Noy soy San Pedro ni San Pablo

Hello (said in a Guatemalan accent in honor of my favorite Guatemalan comp)

This week we contacted. I don't know if we contacted more than last week or the same, but we contacted tons. It is super hard to find people that actually progress and read and are at home when we have our next appointment, so we just keep on looking.

This week i spent the last of the quincena (950 pesos) buying a stove for 250 pesos. It was worth it because last Monday i bought pancake mix and eggs and then the stove broke, so i was pretty stressed out. Luckily i can reimburse it though, so in about a month ill have that money back again.

We found a super awesome family from Veracruz. We had barely knocked on their door when the mom invited us in and told all of her kids to stop cleaning so they could come and listen to us. We taught them the restoration and we are going back today to see them again.

We had a cool lesson teaching somebody about the sabbath day and inviting them to church, but they didn't come. Hopefully this week she will be able to come. We also found somebody that asked us when the Book of Mormon was published and knowing what was coming i said around 200 years ago. And then the lady said that the catholic bible was 4,000 years old and i was about ready to leave because that's what they always say and then i was like "wait she just said 4,000 years old i got to look into this." So, i said "wait how is it that the catholic bible is 4,000 years old when Jesus was born only 2,000 years ago, Juan disappeared around 83 AD and the bible as we know it was first put together roughly around 250 AD." And then she said that Jesus was born more than 4,000 years ago and that she reads the bible every day and then slammed the door in our face. 

My back hurts super bad and when we visited a member family they had a member from another ward who is a physical therapist there, so he popped my back and offered me free physical therapy which i might do tomorrow.

And the highlight of my week happened on Friday. I thought i had lived it all being on the mission, but Friday around 7 as we left the house of some in-actives we were visiting a dog started barking at me. So, i faked like i was going to hit it with my Book of Mormon and it didn't do anything, but while i was distracted another dog came up and bit me on the back of my leg. I have never been closer to throwing my Book of Mormon in an animals face, but member lady was watching us go, so i couldn't do anything. So, we left her street and i looked and it was bleeding. So, i decided to rub hand sanatizer on it and we kept working. Then we went home around 8 so i could wash it good and then i had to call sister barron. She set me to the hospital and we had to take a taxi. The taxi guy was talking to us the whole time and we had to stop by the offices to pick up money (the financial secretary's tried getting mad at me that i didn't have money, but i threw it back at them because they haven't done my reimbursements for a month) and the taxi driver heard that i had a dog bite and he literally peeled out of the church. He was like "why didn't you tell me you had a dog bite??" as he was going like 70 mph. Then i was like "don't worry Paul got bit by a snake and nothing happened" to which he replied "Tu no eres san pedro ni san pablo tu eres Elder abaratweifalj" I guess everyone freaks out about dog bites here, but i was pretty chill. Long story short, everything is good and i wont get rabbis.

Adios

Elder Warburton

1. The district picture that the zls photo bombed 

2. dawg bite. not even that, but i guess its a big deal when its a mexican street dog

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Elder Warburton

  México Puebla Norte

Siervos del Alto

Ok i know that last week i said that it had been raining a lot, but i lied. It was just raining a lot, but now this week it has been raining and hailing.

We have been contacting a ton this week and it went as well as you could expect. We've gotten called just about every swear word there is in mexico (and there are lots) we have met self proclaimed prophets, and lots of really cool people who have listened to us. Just a pro tip, if someone is drunk and they tell you that they are a prophet and a servant from on high its probably smart to just end the contact and go back another day.

I've been verifying a ton every night because now every day we have to verify the number of new people we have found and contacts we have done. I usually start verifying at 9 and end at around 10. It was funny seeing everybody in the district council on Wednesday. If you add up all of their time in the mission i still don't think it would equal the time that i have. It's fun seeing the new generations and getting a reminder of what i was like before; IE not being able to talk Spanish or teach or do anything. Luckily they are all super awesome and excited to learn.

The other day we went to look for a recent convert that hasn't been coming to church. We knocked on her door and she answered and was super happy to see us. She told us that her dog had just barely died and that she was sad. It was cool to show up at just the right time and being able to talk to her and help her.

We had the capacitation of district and zone leaders and i went with Elder Lyles (read my letters from a couple months ago, he was my companion) it was funny being with him and everybody said that the dream team was back. 

On Saturday we celebrated the birthday of an elder in my district and we bought him a cake.

My favorite quote of the week is from a 3 year old. We were eating with a family and they gave us ice cream for dessert. So, of course we had to steal the 3 year old's ice cream and tell her there was none left, we gave it back and left the house and didn't think anything of it. Then on Sunday she came up to me and says "Tu y yo necesitamos hablar" (You and I need to talk) and she started telling me that i can never steal her ice cream again.

Adios

Elder Warburton  

  

Elder Warburton

  México Puebla Norte

Elder Backmans birthday party

One Last Time

It rained a lot this week. I think it rains a lot every week, but i just notice it more when i don't have my rain boots on and my feet get all wet. 

Funny thing happened when we went to eat with some members. We knocked the house number 11 just like we were supposed to, but somebody answered it and immediately slammed it in our face saying no. So, we thought we weren't going to eat, but luckily there were two houses numbered 11 right next to each other, so we knocked the other and we proceeded to eat. 

My comp got medicine for his stomach. I'm starting to think i might need to look into that.

There are some members here that live part of the time in Monterrey and the other part here in Puebla. We ate with them and they gave us some amazing carne asada with flour tortilla quesadillas and some type of beans that i've never had before. All super good. I think the highlights this week are mostly food related.

We did some intercambios this week and i worked with elder Nacimento in his area. we visited a lady that has been inactive ever since the bishop asked her to talk and we taught her about the sacrament. She said she would come to church (they always say that), we gave her a blessing for her health and left. Then to our surprise she actually came on Sunday and stayed the whole time, so that was a good miracle. We also didn't have water the whole time we were in intercambios. We had to awkwardly ask their neighbor to lend us a couple of buckets

.

A five year old on a bus saw me and said "Es me amigo!" and started talking to me. Her mom told her to stop talking to me, but she just kept on talking and talking. Then when we got off she said adios like 10 times. If only the adults were as receptive as the kids.

Elder Tarrega (my trainer) finally left this week. We had  various going a-way parties between us and the members. We bought pizza, tacos, and took lots of pictures. We also got our transfer news (6 more weeks left) and i'm staying in my area as district leader and will be finishing the training of a missionary who has 1 transfer in the mission.

Adios

Elder Warburton

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Elder Warburton

  México Puebla Norte

Last district picture

¿Y la pizza?

Last time

First time

A picture we took awhile ago with the zone leaders

my new companion

No Pienso en Nada

Whatsup

This week went by fast again. Basically the same that happened last week.

The elders in Torres 1 lost their keys and were locked out of their house. The land lady had keys to get them past the general door, and luckily they left the window open so they could get into the house. 

We decided to walk to another pueblo in our area because we didn't think that it would be that far away, but it was super far away and really hot, so we almost died. We made it though and we visited some in-actives. 

I don't know if you remember my letter from last week, but i commented about how we found somebody that could have been baptized last Saturday. Well she lives half of the week in the area of the assistants and half of the week in our area. She has been coming to church for 2 months in our area, is 80 years old and her son who taught her all the lessons and takes her to church lives in our area. We had to call president to get permission to baptize her in our area and basically it was his decision to decide where she was going to get baptized. And believe it or not he decided that she should get baptized in the area of his assistants, so yeah. She doesn't want to go to church there, so i guess she will just never get baptized?

We had to eat a bunch of chicharon one day and the brasileño didn't want to eat it, so we all had to eat double and got sick.

Somebody we have been teaching said she basically didn't want to see us.

Yesterday the members gave us paella, the second time i've eaten it in my whole life. The first time was in Barcelona with Mason. They also gave us brownies, the first time i've had a brownie in almost two years, so that was probably one of the best comidas i've had here.

And we cleaned the house super well and i mopped the bathroom with chlorine.

Adios

Elder Warburton

  

Elder Warburton

  México Puebla Norte

 Climbing the mountain

Chiles en nogada