Guaymas, Mexico November 8

So this week has been crazy for us and it sounds like it was pretty crazy for you guys too! Rachelle sorry about not making the part but mrs. pott´s sounds sweet!!! but personally i would vote for disneyland because vacations with family are way cooler jaja your week has sounded way sweet though! its so weird that chase and tate are home now! but dad. make hunter leave. don´t let him go another semester at school. Reassign the mission cuz it really doesn´t matter where you´re at. jaja seriously. Hunter read this and go on a mission!!! you can get reassigned stateside or something and get a car, but do anything you can to go. The mission is amazing. Every day I see a miracle and the opportunity to see people change in their families is the best thing in the world. Don´t wait because we need to kick it when i get home. I don´t want to wait a year for you to come home because of you stupid ankle. I love you and go on a mission.

And tell Jarom too that I sent him a letter. But tell him if he doesn´t get it in the next couple weeks to write me something. Oh and the address to send stuff is

Elder Eric M Florence
Av. García Conde #301
Col. Pitic
Hermosillo, Sonora
C.P. 83150

 

That´s the address to send everything to always. But tell Jarom for now that i love him and then i´m having the best time ever here in Mexico!!!

Lets see what else??... Oh the baptism this weekend with Rosario was awesome. To answer your questions ya we have a font in the chapel here in Bahia. But its super small and its in the tiny kitchen. We do have members but usually only 4 or 5 including the bishop and the ward mission leader. The services are a lot different than Utah but it´s ok because its the same baptism!

  Andres and Irene were really sick this week. Everyone here has been getting super super sick!!! But so their baptism fell through and so did Angelica and her son Carlos. But they commited seguro last night with us and she said this week she was going to completely stop with coffee. She changed completely this week and is totally into working towards this baptism now. Also last night we invited her daughter to join in and she wants to start coming to church too. So sweet!!

We´re hoping we can visit andres and irene this week and have their baptism this saturday. so pray they get better!!

This week we also put a bunch of baptismal dates but all of them didn´t come to church yesterday!! But two other new people came and we´re going to go visit them this week! Miracles happen in different ways and not always in the way we think. We just have to trust the lord and find his children that are ready. We´ve really seen this week how the lord prepares people, especially with Angelica. This week she also gave us a reference of her friend. Wednesday we had exchanges and Elder Uribe went to another area and I stayed in ours with Elder Avila. I was super nervous because I had to be the senior companino and work our area the whole day with my little spanish. But the day went super good. We taught 3 lessons and contacted like 18 people!! That night I also felt prompted to stop by this reference Angelica gave us. We started talking to them for a while and I felt prompted to ask what she wanted most in her life right now. She started crying and told us and her problems in her family. I explained how the gospel could help and we committed them to baptism!!! It was so awesome. That´s probably been one of my favorite parts besides seeing people change. It´s being able to feel and see the guidance of the spirit. They didn´t come to church yesterday but it´s because they had to vistit her sick sister in Empalme. But they want to come and Angelica even told us she wants to come to the lessons with them after her baptism!! So sweet! Just little things like that, that happen all the time. The people the Lord leads us to everyday.

Last night we also found out the the daughter of Nohemy that we´ve been teaching, her husbandfinally came home. He´s a fisher and has been gone for like four weeks. But he´s finally home now and so we´re going to start teaching them too and they´re super interested in everything. Especially since their parents just got baptized. It´s been amazing to see all the changes in this area this week. It´s been hard and a lot of work but it´s totally worth it.

Well that was pretty much the week! My first experience having to work an area, lots of miracles, and a baptism!!! Shweet!!

 

Ok so about the other stuff. Sarah is engaged!¿?¿?!! i saw it comin but wow jaja. tell her congrats if you ever see her and tell her to shoot me a letter cuz i told her if she gets engaged while i´m gone i have to approve first. And tell Alex congrats too!! thats super awesome. It´s the season of love there in Utah right now i guess. jaja

We did hear about the earthquake butwe didn´t feel anything. Everyone thought a giant tsunami was going to come but nothing happened. jaja but ya it is getting a lot colder here!! during the day its pretty hot still but at night time it feels really good. Elder Uribe is really cold but it feels so good from all the hot always. I don´t think I´ll buy a sweater  unless I get really cold, but in the house we have a blanket so I´ll be good for a while.

 

I think thats everything... Spanish is coming along a lot better, i was able to understand about 74.3% of the junta,  and the work here is awesome. Have another awesome crazy fun week and I love you guys a whole bunch!!

 

Guaymas, Mexico November 1

Franciso got baptized!!! It was so awesome. I got to do the baptism and it was super super awesome! Noehmy went to the temple on Saturday too and did baptisms and confirmations. She has changed so much and is totally all in now. jaja she told us last night that she marks her ¨bible¨ which is actually the book of mormon, jaja but she reads it every day and marks it and shares her favorite parts with Francisco. Its been so awesome to see them progress and change. Francisco after his confirmation yesterday felt ´nervous´he said. We had a visit with him last night and he said he was nervous and sad because he didn´t feel super different. He said that afternoon he had a lot of problems with his moto and the water at their house and he asked us why he was having these hard things and difficulties. we explained that this time is a test of faith and it was a really sweet talk with him. He´s super solid and just needed some encouragement. He even paid his tithing yesterday. I´m so excited for them.

This saturday we should have the baptisms of Rosario, her daughter in law Angelica and her son Carlos! Also the baptisms of Andres and Irene. But they´re not super super solid. This weekend Rosario was really sick and so was Andres! So they weren´t able to come to church. We´re kinda nervous that they´ll tell us they want to wait when we see them Tomorrow. So pray hard for them that they will be able to recover from this sickness and be ready for their baptisms. It would be so sweet to have all of them together on Saturday. So pray hard por favor.

This week was really busy so we didn´t have a ton of success in lessons and putting fechas. We had the junta in Hermosillo on Thursday and this weekend all our appointments cancelled. But its ok because all this is in the Lord´s hands. We were able to put 4 baptismal dates so I´ll let you know how these people work out. But it happens a lot here how we´ll teach a lesson and the people are really into it and feel the spirit and accept their fecha, but then when we go back to meet with them they´re completely disinterested. We´re trying to figure out how to change this, but don´t worry because we´re still having a ton of success. These new people that we have seem pretty solid so pray for them too. Ramon, Santa and her husband, and Cesar. They´re really good people but we need the Lord´s help to have them progress.

The junta in Hermosillo was pretty fun. Elder Tenorio of the seventy came and taught us a lot about faith and teaching skills. This mission here in Sonora is the second to worst baptizing mission in all of Mexico. But we´re going to change a lot of things. We just need more faith and more prayers! Elder Uribe and I have seen our area change so much and we know the mission can change as well. They changed the assitants and now its two americans. One from Utah and I´m not sure about the other. But they´re super awesome guys and I think these next couple months are going to be awesome as we apply these things we´ve been learning and see the changes!!

Well that was pretty much it for the week. By the way i just sent a letter to you guys so let me know when you get it. I hope Mexico is nice to this letter. jaja

well to answer these questions:

yes Rachelle we have a shower. but its the worst, well second to worst shower I´ve seen in my whole life. jaja when it actually has running water, the water is all electrified because it flows through an electric water heater. but the water heater is broken and only pours out cold water thats all shocky. so you have to rinse off closer to the ground so you don´t get electrified! jaja and a lot of other times we don´t have water because our pump breaks a lot so we have to shower a bunch with jugs. But its actually nicer that way becuase we can heat the water up! jaja but the worst shower i´ve seen was in the house of the elders in guaymas centro. Theirs has all the same problems as ours but its disgusting. at least we´ve cleaned ours. jaja ay ay ay

exchanges. we have exchanges about once every month. we´re going to have them this next week.

the new people in the district are two Mexicans, a new hermana, and a new zone leader. The zone leaders are both Americans, but the rest are Mexicans and then me. So ya I do get to speak English with them but they don´t like to speak in english / can´t jaja so very little english.

As far as the success in the other districts. its not very much... so pray we can start working harder!

Yes I have had more blisters. A ton actually. You should see my feet right now. They look like hobbit feet. They´re like bricks. jaja it´ll be interesting to see how my feet turn out after two years.

I have been sick once more with a cold. The temperature keeps changing like crazy here. It´s all super hot again!

Things i lvoe about elder uribe.. Well he works hard, he loves being a missionary, he´s a little weird, but always helps me with the things that i need. he´s awesome!!

About those church forms dad. I´m pretty sure they read over all of them yesterday. i´m not sure though. but this ward needs so much help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I´ll ask elder uribe and we´ll figure it out because we have to do something to change this ward.

Christmas music. Yes i want cds to listen too. not piano music becuase we don´t have time every to play. But anything thats appropriate really... i also would love a lot of other church and efy and other music thats appropriate to listen to. A couple burned cds of random stuff would be awesome because there´s a member that can put them onto the ipod for me.

That´s insane for jordan!!! 250 dollars!!! sheesh. but yes i do have english scriptures and no i haven´t lsot anything. I´m super careful with all my stuff. But speaking of stolen. The Elders in Empalme got robbed 2 or 3 weeks ago in the middle of the night. One of the american elders there got his shoes, his camera, his watch, and a bunch of other stuff stolen. ay ay ay Mexico!!! jaja but i´ve been safe so far. Don´t worry at all. We only have one door and two windows and they´re covered with bars so no one can break in.

and.... oh!! no we can´t communicate live. I would like to but its against the rules here. It´s super strict with the rules right now becuase president wants to change the mission. it makes sense  and we are only going to receive more blessing if we´re obedient. so ya for now... we can only email.

well i think thats it... I love you guys! I´m glad Halloween was awesome and Shayla won the contest!! felicidades!!! jaja and Rachelle exito in your audition. You´ll do great!!! Let me know how it went. Les amo mucho y tengan una buena semana. Cuidense mucho. Elder Florence

Guaymas, Mexico October 25

 

Another super awesome week!!!! Thursday president came down to Guaymas to have interviews with us. It went really well and he also brought the packages you sent!!!!!! Thank you so much!! All the candy and toys and tatoos and the towels and the pillow cases (did you make them?), the socks, peanut butter, oatmeal, the pictures, everything was so awesome! It made me so happy opening those. thank you bunch a bunch a bunch a bunch!!!!

Phew! well this week has been awesome. Nohemy´s baptism was great and the start to a ton of success that we´re going to be having over the next couple weeks! We had a couple members there and it was a really good experience. After they invited us to their jungle to eat dinner. It was awesome. jaja This week has been really busy and we have walked i´m pretty sure a million miles. But its been really good. All our investigators are progressing and we´ve picked up some new ones again. But they´ve all been kind of flaky and none of them showed up to church yesterday. But its ok because there´s always more people who are ready to receive this message. Yesterday at church we had Nohemy and her husband Franisco. He´s getting baptized on Friday because Saturday the stake is all going to the temple in Hermosillo and Nohemy is going too!!!!! So sweet!!! But so she wanted the baptism Friday so she could be there since she´ll be gone all day saturday. At church we also had Rosario, her daugther in law Angelica, and her son Carlos. We didn´t have a ton of people, but its ok. We´re working and people are progressing so all is well. We should also be having Rosario´s baptism this Saturday and Angelica and Carlos´s the next saturday. But we´re not sure with them because Angelica´s husband Carlos wants to get baptized with them too but he has to work every sunday and can´t come to church. They have all been reading the book of mormon and praying together and are super ready for baptism but its the dumb chamba!!! Ah! We´re going to keep working with them though and pray for a miracle to be able to change his schedule.

This week we also got a referral of this lady named Karla and her daughter Rebecca. We went over Thursday and taught a short lesson. They were super into it and at the end we invited them to be baptized and they accepted!!! They´re on date for the 6th of Nov. They´ve already gone to church twice but in another ward. But they said this next week they´ll start coming to our ward since they now live in our area and then the week after is their baptism! So sweet!

Also remember Andres and Irene Ramirez?? Last night we decided to go have a short visit with them. We ended up teaching about baptism again and it was a super spiritual experience. We asked them what was holding them back from taking this step and they said nothing really. So we asked so why not take this step? And Andres told us he wanted to learn more about baptism. We told him we have taught him pretty much everything but decided to just show him a picture of someone getting baptized. When he saw it he said, oh thats how its done? jaja!!! we had explained before we get baptized like Jesus but for some reason when they saw that picture they weren´t as afraid of the commitment anymore. So we explained a little bit more how the service goes and then invited them to be baptized. They both said yes and they´re on date for the 6th of Nov as well!!!! So sweet!!!

We weren´t able to meet with Arturo at all this week. He´s always super busy with work and is gone. We feel so bad for him. It´s hard to be a single dad especially here in Mexico. His kids pretty much stay full time at their grandma´s and we can never find a time when they´re all home together. But we´re going to keep trying and hope things work out for the best.

We have a couple other investigators as well right now but they´re all the flaky ones. jaja but i´ll let you know when they start progressing. but that´s pretty much it as far as the work goes! It´s been so fun and we have been incredibly blessed!

Thank you so much your emails and all the picutres!!! and again for the packages!!! best day ever! i loved the the newsletter of all my friends and the pictures. Let me know the next time they do a newsletter so i can write something personal to all of them. but it was so awesome to read all their expierences.

Now. Really quick. This may or may not change you attitude about me as your son and brother but I have to ask a very horrible question. What is dad´s, mom´s, and Shayla´s birthdays?... I know the general days but not the exact date. You don´t have to write me anymore if you want. jaja

 

Well your week has been crazy!! Thanks for the email Matthew. Scout camp sounded super awesome! I´m way jealous. And of the Mayan restaurant and Maple Garden´s too. A lot of fun stuff happening this time of year!! I love hearing about your weeks and everything that you do. I feel kind of at home every time I read the emails. jaja

By the way tell Tate I love him and give him a big hug from me! How´s he doing? Is home weird for him?

 

To answer all you questions.. well real quick. I know jabon is soap mom... but everyone here talks about it like its a brand. jaja the real brand is called zote but everyone just calls it jabon. but its amazing. jaja but the questions. For breakfast and dinner I usually eat cereal and yogur. Sometimes tunafish, sometimes ramen, sometimes crackers. But usually stuff just really cheap and nice and plain and normal. For la comida always with members its really condimenty. Lots of weird stuff I´m not used to but it doesn´t taste bad so I can´t complain. The weirdest stuff I´ve had so far was probably minudo which is the cow stomach soup with so other weird vegetables and stuff. It was actually not bad but I´d never choose to eat it. jaja and the best thing i´ve had so far was probably la comida yesterday. We had cabeza tacos. Its the meat from a cow´s head and its super delicious. Kinda weird but its really tender and with onion and cilantro, salsa verde, and limón... AH!!! so delicious.

I only play piano in the primay. They have a youth that plays in sacrament, but I am teaching Elder Uribe music during the day. I have flash cards of notes and stuff and I quiz him during the day. jaja.

The english class yesterday was fun! Only 7 people showed up but we´re going to start having more. I taught me gusta. Things I like and how to say different verbs and stuff. It was really fun.

Halloween here is kind of the same as the united states. But its really different from the rest of Mexico, becuase Elder Uribe told me they celebrate day of the dead. But here its really American influenced. Real mexico has a holiday pretty much every month, but here they only celbrate a couple. So sad.

Our next conference is this Thursday! its with an area general authority. They´re always in Hermosillo though. I´m in the Guaymas zone, but conferences of any type are always in Hermosillo. So we´ll be traveling there again Thursday.

 

Well i think that was kind of everything. Oh one more thing real quick. With the christams present music, could you send some Christmas music too?

Thanks so much for the picutres and emails and packages and for all your love. Mexico is super awesome and its been so fun so far. The next couple weeks and months here are going to be even better. I love you guys super a lot. Keep having a fun week and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

love you be safe and I´ll talk to you next week.