dear: week five.

sounds like this week was full of "blow ups".

both literally and figuratively.

first "blow up" with the companion paired with thunder!

"This week I had the worst day on my mission, but I learned soooo much that day. I think all the little things over time just built up and during companion study, I couldnt take it anymore, and I had a little blow up. But, all is well!  I will write you about it in a letter! This week I had a lot of spiritual experiences. We are dealing with a lot of people that have drug problems and I told them the experiences I have had with my brothers. I was a baby and couldn't stop crying. It was great.  I now can pretty much understand everything now and I am doing well in the lessons!! My testimony is getting stronger and stronger each week! When I got here, the President and his Wife told me that June and July are the rainy months.... First day of June rain! second day of June rain... so on and so forth! it has rainded everyday so far in June but, I LOVE IT! My Northface jacket is the BOBM!  The Thunder here is soooo loud it is crazy! Elder Castro and I were walking along the street and a crack of Thunder went off. All the cars alarms on the street went off! It scared me soooo bad! Today we played soccer, Zone vs Zone, and that was really fun! It was kind of like indoor soccer. They have a bunch of soccer fields in the middle of 2 busy streets and the fields are surrounded by fences. It was really fun! After that, we went to the center of the city- It is unbelievable!! The catholic church and all the buildings around it are amazing! Wait tell you see the photos! Oh, and I bought 12 ties for 30 dollars they are sooooo cheap here!" -Elder Carlson 

if i could tell crew something right now, i would say:

"blow ups" are advantageous; 

having opposition helps us realize the happy, good, and joyous moments of life.

 we must get through the rocky bumps on the road, 

so we can look back and realize they only made us stronger.  

days: 91

weeks: 13

area: Tezozomoc Camarones

dear: week four

remember last week, when crew said time was going so slow?

well, take a look this week:

"One month under the belt and 3 in total! This last week went soooo fast.. As each day goes on, the time gets going faster and faster... it is insane! Right before I fall asleep, is when I think about home, but that only last for about 5 min because Im soooo tired... There are days I could fall asleep walking! Tonight we are having another noche de hogar (family home evening) with my favorite family! The familia Ortiz. I gave the dad one of my ties because he is a new member and didnt have one!  Their daughter wants to marry me. She is 13 and she wont get baptized, so I told her if she got baptized that I would take her back to America with me! ha ha. This week went really well. I had over 70 contacts and Im speaking more and more in every lesson. However, some days I just dont have my spanish and that was yesterday- I dont know what my problem was, but I couldnt understand anyone or speak that well. But, today is a new day! Today I bought my companion and I subway- it ended up being 25 dollars... Sorry about that- I must of thought it was my birthday or something! We fasted saturday night to sunday night and the whole time I was thinking about the chocolate banana shake I had with Greg at the club in AZ.  I'm still craving one of those they are amazing. It is really hard to fast as a missionary; we walk so much and it is so hot here right now I get burned everyday.  I put lots of sunblock on everyday!  It takes all the water out of your system!  This week we got the ERTERNAL INVESTIGATOR to commit to a baptism date this weekend. She has been taking lessons form the missionaries for over a year and has attend church a million times, but wont get baptized... I think this is the week! Everything is going well. The spanish is coming along but I just have to be patient. It is going to take 2 or 3 more months- Elder Castro thinks in 2 months! So hopefully that is the case!!!!  I only have Elder Castro for 2 more months... Im going to miss him. We play basketball every morning at 6:30 to see who buys the cokes for the day- so far the series is 5-2 for me! I'm not going easy on him because he pushes me had with the work! ha ha." -Elder Carlson

sounds like he is working hard, playing hard 

and eating delicious food!

days: 84

weeks: 12

area: Tezozomoc Camarones 

dear: week three

 week three. wow! 

time is going so quickly yet so slowly.

Here's what elder calrson has to say about time and his third week in Mexico:

"Time is the funniest thing when you are a missionary..... The weeks go so fast and then you look at how much time you still have, and it seems like there is no progress.  This week was my hardest working week. This week I contacted around 65 people! Im going to try and do better this next week.  I think contacting helps my spanish the most. When I talk with the natives, each person has a differnt response to what I say.  It is really difficult understanding when they talk to me, but during a lesson when Elder Castro is teaching, I can understand everything! I think im thinking too much when people talk to me, but I'm working hard! Spanish is coming along great. I actually taught my first lesson by myself for 10 or 15 minutes and then Elder Castro had to clear up some things that I didnt explain that well.  But, he was really proud of me- so I think I did a good job. It is so weird to think that I can speak another language!!!!!"- Elder Carlson

we're so happy that crew is adjusting to time- 

a new time, the Lord's time, and time as a missionary. 

take a peak at how crew's been spending all that time:

days: 77

weeks: 11

area: Tezozomoc Camarones