Baptisms

Hey everybody,

Well this week my letter is going to be really short because I'm going to send some photos. Among the biggest Christmas gifts I could've asked for this Xmas season have happened. On the 24th we baptized Mitzi, and on the 25th, we baptized Guadalupe. They were incredible spiritual experiences that I am so blessed to be a part of.

Among the sadder parts of this week has been missing everybody. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I love spending it with family. I miss you guys so much. I love visiting my relatives, spending time with my friends, and spending time with Sofia and her family and her relatives. I love the travel, spending time outdoors, snowboarding, playing hockey, and everything. But I know that there is no place I'd rather be. I am so incredibly happy, and seeing the fruits of my work like this is incredibly invigorating.

Among the other highlights from this week are I got to do divisions with my zone leader and good friend Elder Lynch. Hes really incredible, and a huge blessing to our zone. I learned so much from him. I also got to do divisions with one of my best friends in the mission, Elder Cantero. I was in the CCM with him, though he was in a different district in the CCM. He was in my travel group, and I have spent a lot of time with him. I love him a ton.

The other huge highlight from this week was on Tuesday the mission held a Christmas lunch for all the missionaries. this was awesome, because I got to spend time with my district, my zone, but most importantly, I got to spend a ton of time with Elder Child and Elder Chischillie, my companions from the CCM. 

Aside from Elder Ramirez, they are easily my two best friends in the mission. My zone acted out a play that we made, and we got to watch plays from other zones. We also did a gift exchange. It was really fun. What a great Christmas gift.

Well that's all for now. I love you all and I pray for you all, all the time.

Love,

Elder William Jacob Long

Another Week In the Books

Hey everybody,

I don't have much time to write today because our district meeting got moved forward an hour. which means I practically have no time.

I love you all and I miss you all like crazy. Stuff is going really well here in the field. The baptism for Mitzi got moved back a week, but the baptism for Lupe is going to happen this Friday! I'm extremely excited. My first convert in the mission. It's especially special for me, because Elder Ramirez and I were the missionaries who contacted her, worked with her, and everything. It's a massive blessing.

The language is coming along extremely well. I sound super gringo but I can pretty much effectively communicate with everyone, and its crazy. Talking in Spanish, entirely in Spanish, is crazy and weird and amazing and super cool. It's an amazing blessing, and I'm working hard every day to improve it.

I don't have any photos unfortunately, but that's alright because after this week I should have a ton.

The other news is that we have to work on Sunday. We can't visit with members and eat dinner with them or anything. But that's alright, because I love the work, and I am so excited to be here on my mission.

That's all for this week unfortunately. Next week I should have way more time to write a ton.

Love,

Elder William Jacob Long

Another Week Bites the Dust

Hey everybody,

Well I'm another week down with my mission, and it really feels like its flying by crazy fast. Life here is pretty good. I don't have much to report from this week, i guess the excitement is that we have set the dates for our first two baptisms in this area. We will be baptizing an investigator called Lupe Gonzales on 23 of December, and another investigator on 22 of December. Huge early Christmas gifts. We have both their interviews for this Saturday, and Elder Ramirez and i couldn't be happier.

I wish I had more to report from this week, but other than a service project we did on Saturday, not much happened. lots of walking, studying, and teaching.

On Saturday we had a service project for all the elders in my zone. We dug out and removed a massive tree trunk from a school. It was probably five feet in diameter. Massive. I got a ton of blisters on my hand from it, but it was a great activity. I always feel the Spirit when I give service, and I really love my zone.

I don't have much else to say I guess because I'm going to try to resend the photos from last week.

I love you guys so much, and I miss you all like crazy. I pray for you all so often. My Spanish really is coming along, and every day I draw closer and closer to God.

With lots of love,

Elder William Jacob Long

PS The photos are described in the last letter I sent, so If you're curious as to who is who, feel free to take a peek. I would write it all out but I don't have much time.

Changes

Hello Everybody,

Well, the theme for this week has been changes. This is the last week in the cycle, we have transfers tomorrow, so the big theme in the mission has been changes. My District Leader is finishing his mission, my friend Elder Castillo is going to an area 2 hours away, my Zone Leader Elder Matos is headed to a new area as well, my Assistant to the President, Elder Martinez, is headed home too. The good new is that Elder Ramirez and I are staying here, in our area, but the excitement is that he is going to be the new District Leader. So that's exciting!

It has also been a time of reflection for me. The irony in a mission is that the only thing that stays the same is that everything is always changing. Its crazy that I'm a cycle done in my mission already. Its crazy that Ive already had just about three months. I know for a lot of you, its been going very slowly, but for me it has been flying.

My Spanish is a lot better. I can now go an entire day speaking in Spanish, I can practically express all my thoughts in Spanish, and I can decently understand people. Slang is still difficult for me, and understanding small children as well, but in general, its greatly improved.

This week has been really fun. This Thursday we had a huge service project in a town called Ozumba to kick of the #LighttheWorld 25 days event for the church, and after the service project, the church held a massive free Christmas concert. That was really cool as well. We spent the entire day giving out free food, running photo booths, giving out copies of the Book of Mormon, and of course, contacting. It was really nice to have a break in the schedule though, and all my zone was there as well, so it was nice spending time with my friends, working in a new area, and all.

I don't have a spiritual thought for this email (too many to pick from), but I do have a funny story. Yesterday, Elder Ramirez and I were at a family's house for lunch, and we were talking while we were eating. We were all in our church clothes. I was wearing a tie that had been given to me by my good friend from the CCM, Elder Wegner. I got asked about it, and I told the story about how he gave it to me. One of the Brothers there said that his "son" on his mission gave him his tie. Well, this brother had his real son (who is only like 4 or 5 years old) at the lunch as well, and his son didn't understand that his dad was talking about the Elder who he trained on his mission. Well, long story short, his real son just starts crying his eyes out. It was hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. This poor kid thought his dad had another son. Well, the Brother had to spend the next thirty minutes trying to calm down his son, and explain it to him. It was hilarious.

Well that's all for now. I do have some photos though!

This is me with my friends in my zone (from left to right) Elder Castillo, Elder Ramirez (my comp), Elder Mendez (he was Santa for the event), Hermano Andreas, and Elder May (my District Leader).

Here's elder Ramirez and I at one of the photo booths.

And here is me with Elder Mendez.

Well, That's all for now. I love you guys so much. I miss you all.

Love,

Elder William Jacob Long