Not sure yet. Give me a sec.

WHEW!!!!! What a week!!!! Lots of walking. Lots of talking. Lots of not understanding on my side. My head moves back and forth but the stuff going in my ears is just..... Well I wish I knew what it was. But hey, It will come. I know that. Until then, my progress is slow but I can look at it and be a lil proud at least. I have a goal to be fluent by my next bday. That gives me 5 months from entering Mexico just about. I can do it. Not alone but I can do it.

Lessons are going great of course. We have a lot of refferences that we got from members at the end of this past week so I´m looking forward to working with those people. One of our investigators just moved to Mexico City, permanently. She was going to be baptised yesterday. But hey, we did all the work and now another missionary is going to get the baptism. That´s ok. Her life has been improved and she has been brought closer to Christ. I did what I was suppose to do.

I can´t express how spoiled you are in the US. Warm water is just so great when you can have it all the time. Fresh water is better when you can go anywhere and have clean water. That´s kind of a problem here. Easily remedied when there is a member nearby that we can just stop by and get a drink. But I gotta tell you. There are some great fruit drinks here. I´m talking like mango stuff that is just fantastic.

The food continues to impress me. And when I can actually remember a spanish name I will let you know what I´m eating. Haha.

My message today is simple and the story that goes with it is just not important and would make a great elder that was having a hard time look bad.

There is no reason to complain. What wonderful blessings we have in this life. Our life for instance is such a blessing!!! There is simply no logical reason to focus on the bad things. Creation is the most wonderful power there is. Negativity is a destructive power. It can take a great and respectable person and make them seem like a child. But if you can take those bad times and make everything good that you can from them, that is creation and that is an amazing power. It is growth despite the hard soil. Be happy. Control yourself. Be an example of what you know you should be and nothing can stop you. It is so so so very hard. Trust me I know. But it IS possible. Love and be loved. Respect and be respected. Grow. Create.

Elder Heath

A Strange Week

Yes it has been a very strange week. It has been 10 days for me here in mexico but it feels more like weeks or months. I get back to the casa at night and wonder if what just happened was that day or the day before. Luckily all I have to do is look at my handy-dandy planner and it all makes sense. Woot!!!

My feet hurt. That makes me happy. The blisters pop as fast as they come and they come pretty fast. If I ever get mugged by someone with a knife I will just put my feet up for two reasons. 1) The bottoms are callaused enough to turn a knife away. 2)  The smell should kill him. So no worries. My feet will protect me.

The work is so great!!! We have a bautismo this jueves!!! His name is Braulio. It is said just like it is spelled and I don´t mean by english standards. We then have another bautismo this Sunday probably. I say probably because that is what we are setting up tonight!!! :D Her name is Graciela. Gabriel didn´t show up for our last appointment and I have no idea what´s up with that. He is pretty into the lessons. We aren´t too worried. El se bautizarà.

Spanish is FANTASTIC!!! I can´t wait to know what in the WORLD these people are saying!! Haha. When I want to say something I usually can but I can´t understand much of what other people are saying. I am a lot better than I was 10 days ago and that´s encouraging but I still have a long way to go. And I´m ok with that.

I don´t have ANY time on P-days to get letters written. Sorry yall. My mornings are taken by laundry. I have to do them by hand and then put them in the washer. Don´t ask why. It´s just what has to happen. No really. Don´t ask. But iff you send me a dear elder and send it to my email as well I can answer questions in this. I just wont be doing personal emails in return. colton.heath@myldsmail.com

The food is GREAT and it does..... interesting things to my body. My stomach moves a lot but I´m not sick and nothing bad is happening to me. I am apparently pretty resilient because other American elders have talked about some pretty nasty bathroom habits in their first week with the food. I´m so blessed!!

Brothers and Sisters, the work of the Lord will not be stopped. Bad things will happen. Changes will be unexpected and will inconvenience us all. On domingo, we had a food appointment to break our fast and it was a looooong way away. My comp was expecting to take the bus. Just as wee got to the road, the police closed the entire street in the direction we needed to go. He was hungry and started to complain. I was very put out by his attitude. So I said, "No podemos cambiar el calle, pero podemos caminar." I didn´t realize what the meaning of what I said was until we found people that had a car broken down and we helped them. "We can´t change the road, but we can walk." There are too many factors in life to control everything. But we CAN control our attitude and what we do with what we have been given in life. Smile when shortcuts disapear, because you have some work to do along the road. We got to our appointment on time and it was fantastic food. We even got some blessings along the way.

Transmitting from Mexico to America and everywhere else that I´m known (just those two countries.....), this is Elder Heath, logging out.

My first 3 days in Mexico!!!

I got here safe!!! The travel was easy. Some of the other elders had never been on a plane before and that was pretty fun. The airports were easy and we all had plenty of time to relax and not feel stressed. It was actually funny that it took longer air time to get from Utah to Houston than it did to get from Houston to Puebla. We were all trying to figure that out but quickly gave up as we realized it doesn’t matter how long it takes to get here. CUZ WE ARE HERE!!! FINALLY!!! It really felt like I was never going to get here. MTC forever. Not the worst fate but this is much better. haha. Now I´m sure you all interested in knowing what Puebla is like and how I am doing here. That is, after all, the purpose of this blog and why you are reading right now.

So here was my first impression of Puebla as we drove to the mission home at 9 at night. "Hmmm..... This looks a lot like Texas at night..... I really hope it looks different in the day....." That is not to dis TX but I really wanted something different. We got to the mission home, we got to know Presidente Rex y su esposa un poco. They fed us. We went to bed. We woke up, ate, had interviews, went to meet our trainers, we all prayed the whole time that we got a native, well, all except one elder. My name was called. The world stood still. The birds stopped and the crickets held their breathe. "Elder Heath with....." It felt like forever. "......Elder García." WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That´s right ladies and gentlemen. My companion is a native. He is was a ZL and previously worked with the finances of the mission (I forgot the name of the position) and he is currently  a District Leader. Every time and elder sees us, he tells me "Your comp is the MAN!!!" And what do I say in return? Why even ask? Of course I am polite and humble with my response. Of course I express my gratitude to them for respecting him. Of course I say, "I know." I am, after all, his last companion. He goes home in 4 weeks. He is getting a lil trunky but I´m doing my best to keep the conversation off his gf and his family. He is doing great work here and it´s not over. I just have to remind him of that. He is ok though. He is still eager to go about the work of the Lord.

So.... Spanish is amazing..... yeah. It´s true. I´m picking it up pretty well. I can actually see my progress in these past few days here. Now I’m still far from mastering the language but I am more comfortable with it. The kids here are going to be the easiest way for me to learn the language because they think that my accent is hilarious and then they help me learn new words and phrases. All the people here are very nice. No mocking when I mess up (except one brother in church.... but he was funny) just quiet correction to help me along. It’s so great!!

What´s really funny is walking down the street and having people on buses spin their necks to see the tall American. HAHAHAHA!!!!! It´s so funny!! In fact, I spoke in church this domingo and afterward we went to a member´s house to eat. They have kids and the youngest is a 14 yr old boy. He asked me how tall I was. I didn´t know how many centimeters I am so I told him feet. He was confused at how small the number was. His face of confusion.... priceless. He is really great though. I hope we eat there again.

Speaking of food. IT. IS. FAN. TASTIC. And my body is doing pretty good at holding up against it so far. They like chile which is very very picante. My stomach.... not so much. But I take it graciously and even add a little more to what they give me because it is apparently rather important to them since it´s home made. I´ll live. I love the food. The only thing that I DON´T like is when they asked me to put chile powder on a watermelon....... ew. And they pile it on. Mega ew. But that´s ok because I probably won´t have to do that again. I hope.

We played basketball and soccer today. It was very very very very very very very very very very very fun. If you can´t tell, I really liked it. But my face is now a lil pink.... oops. I´ll have to get used to that though. I´ll be brown in no time.

As for the work that is going forth here in Puebla, we have 2 baptismal dates. One for 2 weeks from now and one for 3 weeks from now. I am very excited!! We are working with 4 new people since I have been here. So very amazing. I don´t know that I have ever been so excited to be alive. And I KNOW that I have never been so excited to wake up each morning. I never could have imagined this. It is simply that amazing. I am safe, I am healthy and I am bringing hope and peace to people´s lives by teaching about he restored gospel and the work of God here on the earth today. What more could I ask for?

Well.... If I had remembered my camera and cord, I would show what more I could ask for. Haha. Just kidding. But seriously, we live in a dump. The last elders did NOT take good care of it at all. I went to clean dishes that they left and I noticed something was blocking the drain. I poked it with a spoon. It was gray and spongy. We have mushrooms growing in our sink. Yum. The dishes are still not done. Eventually, but not yet. We have no warm water until tomorrow when we get a new tank of gas so every shower thus far has been an epic battle of mind over matter. My mind says "I need to be clean!" My body (aka "matter") says, "HECK NO!!!!! IT´S COLD ENOUGH AS IT IS!!!!!!" My mind wins thank heavens.

Well I´m running out of time and I don’t think I have anything else to report except of course this last part. Dearelder works down here. I already got 2 from ppl that did not know that I was not in México yet and on that used the wrong address. It´s all good. I´ll have to write to those next week though because I don´t have time today. More lessons to be taught. We haven´t needed to knock doors yet. WOOHOO!!! Also. I kinda miss the MTC. My body didn’t hurt ALL OVER there. and my feet were blister less.......

On that happy note, I love you all and I can feel your prayers. I keep you in mine.

Elder Heath logging off. (English is weird)

Friday!

So here is a funny little story. Sunday: Our Branch President tells us we can go to the temple three times this week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Monday: We went to the temple and hoped that we would be blessed for our service by having our names called for the travel office so we could get our visas. Tuesday: We got back from lunch and found that Elder Kenczka (another elder in my district) and I were called to the office.... to get our visas on Wednesday. Wednesday: We went on got our visas. Shortly after, we were told that we are leaving on Friday.

 

I leave Friday morning. Not much notice. I am out of here. One day to pack and then I'm gone to Mexico. I was actually kind of nervous and a little scared when I heard that. I was very ready for another week here in the MTC. Elder Brown and Elder Lockwood will be staying for a little while longer. I don't know how much longer. I half freaked out when I heard that it would be so soon. I couldn't stop laughing and how ridiculous it was. It just hadn't sunk in. As it did sink in, I began to feel fear. "Am I ready? Should I really go? Is there any way out? Can I really be doing this?" To my questions, I got one answer. "Yes. The Lord is with you and His angels round about you. The Holy Spirit is your constant companion and will not allow you to fall so long as you stay righteous."

 

Notice that it said "righteous" and not "perfect". Alma 9:28. It is a wonderful scripture. To me it gives a deeper understanding of what is expected out of me. God does not expect us to be perfect. It is not possible for us to be. He knows that. But we can try. We can be righteous and do all we can to strive for perfection through Christ. That is why we are here.

 

In the temple on monday, the thoughts came to me, "Strive here on earth to be the best you can be. Strive always for growth in the Lord. Create with every opportunity you have. The character that you have now, the personality, will not change at death." Our bodies will become perfect, but we will keep our knowledge. We will keep our love. Our sins will be washed away if our actions and our desires are directed towards the blessing of the atonement. That is my purpose in life. To strive with every action and thought to be more perfect than i was the moment before. This is very ambitious I know and I will faulter, but such is life. Such is mankind. And such is our Savior able to save us.

 

I was scared. I repented. Fear began to drive me away from the work of Christ. In a moment of weakness I began to move away from Him. I repented. I was blessed to feel the Spirit and He did comfort me and gave me courage. He brought peace to my mind and my racing heart. I don't know what will happen after Friday. I don't know who I will meet or what I will say. But God does. I am in His service. I will do as he commands and I will strive to keep fear from my heart and mind. I will trust Him because I have been promised all the He has if I will remain faithfull and endure to the end. So I will. I love you all. I hope that you can all share this goal and constantly move towards eternal life. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.