November 18, 2013 - Waiting for interviews, robbed again

Hey kids. So it's just another crazy pants week here is Mexico. Sometimes are much better than others.

On Wednesday, I had my first second interview with the mission president (we have them every three months). We had to be there at 11:10am to be interviewed. We got there at 11. I don't know what happened with the planning and such, but we waited until 3:30 and didn't leave until 4. So that was SUUUUPER GREAT. We get lectured on not baptizing enough, but it's a little hard teach when we are waiting for interviews for 5 hours.

Then on Thursday into Friday, we had divisions again. This time I was out of my area again, with another native companion. I don't love divisions, because its real tough trying to learn a new language, area, and companion when you are with other companions all the time. We finished divisions on Friday at 2pm. The four of us went to our house to get Elder Jenkins's's's stuff, because he was with Elder Lux. When we walked in, the back door was wide open and it was a stinky pants like cigarettes. We got robbed, yet again. They took 500 pesos of Elder Lux, elder Jenkins' electric razor charging cord, (only the cord, not the razor), and our DVD player, with our copy of the District, (Thieves don't use too much of their brain). So that's that.

On Saturday, we had this huge event in the chapel that was from 9am to 2pm, called autosuffiency, it just had a bunch of booths teaching people about stuff like food storage and personal security, etc. That was a good thing, it was to help get the name of the church out there a little bit more...

Then on Sunday, we had a huge meeting with Elder Martinez of the 70, with all the missionaries from Morelia, Uruapan, and Areopuerto, and all of our/their mission leaders, bishops, and other people like YM/YW presidencies. He pretty much just grilled all of the members for not helping us as much. I feel like the members help us a ton. But someone felt they needed a'grilling.

Today, I have to go to Guadalajara again. I have to renew my visa. Why I couldn't do it when I was there last week... I don't know. Last night we did divisions once again so I slept in Elder Jenkins' house again. He is the one from Eden - super great. American companions are super fun, and probably not the best thing, because we just end up talking allll night. 

Honestly, between interviews, district meetings, mission meetings, 2 Guadalajara trips, 3 nights and 3 days of divisions, I have had about no time to do anything. I finished the Book of Mormon this week. That was great. I like that book more and more each day. 

Dad asked about my spanish. Spanish is good, yet tough, as a new language ought to be. There is lots of stuff I don't understand, but in my language study, I study my guts out because everything else I study, such as the scriptures and preach my gospel and all that does not apply if I can't talk with the people. I can talk with more and more people, but not all that well. Buuuuut when I think that I've only really been learning Spanish for a little bit more than 2 months, it's quite impressive what I can do. 

I HOPE SIMON IS HAVING THE HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY.

I love you guys tons, and you guys are the coolest. Things are great in Mexico, and I am loving it.

Elder Hulme.

If you are a thief, choose this place

Some of my favorite graffiti art

More graffiti art

One of my favorite cookies to buy

November 11, 2013 - Dishwashers, Cajeta, Mr. Spirit, Do's and Don'ts

This last week has been really crazy. 

We went to Guadalajara yesterday, all the elders and sisters that have been out here the same amount of time as me had to go to Guadalajara. Yesterday after sacrament meeting we got on a combi, and rode to the central. The central is pretty much just your intermodal hub, where all the big buses that go places go. The combi ride was about a half hour, then we waited for a little bit for the next bus to Guadalajara, which took about three and half hours, we waited for a different kind of bus, and took that to the mission office. All in all total of the travel was about 6 hours. The buses that take us to Guadalajara are really nice. They have little tablet sort of things on every seat, and they have a whole bunch of movies loaded up on them. So that is what everyone does, except missionaries. They also have music we can't listen to and whole bunches of stuff like that.

So we got to the mission offices and waited for a little. All this was a pretty good experience because I got to see all my old MTC pals - this was all fun. Once we were in the mission offices, we waited for a while and then we all slept in one of the houses of the secretaries. Eight elders and one bathroom is less than fun, but it all worked out. One of the secretaries was asking if anyone else was going to shower in the night, I figured I would ask him if he wanted me to shower at night. So I did, but I accidentally asked "do you want to bathe me," so that was a really good laugh. In the morning, we went back to the mission offices which were pretty close. We got to eat breakfast at the mission home.

The mission home is super killer nice, and we ate watermelon and cantaloupe and then this chili stuff with a crap ton of tortillas, and some beans. It was tasty. They had carpet and a dishwasher. This was the second room with carpet I've seen in Mexico, and the First Dishwasher. DISHWASHERS ARE GREAT APPLIANCES. But I've actually grown to not mind the lack of dishwasher. It also helps that the amount of dishes we have are pretty minimal as well. After we ate, and shared stories, we went to a chapel, and had a training meeting, woooooooo. It was a training meeting. Then we did the whole busing back and forth. We did tons of busing the past day, and we is exhausted. 

Next item of business. On Friday into Saturday, I had divisions with my zone leader. This is just where you work with them for a day. It was super awesome. Our district leader is Elder Jenkins, from Eden UT. He did the majority of the teaching, but I had 2 grand experiences with him. 1) We went to this partial-member family's home, and they call the grandma "grandma cookie." She is one of those super sweet old ladies who loves missionaries and loves to give them cookies. We were teaching the Gospel of Christ, and kind of focusing on repentance/the atonement. And before the lesson, we ate a ton of cookies and cajeta. Cajeta is love, it is just this caramel stuff, oh and a lot of the cookies here are just like graham crackers in circle form. So yeah, after devouring 2 packs of cookies and a whole jar of cajeta, we were talking about the atonement. I jumped on in there and shared my testimony of the atonement. It was an incredible experience, one of those where there is power behind the words, to where when the words are said, you feel it, and I hoped that everyone was feeling it as well as I was. The spirit was super strong, in so much that all could feel the spirit, despite my broken Spanish. 2) Next experience, we go to visit a drama queen, who conveniently owns a counterfeit clothing store. But we were talking with her and she was letting loose on us with all her problems. Eventually I jumped in with a little bit of a prayer lesson. I really like prayer and I really like telling people how cool prayer is. So we talked about prayer for a while and how it can help us with so many things, and once again that there Mr. Spirit was there. 

On Saturday we had a ward activity, Called "viaje a Hawaii" (trip or travel to Hawaii). It was for the missionaries to score some investigators. Pretty much we had tickets that we would give to members who thought they might have people that were interested in the church, and then they brought them to the activity. It went really well. The story was that everyone that attended, was going to Hawaii. Elder Lux and I, the pilots, totes crashed the plane and killed them all. There was a slide show and sound effects, the works, but when they died, we had an angel come out and took them to all the kingdoms of glory that were possible, starting with OUTERDARKNESS. We had rooms all decorated and it was actually really well-done. We have been planning it since the week I got here. So yeah, We haven't gotten to contact any of the new references because we have been in Guadalajara or on a bus, but time will come.

Those are the mega points of my week. Mom you asked about Maydena. Maydena is good, she is also a huge stressor..... Maydena wants to be baptized, but she is the breadwinner for her family and just barely got a job. She works always, and we are trying to find a time when she can be baptized, buuuuut, she works every Sunday, so she can't be confirmed. This is another problem, if you are a member of the church, and you don't go to church, you are inactive, sooooo, should we baptize someone who will INSTANTLY, be inactive? I DON'T KNOW. The bishop and our mission president say yes becauuuuse they want numbers, they want baptisms, they want those to increase. And I just wanna say, "Do you want numbers or true conversions? Because I'd bet you we could walk out into the street and say to some Tuesdays (homeless people), "who wants a free bath?" and we could get them some numbers. BUT ITS ALL GOOD. 

Momma Bear here are answers to your questions:

1. We are in a house, it has 2 bedrooms, kind of like a living room, which is where we sleep, the bedrooms are just used as closets, and a bathroom, and a "kitchen." I would send pictures, but I forgot my camera at the house, so that is good. 

2. We walk a bunch, use a bunch of combis and not as many buses on a typical day. Every day is different. We try not to use combis a ton because you burn through your money really quick, really really quick. But we walk a ton, but other areas that don't have combis walk more.

3. Oh gosh... do people have pets. One family has easily over 25 birds, and when we eat there you feel like you are in some sort of a zoo or birdhouse. It can be really beautiful, or reallllllly annoying. A lot of people have dogs. I am yet to see any sort of other pet other than fish. Some dogs are treated like Gold, some aren't. There is this one family that has THE NASTIEST looking dog I have ever seen. It a large dog, larger than Decca, with super long white fur. Buttttt, the dog was so old and so un-groomed, its fur was about six inches long, and the dog was sooo incredibly nappy that the fur had just turned into dreadlocks  - big dreadlocks about 3-4 inches wide - not kidding in the slightest. The beast is so putrid that the family doesn't  touch it. They use a broom to push it away from them. It was really quite gross, and comical simultaneously. Also we have lizards that live under our porch. I have yet to name them for lack of a great name, but one will come to me. 

4. I see butterflies. I have not seen any huge ones, but you see a few a day. I would like to see more, and more huge ones.

5. Yes we keep our doors locked and lock the gate. The gas thief did not get a way with the gas, but he moved it about six feet and cut the line. We have hot water now. Except, I like to think of our boiler as a pubescent girl/boy/teen. It decides when it wants to cooperate, and it just depends on your luck.

All of your family things sound super cool. Except for the poor person that crashed into Starfie, That dent will just add more character to Starfie... One cool thing about Mexico is the cars. People are really funny about stuff. They will drive a piece of crap car, with suuuuper nice rims, and suuuuper nice stereo system, and live in a terrible house, and eat nothing, but they have a really nice stereo system. PRIORTIES.

I'm super close to finishing the Book of Mormon. I like the famous quote that goes something like "if we don't learn from history, we are destined to repeat it." All the Nephites and Lamanites and Jarodites and all those cats never really understood that. They become righteous, then they start seeking for money and idols and fornication, and then they are sad, and then some amazing prophet comes along and teaches them to change, and then the next generation falls in. I want to be the kind of guy that can learn from my mistakes, and not fall back into them, a lot easier said than done.

I sure do love all of you guys and I hope all of your weeks are super duper. And if they aren't CHANGE IT. Also easier said than done. Also that is really great that Sandee has a baptismal date.

Love you all. Stay sweet. And stay strong, and remember who you are, and be polite, and always say thank you, and dab not scrub when you spill mole on your tie, and don't get ingrown fingernails, and don't eat food that gives you diarrhea.

---Elder H U L M E heeyullllme

November 4, 2013 - 3rd week in Camelinas, kitchen, washing, and burgler

Glad to hear from you as always. I'm loving Mexico. We had an awesome week this last week.

 

As far as our celebrations here, well, they were pretty uneventful. On Halloween, we were in meetings and appointments during all the night time hours, so we didn't really get to see many costumes. And then I couldn't really tell what was going on for the 2-day celebrations for Day of the Dead. All three nights there were trick-or-treaters with pretty lame costumes. They would just put a boring mask on or paint their face with whiskers. So honestly, I don’t even know what goes on with Day of the Dead.

 

The food in Mexico is absolutely splendid. I have forced myself to like spicy food. I hated it before, and now I've tricked myself into loving it. You asked about our cooking situation. It is pretty pathetic. Today I purchased my own cooking pot with my personal money, because the offices wouldn’t reimburse it. We have a mini fridge, a camp stove, a sink, 2 forks, 1 spoon (no knives), 2 bowls, 3 cups, a small frying pan, and my new blue pot. But it’s all good, we survive.

 

We wash our clothes out back. We have a sort of washing station where we fill up a bucket with water and soap, put in our clothes to soak, then we put an item on the scrubby part of the table and scrub away. Yes, I hand wash all of my clothing, then we hang it up to dry. The clothes get clean, but they are not at all soft. But it’s all good.

 

There are cybers around, right now we are in Camelinas, which is near the chapel and there is a cyber, which is just like a room with computers.

 

Elder Lux and I have been teaching quite a bit. We have one investigator --Maydena H. who we have been teaching tons. She is doing very well. Our other four investigators we have been trying to teach a lot, but they keep on bailing, which is frustrating. When we invite them to church they just say "we'll see if God wants me to go to church on Sunday." So pretty much they want it to be spelled out in their Cheerios that morning, "Go to church". But it’s all right. All of our investigators are listening to the lessons and are very interested. My teaching is improving a ton. I can teach in Spanish surprisingly well, but I have tons of room to improve. The people talk so fast and when they repeat themselves they say it even faster.

 

Hmmmm what have I learned this last week? I learn a ton. I finally feel mostly comfortable with all the parts of our area. If I know who we are going to visit, I can pretty well manage to get us there.

 

Elder Lux is the best. Before, he was studying to be an accountant but that is not really what he wants to be - he doesn’t know. He likes soccer, and just being a good dude.

 

My purpose of being a missionary more or less is just enhanced, I don't think it has completely changed. Its like if you have brownies, then you decided to add some mint frosting, then topped it all off with some Andes mints or something. You get the point. Right now I'd say my purpose, is... And this struck me pretty hard while in the MTC, is this: In Moses 1:39, God states his purpose, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. And I figure my purpose is to help fulfill God’s purpose, and that’s what keeps me out here. I'm out here serving, devoting everything I got to help out the Creator. It’s crazy how much my love for our family has grown in the past little bit. Mom and dad worry so much about us hooligans, and they want the best for us, God is our Heavenly father, he worries for us he hopes the best for us, and I want to make my God proud. In one of our devotionals in the MTC, Elder Baxter said, "You leave your families for a little bit to help others be with theirs forever."  I think that is incredible. That is the other thing I want to do: Help - help everyone. While in the MTC, I decided to study at least 15 minutes a day on charity. And it made me want to be more charitable, and I try to do more charitable acts every day.

 

Mexico is so rad! I love it here, it is honestly fun. As far as the cars go, there are very, very, very nice cars, and there are some of the largest pieces of junk you have ever seen. Something must have happened with Volkswagon here in Mexico because there are tons and tons of Volkswagons, super cool old ones and super cool new ones. DONT LET STARFIRE DIE!!!! I love Starfie. I need to write Simon and tell him to take care of her.

 

The diversity of people that we work with is great. We work with people who have very, very nice cars and pretty much make bank, and we work with people who work their butts off all day long and make 100 pesos (less than ten US dollars) a day. It is so humbling, we are so blessed. Also the area that I'm in is a very large city and has really civilized part. My area has kind of three neighborhoods in it: Santa Maria, which is a beast of a hill and is quite a bit more poor, then we also have Camelinas, which is a flatter part of the city. The transportation here is super fun. The Combi's (pronounced cahmbee) are these little vans that have seats for 16 people, but you can cram about 22 in there. They drive recklessly, as does everyone here. They all have a different color and each color a different route. They are always running and rarely do you ever have to wait more than 5 minutes, so that is the best. Also, it is a good way to contact people, but my Spanish is not all that great yet, so I get really, really nervous.

 

Oh man I can't believe I almost forgot to share this story, this is a fun one:

The Burglar

I'm asleep, I love to sleep, who doesn't at 3:30am? Elder Lux wakes me up, and I'm so incredibly confused, saying, "como? como? que? mande?" He is shusshing me, so at this point I’m just confused. He is continually looking out the window and over his shoulder. Then, Elder Lux runs over into my room, which is just a closet, and turns on the light. I'm just lost, so I just sit there in my bed. He runs back, is looking out the window, I say "elder que esta pasando" what is happening? He tries to explain this to me. A man threw some rocks at our window to see if anyone was awake or home (of course I slept through that), then he intruded into our gate. I will send photos of the house, but we have somewhat of a side where you can walk to the back. This person had opened the gate and gone to the back. After Elder Lux turned on the light, the man ran away. But a few minutes later, he returned. I'm freaking out and just praying my guts out for safety and comfort. After the guy returned, Elder Lux turned on more lights, then the guy ran off again. At some point, while in the back, the savage of a man cut our gas line in attempt to steal our gas tank. This stunk because for the next two days we had to shower in freeeeezing water, easily the coldest water I've ever showered in. We now have more safety precautions for the house and don't worry, we are safe. It was a thrilling experience.

 

You and Dad are the best people I could ever ask for in my life. I love you all so much. Also, could you send some more photos of the family? Some people want to see photos of my family but I don’t want to tamper with the photo albums I have. Thanks for all you do for me.

-elder hulme

October 28, 2013 - 2nd Week in Camelinas, near Morelia

Greetings from Mexico! Things in mexico are good. A super huge rainstorm just hit and poured out tons and tons of rain for a few minutes, then it changed into just a really large amount of rain. Speaking of the weather, the weather is a bit odd; this last week for 2 days in a row, it was absolutely freezing- I could see my breath outside, and it was just chilly chilly, probably nothing to what you guys are feeling in utah right now. 

Mom, thanks for the update, with all the stuff that happened in the past week, it sounds like you guys did a ton and had tons of fun. I'm assuming that the Costco/Winco/mall trip was for the Germans to purchase souvineers and food to take back to Germany, or that you just wanted some help getting groceries. Mom, you and Jette doing the zipline and then driving the Alpine loop sounds similar to our mini family vacation that we did just before I left. Also I'm a bit jealous of you guys getting to play in Provo Canyon while the leaves are a-changing. Probably shouldn't tell you this, but at this time of the year, usually this next week (because the end of term is always near my birthday), me and Jonny, or me and my friends, would end up skipping our class after lunch when it was nice and sunny and warm and either go hike in the canyon or drive the Alpine loop. GOOD TIMES. 

The weather here is different. Right now it is always changing, but from what I have heard, October-February is cold, March-May is hottttt, June-August is rainy, and September is lovely. I've been experiencing quite a bit of lovely, with some cold and some rain, but it is all good. 

Thank you for all the birthday wishes and love. This birthday was a little bit more odd, and yes it is easy to forget. I remembered in the morning, but I decided to wait until night to open my gifts. THANKS SO MUCH! They are all so great, but easily my favorite is the pictures... they mean so much to me. I am yet to figure out what I will do with the brownie mix because we are without an oven and any sort of vessel large enough to mix that up. I'll figure it out. 

The past week, the streets of Mexico have exploded with the little skulls for Day of the Dead, which is a different holiday than Halloween. I'm really excited to see how they celebrate all that in the next couple of days. Today we were walking and I stopped at a little cart to see how much one of the large skulls cost, my clumsy self accidently kicked the table, and knocked one of the skulls down. Moral of the story: I got to pay for a candy skull that I didn't get to eat. Oh well, life is good. 

Tacos al pastor are awesome, and we ended up eating at the same place for the same tacos the next day. This week a member fed us this awesome seafood salad. It had -surimi- which i am still trying to figure out what that is. But it was super tasty. Also on my birthday Elder Lux bought a tres leches cake, and it was super tasty (nothing like yours mom), but it was really good.  Also, on Thursday, I ate something that did not agree with my stomach, needless to say, the bathroom and I became good friends.

One day while in the MTC, I remember thinking about how much I have always enjoyed getting counsel from Mom, Dad, and Xander. I look up to you guys sooo much you have no idea. This week I was reading in Alma, chapters 36-42. It consists of alma giving counsel to his sons Helaman, Shiblon and Coriantum. I really enjoyed this. I think in 38 or 39 Alma tells Coriantum to counsel with his brothers, and this reminded me of all the awesome chats Xander and I have had. Man I love you guys a ton.

Mom you asked about how we cannot just go around knocking on doors. It is true, and I know that a lot of missions are doing that. In Mexico, it can be a little tough when our appointments fall through or lessons end early, and we have a little bit of time that we have no idea what to do with. We do our best. 

All is well, Mexico is super pretty.

With love ---Elder Hulme

October 21, 2013 - 1st Week in Camelinas, near Morelia

HELLOS

My friends and family, we did it. I've almost been in Mexico for one week, and it is the coolest thing.  I am in Camelinas, and from what I can tell, or what dad said, Morelia is about the size of Salt Lake. Today for special p-day purposes, we were in the centro of Morelia. It is absolutely beautiful. 

I am talking more in lessons but not a lot. We have lessons every day, and we have some investigators and we also go and visit with a lot of less actives and recent converts. We have a lunch appointment every day, except Mondays, we go to a members home and eat their food, it is awesome. It is like our Sunday dinners where you eat too much and talk. We aren't supposed to stay longer than one hour. One interesting thing is that, typically, we eat anywhere from 200pm-400pm, so when you eat breakfast at 730, and maybe like a snack before you leave the house, sometimes we are just starving when the lunch time starts and we just devour the food. The food here is toooooo incredible, it makes me want to cry. Just about  a half hour ago I pounded 8 el pastor tacos, and loved every every every minute of it, you would be so proud of me. And all the other food is grand, just grand. My first meal with a member was mole poblano and it was exquisite. Other things I have eaten: tortas, hamburgers, other tacos, just everything, the fruit here is super tasty as well, you just have to know what to eat. I've really taken a liking to tunas- they are these little green guys, about the size of a pear, and they have a super hard skin. You take off the peel, and just eat it, the seeds are always kind of tough, but the whole fruit is super good. Also, we have tons of guavas, I like those. The other night I bought 4 tunas and a grapefruit for 4 pesos, so less than 40 cents, needless to say, I was happy. 

The people here are the best things that have ever happened. Everyone is so nice, and just loves you, even when you don't know them. Last night we ate with the Abarca family, they are awesome, have 3 kids, but only one is a member and he is 11, they have been members for about 5 years, They want to go to the states, so I told them they could stay with us for a bit around christmas in 2015. Don't know if it'll happen, but I would love it if they stayed with us. I spent a little over one hour with them and it was awesome.  I dont have a ton of time today, because I spent a lot of my email time trying to fill out reimbursment forms for the bills we had to pay.

Church is different. All the floors in Mexico are tile, so when kids are running around it echoes a ton. It is also a bit weird not having a bazillion members-I think we had less than 100 in church yesterday, and our gospel principles had about 12. But it is good, our bishop is a bit intimidating but nice at the same time. We do in fact have investigators, one has a baptismal date for 11/26,  then there is a girl who we will most likely be baptized pretty soon. 

The language - language is good and a tough. I am learning a lot every day, but  you can´t quantify it. The only way I can explain it is, I have to ask Elder Lux to repeat himself less, which is still a ton. I have such a hard time understanding everyone, they all speak so fast it is ridiculous.

We do not have any other elders in our apartment, it is just us two. I sleep on the top bunk, which I cannot say I love because I know that one day I'm going to fall the 5 feet onto the tile. 

I'm loving most everything here. Friday and Saturday were two of the worst days, because there was a training meeting for all the trainers, (Elder Lux), so I had to go on a split for two days, with a new companion. He was nice, but for whatever reason, I was down, and grouch-a-pillar the whole two days- I didn't want to be but I was. It was just so hard being in another area that i did not know, with another companion that I did not know, trying to talk to people that I did not know, and I know I have to do all that stuff in my area, but it was different. We got chased by a dog, about the size of decca, but less fat, with much sharper looking teeth. It was behind its fence, but it had dug a hole large enough for it to fit under. As we passed, it escaped the mighty mighty fence and tried to chased us about twenty yards. It gave us a good laugh. As soon as I got on the cambí on our way home to Camelinas, I felt happy again and like I was home, it was weird.

CAMBÍS. They rock. They cost 7 pesos, they are pretty much the size of a swagger wagon. You can fit 20 people into them - driver, passenger, and then the back just has seats around the perimeter and everyone piles in. All the cars here are stick shift and everyone drives them so crazy, it's super fun. 

Love you, thanks have a good week

October 16, 2013

Hello all you crazy hooligans... You{re probably wondering why I get to email. Its because my companion had to travel all his pday to pick me up from the mission office essentially. So we are in a cyber right now, there is some sort of crazy awesome band playing outside in the street, i just purchased bananas, tomatoes, fresh bread and cantaloupe, and I am loving Mexxxxxico. 

Run down of how things went:

We flew to Texas, had a short layover, got on the flight to Mexico, that was fun, the sun was setting for part of it and it was super beautiful... We landed, did customs and all of those lovely things, one of the elders in my district put the wrong nationality or something and so the customs people totally pulled him into scary back room and made sure he was not a criminal. Once we got all of our bags and things, we walked into the main part of the airport. We met our mission president, wife and all of the secretaries. We landed at around 8:30pm or so.

Then we got into all the cars and they took us out to eat at a restaurant in Guadalajara, I don{t know the name of it, but they have the guinness book record for fastest serving time, so that was really cool, and the food was SO TASTY. I don{t know what I ate, but it had some sort of meat and this bacon, and it was in like a soup, then there were these beans and corns sort of stuff that you ate kind of like Xanders roti. Also the horchata was super tasty.

After that, they took us to the mission office, where we had about 4 minutes to grab everything we needed to get ready for the next day. Me and 3 elders in my district walked with 2 of the secretaries to their apartment and slept there for the night. It was soooo hot, and there was a lot of sweating. But honestly, I{m starting to get used to being a sweaty mess any time I go outside. The next day, we got ready for the day, we went to the mission offices, had our trainings and things, and had a really quick interview with the mission president. 

The buses here are a riot. All the vehicles I{ve ridden in so far have been stick shift, and it seems like everyone here doesnt even try to shift smoothly, it is sooo funny, but the bus drivers here, (and everyone else) drive absolutely insane, everyone drives fast and jerky, and it so so much fun. We went to the chapel, had lunch which was like a taco salad, then we sat in the chapel and had somewhat of a devotional and got our companions.

I am stoked on my companion, he is 1.56m tall, which is not very, probably weighs about as much as one of my thighs, and is the coolest. His name is elder Lux, and he is from Guatemala and he cannot remember my name, but I love him. He is very very helpful with Spanish and does not get mad when I say "como" every second, por que he talks super fast and I can never understand him. Oh and they also gave us our assignments. This brings me to my area, which also, I could not be more excited about, Im in Morelia, it is beautiful and my area is called Camelinas. But we are in Morelia, it is beautiful but the past hour is really the only time i have seen in because we got in late last night. 

We went back to the chapel, and then we got on a bus, this bus ride seemed like it took a very long time. We got to our destination, then got on the other bus, the bus to take us to Morelia. Both the bus rides were nice, they were air conditioned, the second one was very fancy, but we were on it for 3.5 hours. Once we arrived in Morelia, we got a taxi to take us to our house. The taxi driver was so funny. I did not comprehend one word he said - he had this super high kind of nasally voice, but it wasnt wimpy, it was high, nasally, and strong - weird combination. This guy was super hunchbacked and also weighed not very much. But he was a safe driver.

We got to our house, and houses here are very different. When you walk into ours it is kind of similarly shaped to a typical family room, but the bunkbeds are right by the door, then at the foot of the beds, there are desks where we study. Then there is a small kitchen, with a small fridge, a camp stove and a sink. There are two other rooms, which are both just used as closets. I like our bathroom - it is this awful awful pink color, but I like it. Whilst using the toilet, I feel somewhat how Buddy the Elf does in the movie Elf. Our toilet is teeny tiny and wicked close to the floor.

I started to unpack last night when we got home, and then finished this morning. But last night most of our time was taken up by planning. This morning we had our typical missionary schedule of personal study, companion study, language study, and then since I{m a fresh crop, we have another hour of training, we then start our work at 1200. 

I am loving Mexico. I am not loving this keyboard, because i don{t think there is an apostrophe in Spanish, sooooo every time you see these {{{{{{{{ That means I{m trying to use an apostrophe but I can{t... I simply can{t.

We did it ladies and gentlermens estamos aquí estamis en mexico.  I{m so excited to be here. Things are different and trying to hear what people say is just crazy, but I{m loving it and cant wait for what at least the next 12 weeks in Morelia have in store. 

Love you guys all so much have awesome weeks. 

October 9, 2013

I actually didn't get your package and letters yesterday. I thought you guys were shunning me, for some reason. Elder Hulme had a week without letters. BUT! I got all the letters and packages today, and it was awesome.  I saw the chips and automatically knew there was going to be salsa. and I've already eaten a lot of it. Thanks so so so so so so much, I love all those goodies.

Elder Hulme's district with their teacher, who had brought them each a used tie on their last day. 

Yes, I could hear the music walking to and from the main campus yesterday. I always did like those band competitions. Unfortunately, I was in the devotional when Timpview played, but I heard people practicing and playing when walking. It was fun. I'm glad they did well. But I'm sorry that they didn't clean house it... But at the same time, I'd bet the band room doesn't have very much room for more trophies they have won so many stinkin' competitions. 

I also cannot believe that I'll be in mexico in less than a week. I honestly cannot wait. Occasionally our teachers will go on a bit of a reminiscent tangent of their missions in Mexico and they will tell us stories, and I am so excited mom, It is unreal. The tricky part with the MTC is days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. So every day is slow, but all together or when seven of them happen it seems really fast. Like I can't believe it is already pday again, but at the same time, sometimes you are in class and it is like "I have literally been here for 88 days and nights." But the next few days will be going a bit different because we have in field training and stuff like that.

Oli, his cousin Lexie Hulme, her companion, and Elder Sealor

Fun stories.  The other day, I was laying on the floor in our residence, because I had just done a bunch of push-ups and I was just kind of staring off into space, and I saw that there was something in our stovetop hood. I walked over there looked up, and on the underside of the stovetop (where the fan is), there was a note. The note rhymed and was just funny good. It was a scavenger hunt. That led us into using the end of some nail clippers to un-screw the bolts of one of our air vents, that was the end of the scavenger hunt, there was 1 small package of trail mix, 4 peppermint patties (rotten), 1 granola bar, and I think something else. But it was super fun, and we want to do something like that before we go.

Also every p-day, Elder Sealor, Elder Wutkee, Elder Rey and I make a to-do list and pin it up on our bulletin board, because every Thursday our rooms get checked to make sure that we are keeping them clean. We just like to make the list for laughs and to make the inspectors think we are really weird. But here are some of the things that they have said:::: 

• Shave each others backs. 
• Turn fridge into incubator for geese. 
• Assemble boxing match for spiders. 
• Clean the tub. 
• Buy ten pounds of toothpaste.

It is all just silly  fun

I absolutely loved this last week. I loved conference, and Elder Sealor and I were getting a long really well. We are working well together and I'm learning tons. Spanish is super fun, and on Monday, I went on an english fast, so i didn't speak english the whole day. It was tough, but rewarding. I also think necessary, because I will hear very little english in the next two years. .. Moral of the story I'm doing really well.

Love you all so much. Have a good week,

-ELDER HULME