11/12/12
Everything here is going well. It was pretty cold and rainy for a while, but now it's hot again. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die when I get home to AZ because it doesn't get near as hot here as it is there but I still feel the heat. We baptized two people this week, and got two different couples married. It was really cool, but we were pretty busy. There are a few judges here that are friendly with the missionaries and always help us out to get people married. Instead of charging the 1500 or so pesos they only charge us 500 and they don't ask for as many documents which are sometimes hard to get. The guy we went with only asks for birth certificates and the 500 pesos. I'm pretty sure there are some under the tables dealings that he does to get the marriage certificate and everything in the system, but the important thing is that the people can get married and baptized haha. I can't believe Obama won. Peña Nieto, the guy that won the elections here is rather corrupt as well. I'm sure they are signs of the last days. As well as the hurricane or whatever it was in NY and the fact that there has been more earthquakes lately. The second coming is definitely getting closer. We had stake conference as well this past week. The stake conferences here they do by satellite transmission just like the general conferences, so we got to listen to Elder Scott and a few other general authorities. It was cool being able to listen to Elder Scott speak Spanish. They talked about the importance of the sacrament and the importance of families. I sent Dad an email last week about where my area is. It's in the state of Mexico in a city called Nezahualcoyotl. My companion is Elder Ortega from Guaymas, Sonora. Well, I'm glad to hear everything is going well. Hopefully it all continues well. I love you so much. You are the best! Love, Elder Janda
11/5/12
I know, it's crazy that it's already November. It's starting to get cold
here. The last few days we've had some Utah weather. It's just been
cloudy cold and half sprinkling haha. This week we didn't baptise
anyone, but for this next week we have at least 2 people that can get
baptized. We just have to get them married first haha.Well I'm glad to
hear everything is going well for you guys back home. haha this week I
ate fish just like that again. The fish is good, but it's frustrating
because it has a ton of little bones that have to be picked out haha. I
got your package this week. Thank you so much. It was awesome. I started
reading that family history book you sent me and it is really cool,
it's really getting me excited to go to family history work when I get
home. The house looks really cool and I'm pretty sure it's going to be
in a great ward. I'm pretty sure Jase Warner and Thomas Whitlock's
families are in that ward. Well, I hope you have a great week. I love
you and am grateful for the great help and example you have always been
for me. You are the best! Love, Elder Janda
10/29/12
Sounds like you had a good week. This week has been pretty good. We
baptized four people yesterday. The daughter of the lady we baptized
last week as well as her three kids. It was pretty cool. We're not sure
who we're gong to baptize this week, but we've got a few people that
could do it. This week, I ate fish twice. It was great. On Wednesday, a
member took us too a seafood restaurant and I ordered a fish and then
they just brought out this huge fish with head bones and everything. It
was really good. Then, on Friday, another member gave us fish to eat,
and it was basically the same, the fish was just a bit smaller. Haha It
was really good though. Other than that, this week has been pretty
average. As soon as we get done on the internet, we're going to go with a
sister in the ward that is going to teach us how to make chilaquiles
and flan. I'll try to think of some things that I could use and I'll let
you know next week. I love you and am so grateful for everything that
you do for me and the support that you have always given me. You are the
best mom ever! :) I love you and I hope you have a great week. Love,
Elder Janda
10/22/12
Elder Wyman is from San Francisco, but just before he came on his
mission, his family moved to Idaho. Thanks for sending the package, I'll
let you know when it gets here. It'll probably be in about a month.
Maybe a little less. I'm glad to hear everything is going well. That's
crazy that you're going to move this month. I'm sure it'll be good
though. Where's the new house at? Haha well we'll just have to make
another cool backyard and use it this time. haha That's awesome that
they got first in their tournament. Especially after not doing so well
the last few weeks. This week for me was pretty good. Transfers were
this week. We didn't get transferred, but we went to the meeting to bring
the missionaries that were going to go to Elder Ottaway and Elder
Wyman's area. It was cool because I got to see a lot of people that I
haven't seen in a while. Like Elder Zufelt, my companion from the MTC. I
also met a few missionaries from Arizona. One of them it turns out is
the cousin of Thomas Whitlock. It was pretty cool. On Friday, we went
and cleaned the cistern of one of our investigators, Olga. Almost all
the houses here have a cistern. It's basically just a water reservoir
that fills up and stores water because a lot of times there's no water.
The problem is that the water that comes from the city is super dirty,
so the cistern gets really dirty and has to get cleaned. It was really
tiring cleaning it. Usually they would empty it out before we get there
to clean it, but for some reason they didn't so we had to empty the
whole thing out with buckets. It was really tiring because it's probably
about 5 ft tall and between 7 and 10 ft wide and 3 or 4 ft long and it
was almost completely full haha. it took us about 2 and a half hours to
get it all clean and everything. Then, on Saturday, we had a stake
activity where the young men came and they got paired up with two
missionaries and we went out and contacted people. It was pretty cool. I
got paired up with a new missionary from Peru who just barely got here
this week and with a kid named Antonio who just turned 14 and just
barely got baptized 3 months ago. It was fun though. After the activity,
there were 5 people that got baptized from various areas in the zone.
Then yesterday, we baptized Olga. It was really cool. And she told us
that she has 3 grand kids that want to get baptized as well, so we're
going to visit them this week and probably baptize them the next week.
Well that's about all the interesting things that have been happening
here. I hope everything keeps going well and that you have a great week.
I love you. Elder Janda
10/15/12
This week was pretty interesting. One of the missionaries in our
district, Elder Ottaway, has been having some health issues and this
week he went home. It seems like he has a blocked artery so he went home
to go get some more tests done and then surgery to fix it. It was
pretty lame, cuz he's a really cool guy. Then, his companion, Elder
Wyman, finished his two years so he's going home on Wednesday, so he's
been with us since Elder Ottaway went home. It's been pretty cool having
him with us, but it's weird being in a trio haha. That's awesome that
Tyler got baptized this week. Tell him I say congratulations! I don't
remember where the practice pad is, but it's ok you can just send me the
drumsticks. I've been trying to think of other things that I would
like, but I couldn't think of any more stuff haha. It's alright though
you can just send me whatever you want and I'll be happy :) haha. Yeah
it's cool being around USA folk haha. Today we all went to KFC in honor
of Elder Ottaway because he's from Kentucky and then we went to Plaza
Jardín, which is a little mall that's close to me area, so that we could
look for some cool ties haha. I found two ones I like one blue paisley
and another gray striped one. We've started teaching English classes
every week and it's really cool because we always have a lot of people
show up. One time we had 40 people, but usually there's only about 20.
We're going to start trying to teach it more fun though so that more
people will show up. We're going to start trying to teach the
pronunciation instead of focusing on grammar and all that stuff. It's
fun teaching it though haha. Haha well try not to have too much fun
packing and cleaning and all that fun stuff haha. I'll try my best not
to be jealous :) When you pack up all my stuff, if you want, you can
just leave it all in boxes and I'll unpack it when I get home. Well, I
hope everything goes well and you enjoy your break. I love you so much
and am so grateful that you are my mom! I love you! Elder Janda
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
Transferred
10/1/12
My new area is actually not very far from where I was before, but it's in the other stake. I'm in Neza and the area isn't very big, but it's bigger than Pantitlan was. My new companion is pretty cool. His name is Elder Ortega. He's the district leader. He's from Guaymas, Sonora. He's pretty cool, and we get along pretty well. In this ward there are also two other missionaries. They're both pretty cool. One is from Las Vegas and I get along with him really well. His name is Elder Holley. The other is Elder Valenzuela. We get along well, but he doesn't really talk much. I didn't get to visit a lot of people before I left last Monday, but I got to visit the people that are more important to me which was good. Today, we had a zone activity. We went and played soccer and volleyball and everything at the stake center and then after some people came and made us tacos. The only bad thing was that the people with the tacos got there late and were taking a long time, so we didn't get to eat as much as we would've liked to. We still ate a ton though. Supposedly they brought meat and everything for between 800 and 1000 tacos, and when I left it was all just about gone. There are 30 missionaries in the zone and I think a few weren't there. I'm glad to hear everything is going well at home. I'm excited for conference this next week. Here in the mission, conference is way better. For some reason I can just focus better and get way more out of it than I could at home. Well I hope everything continues going well. I love you and I hope you have a great week. Love, Elder Janda
9/26/12
This morning, they called me and told me that today I'm going to get transfered to another area. I don't know exactly where the area is, but it's not too far from here, it's in Nezahuacoyotl, in the Polanco ward. My ne companion is going to be Elder Ortega, I don't really know him, I've just seen him at zone meeting and such. I'm kinda sad and dissapointed because I'm going to miss the people here and because since Elder Yañez got here we've basically just been searching for new people and finally this last week we found a few, but oh well, there's not really anything I can do about it. Today we've basically just been going around saying goodbye to people. Basically for zone conferences, the whole zone, about 30 missionaries, meet in the stake center and the president and the assistants come and they all teach us how to teach better and stuff like that, the zone leaders teach too. We're usually there about 4 or 5 hours. My mission president is President Morales. He's from Tabasco which is in the south of mexico on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Well I'm sure I'll have more to tell you next week about my new companion and my new area and everything.
Saturday, we were knocking doors, and a teenager answered the door and when we asked if anyone else was home he said no, there all sleeping, the funny part was that as he was saying that, his mom walked right behind him haha. Usually the people who reject us here just lie to us or don't answer the door haha, but that's missionary work I guess haha.
I love you and am so grateful for everything that you do for me. I hope you have a great week. Love, Elder Janda
9/17/12
I'm glad to hear everything is going well. This week was pretty much the same as the past
week except we didn't have as much time to work. On friday and saturday we didn't really get to do much of anything. On Friday we had a zone conference, and then after that we took some investigators to a stake party because some other missionaries were going to baptize and we wanted them to see a baptism. Then Saturday was the Mexican Independence day, so we had to be home at 6. We didn't really do anything special to celebrate, except that just about everyone wanted us to go eat pozole with them. It's a type of soup that is basically what everyone here makes for special occasions. That's basically all that's going on here. Hopefully everything works out well. Tell everyone hi and that I love them. I love you. Elder Janda
My new area is actually not very far from where I was before, but it's in the other stake. I'm in Neza and the area isn't very big, but it's bigger than Pantitlan was. My new companion is pretty cool. His name is Elder Ortega. He's the district leader. He's from Guaymas, Sonora. He's pretty cool, and we get along pretty well. In this ward there are also two other missionaries. They're both pretty cool. One is from Las Vegas and I get along with him really well. His name is Elder Holley. The other is Elder Valenzuela. We get along well, but he doesn't really talk much. I didn't get to visit a lot of people before I left last Monday, but I got to visit the people that are more important to me which was good. Today, we had a zone activity. We went and played soccer and volleyball and everything at the stake center and then after some people came and made us tacos. The only bad thing was that the people with the tacos got there late and were taking a long time, so we didn't get to eat as much as we would've liked to. We still ate a ton though. Supposedly they brought meat and everything for between 800 and 1000 tacos, and when I left it was all just about gone. There are 30 missionaries in the zone and I think a few weren't there. I'm glad to hear everything is going well at home. I'm excited for conference this next week. Here in the mission, conference is way better. For some reason I can just focus better and get way more out of it than I could at home. Well I hope everything continues going well. I love you and I hope you have a great week. Love, Elder Janda
9/26/12
This morning, they called me and told me that today I'm going to get transfered to another area. I don't know exactly where the area is, but it's not too far from here, it's in Nezahuacoyotl, in the Polanco ward. My ne companion is going to be Elder Ortega, I don't really know him, I've just seen him at zone meeting and such. I'm kinda sad and dissapointed because I'm going to miss the people here and because since Elder Yañez got here we've basically just been searching for new people and finally this last week we found a few, but oh well, there's not really anything I can do about it. Today we've basically just been going around saying goodbye to people. Basically for zone conferences, the whole zone, about 30 missionaries, meet in the stake center and the president and the assistants come and they all teach us how to teach better and stuff like that, the zone leaders teach too. We're usually there about 4 or 5 hours. My mission president is President Morales. He's from Tabasco which is in the south of mexico on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Well I'm sure I'll have more to tell you next week about my new companion and my new area and everything.
Saturday, we were knocking doors, and a teenager answered the door and when we asked if anyone else was home he said no, there all sleeping, the funny part was that as he was saying that, his mom walked right behind him haha. Usually the people who reject us here just lie to us or don't answer the door haha, but that's missionary work I guess haha.
I love you and am so grateful for everything that you do for me. I hope you have a great week. Love, Elder Janda
9/17/12
I'm glad to hear everything is going well. This week was pretty much the same as the past
week except we didn't have as much time to work. On friday and saturday we didn't really get to do much of anything. On Friday we had a zone conference, and then after that we took some investigators to a stake party because some other missionaries were going to baptize and we wanted them to see a baptism. Then Saturday was the Mexican Independence day, so we had to be home at 6. We didn't really do anything special to celebrate, except that just about everyone wanted us to go eat pozole with them. It's a type of soup that is basically what everyone here makes for special occasions. That's basically all that's going on here. Hopefully everything works out well. Tell everyone hi and that I love them. I love you. Elder Janda
Monday, September 3, 2012
I know, it's crazy how time flies. I've already been in this ward for more than 7 months. Tomorrow is the transfer, so tomorrow I get my new companion, and on Wednesday in the morning is my companion's flight. I think I'll probably be the senior companion, but we'll see tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I'll only be here one more transfer and then I'll get moved somewhere else. This week, we baptized Arturo and Andrea, which was awesome. Other than that, there's not much new going on here. Haha that's too bad that you did all that work just to have to take the truck in somewhere, but on the bright side, sounds like you got some good exercise in haha. (Mitch has truck issues, Eric and him spent all Saturday working on it with no luck. Sad day)
Oh and yesterday, I got some letters that you guys sent from the family reunion, and some letters from Brian's family. It was great reading the letters. Brian's letter was really funny. I couldn't help but laugh when I read it. It was full of sarcasm and goobiness haha.
Oh and yesterday, I got some letters that you guys sent from the family reunion, and some letters from Brian's family. It was great reading the letters. Brian's letter was really funny. I couldn't help but laugh when I read it. It was full of sarcasm and goobiness haha.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
5/20/12
Everything here is going pretty well. My companion is getting a bit more lazy which gets frustrating at times, but oh well. Today, we had a district activity. We went and played soccer and volleyball and basketball like we usually do just about every week, and then we asked Hermano Juan, the member that we rent from, if he could go and make us some carne asada. It was super good. His son also went with us and played which is great because his dad is trying to get him to go on his mission. He's 20, but he doesn't really want to do anything. He just spends all his time hanging out with his friends, but he seems like he's getting more excited to go on his mission. Today he said he was going to send his papers in in January. That's awesome that Court's team is doing so great. Hopefully they continue like they are and get even better. Tell Court I said hi and good job on her games and that I love her too. That's cool that Brandon is going on his mission. Where is he going? I forgot haha. . There's not really much new going on here. We're just trying to find more people to teach. Oh and I've been thinking about trying to do drumline again when I get home, so next time you send me a package or something, if you could send me my drumsticks and my practice pad I would really appreciate it. I love you, and I hope you have a great week. Love, Elder Janda
Monday, August 13, 2012
Hola,
Everything here is going pretty good. Elsa finally got confirmed this week. She hasn't been able to go to the church the past two weeks because the first week she got sick and then the next week her boyfriend lost her phone and so she didn't wake up on time. Yesterday, we started teaching these two kids, one is 8 and the other just turned 10. I was teaching them before, when they were staying with their grandma, but then their mom decided to take them and that she didn't want them to go to the church, but then the other day, she saw us in the street and stopped us and asked us to give her a blessing. We're going to start preparing the kids for baptism. They're are the cousins of the two girls that I baptized in April. Right now we don't really have a whole lot of people that we're teaching but we're searching for more and hopefully this next week we can find some people who are interested. This last week, we had an activity where we went and played basketball and soccer and stuff with the ward and we brought some investigators and some less actives. It was really fun. The only problem was that it was raining haha, but we played anyway. I was really surprised, usually the people down here try to evade the rain like the plague, but we actually had a good turnout. Then on Saturday morning, we had to go to the Perla stake center which is about an hour away for a meeting that we had with Elder Alonzo of the seventy. It was really cool. We were really tired though. We had to get up at 5 am to be able to get there on time. At 6 we had to meet at another Elder's house and then a member from his ward took us. When we showed up at the member's house, it became apparent that the Elder hadn't told the member that there were going to be 10 of us. He had only told her 6. She took us all though. She had a little Volkswagon truck with a shell on it and so there were 8 of us in the bed of the truck and 2 up front with the member. It was not very comfortable at all haha. This morning, we went and played basketball and football with the district, they told us we were going to play volleyball, but they didn't bring the net. It was really fun though. Well that's about all that's happening here. The next transfers are in 3 weeks, so I'm still going to be here until then with Elder Serrato. It's weird thinking that I've already been here 8 months and I'm still in my first area haha. It doesn't feel like I've been here that long. Well, tell everyone that I say hi. And tell Aunt Lisa and her family thanks for her message and that I miss and love them too. Have a great week! I love you, Elder Janda
8/6/12
This week was good. Finally the Guerrero family got baptized. The oldest
son, Luis Mario, was kind of doubting on Friday night when he had the
interview, but he passed, and so we gave him some scriptures to read and
told him to pray and said we would pass by the next day to see how he felt.
Then we passed by, he said he felt good when he prayed and everything and
that he wanted to get baptized. It was funny though, because his parents
wanted them all to get baptized as a family, so we were a little worried
they were going to pressure him to get baptized, but then when we passed by
we could tell that he actually meant what he said and wasn't just saying it
to please his parents. Jesus didn't get baptized, we didn't really have a
chance to really talk to him this week, but he told us he wanted to wait
still. I'm hoping that we can find him this week so that we can really talk
to him and find out what's up. That's so cool that you guys are going to go
to Puerto Rico. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun, and I'm sure it'll be great
for Uncle Brian to see some of the people that he knew on his mission. I
hadn't heard about Grandma, but I'm glad everything went well. Well, I hope
you have a great week. I love you, and am grateful for all the support you
give me. Love, Elder Janda
Everything here is going pretty good. Elsa finally got confirmed this week. She hasn't been able to go to the church the past two weeks because the first week she got sick and then the next week her boyfriend lost her phone and so she didn't wake up on time. Yesterday, we started teaching these two kids, one is 8 and the other just turned 10. I was teaching them before, when they were staying with their grandma, but then their mom decided to take them and that she didn't want them to go to the church, but then the other day, she saw us in the street and stopped us and asked us to give her a blessing. We're going to start preparing the kids for baptism. They're are the cousins of the two girls that I baptized in April. Right now we don't really have a whole lot of people that we're teaching but we're searching for more and hopefully this next week we can find some people who are interested. This last week, we had an activity where we went and played basketball and soccer and stuff with the ward and we brought some investigators and some less actives. It was really fun. The only problem was that it was raining haha, but we played anyway. I was really surprised, usually the people down here try to evade the rain like the plague, but we actually had a good turnout. Then on Saturday morning, we had to go to the Perla stake center which is about an hour away for a meeting that we had with Elder Alonzo of the seventy. It was really cool. We were really tired though. We had to get up at 5 am to be able to get there on time. At 6 we had to meet at another Elder's house and then a member from his ward took us. When we showed up at the member's house, it became apparent that the Elder hadn't told the member that there were going to be 10 of us. He had only told her 6. She took us all though. She had a little Volkswagon truck with a shell on it and so there were 8 of us in the bed of the truck and 2 up front with the member. It was not very comfortable at all haha. This morning, we went and played basketball and football with the district, they told us we were going to play volleyball, but they didn't bring the net. It was really fun though. Well that's about all that's happening here. The next transfers are in 3 weeks, so I'm still going to be here until then with Elder Serrato. It's weird thinking that I've already been here 8 months and I'm still in my first area haha. It doesn't feel like I've been here that long. Well, tell everyone that I say hi. And tell Aunt Lisa and her family thanks for her message and that I miss and love them too. Have a great week! I love you, Elder Janda
This week was good. Finally the Guerrero family got baptized. The oldest
son, Luis Mario, was kind of doubting on Friday night when he had the
interview, but he passed, and so we gave him some scriptures to read and
told him to pray and said we would pass by the next day to see how he felt.
Then we passed by, he said he felt good when he prayed and everything and
that he wanted to get baptized. It was funny though, because his parents
wanted them all to get baptized as a family, so we were a little worried
they were going to pressure him to get baptized, but then when we passed by
we could tell that he actually meant what he said and wasn't just saying it
to please his parents. Jesus didn't get baptized, we didn't really have a
chance to really talk to him this week, but he told us he wanted to wait
still. I'm hoping that we can find him this week so that we can really talk
to him and find out what's up. That's so cool that you guys are going to go
to Puerto Rico. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun, and I'm sure it'll be great
for Uncle Brian to see some of the people that he knew on his mission. I
hadn't heard about Grandma, but I'm glad everything went well. Well, I hope
you have a great week. I love you, and am grateful for all the support you
give me. Love, Elder Janda
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
7/16/12
Hi to everyone,
This week was pretty good. We ended up only baptizing Noemí, because Elsa had a family emergency and hasn´t been home since saturday, and Jesús wants to get baptized with his friend. We're going to try and get his friend more excited to get baptized or get Jesús to decide to get baptized without his friend this coming week. We're still teaching the family that came to church and they are all still really interested. We went and taught them on Saturday night and before we knew it 2 hours had passed and we were still teaching and they were still asking questions haha. On Saturday morning, the young woman had an activity where they went to an orphanage and played with the kids, and the daughter from that family went with them and said she really liked it. And then on sunday night we took a recent convert to the stake family history center, and there was a priesthood devotional or something going on and while we were there we saw the father and the the older son at the devotional. It was great. We didn't even tell them anything about it. They just heard about it at church and went. This next week is transfers. I´m pretty sure I'm gonna get changed. I've been in this area already for 6 months and my companion goes home after the next transfer. I'm kind of excited to go somewhere else, but at the same time, it will be hard leaving all the people I know here and all the people I've been working with toward baptism.
It's so weird thinking that Courtney is in high school already. Did Mitch move back yet?
This morning I was watching 17 Miracles. I love that movie. Everytime I watch it it makes me want to do family history. On Sunday when we went to the stake family history center with hermana Jessika, I logged into the family search website so we could show her how it all works. We were looking and seeing how far back the names went and we finally gave up because there were too many names. On The Janda side, it only went back 6 or 7 generations though, so I guess that's where I get to start working when I get home haha.
Well, I hope you have a great week and everything goes great in your interview.
I love you. Elder Janda
This week was pretty good. We ended up only baptizing Noemí, because Elsa had a family emergency and hasn´t been home since saturday, and Jesús wants to get baptized with his friend. We're going to try and get his friend more excited to get baptized or get Jesús to decide to get baptized without his friend this coming week. We're still teaching the family that came to church and they are all still really interested. We went and taught them on Saturday night and before we knew it 2 hours had passed and we were still teaching and they were still asking questions haha. On Saturday morning, the young woman had an activity where they went to an orphanage and played with the kids, and the daughter from that family went with them and said she really liked it. And then on sunday night we took a recent convert to the stake family history center, and there was a priesthood devotional or something going on and while we were there we saw the father and the the older son at the devotional. It was great. We didn't even tell them anything about it. They just heard about it at church and went. This next week is transfers. I´m pretty sure I'm gonna get changed. I've been in this area already for 6 months and my companion goes home after the next transfer. I'm kind of excited to go somewhere else, but at the same time, it will be hard leaving all the people I know here and all the people I've been working with toward baptism.
It's so weird thinking that Courtney is in high school already. Did Mitch move back yet?
This morning I was watching 17 Miracles. I love that movie. Everytime I watch it it makes me want to do family history. On Sunday when we went to the stake family history center with hermana Jessika, I logged into the family search website so we could show her how it all works. We were looking and seeing how far back the names went and we finally gave up because there were too many names. On The Janda side, it only went back 6 or 7 generations though, so I guess that's where I get to start working when I get home haha.
Well, I hope you have a great week and everything goes great in your interview.
I love you. Elder Janda
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
7/9/12
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