :):)

May 12, 2014

Hey Mommy!

I am so happy that we got to talk yesterday as well! It made me so happy to see all of your smiling faces again! Really, I went home with a smile for the rest of the day! I can’t believe I got to see you! It was so incredible. Jackie and Jace are so perfect for each other. It blows my mind. I’m so happy that he is happy.

No way! I have an accent?! I don’t believe it! Elder C and I don’t think that either of us have an accent. But we might, who knows! Anyway, we had changes last night, and Elder C and I are STILL companions! We’ve been companions for 18 weeks! I think he is ready for a change. We get along great though. I like being with him. The Lord knows what He’s doing so I will just trust in Him. Maybe in six more weeks he’ll get that change. The only change we had here was Elder E. That will be sad to see him go today, he is awesome. I will miss him a ton! He is a cool guy! I think we are getting a Mexican companion this time. That will be good for our Spanish!

It was so good to see my puppy again! And the cats! They are adorable. I am glad to see that you haven’t run over Chancho yet! ;) jajaja! Oh, and I love your new haircut! :) You look so good! I also think you look like you’ve lost weight. Good for you! That makes me smile about your students trying to take care of me. Tell them thank you for letting me know that Mexico is the rattlesnake capital of the world. I will definitely be careful around snakes. Don’t worry! I actually haven’t even seen one snake yet.

Machete' Me!

Well I don’t have much more to say because we just talked yesterday, but I love and miss you tons! I guess I have to say my goodbyes again until next week! I love you so so very much, and I am so happy that we got to talk yesterday. It made me super happy to see that you are all happy! Take care and have a good week! I love you TONS!!! LOVE YOU!!! :):)

Elder Shaddick :)

P.S. Here is a picture of me with a Machete! And also, the adorable little daughter of one of our investigators; she tried to eat a plate of just powdered sugar! :P

I can't blame her! Who doesn't love powdered sugar?!

May 5, 2014

Hey Mommy! Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

Ya this will be super good! I will be calling you on Sunday! I will go last out of the four Elders so you will have time to go to church still! I can’t WAIT to see you next week!!!! I will get to talk for 40 minutes, and then write you again the next day! That will be amazing. Our church ends at 1:00, and we are going to our Branch President’s house to call you! So, it will be from 2 o'clock on. I will go last so that means I’ll probably Skype you around 4:30 or 5:00! That’s all the info I have on that! I can’t wait!!!!!!

Just hanging out with the guys

That’s really cool about Ty's mission call! I am so happy for him! He will LOVE his mission!! It is so amazing out here! I can’t believe you only have 6 weeks of school left this year. The time flew so fast. I really miss all of your students! I will come and visit them when I get home and give them all a hug. Although they’ll be fourth graders by then and will probably be too cool to hug. Haha! :)

So I finally played the guitar and sang Frozen for all the kids and they LOVED it! I played it again and they all sang it in Spanish. It was adorable! One time I was walking down the road, and this house was blasting, you will never believe it, Air Supply! Jajaja! I thought it was funny. The other missionaries were confused as to why I knew the song. :P

One of the cute little girls that liked wearing my new sombrero!

Let me explain the picture with the flames. Here I am in Mexico, where it gets about 130 degrees, so I figured it would only be appropriate to match it with the heat, and send a big old flaming 'Te Amo' to show how much I love my mommy! :) We made it out of gasoline, and we put styrofoam in it, and it melts in, and makes a very flammable paste. Then we stuck it on the wall and shaped it into letters that say Te’ Amo (I love you) and lit it!! :) We took the picture as fast as we could so it wouldn’t burn out. It took us about 2 hours to do it and make it work. It was a lot of trouble, but you are so worth it mommy!! :P Happy Mother’s Day to the best mom ever!!!

The flame says TE' AMO!

Also, we met this way cute little girl named Lupita, and I took pictures with her so I will send them very soon!

Lupita

Nothing much more happened this week, so I will send this now! I love you tons and tons mommy! I can’t wait to see you all in a week! That will be amazing! :) Spanish is coming along incredibly; don’t worry about that! You will just have to wait and see I guess! Love you!!!

Elder Shaddick

P.S. We are having transfers in a week, so I guess I’ll see what happens!

I have to go mommy! I don’t have any more time, but I can’t WAIT to see you next week!!!! Well I love you mommy!  SEE you next week :)