August 29, 2016

The Hospital...
Well what an exciting week full of little work because me and my companion had to go to the hospital on Tuesday and then Saturday. The reason is because he fell in the ccm and messed up his nose so he had to get surgery. Right now his nose is all taped up and it constantly bleeds so he has to tape a gause pad under his nose haha he looks awesome!! We were there at the hospital all Saturday and stayed the night which was wickeddddd!! The hospital is called Doctors Hospital and its the best hospital here in Mexico. The 8th most modern in the world! The scene we had was sweet and the room we stayed in was like a really nice hotel room and we got food and everything so it was pretty legit! 

   A couple funny things is one that the doctor that did the operation was typing on his computer and he types with two fingers only.... 8 years in medical school and never taught how to type.... sad really... hahah

   Here in our area i see more horses in the streets then dogs which is really... really... really... strange. Some of the horses we see are so skinny and their spines are basically tearing through there horse skin because they are so skinny so that is pretty sad. My companion loves horses and so he is always crying for them. not really but he does talk about them a lot.

     The scripture that I came across this week in my 200000 hours of studying in the hospital is Romans 12 verses 20 and 21. It talks about how kindness is really the best option for everything and it is amazing so go and read it!

   All is well here and im sure all is well there! Love you all (except you cameron)

             jk

Elder Passey

Elder Caceras and Elder Passey

August 22, 2016

The difference is real...
WOW!!!! What a new way of live. The mission is still the mission and the work is the same work but wow everything else is so different. I am now in a place called valle hermoso (beautiful valley) which is just so different because of the feeling of not knowing your area. I am here with Elder San Pablo and he is from Mexico city and is pretty awesome. I dont understand everything he says but hey we are working on it haha. I realize how much I have learned in the mission and from Elder Caceres who is now home now (sad) and how incredible of a missionary and example he was for me. Elder san pablo has 3 months in the mission and i have 5 hahahaha so we are so fresh. I am the senior companion (I know i dont know how it happened either) but here we are and he doesn't know the area very well so we are pretty much opening an area basically and as of now i realize his last companion was a fritoooooo which means basically they didnt work a whole lot... soooo here I am with a lot to work with. Its pretty cool being the senior companion really whatever you say goes. I say we contact then we contact hahah but its super weird and i dont feel like i am fully prepared to make all the decisions but hey im here anyway. Elder Caceres and i didn't sleep last monday because we were packing and what not so that was cool. Tuesday the first day in valle hermoso we started contacting and this police car pulled over and this police man started talking to me IN ENGLISH!! haha so i responded in english too and he said there was a guy who needed help by the 7 eleven and so i asked what he need help with and he responded Jesus! so then i told him we would help the man and i asked if the police man needed Jesus too and he said he didn't and that he had him already because he was christian and then they drove away haha pretty weird experience. 

   When we were walking to the food i saw a sign that was like a lost dog sign but it said lost turtle.... ahahahha how do you lose a turtle.....

     During a contact i was telling this young fellow that people know us by the name mormons and i asked what he thought about mormons and then he told me it is a groseria (a bad word or thing) hahaha i learned there is a bad word like mormon and that the kid probably heard the bad word and not mormon..... still working on the accent...

     We have run into some strange people here. Some that dont belive in God but belive in the Bible... awkward... or others that want to change their lives but continue to drink beer in front of us..... oh how fun Mexico is!! 

    The ward here is pretty great but a lot smaller then my last ward... There is probably 50 people that showed up to church. All the missionaries ahd to give a talk including me sadly and apparently i talked too long (says the hermanas in our ward) but really i was so worried about my spanish i didnt realize what time i started or ended hahaha. 

   All in all its hard to change areas so early and im sad but hey the people here are great! Love you all and Remember the blessings you have!

  

    Elder Passey

August 15, 2016

Ya me voy
For those of you who speak in my tongue you will either know or have a guess of what ya me voy signifies. What it means is I am leaving my area and onto a new area. Tomorrow. My thoughts on this are very scattered. I was mentally prepared for a new companion and too show him the area and the people and continue the progress here but that isn't the Lords plan. Really is hard because now me and my companion have to write a note and tell the whats going on with everything so it is a little rough to take in. Hopefully in my next area I will have air conditioning (clima) and if I do then all will be well. I have to pack all my stuff today and then me and my companion go to the offices tomorrow early morning with all our stuff. Also bummed my spanish isn't what i wanted it to be when leaving my first area but hey I am pretty sure i will get by! It feels really different when your companion is leaving and going home. I will be on a whole new adventure with my next companion and so I am excited for that! I have many many pictures that we took with a lot of different families so I will send all of those too! Luckily I already sort of not really said bye to most people so heyyyy lets look on the brightside. Here is some pictures with some of the families! All is well here and im sure i will have a lot to say next week with my new adventure starting! LES AMO!

Elder Passey

August 4, 2016

What.. four days later?
It has not been that long since my last letter. A whole four days of normality and missionary work and not a whole lot of things to really report. I would like to first specify I actually do not eat beans EVERY day. I do eat them a lot and therefore the song is engraved? (cant spell) on my soul. If you were all wondering what I do eat besides beans (which i know you are all dying to know) here is what we had in the last four days. 

Spaghetti (different from America, Somtimes better) with mashed potatoe and fried fish. For dessert that day we had bananas with cream which is truly amazing i think it is just bananaas and that sweet milk cream stuff but who knows it was delicious.

The next day we had BEANS!, RICE, AND MEAT ON A BONE!! (no idea what meat it is i think its chicken never really too sure.

Sunday we had like a salad kindof thing with noodles, tomato and cut up hotdog which had an interesting sauce so its not just beans and rice every day but a lot of days it is.

    Being in Mexico you have many exieriences and soem can be good and some can be bad. This particular one that I am going to share is just purly horryfying (cant spell, thanks spanish)  Entonces... A long time ago in a galaxy far far away me and my companion were back at the apartment after a days work and I came across a cockroach... I deccided i was tired o killing these massive creatures with creature spray they gave us a the beggining of this two year adventure. I decided to attempt to use a screw driver but obviously cockroaches are somewhat intelligent and it started to run across the whoel as i chased it down with y screwdriver in hand. (i realize now this shoudve been recorded because it was nothing short of hilarious. As i was in pursuit Th cockroach decided today would be a good day to start flying. Now to this day i am not sure if all cockroaches can fly or not but this did. As i ran the other way in horror I grabbed the kiling spray and succeeded in my quest to stop the cockroach and to this day it is still dead on our floor. The End.

     I came across a scipture in Doctrine and Covenants 122:7 which says 

 7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into thehands of murderers, and the sentence of death passedupon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowingsurge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thineenemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all theelements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, ifthe very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide afterthee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall givethee experience, and shall be for thy good.

    That really hit me and as i thought about it really realized the trials I have and the diffiulty I have and the difficulties my investigators have is all for their own good and that God has a plan for us and no matter what really happens or what we go through something good come out of it wether that be blessings or just learning something or maybe learning something and helping someone with that same situation or trial later, so dont get down yourslef and know that everything is for the good no matter how bad!

    I love you all and hope you all know that God loves you infinitely and that whatever trial you encounter that you can go to your Heavenly Father in prayer and ask for that help you need. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings hapiness and it is the greates knowledge and the happiest knowledge we have. Love you all! 

Elder Passey

Aug 4, 2016

Beans, Beans, Beans

You all must know that I come up with the subject name in about half a second not with any purpose or relation to my email or anything. Today i figured i would relate it because here in Mexico not only do people speak spanish but they also eat beans. LOTS AND LOTS OF BEANSSSSS. If you do not remember the beans song then i congratulate you because that has been burned into my head when it runs through every dayI eat beans which is every day. As I have a little time under my belt (not really) i have come to realize the quality of beans which is strange because you would think all beans are the same but no no no they are not the same. All sorts of flavors and kinds. 

   Apart from beans a couple things that happened or happening is as follows. Our recent converts fany and jocelyn have a little cousin and her name is gema (gem in english. I know, how sweet of the to name their daughter gem) sooo jocelyn decided to teach her my name so when ever we go to their house to teach a lesson gema always says "Passey" in her little small one year old voice, pretty hilarious and awesome if you were to ask me. 

The work is good my companion goes home in a week and a half so that pretty much breaks my.... i would say heart but thats just weird im going to go with spirit. It breaks my spirit but im excited to find out who my next companion will be. I a ¿m sure i will be staying here in Lomas De Pedregal for a few more months. The new pressident Maucotel is really awesome and I am excited to work with him for my two years i have. 

Hopefully as things change in a week and a half the work will change for the better because right now my companion and I have been struggling with some people and had to stop teaching people that weren't progressing but hey we keep going right!

Love the mission here and I have not yet doubted coming here to serve for a moment I love the work and the people here and cant wait for pretty much two years more of it! Love you all and here is some pictures!

July 25, 2016

The canicula started on the 14 or 15th and really it hasn't been bad. Some days it has even been normal and not scorching hot which is incredible. I am sure 20 days into it we will feel the power of the canicula... hopefully not though. The mission right now is awesome as far as the people. As far as progress here it has slowed down and we are probably going to have to drop some investigators because lack of attending church which will be hard to do but also necessary (no idea how to spell that) 

   The spanish is coming along and I am understanding alot more. My speaking abilities still lack butbeing able to understand a lot more is amazing you dont fel as lost. We run into some strange people that attack about harry potter or a book about satan or how every religion is right hahah oh man the confusion in Mexico is so fun!! 

One of the highlights of the week was intercanges with our zone leaders. I was with elder Romero and he is hilarious and so fun to work with. We had some success that day and found some new investigators. The cool thing was we were in my area so i was the one who had to guide  us really start the lessons with our investigators and talk to them a lot more then i usually do but itt went really well and i didnt struggle with anything in specific reeally. That night my companion and eder Romeroes companion came back to our house to sleep because we always play soccer in the morning on saturday. We didnt get much sleep because four people and its alwayss hot but it was pretty fun all four of us cracking jokes and what not. 

Sunday comes around and it can either be amazing or dissappointing because of investigators not coming to church. It was slightly dissappointing butlife goes on and you learrn from it. 

In Mexico all is well, weird, but well. Love you all and rememeber, God Loves You.

Elder Passey

July 18, 2016

Wow time really just blends here in Mexico. I really dont know what to write because i cant remember if my experiences were this week or the week before or the week before that hahaha. We ran into a couple drunk guys during th week the first wanted money to return to his house with his wife apparently but its just difficult to trust a drunk man with your money... The second was more of a distraction then anything me and companion were super far away from the comida we had to get to by two and it was two thirty and we also had to drop some stuff off at a members house and so we were going to take a taxi and so we were waiting to flag one down and this guy walks across the street and walks up to us and starts talking to us and here we are thinking (uggghhhhhh what is happeningggggg) he was asking us how to change his life and wouldnt stop talking ahhaha so we were late to the food. I really think its funny when drunk guys come to talk to us and recognize us as missionaries. 
We have had some huge upsets and some huge blessings this week. One of the good things was our convert got her temple recommend and so she is going to the temple on thursday so that was pretty great. The downer was on sunday we walked to cañada blanca to pick up some of our investigators and cañada is the farthest away colony in our area so we get to their house and they either didn't want to come or they were sleeping is what their mom said so that was pretty disappointing to be honest, it is truly weird sometimes because sometimes people will read everything you commit them too and do everything you ask of them but wont come to church... strange really but hey it is what it is. 

So here in Mexcio mtn dew is hard to find and if you know me you know i am a fan of Mtn Dew.  One of the ward members told me his brother goes to the united states a lot so he got me some mtn dew. Basically what im saying is being in Mexico doesn't stop you from enjoying the things you once enjoyed hahahaha. 

Also here when its ten at night or three in the morning it doesn't really drop below 80 degrees. ever. 

Love you all 

    Elder Passey

It's almost 10:00 pm and it's still 98 degrees

July 11, 2016

Hi everyone, Elder Passey here. Really I would like to make these as entertaining as possible but im drawing a blank here. This week was pretty sweet nothing to complain about and nothing super amazing. The struggle here is the commitment that people have to attend church which is very little for most. The big downers are when your recent converts dont attend church like what is that all about right! ahh the struggle of the mission really. The canicula is going to start the 14 or 15 of this month, really not ready for that type of heat. The sad thing is that it never cools down here, its like 11 o clock and its 95 degrees outside hahaha its hilarious sometimes how hot it is but mostly just sad. We ran into a drunk guy again and was talking about the bible and asking us how to change his life, then the best part was when he shook?? is that how to spell that word? no idea spanish has ruined my spelling. but anyway when he shook my hand he looked at my companion and said "He is new to the word of god" and my companion responded "How do you know that?" and the drunken man said "By his hands" hahahaha it was really strange and hilarious because im new in the mission but not exactly to the word as he said ahah. I started reading Jesus The Christ and it is pretty much amazing i would encourage really anyone to read it i love it and am only on page 24. Thats about it that i can remember love you all!

July 4, 2016

Im done with my training everyone i know spanish perfectly and understand everything its amazing what training can do for you. If you believe i speak spanish and understand everything then you havent been reading my emails. This week has been pretty solid except for on sunday when investigators dont show up to church. Me and Elder Sanders matched on sunday because he has the same suit as i do and then we both were black skinny ties and it was hilarious! Transfers are here and Elder sanders is leaving the area which is sad because we are great fans but im sure i will see him later on in the mission! One pretty cool thing here in Mexico is that it is pretty much a requirement to own a huge speaker system because everyone is blasting music all the time. English music almost as much as spanish, I still dont like the spanish music but maybe one day, hopefully not though. 

    One really important thing i learned is that i am in Mexico.... nah not that im just in Mexico but im the happiest or close to it ive ever been here sharing the gospel and living it. Really its amazing even though i dont know whats going on all the time but sharing your testimony and helping people every day brings such great joy. The gospel of Jesus Christ is joy and happiness and i encourage all to participate fully in this happiness that im experiencing here in mexico. 

   I apologize for my grammar and spelling because spanish has ruined that part of me. Miss you all and cant wait to see you all again and share my experiences with you all but for now i will focus here. Love you all!

 Elder Passey 

June 27, 2016

HEY so im almost done with 12 semanas! which is pretty cool and pretty crazy! This week was nothing short of amazing! We were at a ladies house knockig on her door because we had an appointment with her and while we were trying to get in and have the lesson this lady walks up to us and says "elders elders!" and then she continues to tell us we need to teach her son who is very interested and how she thought other people were from our church but then she remembered we are church of the latter day SAINTS and she really emphazised saints! Really a strange lady but then after we found out she is sick in the mind so then it all made sense. We taught her family which was interesting she has two sons and one of them is older and is really interested but he is just confused on some things. Hopefully we can clear everything up with them and baptize her sons because she is already a member. SOOO if you remember the story of the sleeping drunk man then you will laugh at this. HE CAME BACK TO THE CHURCH! just blasted out of his mind but we were playing soccer in the morning and he walks through the gate and up the stairs and we were getting water and saw him and just laughed. We led him out and then closed the gate but he did recognize us which was pretty funny. Especially me and elder sanders. 

    I said my first bad offensive word in spanish the other day (No im not telling you all what i said) one of the investigators had a doritoes chips bag and the bad word was printed on the front of the bag and so i said it out loud in a question kind of way because its two normal words that i know but putting them together is very bad... I apparently said it pretty loud because everyone was laughing and pretty amuzed by the way i said it... hahah .

    We have some new investigators who are looking really promising and one of the families we have only taught once we had a chance to teach them again! Really great here and still learning a ton!! Love you all!

 

Elder Passey

June 20, 2016

SOOOO i dont know really, here i am in Mexico just you know, preaching the Gospel this week hasn't been a complete crazy experience. EXCEPT for when we were at a members house and she wanted us to give her a blessing so i automatically assumed my companion would do it. He did the first part and then he wanted me to give the blessing. I pretty much lost my mind and forgot all spanish and told him i dont know the right words in spanish to start it and so he pulls out his mission manual and reads the words and then closes it and puts it in his pocket. All of what he had said when in both my ears and then quickly backout. i told him i couldn't memorize that that fast so he just told me to do it in english haha. I decided i would do it in english, and so i did at first but the blessing part i went for it in spanish so the lady could understand what was going on. All in all it was a caught off guard kind of experience but hey all is well all is well. 

I also gloriously found out mtn dew actually does exist is Mexico, one of elder sanders friends sent him some from guadalupe, i will have to figure how to communicate with the amigo de elder sanders and get some myself. The mission is still really awesome and my spanish is actually improving and so is my understanding i understand quite a bit now which is just really the gift of tongues. today we studied together as a zone and played soccer after. Ive been really missing Lacrosse here in Mexico and whenever i tell people thats my favorite sport they look at me like i just spoke english hahaha but seriously nobody knows what that is here in Mexico. Oh well i guess they are missing out. It also rained pretty hard today but we were at the food during the crazy rain so we aren't soaked. The streets are filled with water and sewage because of overflow and the sewers here just dont like to contain sewage which is really strange. I just wanted to let all who read this know that here in Mexico they actually speak spanish. Really strange concept to grasp i know but they actually dont speak english, mindblowing really. haha but all in all its still going great we have two more weeks and then we will be in my companions last transfer which is sad but all good im excited for him. Love you all and if you have any just really good jokes you have to tell someone im all ears. Love you all! 

June 13, 2016

ok so the o is sticky on this keyboard so again, bear with me. Lets get all the strange expieiences and crazy things out of the way at first. First off my good friend Jared always says "Peanut butter, Finish" because i have a huge jar of peanut butter that i got from sister Bird which she got from costco. One day jared told me he ate it all so after that he would always say that, and then one daoy he was with us and we were teaching fany and jocelyn and jocelyn asked what peanut butter was so then jared said "Cream de noot" thats what it sounded like he said when he was trying to say cream de nut i just thought that was an expieience i had to share. 

So my crazy first event that happened was after sacrament meeting was over we walked out to outside and there was this dude juist knocked out sitting down against the wall... My companion and one of the counselors of the bishopric took the initiative to wake him up. When he woke up his eyes were so yellow and you could tell he was pretty drunk. We got him up and walked him outside of the church area and asked where he lived and he didnt say much. Then he kept shaking our hands and asking us what our names are haha. He then started to cry and said he wanted to pray but he couldnt and my companion tried to offer to teach him in his home but he just wouldnt say yes or tell us where he lived. We got him walking and he only would talk to me because im white hahaha and so in his drunken english he kept asking me what my name was and why i liked life haha. We turned two corners and told him we were going to leave. he asked if i could stay with him but my companion said i had to go with him... sadly.... hahaha so we took a different way back to the church to confuse this drunken man but when we got back to the church he was sitting on the church steps. hahaha so basically the drunken man made his back drunk to the church. a miracle really. We then called for backup from sanders and diego and they came and he kept telling us and showing us his six six six tattoo and his torres tattoo because that was his name. He kept saying six six six number of the beast and then would say it again in spanish hahah. Then we decided to walk him a lot farther away and then drop him off. The whole way there he would only talk to me and elder sanders and try to talk in english. he kept telling us he respected us and then would swear at us and then tell us he respected us again which was a little strange but oh well. We dropped him off pretty far from the church and then that was it. if you have any questions let me know it was a great expieience.

We had a baptism!! Fany and Jocelyn got baptized which was great! I baptized jocelyn and my comp baptized fany! i will attach pictures. Jocelyn is the shorter one. 

We had a zone conference that lasted about 7 hours with the president but it was good and i enjoyed it and we got hot dogs and COSTCO MUFFINS it was a dream come true. 

I came across a scripture in Timothy chapter 4 verse 7 that i belive says "I have fought a good fight, i have finished my course, i have kept the faith" dont quote me on that because not 100 percent sure thats word for word but pretty sure haha I think its really the goal for our lives and when it comes to judgement day we should be proud to say that we have kept the faith and did what was commanded of us. I invite all to really strive to magnify your callings and magnify your lives in helping others and bringing others to the Gospel because it is the only way to true joy and happiness. Love you all and hope everyone has a great week!

also a picture with Jared and Pelon, pelon is wearing the sandals

Joselyn, Fany, Elder Passey and Elder Carceres

June 6, 2016

AYE everyone this weeks has been nothing short of well, good! We are going to have a baptism for sure on saturday for Fany and Jocelyn I will send a picture next week when it happens! They are two of my favorite investigators! 
So here in Monterrey in the streets where some of the sewers are they randomly spew out sewage into the streets.... just randomly on a random day not really important if it rained or not it just happens. Literally... its disgusting.... pure sewage... alrighttt on to better things! 

So my companion got his last and final wisdom tooth out but really didnt stop him from working hard though or eat normal food.... which could be bad in the wrong run because of infection and sadness but hey he isnt dead yet! We also had intercambios with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Azuara and he doesnt speak english so the day was a little long and hard to communicate but hey it was fun we had a lot of contacts and lessons on peoples front porch basically! Still working hard and its going good! The pictures are of a couple new ties i bought and a hat i got for really cheap andddd me and elder diego with a giant pizza! Love you all!

May 30, 2016

alrioght so my o´s are sticky on this keyboard so bear with me. the Baptism was the best!!! This week was so great and i loved it all! A couple things that happened was we made pancakes in the morning and my companion mixed peanut butter in with them! at first i thought it was a horrible idea but when i tried it it tastes amazing so i advise it to everyone! another great tasty treat is lime juice more or less! so you get a thing full of water and then maybe 6 or seven limes and squeeze the juice into the water and then a bunch of sugar like as much as you would koolaid and then bammmmm it tastes like pure joy!! try it! The baptism went really well and i will send pictures too! there was only about 10 or 15 people that were there because katy doesnt like a lot of people to be present haha. also nobody told us that it takes three hours for the font to fill so we started about an hour before so we had to get a bunch of buckets of water and pour it in the font haha everyone was questioning what was going on i am sure of it! It was a great baptism and an awesome experience for me!

Today in the morning we went to this big mall and and i bought a shirt for 200 pesos.... so many pesos! haha thats about 20 bucks american money. Its a sweet shirt ill tell you! We will maybe hopefully have another baptism on saturday with fany and jocelyn! we set up a baptismal interview for them on thursday so hopefully it all works out and we have another one! yesterday when we visited them they were having a party for a two year old with basically every family member they know haha! this really drunk guy asked my "what are you doing in my country" with more mean words and and then he said he was joking and then asked me "where was you born" but it was so slurred he had to repeat himself three times before i could decode the english he was using haha but it was pretty funny and we got cake so hey it was alright! great week and still enjoying all the great times! 

(What he said when I asked him if he was sick of eating tortillas.) im used to it i usually just have a sandwhich when i get home because i never have money for anything else really haha so it always bread and peanut butter and jelly but its amazing because its different from tortillas!
Love you all!

Elder Passey

May 23, 2016

hey everyone im sure you are all so excited to hear from me on this wonderful monday. so a couple things to start off is that I found out that Jacob 1:19 is giant planch (roast, burn) for missionaries haha everyone go read it and then think about missionary service! Its a good one! 

Me and my dad (my companion) had to go to a meeting because its the end of six weeks and because im new we had to go to this meeting and practice teaching and contacting and we watched these videos about missionary work and the atonement in the field and stuff they were amazing videos! I met a kid who has six months like elder sanders and his spanish is pretty good but he told me that his spanish was way worse then mine when he had six weeks so that gave me more hope that i am learning at a normal or faster pace haha. 

Time flys here in Mexico i cant believe its been six weeks since i got here.... crazy... WE HAVE A BAPTISM ON SUNDAYYYY yeeeee im so excited for that! I get to baptize her too! I get to do it in spanish too because its Mexico and they speak spanish here just in case you all forgot! Hopefully she doesn't back out the day before like she did a few months ago but i have faith and she is definitely ready! I realized faith is such a huge part in this gospel and with faith all things are possible and with strong faith comes a strong testimony and many many miracles! Love it here I hope everyone is doing well!

Elder Passey

District

a soccer game in the rain

E Diego, Jared (Member) , me, E Sanders, My Comp