Hey family
Hey everyone how are you? I am doing good. I don't have much time cuz we had transfers today. I got a new comp, he seems pretty cool. I think I will really like him. It will be hard though cuz he doesn't speak English at all. It will be really good for my Spanish to be with him. It was hard to say by to Elder Arrieta, I thought I wouldn't care cuz he drove me freaking crazy but last night he wrote in my journal. He started to cry and said the last three months were the favorite of his mission. It made it really hard, I think it's cuz I worked so hard to love him. When we had to say good-by it was so hard. My new comp seems really good though and seems like he will wanna work which is good so I'm excited for that. So nothing cool happened this week it was really boring.
The assistants to the president came and worked with us which was cool. I like them a lot, they went home today. Elder Pratt, the kid that was in my room in the MTC had to go home. He had a really bad heart problem. I felt so bad for him, that would be so crappy but I guess God has other things in mind for him now.
So nothing else has happened besides my new comp. I have only been with him for an hour so I don't know much about him yet. Getting all the stuff done for transfers was super stress full.
Yesterday we went to see the lady I baptized and she was smoking again so ya that made it a way bad, stressful week.
When we worked with the assistants one of them has an issue and has to be in the front so we spent the day racing, it was so funny. Elder Arrieta was just running behind trying to keep up, it made me laugh.
Well that is about it. It has been a super slow yet stressful week. I'll write more next week I promise.
Tell everyone I love them and hope life is good!!!
Love Elder Fackler
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
E-mail 7-20-09
Hey family,
So how are you guys this week? I am doing good, I have been kinda home sick but its ok.
I baptized again so that was good, his name is Felix. He is a really cool guy but it was "The Impossible Baptism." We had to work so hard to get him ready to be baptized and then yesterday when we got to the church to fill up the baptismal font the water didn't work at all!!! We had to go out side to the church water tank (here every one has under ground water tanks kind of like wells) and get a bucket with a hose tied to it as a rope and lower it into the water tank and pull water out then dump it into other buckets and then kids carried them to the font and threw the water in. It took 3 hours of none stop work to get it done. It was such a pain I hated! Today my arms hurt so bad I can't move them cuz most of the time I was the one pulling the water up out of the well! I bet it took 2000 buckets of water to fill the font but it was worth it. The water was freezing cuz we couldn't warm it up at all, so when I dunked Felix he came out of the water and squealed. It was a super long yet cool day. I will always remember it that's for sure. We did all that work in are white shirts and ties so afterwords we were so dirty.
This week we had interviews with president, they were really good. I'm getting a new comp next week which will be good. I asked president for a native comp who can't speak English so I have to use Spanish. So I am going to learn Spanish fast now I hope cuz I won't be able to use English at all so that will be good for me.
Not much else cool has happened. The family we were supposed to baptize this week won't even talk to us now so I don't really know what to do about that, I'll just keep trying I guess.
I weighed myself and I have lost 35 pounds, I don't think I will lose anymore though cuz I am able to eat the food here now.
That's about it, thanks for everything.
Love you all,
Elder Fackler
So how are you guys this week? I am doing good, I have been kinda home sick but its ok.
I baptized again so that was good, his name is Felix. He is a really cool guy but it was "The Impossible Baptism." We had to work so hard to get him ready to be baptized and then yesterday when we got to the church to fill up the baptismal font the water didn't work at all!!! We had to go out side to the church water tank (here every one has under ground water tanks kind of like wells) and get a bucket with a hose tied to it as a rope and lower it into the water tank and pull water out then dump it into other buckets and then kids carried them to the font and threw the water in. It took 3 hours of none stop work to get it done. It was such a pain I hated! Today my arms hurt so bad I can't move them cuz most of the time I was the one pulling the water up out of the well! I bet it took 2000 buckets of water to fill the font but it was worth it. The water was freezing cuz we couldn't warm it up at all, so when I dunked Felix he came out of the water and squealed. It was a super long yet cool day. I will always remember it that's for sure. We did all that work in are white shirts and ties so afterwords we were so dirty.
This week we had interviews with president, they were really good. I'm getting a new comp next week which will be good. I asked president for a native comp who can't speak English so I have to use Spanish. So I am going to learn Spanish fast now I hope cuz I won't be able to use English at all so that will be good for me.
Not much else cool has happened. The family we were supposed to baptize this week won't even talk to us now so I don't really know what to do about that, I'll just keep trying I guess.
I weighed myself and I have lost 35 pounds, I don't think I will lose anymore though cuz I am able to eat the food here now.
That's about it, thanks for everything.
Love you all,
Elder Fackler
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
E-Mail 7-13-09
Hey Family
So how is everyone? How is life? Things here have been good. The weather is not bad, it's not very hot and it didn't rain everyday this week which is super good.
This week has been good. I baptized this lady named Angelica. It was such a cool feeling after I baptized her, I felt like I had been baptized again. It felt like God had forgiven me for all the times in my life I have fallen short. It was cool too cuz she picked me to baptize her which made me feel really good. She was so funny, she had a problem with smoking so we had her stop over a 2 week period. She had 3cigarettes for 4 days, 2 for 4 days then 1 for 4 days. When she was down to one she took the cigarette and divided it in to 3rds so she smoked a third in the morning a third after lunch and a third after dinner. It was so cool to see her trying so hard. I loved baptizing her, there really is no feeling like that!
So our turtles...I gave them all away. We are not supposed to have them and I'm trying so hard to be obedient, so I gave them all away. So ya my turtle adventure is over, I figure I have my whole life to have turtles and only 19 and a half months left to serve God so I need to serve the very best I can so the turtles had to go.
Next week I get to baptize again, it is a guy named Felix he is a super cool guy and I'm way excited to baptize him on Sunday, it will be cool. I've got the prayer down in Spanish, it was super hard but I memorized it. My Spanish is really starting to get better. People are starting to understand me and I understand almost everything they say which is good so I'm super happy!!!
I think my weight is starting to balance out which is good cuz my baptism pants are huge. They were falling off when I was in the water which is very bad.
We were supposes to baptize three other people on Sunday. It is a family but the dad drank so we couldn't and the wife and daughter want to get baptized at the same time as him so we have to wait till the 26th to baptize them. But it's OK that will mean I baptized 3 weeks in a row which will be good.
OK so there are these kids here and their a gang and they were staring at us. I thought we were going to get killed so I decided to go make friends with them, so we went and talked to them and were super nice. Well now they love us. They always talk to us and ask us if we want to drink and smoke weed with them, it's so funny. We took pics with them, it's all these guys smoking weed and drinking and two missionaries. We call them our hood!!! They are super cool to us now so I'm glad we decided to be brave and just go talk to them cuz now we don't have to be scared they will rob us or anything which is good.
That's about all that's new here.
I love you guys tons thanks for everything!!!
Elder Fackler
So how is everyone? How is life? Things here have been good. The weather is not bad, it's not very hot and it didn't rain everyday this week which is super good.
This week has been good. I baptized this lady named Angelica. It was such a cool feeling after I baptized her, I felt like I had been baptized again. It felt like God had forgiven me for all the times in my life I have fallen short. It was cool too cuz she picked me to baptize her which made me feel really good. She was so funny, she had a problem with smoking so we had her stop over a 2 week period. She had 3cigarettes for 4 days, 2 for 4 days then 1 for 4 days. When she was down to one she took the cigarette and divided it in to 3rds so she smoked a third in the morning a third after lunch and a third after dinner. It was so cool to see her trying so hard. I loved baptizing her, there really is no feeling like that!
So our turtles...I gave them all away. We are not supposed to have them and I'm trying so hard to be obedient, so I gave them all away. So ya my turtle adventure is over, I figure I have my whole life to have turtles and only 19 and a half months left to serve God so I need to serve the very best I can so the turtles had to go.
Next week I get to baptize again, it is a guy named Felix he is a super cool guy and I'm way excited to baptize him on Sunday, it will be cool. I've got the prayer down in Spanish, it was super hard but I memorized it. My Spanish is really starting to get better. People are starting to understand me and I understand almost everything they say which is good so I'm super happy!!!
I think my weight is starting to balance out which is good cuz my baptism pants are huge. They were falling off when I was in the water which is very bad.
We were supposes to baptize three other people on Sunday. It is a family but the dad drank so we couldn't and the wife and daughter want to get baptized at the same time as him so we have to wait till the 26th to baptize them. But it's OK that will mean I baptized 3 weeks in a row which will be good.
OK so there are these kids here and their a gang and they were staring at us. I thought we were going to get killed so I decided to go make friends with them, so we went and talked to them and were super nice. Well now they love us. They always talk to us and ask us if we want to drink and smoke weed with them, it's so funny. We took pics with them, it's all these guys smoking weed and drinking and two missionaries. We call them our hood!!! They are super cool to us now so I'm glad we decided to be brave and just go talk to them cuz now we don't have to be scared they will rob us or anything which is good.
That's about all that's new here.
I love you guys tons thanks for everything!!!
Elder Fackler
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
E-Mail 6-29-09
Hey everyone how are you?
I am doing pretty good. Mom don't stress, my stomach has been fine. I have not been sick for awhile and I'm starting to get use to the food. Some of it is so good, like Tortas. They are Mexican hamburgers OH I LOVE THEM!!! I am still losing weight cuz I only eat once a day and work out every night. I think I'm about where I was during football. I'm going to be skinny and tan when I get home.
I like Mexico more and more all the time. It feels normal now living here. My one bedroom house just feels normal. The donkey pulled trailer that comes to get our trash is normal now too. I'm going to have to let Angela pick our house cuz after living here I could probably live in anything in the U.S. and be happy. It's crazy how humble the people live here. It makes me feel like such a spoiled brat. I always felt like our house was so small and always wanted to have more. I was not happy with what I had. Now that I live here I see how blessed and lucky we really are. We have so much it's not even funny. I wish you guys could see some of the houses here. All I know is when I get home I'm going to be so grateful for what we have. We are so lucky!!!
The work is going good. We worked are butts off this week but I still have not baptized yet. I think we'll have one soon. We are teaching some super cool people. I learned this song in Spanish but changed the tune to the tune of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and my comp and I sang it to some investigators. At the end the dad was crying super hard which was crazy cuz he has never been very emotional before, he was crying like crazy, I couldn't believe it. The song is super cool, I'll try to record it and send it home.
OK the turtles well um ........................ we have 6 now Pedro, Juan and Santiago (Peter, James and John in Spanish) Moto Moto, Tietsy and Tony the Tiger. Ya I'm terrible I know. They have got a pretty pimpin house by the way. They live better then us and they eat live fish. It's cool cuz there are these things here called Tanges which are huge sales where they block off the street and tons of vendors come. You can find anything there super cheap. That's where we get the turtles, but we are done with are turtle adventure now. We are only going to keep them till transfers in 4 weeks.
My comp is great and has taught me a ton, I love him tons. I think my feet grew, my shoes that are 13 hurt my feet so bad. I'm wearing the same pair everyday but I don't want them to wear out and get ruined. I think I'm growing again too cuz my knees have been hurting really bad and my shoes are to small.
My comp said I can't be the Jr. Companion any more cuz I'm to big. He gets mad at me and asks if he can be the Sr. Companion just once cuz he is my District Leader, Sr. Companion and Trainer so I should let him be the boss but then he tells me I am just to big and that I don't let him hahahah.
I can't believe how much a missions help you. I always thought I was such a good person but a mission shows you all of the areas you suck at. It helps you be willing to swallow your pride and just do what you have to do to make things better. I know I'll be a better husband and dad from this. It teaches you so much and helps you so much!!!
You asked about the bugs here, they are not to bad. I get bit a ton but I'm use to it now.
That's about it here I have got to go. I love you all so much, thanks for all you do! I miss you all.
Tons of Love,
Elder Fackler
I am doing pretty good. Mom don't stress, my stomach has been fine. I have not been sick for awhile and I'm starting to get use to the food. Some of it is so good, like Tortas. They are Mexican hamburgers OH I LOVE THEM!!! I am still losing weight cuz I only eat once a day and work out every night. I think I'm about where I was during football. I'm going to be skinny and tan when I get home.
I like Mexico more and more all the time. It feels normal now living here. My one bedroom house just feels normal. The donkey pulled trailer that comes to get our trash is normal now too. I'm going to have to let Angela pick our house cuz after living here I could probably live in anything in the U.S. and be happy. It's crazy how humble the people live here. It makes me feel like such a spoiled brat. I always felt like our house was so small and always wanted to have more. I was not happy with what I had. Now that I live here I see how blessed and lucky we really are. We have so much it's not even funny. I wish you guys could see some of the houses here. All I know is when I get home I'm going to be so grateful for what we have. We are so lucky!!!
The work is going good. We worked are butts off this week but I still have not baptized yet. I think we'll have one soon. We are teaching some super cool people. I learned this song in Spanish but changed the tune to the tune of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and my comp and I sang it to some investigators. At the end the dad was crying super hard which was crazy cuz he has never been very emotional before, he was crying like crazy, I couldn't believe it. The song is super cool, I'll try to record it and send it home.
OK the turtles well um ........................ we have 6 now Pedro, Juan and Santiago (Peter, James and John in Spanish) Moto Moto, Tietsy and Tony the Tiger. Ya I'm terrible I know. They have got a pretty pimpin house by the way. They live better then us and they eat live fish. It's cool cuz there are these things here called Tanges which are huge sales where they block off the street and tons of vendors come. You can find anything there super cheap. That's where we get the turtles, but we are done with are turtle adventure now. We are only going to keep them till transfers in 4 weeks.
My comp is great and has taught me a ton, I love him tons. I think my feet grew, my shoes that are 13 hurt my feet so bad. I'm wearing the same pair everyday but I don't want them to wear out and get ruined. I think I'm growing again too cuz my knees have been hurting really bad and my shoes are to small.
My comp said I can't be the Jr. Companion any more cuz I'm to big. He gets mad at me and asks if he can be the Sr. Companion just once cuz he is my District Leader, Sr. Companion and Trainer so I should let him be the boss but then he tells me I am just to big and that I don't let him hahahah.
I can't believe how much a missions help you. I always thought I was such a good person but a mission shows you all of the areas you suck at. It helps you be willing to swallow your pride and just do what you have to do to make things better. I know I'll be a better husband and dad from this. It teaches you so much and helps you so much!!!
You asked about the bugs here, they are not to bad. I get bit a ton but I'm use to it now.
That's about it here I have got to go. I love you all so much, thanks for all you do! I miss you all.
Tons of Love,
Elder Fackler
Monday, June 22, 2009
E-mail 6-22-09
Wow!!! No wonder they call him the GIANT!!!
Hey Fam,
Lets see, this week was kinda boring. I have not had to shower with a bucket at all!!! I just use cold water and hot only if I can but that doesn't happen to much it's mostly cold.
So we had a talent show this week in our ward and my comp wrote this "Dear John" song. He sang it and I acted it out. It was super funny! I took pics of Angela and letters she has sent me and stuff and acted it all out. Everyone in the ward thought it was super funny, then we sang a hymn in Spanish and it was super spiritual so that was good. Everyone says the "Dear John" song was karma and I'm going to get dear Johned. I told them "Ya right hahahah I'm way to good lookin to get dear Johned."
My clothes are getting so big I don't know what to do. My shirts look like sheets around me. Spanish is stating to come, I'll hit you up with some... hole como esta nosotros somos missioneros y nosotros tenga buen mensajhe por usted y su familia es muy espesual es sobre cuando usted veva su familia para siempre. That is a door contact in Espaniol. It gets better and better everyday it just is taking longer then I want it to.
The super cool family ditched us for church and now said don't come by till Thursday so that sucks. The other lady went out of town this week so she didn't come either. We had one new investigator in church this week. This week we have to buckle down and bust are butts and find new people cuz I freaking want to baptize already!!! My comp and I had a way good talk and figured out what we need to do so we are going to get on it this week.
So other then that it has been kinda boring. Oh Happy Birthday Mom and happy Fathers Day Dad, I love you both. I miss all of you but it's OK, this will all be so worth it in the end. I am growing so much as a person and learning new stuff all the time. By the end I'll be a better dad and husband and just all around better. I can't believe Madi is going to be 16 ahhhhh stay off the road. We have 2 more turtles, Moto Moto and Tetsy so now we have three. I think we are going to give them away cuz we kinda are not supposed to have pets and I want to be super obedient, I need the blessings.
I better go, love you all so so so so so much!
Love Elder Fackler
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
E-Mail 6-15-09
Hey family,
This week has been so amazing! First off this week I was in this taxi and he was flying down the road cuz they rush everywhere here, all of a sudden there was a huge dip and we freaking ramped it. It was so crazy and cool lol.
Next thing, transfers were this week and I didn't get transferred I still have the same comp which is good I really like him (most the time) hahah. He is really cool. I had to go with our district leader and get evaluated to see if I was a good missionary. I rocked it!!! I did super good, he said I was amazing. My Spanish is getting better, I can talk now with a mixture of Spanish and sign language.
I got a turtle, hahaha it's name is Juan... since it's a Mexican turtle.
So on Friday my companion and I went to check on an inactive family. They were not there so I said we should knock the doors on the way down cuz it was at the top of an apartment complex. We did and on the third floor we found this church member who went inactive and started worshiping Santa Muerte which means St. Death. They think death is a spirit and it is the only sure thing in life. Because death was the only thing strong enough to kill Jesus they think it is the best power and worship it like a god, it's nuts!!! Anyway she had been worshiping that way for a while. But she said she was in the middle of a prayer asking our God what she needed to do with her life, she asked for a sign...and we knocked on her door!!! She had us take all of the death worshiping stuff out of her house. It was so cool to think God used me to answer someones prayers. She came to church and everything, it was super cool!
So next, on Sunday we fasted for a family we are teaching, their name is Familia Alejandro, to come to church. Church started and they were not there so I was super upset. Half way through sacrament meeting I was saying a prayer cuz I was so upset and then I looked up and Alejandro and his whole family were walking in and they stayed the whole time. It was so amazing, I saw our fast work. It really was so cool mom!!!
We have 5 people with a baptism dates, cool huh!!! I'm super excited and we should have 2 more tomorrow, so 7 all together. I feel like I am finally stating to see all my hard work pay off, I love it. I just wanna keep working hard.
Our house flooded, hahahah. One of the missionaries used our sink but no water came out so he just left it on thinking it didn't work. When we got home we had a flood, it sucked haha we had Noah's ark in are house.
OK about my comp cuz I always forget to tell you. He has been out for 15 months. He lives in Chihuahua. He is super fun and I love him. He knows so much about the church he reminds me of dad.
A few nights ago my comp got up to go to the bath room at like 12 and all of the sudden he just started screaming like a big fat girl. I got way scared, I thought someone had come out of the shower to kill him so I jumped up and went to see what was happening. All it was, was a cockroach. It was so funny I about died laughing!!!
So that's about it here, gotta go.
Love you all so much!
Elder Austin Fackler
This week has been so amazing! First off this week I was in this taxi and he was flying down the road cuz they rush everywhere here, all of a sudden there was a huge dip and we freaking ramped it. It was so crazy and cool lol.
Next thing, transfers were this week and I didn't get transferred I still have the same comp which is good I really like him (most the time) hahah. He is really cool. I had to go with our district leader and get evaluated to see if I was a good missionary. I rocked it!!! I did super good, he said I was amazing. My Spanish is getting better, I can talk now with a mixture of Spanish and sign language.
I got a turtle, hahaha it's name is Juan... since it's a Mexican turtle.
So on Friday my companion and I went to check on an inactive family. They were not there so I said we should knock the doors on the way down cuz it was at the top of an apartment complex. We did and on the third floor we found this church member who went inactive and started worshiping Santa Muerte which means St. Death. They think death is a spirit and it is the only sure thing in life. Because death was the only thing strong enough to kill Jesus they think it is the best power and worship it like a god, it's nuts!!! Anyway she had been worshiping that way for a while. But she said she was in the middle of a prayer asking our God what she needed to do with her life, she asked for a sign...and we knocked on her door!!! She had us take all of the death worshiping stuff out of her house. It was so cool to think God used me to answer someones prayers. She came to church and everything, it was super cool!
So next, on Sunday we fasted for a family we are teaching, their name is Familia Alejandro, to come to church. Church started and they were not there so I was super upset. Half way through sacrament meeting I was saying a prayer cuz I was so upset and then I looked up and Alejandro and his whole family were walking in and they stayed the whole time. It was so amazing, I saw our fast work. It really was so cool mom!!!
We have 5 people with a baptism dates, cool huh!!! I'm super excited and we should have 2 more tomorrow, so 7 all together. I feel like I am finally stating to see all my hard work pay off, I love it. I just wanna keep working hard.
Our house flooded, hahahah. One of the missionaries used our sink but no water came out so he just left it on thinking it didn't work. When we got home we had a flood, it sucked haha we had Noah's ark in are house.
OK about my comp cuz I always forget to tell you. He has been out for 15 months. He lives in Chihuahua. He is super fun and I love him. He knows so much about the church he reminds me of dad.
A few nights ago my comp got up to go to the bath room at like 12 and all of the sudden he just started screaming like a big fat girl. I got way scared, I thought someone had come out of the shower to kill him so I jumped up and went to see what was happening. All it was, was a cockroach. It was so funny I about died laughing!!!
So that's about it here, gotta go.
Love you all so much!
Elder Austin Fackler
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
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