New Address in Raymondville!!

Hi Family!

Glad you got my packages I sent! You can do whatever you want with the ties. I dont want any of them. Give a nice or decent one to JT and Zac and Chase. Maybe some to Ian or Auddy or whoever else wants some. Ill probably send another box in the next month. At least hopefully I will. We're trying to get a 1000 lbs bail not a 10000 lb bail mom haha. If you didnt figure it out yet my new adress is
401 E McCharen Ave #8
Raymondville, TX 78580

The sisters stole our house and apperenly have been cleaning it since we left. I dont feel bad tho cus we did clean a lot. The sisters are pretty cool.  I can see them doing a lot of good in Raymondville. They should be having a baptism this Sunday, not really from their efforts tho. President Ramos was sooooo confused when he first saw them but it was funny. And on Sunday, the Sisters lost their keys and were 15 minutes late to Sacrament Meeting. One of the members, Brother Abbey, made a joke about thats why the men have the Priesthood keys and not the women.

Whats the deal with Jack!?! Is he going to UCLA? Im so excited for him!!! I love that kid. And he got a dunk!!! Wow that kids on top of the world. Send me a pic of his dunk if there is one. Was it a break away? Thats cool the Varsity manned up and beat Marina. Tyler good job and way to play hard the whole year. Keep growing and working hard and you'll be starting next year for sure. Justin isnt very good. Keep me posted on who they play and stuff.

Dad thats cool about that girl youre teaching at institute. Teach her about how the BOM is all that matters. When she knows its true, every other doubt about the church goes away. (Chapter 5 PMG) Thats cool that you are teaching her tho. Have you read PMG? Im sure you have but if for some crazy reason you never have, you should. It makes so much sense haha.

Anyway we had a terrrrible week this week. Not at all because of lack of effort. We worked our butts off but everything fell through. We didnt get anybody to church even though people promised us. We found this cool lady, Maria. We taught one of her daughters like 3 or 4 weeks ago and then have gone back and taught her other daughter, then taught her, then last night we taught the son. So we've taught the whole family now. She had a very solid comitment to church but didnt go for some reason. We gotta get members over there so she'll go to church. We also found this cool old guy. His name is Mr. Montezuma (like the ride at Knotts) and he wanted to come to church but Idk what happened with him either. We're going over to his house after this. THe cool thing about him is that we took Ramiro over to teach him. Ramiro is a guy that me and Elder Horton found my first weekend here and taught him and set a Bap Date with, but then he lived in the other Elders area. Anyway, he got baptized and came out with us for the first time. HEs a really shy guy but talked a ton in the lesson, like most of the lesson. It was pretty stinkin cool.
We played bball in Harlingen on Pday, it was actually really dumb and I cant jump anymore. Its really sad but whatever. On our way home Brother Lopez called us and told us to go help him and Pres Ramos cut the sisters lawn (our old house) so we went and did that and after that we went and helped Joe put some new roofing on his house. I guess CPS came by his house and told him he needed to redu the roof cus it was falling through. So we helped him do that. THat family has been faced with so much adversity lately. They stay faithful tho cus theyre legit. On their way down the Brownsville(the first south city in Texas) last night, Joes engine blew out! So im not sure what the deal is with that. We called him back last night but his phone was off. Im pretty sure he was sleeping cus he had to leave to take a load to Dallas or something today. He'll be back tomorrow tho I think.

Ive been praying for Aunt Mary my whole mission basicly. Hopfully she starts doing better. Tell them I love them. Cant wait to get a cassette back from you guys. Well I think thats about it. I love you all and cant wait to get those letters!
Love
Elder Given

February 8, 2010

Hey Everyone,

This was a pretty good week, kinda a tough week but it was good. So sorry again about last week, I felt bad not writing very much. I have been stressin out lately cus we haven't had any solid people. We have a bunch of decent people but no one who is really progressing a lot. We only had 1 investigator at church yesterday. It was this little 9 year old girl named Tess. Shes hilarious, reminds me a lot of Kallie. Her mom is an inactive member and her grandma is a less active, but both Tess and her Grandma came Sunday. It was nice to see them there, the members really love Sis Rosales (the Grandma) so hopefully they'll keep comin. We also have officailly re activated a in active member. Her name is Monica and we just randomly found her one night tracting and she told us she was a member. So we invited her to church and she came, and now has come 3 weeks in a row and is making friends with the members! Its pretty cool. Shes kinda crazy but thats okay.

So transfers are going to be insane!!! We got a call 2 days ago telling us that there would we sisters coming to Raymondville West! (Im in East) So the Senior missionaries came down and looked for a place for them to live with Elder Hernandez and Cosper. They found this place right in the middle of our area, its pretty nice. So the next day Elder Herandez went on splits with the ZLs (edler Horton) and Elder Hortons comp, Elder Shields(from Gainsville, FL), came over here with Elder Cosper. So Elder Shields told us what is supposed to happen if Pres Miller doesnt change anything. Sister Fefitas area (San Benito) is going to get Elders, and some sisters, probably Sister Fefita and her comp or one of them and some other sister, are going to come to Westside Raymond. They are putting Elders in that area partly cus the Branch President doesnt respect the sisters at all, so thatll be good. It'll be fun to see how Pres Ramos reacts to the sisters haha. Oh yea and Elder Shields said me and Elder Guillen are probably staying :) Im actually excited about it, I like Raymondville. BUT, we found out that WE are going to have to move out, the sisters are going to get our house cus its nicer and in a safer place, and the other appartment is the the middle of our area. So thats whats probably gonna happen. I still might leave tho, nothing is official till this evening. I'll send out a letter tomorrow if I get moved.

Thats cool that Grammy Barbie came to visit. Tell her I love her and I say hi. Im glad Tyler is playing really well. Sounds like their team is really really good and Varsity is doing well too. I'll go to Alumni night at some point. I bet Kallie had a ton of fun at outdoor science school. I still remember when I went, that was a really long time ago. Tell her to write me a letter about it. I havnt heard from her or the twins or Hagen in FOREVER! You guys need to write me :) Thats awesome that the Sisters back home are doing so well. Make sure you do your best to fellowship the new members or they will fall away just as fast as they came. That is the biggest problem we have here. Like 3 or 4 of the recent converts since Ive been here arent coming to church. Its really sad, its cus nobody fellowships tho. So treat the new members like your friends or family, have the same mindset like they are Sister Ahlstrom or Shelley or someone. Be friends with them.

I finished reading the BOM last week. I started when I got to Raymondville so it took me like 4 months. My testimony has really grown a lot since Ive been out here. Testimony Meeting was so Powerful yesterday. First off, Pres Ramos asked this guy named Daniel Flores to give the opening prayer (he just calls on the spot as hes up there) and Danny has been in and out of activity since he got baptized over the summer. Anyway, President Ramos helped him say the prayer and it was awesome. Oh yea and the Quinteros showed up at church at like 815 but no one was there yet so they stopped by Joes moms house who lives right by the church, and then went back over at 830. So they got there before us, and I talk to Joe and Kurt about doing the Sacrament. Joe had called us on Friday and asked where the Sacrament prayers were in the BOM so we told him and he also found them in the Gospel Principles book and he studied them. So he was ready to say them, and I taught him and Kurt how to do everything, and I got this cool kid Erwin to help teach Kurt how to pass and stuff. I sat up there with Joe and helped him do it and it went really well. It was awesome to see them help do that. Then, it was testimony meeting and Joe shared his testimony and some of the members. It was really powerful. I bore my testimony on the BOM and i challenged all the memebrs who hadnt read it yet to read it. It was awesome. Then Junior, who got baptized back in November shared his testimony and I cried. He talked about missionary work and all this stuff. He's only 23 so hopefully he goes on a mission, he says he wants to. We try to take him out every week. Hes a good guy.

We also took Joe out for some lessons this week and it was AMAZING! We try to role play our lessons during comp study and we did one sarcasticly of Joe basicly teaching the whole lesson, and thats basicly what happend. Joe and the investigator did the talking for like 80% of the time there. THats exactly what we want. The spirit was really strong, and we set a baptismal date with the guy we were teaching. Joe is so cool.

Well I think thats about it. I saw a chick fight last week, dont know if I told you about that. It was pretty funny. Oh yea and Im sending a big package home today so look out for that. You guys will like it a lot. Cant wait to get the letters and memory cards this week.

I love you guys a ton.

-Elder Given

February 1, 2010

Hi Family!

Not a lot of time today. We didnt have anyone at church this week, but the Quinteros got baptized and Joe and Kurt got the priesthood. It was cool, they're an awesome family.

Transfers are week from tomorrow. I think I'm gonna get transfered but we'll see. I'd be happy either way. We got a tie bail this week! 200 LBS worth. I got a ton of high quaulity ties, and I'm gonna send a box home. the best part is that it only cost me $11! How cool is that. I bought some more weights, another 35 LBS and a curl bar for only $5. I'm gonna get buff.

Found some cool people this week, none of them came to church tho. Hopefully they'll progress this week. Following the spirit is the most important thing in missionary work. I'm so sick of tracting my area though cus I've done EVERY street and EVERY house, but the spirit directs us to find the prepared people, just like the Quintero family.

Well I think thats about it. Sorry this letter is so short.

Love you guys a lot.

Love,

Elder Given

January 25, 2010

Hi Family,

This was such a cool week. Very stressful at times but very cool. Friday night was the wedding for Joe and Veronica. We spent most of the day helping them set up and clean and stuff. So it started at 6 and at like 559 one of the members asked us to give her a blessing, so we go in the house and give the blessing, and right as we are finishing we hear everyone clapping and stuff. We totally missed it! I was so mad. First of all Pres Ramos did it in like 3 minutes, and then we totally missed it. But whatever, they were happy and thats all that matters.

Everything went well that night. We ended up having 4 baptisms. Joe, his son Joe Joe, Ana and then Veronicas 13 year old brother Kurt all got baptized. I baptized 3 of them, a member, borther serrato, baptized Joe Joe. It was really cool. When I was baptizing Joe, he like didnt got all the way under, so I had to like push him down, it was kinda funny. Hes a big guy haha. I forgot my camera so I didnt take pictures, but Elder Guillen took pics so Ill send them to you this week and you can scan them or whatever. Oh yea and we had a lesson with them last night and broght them a picture of the San Antonio temple, so thats there goal for 1 year from now. THey are so cool. I hope I can go with them when they go.

Guess what. I got some sweet weights this week. I got 90 lbs worth for $10! Such as good deal. im stoked on it. I've been lifting kinda a lot now. Everything is great! The only thing I cant handle is the freeking Mosquitos. They are really bad now. We load ourselves down with bug spray haha.

Stinks that Varsity lost to Marina. Good to hear that Tyler is doing really good tho. Keep workin hard. Have you guys sold my car yet? It's been like 6 months for sale. Has there been any surf with this gnarly storm?

Oh yea and Mom about teaching the judge. Hes just a really cool guy we found. Hes not like a judge judge. He doesnt make a lot of money, I dont think he went to law school. I think you just run for it haha. Good to hear Tyler, Cassidy and Hagen are doing well in school. Tell all of them to write me! Well thats about it. Just a really good week and Im gonna keep working my butt off.

I love you guys!

Elder Given