I'm an Uncle!

I dedicate this blog to my brand new niece, Preszley. I'm officially an uncle and it feels awesome even from being thousands of miles away. CONGRATS TO MY BIG BRO TRAVIS AND MY FAVORITE SISTER IN LAW KENZIE!!!

So some other big news if you haven't heard is that the Merida Mexico mission is going to divide around June to make the brand new Cancun mission.  That means two brand new mission presidents also and if I stay here in Tizimin I'll be in the Cancun mission. We don't really know more than that, but its exciting to see things change and grow in the church.

So my new comp Elder Cromwell is actually from Idaho and is pretty strange (is currently stuffing a giant iguana he killed and ate), but he has 23 months just like my last comp so that means he has lots of experience that I will be able to learn from. We are getting along alright. We aren't best friends, but he likes to work out problems right when they start so we are doing good. It's nice to have an English comp so I understand what he's thinking a lot easier, but its hard to stick to the Spanish.

This first week with him has been pretty hard just because of all the changes and having to find a lot more new people to teach, but we are working with the ward a lot more and that will help a ton to get references. 

One of the highlights of the week was getting the best bacon calendar ever from Miss SARAH HENRETTY.

Requested funny tan line pic by Sarah and others!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! It gave me the pick-me-up I needed and made me laugh harder than I have had laughed in a long time.

Thank you so much everyone for all your love and support!

Help your missionaries and give them a reference! Every member a missionary!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

I guess if we have American Eagle, it makes sense that they have Mexican Eagle as well as other types of Eagle stuff...hmmm I wonder what the Turkey Eagle shoes and clothes look like.

 

¡BUENO!

These last two weeks have been pretty crazy with getting two more people ready for baptism and our zone conference in Cancun around the same time. Cancun was really different than I thought and is HUGE. There are stores everywhere and the supermarkets have like three stories each. President Salinas blew us all away with his talks at the conference about the Liahona, Faith in Christ, and His Atonement. I'm spiritually recharged and ready to convert the world!

My comp Elder Gutierrez is about to leave and Ill have my new comp today who is from Utah, and SURPRISE, and is about to die soon just like my last comp. I have mixed feelings and I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing, but I know I'm going to learn a ton from it.

Our baptisms on Saturday were awesome and I got hit with the Spirit when I congratulated the15 year old boy, named Daiver, right after his baptism. It was awesome and all to baptize him, but the Spirit really hit me when I hugged him and he said, "Muchas Gracias" (Thank you so much). I could see how the Gospel has changed him and how it will continue to help him live happier for the rest of his life. It was a feeling like no other and I feel awesome just thinking about it.

I hope everyone had the best Valentine's Day ever!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE and remember to read the Book of Mormon!

Love,

         Elder Adam Shurtliff

No Tiempo

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY FROM MEXICO!!!

I don't have time for a blog this week, but tell everyone Happy Valentines Day and READ THE BOOK OF MORMON.

Dear FAMILIA and Everyone Else,

I received this letter yesterday, dated 1/7/2013, so it's just over a month old. I love the way he writes.
(transcript follows)

1/7/13
Dear FAMILIA and Everyone Else,

¡Hola! Well here I am on my flight to Houston and then I'm finally on my way to Merida. Woohoo! I'm so excited! I can't wait to tell everybody all the awesome experiences I'm going to continue to have while helping others come unto Christ.

By the time you get this you will probably have read about some of them on my blog, but there's so much more stuff that I want to share about than what's on my blog. If I had more time I would pretty much copy down my journal, no joke.

I just wanted to write a little letter to tell everyone how much I have already learned during my short time in Chicago. Time passes by way too fast on a mission just because you learn and do so many things everyday and so when you think back to a certain time it seems like it was forever long ago. Does that make sense? It's kinda hard to explain.

In a nutshell the biggest thing I have learned and experienced so far is how awesome everybody is. In Chicago I really came to love my ward even though at first they seemed really closed off and didn't want a whole lot to do with me. After spending time in their homes and sharing spiritual experiences together I found out what makes them amazing and how Heavenly Father can love every single one of his billions and trillions of sons and daughters. He knows us more than we can imagine so He loves us more than we can imagine. What He wants more than anything is to have all of His children return to Him so we can have all that He has and be eternally happy.

I just can't wait to share this message with the people of Mexico and to see how my personal testimony will strengthen everyday. I also can't wait to see how all of you will grow and change for the better so keep writing me letters to let me know how you're doing. If you're thinking that you don't have anything exciting to share then you couldn't be more wrong. I'm always excited to see what's going on in the states, haha. It feels weird to say that. 

I love you all!
Elder Adam Shurtliff

Hola muchachos!

This past week was pretty crazy. My comp and I have been really busy with lots of awesome new investigators including a family with lots of questions and wants me to teach them English, ha ha. We will see how that goes. There wasn't any news of the Superbowl here in Mexico. No surprise there.

Ok ready for the good part?! My first baptism was you guessed it, AWESOME. It for sure didn't work out according to plan but it was deffinitely an experience and something I'll remember. So we planned on baptizing two boys (one 9 and one 11 years old) from a less active family on Saturday, but their dad has been having problems and on Thursday we found him drunk when we were going to teach a lesson. We took care of the situation though, carefully, and said a prayer all together with the whole family kneeling. On the day of the baptism me and Guty are running late having to take a hour bus ride from another city because he is district leader and had to do a baptismal interview there and we didn't get back til an hour after the baptism was going to start. We go to the kids house and take them to the church and find their dad there drunk again. He kept on telling me he was going to baptize his own kids which was a little scary but I stayed calm and talked to him. We decided not to do the baptism that day because of everything and we agreed to do it the next day after church where everything will be a whole lot peaceful and organized. 

So that's what we did! The baptismal service was awesome and full of the Spirit. I loved seeing the smile on Tristan and Yair's faces when I brought them back up out of the water. Ha, so ya theres my first baptismal experience in a nutshell and I have a whole lot more ahead of me.

Thanks everyone for all the love and support! Read the Book of Mormon!

Love,

       Elder Adam Shurtliff

Adam didn't tell me what this is. Do you think it's a scorpion?