June 23, 2104

oh OK. you did put that you were the sweeper but I didn't realize that was actually an assignment. I thought you were just being sarcastic or something.

oh I think that Mexico is winning the game right now because we can here it in the internet we are in.

So this week is going to be really busy. We already have appointments every hour up until Friday!! we are at Monday and we literally have not one hour without an appointment. it is a really cool feeling. I love being busy. The only problem is that we can't really focus on anyone. I really hope that we can find a way to get the ward involved so that people are in constant contact with someone form the church. I really hope we can make this work.

I can't really think of much else to say about this week. just what I wrote in my letter to President Christensen

President Christensen;

This week we have been starting to see a few miracles. We have found 2 people this week that look like they could progress really fast. We just need to be able to find time to visit them... our agenda is already full up until friday. I wish we could do more devicions but the few members we have in our side of the ward are always working (finding 2 adults that have the same time free has proved imposable). We are trying all we can to find a way to manage the agenda so that we can visit the people we are teaching more than once a week (something very important if they are to progress). We may just need to have the members visit all of our investigators during the days we can't. It is hard to work with only half of a ward.

Elder Blanding

1: You have to warm up their water every morning by turning on a boiler that is outside the house and fueled by a tank of natural gas that you buy off of trucks that drive down the street.

2: There is almost no such thing as a back yard. (or a front yard for that matter) because all of the houses are placed one next to the other.

3: A finished house is the exception rather than the rule.

4: You buy your bread out of a van that goes down the street blasting a really annoying song.

5: You can basically live within a block of your house. 

6: Instead of a police force to control speeding they just put speed bumps every 100 meters on all of their main roads. (even the freeway has speed bumps).

7: No one has personal computers. Instead they go to the nearest Internet server to do anything and everything computer based.

8: You can't buy a vacuum in Mexico. partly because no one ever has carpet.

9: Wooden houses are for the poor people and cement is for the rich. (a wooden house here is basically like a camp shack, 4 walls and a roof)

10: Pizza is delivered by a motorcycle.

11: Fresa (strawberry) is a slang term that can be interpreted as posh, rich, really nice, or just anything upper-class. not just a very tasty fruit. 

12: Being 30min to an hour late is normal...

13: A Piña (pineapple) is a slang term for a good looking woman. not just a delicious fruit.

14: It is virtually imposable to buy Root Beer. 

15: Milk is sold in boxes and doesn't need to be refrigerated until after you open the box. The expiration date is usually for next year.

*16: When there is a World Cup game on in the which their country is playing the whole city seams to shut down. you can also always tell if a goal is scored.

Elder Jason Blanding

June 16, 2014

{his reply}: 

yup that is us :) his name is Elder Hernandez and is one of the oldest missionaries in the mission... this is is last transfer before he is going home. He literally has 5 weeks left as a full time missionary.

this is in my new house (see attachment)... we went  to Costco today to buy stuff to make in it.

Elder Jason Blanding's apartment: HE HAS A STOVE!

So I am now in the area of Manantiales 1 in the stake La Libertad. It is right next door to my last area (literally, the only thing between us is the VW plant, aka, a small city).  The city where I am is called Cuautlancingo. my area is almost purely apartment complexes. It is nice because it is super safe (they almost all have gates and security, to get in you need to know who you are going to visit where they live and give them an ID) and the ward helps a lot. When we give them an assignment it always gets done.

My companion is Elder Hernandez. He is from Tijuana and will be going back there on July 23rd. yup this is is last Transfer in the mission. I have the privilege of killing him off. the key to killing a missionary is not to let him die early. make him work until the last day of his mission. I'm the Senior companion (although it doesn't really mean much) so I have the responsibility for the area and the companionship. I don't really like being Senior comp but hey "I'll do what [He] wants me to do." 

The area I am in is really "Fresa" (a slang term that can be interpreted as posh, rich, really nice, or just anything upper-class. There is no exact translation). Almost all the houses are nice and ours is super nice. We have an oven/gas stove and a washing machine... in the house (the washing machine was a gift from someone). We also have access to Costco (not in the area but nearby).

I don't think I will be here for more than one change because on Thursday one of the Assistants called us asking about how secure the area is and if we think it is safe to put SISTERS here. It is super safe (see above). We told them absolutely, there is one area that is kind of unsafe but we would just need to leave a note telling them not to go there at night because during the day it is just fine (we haven't even gone at night so I'm not exactly sure how unsafe it would be). It looks like I will go 4 changes in my first are 3 in my second 2 in my third and 1 in my fourth (notice the pattern? all I need to do is have emergency changes halfway through the next change and the pattern will continue). Don't go jumping the gun yet because we still have 4 1/2 weeks before they will tell us if they are going to put sisters here.

1: You have to warm up their water every morning by turning on a boiler that is outside the house and fueled by a tank of natural gas that you buy off of trucks that drive down the street.

2: There is almost no such thing as a back yard. (or a front yard for that matter) because all of the houses are placed one next to the other.

3: A finished house is the exception rather than the rule.

4: You buy your bread out of a van that goes down the street blasting a really annoying song.

5: You can basically live within a block of your house. 

6: Instead of a police force to control speeding they just put speed bumps every 100 meters on all of their main roads. (even the freeway has speed bumps).

7: No one has personal computers. Instead they go to the nearest Internet server to do anything and everything computer based.

8: You can't buy a vacuum in Mexico. partly because no one ever has carpet.

9: Wooden houses are for the poor people and cement is for the rich. (a wooden house here is basically like a camp shack, 4 walls and a roof)

10: Pizza is delivered by a motorcycle.

*11: Fresa (strawberry) is a slang term that can be interpreted as posh, rich, really nice, or just anything upper-class. not just a very tasty fruit. 

*12: Being 30min to an hour late is normal...

*13: A Piña (pineapple) is a slang term for a good looking woman. not just a delicious fruit.

*14: It is virtually imposable to buy Root Beer. 

*15: Milk is sold in boxes and doesn't need to be refrigerated until after you open the box. The expiration date is usually for next year.

Here is my letter to President Chirsensen.

President Christensen;

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be here in Manantiales 1. This is an amazing ward. They work hard and are helping the work advance. I am still trying to get to know the area so as to be able to help the work advance as soon as possible. I hope to be able to receive miracles here in this area.

                This week we have decided to focus on putting more baptismal dates and getting more people to church. We have decided that since our area is almost purely apartment complexes and there are members who live in every apartment complex we are teaching in. we are going to assign each member to be in charge of going by for every investigator or less active member that lives in their apartment complex in order to bring them to church.

                I have two questions for you. First off is a question that came up in the coordination meeting: I am given to understand that you have given the instruction that here in La Libertad we are only allowed to work with the members that live in our part of the ward. I am told that the reason is because the members were choosing which of the missionaries they wanted to work with based on how much they liked the missionaries. I just want to clarify that this instruction did indeed come from you and also wish to inform you that the stake is teaching the opposite, that it doesn’t matter.

                The second question is about how I can improve as a missionary. We had an experience on Thursday where both myself and my companion had a feeling to say something but we both didn’t because we thought it would offend him and we didn’t want to offend him. We realized afterwards that we should have said it because it was from the spirit and decided that we are going to follow the spirit more. The question isn’t about whether we should have said it, we are both sure we should have because the spirit was telling us to, but rather how can I be more bold without offending the people I am teaching.  I have been studying when the prophets from the Book of Mormon taught the people to try to find how they taught and see where I can improve in my teaching. I would love to know how I can improve my teaching and be bolder in how I teach.

Elder Blanding

Elder Jason Blanding stocking up. 

Elder Jason Blanding and Elder Hernandez enjoying Lasagna!

Elder Blanding sent two photos to his dad to photoshop together. This is the results. Elder Blanding is the one in the backpack and Elder Hernandez is the one in the white shirt. Kind of shows you what his mission is like! 

June 9, 2014

CHANGES ARE UPON US AGAIN. AND I HAVE CHANGES!!! 

The first time I have been in an area for less than 3 changes. Thank you for letting me come here to Almecatla 1. It has been awesome and I have learned a lot about how to be a better missionary. I wish I could stay another change or two. I really like it here. I hope that I will be able to fulfill my next assignment, what ever it may be. I am so nervous about where I will go and what will be my new assignment. 

It was funny when we got the call from the Zone Leaders about the changes. Elder Graff (who has been here 3 changes, 1 more than me) thought that for sure he was going to have changes. It was to the point that he was saying goodbye to all the members and investigators we have here. I had told him not to say bye before he knew for sure but he ignored me and kept doing it all week. So when the Zone Leaders call Saturday night he answers the phone and they ask him who he thinks is going to have changes. We already knew that two of the sisters in the district were going to have changes (one is going to train and as one of the leader sisters she can't do it in the area so she was going to have changes and the other sister was tolled by President Christensen in that morning because her companion is going to have a special assignment and they always advice/ask before hand). Elder Graff answered that those two sisters and then said that he thought that he was going to have changes... They told him he was right about the two sisters but wrong about himself. I have the changes and he doesn't. His reaction was super funny. He was so surprised. This is a perfect example of counting your chickens before they hatch.

We have seen success here these last two weeks. We have had people in Sacrament Meeting every week. We haven't had success with the divisions but I have learned a lot about how to organize things so that even if things don't go as planned we can still manage to attend to all of our obligations. I really hope that I can put into practice all the things that I have learned here during the rest of my mission. 

It is always so hard to say goodbye to people you have known for months and now are not likely to see for almost a year and even then only once more. I really hope that I like my next area even more because it will take away from the sadness of leaving such a good area.

So Dad has asked me to start commenting on things that surprises(ed) me or that I find interesting about Mexico and/or Puebla/Tlaxcala (the other state in the mission). I may have mentioned some of these things before but I will make it a list to keep track of what I say so I don't keep repeating myself every few months. I will just copy the list and add to it (putting an * before the new ones) every week.

*1: You have to warm up their water every morning by turning on a boiler that is outside the house and fueled by a tank of natural gas that you buy off of trucks that drive down the street.

*2: There is almost no such thing as a back yard. (or a front yard for that matter) because all of the houses are placed one next to the other.

*3: A finished house is the exception rather than the rule.

*4: You buy your bread out of a van that goes down the street blasting a really annoying song.

*5: You can basically live within a block of your house. 

*6: Instead of a police force to control speeding they just put speed bumps every 100 meters on all of their main roads. (even the freeway has speed bumps).

*7: No one has personal computers. Instead they go to the nearest Internet server to do anything and everything computer based.

*8: You can't buy a vacuum in Mexico. partly because no one ever has carpet.

*9: Wooden houses are for the poor people and cement is for the rich. (a wooden house here is basically like a camp shack, 4 walls and a roof)

*10: Pizza is delivered by a motorcycle.

Love;

Elder Jason Blanding.

June 2, 2014

We also had a great weekend here. (I will elaborate in the official E-mail. this is only to respond to the things in this E-mail)

I didn't really want you to buy a new snuggy (or spend any extra money, only if it fit in the box). I put mine in the boxes with the rest of my stuff (it is a blue one). for future reference when I ask for things like a stuggy or something like that, that are wants not needs. I don't want you to send extra packages than what you would have sent other wise. it is expensive to send stuff here to Mexico so I don't want extra packages. one every 6 weeks is more than enough.

I was actually about to suggest that we come back some time for a visit after I get back. I know of a few really cool places to visit and there are also a few that I haven't been able to really go to because they are closed on Mondays (Los Fuertes for example). I will start to make a list when I can find the time. 

As for the BYU stuff. I remember that awhile ago I sent some drafts of some of the essays that they ask for. I think it was back when I was in Alamos with Elder Swensen. look about a year ago in your E-Mail because It has already been over a year since I got here to Mexico.

here are some pictures that I have been meaning to send for a while but I kept forgetting the cord for my camera.

1: mother's day photo
2: my lovely socks... they all seamed to get holes at the same time.
3: this one I just took today of the peach cobbler that Elder Graff and I made today for a district breakfast (it ended up as more of a lunch). It was really good but not quite as good as if it had been made in a dutch oven over hot coals.

PS. if you want to come to Puebla with me bring something for car sickness because we are going to use the public transport and it can get pretty bad at times.

PPS. have dad get the Hot Tub 100% ready for when I get home because I will really need it.

Elder Jason Blanding on the right.

Elder Jason Blanding's holy socks.

Yum!

It can be interesting to see how one moment you can feel like everything is turning out wrong and the next that everything is going your way. that was how it felt from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon. 

On Saturday we had an interesting experience... we were running behind because we had planed double appointments. we hoped that we would be able to do divisions with the ward to be able to attend to both of them. but we ended up not being able to do the divisions. as a result we were running all over the place to get to all of the appointments we had but we would have to go early to some and late to others to be able to accommodate all of them. we showed up to an appointment with a family that had committed to coming to Church last week but never showed up. 

We knocked on the door (about an hour late for the appointment) and the brother answered. He didn't let us come in (not because we were late, that is normal here). He then told us that he and his wife did indeed arrive at Church (obviously after the meeting had started or we would have seen them) but that they didn't go in because some members who were out side offended them by "sweeping them from head to food with their eyes" (that is about the best translation I can think of) and they got offended because they felt that they were judging them because they didn't come dressed right (he wasn't warring a white shirt and tie). for this reason they didn't even go into the meeting but instead just turned around and went home...

We spent a good 15 minuets trying to figure out what really happened and help him see that he was judging the book by the cover and he should give it one more chance. in the end he basically told us that they weren't interested anymore (but was very clear that it was nothing against us two). I have a feeling that more than anything they had gone to Church with the wrong attitude. They were looking for any reason to just turn around and go home and when they saw the members in the parking lot looking at them they felt that they were judging them for how they were dressed and therefore decided that that was a good enough reason not to go in.

This whole experience just made me upset for the rest of the day and into Sunday morning.

The happy ending to this story is that on Sunday 6 investigators and 2 less active members came to Church. They were two different families (the less actives are actually family of one of the investigator families that came, kind of funny).

Elder Jason Blanding.

Elder G

May 26, 2014

If you can I would love if you included my snuggy in the package (if there is space of course). The houses here have no insulation (it literally doesn't exist, everything is made of brick or block and there isn't even room for insulation) and can get a little chilly in the mornings. I've been using my fleece blanket but that doesn't really leave much room for me to move my arms or use my hands.

oh and if you were going to send me some more lemonade mix don't bother. I still haven't opened the last one you sent me. 

Hey all. 

So this week we have been working hard. We had a special zone conference this week and also the District Leader training meeting so that meant that we lost almost two full days. I hate when we have to lose so much time because of travel. We didn't have as much success as we would have liked and no one came to church but there is always next week. I really want to know what it is that I'm not doing to be able to have more success. There must be something I haven't done yet.

well I can't really think of more to say right now. after over 14 months it all begins to become the same. day after day, week after week and month after month. 

Elder Jason Blanding.