Easter in Mexiico

Angeles and Us. Baptized the week before Easter

Angeles, Elder Flores and Elder Mortensen

Easter is a very different experience from what we are used to in the states. It is a very serious holiday, which is the culmination of the Lenten period. The whole week from Monday to Sunday is designated “Semana Santa” (Holy Week). Each day is Holy. There are no decorations in the stores, and no commercialism connected to Easter. A lot of people go on vacation, and business comes to a halt. The big stores stay open, but most small businesses shut down. There are many public displays and pageants and processions. Men punish themselves by whipping themselves until the bleed; they also carry heavy planks or cactus on their shoulders and people make and sell crowns of thorns for the sinners to wear while they parade themselves down the street. Some men have themselves tied to crosses or even nailed for three hours. There is a competition among some men to be chosen as the Christ for the local Passion Play. Some people crawl dragging a burden of some sort all the way to the church.
We saw some television shows that document this sort of celebrations and some of them went into the Churches. We saw the extravagant real gold decorations, artwork candles, and crucifixes. Some of the gold artwork was quite spectacular. We saw every phase of the Saviors last week reenacted. Some of it was quite brutal. Saturday and Sunday were quiet in the neighborhoods, except for occasional eruptions of cannon fire.
Our church services were different than we are used to also. There were no flowers, no special program from the Primary children. We saw a video in Sunday School that depicted the life and death of Christ, but I was surprised at how violent it was, and also that the end depicted the resurrection simple as the fact of the empty tomb, without the showing of the resurrected, glorified Savior.
We go to both wards in our building, the first ward, which is the more wealthy part of town, was very poorly attended, with at most two thirds, or less, of the active members present. The other ward which is more or less the working class or self employed members had an above average attendance. Both wards had the themes for talks directed toward the Savior and his mission here on earth, His death, resurrection and appearance to the Nephites here in America.
We were discussing the season with our neighbors, and they asked, “What is it about the Easter Bunny and colored eggs and candy?” To which we replied, “It’s a celebration of the sweetness and beauty of life.” I really don’t know what the Easter Bunny represents, or how he got into the celebration, but I know his presence brings a lot of sweetness to the occasion, and the eggs remind us all of the hope for new life.
All in all my feelings and emotions this Easter season are very different from those I am used to at home. The message I received is that Christ suffered and died for me and for my sins, and for the sins of all mankind. The message I’m used to is that Christ is resurrected and lives for me, and because of this all mankind will be resurrected and live. I guess I just don’t feel comfortable seeing and being reminded of all the suffering. I prefer the living resurrected Lord to the suffering dying Lord. Both messages are true, I guess it’s just a matter of perspective and what it is we care to focus on.

Andrews Most Recent Letter

Hi mom and dad.Thanks for your emails. And yes I got the letter about the PEC meetings. Thank you for your input. And I got the forty dollars that will be nice for me.

We haven’t met up with Sara again yet but we will eventually. I have faith she will make the right decision.So elder Hill got transferred to Olean New York. He didn’t want to go to a small town area and Olean is about a small town as you can get. Oh well I think it will be good for him to get used to a different style of living and missionary work. I was sad to see him go but happy for a change at the same time.

My new companion is Elder Buckway. He’s a great guy. He served as fleet coordinator in the office for 10 months. He worked with president and was in charge of all the cars in the mission. He did great in there and got special recognition for salt lake because of how good he did at saving the mission money and taking care of the cars. He’s been out for 20 months. And he’s driven all over western PA a lot. He’s senior drive and senior companion. So mom you don’t need to worry about our driving. He’s really good at it and he’s had to deal with all of the wreck that missionaries get into for the past ten months so he knows what not to do.

He’s awesome. A fun guy and he is clean. We spent all morning just cleaning the apartment really well. And he’s not stingy about fixing the apartment when stuff happens to it like when a light goes out or we need something. He knows how the office works and knows everyone in the office so we are going to get all of the hook ups. Like a new lamp and a new box spring for me. There isn’t anything wrong with it it’s just old and squeaks when I move at night.

Our first night tracting together we got invited to go fishing with a black guy named woody and we also got invited into a house and antied for an hour. The anti guy was nice just miss guided. We bore testimony and left. That happens a lot in PA. People are dumb. We also met the bishop and elder Buckway said that he received the warmer welcome here than in any other area in his whole mission. So we are getting along great and having fun.

The receipt thing is the only real thing that I can think of that would be nice. Chinese chicken salad sounds delicious right now. So if you guys could get me recipes that would be awesome. And my cloths are holding out great and I’m doing good on money so don’t worry about me and thank you for all of your support and prayers.Love you lots and look forward to hearing from you.

Elder Andrew Rich

Solo Hazlo! (Just Do It!)

Breakfast for 18 please...

Elder Kneisly from South Carolina. God be with you

till we meet again.

Mom loves the Primary President, Anna.

The Vasquez family, 3/2/08. Victor in front,
Guadalupe, Janette and Israel.

What? Do What? Just knock on the next door and finish tracting this street. Don’t stew over all the people that say, they are too busy, or another time, or I work 24 hours a day 7even days a week and I only come home to eat. If they only knew what we have to offer them they would be lined up at our door to knock. We can’t find a willing investigator behind every door, but there are many who have been prepared to hear, and when we find someone, the joy of sharing what we have with them is worth every hour of frustration and discouragement we experience. To see the beautiful transformation from suspicious skepticism, to curiosity, to genuine interest, to conviction, to joy, to conversion and real commitment, is a marvelous thing to behold. We moved into a new part of our area around the first of February, and we started tracting. Before we made the change we spent some time walking through different parts of the area. When we chose this particular part, we told the zone leaders of our plans, and they told us don’t bother with that part of your area. They said, “it’s old and has been tracted out many times.” We had heard that before, and we decided to give it a try anyway. Now after a month’s time we have found 4 new converts and several very promising new investigators. We feel confident that before too long we will have five or maybe even ten more new converts from just the first three streets of an area that is at least ten times larger than our own neighborhood where we found 9 or 10 converts. Now the same elders, who told us not to bother, are working the area too.
Since we have been here in Mexico we have changed the lives of twenty people, and touched the lives of many others. When I think about the impact for good that these changes will make in the eternal lives of generations past, present and future, it makes me realize what an important decision it is to decide to go on a mission ands actually turn in the papers to the church missionary department. We are so glad we decided to do this before we got too old to really do some good.
We are including the pictures of the family we baptized on the second of March. This family is the fruit of knocking on about 300 doors, and within that number of doors there is a potential for at least five or ten more baptisms. This work is a very therapeutic youthening labor, and it goes past so quickly. We know we will have many fond memories of these two years to share with our families and friends, for many years to come, and in the eternities.
The other picture is of our zone elders who all came to breakfast on Monday. We served them (all in our apartment at once) 5 dozen eggs, 7 pounds of chorizo, 75 slices of French toast, 3 gallons of milk, a watermelon, and grapes. Then we went out and followed up on some earlier contacts, taught some lessons, attended a family home evening in the home of a less active family, and came home to do dishes. We finally collapsed into our bed at midnight. We love this work.