First Week With Elder Valdez

Hey how are you all??

Sounds like it was a good first day of school...I hope you all enjoyed it and it wasn’t too hot ;) Hayden and Keaton look super grown up. I laugh at Hayden's black socks just because my freshman year was when I HAD to start wearing black socks as well :) They both look super tall! Hayden who is your seminary teacher this year? Like I told you the day I left, don’t be too cool for seminary!!

It's been a good first week here with Elder Valdez. He is a funny guy who like never shuts up but it’s a nice refresher after Elder Vargas rarely talked ha. He played soccer before his mission and is athletic so are going to start running in the mornings starting tomorrow. I’m looking forward to that as I haven’t really ran since the MTC ha. Elder Valdez completes 20 months the day I complete 9 (which is absolutely crazy!!!!) so I am taking advantage of his experience to help me with my teaching and how to gain the trust of the members here in Hidalgo even more. 

This week of work was good. Since Elder Valdez is new here I have been dragging him around the sector and introducing him to all the families. We worked super hard this week and I was super proud of the work we accomplished in just a week together. We found another really cool family. The mom and one of the daughters are already members but haven’t been to church in some 20 years or so and don’t really remember anything. So we are helping them get back to activity and teaching the rest of the family as well. The rest of the family accepted baptismal dates but only the dad came to Church Sunday so the rest of family will have to wait to be baptized. There is a new rule here in the Mexico that all of the investigators have to go to church at least 5 times before they can get baptized. Before they only had to go twice. So the people we find this week, if everything goes well, will be getting baptized the week of my birthday. ha it’s a little weird but oh well! The work is picking back up here in Ensenada!

Last night President came to town for a little fireside in the stake center. He brought me 4 packages as seen in the picture :) so shoutout to Grandma and Grandpa Mangelson and Roper, Nancy, and Wyatt! Thank you for the love! The luggage didn’t show up but I am assuming it will come in September in the zone conference :)

Mom it hit me the other day super hard that I’ll be turning 20 here pretty quick as well. Where does time go?? Just think that in another beginning of the school year I’ll almost be home! I know that day seems far away but it will be here before we know it! I don’t really need anything in general. I could use a new suit. I have completely outgrown my suitpants ha...the waist is fine but around my thighs is where I have really grown. I could use some other regular pants that have the same tone of blue. I don’t really need food or anything like that. A few treats but that’s it :) if people want to send me packages of goodies, tell them no :) and if they want to send money, just put it in my account or towards a new suit.

That’s too bad to hear that Edo passed away this past week. He was a true legend of T-ville baseball! I hope they can make the best of use with his garage and all of his baseball stuff!

Super jealous that the Utes are opening up the season this week and I won’t be around to watch! Go Utes!! :)

Also glad to hear that there will be another baptism back home!  The work is really picking up. I see advances in the work everyday :)

As for laundry Dad, I have become a pro as well ;) ha we don’t have a dryer so we have to hang our clothes up inside the house. I always start my white shirts Sunday nights. I leave them in a 5 gallon bucket soaking and before I throw them in to the washer Monday morning.  I use the a soap bar and a little brush to scrub the collars and the cuffs. If I don’t do that, they never get cleaned completely.

Shopping is getting better as well. Just budget my money out for the two weeks and it’s good to go. I had to take out about 30 bucks this morning to get me through the week. I paid the water bill two weeks ago and am still waiting to be reimbursed.

What Paige said is completely true. At first I felt the same exact way as I felt I hadn’t completed my part ha but the Lord always fulfills his promises :) I am super excited to see what else in my mission but for now I am just taking it a day at a time :)

Oh and it rained like crazy here last night and this morning :) I love the rain though so there isn’t a problem!

Dad I hope you’re doing good in Nebraska and Mom, Hayden and Turkey, I hope the transition back to school goes smooth :) I love you all and miss you even more! Take care and have a solid week!

Much love :)

Elder Roper

With Elder Valdez at the Internet Cafe

A New Companion

Hey how are you all?

Well, another 6 weeks has come and gone super duper fast! It feels just like yesterday.  I just started another 6 weeks with Elder Vargas. So the big news is that I’m staying in Ensenada another 6 weeks! That was a super huge surprise for me because I have been here 4 and a half months...ha I was already packed and ready to go, too. But the phone call came Friday night and the zone leaders told me I was staying ha! So I said goodbye to Elder Vargas this morning and received my new companion Elder Valdez. He is from Durango, Mexico and has quite a while in the mission. 19 months I think. He is friends with Elder Vargas and Elder Vargas told me that Elder Valdez was pretty sweet so I am looking forward to these 6 weeks with him! I thought for sure I was going to be training as about 30 new missionaries got here to the mission today but it’s all good :) I was little bit sad that my expectations weren’t filled but it is what it is and I’ll keep working!

The update with Eduardo is that they are going to wait until September to get married. They had to get some health tests done and didn’t have the money or time to get them done. But there are more weddings in September so I should be around for his baptism :)

Yes, I knew Elder Newell. He lives up in Plain City but has a sister I think that lives in Taylorsville. He was my first zone leader and finished his mission about 6 weeks ago. Here is a picture of him, Elder Tall, and I from the beginning of my mission!

I think my luggage is up in Tijuana. I know there are packages up there waiting for me as well. Our zone conference isn’t until the 17th of September so I won’t get them until then when President comes to town but it’s better late than never. But Mom don’t worry because I didn’t have to travel with broken luggage :)

The work here is still a little bit slow but we are starting head back upwards again (does that make sense??) I am forgetting how to say things in English haha. We are talking with everyone in the streets and helping the members find people to teach as well. I know the Lord will help us out and I am looking forward to working with Elder Valdez as he has a lot more experience that I do. 

Here is a picture from Sunday with one of our ward missionaries named Araceli and one with the sisters from our district. I sometimes forget how big I am but it’s pretty evident in these pictures ha :) 

Dad thanks for the update from the Sox game. I have to laugh at Arod. I saw in a newspaper down here that he was going to be banned. Gotta love the fights in between the Sox and Yankees! 

Thank you for everything! Sorry this is a bit short. Not much happened this past week besides changes with companionships. I hope you are all doing well and preparing good for school! I love and miss you all!

Elder Roper

PS- Dad, I am a champ at ironing my shirts now :)

The Amazing Ups and Downs of A Mission

Hey how are you all??

It’s been a little bit a rough week here in Ensenada ha. The ups and downs of the mission are absolutely amazing to me. But if there weren’t any downs I would never learn or grow.  My mission has been incredibly hard up to this point but I think I have grown a lot. No worries though, I am still doing well and super happy! I called the zone leaders Wednesday afternoon to find out what time the weddings were going to be going down today.  Well they told me that the date changed again because the judge has whole ton of information to put together :( We have changes next week so I probably won’t be around for Eduardo’s baptism. Ha that made me super sad because Eduardo has asked me to baptize him.  So that definitely put a damper in the week ha. It is what it is though and we just gotta keep workin right? I prayed real hard this week just so that we could find people to teach and have success. And I got an answer to my prayers :) D & C 127:4 says this...

 "And again, verily thus saith the Lord: Let the work of my a)temple, and all the works which I have appointed unto you, be continued on and not cease; and let your b)diligence, and your perseverance, and patience, and your works be redoubled, and you shall in no wise lose your reward, saith the Lord of Hosts. And if they c)persecute you, so persecuted they the prophets and righteous men that were before you. For all this there is a reward in heaven."

This was when Joseph Smith had to hide and was dealing with a bunch of persecution. He was talked to the Saints through letters and this is one of them.  This scripture talks about the temple construction but we can apply it to my mission as well. I have learned that when we aren’t baptizing or finding people to teach we have to redouble our efforts. It’s super easy to crawl in a hole and give up but I think of the Savior and how He never gave up when He suffered for our sins. The mission is super hard but I know Heavenly Father is aware of, not only my situation, but of everyone's.  I know He will bless me when I put forth more of an effort to find people and baptize. Oh, the things we learn in the mission :)

Dad about the webpage you gave me- the mission lets us use that site to train the ward councils and to help the members. They burnt us all discs that have various videos and the whole worldwide training session. We use them to help the members think of people to teach and then we go and find them.  It’s super useful and a lot of times gives us more people to teach! I’m glad you are enjoying your calling and learning a lot about the Work of Salvation!

The suit is holding up fine. We got the pants all sewed up and they are good to go :) I’m not really sure if we are gonna open up any new areas here in Ensenada but I know there are like 8 that are going to be opened. It’s crazy how many missionaries are getting here! The elders from the south always come to Ensenada for zone conference so they always get their packages in zone conference like everyone else.

We have changes next week and there is a good chance I’m out of Ensenada.  So if you don’t hear from me next Monday, that’s why. I hope you are all doing well :) I can’t believe school is already starting!

Here is another picture of beautiful Ensenada and the progress of the house that Rodolfo is building! 

Have a good week and take care!

Elder Roper

Another Week . . .

Hey what’s up?

We had a solid week of work this week. Last Sunday we fasted so that we could get one of our investigators married this week so he could get baptized and we could finally baptize again. His name is Eduardo and he is super sweet. He is about 45 years old and he has changed incredibly. He was into drugs and that whole scene but now he is super clean and just wants to get baptized and live the gospel. I have been working with him since I was here with Elder Jacome and the only thing that held him back from getting baptized was that he wasn’t married but he was still living with his girlfriend that is already a member. They could never get enough money gathered up to get married even with the discounted weddings they do here in Ensenada. So we couldn’t do anything for him until he had got married. So we received a phone call last Sunday night from the zone leaders that a judge up in Tijuana that is a member of the church decided to help us all out and is having a free day of weddings next Monday in Tijuana!!! A lot of people here don’t have birth certificates and all their legal papers but this judge only wanted 2 documents that everyone already has and isn’t charging anything!! So Eduardo and his girlfriend are heading up to Tijuana Monday to get married and we will have his baptism not this Wednesday but the next one!  Super excited for that and Eduardo asked me to baptize him so I am looking super forward to next Wednesday :)

We had a sweet service project this past week too! Remember the family that you met when we skyped? They are moving into another house and asked us if we could help them paint in this past Tuesday...so everyone from the district minus the zone leaders went and we helped them get their house painted. Super fun painting by the way, so mom if you have any projects in mind wait 16 more months before I get home so I can help!! I think the service projects are my favorite part of the mission. It’s a nice break from walking all day and I just love working for some reason. Thank you for teaching me how to work! 

Hayden in the little league world series that are always on ESPN this time of year....watch out for the team from Mexico because they are from here in Tijuana! cool huh? I don't know any of the kids but I just thought that was cool!

Besides that it was a pretty normal week! We went to the swap meet this morning to find me a watch...mine broke in a million pieces yesterday so went looking for a good deal. Didn’t find anything but I did find 2 shnazzzy ties for 20 pesos or about $1.75 ha. Gotta love the deals in the swap meets! 

Shane & Whitney and Tina & Kayle look great! Thanks for sending me the pictures! Super happy for them...and I think Whitney came to my farewell and I met Kayle last spring at Great Grandma R's funeral. Shane and Whitney are clear down way south in Mexico no where near me. But Ensenada is super nice if they want to stop by ;) I can order their food and everything in Spanish for them ha :)

Transfers are in two weeks and I think I am out of here but who knows? 30 yes 30 new missionaries get here in 2 weeks so there is a good chance I’ll get to train. I’m looking super forward to that!

As for the golden family we still haven’t heard or seen them :( so we are moving on and back to working with the members to find people! Member missionary work is the best!

I talked with the offices today to send them a reminder about the luggage so watch out for that!

As for requests on the package...crystal light please! I have missed that like crazy! All the powders here have a bunch of sugar and there is not Crystal Light like back home. Maybe a watch if you can find a good deal! I’ll keep looking down here but if you find one like I bought from Wal-mart that will be fine :)

I love and miss you all! Glad Hayden had a great tournament and you enjoyed Arizona! I am doing great! The work is progressing again and we are finding people right and left!

Enjoy the pictures this week!

Elder Roper