E-mail 12/29/2014

Wow! what a week.  First of all we had intercambios with the assistants.  I went with Elder Rice that was in the MTC with me, and Elder Condie stayed with Elder Torgesen that was in the MTC with him, and we also found out that we would be receiving Elder Gutiérrez.  They went to the bus station for him while I was in intercambios, it was nice to go back to my first area, but now it has been divided into four areas and we never went over that way.

It was nice to see you all on Christmas.  The member that let us use his computer was a returned missionary that went to Fresno California, he is also the one I mentioned that gave me a tie.  They gave us some other Christmas gifts as well, I´ll send some pics later.  There are a lot of good members in this ward, which is nice.  We were not able to get a lot of work done this week, we have been so busy and Pres. told us that we couldn´t go visit investigators on Christmas, just RC and active members.  We are trying to get the area up and going, so it can be an example for the rest.  We are doing everything possible to be examples for the rest and not tell the rest to do something we are not doing. Being a Zone leader is keeping me very busy, hopefully we can get everything done this week.

My legs are getting a lot bigger as well, I should be in really good shape by the next transfer.  After we finally get up one hill I see another one start right at the bottom :(

Les amo
Elder Durrant

yes it´s real

E-mail 12/22/2014

Well there went another week, it was so busy. I think Pres thought that I was getting fat or something, because my area has nothing but hills, I have not found a flat part yet.  For the most part, my areas have been flat, so now I am getting a good workout, but it`s nice here, and there`s a nice view from here. (I`ll try to send pics sometime) and the ward is fully functioning.  We also had our Christmas party with Pres., there was food and dessert and we did a gift exchange.  It was funny because we did a drawing to see who would give to who and I got an hermana and that same hermana also gave to me.  I bought her a little speaker that`s in the shape of a can of Pepsi, I was tempted to get her one that was a brand of beer, but I decided that it wouldn't be such a good idea.  On the paper we wrote what we would like, some of the other things that she wrote on there was a blouse, that was just a catastrophe in the waiting, she also wrote a hand bag and so we went over to where the purses are, but I didn`t feel it would be a good idea to walk out of there with one of those, so I just went with the speaker.  She gave me a tie, but I forgot to take a pic to send to you.  Oh and on Tuesday we had our district meeting and my comp. bought a cake and then when we practiced singing in the zone for Christmas they sang me happy birthday in Spanish and in English.  Then later that day we went over to a member to see if we could use their skype on Christmas and it came out that it was my birthday and they said that they had a gift for me, I didn`t believe it at first. (I think it was actually for Navidad) so they gave me and my comp. a tie.  Then after the party we had with Pres. we found out that a RC passed away in our area, so we went to the services right after.  Then the next day we had a Christmas party in the ward with food and games, so we invited investigators to go.  So we have been busy all week long.  Oh and church starts at 1pm.

So this next week in Navidad, pres is letting us watch a movie in the morning, it`s not necessary if you have to call the Family but I get to set things up, so I have to go.  So that`s why I won`t be able to call until about 4pm. the whole zone wants to see Frozen.  Well see you all in three days.

Les amo

Elder Durrant

E-mail 12/15/2014

NOOOO! and here I thought I was safe, it finally happened, I got transferred to Morelos, as a Zone leader.  My new companion is Elder Condie; he is from Idaho (that's where my fourth companion was from) and he has one less transfer then me.  Well President told me to expect to leave, but I did not expect this, so I told the Sister that was preparing a cake for me, that I might not be there on Tuesday, so she made the cake on Saturday.   Then on Sunday, we sang in sacrament meeting again and then we went to a music event for Christmas.  We each had an assignment.  Me and my companion got to help the old people get into the event with wheel chairs.  There were some missionaries that sang in the event and they sang The First Noel but in five different languages, it was awesome.  There was a lot of non members that went, and then we helped the old people get back out, and it took a little while to get some taxi`s, but we did it.  As we were heading back they told us the transfers, and that I was going to be a zone leader and Elder Arnold was going to stay a fifth transfer and train.  So my first day so far as Zone leader, started of at the bus station at 7:30 am and then we ended up having to wait for a missionary that was coming from the farthest zone away,. so we didn`t leave till 3-3:30, and we are still busy, but we will see what this week brings.  Sorry it`s kind of a short message today, but we will be having a Christmas party with President  this week.

Les amo

Elder Durrant

Birthday cake

E-mail 12/08/2014

Well this week has been full. First we had intercambios and choir practice in the zone for Christmas, they want us to sing in the ward this next week as-well, so we had to go and practice that too (I must have a nice voice, because everyone keeps asking us to sing) Then someone asked us to help with their English.  On Thursday we went and did a service, we helped mix up stuff that they put on the houses and then painted them.  It`s a big project they are doing to clean up the place.  There was a lot of people helping, but come to find out, they were getting paid to do it. Now everyone asked us if we were still working in the days that followed :(   We then were supposed to have interviews with our President on Friday, but it got canceled, so we had Zone meeting.  On Saturday they called us up with a surprise, we were going to have our interviews at 5.  Later they called us up and told us that he would be coming in an hour.   He took longer with other people, so we went to go eat, they called up to say that we would be having them on Sunday, so we didn`t get much done that day, running back and forth. We did get them on Sunday, and we also went to a baptism for the other ward Saturday night. So we had a busy week, oh and the Christmas devotional. They gave us cards for ¨He is the gift¨ so we are trying to spread the word.

Today I had a competition with another Elder to see who could eat a liter of ice cream faster, I won.  I`m not sure how it started, at first we saw that we could get it for 20 pesos, which is about $1.60ish, so we wanted to see who could eat the whole thing, and then it turned into a race. I did it in 14 min.

Les amo

Elder Durrant

E-mail 12/01/2014

Wow what a week!  We had an intercambio, zone conference, and Thanksgiving.  Well the zone conference was why awesome, except that at the beginning they let us know that we would be getting a shot for la influenza.  I don´t know if you remember, but last year I told you that one of the hermanas in my district almost went home (well she did go home later) she got really sick from this.  The rest of the conference was really good, he talked about planning for the week, and so the next day, when we had weekly planning, we normally do it for three hours, but this time we decided to put a little bit more effort into it so we were planning for about five hours.  We had to take a quick break about half way, because after sitting for so long you get distracted.  But when we finished we went to go with a family that invited us to have a Thanksgiving meal with them. It was so funny because the sister missionaries that are in this ward didn´t know how to use a whip cream dispenser. I´ll send some pics.

Les amo 

Elder Durrant