List of possible goals. Kind of.

Nick said he didn't have anything to write since we just talked to him.  I told him to give us something.  He gave us something alright.  It was good to see is smiling face on Christmas.  Happy New Year!


As far as this week, no one was home and we kind of aimlessly wandered around. Nothing like getting into the Christmas spirit than walking around the Mexican desert... 

  ...and almost getting killed by the cartel.(No he wasn't.  He told us this story on Christmas.  There were gunshots, but nothing at them.  Needless to say, they won't be going back to that house.) 

Other than that, Christmas was awesome! I got to talk to my family (one call left..)

Anyway so my Christmas message. Set goals for 2015. 

Here are some ideas(Don't take this seriously.  It's a list Nick has experienced or witnessed.  He's so cheeky)

Maybe it will be like, eat a habanero.

Drink 3L of coke (you have to go to Mexico first to find 3L bottles) 

Try and stand on a public bus without using hands for the entire ride. 

Learn how to wash clothes with a bar of soap and a concrete slab. 

Wear a man purse for a month 

Take salsa classes 

Learn how to make copies of keys with a grinder 

Clean the shower with a broom

Wash the street

Start putting the jalapenos in 1liter yogurt jars 

Speak chilango

Start pointing at things with your lips

Make homemade fireworks

Skin a pig, fry the skin and eat it

Hang your socks on the back part of the fridge to dry them

Yell "guero" at every white kid you see 

Enter restaurants and say "provecho" to everyone

Whistle at every girl you see walking on the street 

Listen to "Banda" 24/7 (which is music played by a Mexican brass band)

Paint your house a really bright color! 

Drive like you got hired by "fast and furious" 

Buy a vocho. (this is a car like a VW bug)

Play with trumpos. (spinning top like toys)

Dedicate all your free time to playing FIFA 2014

Eat pizza with ketchup

Put chiles on Alfredo pasta

Drink "Agua de Jamaica" 

Turn on the pilot light for the water heater every single morning

Cold showers too.

You know all the "super mega ultra wet look" hair gel? use that. 

Make out with people in the park, on a bus, on the sidewalk, through a window... 

Start selling Amway products. 

Become an "expert" in medical products, and if someone says they took something you've never heard of, tell them it doesn't work and give them more medicine

Buy 5 gallon water jugs. 

Put "Tajin" on all the fruit you eat.

.... that's all I could think of for now.... 

There you go though, some possible metas that you could follow for this year. 

Love you guys,

Elder Arvanitas

Merry Christmas!

I've corrected a lot of Nick's grammar but I left quite a few words that he writes in Spanish.  I'm thinking he's sort of stuck between two languages.  ha ha  We get to speak to him on Christmas this week.  No Skyping with him this time but I'll be happy just to hear his voice.  Merry Christmas!


Alright so whats been going on lately, 

Everything is going fine and for the stuff that's not, don't worry we'll figure it out :) 

Honestly, this being my second Christmas in the mission, it's different. I understand more things then I did a year ago. I can't explain all that I've learned in this past year. 

We had a really good experience this week. We have this "Pueblito" called Roque, like 20 mins outside of Celaya. We had plans to go there Thursday,  actually. (The only problem was that we went Tuesday, and since we couldn't find a bus, we got home at 9:50 at night.) So we decided not to go on Thursday, and planned other leccions. 

Well the other lessons fell through, as usual. What to do... well let's go to Roque then, that's what God wants. 

We walk to the bus stop, and sure enough right when we get there, the bus pulls up, pay 50 cents and get on. 

15 mins later, we get to Roque and look around for the guy that was going to be waiting for us (we were just going to leave him hanging before, we didn't have his cell) 

Guess what!? 

He never shows up. 

"now what"

We walk over to a unlit bench in a corner, sit. 

"Might as well pray" 

it went something like this. 

....look God, you brought us all the way out here, and we know it was for something, but honestly we need your help to know what... 

Stand up, get this feeling that we should enter this store, so we do. 

In about 30 seconds this little old lady walks out, and starts talking about how her brother is deathly sick in Tennessee, how she doesn't know what to do, and how she's scared that something will happen to him. 

We explain to her the situation, the fallen appointments, the bus, the prayer, and tell her that God remembers and hears her prayers, that he knows her. 

She cries, we go in and talk. She asks us when we're going to come back. 

We're going to go tomorrow.

Other than that this week was kind of a blur. I've been overwhelmed with stuff a little bit, but it's coming together though. (I think Nick is overwhelmed with being responsible for other missionaries)

Love you guys, 

Elder Arvanitas

p.s. I forgot door stoppers existed, those springy things on the wall that make funny noises. I'm excited to see them again. 

Messing around

Elder O...., Hermana M....., and Nick

Nick, President & Sister Mejorada

Staying in Celaya but getting a new comp

I got your package, and Sydney's package too, with ties in it. I'm still waiting for the 2nd package. (I sent these the first week in November)

Transfers, after this one I only got 4 left....

 I'm with Elder A....... actually, as zone leader.  Elder O.... is going to be the new assistant. (This means assistant to the Mission President)

I'll stay here until Febuary 1. I should probably just buy some property and start putting up my house.. 

I'll be honest I can't really remember what happened this week... It's all kind of a blur now.. 

We had our Christmas dinner with President. I got a picture with him smiling! That's something new right?(Nick couldn't send pictures this week because he left his camera at his house.  He was across town with other missionaries)

Then he just gave a small lesson that talked about the condescension of God, and telling us that if we worked for his company, he'd probably fire all of us, cause we say were going to complete our goals, and we never accomplish that.  

The man has got a point.. 

It's not everyday that you get to work side by side with a millionaire for 2 years though. 

Today was a relax day. I went to bed at 2 yesterday, got up at 530. I've been in divisions(he means exchanges) with Constituyentes(this is his old area in Celaya)  all day cause Elder O.... left in the morning. 

and umm...

Well yep, that's all I got. Love you guys, talk to you soon.

Nick couldn't write much because he was helping pack up his new companion and clean. 

It's beginning to look like Christmas....in Celaya

Okay, 

Sorry about last week, I didn't have time to write a regular letter cause I was busy with the essays. 

I'm not ready for college yet.. that's where all the old people go.. 

We might of crashed a business lunch party in the theater. We were walking by.....

"Hey that place looks nice" 

So we walk in, everyone is all dressed up. (The missionary outfit was the perfect disguise) Waiters just start handing us Jamaica water (it's a flower) So we stop and talk, drink our water, take a picture inside and leave. 

And no one said anything :) 

Thanksgiving dinner. Costco pizza, chicken bakes, Martinelli's Sparkling cider, and Pumpkin pie. Thanks Costco!

Incendio de las luces Every year, the lady that has the most Christmas lights in all of Celaya invites everyone to her house to watch her turn on the lights for the first time that year. 

It was cold, like 45 degrees I think.. who knows what I'll do when I get back. (good thing he comes home in the Summer)

Held a 3rd zone meeting. I'm getting pretty good at these things. (and humble too.  Oh Nicky)

As for the schedule for this week. Wednesday is our dinner with President, with a white elephant gift. Last year I gave socks, this year, a Luchador mask. 

Thats all I got though. We are working with people but they're kind of off and on. It's hard. 

Love you guys though, see you next week! bye

Elder Arvanitas

Reflection

Nick is letting me send out some things he had to write for his college applications.  Because he wrote these he really didn't have time to write a long letter.  He wrote a little something at the end.  

I firmly believe that someone who has never served a mission will never truly know what it is like. It has been the hardest thing I have ever done. 

     John, the apostle in the bible states that "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

    For a while I misunderstood this. I think it was my dream as a kid to grow up and be a superhero, and die heroically, saving the world. Maybe have a statue built in my honor or something. 

     As I have grown older though, I have realized that it is less about putting my life on the altar of sacrifice and more about sacrificing my time. To consecrate my life, and give service to the people I hold most dear. Trying to, as George Albert Smith said "warn the people … in as kind a way as possible that repentance will be the only panacea for the ills of this world."
      Doing my part in the Army of God. It is a battle everyday. The devil is real, and he doesn't like to lose. It is a constant fight through homesickness, depression, failure and stress. 

     But looking past all that, it has been the happiest time of my life. I have forgotten about what I have wanted, and become the person God wants me to be. It has made all the difference in my life. 

I have spent the past few months reflecting a lot. My time here in Mexico as a missionary is ending. I have been away for 16 months, and in another short 8 months I will be back home.

     The question that has been on my mind is what changes do I need to make in my life when I get home.

Jeffrey R. Holland once said about the act of reflecting that “we look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn then we look ahead..”

What has been the greatest blessing from these past 16 months, is the overwhelming desire to be better. To nurture the gifts I have been blessed with, and cultivate those which I lack.

When Jesus Christ came to the earth he taught of forgiveness and change. His gospel was never one of everlasting punishments, but of repentance, giving us, his brothers and sisters, the opportunity to start over.

This opportunity has meant everything to me. I know I can't be the same when I get back. I can't live the same life as conformity.  I believe everyone was made for greatness, and that’s what I am going to search for. And when I get there, I am going to help everyone else be there with me. 

Hey sorry, I didn't have time to write today, todo lo con mi aplicacion. But I did have a Thanksgiving. We went for Costco Hawaiian pizza, chicken bakes, pumpkin pie, and Martinelli's sparkling cider. Elder C......'s mom from Park City bought it all. He's a funny kid. If you want just put up my essays for my letter.

Kind of a letter, more of a note

Hey guys,

This week was just a lot of wearing a suit and being in meetings, talking about the mission, what things we can use or change. how to be better etc etc. (Nick bought a new suit, looking sharp)

Ate in a sketchy highway pull off buffet. Yummm :)

Other than that though, I really have nothing to talk about I'll find something for next week. 

Something interesting that the 70 talked about. That on the other side it's the same organization as here. Mission presidents, areas, missionaries. What I learned though fue que todos los misioneros alla son bien muertos, no bautizan a nadie... (Basically, this means that in heaven they've passed and so there are no baptisms)

That's about it though. Take care! 

Also tell grandma I said Happy Birthday! Only a week late

It was a bit of a reunion for Nick this week!

Working hard and really tired

First week as a Zone Leader and I'm so tired... all the time.. 

I didn't think it was possible to be this tired... 

We've just been really busy this week.. with the meeting in Querétaro and preparing for the meeting tomorrow. Our nights kinda go like this...

9:00 get home. (except one night when we had to go with an hermano and pick up blankets for the sisters, drive to their house, run up to the 5th story, drop them off, ask how they were, run back down, drive home etc. where we got home at 930.) 

Pretty good for 30 mins huh? 

Then we have to call everyone to make sure they're home.

Plan for 40 mins 

Call everyone and take their numbers. Ask how they all are listen to problems that they have, etc. 

By the time all that"s done its like 10:40, and I still want my hour of free time so I talk with Elder O..... till 11:40-12. 

Then we wake up at 6:30 am and do it all again :)

I actually really like it though. I'ts more of an opportunity to serve people, help them out with problems they have. 

I feel like I'm starting to reach the point in my mission where I'm working the hardest. It's a different type of feeling. 

So my area and companion. 

Elder O...., from Honduras, one of my favorite companions, and actually the only one that I knew before I became companions with them. 

My area. Muy Fresa. (only Mexicans) We have like 2 malls inside of it, a really nice park in front of our house, a night club that plays songs from 9-who knows when, Thu-Sat. etc. I'ts kinda like going from the slums of NY to Donald Trump's front living room. 

But I've loved both areas. 

Alright, so notes from the conference with President. 

*bunch of stuff you wouldn't care about and then!* 

Divisions are now from 3-7 days instead of being 1. Right? So now in my area, that I already spend 30% of the time working out of, is going to now be like 50% away. 

Also there's the fact that San Miguel (Ciudad de los Gueros) is in my zone. 

Okay, to end. I was reading about Shadrach, Meschach, and the other guy, where they were in front of the king. 

The kings all like "yo, if you don't bow down to me I'm'a kill y'all" 

and everyone bowed down, but them. 

So then the guards run up and grab them and bring them to the king and the kings like, "Hey I mean it"

They still don't and they say something really interesting, in verse 17, 18. 

The "if not". Our faith shouldn't be dependent on if something happens or not. I've seen a lot of people out here that right when something hard happens in their lives, they crumble and often blame God. But for them, they had the confidence to say God's going to help us, but if not it doesn't make a difference. 

k gotta go, love you guys, take care.

Elder Arvanitas

Changes, kind of......

I done cursed myself ag´in. 

So we knew the changes were coming up again, and based on how President usually does things, there were pretty high chances of me getting changed out of here. So I started thinking about all the options, Leon, Guanajuato, Querétaro, San Miguel, Irapuato, etc. 

I realized that there's no place that I don't want to go in the mission. Every option sounded good, I just wanted to leave here.  

So we get the call

"Elder Vazquez, staying, going to train"

"Elder Arvanitas, leaving, but staying in Celaya, just the north part.." 

Guess I might as well accept that I'm finishing my mission here,  ha ha. My compañero, Elder Oliva, I was in San Juan with him. He's from Honduras. We'll be ZLs together. (For those who don't know, ZL stands for Zone Leader.  Nick will be over a zone instead of a district.  His district was 9 people.  Now he will be over about 20 -40.  It depends on the zone.  He didn't give a number.)

Oh fun fact, that Elder De Hoyos, the area president is coming next Friday. 

What happened this week... Worst numbers I've ever had. I think it has to do with the whole paranoia stuff, I can't work the same, changes will help though. 

I'm not sure what else to tell you guys though, more than anything, thanks. You mean everything to me. It just took me a while to realize it. 

Obviously I've got lots to change when I get back. 

I've learned more than I could imagine here in these 15 months. Sure I still suck at other things, but I'm working on that. 

Here's an interesting principle that I learned this week. 

I was reading a lot about tolerance, decisions, and about moral relativism. 

It's the idea, that there doesn't exist a right or wrong. That everyone has their own choices and consequences. Basically, the people that don't have an opinion about anything. 

I realized that for the majority of my life, my thinking was like this. 

It talked about how "these type of people seem like the most tolerant people in the world. They accept almost everything. The only thing they that don't agree with is the people against their way of thinking"

As I've been out here on my mission, I realized that I've changed a lot in this aspect. I just couldn't explain it till now. That I've suddenly started to view things as good or bad. 

It goes along with what are eternal truths. Somethings are true, always have been, and always will be regardless of opinions of people, leaders, or even entire nations. 

Where as before my mission I wouldn't care about their opinions, it's their opinions right? But now it's different. 

I don't have time to explain all this. Maybe next week.   :p   If your interested, read about it. 

Love you guys. Talk to you next week

Elder Arvanitas

Donuts and other stuff

Only 2 changes left for Sydney?!   Remember when we were all leaving and it was a big deal and 18-24 months seemed like a really long time? 

Turns out it's not. Our changes (transfers) are next week. 

A couple of weeks ago, this guy that was selling donuts came up and started to talking to us. (Juan, he might of been kind of drunk) But long story short, he needed help and felt like he should talk to us which turned into a long conversation there on the side of the dirt road. In which, it ended in him crying and telling us to go visit him. Also, free donuts :)

So we went to go visit him at house number 210. We start walking down the street...

 204 206 208 312 314 230 402. (the numbering's are ridiculous here)

So, we kept walking till the street ended and turns out 210 doesn't exist. But we felt the feeling like we should go back. 

We went back. Sure enough when we went to the spot where 210 should have been, we felt impressed to knock. 

We did. 

Turns out Juan's cousin lives there (Emilio) and in that week Juan moved back to Puebla. We're now teaching Emilio though :) 

In other news NOBODY was in their house on Halloween or Day of the Dead. Everyone just goes to the graveyards that day and they hire Mariachi bands and have picnics. So we went to Chavis house "taco stand guy" and he showed us his roosters that he sells..... for cock fights..

I'll send pictures next week. 

In bad news... dont freak out but...

We might of got robbed. 

It was just the 4 of us walking yesterday and this group of 12 guys were walking behind us, and all of a sudden we heard them running towards us so it was like freak....... 

Stopped us all and started looking through everything. No knives or anything, don't worry. But we felt like we shouldn't do anything. 

Don't worry about me getting robbed. They only took 22$ off of me.(We are guessing that Nick means pesos) They took Elder P......'s watch, and 45$.  Elder A...... hides in money in one of his suit jackets. The only problem is that he forgot it that day, and they took 220$ off of him and our phones. It was in their area.(Meaning the other elder's area) We were eating by there. We'll be extra careful this week to make sure no one is following us. 

It kind of just leaves you with a bad feeling, you know? 

But I know it'll be okay. I know there are angels all around us everyday here that protect and watch out for us. 

I wouldn't be surprised if most of these angels are family members. 

My opinion of the mission hasn't changed. I know there's no better place I could be. I love it here. 

Take care, love ya guys

Elder Arvanitas

Off to the Hospital again

Hey family, 

So Elder P......'s doing well. It was just a ganglio... I don't know what a ganglio is though. 

ALSO... turns out Elder A...... (P.......'s comp.) has a hernia. So we went to the hospital for another 3 hours to go get him examined. But it's all good now. (Nick was really late writing again today)  

Que pasó esta semana... 

another week of a whole lot of nada. 

Forgot to tell you that I saw a dead guy in the street last week. Just chillin´ there with a blanket over him so he doesn't get cold with all the police sitting there looking at him. 

No, but really it was just... weird. We were walking down the highway and we saw the police up ahead. 

"Ahh maybe someone crashed" 

keep walking... look to the left, "Is that what I think it is?" 

"Yep." 

"Oh okay."

Keep walking 

...what to write about when you have nothing to write about... 

Rode in an elevator for the first time in a year. So that was exciting

Ate 7 donuts in 2 days. They were pretty good. 

Gave a drunk guy a hug. 

Had Carne Asada with rich people

We cleaned out a chicken coop of this guy that sells tacos by the church.   Caught a chicken by chasing it around with my hands. Found lots of Black Widows. 

Whats really going on in our area. Right now were just trying to work more with the members. Here's something I wrote down at the beginning of my mission. 

"Every external problem is repaired by being fixed internally"

With the mission we've set all these goals that are pretty high, and we've been working to accomplish them for about... 6 months now. 

The problem is no one's reached them in those 6 months. So it's been a lot of analyzing, meetings, and talking to see what we can do better. 

Frankly our ward is kind of a mess. You can't help put other people together if your not put together yourself. So we just want to motivate them to be better, be more responsible, and help out with every organization so that everything works well.  So when people join the church, they don't just fall away. 

In other news we have a meeting with President this Thursday with interviews. So we'll see how that goes. 

Tell Maddie I said happy birthday! and that I miss her. 

Love you all, 

Elder Arvanitas

A letter in 3 parts

Nick's letter came early today and it came in 3 parts throughout the day.  Sounds like it was a busy day.  


Hey I'm not sure if I'll get to write that much today. But, I'll write a little and if I have time later  I will write more. 

Long story short Elder P...... has a ball under his chin on his neck, and it could be a tumor. This lady felt it and said she doesn't think it's stored up fat because it's hard. 

So we gotta go to the hospital today with him.

Keep him in your prayers, he's pretty freaked out. 

Hey here's my short email for this week. More later if I can. 

Tuesday, the worst training meeting in all history of training meetings. I was just way out of it, and the whole thing was boring.(I guess he can say this because he's the one leading the meeting) Maybe tomorrow's will be a little better. 

Had divisions that night with Elder A....... We spent all day in his area.... I thought my area was ghetto... his part doesn't even have paved streets and there's wild goats that walk through it. 

But hey, I didn't die, so it's all good. 

Wednesday, is when Elder P....... showed us what he had under his neck. 

Thursday. I don't remember. 

Friday, we ate in the worst house I've ever seen. The lady lived in a cement block and it was just filled with bags of garbage with turkeys and chickens running through it. 

To clean our plates she just flicked the garbage off it with her hands. 

But hey, I got most of it down and what I didn't get down I put in my pocket.  ha ha. 

She was nice though. Just dirty.... 

We had a dinner for bishop that night in the house of the other elders. We ended up making Hawaiian haystacks. 

Only instead of cream of chicken it was mushroom and orange cheese doesn't exist here, so we used Manchego (I don't know what it is in the states)

Sunday, gave talks. I talked about hope. 

Another baptism this week. An 11 year old girl named Susy. 

In other news we had a really good lesson with a grandpa this week and he started crying.(This is Nick's way of saying, he felt the Spirit) So that was cool I guess. 

Okay, I'll try and write later, love you guys. bye}

Nick wrote back this evening and I asked him how Elder P....... was

I'm not sure it was all in Spanish. Basically there's two types of tumors, soft and hard. Soft you can take care of and it just means he's sick and he takes meds. That's what they think it is. 

If it's hard, then the meds won't work and it means it's something more serious but not necessarily cancerous.

Gotta go, love you, bye!

Elder Arvanitas

Remember the pants that Nick was wearing when he reread all his Christmas cards?  Yep, here they are!  He's also started to eat lots of green olives.  Miss this crazy boy!

Being weird

They serve orange juice in a bag in Mexico.  

Angel's baptism

Sunset in Celaya

Elder A....... and his crazy tie. 

Week in bullet points

Hey I got nothing so I'm just gonna copy Sydney,

This week in bullet points 

• Zone conference, just a large meeting with like 20 elders. Talked about activities we're going to start to plan, to help out the ward.
• First Family History fair in all of Mexico. And it was here in Celaya, imagine that... Kind of boring but they had Guava water :) 
• Baptism, Angel, Pictures next week
• We entered a Taxi, and Elder Acevedo had a Ukelele, so he started playing and we started singing about going to get food and being inside a taxi. At the end he sang "y no nos va a cobrar" meaning "he's not going to make us pay".... it went silent, till the taxi driver was like "I'm going to make you pay double if anything, that song was terrible." haha (video next week) 
• Found a new family this week
• Another video with Acevedo rapping while I'm playing piano

That's all I got, the rest of the week was the normal of going to lessons, putting baptism dates with people, talking to random people in the street (the easiest is when we go buy tacos from the stands... or all the other random stuff they sell in the street)

Everything's good though. I don't feel homesick, the time is actually passing by so fast, next week I'll only be missing 9 months till I'm home. Imagine that. See you guys soon!

Elder Arvanitas

The feeling of home

The worst week for numbers ever. We had a total of 8 lessons, we tried I promise. 

But it had a lot to do with the fact that I went for my visa! Turns out I'm not illegal anymore. 

That was Thursday. Woke up at 5:40 a.m., hopped in a cold shower (we're running out of gas), got to the bus station at 6:15, and found Elder G........ there! (He was in Nick's MTC district)I haven´t seen him since the last time that I went for my visa, over a year ago... 

I met up with the rest of the people in my group in the MTC (we started out with 8, we're down to 4.. Elder C.... was the most recent to go home,( tore his ACL, I didn't see him my entire mission) 

But  after our visas I didn't have anyone to go to Celaya with because they were all in the meeting with president for Zone Leaders. So I stayed. 

Not much to talk about there, just a lot of information. 

We got on our bus at like 7:30 at night, when it was pitch black outside, with lightning bolts falling all around. 

Stayed up talking to Elder O.... and Elder G........ (one is from Honduras, the other, Argentina) about their missions, just everything that's happened and what it's like in their countries. 

It was one of those moments where it was like, this would've never happened if I didn't come here. 

There's so many moments like that here.  Everyday something new happens. 

It's going to be weird coming home, no music playing out of cars, selling bread, or not seeing dog poop everywhere you walk from stray dogs. 

In a strange way I'm gonna miss it. 

I don't know.   Going back to Queretaro Jueves, while we were in the taxi leaving the central, this feeling just hit me really strongly. 

It was like going home. 

To see the aquaducts, the colored houses, the hills, everything. 

And then the thought hit me that it really was my home, to see my mission president and his family, they really are my family. 

Everyone that I've met here in Mexico has been so good to me (well besides the occasional guy that comes up and yells at me) 

But after more than a year here, I cant imagine life being different. Everything just feels natural now ,eating tortillas with everything, watery salad, chicken with hairs still in it. 

Except for cold showers,  I still hate that. 

(I asked Nick if he got to watch General Conference)Well kind of, we listened to it, I couldn't focus that much. It was good though.  We listened to it all in Spanish.  

But ya, it was an alright week. 

love you bye

Elder Arvanitas

Nick and the Elders in his Ward