Let's get down to business to defeat the huns

What up fam! (and friends)

First things first, gotta pedir perdon for not writing anything about Father's Day last week. So much craziness was happening in my life that I forgot you guys have lives too. I gotta give a shout out to my dad. Literally the greatest example in this world. NO man treats his wife the way my father treats my mom. I've never seen anyone serve more willingly in the Church, to his neighbors, or to his family. I literally have never met one person who doesn't like my pop. That's a tough thing to do in this world. I just want to say I love him and that I want to be just like him when I grow down (cause I'm taller than him hahah).

So this week we worked our butts off. We were all over the place teaching and contacting and trying to do as much good as possible. The area I'm in has only had 4 baptisms in the last 6 months. And I don't think it's for lack of work, but for some unknown reason. The only thing I know is that it's gonna change. Elder Hansen and I ain't never gonna quit. So along with being a great guy Hansen loves to sing and he has tons of Disney song lyrics printed out, so you already know we start our comp study with a hymn and also singing the classics from Mulan, Hercules, Goofy Movie, and Little Mermaid. We live beneath our dueña (landlord?) and behind somebody else and its very close quarters and they probably think we're insane but yeah we sing real loud to get pumped.

No baptisms this weekend but we're teaching some really solid people. We're teaching this young mother named Bertha who truly wants to change and be better. Shes all set to be baptized this weekend except for circumstances outside our control. I won't get into details but it is possible for her to be baptized this weekend if we get a miracle. PRAY FOR SOME MIRACLES! We found a lot of great people as well this week and got to give priesthood blessings to people who needed them. I feel the spirit very strongly when I get to give a blessing. Love that stuff! As for interesting things, it's rained almost every day this week and we've gotten real muddy and real wet. We had to sprint home one night in the rain and there were rivers of water up to our knees in the streets. It's crazy.They say it's pretty early for the rainy season. Hopefully I get to experience a hurricane. We got up at 5 this morning and ran halfway/took the bus halfway to the beach and watched the sun rise. I got sweet pics that you all can see in 18 months because I never have time to copy pictures onto here.. blahhh. Also the elections are coming up here and if I were a Mexican I would vote for Josefina just because she's a girl. I think Peña Nieto is gonna win though. I think the members like AMLO... hay que votar!

This week has been the fastest of my mission thus far and also one of the hardest. There came a point where I literally had to just stop, sit on the curb, and start praying.. And you know what, in that moment, comfort didn't come right away. I had to get up, dust off my butt, and keep knocking every door in sight and talking to every person. But later, comfort did come, the Lord did provide, and here I am another week longer trying to help everybody I can. My achilles heel in the mission has been patience. Everybody knows I'm not exactly a patient person, and that is something I want to change. I'm learning to turn negative experiences into learning experiences so that there never are negative experiences. It's a rough process and I couldn't really put it into words if I tried but I I truly feel like I'm taking steps forward. That's what's so beautiful about what Jesus Christ did for us. He saved us from ourselves, and we can CHANGE through his love. It comes step by step and piece by piece but if we seguir adelante we do see progress. Just gotta say, don't quit. Never Quit. Echele ganas. Being a life champ is more important than being a state champ (did I just say that??)

To answer a few questions that have been posed...

Yes a dog has bitten me already, but it tried to get my ankle and only got my shoe. I don't have rabies yet.

I can eat spicy food now no problem, today I ate a coconut with chile on it and it was delicious.

When little kids see me they point and laugh and old people look scared. I'm the Godzilla of Mexico. I try to smile a lot so they don't get too freaked out.

But yeah that's about it. Hope everybody's doing well and loving life. Mexico is real cool. Sale pues byeeee

Elder Jarman

Ladies, don't wait for me...

Miss me?

So yeah it's been two weeks but that's because of some craziness that's been going on. Where do I start... I´ll try to remember everything that's happened.

So in Cazones two weeks ago we had a sweet talent night and I did some nice line dancing and sang Jumper by Third Eye Blind while Hernandez played guitar. Then I did a rubik's cube and everyone was pretty amazed. I got sweet videos. you can all see them in 19 months when I get back. Speaking of, I finished 5 months today. Still not sure if it's going fast or slow but it's definitely going hahahah. Also in Cazones a week and a half ago we had some craziness. As you know Ezequiel and Guadalupe got baptized 4 weeks ago on a sunday so they needed to be confirmed the following Sunday. But then they couldn't come to church because she's pregnant again and was sick. So not yesterday but last Sunday they were gonna get confirmed. Guadalupe did get confirmed but Ezequiel couldn't because we went by on that Friday before and he was running around drunk out of his mind swing a machete at dogs and then he tried to choke Hernandez... I swear we taught him the word of wisdom.. But the next day we went by and everything was tranquilo and he is working with the branch president now to fix things so he can get be baptized and confirmed.

So then last week transfers came and I'm guessing due to all the drama from going to Veracruz and all that they decided to change things. I got transferred to Tuxpan, Barrio Tenechaco and Hernandex was supposed to go to Martinez de la Torre Tezuitlan. But then last Monday he got called to Veracruz. I went with the zone leaders (why I couldn't write last week) and Elder Hernandez got sent home. Apparently some things came out about what he and his old companion did. I don't know details, but all I know is that it was incredibly sad.. I've spent this whole week feeling like I failed him in some way.. I wish I could express the way I feel on the mission better in words.. But it's a trip.. that's all I can really say..

So now I'm in Tuxpan, Tenechaco with my new companion Elder Hansen. He's from Murray, Utah and he was in the MTC the same time as me. He's got one more transfer in the mission than me. Straight up I was surprised that they'd put two young gringo greenies like us together but the mission president and the Lord know something I don´t. My comp is a super good guy and we speak spanish about the same level. Speaking of, I feel really great about my spanish.. The only people who are hard to understand are the little toothless old ladies who tell us we don't know about La Virgen de Guadalupe because we´re gringos. So yeah we´re just a couple of white boys lost in the city and it's pretty cool. We have a really strong ward here though with some great great people.

We had a baptism this weekend as well for a girl named Gaby. She was super esogido (elect)..  her heart was so open and touched by the gospel. She was baptized only 2 weeks after meeting with the missionaries the first time. I got to teach her right on the tail end and then see her be baptized. Great experience. This area hasn't had much success. Just 4 converts in the last 6 months, but all that's about to change..

If I had to describe the way I've felt these last two weeks it would be a lot of ehhh and a little bit good. But that's okay! Who says life is easy? Who says a mission is easy? It's not. But the people who receive hope and light from the gospel sure do appreciate it. My goal is to just love the people more. Love them like Christ would. I go through mad mood swings on the mission. I feel like everybody at home thinks I´m just doing so well but straight up it's a struggle. But it will be a struggle that's worth it. That's the faith that I have.

Ladies, Don´t wait for me, I got my first Mexican haircut today and I sweat all day and I smell and I'm gettin real ugly. That's the price to pay to serve others though!!

Hasta la pasta

Elder Jarman

Wild Dogs and a Wild Week

Sup dudes!

So yeah I'm running low on time. I had so many emails to read. I swear the hour we get for emailing is the most stressful hour of my week. I'm gonna format this letter a little differenlty. Hope it doesn't disappoint.

Spiritual stuff this week:

Manuel, the last son in this family we've been baptizing, got baptized on Saturday. I baptized him. Gonna try to send some pics but probably won't have time. He gave up drinking and smoking and his 12 year old girlfriend (hes 14) to get baptized. Kids here are crazy. No offense to Mexico but the culture here is so sex and booze driven, waayyyy more than the United States. All those people who trip out in the states about violence and poverty and drugs need to see two drunk dudes swingin machetes at each other in the middle of the street.. Not that I saw anything like that this week.....

Also, Yadira and Guillermo should get married this Thursday and Yadira should get baptized on Saturday. Guillermo will follow suit after he sees the blessings she gets, I know it.

The coolest things about baptisms are people's faces afterward. They looks so happy and pure and every last one says they feel clean and that they have a fresh start. Now we just hope this little branch can help us keep them active.

The rest of this week's craziness:

So on Wednesday I was notififed that I had to go to Veracruz to do the final siging on my visa, so I went down there with Elder Johnson and the zone leaders. While were were there everything went normal until Elder Johnson told me a bucnh of stuff that my companion told him on an exchange. I won't say details but I was like dude you gotta tell Presdient.. So when we got back to Poza Rica he told Hernandez and they both called President and then Hernandez and I were told to pack our bags and come to Veracruz on Friday. Once again won't say details but my comp almost got sent home and I almost got sent somewhere else because of it. But my comp was given a second chance after his interview with President and we came back to Cazones just in time to have our baptism on Saturday. This week was freakin crazy.. I also lost my camera and so I bought a new one today.. Now I'm gonna carry it in a case on my belt instead of in my pocket so I wont lose this one. I already had my pics backed up on my USB though so its all good..

So yeah now I'm in charge of making sure my companion is 100% obedient and I've got to motivate him to work and all that. Should be real fun!

Other interesting stuff that happened this week:

A wild dog bit me but he only got my shoe.. no blood.

Fatty thunderstorm last night, thought a bomb went off in our house at 4 am..

Okay running out of time here.. Gotta shout out to my homies who went into the MTC and who are going in this week!! Kill it boys!

Shout out to Grandma Eileen, Grandpa Chuck, and Uncle Blake for the birthdays this week. Promise you're not old!!

Alrighty so this week we're gonna be working super hard and we're gonna see some miracles! Love you guys!

Elder Jarman

Rough Week + Mexican Jackie Chan and Large Spiders

Holar familiars y amigos,

            So as I write this letter I’m copying like 10 church movies that my district leader gave me from his memory to mine so I can watch them in my free time because MY COMPANION IS STILL SICK....

This has been the hardest week of my mission. Straight up. I thought about lying and saying it’s all great and just complaining to my parents in private but the people need to know the truth! Ya, boy hasn’t had the best week.

I think it’s safe to say I’ve spent more time in our apartment than outside since I arrived in Mexico... But it’s all good, as for the sickness you already know.  I just read a bunch of Liahona magazines..

Now let’s find the exciting stuff. We did teach a few lessons and Guillermo and Yadira finally are making more progress. If you remember I put them on date for baptism for this past Saturday but that didn’t happen but they are actually gonna get married on the 8th of June and then Yadira is gonna get baptized on the 9th. Guillermo still isn’t sure but that usually how it goes around here. We’re confident he’ll follow her example later. But we still had success this week! Even with a sick comp the Lord is blessing us. Finally all the paperwork came in for another couple that Elder Hernandez had been teaching for awhile. They are the ones who lost their son a couple weeks ago. But their paperwork got worked out and I paid for my first wedding here in Mexico! (I guess missionaries do that a lot because the investigators don’t have any money) So they got married and they were so happy and then we baptized them on Sunday. They are named Ezequiel and Guadalupe. I baptized Ezequiel and that was tiiiiighhtt. Afterwards they bore their testimonies and mentioned how they felt like new people and Ezequiel said he would be at church every Sunday for the rest of his life. COOL RIGHT? So yeah even though the majority of this week was rough there was still good. The most important thing is that 2 more of God’s children accepted the full gospel of Jesus Christ. Sooo chill. (sarcasm using chill)

So other exciting news this week is  that my little bros turned 11. SHOUT OUT TO THE BIG HOMIIES. Hope you guys had a great one.. I also went on an exchange with our district leader Elder Buenfil and he is just Mexican Jackie Chan.

The scariest part of this week was when we came home from a lesson with Guillermo and Yadira and there was a spider THE SIZE OF MY FACE on my bed. Any one who knows me knows I’m a little girl, so I screamed and (almost) cried and yeah... then Elder Hernandez laughed at me and killed it with a broom. FREAK I HATE SPIDERS....

So yeah.. Tough week but that’s life ya know? Hoping we can get to some serious work this week and find more people so after we baptize all the people we’re teaching now we’ll be able to keep the party rolling. Been thinking a lot about baptism this week and really just comes down to John 3:5 in the Bible. Except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.. That’s why we focus so much on baptism. We’re opening that gate to others because we truly believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only Church with the authority to do that.. So yeah its super important.

Just want to take this opportunity to put my wonderful sister on blast for never writing me.. Its cool I only cry all day because of it. Love ya!

 

Anyways, hope everybody at home is loving life and I'm positive this coming week is gonna be better!

 

Elder Jarman

Sick Companion and Arts and Crafts

Hola Familia y Amigos,

First things first shout out to the homies who had their farewells this week!! You guys are gonna kill it! Second of all, shout out to Coronado for finally winning state. 4th try in a row is the charm right? I only say that for baby B-Dau. He probably doesn’t even read this. Somebody tell him to read this hahah...

Anyways this week was not exciting so this will probably be pretty short. So remember how Elder Hernandez was better? Yeah I guess Salmonella gives false signs of being better and then it gets worse. We left the house like 2 times this week. But I appreciated the opportunity to pimp out my study space. I have like 40 pictures of Jesus smiling down on me while I study now. I cut them out of the 100 Liahona magazines we have here hahah. I also laminated my Preach My Gospel and my planner with a sweet pic of the fam on the back and a pic of Jesus on the front. Priorities?? 

So the one shining light in this week is Guillermo and Yadira. They are a couple who have been investigating with missionaries since November but have never really committed, but things have changed with Elder Hernandez and I. They’ve been coming to church and started praying as a family and they are reading the Book of Mormon and they are so great. They have a little son named Latin and he is the freakin homie! He always says adios amigo when we leave. Freakin G. So while Elder Hernandez was too sick to leave his bed on Thursday I went on a split with a priest in our ward. Joaquin. Dude is so cool. He lived in the states for a while and knows a little English and helps me out where I lack. So I was thrown out into open water without my companion and had to freakin teach these people. We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and I asked how the family prayer was helping their family and they said they can feel the peace it brings. Then I was just like alright we’re having a baptismal service on the 26th will you prepare yourselves to be baptized (which includes them getting married which they didn’t want to do) and they said YES! I can tell Guillermo still has doubts but we're just gonna have faith and work on that this week so they can be baptized. We should have 4 baptisms this weekend if things go as planned. Just gotta get 2 couples married and yeah es todo.

So yeah. Sick companion, arts and crafts, lots of studying and reading and with some serious faith we’ll be dressing in white this weekend! Hope we get to work our butts off this weekend. Running out of time here. Promise next week's letter will be more exciting! Love you all!

Elder Jarman

blackouts and rivers of rain and a baptism and God has a plan.

Hola mostly friends but the family too.

I say that because I skyped the fam yesterday and they already got this sweet weekly update, so shout out to all the homies who still remember that I exist! Hope people read this still, and still follow me on twitter....

Alright business time. This week was.... HARD. So let's start the story at last saturday the 5th.. We ate tacos off the street. Best thing I've eaten in my life right? But it gave my companion salmonella. 10 points to the white boy for being the one who avoided the parasite. Anyways, hes been bedridden basically the whole last week. And then in the middle of the week I got sick but mine was a throat infection. I'm better now and so is he for the most part so hopefully we can get a lot done this week. The reason all that is hard is because there is nothing worse than sitting around a house all day. I studied a bunch and slept some a played a little chess on my sweet chessboard that I bought at Tajín, but overall it was just a bleak week. But cool stuff still happened because freak its Mexico.

So Mother's Day here goes hard. All you mommies who are reading this, move to mexico because they throw mad fiestas for the mamas. Mothers Day here is the tenth though. They were having this huge loud party that night in the centro and the whole town was there and we were at home getting ready for sleepy time and then the power went out in the whole town. Literally the entire town. So then they just got even louder screaming and yelling stuff I dont understand completely yet. Thanks to the homies at Sunburst Shutters I do understand when they cuss though. And they do it alot. I guess its not offensive. Like it is still a cuss word but the children and the moms and grandmas and everybody do it and no one ever is offended. 

So back to power outage thing, that happened like 3 more times during the week for hours at a time and then the most intense rain and thunderstorm I've ever seen happened on Saturday. I was running in the street with water up past my ankles. Hahaha so fun. But yeah so we had a sweet baptism this week. His name is Samuel and he's 13 and he is the son of a family that Elder Hernandez baptized right before I got here. But the cool part is his dad recieved the priesthood before and was the one to baptize him. We had the baptism just immediately after church so the whole branch was there and it was really great.

The real reason this week was hard though was because on Friday, when Elder Hernandez was supposed to be resting, we went out to Cruz Blanca and the same family whose son got baptized Sunday had a tragedy. Their oldest son and his girlfriend (they are getting married this week and baptized this weekend) had a baby boy. I think he was like 7 or 8 months, but he died on Thursday night.... We went out to Cruz Blanca and spent the whole day helping them with the funeral and food and stuff with the rest of the branch members.. It's the first time I've ever seen a dead baby.. It was really sad, but it was not as sad as it could have been. The family still smiled occasionally and the mother and father of the baby are doing okay. Why? Because Elder Hernandez found them and taught them all before this happens, and they know about their Father in Heaven's plan for all of us. They have the comfort of knowing their son is safe and happy and that they will see him again for sure. I am so grateful for our Father in Heaven's plan for us and that I can be a missionary and share that message with the people here.

Were getting healthier, we're stoked for this week to work hard and find families, and we're about to go play some volley with some of our cuates. I actually got some pics to load this time so I hope you like them. I love you guys! Talk to ya next week.

Elder Jarman

Viva Mexico!

¡Que Onda Cuates!

I'm using a Mexican computer now so I can put cool upside down exclamation points. The down side is that google chrome is trying to tell me that every word I type is spelled wrong hahha.

Currently I am sitting in a little internet cafe type place (not sure what they are called yet). Sorry this is so late but you'll understand when I explain my week and day hahah. So Kohl told me my emails are too long so I'll try to summarize.

So on Monday I said goodbye to big scary Elder Kulu and got in a van to the airport with a bunch of other guys who had been waiting for visas. They are part of my generation, which is the word they use to describe a group of missionaries who enter the field together. When we got to the airport Elder Rhodes was there getting ready to fly out too. Hes the homie who caught an alley oop and 360 dunked it in the MTC. So we flew to Dallas and there I talked with the fam for a while on the phone. That was cool. Then we flew from there to Veracruz. The sad thing is that our bags did not go with us to Veracruz. The airline people just left them on the tarmack because there wasn't enough room in the plane. When we arrived in Veracruz the mission president and his wife and kids and the assistants to the president were all there. President was super nice and his wife is an angel. But president quickly turned into the biggest boss ever talking to the airline about our bags. He handles business hahah. Because we didn't have our bags we had to stay at the mission office in these dorm thingys for a couple days til they arrived.

On Tuesday I met my companion, Elder Juan Manuel Hernandez Da Silva!!! Everybody google him. Apparently he plays professional soccer for a team called Atlantico or Atlantic or something like that. Hes from Cancun and he is also a dolphin trainer.. Literally the most interesting man in the world hahah. He speaks a little English too and understands a ton of it so we communicate well hahah.

Wednesday we left with my bags to our area. I'm in the north part of this mission which means when it splits I'll be in the Xalapa Mission (pronounced Halapa).. Elder Rhodes and basically anyone else I know from SLC and the MTC will be staying down in Veracruz. Our zone is Poza Rica, which is the biggest city close to us. But our area is called Cazones.... Let me tell you about Cazones. You know the town in Nacho Libre? Well then you know Cazones. Except it's in the middle of the selva (jungle). It's this little town and there are a ton of pueblitos (smaller towns) around it. We do a lot of proselyting and teaching in the pueblitos so we take these fleteras which are flat bed trucks with two benches, and they pack about 20 people into the bed of these trucks, and just go hahaha. They also just put as many people as can fit into taxis (7 seems to be the maximum). So yeah there are tons of wild dogs roaming the streets here, and when I say tons I mean there are literally 5 or 6 on every street all day every day. They are harmless though. I've also seen luchador posters and drunks just roam the streets at night and it's just crazy. And perfect. I really really like it here. The funniest thing is that everyone's houses are super run down (including ours, no toilet seat hollerrrr) but then the whole community takes immaculate care of their campo (soccer field). It literally is perfect hahah. Mexican priorities are hilarious.

So the rest of the days since then have blended together, but thus far I've drank a ton of soda, eaten a ton of beans and rice and all manner of delicious mexican food. Ate the best tacos I've ever tasted on Saturday night from this taqueria in town. Elder Hernandez said it isn't even the best one in this little town though so I'm stoked to eat at others. I ate a fruit I've never seen in my life called guanabana. It's this spiky green thing. And I've been eating fresh lychees all day errday (they are so much better fresh, be jealous Jessica). Mexicans eat weird. They have a massive meal in the middle of the day at 2 (comida) and then a tiny one at 9 pm (cena) and a tiny one for breakfast. (desayuno) My body isn't used to it yet. So the church is super strong in this mission. There are like 4 stakes. But we just have this tiny branch here. 200 members and about 25 are active. We have a branch president and a president of the relief society and that's it really. So we dont have tons of help on the missionary work side. And I guess this area doesn't baptize very well usually because we are so far from mission headquarters (5 hours north) and missionaries come up here and be lazy... But that is gonna change. We're gonna baptize like crazy and work like crazy. The only thing that impedes me right now is the language and not understanding their culture really but Elder Hernandez is gonna train me and were gonna work hard and find people who are searching for this gospel.

So today for p day we went to Tajin where there are a bunch of ruins. I'm sending pictures of all my adventures thus far and Ill have Jessica post them on facebook.

So now for the good news bad news section of this letter.

Good news- I'm happy, I'm healthy, I'm safe. I'm excited.

Bad news- I'm sunburned, this is the second hottest area in the mission, and there is no AC anywhere except the little casa de oracion (we aren't big enough to have a chapel). 

The other bad news goes out to my friends. I'm not allowed to email anyone except family. I know its a tiny rule but im doing everything I can to be really obedient on my mission. So you'll have to hand write me. And we only get mail once every 6 weeks so I wont hear from you guys much. Really during the day on p day I have no time to write letters. I still want to hear from you guys and getting handful of letters every six weeks would be amazing, but I probably wont be able to respond. I hope you guys understand and I hope these email posts will be sufficient. But I gotta devote myself to the Lord and focus on being here in Mexico. I love you all and really hope to hear from you. Heres the address of the mission

Elder Price Dix Jarman
Misión México Veracruz
Calle Altamirano #27
Entre 1° de Mayo y Carranza
Col. Flores Magón
Veracruz, Ver 91700

So yeah mail me stuff there if you want! 

Les Amo!!

Elder Jarman