Hola Familia,
Things have been going really well down here in México. This last week el Gigante Espiritual and I have been working hard and teaching a lot of lessons. We had one lesson that has really stuck out to me thus far in the mission. We went with our leader misional to talk to a less active member and his mother. He
is a member but doesn't attend church and she is an investigador. He wasn't home but we started to talk to this Hermana. Her name is Catalina and is about 70 years old. She invited us into her house to chat for a little while. We entered the house and it was super dark and super messy. Turns out that her house doesn't  have electricity, doesn't have running water, is full of rats, and they barely have anything to eat. We talked with Catalina and she has been having a tough time seeing the blessings of her life. She lives with her son and they are barely surviving in this world. Legit. She says she prays every night and gives
thanks for all that she has... which isn't much. The message we shared was that God loves her and that if we follow the steps of our Savior we can truly be happy. If we put God first the things that we need to live in the earth will  follow. It was a very, very spiritual lesson and very humbling. I left the lesson feeling super humbled. I felt bad and sad for her and the conditions that she is living in but also I just felt terrible for taking my whole life for granted. I have had all the necessities that I need to survive all of my life... the thought has always been "What would I like to eat today" not whether or not I'm going to eat today. This experience was amazing to understand how blessed I have been in this life. There is a scripture that I love that talks about this topic. It is 3 Nefi 13:31-33. It talks that we shouldn't be worried about what we are going to eat, drink, and wear. But that Heavenly Father knows all of our necesidades (needs). And through searching for his kingdom we can receive all the things that we need in this life.
 
So something pretty different happened today. I have been Changed! I have finally left Tepatitlán. I am in a new area with a Elder Reyes. He has 3 months in the mission and he seems like a pretty cool guy. Things have been flying by and I was pretty shocked to find out that I have changes. I have learned a lot
over these 6 months I have had in the mission and am excited to take what I have learned in Tepatitlan and put into practice these things here in my area - se llama Buenos Aires 2. It's been a crazy day and I haven't gotten much sleep but am excited to be in a new area and serving the people here in Guadalajara. 

Con amor, 
Elder Summers

Okay real quick. It's really cool to hear about Xochitl and her blessing. I'm sure she will be fine and she will always be Xochitl. No se preocupe. My shirts are good - the Kirtland ones are better than the ones from Mr. Mac. I love the pants from Kohl's. Almost all of my socks have holes in them. Peanut butter would be great for Christmas - Jif. You're right, the peanut butter here sucks.

Love you,
Bye

Hola Familia,
I'm doing well. We are continuing in the work even though sometimes it doesn't seem like we are making a difference in other people's lives. We spend our days walking through Tepatitlán visiting different members. Talking to them about their lives and sharing messages with them. We also spend half the day arriving at appointments knowing the less active members are in their houses but just not wanting to open the door. It's whatever. Something that drives me crazy here is that people just lie all the time. What's worse is they use their kids to lie for them. For example, we show up to people's houses, already having made an appointment with them before hand, and knock. They usually send their kids to the door having them tell us that they aren't home. We ask where they are and the kids run back into the house and return to tell us that they are in the store or something. Okay... obviously the children are running to ask there parents what they should say to the missionaries. Its ridiculous. But it's whatever. We are just trying to help them live in happiness. Honestly Elder Hernandez and I have been working hard. We've been walking around sharing messages with everyone that accepts us. We've been searching to help people more fully... but its hard to help people when they don't want help.
 
This  last week we spent trying to help people grow in the gospel. Then this last Sunday we only had 34 people show up to church. Usually we have about 50. 60 on good days. But 34 people in church is super low. Sometimes it feels like our efforts are wasted.
 
Before the mission I didn't think I would have a problem with loving the people. But honestly it's tough
loving everyone. This branch is just full of gossip. Full of people that don't want to progress. It's depressing at times. Sometimes it feels like it really just doesn't matter what I do as a missionary
because I really can't change people. What can I do then? Well I can help them to feel the spirit, help them understand the importance of the Gospel in their lives, and help them come unto Christ. But it really just all depends on what choice they make. I can do all that I can as a missionary to help them to come unto Christ but if they don't want to accept it... there's nothing I can do. It's hard.
  
2 Nephi 32 pretty much sums up what I do as a missionary. Nephi was testifying to the members of the Church that as long as they have the Holy Ghost all is well. If they try and follow Christ they will have
the Holy Ghost with them always. In verse 5 it tells exactly what the Holy Ghost does: "Porque he aquí, os digo otra vez, que si entráis por la senda y recibís el Espíritu Santo, él os mostrará todas las cosas que debéis hacer." Legit, if you have the spirit with you, you will be able to do anything. The Holy Ghost will guide you to make every decision. Then in verse 7 Nefi says that he was going to say more things but the spirit stopped him telling him that he shouldn't keep teaching them because they don't want to search for the knowledge or to understand the knowledge either. After the spirit told him this he just ended telling the Nefitas that they just need to pray about the message. By praying and feeling the Spirit they will understand what they need to do in their life.
   
This is what we are doing. We try and teach lessons, help people come unto Christ, but in reality they just don't want to search for more knowledge, they don't want to understand. They are content with their life as it is and don't want to do anything to make them happier. So what do we do as missionaries... we
invite them to pray, to feel the holy ghost. Pray to know if our message is true. After doing this, they don't act, they choose not to search to be happier.  Esta es mi vida.
 
I really am enjoying my time in the mission. I am growing more spiritually every day. I am learning things now that will help me for the rest of my life. It's just tough when I am trying to help people come unto Christ but they just don't seem to want to follow him.

Con Amor,
Elder Summers

When Elder Tucker came back to Utah, he gave Keeg's girlfriend an SD card full of videos. This one is by far our favorite. After talking with Keegan about it, we decided it needed to be shared here. Enjoy the creative lyrical minds of Elders Tucker and Summers! -Xochitl

When I asked Keegan for permission to post it as well as an explanation about the video here's what he said, "Laundry Girl is a rap that Elder Tucker and I made in tribute to the beautiful girl that used to do our laundry. She was cute and we always joked around about her. So one day I just started rapping about her out of the blue and so we decided to keep the chorus I came up with and write our lyrics to the rap. So
that's what we did. It was just a fun little rap that we chose to make because we always joked around about this chica bonita. It was fun and we had a blast making the rap."

Hola Familia,
I speak Spanish! Do I speak it perfectly?.. No. Do I always understand everything?... No. Do I consider myself to have "mastered" Spanish?... Definitely not! Am I fluent in Spanish?... Yes. It's been a tough 6 months of the mission being thrown into a culture which doesn't speak the same language as me... but
it's been the best 6 months of my life. Now that I speak the language it's been really neat actually being able to communicate with people at a new level. I actually understand what people are saying and I know how to respond to people when they talk to me. I am so blessed to be able to speak Spanish. We have a
couple new gringos in the Zone and it's weird to hear them attempt to speak Spanish... I know exactly how they feel and they sound so white. It's hard to believe I was at that point 6 months ago.
 
Something that's pretty cool about the mission that I didn't think that would happen is that all of the native speakers are learning English. Everyday we have a part set aside for language study and all of the native speakers study English. While I have been studying Spanish, my companion has been learning
English. It's pretty fun to help him out in this way. All the Spanish speakers have English books that they take tests in and are tested by a native English speaker. It's pretty cool. English is tough to teach, turns out I haven't  "mastered" English either... as you all can probably tell by my horrible spelling and punctuation.
 
So we had a Zone Conference and a part of it we did an english exercise in which companionships were put into teams and had to teach a lesson in english. I have to tell you, I am forgetting how to speak english. I couldn't think of simple words such as "our" and "and"... legit my English was pathetic and my whole Zone just laughed at me the whole time. It was pretty funny but its crazy how my brain is functioning now. More times than not I find myself thinking in Spanish as well. It's crazy cool!
  
We have a new investigador that is actually progressing, actually wants to learn, and actually went to church! His name is Rafael, is 18, and hopefully is going to get baptized... I'll keep you posted.
 
Everything is going great. I love the mission and thank you all for supporting me.
 
Con Amor,
Elder Summers