E-mail #46: Just being me.....

Hey mama!

Thank you so much for the money. Elder Castañeda and I went shopping today. We both bought new shoes and went to lunch. It was really fun! I bought some shoes that were like $630. Really good! We went to a place thats called "Los Trompos" We ate Pizza al Pastor! So yummy!!! Its a type of meat they put on pizza with pinneaple. Yum!

So this week was crazy! You know about the hurricane. Well it was supposed to hit REALLY hard in Cancùn. They said it was a Degree 3. So Prez pulled ALL misionaries out of Cancùn, Playa del Carmen, and Chetumal! It was crazy because we had to rent two big buses. It was like almost a hundred missionaries. So we put them all in areas in Mèrida. So at one time we had almost the WHOLE mission here. Like 150 missionaries in the Stake Center! So we took advantage and fixed all of our problems with Immigration. But turns out the hurricane wasnt that bad. Everybody went home this morning. We had an extra 8 misionaries here! It sucked. They were all nerds! Except for Elder Babbit, he is from Arizona! We had fun! But we ended up spending like $5,000 dollars! Crazy how the church will spend money. But Prez said it didnt matter how much it cost he wanted his missionaries to be safe.

Last night we had a "Movie Night" it was fun. We had 4 investigators come. I have to speak tomorrow in church. That should be fun. Im going to speak about The Book of Mormon. This months Liahona is really good!

Im thinking about buying a suit next Saturday. We didnt have time today. Well see. Their like 100 bucks :)

I really really like the chargers tie! Im gonna wear it on Superbowl Sunday! Haha! That really sucks that the Chargers lost. We`ll beat them on Manday :)

O! Were moving out of the offices! Well the Assistants are going to be companions in an area. There going to buy a house. Elder Vinay and I bought a house. Its big! We wanted a bigger one that had a tub but we were to late. It kinda sucks that we have to move out, it will be better for Vinay and me. We will be forced to bond better. We will have a nice huge house all to ourselves. So we will study and eat there and at ten in the morning we will walk to the offices then go to work at 2. Im excited! :) But im gonna miss messing around. Haha!

Well another crazy week down! How are my shirts? Did you find any with the adjustable neck? If not, I think I need a 17 1/2. There a little tight. Might be cause Im fat again! Haha Try and find them please :)))) I dont know if your trying to suprise me with an Ipod but I would like it so that i can put music on it. Cause the office computer has LOTS of good music. Well I guess well see! I love ya tons! Love MO

ZOO TRIP

20 pesos

E-Mail #45: So my crazy office story of the week....

Hey Mama!

This week was seriously the fastest week in the mish! It went by soooo fast! So my crazy office story of the week....

There is a companionship here in Mérida. They have always lived in the same house for 8 years. The owner lady finally went back after 5 years to look at the house. The house was a little messed up. Had a couple of problems. (Still in pretty good shape though!) So she came to the offices like a month ago. Really pissed! She wanted to renew the contract and wanted us to fix it all. I told Prez that I wanted us to leave this house because she is crazy!!!! So he said thats fine. He told her that we would be out by the 20 of Oct and everything in the house would be fine. Well here it was 17 of Oct and we hadnt done anything. I got pretty yelled at in our meeting. He had no faith in me that we could get this done. So we went to the house. Found a member that could help us out for real cheap. I couldnt get a hold of her allll week. So I was like ok, were good. I told the missionaries to leave that house. Then the day before she calls me. Saying that she went to the house and that nothing had been done. She was pissed. Then I got pissed! Then I was like wait Im a missionary. I cant be pissed! UGH!!!!!! Long story short we showed up to give her the keys. But we had to do work like pull weeds and clean the house. I HATE dealing with the owners! Hate it! But its all good! She is gone now! :)

So I will be here up till Dec 26. The 26 is my day to leave. But I might be here for another transfer. Who knows! But yea Ill be here for christmas day and then Im leaving. So hopefully you will send some good stuff. :)

I got your package on Tuesday :) Seemed really fast! Everyone got a tie! Elder Muñoz loved his little book of mormon. He says thanks :) I love the blue tie. Its cool. The short sleeve shirt is ok. Just I need shirts that have the ajustable collar. If you could find ones that have a ajustable collar that would be perfect! But wow! There soo white! Compared to my other shirts! Haha! If fits really good everywere but the neck. It works though. Please try to find a brand that has the ajustable collers :)))) Your card was funny too. The G`s are good too :)

This week was good! We have a person to teach! She is a single Mom and has three kids. She wants to be babtized!!! Yea! So were teaching her right now. Garcia and Muñoz are having a babtizm tonight, so were going to take her. Last week was cool. Prez sends a letter to ALL missionaries almost every week. In it he says to LOOK for families. The goal this month and november is to babtize a family. Well last night we found out that she has a 8 year old boy. So hopefully he will go to the babtizm tonight. :) The area that Im in now hasnt always been the best. All the secreatarys tell me that it sucks and nobody really ever has success here. So in our meeting on Monday Prez asked if we wanted to shut this one down and go to a new one. I didnt want to say well yea prez. This area sucks and Im not a good enough missionary to get it done here. So I told him that were gonna work hard for this area to stay open. But I think he is going to shut it down at the end of this change. Were just gonna work hard in the mean time :)

Garcia has a investigator that is from texas. He has lived her for 3 years and SUCKS at spanish. He is so much fun though! He wants to be babtized to get rid of his past but he has to stop smoking, drinking and get married! He is going to move to my area in like 3 weeks. Hopefully we get to teach him and babtized them ! :)

Im definately gonna need some more money for some shoes. Like 50 bucks more. I think Im gonna go next week to buy shoes and pants :) If anyone from the family wants to buy me a new suit that would be GREAT!!! Only like 100 bucks here :))) Spread the word :) Haha! But probably next week Ill go shopping :)

Another week down! Time is just going by!!!! Welll I love ya Mama! Tell Dad I said I love him and also binny! :)

Love, MO

Elder Garcia's birthday

I helped him out with the tradition -- shoving their face in the cake.

Some weird Halloween stuff

Letter from Elder Castaneda

_________________________________________________

A Note from Mom:

Yesterday, we received this awesome letter from Elder Castaneda. He was Chad's companion a little bit ago. He's also the one that just got sent to the Mission Office, so he is back with Chad (just not his companion). It was awesome to get this. He wrote it before he was sent to the Offices.

_________________________________________________

9/26/11

Hi! This is Elder Castaneda, I was Elder Mayberry's second companion! I just saw an empty envelope and I thought: "It's ok to give thanks sometimes"! Let me tell you (the whole family) that the time I spent with Elder Mayberry was just awesome, lots of fun, work and spirit, so I'm very grateful with him, and so with the amazing family he has. Thank you for being such a good example for your son, and supporting him to come here to the Mission, now he's doing great, he's just peaceful , he's now a very powerful missionary, thanks to the Lord and all of you.

I'm sure you know about the time when we had iguana, and you probably have the pictures of the ruins in Madero (the previous area where we both served), and many other fun pics, but let me tell you that those fun times we had, just couldn't have happened without Elder Mayberry being there, helping me and also teaching me some things. I'm just ..... grateful! Thank you for preparing that awesome missionary!

With love,
Elder Castaneda (The Missionary Cat !)

E-Mail #44: Wow I have really been gone for a year! Sometimes the time flys -- sometimes no.

My shirt burning

It's been a year !!

Hey Momma!

Wow I have really been gone for a year! Sometimes the time flys -- sometimes no. We had a nice night on thursday. I bought pizza and we had a party. Then we burned my shirt. It was way fun! This year is gonna be fun! And FAST! :)

The yard looks so sweet! I cant wait to be home to check it out! It was so good to see a cactus and brown! Haha I miss it! Dad is probably just wingin it.

Im pretty stoked that the Chargers are doing good. I would have told that cop some bad stuff. But good for you momma! Stupid sheriffs. He isnt even a cop! Haha! Im a little home sick right now. Just cause its that time. But Im doing really good!

This week sucked! I had lots of work in the offices and still have lots to do! I had to do a report for all babtizms in Aug and Sept. We didnt even get to go outside to work AT ALL! :( We found out that all of our investigators just dont really want to learn or dont have the desire to get babtized. We had interviews on Thursday as well. My interview with Prez was good. He said well now that you can speak spanish, you can express yourself. So you can talk to them and say what you want. It was cool. We still speak english!!! Grrrrr! Im trying really hard! I was sick this week. Well we are all sick. All 6 of us! I feel like crap and Im sooo tired!! Right now, after I write, were going to Madero. Just Elder Castañeda and me. Were going to go eat with Hno. Omar! Im so excited! Hopefully after Ill take a nap! Elder Vinay and I are ok. He is still sooo slow and we dont bond very well. The white guy is calming down a little bit. Prez sat us all down and said that we need to be more united! So were trying to do that! Haha

This week was crazy! Here in the offices you get to find out about all the gossip! Four missionaries went home! One because he was gay. He was doin the dirty with guys in bathrooms. Haha Poor guy cant talk to his family about it obviously. So Elder Muñoz and I took him to the airport. Then two zone leaders got sent home. The same area. We dont know what happened! Its sooo sad! Then a new kid went home cause his health isnt good! It was a crazy week! Lots of office crap!

So well..other than that Im good! Im happy and lovin life! I love ya guys so much. Miss ya a little bit! Have a wonderful week!!!

Love Mo

PS: So I want Dad to find me and him a tie. He can go buy 2 of the same one. Every fast sunday, Ill wear it and so can he! I want like a baby paisly tie! :) I think its a good idea! I dont know what you guys could do but maybe buy something for you girls for every fast sunday :)

So My shirt is called The Stafford super shirt. They do make them in short sleeve! Haha It has the ajustable neck. That what I like. There the best! :) Did you talk to grandma about some money for some new shoes? I want some fancy ones for sundays and conferences :) Tell kenna to put some sun glasses in my next box. I want some here to be a goof ball :) I gotta go Love ya mom!!!

Lunch with Hermano Mars & Rita

E-mail #43: Yesturday was crazy! I had to drive to Tixkokob.

Hey Mama !!

Sorry Im writing a little late. Yesturday was crazy! I had to drive to Tixkokob. Its a small pueblo outside of Mérida to open up a house for two new missionaries. I kinda got a little yelled at because I did´nt have the house all ready because the Elders were living in the Branch building. It was really fun! I went with Elder Vinay and Elder Castañeda. Yea! Castañeda my old companion is a new secretary! Elder Simi left! :( But Im happy for him! He is going to be a zone leader! Im so happy for him! Im so excited because Castañeda is here. He is gonna help me with a lot of stuff. He is sooo smart! Im excited! So transfers were on Sunday night! Wow!!! It truly was the longest week ever! Everyday was CRAZY!!!! We had to do sooo much stuff. And make sure everyone had a place to stay. I love my job in the offices on those days. Specially because I get to take all the visas from the new gringos. I get to take them to my offices and they sign paperwork. I always ask how there doing and if there alright. Because I remember my first night in México! Crazy! One of the new kids was a little nervous. He kinda cried a little bit, but I just told him not to worry and get lost in the work. He told me he cant stop thinking about home. I told him its normal but you will get to the point where you dont think about them. The only people you think about is your investigators and the members. He´ll be alright. I got to see him yesturday cause he had to sign another paper. He is doing better.

So we got a new assistent here in the offices because Elder Hawkins finished up the mish! Know we have Élder Jergensen. He is one of those typical Utah Mormons. Tall, Blond, Skinny, and just a hot shot. He thinks he can come here and change everything. He kinda got into it with Élder García yesterday. He told him that he needs to change. That kinda made us made. García is like my best friend here. We slept outside on the roof last night in our hammocks! It was sweet! Were gonna do it again tonight and Ill take some pics :)

So this week was kinda crappy for actual missionary work. We only had like 3 to 4 hours a day to work in the streets. So that kinda sucked. Élder Vinay is ok. We kinda fight sometimes. Because he is SOOOOO slow at everything! He is just one of those guys. I dont know. Im stuck with him for the next 3 months! Better make it work. Haha!

Ugh! Spanish..... so hard! To speak it here. Its a goal for this week!

Thats good that the Bolts won! Specially against the Fins! Sorry Bryan! Haha! Well I gotta write Kenna and then get to church!

Love ya ya Moma! Next week you will have a pic of a burnt shirt! :D

Love, Mo

Akari

the little girl that Chad found but didn't get to baptize

Roadtrip !!

With Elder Castenda & Vinay

Eliazar, the mission leader from Puerto

came to visit

E-Mail #42: So our babtizm went well except that we showed up to the church and there was NO water!

Baptism of Jovana & Diana

September 30, 2011

Whats up Mama!

So already a whole tranfer has gone by! The office is so fun!!!! I love it!

So our babtizm went well except that we showed up to the church and there was NO water! The Bishop was supposed to fill it the night before. We showed up and there was about a foot and a half of water and he thought we could still do it. Our Mission leader didnt show up. So we ended up going to the stake center to do the babtizm. But the bishop rushed us because there was a general relief society thing. So the Young women didnt get to sing there special song. :( This Bishop is a DWEEB! He made me confirm Diana 2 becuase I said In the name of Jesus Christ first. .....which is the correct way! Ugh! But the babtizm was good and beautiful. We really are blessed to have had that opportunity to teach them :)

So Monday President invited us to play basketball. I chipped another tooth. Good times! It was just a small one. Then we had a meeting and then we ate food. We ate carne asada and chilies! With bacon and cheese!!!!! SOOOOO good! It was really fun! AND prez has a ping pong table. YES! I got to play! It was so much fun!

So this week was good! We found some new people and taught a little more. We watched conference today in my office and it was good! We watched it in English and with air conditioning!!! I really like the talk from D. Todd Christofferson. About repentnce. P day was super fast but good. :) I think its the first time that I actually wanted to watch it. Tonight were going to priesthood. Tell Dad TO GO!!!!!! Haha

So thats good about the chargers! Just that Raiders are up! GRRRR!!!!!! I hope we beat the fins tommorrow!

Sorry its short Mama! But I got work to do. and we have presthood in like an hour. I love ya mama!

Basketball con Prezy

Presidente trying to stay out of the sun

Elders Simister, Gywen, Munoz, Mackey, Garcia

Vinay, Germaine

bottom row: Quintana and Hawkins