So this week was really super fun. Monday was Halloween so me and elder Wilson, the other American, we purchased pumpkins that they grow here in Ascension. It was funny because the guy that was selling them to us was like it good for soup and other weird stuff to eat. I wasn´t really interested in eating it but that´s how it was. We carved pumpkins and all of that. Our Latino companeros weren’t really interested in celebrating Halloween. I don´t know why, it´s pretty much the second biggest celebration of the year. Elder Wilson bought candies and our landlords gave us dead day bread. It was a great celebration. 

Wednesday was day of the dead. It was really hard to contact and have lessons because everybody was in the grave yard. I always thought that it was a weird celebration but it is the equivalent of Memorial Day just Mexican version. The family goes to the grave yard, cleans it up, puts flowers there, has bands sing and the have a big dinner of what the person liked; to celebrate them. Maybe in south Mexico they do it different but in the north they don´t take the people out of the graves or make alters or leave food. I asked them about that and they told me that that is just stupid but in Spanish of course. 

So this day because there was nobody in the roads we went to the grave yard and sang for the people in the graves but not the people below but upstairs as Shakespeare says. The ones that are alive. Hopefully you guys don´t think that what we did was super rude because it was really natural and they loved it. Besides if they can sing banda I think that it is ok to sing church hymns. That was a lot of fun. 

Friday I had my cumpleaño. I was super excited. I didn´t even realized that I completed a year until I was in the shower. I wanted to have a big party and invite the whole neighborhood but we had a lot of work that day so my party kind of got canceled. We ended up having a bag of Doritos and a Sprite. It´s funny because the Doritos here are spicy but like child’s play spicy. I gave some to my companion and I guess it was really spicy for him. He was sweating a lot and panting like a tired dog. I felt bad because it´s not spicy sooo he´s got some problems I guess when they really turn up the heat someday.

Well that was about it in my party week. We had interviews with president two days ago and he really encouraged me to keep up the work. It was a good meeting.

Élder Nelson

Happy Halloween and dead people day. I hope that you guys don´t get a bunch of canker soars and cavities from all of the candy. I’m not really sure if the Chona is going to have a party because I´ve never been in Mexico in oct 31 and this will be my last time so I’ll have to pay good attention. 

So this week was a little bit rough but it valed the pena (españgles). It was worth all of the pain. So this Sunday was really cool I felt like Elsa in Frozen when she sings “for the first time in forever” because we finally had investigators in the chapel. I probably looked ridiculous when they came in because my face was like when the little kids know something that you don´t know and they have that grin. It was really cool. 

The family that came is actually really interesting because they are like Lamanitas but the Nefitas that joined up not to be killed in the end so not really Lamenaites but close. They live right in front of a member and they came here from Guerrero Mexico to work in the fields. What´s really interesting and cool but frustrating and sometimes hard is that their first language is Mixteco which is a dialect of Mexican which is a dialect of Spanish as my Colombian companero would say. SO it´s cool but teaching is a little bit harder. When we say “will you read the Book of Mormon and pray about it” they can´t read. The truth is that they can talk but they don´t really understand concepts because they are not very educated. But they came to church so that´s good enough for me.

Actually, now that I think about it Ascension is a lot like the movie McFarland. They work in the field and I saw a quince años once so that was similar. They don´t run here but they have a high school with a soccer team I think. But it´s cool. 

Well I´ll let you guy enjoy all of your candy. Send me pictures of your costumes.  

I hope that you guys have had a great week. Hopefully it’s starting to cool down and is feeling fresher. 

This week that passed went really good for us. The mission made a goal that every area would pass the goal of 22 lessons this week. We started off the week really rough. Tuesday we didn`t have anything at all. By Thursday we had only 7 lessons and a deficit of 15 lessons only to reach 22. So Wednesday we kicked into high gear and ended up getting 7 lessons and Saturday 6 and Sunday we ended the week with 23 lessons. I was really happy because I didn`t think that we were going to get anywhere close.

Here we have the carnival in town. I think that they are packing it up right now but it was a fun two weeks. I didn`t go on any rides or visit any of the shops but we had a bunch of contacts in the street.

Sometimes as missionaries we get really defensive about our areas. We are like the dogs that say (bark) MY YARD MY YARD MY YARD. Sometimes we get frustrated with the other elders when none of our investigators show and they have a family of 8 in the meeting. What helps me is to really listen and to never complain. I have learned a lot of patience here. When the leaders make changes instead of fighting against it I always try to beat the goal. The best thing that has helped me is to pray and pray and pray.

I have to go sorry for the short letter.