Familia,
First off it's good to hear about Grandma Great, she lived a very long and successful life... we all know that her time came and the Lord was ready for her. I also loved and literally laughed out loud hearing about the Uncle George's remark about knowing that Grandma was dead. Mi compañero me preguntó porque yo estaba riendo y le dije, "Mi bisabuela murió!" [My companion asked me why I was laughing and I told him, "My great-grandmother died!"]. Despues tenía que explicar que mi abuela le mató. Gracias Gramma... me dió mucha risa. :) [Then I had to explain that my grandmother had killed her, thanks Gramma ... it gave me a good laugh] But really it's cool that we have the knowledge that she is now in a better place with lots of loving people. Grandma Great was a wonderful lady (still is) and I owe her my life.
I feel like an explanation is necessary so you understand what Keegan is referring to so you can understand a bit or our family's irreverent humor that surfaces at stressful times... Here's what Kelli had sent to him in this week's letter: "On Wednesday night (Jan. 29, 2014) at 9:18 pm Grandma Great returned home. Gramma and Uncle Tom and Aunt Vicki were with her along with Aunt Lela, Aunt Frankie, and Uncle George. Grandma Great died in her home surrounded by her family. Gramma said it was very calm and peaceful. We are so happy for her to be with her husband, two sons, her sister, parents, Gramps, and the rest of her family and friends who were waiting for her :) Gramma said that at about 9:00 pm she made a coughing gurgling noise, so the family gathered around her. They felt like it was probably time and that she was dying. So Gramma put her hand on Grandma Great's chest and had her finger up on her neck to feel for a heartbeat and a pulse. Uncle George arrived while Gramma was checking for signs of life. Later, they were sitting around talking about how they were checking to see if she was dead. George said something like that he knew that Mother was dead when he came in because LaRae had choked her :) They all laughed about that and teased Gramma about choking Mother to death :) Same old Gramma :) What a wonderful woman! I just love her sooo much!"
And here's a little more to help explain Keegan's following response: "By the way, the groundhog saw his shadow, so we will be having 6 more weeks of winter... I am sure that you feel really sorry for us here in our cold climate :) We have added Omsk (Xochitl's current area) to our weather app on our phones and have kept Novobirsk on there as well. Just so you know - it is always colder in Novo - like by 10 or more degrees, so lucky for Xoch she's serving in a warmer area:) So, right now at 4 am Monday morning it is -18°F in Omsk and -31°F in Novo..... and BTW, it's 34°F in Murray and 70°F in Guadalajara on Sunday afternoon:) Boy Keegan, we hope you don't freeze to death :)"
So I've been really struggling down here with the horrible 75 degree weather. I can't stop feeling jealous of your 30 degrees in Utah and feeling even more jealous of my sister with the negative 30 degree weather. But life must go on right? Just teasing, although the weather down here is paradisiacal. It still doesn't feel like winter but I'm enjoying the warmth every single day. I find it interesting that Xochitl can't be outside for more than 30 minutes... it's super cold over there while I am sweating a lot everyday in my normal short sleeve white shirt.
So I this last week was pretty good. My companion and I are getting along really well and are working more than we have in the past. I really am enjoying my time here in the mission. Something that is hard right now is that I don't feel like we have very many "chosen" people or "prepared" investigators. One thing we have been working hard in in the mission is to talk with everyone we pass by in the streets to share a short gospel message with them. It's been tough because really, people don't have interest in this message. We talk to lots of people everyday and make appointments with a few every day but when we pass by to visit them they either say that they really don't have any interest or they just don't answer the door. It's been a little tough in this aspect but I've just got to have faith that there are people chosen to hear our message. I know there out there... but I've just got to find them.
So something crazy happened this week. So I don't know if you are aware but there has been a lot of problems with drug dealers (narcos) in Michoacán (a state in México that is the largest part of our mission). Well this past week we got a call from our zone leaders passing on a message from our mission president. They told us we needed to read the part in our mission manual which talks about how we need to stay out of dark places during the night and to be ready to feel the promptings and warnings of danger from the Holy Ghost. They then told us that President Camarillo told us that on this one day in particular we need to be very careful and follow the promptings of the Spirit. Let's just say we were a little preocupied through out the day. Nothing happened to us (thank heavens) and we are working as normal. I guess what happened is that one of the narcos was put in prison here in Guadalajara. During the day prior to this call from our zone leaders, part of this narco's cartel was making a whole bunch of distractions in the city to try to free this narco from prison. That night the group of narcos were shooting off rounds, robbing places, and even burning city buses to try and make a distraction to free this narco. Well right now everything is pretty calm and we are safe... we didn't hear or see anything scary. It's kind of weird how many problems this country has with these drug narcos. People here have to be careful where they walk and what routes they take. I have realized how blessed we are to live in the United States during my time here in México.
Things are going well and I really am enjoying my time here.
Love you All.
Elder Summers
First off it's good to hear about Grandma Great, she lived a very long and successful life... we all know that her time came and the Lord was ready for her. I also loved and literally laughed out loud hearing about the Uncle George's remark about knowing that Grandma was dead. Mi compañero me preguntó porque yo estaba riendo y le dije, "Mi bisabuela murió!" [My companion asked me why I was laughing and I told him, "My great-grandmother died!"]. Despues tenía que explicar que mi abuela le mató. Gracias Gramma... me dió mucha risa. :) [Then I had to explain that my grandmother had killed her, thanks Gramma ... it gave me a good laugh] But really it's cool that we have the knowledge that she is now in a better place with lots of loving people. Grandma Great was a wonderful lady (still is) and I owe her my life.
I feel like an explanation is necessary so you understand what Keegan is referring to so you can understand a bit or our family's irreverent humor that surfaces at stressful times... Here's what Kelli had sent to him in this week's letter: "On Wednesday night (Jan. 29, 2014) at 9:18 pm Grandma Great returned home. Gramma and Uncle Tom and Aunt Vicki were with her along with Aunt Lela, Aunt Frankie, and Uncle George. Grandma Great died in her home surrounded by her family. Gramma said it was very calm and peaceful. We are so happy for her to be with her husband, two sons, her sister, parents, Gramps, and the rest of her family and friends who were waiting for her :) Gramma said that at about 9:00 pm she made a coughing gurgling noise, so the family gathered around her. They felt like it was probably time and that she was dying. So Gramma put her hand on Grandma Great's chest and had her finger up on her neck to feel for a heartbeat and a pulse. Uncle George arrived while Gramma was checking for signs of life. Later, they were sitting around talking about how they were checking to see if she was dead. George said something like that he knew that Mother was dead when he came in because LaRae had choked her :) They all laughed about that and teased Gramma about choking Mother to death :) Same old Gramma :) What a wonderful woman! I just love her sooo much!"
And here's a little more to help explain Keegan's following response: "By the way, the groundhog saw his shadow, so we will be having 6 more weeks of winter... I am sure that you feel really sorry for us here in our cold climate :) We have added Omsk (Xochitl's current area) to our weather app on our phones and have kept Novobirsk on there as well. Just so you know - it is always colder in Novo - like by 10 or more degrees, so lucky for Xoch she's serving in a warmer area:) So, right now at 4 am Monday morning it is -18°F in Omsk and -31°F in Novo..... and BTW, it's 34°F in Murray and 70°F in Guadalajara on Sunday afternoon:) Boy Keegan, we hope you don't freeze to death :)"
So I've been really struggling down here with the horrible 75 degree weather. I can't stop feeling jealous of your 30 degrees in Utah and feeling even more jealous of my sister with the negative 30 degree weather. But life must go on right? Just teasing, although the weather down here is paradisiacal. It still doesn't feel like winter but I'm enjoying the warmth every single day. I find it interesting that Xochitl can't be outside for more than 30 minutes... it's super cold over there while I am sweating a lot everyday in my normal short sleeve white shirt.
So I this last week was pretty good. My companion and I are getting along really well and are working more than we have in the past. I really am enjoying my time here in the mission. Something that is hard right now is that I don't feel like we have very many "chosen" people or "prepared" investigators. One thing we have been working hard in in the mission is to talk with everyone we pass by in the streets to share a short gospel message with them. It's been tough because really, people don't have interest in this message. We talk to lots of people everyday and make appointments with a few every day but when we pass by to visit them they either say that they really don't have any interest or they just don't answer the door. It's been a little tough in this aspect but I've just got to have faith that there are people chosen to hear our message. I know there out there... but I've just got to find them.
So something crazy happened this week. So I don't know if you are aware but there has been a lot of problems with drug dealers (narcos) in Michoacán (a state in México that is the largest part of our mission). Well this past week we got a call from our zone leaders passing on a message from our mission president. They told us we needed to read the part in our mission manual which talks about how we need to stay out of dark places during the night and to be ready to feel the promptings and warnings of danger from the Holy Ghost. They then told us that President Camarillo told us that on this one day in particular we need to be very careful and follow the promptings of the Spirit. Let's just say we were a little preocupied through out the day. Nothing happened to us (thank heavens) and we are working as normal. I guess what happened is that one of the narcos was put in prison here in Guadalajara. During the day prior to this call from our zone leaders, part of this narco's cartel was making a whole bunch of distractions in the city to try to free this narco from prison. That night the group of narcos were shooting off rounds, robbing places, and even burning city buses to try and make a distraction to free this narco. Well right now everything is pretty calm and we are safe... we didn't hear or see anything scary. It's kind of weird how many problems this country has with these drug narcos. People here have to be careful where they walk and what routes they take. I have realized how blessed we are to live in the United States during my time here in México.
Things are going well and I really am enjoying my time here.
Love you All.
Elder Summers