Queretaro Mexico Week 22

Elder Eaton mailing  address:

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

Mexico Queretaro Mission

Avenida Pis De La Cuestra No. 102

Esq. Boulevard Desarrollo San Pablo

Colonia Colinas De San Pablo, Querétaro

Querétaro, C.P. 76125 Mexico

Email:  Alex.eaton@myldsmail.net

Blog:  alexeatonmission.blogspot.com  

  Sorry I didnt put it last week, but  HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!! I miss you guys a ton but hope you had a good one now that I am finally out of the house and couldn't steal the spotlight ;) hahahahaha but my birthday was flippin awesome, not gonna lie! To be honest it didn't feel like it was my birthday, because the day went normally, better than usual but still normal. I woke and the first thing I prayed for was that we could get more people and the day could be good. That day we got 4 new investigators, put two new baptismal dates down and everything went smoothly!! We didnt party or anything and the food was good! I am still the youngest guy in our district but I am getting older everyday!!

  The first thing that happened that was like "its your birthday" was when I was washing the dishes from breakfast and Elder Lujan came up and hugged me!! It freaked me out because I wasn't expecting it and he told me happy birthday. I told him to let go of me. Throughout the day members wished me happy birthday and I dropped off a box of choclates for Sister Zenaida, the neighbor because it is her birthday too! When we got home and started to plan, the neighbors knocked on the door and asked us if we wanted to eat cake together and sing happy birthday. That was an easy yes. They put up the candles, first the sang in english to me, stumbled as usual when it got to my name, but it was super sweet of them, and way off key, pretty hilarious. Then, as the tradition goes in mexico, you must take the biggest bite you can from the cake, thus getting chocolate all over your face. I enjoyed that part! They also gave me a legit tie and yeah! That is the story, of how I turned 19.

  The rest of the week was good, Elder Lujan and I have figured each other out at this point, so all is good there mostly. We gave service to the president of elders quoroum, who raises fighting chickens for a living!! He learned how to train them in the US (illegally) and now runs his buisness and sells them to other people (which is 100% legal here in Mexico). That was pretty dang fun, and the baby chicks were super cute too! Bad news about Antonio and Laura, the investigators with a date for this saturday, will probably be pushed back a week or so because they have been struggling in their relationship, and don't know if they want to get married this Thursday. We are going to visit them today and hopefully it all works out. If they really need to wait a week, I am ok with that. I would rather have someone truly converted to the gospel than a baptism. So we will see. That is pretty much my week in a nutshell :) none of the new investigators are seriously invested yet, so I'll hold off on that. But love you and miss you always!!

Love

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

aka, the son who stole your anniversary day <3

PHotos!!

1)Mexican fighting chickens!!!

2)group picture for the bday

3)wore my seattle socks all day. pretty sure it is not missionary attire but its my birthday 

4)altogether for my birthday with the Roque family. 

5)she told us to take as much cake as we wanted. I took exactly a quarter of the cake. Slept like a rock that night. Before going to sleep, I lit up all my candles and ate the rest of my companions cake too because he said he didnt want it. AMERICANS!!!! He also took a picture to show me in the morning.

6)Successfully rationed all the candy and finished it off the morning of the BDAY. Worth it!!

Queretaro Mexico Week 21: Birthday Week and Over 5 Months!!!

Elder Eaton's birthday is this Friday.  Feel free to drop him an email wishing him a Happy Birthday!  I want to just say Thank You to all of you who have sent Alex emails.  He may not respond to them, seeing how he only has a limited amount of time, but there are appreciated!  

Love, 

Steph

Elder Eaton mailing  address:

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

Mexico Queretaro Mission

Avenida Pis De La Cuestra No. 102

Esq. Boulevard Desarrollo San Pablo

Colonia Colinas De San Pablo, Querétaro

Querétaro, C.P. 76125 Mexico

Email:  Alex.eaton@myldsmail.net

Blog:  alexeatonmission.blogspot.com  

Hola Familia!!!! 

Super weird that I am going to be 19! Almost feel like an adult now, weird!!! Ok, so I am pretty excited for the next week because our investigators Antonio and Laura are going to get married and we can finally baptize them!! They took out their papers and everything for the next week, their date is going to be for the 12, baptized the 14th, confirmed the 15th, same day that we have transfers!! I was stressing that we wouldnt be able to baptize them, but now its all good!! 

What is really hard with them is their economic situation. The water got cut off yesterday and their electricity is gonna to be shut off tonight. They are struggling a ton and what really kills me is that I can pay for that, but I am not allowed. They couldnt even afford to be married, so members of the ward helped them out so they could. They have nothing, they sold their gas tank to have money to eat and they took today to feed us. On Sundays the relief society passes around a list to feed the missionaries lunch. The past two weeks with them having nothing, Laura has volunteered for us to come eat. When we saw her name I walked over and asked what she was doing, that she shouldn't be feeding us when she doesn't have food to eat for herself! She just smiled and said it was all good. That family is the most converted family I have ever seen in the gospel, and they arent even baptized.

So we are super excited for them, and I can't wait for the 12th, the ward is going to throw them a party and almost every member has visited their house and offered support. It is glorious, that is the only word I can find to describe when the imperfect people of a perfect church unite and do what they have been taught to do, that's when we can really feel that we are close to heaven, when we give what we have been given. 

I have had some moments of long silence and not talking with my companion, but our relationship is improving. I have been praying for a lot of charity and patience with him and thank goodness it has been answered! But other than that my week has been awesome!! Love you guys and miss you tons!!!

Love 

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

AL

Photos

- the field is ready to harvest. Actually it was already harvested (we did that)

- we tried jumping but it didn't work

- All of Cortazar from a hill, we were also charged by one of the cows shortly after we took the picture

- the photos were worth the climb

Queretaro Mexico Week 20

Just an FYI: 

 Alex's 19th birthday is March 6th, next Friday.  If you could email him a note to say. "Happy Birthday " by Monday, since he only emails on Mondays,  I know he would appreciate it!

Elder Eaton mailing  address:

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

Mexico Queretaro Mission

Avenida Pis De La Cuestra No. 102

Esq. Boulevard Desarrollo San Pablo

Colonia Colinas De San Pablo, Querétaro

Querétaro, C.P. 76125 Mexico

Email:  Alex.eaton@myldsmail.net

Blog:  alexeatonmission.blogspot.com  

This week has been a whole lot better, than the last, thank you for your prayers! My companion and I are now getting along way better, that's because we finally talked it out. We had companionship inventory and it helped a ton!! Our zone also had a zone conference and interviews with the president to check up on us. I went in, and complained a bit about my companion, but then I realized as I was talking with him is my patriarchal blessing, that it says I will be an instrument for change for my companions BUT also how I will change as well. It's possible that this is when I have to change. After that, I just asked President Mejorada how I can love my companion. He smiled at me and said there is absolutely no answer for that. If I ask how I can do something, it is saying that there is a set way, a limit, on how I can do it. But you cant put a limit on something as infinite as love. So that has been in my head all week.

But news on our investigators, we are leaving behind tons of them, because they aren't attending church and aren't completing their promises. It has been sad but at the same time I understand it. We have a short time here in our lives to serve with all our time, might, heart, mind, and strength. As hard as it is, we have to spend our time with those that have been prepared. And we have a couple like that! Their names are Antonio, Laura, and Ronaldo, their kid. They are loving every part of the gospel, and even though they live on the opposite side of Cortazar, they have walked to church the past two sundays! The only problem is the money they need to marry, but that's on track!! The members are visiting them almost every day and it is amazing to see all of the ward so involved with their progress!! We have stopped asking people if they can stop by their house, because they do it without us asking!! It is straight up a miracle with them.

Nothing more really, just that everything has calmed down and evened out with us. It is legit working as hard as I am, I have permanent eye shadows from work and when we arrive home, we plan for the next day, and I just fall into bed exhausted. I have really never been more satisfied in my work in all the 5 months I have here. Just know i love you and miss you guys tons!! Have fun in Mexico!!!

Love,

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

Photos

1)Zone conference!!!

2)So the package was repacked a few times and was missing vital foods

3)It rained a ton, I wore a jacket, but It only covered my top half, I turned out looking like a super man wannabe.

4) we had been hunting the rat for forever!! And our neighbor poisoned it, so it turned up dead. We, being gracious missionaries, brought it to her house to show Sister Zenaida. She reacted pretty much how mom would have  

5)our awesome investigators

6)We climbed a big hill to arrive at lunch sunday, so it took a while for the other missionaries

7)whenever we throw out stuff, we have to burn it because of all the phone numbers, names, addresses, etc. I enjoy it. However, we made the mistake of starting to burn it inside our house, AND we dont have windows, vents, air conditioning. Still smells like smoke 

8) also, put up my seahawks flag!! REPRESENT!!!

Querataro Mexico Week 19

  Elder Eaton mailing  address:

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

Mexico Queretaro Mission

Avenida Pis De La Cuestra No. 102

Esq. Boulevard Desarrollo San Pablo

Colonia Colinas De San Pablo, Querétaro

Querétaro, C.P. 76125 Mexico

Email:  Alex.eaton@myldsmail.net

 About the companion.  He literally has no money. We Recieve about 2 thousand pesos every month, the day before transfers. And he had to pay back all the debts he had from the other missionaries. The first 2 weeks I felt bad but now he is getting used to it and expecting me to pay for him, so now I am getting a bit bugged. But for the most part it is still good. I am not using any of my personal money to pay for food, I just am using my monthly money, that I have now saved up for the better part of the month.

 I am doing good otherwise. more just frustrated with Elder lujan. He is more than a bit prideful and it is a bit difficult, but I am doing my best to roll with the punches. He refuses to follow our study schedule and exercises for an hour in the morning, takes a half hour shower, and misses personal study, then reads personally during companion study so we miss language study, because we move up companionship study to language. He said that I was an awesome companion to him, so I guess I am doing good. Spiritually i am doing good, and am defintely reading more of the Book Of Mormon than I ever have. 

Coney (the rabbit) is still living with us, It has been raining non stop for the past 3 days and I am loving it!!!!! If we leave coney outside he will die, so we are buddy buddies now!! We also have an awesome family that is set for the 14th of march, so woot woot!! Things are mostly going good.! Love you and miss you guys tons!!

Love 

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

Al

Queretaro Mexico Week 18

Elder Eaton mailing  address:

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

Mexico Queretaro Mission

Avenida Pis De La Cuestra No. 102

Esq. Boulevard Desarrollo San Pablo

Colonia Colinas De San Pablo, Querétaro

Querétaro, C.P. 76125 Mexico

Email:  Alex.eaton@myldsmail.net

Blog:  alexeatonmission.blogspot.com

I am still enjoying it here, love everyone, and quite honestly that its a miracle that I havent been robbed yet! My new companion is from Argentina and he is an awesome missionary Elder Lujan. He works hard from start to finish, his only flaw is that he spends all his money from the mission that we get for the month, in a week. He actually came here with no money and I have felt super bad and buying the majority of his meals. Its kind of against mission rules but I cant really watch my compañero die!! But he is awesome and we had a photo shoot of comparing muscles. His biceps are the size of my legs, so yeah, I feel a little inadaquete. (check my spelling, havent spoken English in 3 and a half months now). Elder Lujan has 13 months on the mission and the ward already loves him, and they know he is only going to help. I miss Elder  Alonso a bit but not too much, honestly the ward misses him more than I do, as some of the sisters cried when saying goodbye to him.

We now have 10 investigators and we are focusing more on a couple named Antonio Martinez and Laura. They are legit and Laura said that when she went to church this sunday, she found the peace and security she has been looking for!!!! That really got me pumped when she said that and we will be visiting them tomorrow night. They are having some economic troubles right now and it is pretty tough, but we introduced them to some members who had the same ordeal. Laura was kind of hectic until Hermana patiño shared her testimony that we can always have all the things we need as long as we have our faith, the hope in things to come. After the testimony she was all good. She enjoyed Relief Socitey and plans to attend an activity this thursday!!! I really love being a missionary, not gonna lie. 

No more funky foods but we are actually starting a challenge with our president to read the Book of Mormon from start to finish, while marking all the words referencing Jesus Christ and his names, in addition to those referencing the Atonement, sin, forgiveness, and repentance. It would mean a lot to me if you guys could join me in this challenge, it changes everything and gives you the idea of what the Book Of Mormon really is about. I know that you'll get something out of it like I am. 

That's it, but know that I love you guys, miss you tons, but I know this is by far the best decision I have ever made in my life (besides deciding to come to the Earth of course).

Love

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

Photos

1)said goodbye to Elder Alonso

2)First thing Elder Lujan did when he got to the house was take out a suitcase and unpack it. It was literally all weights.

3) Our second day here, and we got a gringo named Elder Atwood!!!!

4)We were bored so we had a pose off. Then we had a muscle off, and I lost.

5)We climbed on top of our roof to take some photos, pretty sweet

Queretaro Mexico Week 17

Elder Eaton mailing  address:

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

Mexico Queretaro Mission

Avenida Pis De La Cuestra No. 102

Esq. Boulevard Desarrollo San Pablo

Colonia Colinas De San Pablo, Querétaro

Querétaro, X.P. 76125 Mexico

Email:  Alex.eaton@myldsmail.net

Blog:  alexeatonmission.blogspot.com

Yeah, a member called me the night of the super bowl and told me what happened because I asked him if he could. So I was a bit more prepared, Elder Alonso was a bit disappointed too, but not as much as me. But it happens! And that same night there were tansfers!!!! I am going to stay here, but Elder Alonso is getting transfered to Queretaro! I am gonna miss him a lot. He is going with Elder Becerril, another elder in Cortazar, so only Elder Guzman and I are staying. I will be recieving a companion named Elder Lujan (pronounced Luhan). Tomorrow at 5 in the morning the elders go to Cortazar while Elder Guzman and I have to wait at the bus station for the new elders. All today Elder Alonso has been saying goodbye to our Investigators, so it was pretty sad. But Its for a reason that he is leaving, and I think our investigators understand that.

We got a new investigator, Named Jesus Arriaga, who believes everything he sees on tv, so he is convinced that the antichrist will come with a tattoo of the day he will die, also his birthday and destiny. I asked him where he learned that and he refused to answer me. He is interesting! But nothing really new, we partied with the missionaries, played soccer today and we ate two large pizzas along with 2 two liter bottles of soda. It was honestly a super fun way to end their last day and we loved it. I have put up the basketball hoop and we regularly play before bed, but while we are already laying down. Our games are generally short because if we can't reach the ball without leaving the bed, we really question if it is worth the effort.

 Funny thing that happened, during our scripture study time, my companion jumped out of his seat and shaking his pant leg. I asked what was up and he said that he thought there was a spider in his pants! So he rips off his pants and threw them to the floor and we saw nothing there. Then, this huge cockroach crawls out from the bottom, I am talking a solid 2 inches!!! My companion also has a mortal fear of cockroaches that stems from him having almost eaten a cockroach when he was a kid, so he started screaming at me to kill it.  I did what any missionary would do. I ran and grabbed my camera, took a photo, THEN killed it.  He was freaked out and had to put on other pants for the day. He tucked his pants into his socks for the rest of the time and throughout the day he felt it crawling up his leg still, just the sensation! So yeah, that happened! It was maybe the highlight of my mission! No joke! Our next zone conference is within this month, so i will probably get my package by then. That is pretty much it, but has cole gotten his present yet? The mail in mexico takes about 2 to four weeks, so I dont have an idea. 

 I love you guys.

Photos:

- We took photos of his last time in the chapel in Cortazar

- the farewell pizza party

Queretaro Mexico Week 16

Elder Eaton mailing  address:

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

Mexico Queretaro Mission

Avenida Pis De La Cuestra No. 102

Esq. Boulevard Desarrollo San Pablo

Colonia Colinas De San Pablo, Querétaro

Querétaro, X.P. 76125 Mexico

Email:  Alex.eaton@myldsmail.net

Blog:  alexeatonmission.blogspot.com

  Alright, so this week was crazytime!! Tuesday we had the zone conference with the Mission President and it was pretty great! We got back at 3:30, so we went straight to the food. We got back and it started pouring down rain!!!! Like a ton!!!!!! I took lots of photos, but what was the killer part, that now as I look back on it might be the greatest missionary experience so far! You know how we have the rabbit that belongs to the neighbors? Well if it rains, she told us to bring it inside so it doesnt die of cold. So it started thundering and raining, and this obviously freaked the bunny out (his name is Coney). 

So Elder Alonso tried to grab the rabbit and he bit his hand! Then we tried to get it into a bucket to bring into the house, and he ran away from us. So this is about 10 minutes after it really started pouring, so we got soaked. he eventually moved under a bench and we couldnt get him to move!! So we brought the bucket and grabbed a stick and started shoving him inside, but he didnt like that. SO he started gnawing on the stick. At this point we were pretty frustrated, so Elder Alonso grabbed the rabbit by its back foot and dragged him up. Elder Alonso yelled for me to bring the bucket because he couldnt move because the rabbit was trying to pull a monty python and bite his throat. I brought it to him, he dropped Coney in the bucket. we then released him into the house. we both looked at each other and busted up laughing, it was pretty sweet!!!

But the rain lasted 3 hours, and we couldnt leave until it stopped. When it stopped, it was like the flood in Arizona, and we had to walk because we couldn't ride our bikes. That was the big part of the week! It rained again but thank goodness the rabbit is already in our house. I feel a bit nervous about transfers but not too bad. Most likely I am going to stay, but who knows! It is almost a garauntee that Elder Alonso will leave, as he has completed 6 months here, his whole mission. But nothing is new, we have investigators named Brian and Monserrat, who have a baby already. Brian is 17 years old, and Monserratt is 15!! This is actually super normal here and common, but dang! They have a date for the 14th of february and have completed all the requirements for baptism!! I hope I stay here. When I was teaching them, I thought about if I had a kid now. AND I couldnt even imagine it. A bit crazy. But they're great! Quick side note, Elder Alonso is under the impression that all small towns in the US have ville at the end of it. So whenever he references Gilbert, he has a firm belief that its true name is Gilbertville.

We had a stake conference with a 70, Lester Johnson, and that was pretty cool!! He speaks perfect spanish with the accent and everything, but at one point he forgot the word for hardship, (carga) so its comforting to know that even a seventy doesn't have spanish down.  THats it!! I love you guys and miss you tons!!

Love,

Your favorite child

Elder Alex Chadwick Eaton

1)missionaries at zone conference

2)Elder Martin, Fellow Gringo

3)the rain!!!!!!!!!

4)Me with the stick the rabbit was gnawing on

5)The devil rabbit (LOOK AT THE BONES!! monty python)

6)found fun dip!!

7) Elder Alonso fell asleep while waiting to shower