August 10, 2009

hey so this week was alright. we worked hard but didnt have much success. but we are hacving fun and the time is going by fast. im doing good. we are still going to gym. hpoe you are doing good. my mailbox got full in mylds and i didnt get any of your emails. if you can next week send the emails to both mylds and gmail.
peace out
elder skaggs

August 3, 2009

hey so this week whent better tahn i thought in some ways adn worse in others. so my comp is not dead anymore. his last comp helped him a bit and he actually has lots of desires to work and have fun doing it. so that was great relif.

today we did some fun stuff. we went to the gym this morning. a member owns ist and gives us a sweet discount. it was good and i think ill be really sore tomarrow. today we also went to some waterfall that was pretty cool. we walked up for 2.5 haours and ate up there. then we came hgome.

so this week we changed houses. the 5th time in the missoin that i have changed houses. pretty lame. beut we have a cooler house and its close to where we are working most of the time.

so we didnt have so much success this week as we planned. but this next week we are going to work hard and do alot better.
hope your haven a good time. love ya lots.
elder skaggs

July 27, 2009

so tomarrow we have changes.
good nnews and some bad too. my comp is leaving and im getting a comp who is pretty dead. he is pretty weird too. so i might have some problamitas with him. it might be pretty hard keeping him from diing pretty bad here cuz the members really love the missionaries and want to hang with us often.

good news is that they are going to give me some more pueblos. so we will have some more work to do and i hope to keep us busy enough to revive this dead fool taht is coming here.

this week was a bit of a bummer. we ran out of activities to do to get lessons done so we barely taught at all. but this next week weshould have lots of work to do and im pretty excited to get started.

hope you are all doing good. love ya lots. pray for me and my comp. the church is true. jesus is the christ. lifes a garden dig it.
amor y dedos ,
elder skaggs

July 20, 2009

hey fools,
so this week was pretty normal for here in Zentlalpan. not much work and not any success. im starting to get usesd to it but we are trying hard to find some glimps of hope.

So this week we had divisions with the zone leaders and the zone leader that whent with my comp said that he will never go back again. it was funny my comp and him got sick from the food and i had fun hangin out with bamgartner(my generation).

today we hung out as the zone and had carne asada. it was good we played b-ball and soccer. it was fun there are 5 people from our gen in the zone. and today we completed 17 months in the mish. thats crazy i cant belive how fast it has gone by.

so some news about the area and the mission in general. the assistants called the zls when we were at there house last night and they said that they might give us some more towns so that we can have some sort of work to do. so they might not close the area. also the prez told the zls that the normal time that a missionary will be in a area is 8-9 months so its possible that is might finish that mission in this area.

hope you are all dooing good. thatnks for writing those of ou who did so. love ya guys keep on keepen on.
elder skaggs

July 13, 2009

Hey fam y friends,

So this week was alright. We did some cool and different things. We still havnt found any success with investigators but we are seeing progress in the branch that is on the verge of being a ward. We have some hope this week from a activity that we had this sat.

This week we had conference with the new president, President Chavez. He is pretty cool. He is from casas grandes Chiuhuahua. He speaks inglish pretty well but we talked in Spanish in my interview. He ahs some new and interesting ideas but some are kinda weird. Like leaving the planner open after planning in the night so the angles can know where we are going to go. Hehe. But he is a cool guy and his family seems nice.

So we did some cool stuff this week so that we wouldn’t get board and die. So on Friday we climbed up this mountain that is on the side of our area to see if there were any houses up there. So we hiked like an hour up this crazy mountain and didn’t find any houses. But we took some really cool pics and decided that every Friday when we plan for the week we will hike up to be alone and recive more revelation. Hehehe. It was cool.

Also this week we had an activity with the primary kids. We tought them how to do missionary work and we went out to knock doors for an hour. It was way fun and the people actually listend to the little kids. We got 7 references from the other groups of kids and the kids that we went with we put 5 lessons for this coming week. Now we have some hope here in our area. It would be awesome if we even had one person that gets converted from this activity. Keep us in your preyers.

Love ya guys a lot keep on keepen on. Jesus is the Christ he loves us and will help us through our trials.
Elder Skggas
Ps HAPPY EARLY B-DAY MOM LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!

July 6, 2009

hey so i have like no time.
the work here really blows there are like 200 people in the town wqho are not members and they all know who we are and we have contacted them various times. what we are really going to focus on is making the branch a ward.

there is a cool girl that lives here that wants to get baptized but her dad wont let her. she was going to school in tampa florida and so i asked her if she knew Elder Read and she said yup. i freaked out and it was pretty funny. amazing how small the world is.

today we did service for an old lady in my ward. it was so hot and we were digging and throwing dirt and grass. it sucked but it was i guess a good thing to do. i got like 3 blisters on my hand and my neck is was burned.

ill write more next week i promise. love ya lots.
elder skaggs

mom: my comp is elder ramirez from chuihuahua

court: hey invetigate the average score of the players on the byuh golf team

June 29, 2009

Sup,
So this week was pretty lame. We didn’t have any success and we are working hard. So we are going to start to have more family home evenings with the members and we are asking them to invite a friend. Tonight we have one. I hope it will go well.

Today we played soccer again. It was fun. But my comp got mad at me. So someone passed me the ball and I was running after it and he smacked me pretty hard with his body but I didn’t fall. So then some one passed it infront of me again and I started running down the line and my comp was behind me then I turned and bumped him with my body and he fell. Hehehe. And he got mad. It was pretty funny. I don’t know why he would have started it if he really cant take it back. He has gotten over it now, I think.

So on Sunday I got to church and the branch president asked us to talk. So we were preparing our talks and the counsoler of the bishop of the other ward asked me to talk also. So I gave two talks on Sunday. One on unity and the other on the temple. I think I did a good job.

So we are so far out in the boonies that in our little town there is not even one public telephone. About half of the 8 streets are not paved so I might wear through some shoes pretty fast. Another weird and cool thing that we do here is pee in the river. There is a little stream that runs along our town and if we have to go bad and we are not close to the church we just go down into the stream and do our business.

So Michel Jackson died. That’s weird and not surprising at the same time. That guy was a wacko but sang and danced like no other. O so I guess my comp before the mission was a big dancer. He was on the dancing team of his school. He is pretty proud of it and is pretty serious. I asked him if he would tech me to dance. And he said no, you could never learn to dance. He said that white people cant dance. I don’t really care cuz dancing is not too high up on my ”cool things to do” list. Hehehe.
So we got to go. Love ya lots
Elder skaggs

Zentlalpan

June 22, 2009

Hey family,
So I hope things are all good for you guys in the big city. So im here in possibly the smallest area in the world. I have one pueblo (town) that is way small and almost all of the people here are members. So in my tiny little town we have one ward, about 100 people active, and a branch, with about 70 people active. We walk down the street and see a bunch of members all day. Its pretty crazy, almost everyone knows us and knows what we do.

So my comp is alright. He is kind of weird but that’s normal. We work hard but there´s not much work here. So, some cool history about the area. This is the place where the church in Mexico started. The church building that I go to on Sunday is the first church building that was built in all of Mexico. So there are some people here that share some way cool stories about the history of the church in Mexico.

So my little town is surrounded and full of fields. All kinds of corn fields. There are lots of cows and sheep that walk around. It kind of sucks cuz they poop all over the street and its almost impossible to no step in it. I just try to avoid the fresh stuff. We are so far from civilization that it sucks. We are like 3 hours from the city in car, even longer in bus. This Thursday we are going to have a mission conference. Last conference with prez. Doxey. And we have to be in Paraiso at 9 in the morning. Who kwnos at what time we will leave.

So there is not much work here but we are going to keep working hard. One of our goals is to make the branch a ward. It will be hard but nothing is impossible for God. We found two really good families that week and hope that they will progress and be able to get a baptism. Pray for our investigators and our pueblito (Zentlalpan).
HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!

The whole zone came to play soccer today in a real field in my area then we ate food at a cool ladys house. The one real good thing about Zentlalpan is that there are so many members that we have everything free. Internet, tienda, breakfast, ice cream, haircuts. Its amazing. If I wanted I probably could go a week without spending a dime.
Have fun at the beach all summer. I´ll be here talking to cows and horses in the rain. Love ya lots. Amor y dedos,
Elder Skaggs

ratones y volcanes

June 15, 2009

Hey family and friends. I hope you are all doing well. So i heard about some fun cool things that you guy are doing. Like visiting a new exciting place and climbing a great big rock. And im sure i will have these same oppertunities very soon. So im getting transfered to the “hoyo” or the hole of the mission as they call it. But im sure its not. Im going to the Zone Volcanes in the Area Zentlalpan. It will be nice to be close to the volcanes and the clean air but it rains real hard there. Im sure it will be great. So this was Presidente Doxeys last change so he made a bunch about 70 precent of the mission had changes. Crazy. Prez doxey leaves in early july. I hope he dosnt go but it is what it is.

So this week went alright. Allot of things went bad but we finished the week pretty well. We had one baptism when we should have had 2. so my comp and his kid will have 2 set up for this week. Lucia and Fabiola. I ahve worked with Lucia for 3 months and Fabiola is an amazing convert and is still going strong. It kind of sucks that i will be so freaking far that i wont be able to see their baptisms. :( But some of my converts, the family Soto, gave me a real cool gift. They gave me a Aztec callender. Ill atach a pic.

So we have a rat problem in our house. They come in from the bottom of the door. And one came in last night. And ran in the kitchen. So we decided to try to kill it and we succeded. It was pretty funny and crazy at the same time. It was a little maouse and was reall fast. So my comp was in the kitchen and i was standing in the dorway. My comp scared it and it tryed to run out but i smaked it with the broom. Well i tried to smash it but it jumped and so i hit it on the way back up so the little ratoncito went flying and almost hit my comp in the face. Then it tryed to run out again and i smacked it again then it died. It was pretty cruel but pretty fun at the same time.

Hope you are all doing good. Share the gospel with your friends and neibors. It can only help. Asour love for the Savior grows we become more willing to help in His cause. Keep on keepen on. Amor y Dedos,
Elder Skaggs

random questions:
is Brandon working on his papers? others?
waht is the weather like?

Fabiola

June 8, 2009

Ehy peeps,
So this week was good. We had some good and really cool stuff happen. Its cool to see when the work really pays off. Seeing miricles is really awesome eventhough it happens quite often on the mish.

So Lucia had her interview and she got animated to recive her baptism this Sat. So that will be cool. And the girl who was going to get baptized this week left out of town but they said that this weekend she will get baptized. I think on Friday.

So some funny stuff happend this week.
Fist of all we were riding in the bus and this little kid gets on and wispers something in the conducters ear then he tells us that he is going to put on a disc for us. So i thought that he was going to sing or something normal. But no. He startred dancing in a really weird gay way. He had absolutly no dancing skills at all. I had a hard time not laughing. Then he did a backflip thing and almost smaked my comp in the head.

Then we were riding on another bus that was so full that my comp barely had anywhere to hold on to. So the driver was pretty crazy and he took this turn way too fast and my comp started to slide backwards and he let go of the bar. It wouldnt have been too bad of a situation but there was a really old guy right behind him and my comp smaked right into him. It was so funny. The face the old man made was classic. A mix of “what is happening” and “someone help me!” it was classic.

So i had some more stuff to write about but i forgot my agenda in the house and im too lazy to walk next door to get it.

So miricle of the week:
on Friday we found this lady named Fabiola. On Friday we tought her baptism and she accepted a baptismal date. That usually dosnt happen so easy or fast. Then on sat we tought her about the resteration and she accepted evrything. We asked her if she would come to church with us and she said yes. Sunday we passed for her and went to church. It was fast and testimony meating and at the end of the testimonies she got up. And bore her testimoy that she feels really good in the churhc and that she is glad that we brought her there and that she will be there constantly to help other people out. WOW. That really surprized me. A person who has been to church once in her life felt the spirit so strong that she got up to give thanks to God and commit to everyone that she will stay stong in the church. Its amazing how God really prepares his children to recive His gospel. And its amazing to be a witness of these kind of miricles.

Love ya lots. God lives and Jesus is his son and our Redeemer.
Elder Skaggs

June 1, 2009

Hey family and friends,

This week was pretty good. We worked pretty hard and didnt see much results until Sunday. So we found this really cool family on Sat and they said that they would go to church on Sunday with us. The family has like 9 people over the age of 8 and so we were stoaked. So on Sunday we passed by for them and they wernt there. They had left. So we got kinda bummed. But when we got to church we saw this inactive lady walk in with her 3 daughters. One of the girls is not baptized and has 9 years. The mom said that she has talked to her daughter and that she wants to get baptized next Sunday. Whooo. Thats a free baptism pretty easy. We set a lesson up to go teach the little girl so that she can get baptized on Sunday. Later in the day we went by again to the house of the big family. They all wernt there but we talked to the pearants and one of the daughters and they accepted a baptismal date.

Also this week, Adrian blessed the sacramenmt. It was good. He dosnt reaslly like to show his emotions but im sure he was happy that he did well. His mom and him are progressing really well. They went to church by themselves this week and are really excited to keep learning.

So i dont know if i have t alked about Lucia yet but she came to church again. This lady has come to church 4 times and dosnt want to accept a baptismal date. She accepts evrything that we teach and likes the Church but i think she has scared. We are going to have the zone leader interview her to help her get excited for her baptism. Keep her in your prayers.

So, today we went to the central and bought ties from the Chino. I bought 12 ties for 300 pesos. They are pretty sweet and really cheep. When we left we were going to go to the Temple to buy some stuff for new converts. So we got to the temple and the store was closesd. So we had to take the bus all the way back. But the bad part was that we took the buss the wrong way for like half an hour and we had to get off and take the other one back 2 hours. And the bus was so packed that we rode all the way back standing. It was pretty tiering.

Thanks for the emails and i hope all of you are doing good. Lifes a garden dig it.
Amor y dedos
Elder Skaggs

Court: no weird food lately. plentty of good food
Mom: doing fine with my health.

blender

May 25, 2009

Hey family and friends,

So this week went by well. We worked hard and some sort of success. We had one baptism this week the son of the lady that got baptized last Sunday (Adrian) and they both got confirmed on Sunday. It was good and they are progressing. We also went to a family home evening with a cool family in our ward with them. They and we had fun and we ate pizza after. (The member guy sells pizzas from his house).

But the rest of the week was kind of lame. We worked hard and me and my comp get along well but we didnt have much success. A lot of the lessons fell through and we didnt have any success in the church. We found a cool lady and her daughter but they left on vacations until Tuesday. Wel will see if they keep progressing or if they fall through too. This week was pretty hard but im sure that the Lord will help us out this week and will bless us with a really cool family.

So last week me and my comp were thinking that it would be pretty cool if we had a blender. So we decided to ask, really sly-like, all of the members that we ate with where we could get a blender real cheep. So last Sunday i asked this sister and she said hey i got 3 take one for free. SCORE. That was completly our plan, get one for free. So this week i have had liquados (milk, chocolate, banana) every day. Its way fast and fills you up good.

So when Mom asked me if it was rainy season and i said “yea, but it hasnt rained much” i think i jinxed us. It has rained 5 days a week for the last 2 weeks. Lame. But the good thinbg is that its not cold.

Tihs week we had interviews and it was cool. I didnt really get any hints about if i will stayt or go this change. But Pres Doxey told me that me and my comp are like the zone leaders of our district. And that they are finding more success when they have two leadership-kind missionareies together one as the district leader and both as an example to the district. So i dont know if he was hinting at anything there or if it just means that we need to be a good example to the district. Ill take it that way for now.

I hope you are all doing good. Love ya lots.
Amor y dedos,
Elder Skaggs

Ps family: i hope you can remember to send some pics. And if not i might forget to send an email. Got that idea from another missionay. Pretty cruel eh? Hehhehe but seriosly i might forget.

Hey fools,

How are things going in the states? So evrything is getting back to normal here in Mexico. So we started to wear ties again but the bbishop and his counsolers didnt on Sunday. It was funny.

So this week i got a new comp. His name is Elder Gonzalez. He is from Sinaloa. He is pretty cool and likes to work. He has so many self care products. Like colon, locion, face cream and other weird stff that i have no clue what it is. But thats fine as long as he dosnt get gay with me. Hehe JK. He`s cool. He is the new district leader. This change shoulkd be real fun and we should have lots of success.

Funny story of the week. It wasnt so funny at the time but after it was pretty hilarious. So i contacted this old guy on the street. And when we contact we like to talk to people about the day or if they have kids talk about their kids. Just to start up the conversation. So this old guy had some plastic cups and cookies. So i walked up and said hello and asked him if he was going to the party. And he said no. And so i presented us and asked him if we could share a message with him and his family. And he told us that he didnt havfe time because his wife had just died and he was going to her rosaries (?). its like a funeral that lasts like a week long here. So it was pretty bad. I asked the old guy if he was going to the party when he was going to the funeral of his wife. It was pretty funny later. Hehehe.

So this week we had a baptism. Susana Soto. We were suposed to have 2 but her son lied to us and has still been smoking but he has a baptismal date for this sat. Thier family is pretty cool. The ladys other two daughters came to church for the first time. We will start working with them too.

So the work is going good. We will keep wortking hard and hopefully see the results soon. Hope you all are doing good and hope you can write me back.

Fam. So i have been waiting for opening day pics for about a month. Whats up with that?

Love ya Lots. Amor y Dedos
Elder Skaggs

No corbatas

May 11, 2009

Hey fools,
So this week was pretty lame as far as the work goes and my comp but it was cool to talk to the fam and get changes. So today we played soccer at 9 then we came back and washed our clothes witha family that also fed us. Now we are here writing emails and then at 5 we are goinmg tpo go play pool with some other elders here close. Then in the night Marisol invited us to go eat tacos at this place near the church.
So some other random stuff that i think are worth writing about.

NO corbatas: so we as missionaries havnt worn ties for 4 days now and it feels really weird. I have gotten so used to wearing a tie taht i feel weird without it. Especially on Sunday when we went to church in suits without our ties. So the reason for not wearing a tie is that the government says taht the viruses and germs get cought in the knot. How lame huh? Some people are just down right stupid. Hehehe.

Chile: this is just straight up tourture. So mexicans dont go without salsa or chilis its just a rool. So me being a good mexican have gotten used to eating chile and salsas. And they are dilicious. That really isnt the problem. The real problem is that i dont feel how hot or spicy it is until it comes out. It berns pretty good.

Casa: so we have changed houses. The house is cool but its in the most dangerous drug populated areas of my area. O well. But i think its lame that evry single area i have been in i have changed houses. Either i am really pickey about houses (dont think so) or i just have some bad luck.

Comp: so my companion is a jerk. He is so rude and never gives me respect. He is always mad at me for no reason . this last week we havnt studdied or even prayed together. Well at least the changes are tomarrow and i will be getting another comp who im pretty sure will be much better.

Trafico: so in my area there are two major streets. I think they would classify as free-ways in the states. But these two streets we have to cross them constantly. And there are nice bridges taht we could use but we are too lazy to climb them so we just cross. There is a nice median in the middle that helps a bit but still sometimes we havef to dodge a few cars to make it alright. Dont worry mom its not too bad. Hehehe.

Mom of all the talking we did last night i didnt say HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!! Sorry i feel like a bum. Love ya lots. Tell me when you get my letter i sent.

Amor y dedos
Elder Skaggs

May 4, 2009

Hey family and friends,

So this week was a little crazy with the swine flu and all of that but we kept on working and actually had pretty good results. So because of the flu scare i was wearing a face mask thing that the docters wear. I forgot how to call that. But it was so freaking hot and from my nose to my mouth was sweating for 3 days. Then i come to find out that they only work for 8 hours and not 3 days. Lame. At least i might have lost some weight around the mouth nose region. Hehehe. O and the best was that my comp was walking around with a black scarf tied over his mouth and nose. It was funny he looked like a crazy ninja-missionarie. Im sure he had alot of hot.

So im pretty jealous of mexico kids. About evry week they have vacations or holidays. This week was dia del niño and dia de trabajo. Day of the kid and day of work. Both respected holidays in all of mexico and many southern amçerican countries. Im thinking about making an suggested amendment to add these holidays in the States. I think its a good idea.

So we had changes. And im staying. Im geting a comp named elder gonzalez. He will be the new district leader. So thats pretty cool. I thought i would be the new district leader. But thats fine. On saterday night i was thinking about that and i came to the conclusion that all i want is a comp that wants to work. And i think thats what i got and im prety stoaked.
Love ya lots. Keep in touch.

A few random questions: when does trevor blanc get home? Is cousin Brandon working on his papers or has he already sent them? any progress with the YM and mission papers?

Paz
Elder Skaggs

More Swine Flu

April 25, 2009

Hey family and friends,

So lots of stuff to talk about this week. Lots of cool stuff and lots of really sad discouraging stuff. Ill start with the good.

Good.

So one day we met some friends in the street. Two dogs one black and one blonde. And they followed us for about half an hour about a mile. It was funny cuzthey were justlike us one whitty and a dark one.

This week we had interviews with the president. It was awesome. He reallyhelped me out and made me have lots of desires to keep on keepen on. He talked about how are trials are more precios tan gold (1 peter 1:6-7). It was really great to talk to him and he reallyhelped me out anmd i have seen how this week the Lord has blessed me and my comp.

we have had lots of success this week and have progressed lots in finding. my faitha and trust in the Lord has grown alot in these last two weeks.

Bad.

So this timeof year is when i start to get meore headaches be cause the weatrher charncges so fast every day. In the morning it is cool then it gets really hotat 11 and then it rains in the afternoon and then gets hot agian right beforethe night. Weird huh?

So today wazlking back from the food. We see a dominos guy laying on the top of a car. With blood coming out of his mouth. So i guess like 1 muinet before the car hit the dominoes guy on his motercycle and he was either uncouncious or dead. Im not quite sure. Kind of freaked me out.

Story of the day. So i guess there is a crazy super flu that evryone is freaking out about. Our steak president cancled church for tomarrow so all of our baptismal datestthat we set this week will get pushed back another week. Lame. But we are going to keep working (with precautios of course). Me and my comp havnt gotten sick. So thats good cuz wecantleave our investigators alone this week cuz we have alot of great prospects for baptism.
Hope your doing good. Love ya lots talk to ya next week.
Elder skaggs

Swine Flu

April 24, 2009

hey reasd this it should help your stress level go down. im not sick or my comp im going to write tonight. prez told us to. love ya
elder skaggs

Because of the announcement yesterday that Mexico and the world are facing an outbreak of a new strain of influenza, many people have become worried about the risks and are not sure what to do to prevent illness. The memorandum below has the purpose of informing you and establishing the precautions for you to take in the Mexico City South Mission. Please send this email to your families so that they will know what is going on. This sort of challenge has happened before. This will not stop the Lord’s work. We are not minimizing the risk, but we ask you to go forward with faith. TAKE THE PRECAUTIONS RECOMMENDED, BUT DO NOT FEAR. The Lord will bless you. We love and pray for you always.



Atentamente,

President Doxey




MEMORÁNDUM EN ESPAÑOL E INGLÉS

¿CUÁL ES EL PROBLEMA?

WHAT IS THE ISSUE?



Las autoridades están preocupadas porque más o menos mil personas en el último mes se han contagiado de un nuevo tipo de influenza. Se ha confirmado que la muerte de unas 20 personas se debe a esta influenza, y se supone que otras 48 personas murieron por causa de esta influenza. Esta nueva influenza es un tipo de influenza porcina, es decir, una influenza que normalmente afecta a los cerdos. En este caso, parece tener la habilidad de contagiarse directamente de humano a humano. Cada año, hay nuevos tipos de influenza, y muchos centenares o miles mueren. La mayoría de los que mueren de los tipos usuales de influenza suelen ser personas que ya están débiles, incluso los muy ancianos y los muy jóvenes. Esta nueva variedad de la influenza porcina presenta una preocupación más importante, porque la mayoría de los que han muerto eran jóvenes y estaban gozando de buena salud antes de contraer la influenza.



Officials are concerned because about 1,000 people in the last month have had a new type of flu. Some 20 confirmed deaths are due to this flu, and an additional 48 deaths are attributed to this flu. This new flu is a type of swine flu, that is, a flu that usually affects pigs. In this case, it appears to be able to spread directly from human to human. Every year, there are new types of flu, and many hundreds or thousands die. Most of those who die of the usual types of flu are people who are already sickly, including the very old and the very young. This new strain of swine flu is a greater concern, because most of those have died were young and healthy before getting the flu.



El tipo de influenza porcina que es peligroso causa que los pulmones se llenen de líquido, como ocurre con neumonía. Esta influenza es muy agresiva y da fuerte a los pulmones dentro de 24 horas. Así que si usted ha estado enfermo por más de un día sin tener síntomas semejantes a los de la neumonía, es casi imposible que tenga la influenza porcina. Si su respiración se hace difícil, y hay dolor o sentimiento de peso a nivel de los pulmones (lo cual es muy diferente a una nariz tapada o dolor de garganta con tos), llame inmediatamente al Dr. Brunt al 044 55 5217-1664.



The type of swine flu that is dangerous causes the lungs to fill with liquid, as happens with pneumonia. This flu is very aggressive and strikes the lungs hard within 24 hours. So if you have been sick for more than a day without getting pneumonia-like symptoms, it is very unlikely that you have swine flu. If your breathing becomes difficult, and there is pain or heaviness at the level of your lungs (which is very different from a stuffy nose or a sore throat and a cough), call Dr. Brunt right away at 044 55 5217-1664.

Polies

April 20, 2009
Hey,
So this week went good. We had lots of work and I finally am finding out how to really work by faith. It makes all the difference. The Lord has blessed us a lot this week. And we need to keep working hard to make sure everything pans out well.

In two weeks we have changes and its most likely that my comp will leave cuz he has almost 6 months here. So I need to work hard these next two weeks so that I will have lots of work and prospects for baptism when I get my new comp.

So today I completed 14 months in the mission and it has gone by so fast. I can’t believe that I only have 10 months left. I can remember just getting to the MTC and meeting my first comp elder Glenn. Now I’m here in mexitown speaking Spanish like nothing. Kind of sucks that I only have 10 months left to serve the Lord with all that I have. These 14 months have been some of the most challenging but funnest months of my life.

So yesterday (Sunday) Marisol made Tamales and invited lots of peeps from the ward. Marisol is the lady that just got baptized and she is really excited and pumped to be in the church and is making lots of friends. So last night we ate tamales with her and about ten members from the ward. It was cool.

This morning we went to her house to get our hair cut. She is a hair stylist and does a real good job. When we were walking back we came out of her colony (which is pretty dangerous in the night and is well known for drug trafficking) and these Polies came up to us and started asking us who we are and what are we doing here and why am I so white and all that stuff. Well when it all comes down to it they searched us for drugs and then let us go. It was pretty exciting and im sure it didn’t look to good from the street but what are you gonna do? It is what it is.

This week was good I hope it was good for you too. Love ya. Keep on keepen on.

Tu misionero,
Elder Skaggs

Bad Carl's Jr.

April 13, 2009

Hello
Well this week was much better. We worked really hard and actually found some results. This week went by pretty fast. I hope that this week was good for all of you guys too.

So this week we got some money from a member because she didn’t have time to feed us. So we went to Carls Jr. it was pretty good. I got a double western meal. Then the next day we had a really gross meal and I got food poisoning from some ketchup that was over its time limit. Saturday night I was in the bathroom all night throwing up and with diarrhea. Lame. One of my goals down the drain. I wanted to go through my whole mission with out puking. I made it almost 14 months which I think is a pretty good success.

So this week was Easter. It was cool. The mexis go all out for this week. In iztapalapa they have a live representation of the crucifixion and this guy dresses up and carrys the cross through the street and everything. We had a pretty good Easter. We had a baptism. Marisol got baptized and it was a really good service.

Today we just relaxed and washed the clothes. So the Pads are doing great. That is awesome. I think Ekstein is really what we needed a fast energetic lead off guy. I hope you all have a good week and keep in touch.

Alex: ¿como va su compania, Levant? espero que bein. cuando vas a ir a Bama a trabajar? quidate mucho. te amo amigo.

Marisol

April 6, 2009

Hola family and friends,

So this week was good and bad at the same time. Ill start with the good.

So I really liked conference. It was pretty direct and that’s what we really need here in Mexico cuz the people just don’t seem to get it. Hopefully they were paying attention. Probably not. I really liked how the speakers really focused on the Atonement and Faith. That’s what we have been focusing on in the zone meatings. Its cool to see that President Doxey really knows whats up and recives revelation for us missionaries.

We had zone conference on Friday morning. It was cool. I saw E. Glenn , E. BAmgartner, E. Smeadly ,and E. Loser. Elder loser and bam are zone leaders. It was cool to see them and hang out for a bit. President Doxey talked about working with faith and if we don’t work with faith then we wont recive all of the blessings that the Lord has prepared for us or our investigators.

So Marisol came to conference on Saturday and really liked it. She has a baptismal date for this Sunday. Keep her and us in your prayers. I think that she is pretty ready and feels the need to recive a baptism. We are going to help her move her haircutting stuff today so she can start cutting hair in her house.

So this week was pretty hard as far as the work goes. We had lots of activities that took up allot of time but the time that we had we worked hard and contacted lots of people. But no one wanted anything. We didn’t find any new people. It is pretty frustrating but I know that the Lord will really help us out this week if we keep on keepen on.
My health is good. Im getting along better with my comp and we are working hard. I love you guys and hope that everything is going well. The church is true. God is our loving Heavenly Father and He wants us all to return to Him with our Families. ONLY through the true gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and ENDURING TO THE END) can we reach this goal and return to live with our loving Heavenly Father.

Los amo mucho. Amor y dedos.
Elder skaggs

Mom and g-ma/pa: thanks for the packages. Im set for a while. Don’t send me packages until Christmas cuz they are expensive and it would be better if I could use the money to buy you guys gifts and suveniers. Ok? Love ya

GO PADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SEND ME REPORTS AND PICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!