Capitulo 17

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 17

Hola familia y amigos como estan? este semana fue marvilloso tuve muchas gran experiencias y estoy trabajando duro. Espero que todos esten bien y les gusto sus semanas.

It was great to hear from all of you!

first things first... HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAIMA!!!!! It was great to hear from you and it sounds like you had a great birthday with your gluten free breakfast, going to the museum, and the symphony! I'm glad you Jeff and the kids are all doing well.

Sister!! Congrats on the new calling! its really cool to hear about that and the adjustments you're making for it. Also I have not played human battleship but it does sound like a lot of fun. I've also never played telephone charades I have played telephone pictionary though we may need to play that with the family once The-day-that-shall-not-be-named arrives.

As for your Denverian prize you will get it once I go to a bank of America and can withdraw sufficient funds. I'll let you know once I've sent it.

So language mix up stories I do in fact have a few of them most from the MTC but I'll tell you anyways. The first is a story of when one of the sisters in my district said "Mediante la expiacion de JesuCristo podemos ser limpio de nuestros pescados" which translates to: through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can be clean of our fish. substitute pecados for pescados and the sentence actually makes sense. the second is when we were practicing door approaches and I said "hola somos missioneros de la iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias. Tenemos un mesaje para usted sobre la restauracion del evangelio de JesuCristo." which translates as follows. Hi we're missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day siants, we have a massage for you about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. ....... ..... that was a little awkward thankfully it was in the MTC not the field. I haevf more but I am super pressed for time so I'll make sure I throw them in my next email.

It was great to hear from you mom and dad it was great to hear about the temple. I don't have time to write much more. I'll tell you about Jesus' baptism and everything else next week because I am out of time

I love you all and hope to hear from you ALL next week

Elder Redd

P.S I also have a new companion we're in a tripanionship his names Elder Reese he's in the pictures.

Capitulo 16

Capitulo 16  

 Hola Familia y Amigos!! Espero que todos esten disfrutando el regresa a escuela, trabajo, y la clima mas fresca!! Me gusta la cambia en clima aqui porque es mas fresca, antes hizo mucho calor aqui. 

I guess I could translate it for you Dad although I did have a lot of fun wondering what you thought. (Hello family and Friends. I hope that you're all enjoying the return to school and work, and the cooler weather! I like the change in weather here because it's more cool. Before it was very hot here.) 

It was good to hear from G and G, I hope they have a great time on their cruise. It was good to hear from you to Katey it sounds like Medicine Hat is a good place for you and I'm glad the boys are enjoying it. It's also great to hear about your writing and I wish you the best of luck with your submission! 

Elena it was great to hear from you. I think I've played human battleship before but I'm really not sure tell me a little more about it. As for the tourism here in Denver that's something that really depends on my companions and my area. It's something I'd like to do but I don't think I will for at least another transfer. 

Speaking of which it's crazy to think that I've just finished my first transfer in the field! Me and Elder Lopez will both be staying here in Denver Fourth, the only change in our District is that Elder Ence is getting transferred. (he's the really tall one with glasses in the pictures in front of the the temple.) 

I'm glad you had fun at the book signing Sister! it would be great to be there and visualize yourself on the other side of the table. That day in the far off future that I'm not going to talk about, when that happens we'll have to go to a book signing together. I'm glad you’re determined in your writing I'm excited to hear a little more about it when you've done it, but don't let it kill your enthusiasm for Bells because that book really is amazing. 

Mom and Dad great to hear from you as always it sounds like both of you are getting really excited for your mission, and I'm glad you’re working hard now. And also Dad you went rock climbing for staff meeting that sounds awesome! 

You asked about what kind of service we've done out here, It's nothing exciting really, we've helped people move cleaned up yards- that fun stuff. I love serving it's always great but I really haven't had any cool experiences with service or anything yet. My favourite service project we did was when we went out to the mountains a little bit to help the stake work in the Church owned park out there. It was nice to be outside of the city seeing as how I didn't have that chance at all this past summer. 

Ok I guess I'll tell you a little about this week here. The thing I'm most excited about is that Jesus will be baptized this sunday I'm super excited about that he is going to be an amazing member, I've been so lucky to have the opportunity to teach someone who the Lord has prepared like that. Also some pretty big news, yesterday we got to have a three hour training session with Elder Bednar. Yes the Elder Bednar it was so cool and I learned so much about teaching by the spirit. It was amazing to see how normal he was, yet the power he had when he spoke and bore testimony. 

Dad a few weeks ago you asked if I could tell you a little more about the work here I never did my bad so I'll tell you a little about some of the people we teach. Right now we do a fair amount of work with Less Actives and Recent Converts. one of my favourite families is the Mendoza family. Hermano Mendoza is a really amazing man doctrinally he's an amazing member. The only reason he can't go to church every week is because he's sick and can't always come. We do a lot of work with him and his daughters who have moved out. We're working hard and they're starting to do better. Another one of our Investigators is Estela, we've been teaching her since my first week. She knows that the restoration and the book of mormon are true but we're having trouble getting her to church because she attends another church at the same time. We gave her a church tour on saturday and it went really well, but then she didn't come to church sunday morning. I know that if we can just get her to come to church and get her the fellowship she needs that she will get baptized, we've just got to overcome that obstacle. I really love our area, we're busy all the time and we are having success. Right now we have so many people who are so close and just need a little bit more. That's our main focus right now, just trying to help all the people who are almost there. 

I love you all, I hope you're all doing well. I love being out here, I know this Church is true and I love being a missionary! 

Love, 

Elder Rojo (A lot of people here actually call me that just so know)

Capitulo 15

Hola Familia!

Que loco tiempo esta pasando muy rapido! me siento como you solamente

llegue en el campo dos dias en el passado! Pero estoy casi terminado

con mi primero cambio! Quiero que ustedes sepan que mi mission es todo

a mi! Me encanta mi mission y espero que cada persona que sirve un

mission tambien siente como mi.

That crazy time is passing too fast! I feel like you only
arrives in two days in the field passado! But I'm almost finished
with my first transfer! I want you to know that my mission is all
my! I love my mission and I hope that each person who served
also feel like my mission. (Google translated)

It was a great week, the work is goin well here and I love it!

Thankyou for all the letters that I recieved (including a 5 letter day

on tuesday) thank you to the Harkers, The Kearl's and Bishop. I really

loved the picture of the temple, it was great to see what it looks like

now that it's done! That's also a really cool story about Brett, glad

to hear he's doing well back home.

Hey quick note I've just thought about the emails that I feel the best

about after I write them, and they’re always the ones when I answer lots

of questions. So please have everyone send me questions I like

answering them!

Ok first off Elena great to get your email. I'm sorry you had to use

google translate, but sometime in the very distant future that I'm not

going to think about when I'm not a missionary that would be awesome

to translate Spanish for you anytime. I love the Spanish language! It's

good to hear that you like your new roommate, and that is a little

strange that there are people at welcome week younger than me. I still

feel really young sometimes. That's probably because I really am

especially when I talk to the missionaries in their 20's

Mom and Dad! it was great to hear from you too, in answer and

explanation to a few questions, yes a spice kit would be wonderful the

first one you mentioned sounds fantastic! also if you could send me

some more tape for my mouth, and my blue jump rope that would be great

because I'm running out of tape and the jump rope would be good for

excercise. Also I have three more temple cards, but I don't know how

many more times I'll be going to the temple because I could quite

easily end up serving most of my mission on the western slopes and not

have temple access so send me a few cards and I'll make sure they all

get done. On the photos, the one in front of the Provo temple is me

and the other elders in my MTC district just taking a funny picture we

were being  Daniel, Shadrac, Meshach and Abednego and ....... their other

two friends ..... who are not named in the Old Testament. The guy in

the back who photo bombed us ...( shaking my head )

You also asked what I've learned out here in the Mission field. Wow

where to start and what to tell.

1. This one won't apply quite as much to you two but I think all

missionaries should know it. Part of being a good missionary is being

a good companion, or just good with other missionary's in your

district or Zone. You could have all the scriptures memorized and be

the most spiritual missionary in the world, but if you don't love your

companion and work in unity with them you won't be near as affective.

2. There's no excuse not to be exactly obedient. I've seen lots of

missionaries who will say that you need to loosen up and have fun on

your mission. I can honestly say that the most fun I've had on my

mission is when I am being exactly obedient, fun and obedience do go

together. Others will say that its more important to follow the spirit

and not be a Pharisee. The problem with that is that Preach my Gospel

and the white handbook were written by apostles and others under the

direction of the Spirit. I have seen a lot of missionaries use that as

an excuse and break rules in the name of the Spirit. I think that

sometimes the Spirit may prompt us to do something against the rules,

but those are rare experiences.

3. Patience is one of the most valuable things you can have on a

mission (Mom and Dad you should be pretty good at this, after all you

raised me- that takes patience) Whether it's patience with

investigators, patience with the members, or patience with your

companion. It is extremely important.

There's so much that I've learned on my mission and I wish that I

could share it all, but for right now that's probably all.

I love you all, and I hope that everything is going really well back home

Elder Redd

Capitulo 14

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 14

Hola! Este semana fue muy bien tengo mucho a les digo sobre todo. Es bastante loco que he estado en mi mission por tres meses! Muchas gracias por las cartas este semana!

Alright so first things first. Elena it was great to hear from you! Both your email, and the letter you wrote. (The one that you started in Italy) I just got it this week it was a great letter thanks! For your information, we do have a temple here in Denver, and all the missionary's serving in the metro areas of the mission get to go the first Wednesday of every month. so this Wednesday will be my first time going. You and Dad both asked about my ward, so I'll tell you a little bit about it. I'm serving in the Denver first ward, our meeting house is on Zuni street off of Alameda. There are six missionaries in our Ward Elder L and I Elder's G and S, and Hermana's P and B. I haven't been to a ward party yet, but I think that yes any of those would include dancing. But I love the ward its great, we also have an amazing ward mission leader who helps us out all the time, he's a huge help.

About Groceries, I love buying my own food! I've gotten really good at budgeting and I always use well under the weekly allotment, so be proud of your me! For your information I love to cook, regrettably I don't have as much time as I'd like so my cooking is pretty simple things like pasta for lunch or eggs for breakfast. Speaking of which I'm going to tell you what I've been eating, because I'm pretty darn healthy out here too! For breakfast I have one of three things. A fruit smoothie, eggs and fruit, or yogurt with granola and oats. I can buy all of things for pretty good prices if I ration it properly and its pretty healthy. Lunch is quite often pasta, or occasionally a breakfast item, sometimes a sandwich. I've cooked meat once, but we really don't have any spices in our apartment so I don't do it often. I think I'm going to start building up a supply of spices to carry around my whole mission.

As for P-days, right now I really only play basketball. I'm really enjoying the opportunity to play with Elder S because he's really really good. Last week we had Zone Olympics which has super fun I'll send a few pictures of it. Someday I'd like to play board games or something but I need to have the right missionaries in the Zone to do that, and right now I do not have the right zone. But I love playing basketball and other sports it's great. I don't have the opportunity to go to the Mountains here, because I'm serving "Metro" instead of the "Western Slope", but I will most definietly spend some time in my mission out west in the mountains so I'll have opportunities to hike a bit at sometime.

Cool that you're learning Russian Sister! I love learning languages, and I want to learn more when I get home!

Dad it's awesome that you went to Cardston and got to see Grandma, Grandpa, and the other Redds, how is Jeff? Also next time you go down give Grandma and Grandpa a hug from me!

Dad I hope you enjoy cleaning the temple, I absolutely loved when I got to clean the temple in Provo!

Ok so I'll tell you a little bit about what happened with me this week. First thing that I'm so excited about is that we had a baptism this week!! The first baptism of my mission it was an amazing spiritual experience. Our investigator has been investigating the church for six years, and its been a crazy up and down road that she's been through to finally get baptized. I'm so glad that I could be a part of helping her come unto Christ!

Second thing about this week was an amazing story about our new investigator Jesus. So last Sunday we walked into church and we didn't recognize him so Elder L and I went to talk to him. After we introduced ourselves he said "Hi I'm Jesus and I'm here to learn about your church" (In Spanish of course) Elder L and I were shocked. He stayed for all three meetings and was asking questions that were really good. After Church we set up an appointment for Wednsday gave him a book of Mormon and asked him to read. Now one thing about Hispanics, I love them, they are super friendly, but they NEVER keep their commitments on the first try if your lucky they might actually read the book of Mormon after a month of teaching them about it. So we went to go see Jesus on Wednesday. We asked him if he'd read, he replied "Yeah I read, I prayed about and I really think it's true" I swear Elder L and I couldn't talk for at least 20 minutes. We taught about the restoration, and he accepted everything. He believes Joseph Smith was a prophet and we accepted the Baptismal invitation on the first date we gave without question! I really know that Heavenly Father does put people in our path when we are obedient and work hard.

So thirdly, last Tuesday we had zone conference with Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy. That was so awesome I wish that I had time to tell you everything about it. I took at least ten pages of notes it was amazing. Some things that really struck me were: he said "Successful missionaries are willing to do what unsuccessful missionaries aren't" Then he gave a few examples of things that we do and how we need to do them correctly, such as companion study, daily and weekly planning, and not wasting any time. I remembered one email where Tyler talked about working with all our mind, and not just our might and strength. It really made me realize that missionary work is more than just working hard and driving yourself to the ground. You need to work hard, but you need to work smart as well, following the instructions of the Brethren in Preach my Gospel and the white handbook.

Well I love you all, I'm so glad to be a missionary and serving here in Denver. The church is true.

Love,

Elder Rojo.

Capitulo 13

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 13 

Hola Familia y Amigos! 

Estoy muy animado. Estoy teniendo un gran tiempo aqui en Denver. Este semana elder Lopez y yo encontramos muchos nuevos investigadores! 

It was great to read your emails! Mom and Dad it sound like you're very busy for the next few months before you leave. I'm super excited that you'll be serving a mission at the same time as me, and it will be really interesting to relay mission experiences once you're in the field too. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures, I'll send some more next week. President Maynes has asked that we don't give out our address's, so anything you want to send me should just be sent to the mission office and then they can forward it to me or I can pick it up at the end of a transfer. 

Alright I don't have a ton of time this week so I'll quickly tell you a few things that happened before I have to sign off.

Yesterday we went to the baptism of Angelo, he was Baptized by Elders E and T the zone leaders who are in our District. All of the missionaries know him pretty well because he plays basketball with us on P-days. Actually we know the whole family pretty well. They have an amazing story. The missionaries met them a few months ago, and now the whole family has been baptized! Yesterday Angelo was baptized by his father Mike and it was an incredibly powerful experience! It's so cool to see the changes that he's made in his life. And he's planning on serving a mission in a year! I'm super excited, because if all our investigators on date keep their dates, we could have a baptism every week of September! So we're gonna work hard this week so we can keep all of them on date and get them to keep their commitments! 

Oh before I forget, do you think you could possibly send me some conference CD's because I'm in a car a lot and listening to conference talks would be really great if not don't sweat it. 

Well I love you all tell all the ibbi's about me so that they'll actually remember me in two years. 

Elder Redd,

Sorry the letters short I'll write a longer one next week

Capitulo 12

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 12

Hola Familia y Amigos! estoy muy feliz esta semana. el semana passado
fue muy buen y sus emails fue magnifico tambien. Me gusta leyendo
todos sus emails.

Now that I'm speaking English CONGRATS MOM AND DAD That's awesome that
you're going to Thailand! its great to hear that you've started
working hard at learning the language. If I may offer a piece of
advice with the language that my Branch President in the MTC always
told me. It's simply this, don't worry about the language work as hard
as you can to learn it, but never worry about being able to
communicate. I know that's something that mom might worry about but
don't let it bother you.

It was great to hear from all of you. It sounds like the Skinners,
Fixsens and Thompsons are all having a great Summer, Jaima that blog
was hillarious thankyou for including it! It's always great to hear
about the Ibbi's but kinda crazy how fast they're all growing up! I'm
trying to avaid thinking about how old they're gonna be when I get
home because it makes me Trunky (That's a mission slang term for home
sick). It's also nice to know that the boys still remember me.

Alright Blakovich you sent me some questions so here are some anwers for you.

1. Colorado is great it's a little hot some days it's gotten up to the
mid 30's. Tracting or OYMing (Opening Your Mouth) in that weather is a lot of fun.

2. My Companion's name is Elder L, he was born in Peru, so he's
always spoken fluent Spanish that can be kind of interesting because
sometime he uses Peruvian Terms that I don't understand at all.

3. As to what I eat, I eat a lot of Taquitos, seriously atleast 70% of
our dinner appointments are Taquitos home made and they're good, but
we eat them a lot. we also have rice with pretty much every meal and
we eat a lot of chicken.

4. I would answer this one but I don't really know what mom rice is Blake.

5. Ok gross story for Blake: so our appartment is near the Bear river,
or something like that. and the entrance to our complex is right next
to the dumpster. As such it is not entirely uncommon for us to see
Rats when we come home at night. So one night I had Rat run about 3
feet ahead of me from the bush toward the dumpster. I freaked out and
Elder Lopez was laughing at me.

Hope those aswered your questions Blake!

Thank's for letting me know that you will now be responsible for my
blog now Elena I think I sent this email to you hopefully you do in
fact get it if not send me an angry Email or something next week. It
also sounds like you had a ton of fun at the murder mystery party!

Ok Jaima you asked how I was shocked. Well let me put it this way.
I've been very fortunate in my life. Dad's always been fully able to
provide for us and I've always lived in nice neighbourhoods. So on my
first day when Elder L and I were OYMing guys with tatoos all over
and piercing's and hear some of them talk about what their lives were
like in gangs and how Jesus changed their lives, It was a little scary
for awhile but I've adjusted and I really love the area and all the
people I serve.

If anyone wants to send me pictures it's probably better to snail mail them.
Mom and Dad it's great to hear that everything has come together with
your call and I'm super excited for you to enter the mission field I
know you will absolutely love it! Along that note I'm just thinking
about how Chrstmas will work, can you do a Skype conference call?
because we skype in my mission too.

Ok so I guess I'll tell you a little bit about how I'm doing and
everything else that's going on with me. First off let me tell you a
bit about my District. My Companion Elder L is our District
Leader, The zone Leader's Elder T, Elder E and Elder T
are also in our District, I did an exchange with them this week and it
was really cool to have the opportunity to learn from other
missionaries too. Elder S and G are the other Spanish Elder's
in our ward I did an exchange with Elder G this week and that was
awesome too. Elder S is a Visa missionary and he'll be leaving
for Argentina in about one week. but he's a really cool guy he
red-shirted at BYU last year so I like playing basketball with him on
P-days. he wins but its fun none the less. finally Hermana B and
P. Hermana B was in the MTC with me so that's cool and Hermana
P is a crazy gymnast which is ridiculous.

Ok so one quick story from this week. Yesterday at seven o'clock we
had about one hour and then we could go to a dinner appointment, I was
pretty tired and hungry so I thougtht maybe we could OYM or Tract for
awhile and then go to the appointment we decided to stop by an
investigators house. We really didn't accomplish much we taught her a
brief lesson and then she had to leave I was a little discouraged and
I wanted to go to dinner Elder L said we should work for just a
little longer. We did and because we stayed and kept working hard we
found a new investigator and talked to her for quite a while. She is a
golden investigator and I'm so excited to start teaching her next
week! I know the Lord rewards us when we just give that extra little
bit of work, and I will never miss an opportunity to work as hard as I
can again!

I know that this church is true and I love being a missionary. To
anyone considering a mision DO IT!!! I won't lie it is hard, but it is
the best decision I have ever made in my life.

I love you all very much and hope you're all doing well.

Elder Rojo

                                                                           
                                                Me and Elder R, my MTC Companion

 

My MTC District

 

 

Me and Snitney (my cousin,serving in Frankfurt, Germany)

 

 

Asleep on my desk!

Capitulo 11

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 11


Hola Familia!

Lo Siento no he escribido. Es porque mi dia de preparacion es lunes y no tuve un computadora el Lunes passado!

Ok there's my weekly Spanish bit. First off. Sorry I didn't call from the Airport, apparently the Provo Airport has zero pay-phones, and we really didn't have time in the Denver Airport. Also quickly to Katie yes I did get your letter, I just forgot to mention it in my email. yes I got the shutterfly pictures thank you so much I put them up in my apartment and it feels really nice to have a little bit of a personal touch The Ibbi's look like they're doing great and had a lot of fun at the Reunion. And sorry I forgot my camera cord so I won't be sending any pictures this week. President M sent you the picture of me with him and Sister M though.

Alright I guess I'll tell you a little bit about my first week in the Field. On Tuesday I met my Trainer, his name is Elder L, and then we went to our Area. I'm serving in Metro Denver, and it is very different than home. My first days were a bit of a shock, but I'm doing a lot better now. I've really gained a love for my area and the people. This week we put two of our Investigators on a baptismal date, and that is an amazing feeling. Right now our Area has a huge teaching pool, so we spend almost all of our time teaching people, we really don't tract or anything like that. unfortunately we're also in a car, because our area is so huge. In some ways it's great because it allows us to do so much teaching everyday, but I spend a lot of time sitting. I'm working hard in my morning exercise and eating as carefully as possible. Which can be very hard sometimes we have Dinner appointments everynight. I'm pretty sure that my first week in the Mission field I've eaten more Taquitos than my entire life! dinner appointments with the Hispanics here are very different. I was expecting something more like back home where the missionary's come over we all sit down and eat together and everyone can serve themselves as much as they want. Here we come over with the other set of Missionary's in our Ward Elder G and Elder S, he's really cool I'll talk more about Elder S later, we sit down they bring us plates absolutely loaded with food, whether it looks in anyway appetizing or not, and then they sit somewhere nearby and watch us eat. It's a little weird, but I guess that's just a cultural thing.

Anyways suffice it to say, I love my Mission President, I love my Area, I love my trainer, and I'm loving everything so far.

It's a little strange, I was so excited to leave the MTC, but now I'm really realizing what a special place it is. There's something cool about being surrounded by missionaries all the time. and the weekly visit's from General Authorities were pretty awesome to. Eventhough it was long at times I'm glad I had nine weeks there to learn about the Gospel and feel the spirit so strongly. If there's one thing I'm glad to be done with about the MTC it's the food! I haven't had much of an opportunity to cook anything yet, but I'm going grocery shopping later today and this week I should be able to cook my own stuff.

Anyways I'm running out of time and I still have to write my letter to President. Just know that I love you all, and I'll write a better letter next week with some details of my exploits in the field.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Rojo

Capitulo 9

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 9

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Si algo de mis amigos leen mis Emails. No se, pero esta bien no es importante. Estoy muy animado a salir el CCM por Denver in dos Dias! Y Katey, yo no hablo Aleman, pero tengo una prima que hace. Ella puede tranducir para mi.

Sorry you didn't receive a letter from me yesterday, but the Friday right before everyone leaves is in-field orientation, so my P-day got moved to today. Anyway in-field orientation was great! I am so excited to go into the field! It's really hard not to let that distract me this week and remember that I still had a week in the MTC and try to work as hard as I can here because I need to get everything I can out of the MTC. Also along those lines my travel plans changed a little bit. I fly out of the Provo Airport at 8:30, but I'm leaving the MTC at 6:00. Not sure what time I'll be able to call, but I should be able to talk to you for at least a little while.

Just want to thank everyone for the letters I've gotten throughout my stay in the MTC, I know that those will diminish without the availability of DearElders. Also thanks Aunt Colleen for the doughnuts. Elena, if you want to hear from me Ropiero might need another letter which will have to go to Denver because I won't get anymore DearElders before I leave Monday. Janine thank you very much for the demonstration of the typical missionary experience with Tatu and Patu. It was so funny and I absolutely loved it. Thanks for letting me know that I'll be getting those packages in Denver. I was getting a little worried, but good to know that they won't get stuck at the MTC without me here to claim them.

Well, I guess I'll tell you a little bit about my week. Really nothing crazy exciting happened. That's kinda how the MTC is. Elena, this week I only had three wraps and two salads, my lowest number yet. I'm excited to get to the field so I can cook my own food again. 

On Tuesday we had a Devotional by Elder Rex D. Pinegar, it was great. The single most important thing I learned this week, well honestly almost everything I learned this week was about being a fiery greenie when I hit the field and having a hunger to teach. Most things I read or heard just came back to that. So I've resolved that I'm going to be a fiery greenie. I really hope I have a good obedient Trainer. If not well he's in for a shock. I'm not gonna think I'm the man and that I know everything because I just got out of the MTC. He does know more about the area, and the mission field then I do, so I'll be humble, but if he doesn't follow rules then that would be a fun Tuesday!!

So I've started reading the New Testament just last week, because I finished the Book of Mormon, and I absolutely love the New Testament! Reading about the life of Christ and the Apostles is really interesting. I'm glad that I've done that.

Anyway I'm sorry, but I really don't have much to say, I'm a little too excited by the thought of leaving on Monday! I love you all, and I'm sure next weeks Email will be much longer.

Les Amo Muchisimo

Elder Redd

Capitulo 8

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 8

Hola Todos! Muchas Gracias por las cartas que yo recibe este semana. Muchas Gracias a Tia Linda, Elena, Janine y Benjamin, y mis Padres. Este Semana fue loco ahora hay 56 missioneros en mi districto! y recibe nuevo missioneros dos semanas a pronto.

Well, that's really exciting for the Thompsons, I know they've been trying to get a job somewhere else for a long time. Tell them congrats from me in case they don't read my emails, and tell them to send me a dearelder. Katie is the only sister who hasn't written me! Also very exciting to hear about all the babies in the Redd family. Also say hello to Jeff for me, I guess he's coming home today!! Nice to hear that I've got pictures and a bag in the mail. Muchas Gracias!!

OK, Elena you need to stop telling me about food in your letters. I work very hard to eat healthy in here, and it’s hard enough with all the missionaries in my zone trying to feed me brownies and cake every night. So I definitely don't need you tempting me with thoughts of Pad Thai and Scone Sundays!!! That does sound like a lot of fun with the food festival. I will never eat the potatoes here. They are all nasty and come out of a can. I might eat those if I was starving to death, but seeing as how I'm very well fed right now on my salads, wraps, soup, and rice I won't be touching potatoes. Also I will be careful. 

Well, it sounds like Janine and Benjamin had very different MTC experiences from mine. First: I've never worked in the call center and to my knowledge I won’t over the next week. I'm not sure what it was like way back when, in the time they were in the MTC, but now we actually have permanent call centre missionaries. They are probably the most diligent, patient missionaries in the world. Most of them have some sort of physical disability. I've talked to some of them, and they are just amazing people. Also the term discretionary time is alien to my ears. I don't have discretionary time. I have about three hours of self directed study a day, but I'm so busy that I fill all that time up easily. The only discretionary time I have is from 9:30 to 10:15 before bed and I almost always exercise during that time.

I've got a little bit of news, I got my travel plans yesterday!!! I leave on August the sixth at 5:00 AM to the airport. My flight leaves at 8:30. So I can probably call you and talk for about 20 minutes around 7:30. I'm so excited to go out and hit the field. I'm also a little excited to leave the MTC but I do still love this place. I'm just so excited to go to Denver! This week we also had a really interesting experience teaching a lesson only using questions. That was interesting, but it really was great to work out concerns.

OK, so if you at all have an opportunity to tell this to the young men please do. You need to have everything worked out before you get here. This week I saw a missionary go home who I had thought was completely and utterly solid. It was a shock to see him go home. He said he's going to try to come back out. The Lord needs more missionaries and I've seen too many people who go home whether they aren't ready physically, mentally, spiritually or emotionally. We need more missionaries. Tell the young men that they need to prepare now. I've realized how unprepared I was and I don't want anyone else to feel that. If they can start preparing now, they will be such amazing missionaries.

This week in my study I learned about keeping my eye single to glory of God, and what that phrase actually means. I've learned that when it's time to focus on my studies, or on my language, I need to focus completely on my study. I can think of other things on P-day, meal times and personal time. Apart from that I need to be 100% focused on my purpose as a missionary.

Well, I love you all so much everybody, I love hearing from you. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve that Lord and I know this gospel is true.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Rojo

Week 7

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 7

Hola Familia,

Yo creo que este semana es 7 pero so estoy seguro, tiempo no existen en el CCM!! Pero me gusta mucho. Estoy aprendiendo mucho sobre Español y el Evangelio Tambien.

Well, now that I've written my weekly little Spanish blurb to show that I am in fact learning Spanish I'll switch to English. Today on Wednesday another District left, and my district is now the oldest District in our Zone!! It was really weird to be singing Hasta Ver for them and remembering our first Sunday when we sang it for Elder Olman. One of my best MTC friends was in that district, Elder Clawson. He was hilarious, and now he's gone. It feels really strange to be the oldest district, and time is just racing. It almost feels like I wrote you yesterday. At the same time however, so much has happened this week.

I'm very excited to get out and hit the field, although I do still love the MTC. Maybe that's a slight exaggeration and I'm saying it to make me feel better. I'm very excited to get out, but I'm keeping my attitude good. There are a few things that I still enjoy about this place. The food is definitely not one of them. However, I've deviated slightly. I ate rice a few times and I had a bratwurst yesterday. Apart from that, it’s still wraps with the occasional bowl of soup. This is addressed to Elena: I WILL NEVER TOUCH THE CASSEROLES!!!!!! not for any price could you make me touch the casseroles.

Anyway on Wednesday I tracked Elder Bullock down. I didn't get to host him, but I just figured out his schedule so I could find him. Thank you for the cookies, they were great and I shared them with everyone in my zone. Speaking of Packages would it be possible to send me a new bag? Through a series of unfortunate events my bag has fallen apart. Could you send me one?

Anyway Snitney and I have figured out that we have temple walk at the same time, so we usually meet up and talk when we're there. It’s great to see family and Snitney is really funny. I've also ran into Elder Hudson a few times but not near as much as I had hoped. Just curious, am I going to be getting any family pictures?

So this week we had Devotional by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone an Emeritus Seventy. My favourite part of the talk was when he read from Ruth 1. I forget the verse but the one that says entreat me not to leave thee. I really liked it and that's what we should say to the Saviour.

I should be getting my travel plans probably next Thursday, so next week I should know when I'm leaving and when I can call you.

Sorry this email has been shorter than some of my others I love you all and can't wait to hit the field

Les amo mucho!

Elder Rojo

Week 6

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 6

Hola Familia!!

Yo estoy muy animado para ustedes!! Yo creo que estan habiendo un muy bien tiempo sin me. Esperomente usted puede me entienden, mi Español esta progressando, y mi districto y yo estamos tratando HSI siempre!  (for those of who speak Spanish yes I just learned gerund's so that's why I used so many)

Sorry for not answering your question earlier, but yes I did get the Almonds! Thank you so much it was nice to have healthy snacks and I also liked the mangos mucho!  If you want to send me a package I'm not gonna complain but I wouldn't really want food or anything, and my suitcases are probably approaching the weight limit with all the books I've gotten. So really it might just be better to send me something once I get to Denver in a few weeks. Thank you so much for the other package though I really loved the Canada towel its pretty awesome, and I kinda needed a second towel anyway one wasn't enough.

Dad to answer your questions-no we really don't get much time outside. We can go out for gym and I do that occasionally so this week I went running around the field with Elder Bailey. He's in my zone and he runs marathons, so yeah I kept up with him for as long as I could. I've played softball a couple times. The first day 6 my American buddies were making fun of me because, well I have no idea how to do anything in baseball. I've actually gotten a lot better and I'm not half bad now. Most of the time I like to play basketball though because it can be too hot outside here. Apart from gym we have our temple walk on Sundays. I usually meet up with snitney and we talk because we have it at the same time. And Elder Rollins and I usually study outside during personal study but apart from that I'm pretty much inside all day. Also yes I am allowed to call from the airport it is by no means against the rules. I'll let you know when I have my travel plans about what time I can call. Honestly I don't care that much about the cabinet in the office but if you want to send me some family pictures that would be great, because I have zero. It would be nice to have some pictures of the Ibbi's and I guess you could throw some other pictures in there. Chiste!! Send me pictures of everyone please but not on email if you could mail me some I would love that. Also It's super exciting to hear about your papers going in mom and dad! And Marc I'm excited for him!

Janine thanks for the letter, you are my favourite sister this week! In answer to your question, for breakfast I really don't have much choice. I have gym first thing in the morning three days a week. I just go to the sack meal line and have a bottle of skim milk with a whole wheat bagel. The two mornings a week that I have real breakfast, I usually eat oatmeal with almonds and a bit of cinnamon. Occasionally I'll have oatmeal and granola too. It's also nice to hear you’re enjoying work, and that you're going corrupt by selling spots off on the energy priority list.

Its great to hear that the stampede is fun and your enjoying the free meals everywhere. I've actually had a lot of fun telling everyone here about the stampede and how awesome it is. But make sure you have fun there for me!

OK so now that I've dealt with that, I'll tell you whats been happening here with me. I was called to be the district leader last week and I'm now five days in. It's hard. It adds more responsibility and takes away from a lot of my study time, but I'm really enjoying it and I've learned a lot in only five days.

Apart from the district leader stuff I've learned a lot from my study as well. I got to teach a lesson with my district and I'm gonna briefly summarize it to you. I read from Alma 29 the one where he says "Oh that I were an angel" there are some great scriptures in there, both for missionaries and everyone else. For anyone who has received a mission call and feels a little choked, I know I did for a little while read in I believe verse 6 when he says "but why should I desire more than the Lord has given me" or something like that. It's a really powerful scripture and I am so excited to go to Denver even though it might not be as exciting as some missions I know that it will be a wow mission despite what other people may say. For anyone else read, in I think verse three, when Alma says that he sins in his desire. That was really cool when I read it. it makes me realize how far we all have to come. if we can reach the point where that is our sinful desire then we're in pretty good shape, I hope that i can get to that point someday. I've met a lot of missionaries in here and it is so easy to tell the ones who are ready to serve and those who are here because their parents made them I would strongly recommend that anyone preparing for a mission should read this chapter.

So this week in devotional we had a fantastic talk by Elder Robert R. Steur of the Seventy. It was an absolutely amazing talk. He talked about words and their roots and how we need to dig deeper into words like commitment (in Spanish it’s Compromiso which means with promise). He also talked about excuses, fear, and how we can be become better missionaries. One quote I really liked was as follows "Any excuse no matter how valid, always weakens character." It really made me realize that as missionaries we don't have an excuse not to knock on that last door or talk to that person on the street. What do we have to be afraid of? The worst thing that can happen is they yell at us and don't want to talk to us. Right at the end of the talk he shared a poem that I really like. "A fly may bite a stately horse and make it wince a time or two, but I fly is still a fly, and a stately horse is still a stately horse." He changed this a little bit and said that we are still men of God. Despite trials we face on our mission or people not accepting the gospel we are still men of God and have a calling to fulfill. I loved this talk and I'm trying to apply these principles in my missionary work.

I can't wait to get to Denver, although I am still loving the MTC!

Les Amo Mucho!!

Elder Rojo

MTC Half Way

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo Cinco

Thankyou so much for the package it didn't actually come until yesterday July 5th, and I really needed to see some Canadian things after the over patriotism of the 4th of July. It was cool even if all the Americans in my Zone were being really annoying that day, we got to watch fireworks and stay up late!! which just made me more tired yesterday.

Yesterday we had a new district come in, and Elder Rollins and I got new roommates in our tiny room. Basically our room is half the size of all the other rooms and we now have the same amount of elders in it. We have no space. Unfortunately with the coming of this district we lose the second Chilean district on Monday, that's gonna be really sad, I love almost all of those elder's. Just kidding I love them all. I'm sad that they're leaving but Estoy Bien. On a crazy freaky totally insane note. I'M HALFWAY DONE THE MTC!!! which is pretty exciting.

Oh side note if Sister Gedlaman wouldn't mind letting Tyler know, half of my MTC district is going to Toronto. I don't think I'd mentioned that before, and when they go I'm going to send a present for them to give to him. Also let him know that these elders are amazing and he should be excited I hope he gets to train or at least be companions with one of them. Their names are Elder Prochnow, Elder Dial, and Elder Flygare. If he isn't allowed to know that and I just told a terrible secret -yo tengo culpa.

Well it sounds like the reunion was a lot of fun WITHOUT ME. It sounds like no tears were shed over my absence and you had a great time. That's good, I had a great time here too except that I got sick on Monday. That was annoying pero yo estoy muy bien ahora! Stop worrying Mom I took all my pills and I feel great.

Speaking to mom you'll be pleased to hear that I am getting enough protein. I have grilled chicken breast in all my wraps so I get enough. You'll also be pleased to hear that I'm exercising all the time and have defied the norm and actually lost weight in the MTC. I've lost eight pounds so far and I plan to bring that down so I can have no memories of the freshman 15. Along the lines of food I have tried a few different things. I ate a Gyro yesterday and had some rice and stir fry last Saturday. It was pretty disappointing though so I'm pretty much sticking to wraps and salads.

I don't really know how to describe Elder Perry's talk it was pretty much statistics of how the gospel blesses lives: like how Mormons have an longer life expectancy, Mormons on average are more satisfied with their life and such. The part of the talk that was really awesome was when he bore testimony. It's always great to hear the testimony of one of the apostles, but in person it just seemed so much more powerful.

So this week for our devotional Elder Yoshihiko Kokuchi an Emeritus Seventy came and spoke to us. He gave a great talk about being perfectly obedient at all times in our mission and how this will help us be more successful as missionaries. The spirit really bore witness to me that if I am perfectly obedient I will be a better missionary. As such I now wake up before 6:30 everyday and am in bed before 10:30. I make sure I spend all my study time studying and always seek for revelation on how I can do better. At the end of the talk He spoke about the how the most important thing we can bring home from our mission's is a true relationship with Christ, because it's something that never leaves. His hand is always there, we just need to reach out and take it.

I know that this church is true and I know that my Father in Heaven wants me to be here on a mission, I can't wait to start sharing the gospel with people when I get to Denver.

Les amo muchisimo

Elder Rojo

P.S. please please send me my field address in a dearelder asap I need to give it to the Chileans who leave on Monday

P.P.S I heard that the state of Colorado is on fire can you tell me what's going on there?

Me cuarto email

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo cuatro

Hola Familia!

Whoah time is flying by it feels like I just had pday yesterday! But I guess that's what they mean when they say the mission goes by quickly. There's alot to talk about in this week's email, so please forgive my complete and utter lack of grammer (Mikyla) (I have fixed the grammar errors I could see to make this easier to read. Peter was correct to apologize!! and I apologize for my incomplete editing-Jim). Anyways thank you for the letters mother and father. It's true- It's more fun to get dearElders than emails, still email me especially when I'm in the field, but just send me updates with dearElder while it's still available. Thanks to Mikyla for her letter. Thank you Emily, it's great to hear how the boys are doing. Thank you Blake, Jaima and Ivy, speaking of which- someone tell them about my blog. I don't think they know about it. Also thanks to the Gedlaman's– I really enjoyed the letters.

Ok so now i'll tell you a little bit about this week. As you may know this week was the mission presidents seminar so all the apostles and the First Presidency were in the Mtc at one time or another. That was really cool. The negative side effect of having them was that they closed off half the cafeteria and they didn't have wraps, I was so sad. But! because they were all in the MTC we had an awesome devotional on Tuesday. Ten of the apostles were there! the only ones who weren't there were Elder Hales and President Packer because they're both sick. It was really funny because Elder Rollins and I were sitting down and there wasn't really anyone on the stage. Then we saw some older gentlemen walking in the back doors right next to the stage. I turned to Elder Rollins and said, "That looks suprisingly like Elder Oaks, and that looks suprisingly like Elder Andersen! and that bald man looks just like Elder Cook. OH MY GOSH IT'S Elder HOLLAND!!!!!!!! For anyone who doesn't know missionaries absolutely love Elder Holland and Elder Bednar. Elder Perry spoke and it was a really good talk not at all what I was expecting, but the devotional was awesome. You could literally feel the power of the witness of the apostles.

So let me briefly tell you why missionaries absolutely love Elder Holland and Elder Bednar. I know that I love them because they have given some of the most powerful talks to missionaries in the MTC. I've seen two taped talks that they only show in the MTC. One from Elder Bednar entitled "Character of Christ" and one by Elder Holland that I don't know the title, apparently anyone who's been in the MTC since 1998 has seen the Elder Holland talk its so good and directly for missionaries. We also love Elder Holland and Elder Bednar because when they talk to missionaries they are hilarious!! I don’t think I can talk about it on an email though so you don't get to know for two years mwahaha!!

Dad you'll be pleased to hear that I ran into some missionaries headed to Thailand this week. I came up to them and said "Sawa ti kup" (I know I'm evil because thats inaccurate but whatever) They then proceeded to speak fluent thai to me and I was thoroughly lost, but it was cool. I told them about our trips to Thailand and how you served there, and how friendly the people were. It was really cool.

Janine you'll be pleased to hear that I ran into some Finnish Elders this week I talked to them about how you served there and asked how the language was. It was pretty darn cool to talk to people who are going to your mission. After I talked, I said "Quitos" (yeah yeah misspelled I know) and they thought it was cool that I knew I tiny bit of Finnish.

This week I also was able to meet Schwester Young when she came in on wednesday, I just sat outside the arrival thing and ambushed her and her host. It was nice to see some family and talk a little with someone from Canada. Seriously, the americans are getting a wee bit tiresome because they cannot pronounce mountain or any word that has a T in the middle properly.

Well that's about it for my email this week, please keep sending letters!

Les amo mucho

Elder Rojo

Mi Tercero Email

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo Capitulo 3

Hola Familia y Amigos,

Well it has been a pretty good week at the MTC, I'm tired, but i've excepted that I'm just going to be tired for the next two years and I'm starting to adjust. First off thankyou for sending letters it really helps you stay sane here when you get letters. Elena wins the prize this week because she sent me the most so when I get to Denver remind me Elena and I'll send you something Denverian. Thanks Em it was really fun to read about the boys and how their doing. Madre y padre estoy agradecio que ustedes gusta sus Vacacion.

  

So this week our oldest district left us for Chile, I'm gonna miss those guys, especially elder's Gill, Hughes, Crossman, and Barnes. Our ZL's were in that district so we also got some new ones Elder Case and Elder Hunt. Dad you asked why I loved my District and my Zone so much, it all started on our first week when I was so lost and felt so weird, I was still super excited and I was loving it but as the only Canadian it was a little weird. They've all been so welcoming and so nice. I'm firmly convinced that we have the most loving zone in the whole MTC.

So this week I ran into Elder Hudson. Actually that's inaccurate, I tracked him down. I went to the information desk and asked where he was- they couldn't tell me that- they could only tell me when he ate so I figured out what schedule he was on then found what building he was in and found him. It was awesome to see Spencer and talk for awhile. I passed on the knowledge I've gained in my short time here. I've also ran into Elder Steele several times, and I ran into Graham Johnson the day before he left, so its been nice just to see people from home.

In answer to the questions I've received about the food, no I haven't found anything else I like to eat because it's all either unhealthy or really doesn't agree with me. So my meal plan has stayed pretty much the same: skim milk, a banana, and bagel for breakfast and wraps for salads for dinner and sometimes soup.

And Elena so you can stop hounding me. I can't actually send pictures from the MTC I've taken a fair amount but you'll have to wait until I get to Denver to see them.

And on to my stories for the week

This week was our first TRC where we teach a lesson to members, it was so much nicer than all the other teaching we do because they take pity on us and speak in english when We're totally lost and they help us with our Spanish instead of saying "que?" whenever we say something wrong. But that was really enjoyable, we also had a great fireside from Elder Lynn Robbins of the Seventy he talked about what we should take to the field with us from the MTC. he said that we should be "Oros" or golden ones filled with as Janine Called it "Greenie fire" who are so excited to do the work. I'm starting to realize just how excited I am to go to the field I love the MTC even though its super hard, but when I get out to the field and get to start street contacting and all that. Soy muy animado! Another quick reason that I love our Zone so much. Whenever someone from our zone leaves the MTC whether for medical reasons (Which has actually happened twice already) or to go to their mission's we sing "Hasta Ver" or “God be with you till we meet again” although its way better in Spanish. We sang it last sunday for our departing district and everyone in the zone actually got really emotional, but it was also a great testament to the truth of what we're doing here. When we're doing the Lord’s work it really brings us closer together. I'd only known those elders for a week and a half and it was almost as sad as when I parted with my friends last year.

Well i'm running out of time. We don't have much here so I'll conclude. I love you all and keep sending letters. I love hearing from you. 

Hasta Ver, 

Elder Rojo


(Sorry we didn't get these posted earlier. We just got home Monday and have been jet lagged. We didn't have internet access in our hotel room for the last four nights of our trip)