Derik's 10-27-14 Letter

Well, this week was quite interesting. As the subject line reads, 

baptism--I had my first one. It really was quite something, not 

only due to the fact that it was my first one, but also due to 

the strangeness of it. As I believe I have told you all, Virginia 

was in a car crash and as a result has various problems with her 

right leg. One of these problems is that she cannot bend it. Due 

to this, our plan for the baptism was very strange. We had two 

chairs in the font, me, the bishop, and my companion (all to help 

this brave sister because her condition prevents her from standing, 

among various other fun things). I did the ordinance 3 times 

because we could not get her entire body under the water the first 

2 times (leg problem). But, when I was talking to her afterward, 

apparently she experienced no pain during the baptism, which is, 

quite frankly a miracle. She was in so much pain she could not 

move the day before. She is so very happy. Also, one of her good 

friends turned out to be the bishop of another ward that is a 

couple of hours away, and he was unaware of the baptism. When he 

found out, he came all the way here for the confirmation, and he 

did it. It was really, really cool.

We moved Virginia into a new home (same Virginia) and as a result 

we are going to teach one of her daughters who previously had 

absolutely no interest in religion. Service works, let me tell you.

Due to various circumstances, from moving out of our area, to 

family saying you cannot talk to the Mormons anymore, to death 

threats, etc., all of our baptismal dates for the 30th have failed. 

But, we have 3 more planned for the 20th of November now, and these 

ones I am sure will work out.

My new shoes, which are very, very nice, cost a total of 50 pesos. 

That is about $4.15. And, to make things even better, they are the 

type of shoe that Jessica and my mother were trying to get me to 

wear to be fashionable and for dating before my mission. The 

cheapest tie I have bought so far here cost 10 pesos, and it, too, 

is quite nice.

Things with my companion are better; we work well now.

I am having very vivid dreams that I am starting to actually 

remember. They are very interesting, and I have decided to write 

them down (useful for, if nothing else, to amuse me when I am 

really super bored).

I went with a bunch of the new elders to the Mexican equivalent 

of the consulate here to work on obtaining a green card. Most of 

my district from the MTC was there, and it was really super nice. 

We were kind of loud, though, because we were having such a good 

time, and that was a problem. I got my fingerprints taken and did 

lots of signing papers. It was alright.

Apparently there is a video of the newbies here in Mexico on 

facebook. If you would like to view it, please consult my mother, 

because I have no idea how to access anything but Myldsmail and 

the missionary website.

Once again, I would like to talk about my clothes and how they fit. 

Those nice fitted suits that I got just before my mission? Well, 

when I wear them, there is a large section of the fabric that folds 

in on itself underneath the belt that I need to put another hole in. 

I am working on making the sleeves tighter around my arms, but 

unfortunately, my arms are not massive enough for me to need to cut 

them open. (Haha, that was a joke. I do not want huge arms that ruin 

my clothes.) All of my shirts look massive on me, like I borrowed a 

shirt from my companion.

I send pictures to my mother every week and then I erase them from 

my camera so that I can take more. If you would like to view 

pictures, please consult her. (I do not know what she does with 

them.) [editorial note: I put them on this blog—big grin.]

And to answer your question about the picture of the jaw in the 

street, I think it was a dog jaw. We see some dead animals in the 

street, and usually it is a dog. Of course, it is hard to tell 

whether it is dead or soon to give birth, but when it is male you 

know it is dead. There are animals everywhere. I have seen people 

take belts into the street, rassle themselves a dog, and take it 

home. This country is very interesting.

This week I experienced something very interesting with our food 

situation. One day we ate 3 separate lunches. One consisted 

entirely of tamales and grape juice. Another was spaghetti with 

American cheese, fried tacos, and carbonated juice (I do not know 

the name of the fruit, but it looks like an orange, and the inside 

is pink) [second editorial note: I’m pretty sure that is a 

grapefruit; he’s losing the ability to remember English words]. 

And for our third, we had soup, tortillas and lemonade. I was so 

full it was painful.

Well, that is about all I have got. Love you guys, and have a 

good week!

Elder Scott

Derik's 10-2-14 Letter

Well, life is fun. Many things are happening right now.

We have one baptism scheduled for the 23rd, with the Hermana 

Virginia, who has a fractured leg (not sure exactly what, 

but problems) and FIVE baptisms scheduled for the 30th. 

Because that is my birthday, I get to do all of them. J Our 

baptism with Hermana Imelda fell through. We cannot convince 

her about divorce, and we are unable to teach anything because 

the conversation gets changed to it. Hermana Virginia is 

progressing really well, though.

I found out today during the missionary activity that the 

president invited everyone to that almost no one wakes up at 

6:30. And almost no one exercises. Well I am going to. I am 

losing weight. Like a lot. I moved down two belt holes, and all 

of my clothes are gigantic.

Tiangues (not tianges) are my favorite thing in the world. You 

can buy a good pair of shoes for 80 pesos and a tie for 10 (12

pesos is 1 dollar). They also have all kinds of fun knick knacks 

to look at, which is a good bonus.

Solfege here is different. The basic clef is do, re, mi, fa ,so, 

la, si, do. That is confusing. Si is sharp so in the states, but 

here it is ti. Bleh.

Did you know that I have been in the field now for a month and a 

half almost? I was thinking about that today. It seriously does 

not seem like it has been that long.

I have discovered four things that every missionary should become 

very good at because they will be doing them a lot: waiting, 

walking, worshipping, and wondering. I was unaware that being a 

missionary involved so much waiting. We wait for everything. 

We wait. Always. We walk absolutely everywhere, unless we need 

to get to the missionary center at the stake center. Then we ride 

rickety buses. They are fun. Bus fair here is 8 pesos, or 67 cents. 

Worshipping, because we spent 4 hours (3 after I finish my first 

12 weeks) studying the gospel, and everything we do is centered 

around it. The wondering, well, that is because everyone has this 

annoying little trait known as ´agency´. Sure, someone may promise 

to come to church or an activity, but they have the ability to 

decide not to. That can be hard sometimes.

Life is mostly fine. I do not think my companion likes me anymore. 

We are quite a bit different, and as hard as I try, you cannot 

build a one-sided bridge. We have exchanges Saturday, though, 

so I just need to endure to the end (hah, 5 principle of the gospel).

I discovered something that I find fascinating. In The Book of 

Mormon the story of Alma the younger is an amazing story. But, 

when applied to the language of Spanish, in which Alma means “soul”, 

the levels of meaning can get pretty deep. I thought that that was 

awesome!

Have to take care of a bunch of things right now, entonces. Saludos, 

y amor por todos,

Elder Scott

Derik's 10-13-14 Letter

So, one pair of shoes is unrepairable because we walk everywhere and the streets 

are really bad. It would cost more money for me to repair my shoes than it would to 

just buy a new pair. I think that is really funny. But you can buy shoes here for 15 

dollars like the ones we paid over 100 dollars for in the states, so I am not too worried 

about it. The exchange rate on pesos to dollars is 12:1. When I grow up, I want to live 

so close to the border that I can cross it in order to buy things, but work in the US. 

Does that not sound fabulous?

Also, basically the only way you can use credit cards here is to withdraw money 

from ATMs. Everybody wants cash. 

This week was great. We had intercambios, which I do not know the word for in 

English. Basically, 2 elders switch places for a day. [Editorial parent note: we call 

those “exchanges”.]  Elder H and Elder B switched. Elder N is a really fun guy, and 

what that meant was I was in charge of the area for a day, with some help from 

Elder N, the district leader. He has 4 months left in the mission, and while I was 

talking to him I discovered that he started playing video games when he was two 

and his plans for after the mission are work so that he can buy all the video games

--ALL the  video games--and attend classes at the community college. He told me 

he can remember blowing over 800 dollars in a single night back when he was 

working to buy video games. The stories he told me were rather amazing.

So, our investigators who moved, Oscar and Alejandra, came to our church this 

week. And they want us to continue teaching them. They are progressing rapidly, 

and Oscar knows the Book Of Mormon is true. Elder H asked for permission from 

the Mission President (extenuating circumstances and all), and we were given it. 

This did not go over too well with the elders whose area they are now in and with 

the zone leaders. To make a very long story short, problems are occurring. I have 

also had the opportunity to observe some of the other elders, as well as the 

opportunity to sit my companion down and have a heart to heart, or man to man, 

or whatever you want to call it talk. Sure, he is not perfect, and neither am I. But 

you know what? What I have seen from some of the other elders is more outside 

of the boundaries set in the white handbook, and we are actually friends now 

better than most.

It is really strange speaking a different language, because I will learn something in 

Spanish and forget it in English; sometimes I will then forget it in Spanish as well. I 

remember when I had to translate everything from English to Spanish in my head 

before saying it. I am now doing the same thing, but I will say something, and then 

afterward I will translate it into English. I find myself thinking in Spanish first. A lot. 

Apparently, you are supposed to dream in Spanish at some point, but I can never 

remember what or how things were said in my dreams. Oh well. The thinking is 

enough for me. 

I discovered my two new favorite things. The first is tianges. They are the equivalent

of a flea market but so much better. Every city here has at least one. I am lucky 

because my area has two. You can buy almost anything there. And, at the most, 

it will be around half of the price it would be in the states. Needless to say, I enjoy

them. There are stalls for everything. I found a limited edition Nintendo 64, the 

Pokémon snap version, selling for 50 dollars. There are things here that you cannot 

buy in the states, and they are dirt cheap to boot. My other new favorite thing is 

collecting these little objects that come in Sabritones products. They have a picture, 

and they will say something like 54/150 classic. There are a bunch of different types, 

and you can find them in the street because people want the food, not the little 

collectible. I do not know how many I have, but it is a lot.

SO, salsa and peppers are great. They make basically everything better--except 

for Ice Cream. Never put them in Ice Cream. 

I quite like that dad cried during Meet the Mormons like a sad middle aged man. 

I found that very funny.

I got a free coca cola with my name on it. It is really too bad I can’t stand the flavor. 

Everyone drinks it here. It is cheaper than beer, which is cheaper than water. You 

can buy a 3 liter bottle for 75 cents. (9 pesos)

The pizza place, we only go there on special occasions because it is kind of 

expensive, at 95 pesos (8 dollars).

Oh, also, many of the members changed what they feed us due to them knowing 

me (woohoo!) The regular diet here is tortillas and meat and peppers. Well, I like

veggies, and I told one person. Now, whenever we eat with members, they usually 

serve us veggies (yay). I still cannot eat nearly as much as my comp. But, I ate two 

sandwiches the other day (each one had 4 chicken breasts in it, ugh) successfully.

I really do love it here.

With love, warm thoughts, and missionary excitement,

Elder Scott