Monday, August 30, 2010

August 30, 2010

Hey everyone,
 
Well im officialy kinda freaked out. THis is my last email I will be writing home from my mission. Well things are going realy good. We met our personal goal of 15 baptisms for the month (My companion and I) As well as we passed up our goal for the zone. We were the Zone of the Month by alot, and we set a few new records. It has been a very fun, and very busy month.
 
It has been crazy trying to figure out exactly what they are going to do with me this last week. The plan was to just send me out to salamanca, but they asked me to do them a favor. I will be staying here in AguasCalientes Today and tomorrow, and then Tomorrow night I will be going to Leon. On wednesday I have to go to consilio of zone leaders to help out giving that, and then it looks I will head to salamanca that night, and head back to leon on Sunday. So it sounds like this week will be busy and intence, so that is good. But, I just cant imagine not being in Mexico. Like they told me that in the USA we dont use sandles in the shower, and there is carpet, and you can drink tap water, I just cant imagine, so it will be a great new adventure!
 
I cant wait to see everyone, just so you all know, hopefully they gave you all the plans but I will be arriving at the Las Veges airport at 12:30 in the afternoon of Monday the 6th of September! I love you all,
and anyone who wants to write feel free to write me at adam.paul88@gmail.com
 
Love you all,
Elder Paul

Saturday, August 28, 2010

August 23, 2010

This is part of an email Elder Paul sent to Ken and me:

Hey Mom and Dad,
Well things are going great. I am trying to work as hard as I can, but I wont lie I cant believe how nervous I am to go home. I can easly say it is alot easier for me to talk to 1000s of random in the street, than realy come home and well.... live. It just seems so crazy. So one of my goals I have set is to be much better with my money. I will realy need some of your help and training when I get home. I have a few different Ideas, id like to open 2 bank accounts. I want to put aside 10% for tithing and put 10% into permanent savings in one of the accounts every paycheck. Also any little jobs around town I would love to do. Also I had no idea that Logan is up in Logan. Can you find out if he would be interested in getting a shared room or appartment or anything. i think that would help us out alot! Well I love you tons, thanks again for everything,
Elder Paul

August 23, 2010

Hey everyone,
 
Wow this has been a crazy week, and I am pooped. My companion was in Leòn all this past week, so i was going here and there and everywere. We have a goal in our zone of 42 baptisms this month. It would be a record for our zone. Well as of rite now we have 39 baptisms, and have 15 baptisms planned for this week in our zone. We also broke our record we set last week of 13 baptisms in one week by having 14 baptisms in one week. Our Elders have realy been working hard, and there work is realy showing. I talk ALOT with the Asits. and he told me that this is one of the first times he can ever think of a zone actualy completing with there goal. It has been nice to decide what we want, and just do everything to get it. My companion and I set a goal of 15 baptisms for this month. As of rite now we have 11 this month, and we have 3 planned for this week, so it looks like we may fall a little short of our goal. We are going to keep praying for a miracle like crazy, and then if we give it all and we come up one short, we know we did everything we realy could do. 
 
So I was talking to President del Valle the other day. Since I will be coming home one week after changes, he told me they were thinking about maybe putting me in Leon with them, but after talking he told me he was going to send me out to Salamanca, GTO. I dont know if you remeber but i was in Salamanca for about 8 months, and realy like the place. So it looks like next week I will be headed out there. The Missionaries are realy have a tough time finding inv. so I think I will be able to help them alot. I also have a few convert families who are preparing to go to the temple, so i will be able to see them, and wish them the best. So that should be good! 
 
Well other than that I am jsut trying to work hard, and finish out on top. 
 
I love you all,
Elder Paul

August 16, 2010

Hey everyone,
 
For all you that have asked my eye is doing much better, and actually does not hurt anymore! It does seem that my vision is worse in that eye now, but hopefully it will get back to normal. Crazy huh, last weeks of the mission it happens. Well we are trying to stay as busy as possible. We set a goal of 50 baptisms in my zone for the month. We are pretty close, and I think we are going to be able to reach it this next week. My companion and I had 9 baptisms this last week! Just to put it simply, it was a WAY busy week! Well my comp went up to Leon to recieve the training that I recived last week. So I am going to be traveling alot this week! In the zone this last week we had 15 baptisms. That is also a record for this zone that we are in. ANd if we reach 50 that will be one. It is crazy what all we can acheive when we put down a goal, and do everyhting in our power to reach it. It has all and all been alot of fun!
 
I told you all about a family we were working with, a family of 5 last week. Well they were baptised on Friday, and honestly it was one of the greatest experiences I have had! THey asked me if I would baptise them, and a gratiously accepted. Well the spirit just hit SO strong when I baptised them. And we dont usually do this, but we let each one wait on the steps to see the other baptisms, and at the end we took a picture of all of them in the water! It was rely cool! so if i cant get that picture sent you will get it soon.
 
We also had two teenage girls we have been teaching and bringing to church. THere parents are not members but asked us to PLEASE do anything that we can do for them! Well the first time we taught them they asked me if I could maybe date them or anything. It was actually a great lead into the lesson. Well they have been realy learning alot and were baptised on Thursday!  They also asked me to baptise them. So well in the pictue we were standing there for the picture, and a member said, well this is your last chance to hug Elder Paul, well they both did it, and they took the picture, before I could say NO! Well you will see the picture!, Ha I think it was how Joseph in Egypt felt! :) Ha. But we explained it to them and they were baptised and confirmed on Sunday!
 
Well I think that is about it for this week, but we will see you all soon,
 
Love you,
Elder Paul

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

August 9, 2010

Hey everyone,
 

So how is it going? I cant tell you how weird of a feeling it was to relize yesterday was the 7th of August, and knowing I go home the 7th of September! Wow, crazy. So this last week, I went to Lèon on Sunday, and didn’t finish till Friday night. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of capacitations. We pretty much had 6 hours of capacitations each day, and then went out to work. It was realy fun, I ended up doing interviews for baptisms about the whole time. Those are one of my favorite things to do, and maybe even one of my specialties. It is realy fun to be able to get in and talk to someone who is realy scared about doing something new. Be able to explain to them, and help them feel the spirit. In some interviews the spirit is so strong, the people just start to cry. So it was realy fun to be able to do those all week, but defiantly those interviews and so many experiences like those wear ya out!
 

Well there in Leon we were eating a lot of salsa and chilly, well at some point I must have touched my eye, because I woke up the next morning and Not only was my eye HUGE, but I couldn’t see a thing. I had to go to the hospital AGAIN! Well we found a eye doctor, and he took a look, and found chilly in my eye. He was realy a good guy, had heard a little about the church, and I tought him the first lesson. Well He through a patch on my eye, and send me on my way. Well I will tell you what it is sure hard to do things with just one eye. I had such a hard time just doing things like eating. Well the next day I went back and got the eye patch removed, my eye I guess was burnt by the chilly, and got a little infection, but I have a cream to put in every once in awhile. The weird thing is that my vision is getting worse. He told me I may need glasses or contacts, so I may have to set up an appointment with Dr. Jensen at some point. But, the cool part, is That the Doc read part of the Book of Mormon, and He accepted a baptismal date, and Told me he would go to church on Sunday. So that was realy cool. I am going back up to leon on Tuesday so I am going to try and swing by and see how it went.
 

Other than that it was pretty tough starting on Saturday and finding out that the zone fell down a bit. But we have one family we are teaching. The Dad`s name is Miguel Angel. They are Awesome. Yesturday was their second time going to church. They realy like it a lot, and as a family they are in Mosiah reading the Book of mormon. They are a family of 5. We talked to them about temples yesterday and they are realy excited to go.
 

Well other than that there is not much new. Hopefully everything is going realy well up there, and I cant wait to see you all!
 

Love,
Elder Paul

August 2, 2010

Hey how is it going?
 

Well today is another great p day. FOr any of you counting I have 5 weeks left. It is a weird feeling. Well rite now I am sitting in the mission offices writing this. We have a 4 day leadership conference here in leon this week. So I will be heading back to my area in AguasJardienes at the end of the week.
 

We are trying to keep realy busy and keep the zone going realy well. I think that I told you that I got a new companion last week. He is a realy young guy, and realy excited but is still trying to learn everything. We have been trying to stay realy busy, and I have alony been able to work in our own area for about 2 and 1/2 hours. I have worked in every other area in the zone, and we realy are starting to get things going down here. Well my goal was to personaly teach 100 lessons weeks this week, but I fell alittle short. I was able to teach with many different companions 87 lessons. That is still my personal goal by alot! So It has been realy fun, and I have realy been able to see myself getting to know the lessons even better. Well other than that we had 1 baptism last week, we have 6 planned this week, and have 15 planned for the week after that. We are having quite a bit of success in our area, and Im way greatful for that, especially with the little time we have been able to work in our area. Oh, also we had a realy great experience this last sunday. We woke up early, and headed out to see people, and invite them to come with us. Well our goal, was to bring 15 inestegators to the church, well we were able to fine and bring 10 people with us to church. Well just after sacrament they opened the doors, and a Family of five that we had been teaching was there waiting to come in. It was realy cool, and they were all excited to be there.
 

Dad, thanks for looking into the school a bit, that would be great to find out a bit more, and it will help us all out a bunch!
 

Love you all,
Elder paul
 

P.S. I dont know if it will be possible but if mom would be willing to do enchaladas for the homecoming again, that would be amazing! I still remeber those at my farewell, and have been cravig them now for about 2 years! Thanks

July 26, 2010

Hey everyone,
 
Well it has been a realy crazy week. We have had some Missionaries not getting along as well as they should, so we knew there was going to be some changes yesturday. But they didnt just do some special changes, they did complete changes. Elder Su`a was sent to another area for his last two weeks as Junior Companion. Dont worry, I know it sounds like we did something but we didnt. Pres said it is just because he goes home in two weeks, and this way I will have a full six weeks to train a new zoneleader. So that is who I have now, His name is Elder Martinez, he has Ten months in his mission, and is from Oaxacka. He is realy cool, but wow, way young and excited. It is pretty sweet, but he has alot to learn, and Man I have been sick with a head cold for the last like 4 days. It has been raining like crazy over here.
 
Well we have about 4 new Elders Over here now, and since we have only been in this change for about a week, I actualy have about 8 new Elders. We went from being one of the Oldest zones, to a very young one. Im the only missionary with more than a year here in my mission, so its alot but it will be fun. We ended up changing up the groupings of the district today to make sure everyone will be able to help each other. Tomorrow is our first meeting with the whole new zone, so we are going to present a new plan of 6 baptisms per Compañionship in August. This would be realy cool because we have never reached that goal over here. I am maininly going to be traveling and working with all the Elders, and my companion is going to focus and working with the other missionary in the companionship were I will be, working on our area. We have set our goal as 15, and we have 4 baptisms planned this month.
 
Well I love you all a ton,
Take Care,
Elder Paul

July 19, 2010

Hey everyone,
 

Well I have my official date now. The president wrote me a letter and told me it is going to be Tuesday, the 7th of September. I do not know the time, but they order tickets six weeks before departure, so you should get a call sometime in this next week! Can You believe that I only have 7 weeks left? It is realy making me nervous, I cant tell you how fast weeks fly by here in the mission. 

My companion Elder Su´a is going home in just 3 weeks. That means I will be getting a new companion part way through this change. This week was changes, and we just finished getting our new Elders settled in today. We had ALOT of changes this change. E. Su´a and I are the only ones that stayed the same in the zone. So we had to get everyone off realy early this morning. Then we played some soccer, and then We got the new Elders. THe President is realy getting things cleaned up, our two District leaders are now goingto be Junior companions, and our new District leaders are pretty new. But that will be realy good.
 

Sorry I have not got pictures out for a long time. My camera has kinda taken a crash, and I have been trying to fix it for the last few weeks, but hopefully I can have it up and working again soon!
 

Lets see we also had concilio this past week. That is when all the zoneleaders go up to the offices in Leon. It was realy fun, and great to see how things are going to be changing in the mission. THey realy are working realy hard to make sure everything is going to keep going in the rite direction.
Well on the way home we were passing by the State border, when the IMN got on. THey are kinda like border patrol for Mexico. Well They were not too pleased to see me. They asked me for my papers, and my licence, wich I could not give them because they are all in the offices of the mission. They were not happy, told me about Arizona nd what they are doing there, took me off the bus, looked at my licence, and then had me just get back on. They realy were punks, but I think they realized that I probably was not here ILLIGALY! ha,
 

well I love ya all!
Elder paul

July 12, 2010

Hey everyone,
 

Well the week has been crazy busy. We have set alot of goals, and it is getting harder and harder each day. Well we go to hear from our new prisdent this last week. He is realy a very cool different, and WAY different than President Cox. Well our zone meetings are now every 3 months. So this was my last zone meeting. I will be going to Leon tomorrow for zone leader meeting that will be 2 days, and then next week we head up again with all the District Leaders and trainers, and we are going to have a 4 day leadership training. It should be pretty crazy.
 

Other than that, we are now alowed to play sports. We challenged the other zone to a game, so we all got together at about 7 and started playing, and finished at 12. I dont know how many of you have played soccer, but 5 hours of it is realy something, but it was Great fun. Me and my comp are the two forwards, and In total we had 9 goals. And the Goal of the day. We even had people who came and reffed it. And just so you know, We smoked them!
 

Other than that we finaly got sent money to buy a fridge, so we make breakfast every morning again. So far we have had burritos, beans, french toast, and top romin. Thats about all that is new here, hope all is well on that side.
 

ELder paul

July 5, 2010

Hey everyone.

Well First off yes I did get knew shoes. Thank you so much for the money. It was realy cool, I found some shoes called hush puppies for realy cheap (They are some of the lightest and most comfritable shoes i have used) and since they were cheap I was able to buy some tennis shoes as well. They say that they are nikis on the side, but they are actually called Mikis here. They are the runoff version. They are nice though and in dollars cost about 10 bucks! We also had two more baptisms this week. The new president has gotten here to the mission, but my first time gettinig to see and talk to him will be tomorrow.

Our zone has been doing pretty good, we look like we should be doing realy good this week that comes, so we are probably not going to be in our own area much this week. Well Im sorry this is short, but i love you all, and happy july 4th.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

June 28, 2010

ALrite Im going to try to keep this email pretty short, because everyone NEEDS to write the article at the end of this. I was sent it by a friend, and it is one of my favorites. JUST READ IT!
 
Ok so this week was good, we had 5 baptisms and a wedding so thing are looking pretty good. I set a goal at the begining of my mision for how many baptims I would like to take part in. Well just this month I realized that I have achieved it. I honestly did not know if I would be able to make it, and im realy excited I was able to meet the goal. Also this week was my Companion Elder Su`a´s Birthday. Well we ending up eating at a place called Sirloin. It is like ChuckArama. And Mexico was playing in the Mundial. That is the big big soccer championship. It was pretty crazy with all those fans, realy fun, but very sad when Mexico lost.
 
Also this week President Cox leaves. Tomorrow to be exact. So our new President will be here Tomorrow afternoon. It is realy weird to think that someone else will be in that position. But I will try and talk to him, and write you a quick email at some point this week.
 
Well that is most of the new news this week, please read this article!
Elder Paul
 
Transcript of Commencement Speech at Stanford given by Steve Jobs
 
6/14/2005 | Steve Jobs
Posted on Martes, 14 de Junio de 2005 06:18:09 p.m. by Swordmaker
 
Thank you. I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.
 
Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots.
 
I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We've got an unexpected baby boy. Do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college.
 
This was the start in my life. And seventeen years later, I did go to college, but I naïvely chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and no idea of how college was going to help me figure it out, and here I was, spending all the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.
 
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms. I returned Coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example.
 
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer was beautifully hand-calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans-serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
 
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts, and since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.
 
If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class and personals computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.
 
Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something--your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever--because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.
 
My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was twenty. We worked hard and in ten years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We'd just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I'd just turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so, things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided with him, and so at thirty, I was out, and very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure and I even thought about running away from the Valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me. I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I'd been rejected but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
 
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods in my life. During the next five years I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer-animated feature film, "Toy Story," and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
 
In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance, and Lorene and I have a wonderful family together.
 
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle.
 
My third story is about death. When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
 
About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctors' code for "prepare to die." It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell them, in just a few months. It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
 
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now.
 
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept. No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don't want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. right now, the new is you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
 
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalogue, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stuart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late Sixties, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. it was sort of like Google in paperback form thirty-five years before Google came along. I was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stuart and his team put out several issues of the The Whole Earth Catalogue, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-Seventies and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath were the words, "Stay hungry, stay foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. "Stay hungry, stay foolish." And I have always wished that for myself, and now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry, stay foolish.
 
Thank you all, very much.
My shoes can talk!
I see you . . .
Can you see me?
These belong in some sort of walking shoe museum!
At least we look good in our brand new suits!

June 28, 2010

Hey,
 
Well ya I have been thinking about Emilys wedding, and I dont agree, but I will suport her no matter what.  But I did write her a pretty big letter, and she has promised me that she will write me back today or tomorrow. 
 
Also sorry about the shoes, I could not believe when my tennis were all the way through and then today my shoes fell completly apart. I think and hope with the 50$ that that will be perfect, and so you know im going to try and by some tennisshoes and some work shoes. So that would be good and thanks! 
 
Mom dont worry about me not focusing, I was realy glad you told me, and I reealy am pretty good at just thinking about what I need to think about. You know how good I am at tuning things out! :D

I love you lots,
Elder Paul

June 21, 2010

A Friend
Someone hit the light post in front of our house
Baptism
A sweet new drink we found
Baptisms
A cool picture of my companion and me in front of a lovely pond
A convert bought my companion and me new suits - a little tight - but nice

Thursday, June 17, 2010

June 14, 2010

Hey everyone,
 
Well It was realy good to hear from everyone. Well things are going pretty well here. I think i told everyone already about who my companion is and were I am. Well we had 2 baptisms last week and we are looking at about 7 more this week. The ward is realy awesome here, and so are the people. We have a problem rite now in the ward, of alot of the kids who have been baptised never had there registers sent in to the church offices, so we are doing alot of research finding all those families. Tomorrow we are going to be going to Leòn as a mission to go tell our good bys to Pres, and Sister Cox. It is crazy how weird it will be to not have them here in the mission. Our new Pres is Pres De Valle. He is from MOnterey Mx. One of my good friends Elder Larsen wrote me and told me that he is a member in his ward, and that he is realy fun. He will be bringing his wife and 4 daughters. It will be cool to have them all here, but i dont think we will be allowed any longer to go in the Pres. house. Pres DeValle will be coming the 28th of this month, and when he arrives i will be finding out for sure what date i will be coming home.
 
Lets see we have been working way hard, but it has been pretty hard to keep everyone going with pres Cox goign home so soon. Yesterday it started to rain, and man did it rain. It turned the road infront of our house into a river. And when I say river i men like a realy river. One brother from the ward gave us a ride home, and his car was realy realy struggling, especially because the water was coming into the floor boards. It was quite a crazy expierience.
 
Well I love you all, and cant wait to see ya,
Elder Paul.
 
P.S. My address is
Calle Torre Vieja #128
Col. Arbide
Leon, Guanajuato 37360
Mexico
 
or
 
Mexico Leon Mission
PO Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150
United States

June 7, 2010

I gave Elder Paul a bad time this week because my emails are always chatty and a little long and Ken's are pretty short. Ken, however, gets a special emails every week. I asked Elder Paul where mine was. :) This is that email:
 
Mom,
 
Hey so here is teh letter dedicated to you. So Thank you so much for the emails every week. It realy is great to hear and talk to you every week. Well everything here is giong realy good. Mom I just want to tell you how much progress i have seen you make. You are doing great. Just keep it up. Something that i have realy been trying to do realy hard is to STOP, AND THINK. It is hard, we dont realy have it built into us to do this, but I realy like it. Even Our lord Jesus Christ did this. I like the storry when the people wanted to kill the woman who had commited adultry, i like that christ did not shoot rite back at them, and say listen guys.... no i like it because it said he knelt down and drew a figure in the sand, and then he replied. I think realy this can help us alot, but it is realy hard with the pride we have to do this. And that is the other thing that I have personally been trying to work on is being more humble. This is realy tough I know. We live in a world were we all want to be pridefull, everyone tells us to be pridefull, but i have realized the last little while when we try to change others, or try to force ourselves upone others, we are just being priderull. Well just a few thoughts but i want you to know i can see and hear the difference! I love you mom,
Elder Paul

June 7, 2010

Good day to all,
 
Well this week has been pretty crazy. I finatly got moved out of Irapuato. In total i finished up with about 10 months in that zone, and about 85 baptisms there, so it is great and i have alot of friends there. Now i am in the city of AguasCalientes, in teh state of AguasCalientes, and for you spanish speakers yes that does mean Hot Water, and yes the water is always pretty warm here, we dont even have to use a water heater. My new companion is Elder Su`a. I dont know if you remeber me talking about him, but we were together in Salamanca for a long time, and he is one of my favorite missionaries. We are zone leaders out here in the zone of Aguas Jardines. I cant believe how beautiful the city is! It is crazy they acturally have city people who come around and dump trash cans they have on every block! It is crazy it is cleans and smells good. And it is all built on rolling hills, so all though it is realy tough to walk around, it looks realy nice.
Lets see as far as teh work goes, we are going to be starting from scratch this week. The elders who were here in this area before, were both headed home, so the area realy got left alone, so it will be down to the ol grind again.
 
Other than that there is not too much new, i will try to send you all some picutres, 
 
I love you all
Elder Paul

June 1, 2010

Hey Everyone,

Well myldsmail.net is not working rite now in this internet so i am going to have to just write you all on this email, but please make sure to wrtie me back on the other one. Well this week has been way crazy. I think I did at least 50 baptismal interviews this last week, and my companion and i Had 10 baptisms this last week. That means we finished the monthe with 15. It was hard work but i still feel bad that we finished a bit under our goal. Well also it looks like i am going to be taking off next week for a new area. I will miss this area and my converts, but I think it will be good to have a bit of change. I just got back from a trip up to Leon. We had the Zone lead consilio. It was realy crazy knowing this is the last time that i will see pres Cox in one of those. We are all going to be going up to Leo non the 15 to wish him farewell. I know we have had our disagreements, but im realy going to be miss him alot, and cant wait to see him at our misión reunión in October.  Lets see other tan that we are just trying to work realy hard and keep everything going. 

I love you all,
Elder Paul

May 24, 2010

Good Day,
 
Well it has been a pretty crazy. We had four missionaries living with us. Well do to alot of problems the last two days, they just ended up leaving this morning. It was a huge headache, but looks like we will be done babysitting them for awhile. Well ya this week has been realy good full of lots of work. We are going to have 13 baptisms this week. They are realy going to be sweet converts. I also had to have a talk with a bunch of members who just dont realy understand that we are here to work and nothing else.
Other than that we are just trying to keep ourselves very busy, it is realy freaking me out how soon the go home day comes. It is crazy you definatly see two types of missionaries going home here, there are those who cant wait to go home, and count down the days, and then there are those that are just worried and work as hard as they can, so i am trying to be like the second type. But no matter what it is scarry i have to leave home, to go home!
 
I hope all is going well at home, i love you all
Elder Paul

May 17, 2010

Hey everyone,
 
Well me and Elder Tew are working realy hard. It is realy sad, we had interviews this last week with President cox, and he told me that i am going to be heading out to leon the 30th for my next assignment as zone leader. It is sad because in total i only em going to get aobut 4 weeks with my companions, wich is realy tough, because he is one of my favorites. Well other than that we have been working realy hard to get baptisms set up. We have four tonight, we have 8 on Friday, we have 16 on the 26th, and we have one on the 28th. THey are all way great! i love these people and it is realy cool because most of them are family members of converts and just because they have seen the changes of in the lifes of people they love, they have all started to listening. Our biggest struggle is going to be for the 16 for the 26th there are four of them that are not married. One of the families can pay for the wedding, but we are trying to figure out some way to help the others out,or see if we can get like a deal for having so many :)!
 
But that is one of the favors i want to ask, but can you see if ben or someone can sell some of my car stereo stuff? It looks like im going to need a good amount of money to realy get this done, so if you guys could sell PLEASE anything of mine to get 200$ or so, that would help out alot. I know you all worry about selling my stuff, but please do it, it is for a much greater cause than me having a few toys when i get home. Also, and im sorry to ask for it, but i am down to my last 3 allergy pills. Is there anyway to send those? Thank you for everything.
 
Ok so to get a storry in here realy quick. So we are teaching a guy named Israyel. He is the one who is going to be baptised the 28th. Well one day i got up in the morning and told my companion that we are going to change the area were we are knocking. I knew kinda were i wanted to knock but i had no idea why, since we were having alot of success in our other area. Well we were walking and i saw the street and knew it was that street and then the first door we knocked a guy walked out and invited us in. He told us his sister was a member and invited us in. THe lesson went well, but at the end we wanted to finish with a prayer. Well somthing new that i have started doing is asking all the inv to offer the prayer after the first lesson, and we can help them. I find this realy helps bring the spirit, and the people are not scared to pray at night, and find out if it is true. Well he started to cry as he was praying the next day we came back and challenged him and he exepted. He then told us that his pregnant wife and him were both in an accident three years ago. That his wife and child both died. He said he never has found a point to life after that happened. He said he finaly feels like he has a reason to be hear, and told us we not only are saving his soal, but his life as well.
To make it even more, yesturday his sister who is a member saw her brother in church with us, when she asked him what he was doing he got a huge smile and told her he was preparing for his baptism. She started to cry. After she told us that she could not believe it, and knows for sure that miracles do happen.

For me this has been one of my favorite expiriences, i cant wait to send you picutrues of Israyel and his baptism. Please keep up the prayers!
Elder Paul

May 3, 2010

Hey,
 
So this letter is going to be realy short, but i will catch everyone up next week when we talk to you on the fone. Crazy that this is the last time. Well I am still waiting for my new companion to come, as he is stuck in the MTC waiting for his VISa. so it has been a realy busy week, being with about three differeent missionaries in different areas every day. But we did manage to hold a baptism for 2 inv from my area. Other than that there is not anything new. i reay cant wait to talk to everyone next week and ill send you the number and time sometime this week, oh is there a time that is best? and can you see if there is a time when i can talk to eric too?
 
I love you all
Elder Paul

April 26, 2010


 
Good looking

 
Baptism Cake

 
My shoes #1

 
My shoes #2

 
My shoes #3

 
Friend in the house

 
Yucky!

April 26, 2010

Hey Everyone,
Well this week was changes. I am still going to stay in the same area Ward Jacarandas in Irapuato, GTO. My companion left to the same area i started my mission in. He is still young, but i think we got him turned around, and he should be a realy good missionary. Well i am going to be District Leader this change, as well as I am going to be getting another Hijo (Kid) Yep that is rite im getting another greenie rite out of the MTC. Only problem is we are still waiting for them to get their visas so they can head this way. Oh and P.s. Elder Gray is in the same boat, he is D.L. and is getting an american kid. Life out here is still good, we had one baptism this past week. In total my hijo and i had 32 baptisms in the past 3 months we have been together, it was defintly a time feeled with lots of blessings.
Rite now we are working with about 30 investagators, it is a TON of work, but great. I think i almost have as many people i love here in MX as i do at home. Infact both of them realy feel like home now.
Well i am just going to relat a little storry i heard the other day. It was in spanish so i am going to try and translate. So there was a beautiful blue jay who lived in the top branches of the forest. He loved it there and loved to sing on his highest branch. One day he saw a stranger walking on the forest floor with a beautiful black box in his hands. Curiosity got the best of the blue jay, and he flew down perched on the man´s shoulder and asked him whaat was in the box. The man told him in the box he had juicy fat worms. The best worms that exsited. The bluy jay asked the man the cost of the worms. The man replied just one feather. The blue Jay thought and decided one feather in the place of working all day for a meal was a great oppurtunity. The blue jay found a small feather and plucked it out, yes it hurt badly, but soon the pain wasnt as great and as the man promised gave him a fat juicy worm. The blue jay flew back to his high branch pleased and full, and started to sing.
The next day the blue jay saw the man again, and repeating what he had done the day before got another worm. The blue jay continued this cycle day after day, soon the plucking of the feather did not hurt anymore, and he got a worm everyday, but he did notice it was getting harder and harder to fly up to his high branch. One day after trading one of his large wing feathers, the bird found he could no longer fly. He now had to hope on the ground, getting his feathers ruffled and dirty. The man no longer passed, for he had no use of this dirty bird, it was no more use to him. And the bird was left alone, without friends, and without hope.
I liked this story because sin is usualy the same way. We see something that looks good, at first it hurts, but afterwords we start to feel ok about it, and as we go on it gets easier and easier, until it becomes habbit. This is satan offering us something for us, if we are willing to break the commandments. SOmetimes the outcome feels good. But soon we will give up everything that realy makes us us. And then, when satan has no more use for us, when we are left withough hope...... he leaves.
Satan and sin are not friends. They are there to bring us down, they want us to be like him. But he is not a friend, when he has no more use for you..... he leaves.
Well hope you saw what i saw in the story!
I love you all,
Elder Paul

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

April 21, 2010

In the Hospital

Still in the Hospital.

A cake i made yesturday for a converts birthday! Two Story Cake!

Finished Cake

A slice of my homemade Choclate cake, we vannilla frosting, with crushed up oreos n the middle!

April 21, 2010

hey everyone,


From what i understand I think Pres. Cox called and told everyone I was in the hospital. Hopefully he made sure to not make it sound bad, because it realy was not that big of a deal. Well lets see last Wednesday I was in the church, and my stomache started hurting. After about an hour I was curled up in a ball on the floor, in some of the worst pain I have ever felt. I called Hna Cox (The Presidents Wife) And she called the Doctor of the mission who is in Monteray, Mx. Well He called me I explained to him the pain, and he said it could be my appendix or a Kidney stone, so he had me drink a Liter of Water and then call him back in an hour. Well the reason I was in the church was to do an interview, so I went in the room with the guy to do the interview. Well he told me he was realy excited to be baptised, but the day before someone talked to him and realy scared him, and although he knew that the church was true, he just felt realy scared. Well I just testified (And cryied a bit) I cant remeber exactly what i said, but he looked up, and told me thank you, and asked for the white overall to be baptised! It was realy a cool experience. Well during the hour, the pain continued, but it moved alot lower, about to my waist line. The doctor called back and said he was sure it was a kidney stone, and that i needed to take some pain medicine, rest, and drink lots and lots of water. Well everything went normal after that, Except for ALOT of pain. Well we had 5 baptisms on Friday, a realy awesome family. Well Saturday night I started throwing up,and Sunday I could not even walk, so they had me get on a bus and go to the hosptial. Well the hospitals definatly are not the same here, but it was still pretty good. They did alot of tests, and blood tests, and kept me there over night. Well they decided that i was ok to leave, and yesturday morning i passed another Stone, and i am felling TONS better! So all that was just a fun experience, i hope i never have ever again!


Well tonight we have 6 baptisms. One lady we have been working on getting married for along time, and then another family that was comeing to church along time ago, but never were baptised and called us and told us they would like to be! So that will be good, but other than that, next week are changes so we will see if i get changed or not, sounds like everyone is doing great!


I love you all, and will talk to you next week!
Elder Adam Paul

April 12, 2010

Hello Everyone,


Well this was another good week. I think I was in my own area probably 1/4 of the week. But, it has been well worth it, I was able to take part in ALOT of baptismal services, it was realy cool! So how is everything doing there at home? How was the fair? Emily has a boy friend, some leavitt kid? Is it vances brother? How is Eric doing? Did Dallas and Jaycie come down for the fair?


Well this week we have alot of work, and things planned, lots and lots, starting today, we are going to go over to the church, clean the baptimal font, and also the HUGE filling and Emptying tanks. We opened them up the other day, and they each have like two inches of crud, so we are going to climb down there and clean them up. And, a member in our ward told us that if we would do this this week, he will take us next monday morning to see some ancient pyramids that are here in my area, so i should have some pretty cool picuters next week!


Hey Dad, that is way cool that you are all going to be running a marathon.

Well other than that I dont have much new. I love you all, and hope you all have a great week,


Elder Paul

April 6, 2010

Good Day all,


Well another week down. Starting out I have a scripture that I realy liked, I realy felt a power when I read it. So if you have it turn to Doctrine and Covenants 19:15-24:


"Therefore I command you to repent-repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore-how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.


"For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;


"But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;


"Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink-


"Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.


"Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit.


"And I command you that you preach naught but repentance, and show not these things unto the world until it is wisdom in me.


"For they cannot bear meat now, but milk they must receive; wherefore, they must not know these things, lest they perish.


"Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me.


"I am Jesus Christ; I came by the will of the Father, and I do His will."


I realy like it, especially just passing Easter. I am finaly starting to understand how grand the atonment realy is. How great the suffering of Jesus Christ realy is. We had a conference today, and our president talked to us. He talked about the suffering he passed through in the Garden of Gethsemani. Not only for our sins, but as we have learned, and learned in conference, for every feeling doubt, pain, and disair we have or will ever face. It made me remeber when Elder Bednar told us that he does not understand how, but that Christ saw, each and every one of us, each one of our faces. After that the suffering continued to go through, being spit upon, whipped, and caring his own cruz until he could not carry it any longer, and another had to help cary it to the hill were he was then brutaly crucified. But one thing that I realy liked that our president told us today, was that no man ever took his life. Christ if it was his will could have liven forever, but giving up his will to the will of the father, Christ gave his life for us. Then after so much torment, he did not go to rest, but as we know he worked in the Spirit World, until the third day was resurected, breaking the chains of death. It just has been amazing to me to see the difference when we realy realize what it is, and how great it is what Christ did for us. I finaly am starting to understand, in order to have success in this life we realy do need to say not my will but thine be done!


So that was kinda my cool experience of the day. Just all kinda hit me. Well the week went realy well. The sun is definatly out to stay, and I look realy funny with my missionary tan. But, lets see, well we worked realy hard, and accomplished a goal as a mission. We set the goal to bring 500 investagators to church in the mission. Well, me and my companion took that to heart. We searched the city and ranches for people who wanted to see conference either Saturday or Sunday. Well at the end of Sunday conference my companion and I were able to have 21 investagators in the church, and in the mission we had 503. Im realy excited, because most the investagators left with a realy testimony in prophets and apostles.


Well now for yesterday and why I didn't write. Well we are doing a month of sacrifice, so we decided that yesterday we would sacrifice preperation day, and write home at night. Well we all worked together as a zone yesterday, breaking up in districts. Well in my district, i led it and we knocked two hours in every area, ending at aoubt 9 oclock last night, not giving us time to write last night. But, it was amazing the blessings we recieved for sacrificeing, so yesterday in my district, we have 4 companionships and 3 areas. We ending up having 115 lessons and 116 new investigators between the four companionships yesterday alone! For those that dont know, that is Amazing, something i never would have dreamed possible. So ya we were amazed and Pres talked to me and couldnt believe it. And today passing with people we have in our area 50 new investigators in just our area. just amazing how the lord blesses us when we say Let your will be done!


Other than that , I can not beleive how much the girls ALL OF THEM have grown. Wow Zoee and Zaylee are like young laddies now, and emily and Heidi, wow look way older! cant believe the baby sisters are growing up! Well I love you all, and take care everyone, and thank you very much for the pictures!


Elder Paul

March 29, 2010

A power pole in front of our house, someone hit it, and they just decided to leave it! I thought it is a little miracle from god it is still standing!

The Miracle power pole again!

The big ax man Elder Paul. That was a lot of work, but alot of fun! (Paul bunion i think they call him!)

My horse with no name. I'm trying to get pres to let us ride these around town!

I cut my companions hair. It kinda reminded me of Grandad, so thought you'd like it!

March 29, 2010

Hey everyone,


Well I am way warn out, it was a realy big week. Well we ended up a little short of our goal of 80 lessons last week only teaching 68, so we are going to try to teach all them this time, so we are going to cut p day short today and go and get a head start! Also we had 4 baptisms this week. They were realy cool. I think I told you about the four brothers we baptised about 2 months ago. Well their mom dad and grandparents finaly accepted, along with there little brother who is 14. So that was realy cool. I have also been keeping realy busy doing baptismal interviews again this week. They are great, i think i have already sayed this, but i love doing interviews, getting to know so many different people, and just being able to testify. They are great. They zone is doing pretty good, we just have one companionship who do not like to work AT ALL. but they should have gotten a call from pres today, so hopefully that will all change.


Lets see other then that, well we had 29 people to take to church, we set up divisions, and three different cars to go get everyone. Well we were waiting sunday morning and only one of the members showed up to help us go get people. So we only ended up being able to bring 9 people to church on Sunday. It is definatly hard not to get upset with the member that said they would help but then didnt, but i guess it just is going to help me learn to forgive! But hopefully next week for General conference we will fill up the church. Did you guys know they let us watch conference in inglish? And this is my last general conference in my mission! Crazy.


Well so this last week my companion and I decided that we were going to do a week of service. I know we are here to serve, but sometimes we focus so much on finding people to teach we forget. So everyday walking we just kept our eyes open. Well some things we have done, are help push LOTs of cars, I have changed the oil in a van. Checked transmission fluid. Fixed a blown tire, fixed a broken door handle on a ford explorer. I fixed a big screen tv, a stereo, and some speakers. We have cleaned a yard, taken out trash and cleaned prches, and one of the big ones, was we went and helped a guy cut down trees! That was actually a cool story, you see we were asking for a ride across town, he told us to hop in. on the ride he told us he had to go to his house to cut down all the trees around. We offered to help and went over. Well we got there to his house and all he had was one ax. Well since my comp could barly pick up the ax, and the other guy got tired realy qick i ended up cutting almost the whole time! But it was way fun. Since it was out on a ranch all the little kids came out to watch the big white guy. They also all laughed becasue they could bairly pick up the huge trunks with they two of them, but i would bring them myself, carrying them above my head, with two little kids hanging on each end. All though i ended up with my hands covered in blisters, it was a ton of fun, a ton of work, and a great family we are teaching now, but wow i have never been as tired and sore as i was that next day. i think the only thing more tireding than hell week, is cutting down trees for 5 hours. But in total we got about 20 trees cut down!!


Well I am going to try to send some pictures, But i love you all,
Elder Paul

March 22, 2010

Hey Everyone,


Well another week is done. I know i say this every time but I realy cant believe how fast each week flies by! Well this week was realy busy yet again. But, it was crazy it feels like i was never in my own area. We had to do alot of divisions this week, so I could get all the interviews done in the zone. It was alot of work, and alot of traveling, but interviews realy are my favorite part. I love being able to talk to people, find out what part of the message touched their heart, and then just testify!


Lets see, me and my companion only taught about 48 lessons this week, so we were a little down from some of our past weeks, but we are going to work realy hard to get them back up, and we want to teach 80 in one week! So hopefully this will be that week.


Lets see, as a district we have the goal of 8 baptisms every companionship in April, and me and my companion have the goal of 15. So please keep us in your prayers.


These last few weeks we have realy been trying to help out a couple. They have 5 kids and are not married. They have about 5 weeks assisting the church, but we just have had alot of problems getting all the papers we need to get them married. Well with some funding of "Angels" We were able to send the husband to another state to get his papers, and he should be back today, and they will be married, and baptised tomorrow. They are realy excited, and so are we!
Well I think that is about all that I can think of this week, but i love you all


Elder Paul

March 15, 2010

Hey everyone,


Well this week was changes. They put me back up as a leader, and my comp stayed with me. But about everyone else in my district was changed. We are still trying to work very hard. But, I am feeling way sick today, so i am going to cut this short, but all is well, and I love you all!


Elder paul

March 8, 2010

Hey everyone,


Well this week was realy slow, It was pretty much just a normal week. We did not have anything too big happen, but like every day in the mission we had alot of miracles happen! So first before anything else, I need Mom and Dad to put some names in the temple for me. There names are Armando, and Marisol. They are recenct converts, and the devil is hitting them hard. I had her call me up crying from some of the problems they are facing, but she is strong in the church, i just know they could use the prayers!


So i used most the time sending pictures, but i will make sure my letter is much larger next week! I


love you all
Elder paul

March 8, 2010

The spiciest Tacos I have ever seen or eaten in my life! The red stuff is just salsa! The taco is underneath!

Cleaning our baptismal font, because It looked like animals used to live in it! (Took us about 3 hours)

The Power lines are like this here! Ya not really to code!

We bought an acid to help us clean the font. Like my outfit?

Our beautifuly clean font! Sparkling and CLEAN!

So we got a ride from a Truck driver out to a ranch that is like 2 hours away from the city (Still in our area!)

Me asking for a ride, And the truck driver was a member!

This is the ranch Abasolo. It is beautiful, and we found the man who wanted to be baptised too! He is in one of the baptism pictures!