Happy Birthday Mom!

Everyone,

Hey!! So Christmas was really good! Christmas eve we only got to stay out until 9 which is kind of lame because i guess last year they were out until 10 30. First we went to one of the recent converts houses for his birthday (Christmas eve. unlucky birthday.. haha) and ate some turkey and good food. Then we went to this investigators house to have some more food! We had this stuff called pozole and its this really fatty soup with giant corn and chicken. Its super filling and when they asked me if i wanted postre (dessert) or more pozole i gave her my dish and said postre por favor but they gave me another helping of pozole and i felt like i was gonna explode haha. THEN we went and ate with this cool family and sang and everything with them We ate so much that day... I loved it.

Then Christmas was good! We had breakfast/lunch with our ward mission leader and his family and it was sooo good. They made turkey but it was stuffed and super good. Then this like apple salad thing and a pasta too. It was super good. Then we went to The member named Sergios house and I got to talk to the family!!! Super cool. I loved it. To be honest Christmas in the mission isn't the greatest and you get homesick a bit but its soo nice being able talk to your family.

After that we went back to that same families house and ate with them and took some pictures. Ever since then its been pretty chill this week. Like everyone is still on vacations and so either they are there or wont be there for another 2 weeks.

We met some really cool people to teach though and yesterday at church we had 5 people which is really good! The whole district had a lot of people. They also started sending more people to Guerrero so that should be interesting. So far I haven't heard that things are calming down really but i haven't heard anything worse either.. Either way I'm excited for this week! I have to learn the area good because my comp is going home after this week and I'll be left here to the area! I love you all and hope you have a great new years!!

Love,
Elder Marrott

Robbed, and looking forward to Christmas

I’m excited to see you for Christmas! I should have a lot of time. The only thing that I might not have is that much privacy. I’m going to be at this members house and I think he will have a lot of family over. I’ll introduce you guys and translate for you if you want! 

I still haven’t got any packages... the last one I got was the one from Katie for my birthday. Idk whats up. I think I have a chance to get something tomorrow though. I hope so...

Oh also I got robbed today.. haha. We went and played soccer at this court with this member from another ward and there was like 30 people there who were his friends and all recovering drug addicts and I left my bag on their side and I got robbed 600 pesos.. So like 40 bucks. I took it out of my account but I have no idea how much money is there.

This week was really good. We had a lot of people in the church and its really cool to be working and busy instead of just looking to see if people are home or whatnot. This week will be crazy with vacations and everything but I’ll let you know how it is on Wednesday or Thursday! Well I gotta go. Not much time this week but I’ll see you soon!!

love you!

Elder Marrott

The ceremonial 6 months burning of the Tie!

Everyone,

Hey!! This week was goooood. We have been pretty busy. I love being in this ward though!! It’s so cool. Yesterday at church we had a guy from the stake, I think, come in and give us a lesson on how to make a good ward mission plan as a ward council. Its super cool and I hope it will help us get the ward more active and involved in helping us find retain and activate all the members. There’s supposedly like 600 people in our ward but the attendance is like 100. Typical. But hopefully I can help change that!

So we found some super cool people to teach this week. First there is Stephanie and Vicente. We met Stephanie in the street, drunk, like a week ago and she told us that her husband needed to be baptized. All we really did was set an appointment with them. But then we went to visit them on Friday. The cool thing about them is they both speak English! Vicente lived 20 years in New York and that’s where they met. He has Hepatitis C and is supposed to be dead according to doctors so that’s super rough for them. Stephanie failed out of college drunk after her kids were molested and one of them died. Their story is super sad but we had a powerful lesson with them… Well I did because my comp doesn’t speak much English haha. They’re going to take a ton of work but hopefully it will all turn out for the good for them.

 Then there’s Susana and Delilah, this mother and daughter that we just met in the street. Well actually we went up to her to help her clean the front of her house because I’m ridiculously tall haha. Then they invited us back and we had a great lesson with them! Susana is super funny. She says she’s an atheist thanks to God. Or pretty much that she doesn’t call herself by any religion. She also did this cool example with religions and a pyramid and Catholicism at the bottom and the Mormons at the top! We really are the salt of the earth haha.

Anyways that’s us right now. Busy and working hard. It’s been a bit hard lately to get people to church, like always, but hopefully we can turn that around. Pray for us!

So yes people here still decorate a lot for Christmas. There’s actually a lot of lights and stuff up and its really cool! The trees are a lot smaller but there’s still a lot. Makes me a bit homesick... The weird part is that it’s like 80-85 during the day. I miss snow this time of year.

Also as for the food it’s basically all tortilla with an assortment of beans, salsa, cream cheese, and meat, just different varieties and stuff. But last Monday during the night I tried Molotes for the first time. Soo goood. It’s basically a deep fried taco with lettuce, tomato (oh yeah I actually like tomato now...) and salsa. I love it. I’m trying to learn how to make everything so that I can make it when I get back.

Well I love you all! Merry Christmas! Take care and have a great week!

Love

Elder Marrott

At 6 months, you burn a tie!

And...6 months done!!

Baptism's and a Tall Christmas Tree Elder

Everyone

Hey!! This week was fast! Christmas is coming up and there's actually a lot of decorations around! Its still pretty hot. Supposedly its like the coldest it gets during the year right now. After the sun goes down there's always people wearing like blankets and big coats because they're cold. Its pretty funny. I always tell them its not cold. Cold is when you walk our of your house and take a big breath through your nose and its completely frozen. Yeahhhhh Rexburg.. I don't miss that haha. I do miss snow though. I feel like being a missionary in it would suck though haha. 

So there's this store here called Waldo´s. I'm pretty sure its part of Walmart but its like this dollar store that has a ton of good stuff! I found peach ohs and DUCT TAPE!!! tons of american candy and root beer! I love it. Also Hot chocolate. That just made me miss snow even more.. I LOOOVE the food here though. This morning we went to eat with this less active lady who sells like quesadillas and stuff and oh man.. Its my favorite thing here. I learned how to make the salsa that they have here at least. But I'm going to buy maza and everything else to make some delicious tlacoyos, dobladas, gorditas, molotes, picadas, quesadillas. Man.. Its all so good. I also miss fake mexican food from taco bell soooo much. 

So yesterday on the way to church I was on divisions with one of the other elders that lives with us to pass by some people to bring them to church and we passed by this lady who was wearing a huge coat and laying against a wall next to the street. She looked like she had slept there like all night. My comp goes up to her and contacts her and invites her to come to church and she came with us! her name is Flor and shes pretty cool. She lives in another area so i wont get to teach her but it was so cool to see her go to church and actually stay for all 3 hours! It was a pretty cool experience. Honestly our area has been struggling a bit in finding new people to teach that are excited and ready to learn about the gospel but i know the Lord is still doing his work and as a missionary I'm included in that. I loved it. 

My Spanish is also getting a ton better! I feel pretty confident to talk to anyone and its super cool. It blows my mind that I'm bilingual sometimes haha. 

Saturday we had our Christmas conference! It was super cool. We had a white elephant gift exchange and i gave this shirt that a kid in our ward printed that said This is my Pday shirt and then on the back said Mexico Cuernavaca Mission. Super cool. I was really happy to give it. I got playdoh haha. I got robed like 5 times though!! I guess i just have lucky hands because they were all from choosing a new gift. It was super fun though and its cool to recognize more and more missionaries at each conference because I know more from old areas. 

Well take care everyone. I hope things are going good. I love you all!!

Elder Marrott

New Area, new ward.

Everyone,

Hey guys! This week was really good. Crazy. First week in a new area so I learned a ton. I really like my comp though. He’s actually not from the DF (distrito federal) but just from the state of mexico. He’s pretty cool. Kind of outspoken haha but I like him. He teaches me a lot and we work good together. He doesn’t speak much English at all and we always talk Spanish to each other but I think it’s helped me a lot to learn Spanish. 

I also had my first day in church here in my new ward yesterday! It’s pretty cool to be in a full ward instead of just a little branch. We have a pretty good assistance and a ward mission leader!! I love it. We get to go out with a member almost every day and its sooo much more effective to teach a lesson with a member. There’s still a lot of less actives but that’s how it is. It’s really cool though and I love it. 

I’m still getting to know a ton more people but I’m probably going to stay here after I kill my comp (send him home) and I might even train, who knows. It’s going to be good though. Kind of weird being still in Cuautla but I like it. It’s one less thing to learn since I’m in the same city. 

We went to Sam´s club today and it was really cool. There’s a lot of stuff and it’s almost just like Costco but everything was in bulk and I didn’t really want that... Walmart is better. But I did find some good candies in bulk :). 

This week will be cool. We are going to have our Mission Christmas devo conference and that will be way cool. It’s going to be Saturday and we are doing a skit about Moroni and Pahoran when they were writing back and forth. I play a lot of parts in it because I’m tall haha. It’s gonna be cool. Also we are going to do a White elephant gift exchange so that will be cool. I’m having a guy in the ward print this cool Mormon shirt. 

Well I love you guys all so much!! I appreciate the support and everything and I really feel the love. Have a great week!!

Elder Marrott