Great Skype call with Stuart today for Mother’s Day. We recorded it, so we may post a few excerpts for you guys to watch.
A big shout out to Troy and Tina Johnson! Met your son during the call today. Thanks for following the blog!
Cheers!
~Elder Mayo’s Mom
So when I come home in a year´s time, I fully expect to see every tree in Paradise having fallen, with the fall line inevitably crossing a residence of some sort. Maybe they´ll overlap, and a great voice from the heavens will say, ¨Pick-up sticks.¨ (Hurr. The sacreligiousness of Elder Wagner sticks with me)
Tell Chris to write me so that I can offer moral support. He´ll be sure to need it if his computer was destroyed. Also, tell him that bad stuff does happen here, but I just don´t talk about it in my letters…very much. Although, there are no trees in Tijuana, so that particular incident is his (and yours) to claim. Here it´s more of a Watts situation.
Elder Gusman and I try to avoid going to the lower half of our sector at night, because there are ambush sites (Everyone points them out to us and tells us not to go through them at night because we´ll get jumped by ten guys and maybe die) and roving gangs (también). But yes, I am perfectly fine. That stuff can all be avoided, at least by us. We just have to not be dumb, though for two 20-year-olds, that´s surprisingly difficult.
I get along alright with Elder Gusman. The only friction point we have is P-day. I´ve been busy with things that I have to do on P-days for the last three weeks or so (dentist, or helping our frito ward mission leader write a love song for his I-wish-she-was-my girlfriend), and Elder Gusman is a professional soccer player. Our mostly-dead district leader (who goes home in two weeks) always calls us to volunteer his companion to go with me to the dentist while Elder Gusman and he go to play soccer somewhere. Despite that we shouldn´t generally do divisions on P-day, I would be fine with this exception, except that they always take until something like 7:00 to get back, and we lose the whole night of teaching because we still have to wash clothes.
Elder Gusman is a good companion, and he loves the people we teach. He has almost six months in the mission field. He is sincere, and does want to work, though he could use a little more initiative. Then again, I could too. Initiative would help us to avoid wasting time waiting for the other one to speak up. He teaches in an understandable form, and people seem to get what he tells them, and he is capable of teaching by the Spirit. His only pet peeve is when other people become exasperated or what he calls angry, so unfortunately I bother him sometimes. He is quick to forgive, though, and doesn´t hold it against me for long. Sometimes I´m a little bit fariseo, and I think that bothers him somewhat too, but I´m trying to get along well with him, and he also is with me, so things always work out ok.
That is an important lesson in the mission field. One learns to not only tolerate, but work together with and/or teach any kind of person, even if they are bothersome or obnoxious (Elder Gusman is not obnoxious or bothersome, but I sometimes am to him).
For example, today in the dentist´s office, before my appointment, two women were seated there actively verbally attacking one Elder Lara, who is still being trained by Elder Mounga (he´s one cool Tongan). All the other missionaries were waiting just outside the door, in visual and audio range, but out of the conversation. I was impressed that Elder Lara could answer most of their doubts with so little time in the mission field, but he was starting to get exasperated because the women kept doing that dumb thing that nearly all the militant Christians do here: cutting Elder Lara off before he could share his testimony or teach anything at all by vomiting out a thousand false doctrines and misinterpreted scriptures that don´t apply to the subject at hand, doing so in a loud and obnoxious tone of voice, and thus blocking or denying the testimony of the Holy Ghost, which is perhaps the most frustrating part of all missionary work.
I would have gotten angry before my mission. I would also have had fear of being stumped or not knowing how to respond.
That is not the case any longer. I know that I am in possession of a fledgling testimony of the true doctrine of Christ, and with the aid of the Spirit, I cannot be confounded before men. It humbles me.
I was able to get the two militants to quiet down for a moment, and taught them about the Book of Mormon. They tried several times to cut me off, but I just raised my tone slightly. ¨Es que sabemos mucho y ustedes no, y contradicen mucho,¨ dijeron literalmente, pero no me importaba. Solo les dije, ¨Buenos días.¨
In the dentist´s office. Yeah. I know. But I didn´t get angry! I tried to teach them with love! It would have worked if their learning had not lifted them up in so much pride. Learning is good, but thinking onesself very wise and knowledgeable is foolish.
I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for revealing Gospel truths to the world, and I am grateful that He has given some of them to my understanding.
About Skype, Elder Gusman was thinking about doing it on Thursday because that´s when we can use a member´s computer. We would definitely have to call in the afternoon or nighttime, around 6:30 or 7:00. I´m very excited to see all of you too. You may notice that my forehead is more visible now, at least on the sides. Genetics are unkind. We´ll try to call in the evening, probably. If we can´t do it on Thursday, we´ll have to use an internet café, and I don´t know how well that will go. I´ll do a quick call on Thursday to see if you´re all available, and if you can´t do it on Thursday, we´ll plan for Sunday afternoon, sometime soon after 3:00.
We have two investigators that particularly need assistance. Angelina has been visiting with the missionaries and faithfully going to church since two transfers ago, but can´t get baptized yet because she´s not married to her marido and they live together with kids. Her future husband is a less-active member of the church reactivated, and is also very supportive, but they have money problems and need some kind of help to get married. We´ve helped with that for their birth certificates, but the mission has warned us that we can´t help investigators with money to get married anymore. They´re going to try to go today to see about the…trámitas (I don´t actually know what some of the words they use here are in English. They just always use that word to describe the legal process of getting married).
Angelina has a remarkably strong testimony of the Gospel and its restoration, and the only thing she needs is to get married.
Another is named Ivan. Ivan runs a Catholic orphanage, though he says it may close soon. His questions and interests run very parallel to what we teach, and he has expressed that if this message is true, he is prepared to do anything, even get fired from working in his Catholic employ, to follow the truth he´ll have found. He feels that way because he has felt the Spirit testify powerfully (we felt it too) in our lessons with him. He has the obstacle of a lack of time, as the children of the orphanage occupy much of it, and possible persecution from other workers or employers there. He does not lie to us, he sincerely seeks truth, and he recognizes when the Spirit testifies of it.
If you wish to pray for investigators, these are they.
Tell my 18-year-old younger brother to scribble me a note. I have his birthday present, and I just need to get it sent (also the Mother´s Day gift). Happy Birthday to L, etc. What did you do for your 18th birthday, Elliot? Did you spend it with family, friends, or girlfriend (also definitely accompanied by friends 100% of the time)? Elder Gusman has had 19 girlfriends before his mission. I was astounded. His current girlfriend will probably last a couple more weeks before sending him a Dear John, as he has almost six months in the mission field.
That is all. Enjoy yourselves.
Con un buen de cariño,
Elder Stuart Mayo
Because my camera has been working a little lately.
When I arrived in Las Villas, Elder Gusman and his half-dead previous companion had been teaching a family. They are the Mack Family, which consists of Lory (Their loving but short, Soleil (the impossible 15-year-old girl), David (ten years old, the blonde one), Dustin (the black haired one), Daniel (the shortest one who knows how to walk), and Devon (the adorable and surprisingly hard-headed and pain-tolerant baby). They are Americans, so Elder Gusman and I always spoke English with them. Fun stuff. It was surprisingly difficult to teach in English the first few times, while also retaining formality and reverence in my speech. Spanish translated to English sounds kind of like Gershwin stylings translated to Chopin notes. Or something.
Anyway, they got baptized this week! The two boys, David and Dusty, got baptized last week, actually. Soleil kept saying that she didn´t want to get baptized. For a while we thought it was just her teenage search for attention (and it probably mostly was), but I was pretty concerned. When we tried to figure out what the problem was, she finally told us that the obstacle was just clothing! She didn´t have anything white to wear, and she absolutely refused to wear one of the white jumpsuits or dresses on the grounds that they were unfashionable. So, we put together a cool outfit for her. It actually turned out really pretty (as you can see in the pictures), and their baptismal service went swimmingly. Soleil took forever to get ready after her baptism though. I think we were all out there waiting for her to come back for something like forty minutes.
On a sadder note, their family moved to Rosarito the same day as their baptism, so we probably won´t see them for quite a while. I got all their contact information, though, so I´ll look them up when I finish my mission.
Hey, I got lost today too! I was not driving the vehicle, unfortunately. I had to go to the dentist today. You know the root canal that the church dentist did about a month after I got to Tijuana? Well, something didn´t turn out right, because a week after she finished it, the crown broke into a lot of tiny fragments, some of which I swallowed. Small pieces kept breaking off in my food for a few weeks, but I desperately did not want to spend eight more periods of six hours finding a bus, going to the centro, walking to the office, listening to the dentist talk to Elder Roque about her metaphysical experiences for a space of time, in the which I would be subjected to considerable pain (I gained an appreciation for Brother Parrot´s dentistry) and also boredom, and spending eighty pesos in the process (for bus transportation, every time).
So I finally called Hna. Carreón and said ¨Hey, I´m actually missing a tooth right now, and have been for the past eight months or so, so I should go to the dentist.¨
We spent three and a half hours trying to get to the dentist´s office today. We got kind of confused on the bus and passed the street, so we caught it when the bus turned around. Then we found out that the office had been moved to another place, about a half-hour away. We got confused with the directions the dentist gave us, and went the wrong way.
I´m not actually with my companion right now. Elder Vargas is with me, while Elder Gusman went to the zone activity. We tried to go after going to the dentist, but couldn´t find it. It´s been kind of a dumb day.
The pictures. Right.
501 – I climbed a thing on P-day at the soccer game. How cool.
509, 511 – I switched out my pairs of Missionshoes on the 21st. The tread on the old one is more than half diminished since the beginning, and you can see daylight from one end of the shoe to the other.
513 – This duck belongs to Hno. Sol. It always sneaks into their house to chill out, before Hno. Sol gets mad at it and chases it out again.
518 – Sometimes the baptismal font needs some cleaning. Also, this appears to be the aftermath of some kind of epic battle between species. Or maybe epic drowning of a couple of big bugs.
Why did L not write to me this week? Or for many weeks? Did I diss on MLP demasiado?
I must go. My people need me.
Con amor,
Elder Stuart Mayo
Stuart mentioned in his last email that he has been transferred to Las Villas ward in La Florida stake. Here is his church building.
His new area is on the very eastern edge of Tijuana. Looks like a very pretty place!
I was a very frazzled pianist this week. I was under the very false impression that professional operatic sopranos sing at the same speed that I play, and therefore practiced the music far too quickly. I was a little stressed out when I couldn’t play the music perfectly at top speed (you know how that is. Thankfully, my patience is better now and I don’t freak out). I did calmly express some worry to my companion, but Elder Rodriguez didn’t have much help to offer. He looked equally nervous as I was, though I suppose it was for my sake. He’s a very good Elder, and I am glad to have been able to train him these last three months. We are friends!
So I did finally get the music down at the speed I was going for. Near the beginning of this week, la Hermana Gabriella Quezada de Roque me mandó mas musica, sacando algunas canciones y aggregando una mas (sent me more music, taking out some songs and adding one more). (Darn, whenever I write out a spanish name, I always accidentally switch to Spanish without realizing it. Did that ever happen to you, parents?)
That lady knows how to keep a pianist on his toes (or his perfectly curved fingers, mejor). Between her switching music and changing keys on the already existing stuff until the day of the concert, her extreme rubato style which is somewhat difficult to follow and tests one´s patience, the lack of practicing together, the dramatic difference in the tempo which I practiced and the tempo which she practiced, and other more technical things (like improvising page-turns with the necessary booklet that the assistants gave me. It doesn´t sound like a big deal, but when you only have two very occupied hands, it is), I was pushed very much to my limit, but thankfully the gifts of improvisation and sight-reading are mine to use.
In other words, the concerts (there were two) turned out very well. The stake centers that we used were filled completely, hasta tal grado que no había sillas suficientes (to the point of not having enough chairs). President Carreón helped us out a lot by shuttling us to and from the two concerts, and by giving an Easter-themed message in the second concert. I think the first concert was more a concession to another stake president that wanted a special concert in his stake too.
All the music that we played turned out very well, and though I didn´t play it perfectly, I did manage to cover my mistakes sufficiently that no one, save probably Hermana Quezada, realized. She was very forgiving, though, recognizing that I was a full-time missionary who also happens to play piano, and also that she was asking a lot by changing the music the day of the concert. It is very beautiful music. She gave all the elders in the mission a free CD of her music, which is a very high-quality gift indeed.
Her husband, Hermano Roque, and her son, Elder Roque, were also participants in spoken word. They both have very good voices for public speaking. Hermano Roque is the bishop in his ward.
Hermana Quezada said, very sincerely, that if I ever come to Peru, I need to advise her de antemano, so that she can plan a concert and I can accompany her. It was very high praise from someone as accomplished as she is.
I saw many of my old friends and converts from Aguacaliente that night. Salvador was there, and we were very happy to see each other. I was just as thrilled to see Elizabeth, his sister, and her children. They brought a very special surprise with them. Elizabeth´s husband, to whom we had tried unsuccessfully to teach before, called the missionaries serving in Aguacaliente a few days ago. He told them that he now wanted to be baptized, that Saturday if possible. They managed it for Sunday, and he came to the concert too.
Elder Rodriguez finished his training. Transfers happened. I left a lot of people in Los Pinos that were about to be baptized, among them a family of three, Ivan, Isabel, and Ivana (su hija de ocho años), that are going to get married this week and be baptized the same day (they actually suggested that, not us). They are such good people. They weren´t always, but they´ve changed a lot recently. They went to every session of conference (which is more than any members did), and I´ve been really impressed with their ¨Well, we have to do this to get baptized, so let´s do it already!¨ attitude. They said they´ll let me know through Elder Rodriguez when they get baptized, so that I can ask permission to come see it.
That is, if there´s time. This sector looks pretty superb. It´s called Las Villas, and is in the famous Florido, the zone that tends to baptize more than any other in the mission. Elder Gusman is my companion. He´s actually from Washington state, but his parents are from the south in México, and so he speaks Spanish pretty much flawlessly. He seems fairly mature for having only five months in the mission, and we both want to llevarnos bien. …How do you say that? Get along well? Yeah, that would be it…
Ok, well, my time is up. The new house looks very nice, actually. I like the lot more, I think, and the house, though indeed small, seems comfortable and sufficient, and the floor is prettier. The kitchen looks nicer. The bathroom looks impossibly small. L´s face in that picture of his room looks deformed. What happened to him? Did he have an allergic reaction to something from the ocean? Do you still have to pay mortgage on the old ruin?
I can´t seem to escape from the same group of missionaries. I´m in the same district as Elder Minquiz and Elder Johnson (who are now companions. Elder Johnson actually had a nightmare that President Carreón le asignió a Elder Llaguno otra vez. Elder Alvarez, on the other hand, was the best companion he´s ever had, and the best district leader I´ve ever had. He was a great example of love for the elders in his district, and was willing to sacrifice his own comfort and luxury to help other missionaries or investigators. He really had the good of the district as his desire), and the same zone as my friend Elder Benson.
That is absolutely all the time I have. I love you all. Give Chris my apologies for not having sent his letter yet.
That is all.
Con mucho amor,
Elder Stuart Mayo
Mom, if you never send me another Email that says “Read So-and-so’s Email first!” then I think that would be ok. First it was news that broke my heart, and then news that broke our house.
Brandon is going to Pueblo? There´s some apostasy there, from the stereotypes I´ve heard (Stake Presidents that authorize baptism by throwing-buckets-of-water-on-
I do look forward to being a help to the missionaries when I return.
Angel did get baptized! I´ve been trying to load pictures of it for approximately ten minutes now, and nothing works, so maybe another day I´ll do it.
We´re organizing things for him to receive the priesthood and a calling soon, and have an appointment to go teach him lesson 5 this week. He´s been investigating the church, one could say, since the age of 14 (when he found a random Book of Mormon and read it, though lacked the organization and connection with the church), and now, 16 years later, he finally completed with his own entrance on the path to eternal life. This is after he has helped nearly all of his family to find the church and be baptized, with several of them still active today. I will be sure to warn him about the after-fall that you mentioned, Dad. It´s true, really. He may continue having problems with cigarretes in the future, so he will need to know that no matter what, his baptism and confirmation in the church will always be there as a blessing to help him improve, and the guidance and comforting power of the Holy Ghost will help him to repent.
Excerpt from my letter to President Carreón that I´d like to share: (Translated by Stuart’s dad)
It seems like every week I gain a stronger testimony of of the power of the great Comforter. One example from the past week is the lesson that we had with a man named Hector. He has gone through many very difficult trials in the last two years, like the murder of his father and brother-in-law by people who live in the local area. He lives in fear every day that they will come to kill him too, and this fear completely dominates his life. Last night we taught him a special lesson about how he can overcome his fear. The focus of the lesson was Matthew 14, when Christ, and later Peter, walked on the water (recently it has been one of my favorite stories, and we found that it applied perfectly to him). The members also shared their testimonies and advice, and we gave him a priesthood blessing after explaining what one is.
The power of the Comforter was so great that it seemed like a literal fire in my heart. Hector expressed anxiousness that, even though he then felt very serene, possibly that feeling would leave him the following day. We taught him the way that he can invite that Spirit to accompany him every day. We taught him how it is that after his baptism he will receive the right to have the Spirit with him always. He has accepted an invitation to be baptized. We will set a date tomorrow.
That is the story I want to share for this week.
Ask James if he wants to know how my face is doing, or what my face is like. Because the answer to both is this: Extremely handsome. (Mexico humor. Ho ho ho). Also, undamaged.
After receiving his help to move a piano, among other things, I would not mind having Joel Vazquez around to watch my back in Tijuana. But, there´s kind of a missionary rule: We generally can´t kill people. However, causing them to fall to the earth, overcome by the Spirit, is definitely ok.
I actually saw Noemi´s husband on the bus on Sunday. I stared at him for a while, figured out that it was indeed him, and kept staring at him a while more. He wouldn´t look at me, avoiding my gaze. Evidence and discernment said that he´s scared of us. We might go back and teach Noemi and the jovenes again, if the other parents are alright with it.
Also, yes Dad, that kick.
I am really looking forward to General Conference too! The last one was a really special experience for me. I´ve never appreciated General Conference more than on my mission. I found an Ensign of the conference before I left, and devoured that too. President Carreón says that we should go to every session of conference, whether we have investigators in them or not, so I won´t miss anything.
Dad, maybe it will help Rich Brown to read Russel M. Nelson´s ¨Our Search For Happiness.¨ It´s a book that expounds on all the basic doctrines of the church in a way designed to teach those who are not members of it by increasing understanding of our viewpoint. Wow, that is a really good summary of the entire book for someone who hasn´t been to the university for more than two years. You know how you (my parents) told me that I may receive answers about what career I want to study while on my mission? I feel a desire to study law, possibly as a public defender, or perhaps to open a law firm. We will see how I feel in a year´s time, but that´s the idea for now. I still want to go to BYU.
This is my letter (epistle). There are (not) many like it, but this one is mine.
Con amor sincero,
Elder Stuart Mayo
There have been a lot of temptations to fry recently.
Stuart´s Mental Dictionary declares the word ¨fried¨ to be the following:
The easy way to write letters
to your missionary!
