Elder Long in Mexico City: 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).