Christmas Week!

It was really exciting to talk with my family and all! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! (No mom none of those missionaries are me, I just took the photo) 

I'm a Dad!!

This week we helped a youth pack for his mission! We made a goal to get 16 baptisms in one month and we got it! So we got to eat steaks at the mission president's house! They were so good! Mine had so much blood in it! Elmer also got baptized! 

I received a phone call from our mission president this morning telling me I am going to train the new Spanish missionary coming in! The only thing I know about him is that his name is Elder Johnson! I will tell you more next week! 

Walking into the last week with my head hanging low...

Last Tuesday was incredible!

I went on an exchange with another missionary who has only been out on his mission for 3 weeks! And this kid is on fire! All he wants to do is work! And I missed having a comp like that! I just really hope that my next one will be like this young one too! I cooked him my very famous southern sandwich that I got from another southerner! Was sooo good! I also fried yuka to make "French fries"

The reason for the title of my email! 

So this coming week is the last full week of the transfer. And it has been the hardest 4ish months on my mission (so far...). And no one in the mission expected us to make it one full week. After the first transfer everyone said there is no way they are going two transfers. Then when the 3rd transfer started all of the missionaries have given me the nickname "3" because I am the only missionary in this mission that has gone 3 transfers with my current comp. Normally at the end of 2 transfers with him other missionaries have asked to get a new comp. I hope this was the hardest thing I'll have to do in my mission. 

Did this really all happen in one week?

Ok so I kind of have a lot to talk about and I know my mom is happy about that but I am sorry to the rest of you that would rather read a short email! So I will try not to bore all of you! I have six main stories to tell sorry... 

1. Title: Coke and Peptol Bismal pills is a combination from heaven. 

So while I was sick and dying on Monday night, and I mean dying I was throwing up about every 3 minutes and while I was doing that I also had liquid poop! So we were at the church so my comp could clean up our areabook. So our bishop walks into the church and sees that I had moved a couch just outside of the bathroom so I could at least die in comfort. And he said, "Elder Guapo I have the perfect fix for you! Don't go home yet!" I didn't know what he was doing but he came back like 10 mins later with a 12 pack of coke and a box of the pills and said, "Take two pills with one coke every hour until 10 and then go to bed and you will be fine by the morning." I told him, "Ya right bishop I shouldn't drink coke while I'm sick." But he said, "Just trust me. I learned this from my mission president's wife." So he took us home and I did that until 10 then I went to bed and after I took the first coke and pills I didn't throw up and my poop was solid! I felt perfectly fine in the morning! I now know what I'll do if I get sick again! 

2. Thanksgiving party! 

So on Thanksgiving day we had a party! Which was so much fun. Only 20 people showed up so it was really family like and they hired a chef so they could have a real white Thanksgiving! It was soooo good! But not as good as mom's cooking! Haha! Then after that one of our members, who is a DJ, had his whole setup there and we danced like crazy fools! They thought even though I'm white I'm a good dancer! 

3. Noe's party! 

The next day! We had another party for an 18 year old who is leaving for his mission in 2 weeks! We were able to share our testimonies and all that fun jazz! I also met some really cool people who were visiting from Mexico! Family of the kid! Percy and Kylea, I have more of this story I can only tell you! 

4. Temple trip! 

So, Saturday morning day after Noe's party! We went to the temple to help Noe with his first time going through the temple! He was so excited! I love the temple so much! I wish everyone could experience the temple! The church is true because we have temples! I also met up with a member from my first ward who was also going through the temple for the first time so that was amazing! 

5. Later that Saturday! 

We had a lesson at 2 that day with a young lady named Araceli! She is super cool and getting baptized on the 11 of December! And she doesn't speak a word of English and that's what the coolest part of teaching her because I have to speak Spanish. I can't use Spanglish! Her mom also cut my hair and I had been waiting for over three months to get my hair cut! It was super long! 

6. Later on that Saturday we went to a wedding!

So we got asked to marry someone! We flipped a coin and my comp won and he legally married a couple! It was super cool! We stayed at the wedding for food and stuff like that! By the way this was not a Mormon wedding! So a lot of beer was there and so I got to experience my first REAL Mexican party! I didn't really like the DJ. He talked way too much but he did play a lot of my favorite Spanish songs! 

Fun Fact: Our mission president wants the Spanish missionaries to learn as much Spanish as possible while being here in America so he made a rule that we are permitted to listen to any type of music as long as it is in Spanish! I have been listening to a lot Christian Spanish music but I do like a lot of Spanish raps and hip hop!   

-Elder Guapo

65 Degrees and Freezing?

My week was alright. My comp got sick the first part of the week and then I got sick the second part of the week so it was alright. Not too much got done! But I did learn that if you have an upset stomach all you need to do is take 2 Peptol Bismo pills with a coke and you will be fine! I didn't think it was going to work but it really did! 

I also found out that according to Duolingo I am 53% fluent in Spanish which kind of got my spirits up a little bit! BTW Duolingo doesn't use church terms and doesn't always use Mexican Spanish so I should be about 75% in Mexican Spanish! 

I made a missionary meme!! It was finally raining in Arizona and we had to bike in the rain for 4 hours and no one opened the door for us in those four hours... and no I didn't get sick because of the rain! The high has been about 70 and the low about 60. I have been sooooooo cold this week. I feel so bad for all of you freezing is misery... oh I mean Missouri. Sorry I guess I spelled that wrong! Love you all! 

My Week!

Had an okay week. We didn't have a single lesson. My comp got sick and is still sick. We are finally at the church! So I have had a pretty crappy week. Made a video on a member's phone for another missionary.

Halloween and Transfers

We had our "Halloween" party on Halloween, but the ward didn't call it that because in Mexico the day of the dead is something scary and so Mexicans don't like this holiday! So they called it "Día de otoño" which means autumn day... I know lame!! But I was given a sombrero the day of Halloween from the RS president! So I went to the party dressed as a Mexican!!! The real Mexican with me, he's named Rogelio. He is my favorite investigator we have in this ward! He is ready and wants to be baptized. The only problem is he is waiting for his wife to get divorced so they can get married and then baptized! He is an elotero (for those of you who are "gringos" it is someone who rides a bicycle around selling Mexican corn on the cob!! Called elotes) I LOVE ELOTES!!!! If you want one when I get home I can make them for you but to warn you the way I make them they come with a lot of spice!! O cómo dicen élder ten cuidado se pica mucho! Jajaja
No word on transfers yet.

Happy Halloween!

This week went by really slow.. we didn't much but Saturday was awesome! We had a baptism and I fell off of my bike! 

Wonder Woman has a crush on Elder Guapo

Wonder Woman story! This little girl has a crush on me! It is so adorable! She is 9 and every time I see her she tries to hug me! (As missionaries we aren't allowed to hug females or children) and so I feel really bad when I tell her I can't give her a hug! And like two weeks ago she asked me who my favorite female super hero was (BTW, I don't have a favorite super hero in general let alone a female one) and I just said "Ummm, Wonder Woman why?" Then she said no reason! And just yesterday we had dinner at their house and after we finished eating she asked me if she had time to show me something and I of coarse said yes! So it takes her like five minutes and then she comes back into the room dressed up as Wonder Woman saying "I wanted to be your hero for Halloween!" It was so adorable! We got her autograph and everything! 

The Pancho! So about a month ago I asked my bishop why Mexicans used Panchos and he never really gave me an answer. Then he asked how cold it gets in Missouri and I told him. Then he showed up at church the next Sunday and said here you go Elder Guapo (that's my name in this Ward because they can't say Studyvin) and handed me this Pancho! I love this Ward a lot! 

Rams jersey! I told a member how much I like the Sooners and how much I like Sam Bradford and he said he would be right back and he came back with this jersey! 

Alma the Younger

Monday: did a little bit of biking and found an investigator who is addicted to marijuana and doesn't want to go to church and stop smoking. 

Tuesday: Went on the best exchange with Elder Tamayo my 2nd companion! We biked 20 miles that day! (I have a 23 square mile area!) 

Wednesday: went to a bike shop to fix my bike from getting hit by the car! Thanks dad! 

Thursday: weekly planning and a member took us to a Mexican hot dog place which is a hot dog wrapped in bacon with beans and a lot of sauces. 

Friday: district meeting, got a flat tire so I couldn't do anything. 

Saturday: found a family who are members but their 9 year old isn't baptized but he will be on the 29th!!! 

Sunday: companion got sick during dinner so we stayed with the members for a couple of hours and I did Spanish study with the members. 

Wanted to share a story with you! 

Alma the younger was a baller!!!!!! 

Really quick version of his life:

Young punk teenager who hated the church would go around trashing on the church! And then his dad Alma prayed and fasted that his son's heart would soften. And it didn't but he was visited by an angel of the Lord! And Alma couldn't move or speak for 3 days and he felt the pain of all of his sins almost until he died. Then we called on Jesus in his mind "...O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death" Alma 36:18. And then he felt the joy of the Lord on him! Then he became the prophet and was one of the best missionaries in The Book of Mormon! He was truly a baller! Read his whole conversion story in Alma 36!!!!!!!

Bike Troubles

So I told you awhile ago that I got hit by a car.. sorry I didn't tell you the story. Here it is.

So it was a Tuesday and we had just left the church to go to a lesson that was too far away and we were about 100 yards away from the church and I had the right away to cross the street and this lady didn't see me. So when she turned left I didn't see her either and I went flying over the hood of her car. My front tire has been destroyed for awhile now. I've been putting off fixing it but I might do that today. The brunt of the fall was on my helmet. I don't feel any pain right now and didn't feel any after the fall. My right shoulder was all red and bruised up but I am fine. 

Last Thursday while using another missionary's bike we were being followed by a car for about 12 blocks and they were just yelling at us and then when we got to the house we wanted to get to, we hid our bikes and they found my comp's bike and slashed his tires! 

Week???

We have hit Standards, which are just numbers that our mission president wants us to get, every week since we have gotten to this ward and our P-Griff is thinking about changing the numbers!! 

I had my first flat tire this week!!! Good news!! It was just a tiny hole that I am going to fix today! 

With our investigators...

We have 8 people who want to be baptized but they just need to get married and it is so frustrating just waiting for papers of divorce. We literally would kill the mission with baptisms but we can't...

General Conference!

Most amazing thing!! Loved every bit of it!!! I loved President Monson's talk on the Word of Wisdon and how we need to live it if we want to have strength! But when he started his talk I thought he was going to add another thing to the Word of Wisdon, that is, that we can't drink Soda.. but luckily I can still drink Mtn Dew!!! 

It is 9:31am Monday October 3, 2016

I was underlining my scriptures and my life just ended...... you will see why..... 

Te amo! 

Elder Studyvin

Week

Not much happened! I didn't get transferred and I am still with my comp. we did service for someone and we found an old 64 and she said I could have it so I took it.  I also got hit by a car. 

I don't know anything about the election but I do know Doctrine and Covenants 29:13 says "For a trump shall sound both long and loud..." so I just hope this revelation is talking about something other than Donald Trump. 

The Encanto Ward

So the encanto Ward is the highest baptizing ward in the mission. We just had a baptism yesterday and we are going to have one this Saturday and the Saturday after that!!! 

Biking is fine now. I don't think I have lost weight though.  Ha ha, I don't care!! 

My comp is very trunky. We are having a hard time getting along. He is very upset that we are on bikes and not in car but it's whatever. 

READ Joshua chapters 1-3 and focus on the amount of faith the people had!! And apply it to your lives!!! 

Te amo! 

This Week

We had a good week! A lot of biking.... But I feel good. My butt does hurt a lot though. I went with the other elders we live with to a lesson and it was with my recent convert cousin's house and they were there too! 
I did have a biking accident but I am fine haha!

Crazy Changes!!

Hey everyone!

So holy cow huge huge huge news! I'm not in Agua Fria anymore! Our mission received a new stake! And the stake has 3 new Spanish wards! La Joya, Encanto, and Cielito are their names. I am right next to downtown Phoenix! I am in a different apartment! I am with all new missionaries! We live with the elders who serve in the Cielito area!
All four of us got "doubled in" which means we are both new to the area.

This is how it happened!
So on Sunday of last week. Sunday the 21 we needed an interview for one of our investigators so we had to call the other Spanish missionaries to come over and interview her. While the interview was happening I was talking with the other missionary about the stake boundary changes and he told me "just wait the mission is about to get wrecked" I didn't really know what to think about it so I went on with my week. On Friday at 10am we had had a missed call from our mission president (P-Griff). So we called him back and no answer, this happened 3 more times. Then we called some other Spanish missionaries (btw for you RM's and current missionaries I don't know how it works
in your missions but here Spanish missionaries are allowed to call each other even if we aren't in the same zone or district) to find out if they had just been called by P-Griff and they had just gotten off the phone with him. And they told us all of their changes but that
they didn't know anything about us. Then P-Griff called us again and he asked "how are you doing elders?" Of course my response was (btw the phone was on speaker) "nervous, excited, tired, etc." I really didn't know what to think. Then P-Griff said "Elder Studyvin I'm taking you away from your home" (the joke around the mission is that Agua Fria is my home ward now, feel free to send my records over there) When he said that I began to cry! Like a lot! I had been in Agua Fria for about 11 months now! He then told us where we were going and all the information we needed and he then said "You need to be
packed and at this building by 10am Saturday morning and ready to work in your new area!" My first thought was "but P-Griff I am supposed to baptize someone tomorrow at 2!" So I asked him if I could and all went well. The baptism was great. A lot of members showed up to say good bye.

Now the "new" apartment!
I say "new" because it is new to me, but this apartment has had missionaries for about 5 years now. And it only has a couch, microwave, toaster, oven, fridge, beds, and a kitchen table. Notice that I didn't say washer or dryer. Btw no food too! And one of the
worst parts is no shower curtains! We are all very excited to be here and we are ready to work but we are going to be very buddy buddy with the mission office to get all the things we need!

The bikes?
So my area is the smallest of all the Spanish areas so.... I will be on bike for the time being here in Encanto! Hopefully I will be here for a long time! I told P-Griff to keep me in the ward for a long time so I can get some use of the bike! So I have a bike and it actually
wasn't too much!

My comp!
His name is Elder Benolerão. Don't ask me how to pronounce it... He has been out for 21 months. I've heard a lot about him but the only thing I know is that he is trunky and we live really close to the airport and so he makes so many going home jokes.... But we are going to work hard!


Well that's pretty much what happened!
Love you all!

Te amo!

This was my week (well mainly today)

Still in Agua Fria!!

My new comp's name is Elder Groesbeck! So my last comp was Elder Bryan and he is the "grandfather" of Elder Groesbeck which means that Elder Bryan trained Elder Plourde who trained Elder Groesbeck. Elder
Groesbeck will be with me tomorrow.  Next week I will ask around and draw up my lineage. I am super excited to be staying here for another transfer!!

His last week!

This is elder Bryan's last week in the mission! He wants to visit all of the members at least once this week! It's pretty cool!

I am so happy I still have a year left of my mission!

Update

Elder Bryan is trunky! He has 15 days left! He is ready to go home! He still works! But man is he trunky !

We found a fly that died! BTW this cactus is over 15 ft. tall!

We did a musical number for a child of record baptism and we were practicing!

More practice

Good Bye Joe!

Well 1 year has gone by for me and 2 years for Elder Pratt! Wow that's crazy! How time flies! 

We had a great week this week.  We taught about 13
lessons and are expecting a baptism soon!

We had a weird family home evening!

Week

We had a crazy awesome lesson. We found 8 new investigators and we have been doing really good together! Elder Bryan is not trunky at all. He is here to work.

We took a member phone and used Snapchat!

Elder Bryan ate a cube of something to make chicken broth and he didn't like it.

This is late from the Fourth of July! Sorry!

Week!

In one picture, this is how my week went!

I had a really good week. We had a baptism on Saturday!

We are going to teach her family this week!


We had a really good week! I am really happy to be with Elder Bryan!

Week

Great week I got to go to the temple!!!!! Met up with an old comp!!
The Fourth of July was pretty eh for me. I didn't do anything and I didn't get to see the fireworks. We just stayed in our house all night. Transfers is tomorrow and I am getting a new comp who goes home in 6 weeks. Hopefully he is not trunky!!

Found a pretty American photo!!

I Spy

Let's play a game!! I spy! With my little elder Studyvin eye a what?

I hope you found it HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 
I won't tell you if you don't find it!

Well we had an interesting week. We got taught by someone very special. We also had to change a tire and it is really funny people talk to me and look at me and don't think I am the type of person to know how to do something like that! It is really annoying! But anyway if more than 15 people email me back and figure out what I spy I will write a better weekly email. Kind of a better one hahaha !

Elder Studyvin

This Week!

I found out some interesting things about the Sabbath day this week and it comes from the gospel principles book! 

"We should consider righteous things we can do on the Sabbath. For example, we can keep the Sabbath day holy by attending Church meetings; reading the scriptures and the words of our Church leaders; visiting the sick, the aged, and our loved ones; listening to uplifting music and singing hymns; praying to our Heavenly Father with praise and thanksgiving; performing Church service; preparing family history records and personal histories; telling faith-promoting stories and bearing our testimony to family members and sharing spiritual experiences with them; writing letters to missionaries and loved ones; fasting with a purpose; and sharing time with children and others in the home."

So if you really want to keep the sabbath day holy you need to write the missionaries but us missionaries have to work on Sundays so we can't really do that. 

Our area has picked up a lot since I got here! Here is a picture of our indicators ! 

A week went by

I had a week go by. We did not find any new investigators. Right now we are playing basketball and everyone is getting very angry at each other! Right now I am writing my email! I am going to be completely honest I love talking to all of you individually but I don't like writing this email.