October 28 - Villahermosa & Mexican Pizza

Hola Everyone!

I hope things are all going well for you! Seems like everyone is staying busy and doing lots of fun stuff! Keep it up! 

Pizza fiesta

This weeks letter is going to be a tad short because we didn't really have anything special happen. Last Monday, after we were done with writing, I went to go get my haircut right next door. We ended up teaching the lady that cut my hair and she is a really good investigator! Her name is Cinderella but she goes by Cindy. She is from Monterey and is super tall for a girl, but she is a mom and has two kids. She gives a dang good haircut also. We have only taught her twice but she has a lot of potential. The other awesome experience that I had last week happened on Friday night at around seven. We met a lady awhile back that worked at a lavanderia that we would wash clothes at. She seemed to be really good and had a lot of potential at first. Her name is Laticia. We taught her the first two lessons and she seemed to be progressing, so we planned to have a member-meeting with her at one of the members houses that lived nearby. We planned it for Friday at 7pm. We showed up early at this member's house to give her the run-down on what was going to happen because she has a son on a mission in Columbia also. She wanted to be prepared. We waited there at her house until about 730 waiting for Hna. Laticia, but she never showed up. Right as we were about to leave, the member, Hna. Lopez, her husband walked through the front door. He took off his jacket and started talking with us. He knew who we were and we later found out that he wasn't a member but had been wanting to learn more about the church that his son was serving. We ended up teaching him the entire first lesson about the restoration. It was incredible. He was intrigued the entire time. (ps, his name was Julio) I have never had a lesson, apart from the one with Hna Monica, be so strong and powerful. We left him with a book of Mormon and he said that he would read as much as he could. I was super excited! Because it was raining, he took us home and bought us a huge pizza and some soda also. We didn't get home til about 10 but it was well worth it!

The other exciting news that I have is that I wont be in a trio anymore! Elder Pugmire is being special transferred to be companions with the Sec. de Financias en las oficinas. Crazy! I loved Elder Pug. He was so funny. But I will still see him everyday because we are so close to the offices. 

To answer the questions I have recieved:

1 I havent used it yet becuase I have had no need for it here. I hear music everywhere I go and Elder Gray has one also that we listen too. 

2 The area we are in is nice and I really like the people, its just the heat thats tough to deal with sometimes.

3 I havent gotten a halloween package, but I am sure that I will be getting it pretty soon here. It takes about a week and a half I have figured.

4- My testimony has grown leaps and bounds having been out here only 3 and a half months. I cannot believe the amount of miracles I have seen happen here already and I cannot wait to see more. I have personally seen the Lord's hand in this work and I am super happy to be here!

5- Missionary work is the hardest work thats out there. It is physically demanding, stressful, and somtimes very agonizing. Its something that I personally, have never experienced before in my life. I cannot really describe it. The one thing that I can describe however, is the outcome and happiness that it brings to me personally. I have seen people change their lives around just to follow in the footsteps on the Lord and I cannot even begin to tell you the happiness and joy that comes from seeing that happen right before your eyes. I love it! Kia Kaha!

Rainy day - what else is new?

Well, Thats about all I have this week. I hope my statements will help out some... If you need anything else, then let me know. I am sending letters home to the family soon so I hope you all get those. We may get the chance to go to Palenque again soon so I will try to snag some bracelets and send them home with the letters. I hope that will work out! Anyways, I hope all is well and everyone is stayin busy up there in Utah! Seems like the weather is getting colder.... bundle up! I would love to trade you weather for one day! HAHA Right now, There is nothing that I really need other than some new pictures of you guys. I want to put some new ones up to look at everyday. The ones I have are super outdated. If possible, send me my sports jerseys that I had like my Baltimore one. I want that one. I am in no need of anything else at the moment... Just literally send anything you want. Send ZOBO and RIder!!! That would be amazing! Seriously though, I dont really have anything specific that I need right now. Just send whatever. 

I miss you all terribly! I want to see you all again and I cannot wait to talk to you all on Christmas day. I will get to Skype you all so be sure to send me a Skype name or whatever so that I can call you guys on CHristmas! I miss you all so much and I want each and every one of you to know, not just my family, but friends, extended family, grandmas and grandpas... That I would not be here right now if it werent for you. I cannot say it enough that I love you. You guys are my inspiration and I could not be happier to have such a strong family back at home. You guys mean the world to me. Smile and keep your heads up!

          Kia Kaha,

-Elder Proctor

Birthday & Food Poisoning

Hola Everyone!

In Villahermosa

Well, first off I wanted to say thanks to all of you who wished me a happy birthday this week! I had a great day and I am so grateful to have you all on my life. I don't feel 19 yet but I am sure that it will kick in here pretty soon. I really appreciate all the support from my neighbors and friends that helped me have such a great day. It was hard being away from family, but I could feel that love that was coming from you all. So thank you!

I had an interesting experience this week... I got up like normal at 630 and started studying like usual. We went out at about 11 or so and started trying to find people to teach. My stomach started hurting really really bad at around 6 at night. We went back and I immediately passed out. The next day, I was feeling the same exact way, except for worse. Elder Pugmire and I went to the doctor and, low and behold, I had gotten food poisoning! So I spent my birthday laying in my bed with nothing to do but open some packages that had arrived that day. It was nice to just have a day to kick back, but I hated not being to see or do anything. Elder Gray and Elder Pugmire got me a cake and a new Baltimore Ravens tie that is pretty sweet. I love those two. They're awesome. Along with the packages from you all, they made it really special even though I was sick as a dog. 

Elder Proctor  looking good but now down about 15 lbs.  

So that was my big event that happened this week. I wasn't able to go out for three days because of it so I don't have that much to report on this week, other than the fact that I gave my first talk in sacrament meeting yesterday! It went really well I thought. I talked about prayer and how it is important to everyone, especially missionaries. I don't know if it made any sense to them, but I don't think that is what mattered. They came up to me afterwards and said I did a good job... so Ill take that. HAHA The wedding of Hermano Raul went through and he got married this morning but he had some problems with drugs and smoking so he isn't allowed to be baptized quite yet. Nov. 10 is his baptism date if he stops the smoking and the drugs. Lets hope it all works out! With Hermano Daniel, we cant get a hold of his mom to sign the papers for baptism because she is always working and Daniel is underage so he cant sign for himself. She is a ridiculously hard woman to reach.We go by his house almost everyday but she is never there. Its a little frustrating because we are literally just waiting on her. We are hoping that she will just be there one day and we can get her to sign the paper. 

I got the packages that you all sent. The candles have helped so much with how bad the bathrooms smell. I haven't had to buy  bathroom things yet, so I am using all of the stuff that we packed up. THANKS MOM! I am doing well with money and haven't had any problems yet. I don't really need anything right now. I am doing fine. I found the DP in the Walmart that they have here so I can get the drinks I want.  

Anyways, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES! I CANNOT SAY IT ENOUGH! YOU ALL MEAN THE WORLD TO ME AND I AM SO GRATEFUL TO HAVE YOU ALL BEHIND ME SUPPORTING ME WITH WHATEVER IT IS THAT I DO. I CANNOT EXPRESS THE AMOUNT OF LOVE I HAVE FOR YOU ALL, FAMILY FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. THANK YOU.  I hope you all have an amazing week this week with whatever it is that you do. Stay strong! 

KIA KAHA!

-EP

-Smile and keep your heads up!

Trio in the Villa & Dr. Pepper

Alright family so this week I think will be pretty short because nothing overly special happened. We have been spending a lot of time just talking to members and teaching the people that we get the chance to teach. We have two baptismal dates coming up this Saturday for a young boy named Daniel and for an older man named Raul. Both of these guys are great. Daniel is such a smart boy who is only thirteen years old trying to set the example for his mom and grandma. He is such an example to me. With Raul, he has a wife who is a member and a son named Axel. Hes a stud. HAHA But the cool thing is that he needed to get married first before he was able to be baptized. Elder Gray got a call the other day from Raul saying that he had made arrangements to be married on the 21st of October and then would want to be baptized that night! How awesome is that! Hes such a cool guy even though he can be a little crazy sometimes. HAHA

Inside the huge mall.

Anyways, thats about it with what has happened this week. I will definitely keep you all posted with how everything plays out. =) As far as everything else goes, the heat is still really strong here, although it did rain a little this week so the poncho from Mr. Macs came in handy mom, Thanks haha. The food is getting better because we are so much closer to everything here. The living arrangements are about the same as Tenosique so I cant really say anything new about that...

I wanted to thank everyone for the birthday
wishes! I got the packages from ya'll last week and I loved it! It was exactly what I needed! I am definitely starting this year off great with the support that I have from you all. Its amazing how much you have all helped me and how much you're letters help me also. Its so nice knowing that I have such a strong family support system at home. You have no idea... SO thank you all for the wishes and for your gifts!

Finally found the Dr. Pepper he has been waiting for.

I am still adjusting to everything here and trying to fit in with the language and what not. Its a struggle but I am doing me best. I will send some pictures of my living quarters and some random other things that I though were funny. Keep sending pictures, keep sending letters and packages. Anything you wanna send... send. I would rather have it than not have it. When in doubt, just send it. HAHA I love you all so much and cannot thank you enough for everything. I wouldn't be able to do this without you all. Stay strong with everything. Smile and keep you're heads up! I have learned that sometimes you just have to keep moving forward even though things are coming against you. I LOVE YOU!

-Elder Proctor

Found this cute dog taking a nap.

Alex sleeps in the hammock

The Trio of Villahermosa

Hey Everybody!
Sorry for such the late hour that I am writing this email. We had some troubles finding a place to wash all of our clothes today and then we had to eat right after that. But I am here now so its all good.

Guess he found a store he likes.

So I am in Villahermosa with Elder Gray and Elder Pugmire now! We are in a trio. The only one in the entire mission! Its crazy! Three gringos walking around Villa. Its a hoot to see us. Elder Gray was the last Assistant to the President when I got here and Elder Pugmire has only one more month than I do on the mission. Gray is from California and Pugmire is from Orem, Utah. They are super great guys. Elder Gray has been out a year and is a powerhouse with everything that he does so its a little hard to stay up to his speed sometimes, but from what he tells me, Spanish is above average and I am keeping up very well... So that's good right?
In Villa, things are about the same, just with more buildings and what not. I have access to my favorite foods and what not, so it makes it really easy to not have to worry about food. I like it a lot here, but I find myself missing my old area, Tenosique. I was a little upset that I had to leave because we had just finished painting and we had just had the baptism of Hermana Monica, but the good news is is that she wants me to go to her sealing with her husband when I get back!! I was super excited to hear that I had that much of an impact on her. She is amazing. I hope that I will be able to go when I return to Utah.

Villahermosa Baptism

We had a baptism this last Friday of a girl who was 18 years old, Hermana Itzel. She had already had the baptism date set with the Elders that were before us, so we just had to finish the job. It was nice to see her be baptized also. She is expecting a child in two weeks also! So we had to baptize her in a chair because she is a smaller girl. It was weird but pretty unique at the same time. You don't see someone be baptized in a chair everyday! =)

Apart from that, our housing isn't really that great here. Its not terrible, but the bathrooms are... nothing short of a dump. I got a cheap hammock from Elder Herrera before we left Tenosique; for only 230 pesos. That was a super good deal, so I sleep in that every night and that's nice. The area is nice, its a lot of walking, but I don't mind the time that I have to think during those long walks we have. We are just getting the swing of the ward here so we aren't really teaching anyone yet. This week went really slow because we were all just waiting for conference. I watched every single talk that was given each day! I loved it. We sat in an A.C. room and watched it in English. It was nice to hear English for once... Ha. I really loved Pres. Monsons talk on Sunday just before the second session. It was great. And I loved it when Pres Uchtdorf said, "You should hear Pres Monson pray for you." The missionaries went nuts when we heard that.

Other than that, nothing really exciting happened. We are still getting situated in the new area and trying to find new people to teach, but I think I am going to like it here. It was a struggle at first, but I am doing my best to manage. OH! I got the packages!!! Thank you all for the birthday wishes! That was awesome to get those letters and stuff from you all! I loved it! I opened it in the Offices here and immediately broke down in tears! It was just what I needed. I had to open it all right then. I couldn't wait... sorry. But it was perfect. Thank you! I have seen Elder Garn, and I got to see another friend of mine from school also. Elder Smiley got sent to Tenosique.  Small world. Keep sending the goods down here. I like getting food so that way I don't have to spend so much on food here. Its nice to have that extra money. I have enough money for right now, but keep putting money in my account if you have enough to do so. Ya never know what could happen.

Anyways, I will wrap this letter up for this week. I hope you all had a good week and a great conference weekend. I had probably the best week I've had out on the mission thus far, so lets hope it stays the same. I am coping with the different lifestyle and doing my best with the things that are thrown my way. Thank you for everything that you have been doing for me to keep me here. There are times I want to come home and times that I want to quit, but I know that Id be letting all of you down. I appreciate all of your support. I love you all!
-EP

The bathroom companion - a large Iguana

P.S. Funny story, we came home yesterday in between sessions of conference and found a lime green iguana sitting on our bed. We had a fun time trying to chase it out of the house! Those little things can run like the wind! I swear i peed like three times because it got so close to me. Ugh! Still pretty funny though.

To the rest of the Family: Words cannot describe how grateful I am for all of you guys. I have received your letters, but just haven't had enough time on the computers here to write all of you back. I am terribly sorry for this. I am doing my best with it haha. I wanted to say thank you for everything that you have done to keep me here and to make me feel more at home while I am here also. You all have made the world of difference of me. I pray for you all each night and I know the Lord is watching out for all of you. I am so grateful to have a family that is this strong. I have seen families here that have fallen apart because of certain things, but I am so glad that we are such a united family. We Andersons and Proctors look out for each other and that is something that I cannot describe with words. Its amazing and I cannot thank you all enough for the strong words of advice and encouragement that I have received while being here. You all mean the world to me and I couldn't do this without each and every one of you. Thank you all!

With Love,
-EP

Good Bye Elder Ortiz and Tenosique

Hola Familia!

I have only three exciting things to share this week because the rest of the week was spent just wandering the streets of Tenosique trying to find people to teach. The first was an experience that Elder Ortiz and I had on Tuesday night at about 7pm. We had the chance to go teach Hermana Monica again at her house. We had planned to talk about repentance and the importance of the atonement and it turns out that she needed to hear it. While Elder Ortiz was talking, I was trying to think of something that would really hit home for her so that she could understand it better and how she could apply it to her life. When he was done, I cut in and said, in my best Spanish, "Hermana, we pray for you day and night, everyday. We think about you day and night, everyday. We want you to be happy everyday. Everyday, we plan a lesson specifically for you and you only. (at this point she started to tear up...) You have so much good going for you right now Hermana. You are loved, you are cared for, and you are ready to be baptized. This life is not easy, and I know you know that. This decision for me to come on a mission to Mexico was not easy. But look, I am here. I struggle with things just like you do. So does Elder Ortiz. We are no different than you are, but we are here, sent from God, to teach you about the Gospel. (she is bawling right now.) I don't know Spanish well, I don't know everything about the Gospel, but look, Im here, in Mexico. Why? because I KNOW THIS IS TRUE. (Now i start to cry a little bit)" The look on her face was priceless. She sat there for a solid five minutes just staring at the ground trying to think of something to say. It was amazing how strong the spirit was that night in her house. I was astounded at how well I said that. Granted, she knows a little English. so I could say some of it in English, but the fact that I said most of it in Spanish was insane. I am happy to say that she was finally baptized this last Saturday. It was incredible to see her afterwards. She seemed happy and very content with everything. Tuesday and Saturday were great days for me. I wasn't able to baptize her because it would be Elder Ortizs last baptism before he left, so I gave it to him. 

Elder Ortiz left on Sunday at about 2 pm or so. It was kinda sad to say goodbye, but overall, it was a good goodbye. Just a quick hug and a good luck to you was all that went down. Another Elder from Balacan had to leave to so his companion and I were companions for the day and for part of Tuesday until we get our other companions, and that leads me to the most exciting part. 

I am being transferred to Villahermosa on Tuesday morning. My new companion is Elder Gray, an American from California. He was an AP just before I left to go to Tenosique and was there the night that we were picked up at the airport. He is a nice guy and speaks really good Spanish from what I can remember. I don't know anything else apart from that, but the good news is is that I will be able to pick up packages and what not faster because the housing is really close to the offices and where all the mail comes. Elder Herrera is the new secretary to the president as well. I cant say that I am super stoked with the transfer because I was just getting settled in with things, the paint job, the people and the atmosphere. But Villahermosa does have some perks. It wont be in the middle of nowhere, and it will have the food that I am used to because it is close to the walmart and mcdonalds and subway. I don't really know what to think about it. I wish I could stay here for at least another transfer, but IDK whats going to happen with it. It seems like a good fit but who knows. I will definitely let ya´ll know how it turns out next week. 

Anyways, that's about it for this week! Things have been a little bit better. No rain at all this week, so its been really hot, but we weren't outside very much this week so it was good. I am trying my best with everything here. Its tough, and a huge struggle sometimes, but I am trying. I just hope time starts to fly by because days still seem like weeks and months seem like years to me. In the MTC it was exactly the opposite. I hope it changes to be this way soon. I love you all and wish you a happy week. I am praying for you all daily, and I wish you the best week ever. Thank you for your prayers and for your support. It is well needed. I love you all so much!

-Elder Proctor

Smile and Keep your Head Up!

PS- The picture is of Elder Ortiz, Hermana Monica, a boy who was baptized also who wasnt in our area but his family wanted Elder Ortiz to baptize him, and me.

Tenosique District

Paint job

Week 5: Baptism, Rain, and Paint in Tenosique

Hey Everyone!
Sounds like everyone is staying busy even though things are winding down. It’ll kick back up again when basketball starts up, I promise. HAHA

I am doing well, not much different than last week, but I am hangin in there. The food is still a struggle and I have a hard time believing that this is the same church sometimes because Sundays are so different than back home. You have people doing things out of order during the meetings and I honestly cannot believe how the parents let their kids run up on the stand during the middle of sacrament meeting like it’s no big deal. They crawl all over me and hit me sometimes like its funny. The parents literally just stand there and watch.

Elder Proctor baptized this young lady.

Anyways, nothing has really changed with the investigators this week. Hermana Monica is kind of stuck in a hole because her husband can’t get off work to come down to baptize her. She really wants to be baptized and she gets along with the ward really well, but she wants only her husband to baptize her and she doesn’t have the money, nor the time, to get him here. (He works in Arizona) We are doing our best to figure out a way to get him here soon because we don’t want her to lose that desire to be baptized. We are working hard with that situation. We got another investigator this week named Hermano Domingo. He is such a good guy. He is about 40 or so and he actually found us walking by his house one day and ran after us. He has a wife name Dinorah. Both of them have been searching for the answer to why they are here and where they’re going so we have been teaching the plan of salvation to them this week. We haven’t asked him to be baptized yet, but I am sure that this week, we will try to pop the question in there. I will let you know what they say. Other than that, this week wasn’t any different. We are working really hard with the ward to find more investigators. It’s tough when you only have about 50 or so people show up to church every Sunday. We are trying though.

We did, however, get the chance to paint the place this week. It was fun other than the fact that I had to pay over 700 pesos for the dang paint. I HAD TO PAY FOR IT. I am trying to stay positive and not say anything about it.

"These spiders are everywhere"

To answer some of your questions:
1 We have been getting a lot of rain, but no hard winds yet.
2 Shoes are good, I got a free pair from a lady in the ward, so I should be set for a while.
3 I have fruit every day to help with that.
4 I haven’t had any need for Pepto this week.
5 He won’t sell his hammock, so I am going to look to get one this week sometime. I could get one pretty cheap but I would have to buy it with my Chase card, maybe. Not really sure how that works.
6 I am taking them (Probiotics).
7 It takes three weeks for the packages to get here. So I haven’t gotten anything from anyone. I am going to try to send the tape recorder back sometime soon, but it costs about 100 pesos to send it back.
8 I will send them of us painting this week.
9 I will send pictures.
10 No one showed up this week to piano, but I am helping people with English every day. It’s pretty fun to hear them speak it because it’s terrible, but I probably sound the same to them when I speak Spanish.

Well that’s about it for this week. Life at the house is nice because I finally hung up my mosquito net and it’s working to keep them dang mosquitos off me during the night. The rooms look a lot better than before and they look a lot cleaner because of our paint job. I am happy about that. They did it totally different than what I am used to, but it is better than before. Yo aprendiendo mucho cadadia con el idioma y yopuedoentender mas que antes la mision y en la MTC.

In Palenque

I love you all so much and I want you to know how proud I am that I have a family like you behind me with everything. You all mean the world to me and I couldn’t have asked for a better family. Stay strong and keep your head up with all that you do. I am praying for you every day and every night. I think about you all every day and I hope everything is going well for you all. Please pray for missionary opportunities because we desperately need everything we can get here. I love you all and wish you the best week possible.

Elder Proctor
Smile and Keep your Head up

Week 4 in Tenosique

Looking over Palenque

Hey Everyone!

I hope everything is going well for you all. It sounds like life has been pretty busy for everyone and everyone is staying involved like I told them to! GOOD! I am glad to hear that things are going well for Grandma as well.  I will definitely keep her in my prayers this week and for the weeks to come. I wish her the best with the PT also. 

This week´s letter is going to be kind of short because nothing special really happened after we went to Palenque last week. Anyways, I only had one exciting thing happen this week that is pretty cool. I had my first baptism! Hermana Rosa is her name. She is the same Rosa that we had been teaching that had committed to baptism about three weeks ago. Even though the service was completely thrown together about an hour before it was supposed to happen, I was asked if I wanted to baptize her. I had to memorize the prayer in Spanish so that I could do it, and that was pretty difficult to do in about an hour´s time. But i did it! I had to say the prayer twice because I messed up a word, but I managed to baptize her only once! It went pretty well, and I was super happy afterwards. She seemed very happy also. Elder Ortiz and I celebrated afterwards with an ice-cream cone down on main street so it was all good. This all happened on Friday night at around 6. It was nice. 

Elder Proctor's date at the Villahermosa Temple

As far as the questions that mom sent me, nothing has changed really. I am doing fine with clothes and such. We had a lot of rain here this week. It was overcast all week and we didn't have much sun, but today it is bloody hot. We are all staying by the fans because we walk outside for two minutes and are sweatin´ buckets.  I am doing fine with everything else. The only things that I need right now are small Spanish hymn book, and an English one as well. I got one at the MTC but I cant find it and we use it all the time here. La idioma is muy muy dificil pero yo puedo hablar in oraciones completos ahora. Me gusta mucho. Yo puedo entiendo mas cada dia pero cuando yo hablo, esta muy deficil. Estoy aprendiendo cada dia. I don't really cook anything because of how hot it is. I want the cold food here. Its too hot to eat hot food. We wash our clothes at a member´s house every Monday morning.  

Elder Ortiz and Elder Proctor at Mexico Independence celebration.

Today is the Mexican equivalent of our July fourth. Its crazy. People marching the streets. Gunmen are everywhere making sure riots don't break out and people are everywhere. Its really festive also. Green and red and white are in every direction. We eat at 2pm everyday with a member so we are never hungry throughout the day. The president said that we could spend some money to paint and clean the house this week so I hope that that will happen soon because this place is disgusting... 

Alright well that is all for this week. I plan to send some pictures if I can. I cant send alot because the computers aren't great with really anything. Send food and drinks if you can because I hate spending money on boxes of ritz crackers. They are expensive here. I am doing well though. Better than last week but still hangin by a thread. I still feel sick all the time and I have been using the Jon about four or five times a day... not good. But I am doing my best with what I have. I love you all so much and I thank you for the support that you all have offered me throughout this last month. It has, without a doubt, been the hardest month of my life. I am staying strong with it and learning more about this lifestyle each day. I love you so much and cannot wait to see you in twenty two months. Its gunna be amazing. I love you to the stars and back and then as deep as the ocean blue! 

Smile and keep your heads up!

-Elder Proctor

These are little buggies they can ride in.