Hello Elder!

Hey Elder Loosle!

Hope you're doing well. Granted, we've no doubt you're killing it out there because of your solid upbringing and your family's love for the Utah State Aggies! (jokes)

Well, we're sitting around the table right now after church realizing we haven't been supporting our missionaries enough. So, we've asked the kids what questions they had for the missionaries we know. Here's what we came up with (mostly the kids!):

• What's the craziest thing you've eaten so far? 
• Have you been able to teach anyone who decided to get baptized? Any story you can tell us? 
• Are there lots of kids in your ward?
• Do peoples cell phones ring during church? 
• Do you get to take hot showers or cold showers on your mission? 
• Have you made any new friends there? 
• Can you or your companion cook? Who cooks the most and what do you eat?
• How is your Spanish? Have learned anything other than Spanish? 

Anyway, we're grateful for your service and hope and pray for our missionaries as a family. Hope you feel that support! Sending a pic of the family too so that you remember who we are (granted, I have a beard now... cause why not! Ha!).

Much love,
Jon and the rest of the Bacon's (Michelle, Marcus, Seth and Lucy)

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So, first off, to answer the questions....

• What's the craziest thing you've eaten so far? Well, here people eat grasshoppers with like a salsa and spices on it call chapulines. They don't taste that bad actually... Here's a link to a picture. http://www.elementaloaxaca.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chapulines.jpg
• Have you been able to teach anyone who decided to get baptized? Any story you can tell us? Actually I've been blessed with a lot of success in that aspect. A baptism that we had recently was of a young girl who we found who was actually friends with some members, and had attended church before. She went to church with us, then to EFY (still as an investigator) and then a few weeks later got baptized! Now we are teaching her mom and she is preparing for her baptism on the 8th of July!
• Are there lots of kids in your ward? There are a decent amount. We have about 100 to 115 that come out to church every week, like 15 being primary aged, another 10 being youth, and so while it is not extremely huge, we are still able to have them help us in the work!
• Do peoples cell phones ring during church? Sometimes, and even sometimes during the sacrament! Goodness people, is it that hard to turn your phone off?
• Do you get to take hot showers or cold showers on your mission? In some areas, my first two, I have only had cold water, but in this area and my last area I have had hot water. I even have a washer AND A DRYER now!!! Because I am in the offices, I can use the washer and dryer from here to wash my clothes.
• Have you made any new friends there? A BUNCH!!! At first it was hard, for language and being super isolated from other missionaries, so I missed my friends at home a lot. But now I have a bunch of friends, and being a secretary has helped me get to know like almost every missionary! So, I really hope to have all of these friends after I go back home!
• Can you or your companion cook? Who cooks the most and what do you eat? We both can cook, but he really likes cooking rice... And not much more. Bananas with cheese as well, that is boiled bananas. He has interesting tastes in food, but he is from Peru and that is what they eat in his home town. So it is fun! I normally make simple stuff, eggs, pancakes, some sort of chicken stuff, mac and cheese, but sometimes we get fancy
• How is your Spanish? Have learned anything other than Spanish? Well, I've got Spanish down, thanks to a lot of practice and a lot of help from God. But the fun part about Oaxaca is that there are lots of little dialects that there are towns where they only speak that. Almost no Spanish. I learned a few words of a more popular one called Zapotec. Caadxi'ga' (Chawie chawie) means little by little.

So, thanks for the email! And I understand that while many times we might not write the missionaries, you can still support them in many other ways, like prayers and those are definitely felt from down here in Oaxaca! Thanks for everything!

Week 63: Lots of work here in the offices...

Well, this week there has been lots going on here in the offices but it has very little to do with my work as a secretary. While I do have work still, because we are getting ready to receive the new president, so there are a bunch of workers here in the offices who are making a bunch of renovations to the offices to make them look very nice for the new President Conde. For me it just means that we have to stay here while they are working, and while they are working on the computers and stuff I have to do other stuff, so one thing that we have done is shred A BUNCH OF PAPERS!! And so there are some pictures for y'all.

Anyways, well I have had a lot of thoughts recently about things that I am doing to try and get better, and while there are sometimes we just really feel like we are messing everything up, and we can't do anything right, God is always there to help us.

 I've been having some hard times with the office work here, and wanting to be able to get more time working in our area, but not being able to, and while a lot of times there are many things that can frustrate us, I know that God will always help us. If we have the desire to get better and make it back to Him, He will be there guiding us and encourage us. If we fall, He isn't going to beat us down so we can't get up, He will lead us on and help us up, so that we can keep on going. I have thought of it like a baby learning how to walk. We are all learning how to walk, but when we fall, like all babies do as they are trying to walk, their parents don't ask why did you fall and make them feel terrible for not being able to walk. They show them that they can get back up again. Help them to try again. Maybe to fall again, but to eventually through the loving help of loving parents, they can make it to walking, and even running, without having to worry about tripping over themselves. I know that we all have a loving Heavenly Father who will forgive you. And He will help you to reach your true potencial. I hope all y'all have a wonderful week and keep doing great things!

Thanks for the support! Have a great week!

Week 62: Wedding!

NOTE:  Jason wrote 2 emails this day:

Well, this week has been super fun! We were able to see a Mexican wedding (very different from weddings in the states) and help out some great people who will get baptized in this coming month!
So with the pictures, we to Monte Alban again and well I realized that on the 20 peso Mexican bill it has Monte Alban! So that is one picture.

Then I have a bunch of random Monte Alban pictures with other missionaries because ALL OF THE MISSIONARIES IN THE CITY went with us! We were like 70 missionaries almost!

We also had the wedding of Victor and Pati! They'll get baptized in a few weeks, but first they had to get married and now they want things to settle down to be sure of their decision. After the wedding, we helped set up for a party and I started making balloon animals and made a dog and a TURTLE!!! HOW COOL!

Before they got married we had a family home evening with them! That is a few of the other pics!

Anyways, this week has been pretty bust with a lot of office work and work for our area, but it is nice to have a calm Pday, where we are just relaxing to help us rest and finish up a bit of work we have here in the offices. Because the assistants are out of town, so it is just my comp and I and we didn't really feel like doing anything crazy. BUT!

I do have a super awesome experience I would like to share with all y'all. So, one of our investigators was robbed this last week and she was just completely furious and she was feeling like she didn't want to hear anything more of the gospel or anything because she just was angry and wanted to hurt the person that robbed her, because she had an idea of who it was. But she let us give her a blessing and bless her house so that she could be able to be more in tune to the spirit of God, and she told us the next morning, that saying that prayer with her daughter, who is a recent convert really helped her feel the relief she needed. Also we helped her learn how to read better! It really showed me the power of prayer and priesthood blessing. Really there are 2 ways that people work miracles, by faith and through the priesthood. And if we put them both together, we will be able to accomplish anything that God wants us to. Remember that there are loads of people who love y'all and want to help!

Have a great week!

Week 62: Ok, so I don't have a lot of time...

Well today we have a bunch of stuff planned so writing time kinda got shortened.... But that doesn't mean I don't care about y'all, it just means President wants do to a bunch of stuff and it is my comps birthday so we have loads of plans XD

Also, no pictures because my camera got stolen.... By the sister missionaries XD They were using my camera and then never gave it back to me because they accidentally put it in their bag... But that is Ok, they will give it back to me tomorrow...

But this week has overall been good! I have been trying to focus on what I can do to keep getting better, and well I learned last night in a FHE that we had, that you need to really put time into the people that you are with, whoever they be so that you can really be their friends and help them while they help you!

But for now, that is all, I may send another email later with more stuff but yeah, have a great week!

Week 61: Small Email...

Lol sorry XD, but, it does seem like a cool set up! I hope you are all doing well! And that everything is great with Alyssa back at her house! Also, I may or may not have time to write a decent weekly email, so I will try but it may be small... Sorry, we have a lot planned for today but next week we won't be doing a bunch, so I'll be able to write more.

Week 60: Visiting Ruins! And TRANSFERS!

Well today was super fun! We went in the morning to go to Monte Alban, some ruins that are very large on a big hill here in the city, and so that is basically all the pictures...

Also we had a combined district meeting for the last week of the transfer, so I took a picture. So, the pictures are a bit random, but it was a fun week! Also, the member that is in the pictures with us at Monte Alban, is our recent convert Freddy.




But this week has gone by super fast, but also slow... We have had a lot of work in the offices and a lot of problems with technology, which is a problem when you are working on a computer.... But we haven't been able to leave that much which is kind of rough... But we are keeping our investigators up and progressing! It is just hard when we leave so much.

This week I have been focusing on what things I can do to get better, not because I am terrible, but I have realized as I focus on what I lack, I can fix it little by little so that I can be a better missionary and person! But something I have realized is that as I fix something I start to recognize other small things I can be doing a bit better. And while it might make some people think that it is overwhelming, it actually helps me to know I am getting closer to who my Heavenly Father wants me to be!

The ways that we will be able to achieve that potential that He has for us, is when we are constantly devoted to talk with Him, and seek answers from Him. I know that we can all achieve our purpose in life and our divine potential.

Also, we got a new assistant today! Elder Knapp, because Elder Caballero is leaving to go to Juchitán! And so I'll send pictures with him next week! Sorry the email isn't long... I just kinda ran out of stuff to say... While we were busy, not a lot happened...

Week 59: LITTLE CAESER'S!!!!!

Little Caesar's opened up!!! We went on Tuesday night, and it was PACKED! I got a picture! It is actually just as good as the states though... But! Let's get to the pictures first!

Well the Little Caesar's... OBVIOUSLY

Also I took a picture of our white board we have here in the offices that we fill with quotes. I'll translate a couple, the top one says,

"The power of a magician {missionary}, resides in his empty fist {head}, and his ability to make his audience {president} believe that said fist {head} is full." 

The next one in the orange I really like too!

You need to go to bed early to be able to go to bed early. 

But if you want more, talk to my friend google translate cuz I've only got so much time to do it right now...

One is of my companion because it was the first time he has ever eaten cereal with bananas... Or cold cereal in his life...

And then the last ones are of our baptism that we had this week!!! Well this morning! And it was super great! My comp spent a while drawing on a white board while we were waiting for the baptismal font to fill up.... But it was a great baptism!!!

But this last week has been a good week! Oh, I should say I was with president today for a while, because we had a goodbye thing for Elder Caballero who won't be assistant anymore and so we threw a party and president gave me a bit of time right now to write.

Also big news, by the time you read this, I'll probably be an UNCLE!!! ¡¡¡TÍO!!! Because as I am writing this, she is in the hospital getting ready to have my niece!!!

Also fun stuff, this morning there was an earthquake! Idk where the epicenter was but it was kinda strong here, I could feel one big shake that made me kinda worried, cuz I was on the second floor of a concrete building, and so I got up but as I stood up it stopped. My companion is not as used to earthquakes so he totally flipped out XD But that is ok.

Anyways, this week has been a good week because we have been able to keep planning for the investigators we have so that they keep progressing and also, we have been able to find a few new investigators and old ones we were dropping but all of the sudden are progressing a lot! And so that is good! We also have some baptismal dates that are scheduled for next month!

Anyways, something that I have learned this week is that we have to really always be constant. Because it is when we are having ups and downs that Satan can hurt us more, as well as if we are constant, we will be able to continually learn and our spiritual progress will be a lot more, because we won't have to redo or retrace parts. Also something very important is that we are always trying to get closer to our Father in Heaven and not just be like, ehh, I'm fine. But that is about the time I have to I'll talk to y'all later!

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Elder Loosle

Secretario de Misión

Misión Mexico Oaxaca