Week 14

"I'll start off by answering you questions:  First, my spanish is getting better each day and I can understand a lot more each day so thats good.  For my english class its pretty simple, we first informed the members about it and told them to tell their friends, we have also been telling our investigators about it and so on.  It's only once a week for an hour and right now Im teaching how to read and pronounce words.  The weather here is the best!  It gets chilly at night but not to the point where I need a jacket,  it's not to weird not having snow, in a weird way its kinda nice!  And about my Journal, I do have one and I write in it every night. I even put pictures in it so don't worry haha!"

"It's awesome to hear that the family is doing well!  Some information about skyping, so we can pick a day between the 24 and the 31 to skype, I think we are still planning on doing it on Christmas, its on for 40-45 min, and I can't call by phone after skype.  It sucks but it's the rules..  I asked Jared to set up a Camera on the TV in the family room so everyone can see, because I don't have time to do individual chats besides with you and dad. Oh one other thing it'll only be a video chat if we can find a Cyber café with web cams.."

"Okay moving on, a little more about Mexico, so the other night we were sitting in our apartment doing our daily planning when we heard the power spike on and all the lights popped, it was super funny except we had to buy all new light bulbs."

"Something really sweet!  So do you remember the old Trix cereal that was shaped like fruits and sucked?  haha ya, well that's the only Trix they have here!  Its like I am reliving my entire childhood through a bowl of Trix a day!! haha"

"So last week I told you about the gangsters harassing us, it never ends, it finally clicked, think about it, one white guy one black guy riding around in a brown world?! haha slightly racist but so true!"

"Thats about it for this week, one last favor, so I have been really craving egg salad sandwiches for like two weeks now and I don't know how to make them, could you tell me what to put in it haha?!"

Oh how that kid loves his egg salad sandwiches I'm sure he is going crazy without them. We are all super excited to talk to him on Christmas he is definitely missed in this house. It feels a little empty without him, (you wouldn't think that would be possible considering 12 people live here). This Christmas is going to be so weird without him. Hopefully he has gotten or will get the packages we sent him during this joyous season. So many things to ponder and be thankful for and his service is something my family is extremely thankful for and we know that through him we are being blessed. Have a Merry Christmas everyone! Until next time. May God be with you.


Address and E-Mail:

Elder Ryan James Clayton 

Mexico Leon Mission
Calle Torre Vieja #128
Col. Arbide
37360 Leon, Guanajuato
Mexico

ryan.clayton@myldsmail.net

God Be With You Till We Meet Again...

Weeks 12 & 13

Okay so it's totally my fault that these two posts will be combined I have had a busy couple of weeks with finals just around the corner and trying to get ready to leave one job and go full time at the other. Elder Clayton is loving Mexico, he is such a great kid and I'm so proud of all he has done. He truly is a great example to my younger nephews and nieces who are preparing to serve missions of their own. So the snippets from both emails will be on here week 12 will be first and then 13, it only makes sense to go in numerical order. Haha have a great time and enjoy what he has to say.

Week 12: 

"So, everything is going good.  So we did nothing for thanksgiving just worked.  Im super excited for christmas thou!  Im excited for you package too!  Lets see had my best meal so far, shrimp tacos, super good!"

"The work is super hard but so worth it!  So there are nuns walking around everywhere so we are going to try and contact them one of these days! haha"

"So, I burnt myself trying to light the stove the other day, that hurt like crazy! haha"

"So, we are teaching a few people are biggest investigator is Isabel she is super excited about the church and she even excepted to be baptized!  Our other big one is Adrian, but he likes to do drugs so we are helping him with that. haha"

"So, this week I am starting a free english class at the church, that will be interesting do to that fact I still can't understand spanish. haha"

Week 13:

"So, it´s getting to the point where im running out of things to email about..  We had a great week, we got 5 of our investigators to church on sunday!  Now two of them have confirmed baptism dates!  Super exciting!"

"So the "gangsters" are starting to get on my nerves, the only English word they know is the F word and they sure love to shout that and "gringo" at me all the time!  It´s funny at times though!"

"Not much more to say nothing super interesting, the whether is super nice still thats about it."

I never realized how much he says "So" he seems to start off almost every paragraph with it. Hmmm... Oh well, so I promise I will be better at posting his emails faster. Also please write him and give him ideas to write home about or these posts are going to become very anticlimactic. Have a great week y'all and as always thank you for the continued prayers.

Address and E-Mail:

Elder Ryan James Clayton 

Mexico Leon Mission
Calle Torre Vieja #128
Col. Arbide
37360 Leon, Guanajuato
Mexico

ryan.clayton@myldsmail.net

God Be With You Till We Meet Again... 

Week 11: Sorry It's Late Been A Busy Week

Elder Clayton being gone is weird. Normally he is the one who puts up the Christmas Tree and decorates the house, but this year he is gone and I was worried that we wouldn't have a tree up this year but low and behold there is a beautiful Christmas tree sitting in the corner of our Family Room. Keep in mind this is the only trace of Christmas you will see in my house seeing as Elder Clayton is responsible for decorating and no one else has the time to do it. Mexico on the other hand is being decorated with his presence which is fantastic he is exactly where he needs to be doing exactly what he wants to be doing. Here are parts of his letter. Enjoy y'all hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

"Haha I just read your email, I'm sad to say that you (mom) and Jason Alba are the only ones who wrote me this week.  But it's okay."

"I want to start off my telling you a funny story!  So this story started on Saturday, my companion and some members kept telling me to be ready to share my testimony some time in church, I thought it was going to be in priesthood or something.  Its wasn't a super big deal.  Well, Sunday morning came around and my comp and I were having our personal study and he kept say these three things: "Discurso, 7 minutos, Obra misional"  I didn't fully understand what he was saying so I looked them up in the dictionary, they mean: "Speech, 7 minutes, Missionary Work."  Well I wasn't making the connection between them.  So we were walking to church an hour before it starts, and he kept asking me if I was ready.. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, I had to give a Speech (talk) that was 7 minutes on missionary work in sacrament. haha I started to freak out, there was know way I could give a 7 min talk in spanish.  Anyway it all turned out good, in the MTC each week we had to prepare a 3 min talk for sacrament so I combined two of those talks and gave a somewhat good talk on Faith and Christ and Repentance nothing to really do with missionary work but I didn't care!"

"Haha well onto answering questions you ask in last weeks email, My mission president is super nice, he speaks some English but not a whole lot, so my interview with him was really short haha.  I stayed in the mission home just for one night when I got here.  I have adjusted to the food just fine it's actually really good!  I'm always carrying water in my backpack so that hasn't been a problem yet.  Our area is good and bad, the members are amazing and they are so willing to help the problem is the people, it is very Catholic here and everyone is super strong in it..  The Spanish is okay sometimes, I can understand about 30% of everything people are saying.  And the last question is the only people who write me are you and Robynn from the family."

"So we never really have to make food, in all the missions in Mexico there is a sister in the ward whose calling is to cook for the missionaries so we get food from her everyday.  We have to make are own breakfast though so I just bought a few boxes of trix and eat those everyday.  Something kinda funny there is only one really bread make here and that would be Bimbo Bakery, haha their bread is really good! haha"

"Oh so I can Skype on christmas, but only for 45 min so thats going to suck..  thats about it for this week.."

I unfortunately didn't get to email Elder Clayton I thought about it a lot I just never quite found the time to do it. It sounds like his first experience speaking in church for the first time all in Spanish was a success, there is only one way to go from here and that is up! Haha he will be preparing talks and speaking in church all the time with ease. I'm glad he is liking the food and I'm excited her is out there. I have missed him a ton this week but I'm so proud of him that missing him is getting easier. It'll be really tough once my wedding rolls around then I will really start missing him.... Oh well I need to go write him while I have the time. Have a great Sabbath hopefully next week I will blog before Sunday rolls around.

 Address and E-Mail:

Elder Ryan James Clayton 

Mexico Leon Mission
Calle Torre Vieja #128
Col. Arbide
37360 Leon, Guanajuato
Mexico

ryan.clayton@myldsmail.net

God Be With You Till We Meet Again...