Dodge Ball Missionaries

We continue to regularly hear from David, each week in fact. David is still training new missionaries and he loves it! We are having more and more trouble reading David's emails. Each email has more grammar and spelling errors and more Spanish than we're used to. However, we're still able to tell that David loves being a missionary and would stay in Mexico if he could.

No new pictures from the mission field, but a sport report instead. This week the mission got together for a giant game of dodge ball. President Cantu organized the teams and presided over the tournament. David told us "We had a lot of fun. But I haven't thrown ANYTHING, much less a dodgeball in like 2 years. Now my whole body hurts. Or at least the parts I use to throw stuff"

David's Latest Update

David's emails lately have been pretty brief. The missionaries are staying so busy, trying to be obedient, and work with wards, branches and members that P-day is really for preparation, not just play. In fact, there hasn't been much "play" in P-day.

David has had a Peruvian companion for the last transfer and is hoping that they'll stay together one more time. He loves his companion and gets along with him so well that he'd like to stay with him through the holidays.

David writes: "This week was really good. We’re working more with the ward and members and it seem to be going very well. Sometimes it’s a little frustrating cuz members are retarded, but I guess I was a retarded member too at one time. I can’t believe I didn’t like doing this more before. I feel like I could never loose the missionary spirit. I dunno if it’s possible, but I figure I’ll be going to your ward when I get home, since I’m definitely not gonna go to church alone when I get back, so could you call me as ward mission leader when I get back? I know it’s the Lord’s call final, but you can think and pray about it for the next 8 months : )"

Susan and I had to laugh at David's comment - he'll be home for about a month before leaving for school so calling him to be a ward mission leader might be a bit of a stretch - but I'd sure consider it!

Busy, Busy David

The last few weeks have come with only bits and pieces of news from David. It seems that the missionary work is going so well that they only have an hour or so on their P-days to write home. And so it is with David. He's been very busy and writes a couple of paragraphs about how things are going...barely...and how busy they are. The last couple of weeks he's cc'd on the email he sends to the Mission President on how things are going. Needless to say, it's difficult to really know what's really going on since his emails are in Spanish. We just sent David a package that included a new cord for his camera so he can start sending pictures again. In the meantime, here area few older photos of David in Mexico.

We didn't get to hear from David this week. We don't know what happened but can only assume there were transfers and he just never made it to the email. Either that, or he was kidnapped by a drug cartel. The latter can't be the case because we're fairly certain that a 6'5" elder who isn't very happy can revert back to the 5 year old David we all remember...they'd have brought him back already!

David's had a couple of hard weeks. He's trying to follow the counsel of his mission president about how to teach with the Spirit, but his companions are very young, very inexperienced, and not in the habit of teaching and paying attention. However, his letters have always ended on a high note as he preservers and does what he's been asked to do. He's past his year mark so it's all down hill from here...well, at least on a calendar.

First Mazatlan then Culiacan

David wrote the other day to tell us how excited he was to be on the mainland of Mexico and not quite so far away from the mission president. For a little while he was in Mazatlan and this last transfer he's been sent to Culiacan, where the mission home is. This is how we learned about Culiacan..."Soooo, I am now officially in the most dangerous city in Mexico. . . Culiacân. . ." Pretty nice comment, eh? It was so nice of our cute kid to keep us informed so we don't worry.

Transfer to the Mainland

Well, David has finally been tranferred to the mainland - Mazatlan to be exact. Of course he's not in a very "resorty" kind of area, but it's Mazatlan nonetheless.

David has yet to serve with an American companion, and as of the last week even his mission president isn't an American. But David isn't complaining. He loves his companion and his new president and his Spanish is so good that he even types his emails with an accent.

David let something slip a couple of weeks ago that still has his mom a freaked out. It seems that in many parts of Mexico little vehciles or carts drive around each morning with loudspeakers and give little, short blurps of news as it travels around. Apparently, the evening before this particular announcement was given David and his companion heard, shall we say, some strange noises that were explained when the news was broadcast - here's how David explained it:

"The culture is completely different. There are parties in the streets every night, there aren't as many alcoholic drunks in the streets, just the partyers, and the people are a little meaner. Well, a lot meaner. Haha, but it's fun. There are little carts that drive around in the morning with speakers that yell the announcements of the city. How many were killed, where and how, haha : ) I heard my first murder last night walking back to the house. Then we heard about it, who he was and how many bullets he took in the morning. Pretty interesting. But don't worry, the missionaries are safe cuz no one cares about them, haha : )"

Yep - the kid really knows how to instill confidence that he's really going to be okay.... ;/

Elder Grimm in May

Recently David has been assigned to train a new Mexican missionary. So far, since arriving in Mexico in late October he's had a grand total of ZERO American/English speaking companions. He was able to call home on Mother's Day and it was pretty fun to hear his Spanish accent. He was also able to talk with Spencer, who served his mission in Mexico, and we laughed and laughed as the two of the jibber jabbered away.

David is still in the south end of Baja California and will probably stay there just a bit longer. In preparation for this return to the mainland he send some stuff home to us. His daily planners were FULL of appointments and names. The work is progressing very well and it's pretty common to have photos emailed home of a baptism. He loves being a missionary and his emails have changed so much that we've wondered aloud what happened to the kid that left here - it doesn't even sound like him anymore. However, as you can see...the area where David is serving is...shall we say...a little barren?

So David is a trainer missionary now. He's been in the Cabo San Lucas area for a couple of weeks and loves the work more now than he did before! He loves his new companion and has mastered the language. A while back there was a big earthquake near Mexicali, Mexico several hundred miles north of him. Nobody in So. Baja felt it. There was that huge earthquake in Chile before that and a concern included a tsunami warning for the west coast of the North America - again, nothing.

David wrote of an experience he had a few months ago that just cracked us up:

"One day in Constitucion we tracted into an inactive member on accident. She'd been inactive for years and just didn't wanna be a member anymore. I explained the following to her:

'Okay, that's fine, well here's what we can do. I dunno if you know this, but you have a record in the church. If you don't wanna be a member anymore, we can bring this form to you and there is a part that you can sign that says you don't wanna be a member anymore and it will literally undo your baptism and confirmation here on Earth and in heaven, too. Would you like to sign it?'

'Yes! Bring me the form!'

'Oh, okay, well really I wouldn't like to do that, but if it's what you want. But you should know that when Christ comes again to judge us all, he's going to see this form. He will see your name, the date in which you were baptized and confirmed, and also your signature saying that you didn't wanna be a member of His church anymore. Like I said, I really don't wanna do that, because it means condemnation for you, but if it's what you want, we'll bring it.'

'I really have a record in the church?

Yes, ma'am.'

'And Jesus is gonna come again and see it?'

'Yep.'

'And he's gonna condemn me for it?'

'Yep.'

'What time does church start?'

(With a smile on my face) '9 in the morning.'

'Okay, I'll see you at church.'

'Gracias!'

Haha, and she went to church for 4 weeks before I left. I'd imagine she's still active, haha : ) It always works out good in the end : ) Trust me, the story is WAYYYYY more funny in Spanish :)"

This week we asked him about calling home for Mother's day and hopefully being near a phone. Here is how he described the phone situation:
"I dunno if I've told you all this before, but we don't have a phone and we haven't had a phone all transfer, so it's been a little tough. I know, I know, Ammon didn't have a phone either and still kicked butt, but I don't have a sword, so we can call it even : )"

Sixth Monty Tie Vandalism

It's hard to believe that David has been a missionary for six months already. Following missionary tradition, David vandalized one of his ties in celebration. The Church's email server is pretty weird and it sometimes takes us several days to get all of the pictures he sent (last week it took from Monday to Friday for the photos to arrive). David has another new companion and remains in Ciudad Constitucion, about 3 hours north of La Paz. Here's what David said about his NEW companion:

"I received a new companion, Elder Cornejo. He just got here in La Paz (We have to go there for the transfers) like an hour ago, so I don’t have a picture of him yet. Kinda funny, though. The two of us together only have 11 months of experience in the mission combined, so it’ll be a good chance to develop some good leadership skills and learn by a little baptismal fire : ) He seems really cool, though, although I haven’t really gotten to know him yet. We’ve got 3 and a half hours in a bus to Constitucion to do a bit of that, though : )"

We found it interesting that members of the church, and the wards and branches they all live in, in Mexico aren't really much different than those found here in the states. Here is what David wrote about a challenge in his current area and the observations he's made and what he's learned:

"We’ve got some good investigators over there, so I’m hoping we'll be able to make some good progress and make the ward a little stronger. It’s kinda interesting, the ward has some problems with the bishop, or better said, he’s working hard to develop his leadership skills and run the ward smoothly, but he’s having a hard time. I don’t blame him, though. He’s way young, and because of his past screw ups (Which I account to his simple lack of knowing) he doesn’t receive a lot of support from the ward. It’s partly his fault, but there are some members who don’t make the situation any better. But the point of all of this is that it’s interesting to see how the problems of the ward become the problems of the missionaries. Like I feel like it’s my home ward and I wanna help out. Kind of a cool feeling."

I've also included a photo collage of where David is living - I have no idea how he did this, but it's a circular view of his neighborhood.

Our Little Boy is Maturing in the Gospel

He may be maturing in the gospel, but he's still a little kid at heart! He loves his new area, he loves his new companion and it seems that those two things have given him the opportunity to develop some other blessings. Here's a portion of one of his last emails:
"The night I got your package, I was thinking about what Alexis told me about the missionaries in England and the vision that Joseph Smith had about God crying. It was looking like I wasn’t gonna get my package that night, which really bummed me out. Then the thought came into my head that I should pray for it, even though it’s selfish and stupid and really doesn’t matter. So I offered quick prayer in my head and when I finished, I envisioned in my head how long it would take from the time that I said amen for us to receive a phone call. I kinda walked it through in my head, the sister receiving the impression that she should call, dialing and then putting the phone to her ear and waiting. And then out phone rang. . .Pretty special.

Also, I did what Sara said about praying for other people’s prayer to be answered and I asked Heavenly Father if I could do that. I asked to be an angel and answer a prayer. That day, we found a woman whose parents were inactive members and were meeting with Jehovah’s Witnesses. She stopped us in the street and asked us to come in and talk to them. So we did. Then when we left, she looked me in the eyes and said (translated) “You don’t know how long I’ve been praying for an angel to come and talk to them.”

David is REALLY in Mexico

David sent some photos this week with his email. You'll see a picture of the bedroom and bathroom of the apartment - Alan sent photos home from the Phillipines that didn't look much different so this wasn't a huge shock at the meager conditions where the missionaries live. We learned that David had a problem with his teeth that required a visit to the dentist...in Mexico...in the boondocks...this is how he described that experience'

"I busted a tooth open on a sucker and discovered that I had a pretty deep cavity. Also in the very back of my mouth in one of my molars. The dentist was legit, or at least so it seemed and I think he did a really good job filling the cavity. It looks good, at least : ) He wasn’t very good with the novicane, however. Actually, he totally sucked so it hurt a lot. I actually don’t think I had any in the part where it was needed. Good thing I’ve got a high tolerance for pain, right? Haha. But yeah, that was kind of an adventure."