Week 10

  What is going on!?!! Such a good week but such a hard week! Rosero and I are doing super well, we get along better everyday. Today we took selfies with a fake mustache on, we are pretty much Mario and Luigi. Sorry I forgot my camera though, pictures next week hopefully haha.
   We're doing really well, likewise it was a hard and great week. We had a death here and a wife was left by her husband. In such a small branch and area it is a lot to take in. We worked really hard this week and had 6 people in church! We hoped for 13, but I now remember how "hard" it is to get up in the morning at 8. We will keep working on it though. Pretty great turnout when our branch is only like 30 people.I love the people in this area. 
  Working has been really fun though like I said, I enjoy the mission more and more. Seeing miracles every day is really a great testimony builder.  Haha I have written a list of the people to remember in my prayers because I can't remember them all and it's super long. There are just so many people, even in this small area, who need help. I love seeing prayers being answered. 

    I have started reading this book called, "The Infinite Atonement". It is super cool, it goes really in depth about the Atonement and all the things that it encompasses. Even though it's like a 300 page book it says pretty frequently that we could never understand all that the Atonement gives to us. So cool to think about the things that I cant even think about. Haha crazy way to look at it. Learning about deep doctrine is super fun. I have been learning a little more about it and I just want to read books about it all day. It's so cool. There are so many books out there that have so many questions that I haven't even thought about.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

  Apparently there is a monkey farm here and we are going to see if we can find it today. Hopefully Planet of the Apes doesn't happen. If it does, I love you. Haha but really I miss you a lot, talking with you and mom at night before bed and hitting our workouts together. 

     Thanks so much for your continued support, love you! Take care of  yourselves! Somewhere in the valley there is a guy who I guess gives missionaries 900lbs of ties. Holy cow. That is so much, like multiple truck loads. But they just sort through them and find good ones. 

   I'm not really sure about requests.. Umm.. I like those Reese's that you sent me. But really I'm doing pretty good.

                      Love you!

Week 9

HEY! 

     I know! Week 9? Starting week 4 in the field, almost the first transfer over! 1/16. Crazy stuff, time flies. 

 Nathan sent me pictures of his new truck, very nice eh? Sorry, the "eh" came out because our Branch Pres is from Canada! It's super fun teasing him aboot the way he talks. We had a discussion about how Americans have ruined the English language. We I guess pronounce U's like W's. But I just said, "Murica". And he rolled his eyes haha. He gets me, lol!

     Yes Elder Rosero was wearing one of my ties, actually its his tie now. He asked for it, and after many hours of praying and crying, I gave it to him. Just kidding. People here always like my ties until they check the back of it. Apparently the only thing that really matters about ties is the brand and how much its worth. But I dont care I like pretty ties still :P.

     Teaching is going really well. I feel I am developing more charity and love for people. When we go and meet a referral or knock on someone's door I'm am just super excited to talk with them and I always have a stupid grin. I dont know why but I just really love the people here, no matter where they live or anything. Dont worry though, I still tease people all the time, But I am definitely getting better. My Spanish honestly hasnt improved at all. Everyone says oh awesome your comp is a native speaker! That will help you so much! But really we never speak spanish. Except for the hour that we're like Oh.. you should probably speak spanish. And then I say like 2 sentences. But I'm going to try to work harder on that this week. He doesnt have an "Ecuadorian dialect" I would say but he does talk differently. He kind of mushes all the words together and doesnt enunciate. And a few words he says a little differently than Mexicans. 

     I feel right at home here in Alice though. It is basically North Platte. Alice is 19,000 people, NP is like 23k. Alice has the oilfields, NP has the railroad.  And they love the Cowboys and big jacked up trucks. 

     Everything is pretty great honestly. My knee is almost completely better. I can straighten it all the way and can almost comfortably sit at the bottom of a squat again. So I can start doing little leg workouts in the mornings :). The swelling is gone and I can still feel its weakness but I can like.. feel its limits so I should be ok.  I haven't gotten fat yet like everyone keeps telling me I will so that's good. I am trying to mentally prepare myself for when I am not in really good shape though. Well... At least I didnt go off on a crazy rant. O wait.

     Teaching is pretty fun. We only have like 1 investigator atm b/c Priscilla we have lost contact with and Jacob is super hard to find because he is always out of town or at a different family member's house. He still needs to be confirmed. We are working hard, It will be good. 

     Love and miss you! Take care!

Stake Conference

Brother Gutierrez and Elder Birrell

      

Week 8

Hi Everyone!

In answer to your question,Jacob is doing alright, he was baptized on Wednesday and we planned to confirm him on the following Sunday but we couldnt get ahold of him Saturday and he didnt show up Sunday :/. But we will try this week again. He is living with his aunt because his grandmother (who he lived with before) fell and broke her hip after coming home from the hospital recovering from a stroke. We fasted for him this Sunday. We fast EVERY Sunday and it is good.

   People here love to feed us, we have two sisters in our branch who give us food weekly. And then we set up dinner appointments as often as we can. If I were serving in the valley, apparently they have like 2 or so meal appointments a day! I have been told many times to say goodbye to being in shape and expect to gain 20-30 pounds. I doubt it and I will work hard to not gain bad weight but whatevs. My bike is really nice, Elder Rosero didnt know to buy a bike for his mission and this is his first bike area, and he was given a bike from a former missionary. The only problem is that the bike is 2yrs old and is a little tougher to ride. We switched the other day and there is definitely a difference. But we are doing really well.

  It has been cold here for the whole time I've been here, thank goodness for sweaters, it rained yesterday and is again today. My knee continues to improve, and I played soccer on it the other day and I had no problem with it. Hopefully it will be ok today in basketball. I do need to learn to calm down though when I play sports. I always give 110% when I play and someone always gets hurt lol. I picked up a little cold last night and lost my voice this morning but it is coming back. Hopefully in time for our lessons tonight lol. 

        We havent talked with Priscilla since last Monday! She has been hard to contact since she doesnt live here, she travels to her adopted mother's house here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Hopefully we'll see her soon!

     

        Good week so far though! LOVE YOU!!

PS: I dont know why he looked so angry in these photos. He was super nervous though :)

Elder Birrell, Jacob and Elder Rosero

Jacob's Baptism Day!

Week 7

  Dear Everyone,

  I did get the Valentines day package, and Sis Odles, thank you both, I saved everything for the last night there and we threw a party. #mormonpartyprobs, we did toasts with the Martinele. Don't judge me I cant spell.

      This week was really great! We have 4 investigators, Jacob, who I was supposed to baptize yesterday but he didn't show up to church and we couldn't find him Saturday :(. But we'll get him eventually. He is 14 and met with the companionship before us and he knows everything. I don't really know what happened yet. But isn't that awesome!? He chose me to baptize him because I talked about basketball with him haha.

   We have Hermano Serna who is married to a member, they are both about 70 or so and have been married for like 40 something years. They regularly attended church in the past, but now she has I think brain cancer and has to travel to and from San Antonio every week day. So they use weekends to rest up. They are really nice and we got along with them well. I asked Bro. Serna if it is important to him to be with his family forever and he kind of gave me a dodgy answer, but I think with time we can help him.

   Another is Erica, she is I think like 28, has a boyfriend who is inactive and we taught the Restoration and challenged them to pray and it went well also.

   Then we got a new investigator just yesterday. Her name is Priscilla and she was a referral from the Serna's. We actually went to her moms house, the house across from the Serna's, and her mom is an inactive member and her daughter was there. Her daughter, Priscilla is super intrigued by what we had to say. It was really weird, it was like when we used to practice playing investigators in the MTC. She talked about how she feels guilty all the time and she wants to feel clean, and how she knows drinking is wrong and she knows she needs to quit and she has problems feeling God's love because she was a foster kid and how could he love her if her own parents didn't? It was crazy, and her mom and her were crying when we were teaching a little about repentance and she was like, "I never cry, and I never open up to people, you guys just feel different." And then her mom said, " That's the Spirit honey" and patted her on the back. I was like, WHAATT THE HECKKK.. It was super crazy and awesome. So I think we can see a lot of improvement in here in the next few weeks, and we set a baptismal date for her the 22nd of March. I'm pretty pumped from that experience.

        Preetttty sweet. My companion is really great.  He has a super thick accent cause he is from Ecuador and he mumbles when he speaks Spanish and everyone here makes fun of him for it. He is a really good missionary, very dedicated and inspired. Its cool.

Elder Rosero on his Birthday

Our mission Pres. is super great, I have heard a ton of stories about him having crazy revelation. Like knowing little things about people that doesn't even make sense. He was a former quorum of the 70 I think. He's really nice and has a great family too. I only met him once but I just know he's a great guy. They told me he reads these so I had to put that. No I'm just kidding haha. 

       My knee isn't too bad, its still swollen and I don't have full range of motion and I can feel its weakness but it doesn't hurt so that's good. Luckily my companion is a slow biker, so I can keep up with him! I got the sweaters like the 3rd day or something, thank you so much. They fit really well, which I thought is weird cause they are xls but I guess I am pretty huge so... Haha jokes.. haven't washed them yet so hopefully they don't get too small. But apparently in a few weeks it will be like 100 degrees and I will soak through my shirt with sweat. People say it gets so hot their shins sweat. I cant wait...

      Also this mission is huge on ties. People have ties here that are worth like $300. They didn't pay that but they know what brands are good and what to look for so I'll probably learn. I still like my ties though, they may have nice ones but most of them are old man ties, mine are prettier, lol. Thank you for all of your support! I miss you guys, but not too much ;). Have a great week and don't let dad hurt his back anymore! LOVE YOU!

Week 6: Alice,Texas!

HEY!!! 

    So Mondays are our P-days but since it was transfer day also I didnt get to email or anything, sorry. A lot has happened though. I am currently called to a place called Rancho Alegre, my companion is Elder Rosero and he is from Ecuador! Big bummer is that Rancho Alegre everyone here speaks english and so we teach in english. Oh well Rosero is teaching me anyway. Elder Myler was called to McAllen. So he'll be using spanish. Lucky dog, but we arent even in the same zone so I might not even see him the rest of our missions :(. 

     So... last night we went to the church to play basketball. The floor there is carpet. :( and we were playing and I was destroying people because I think the tallest person was about 5'7". And I jumped up and landed wrong and twisted my knee really badly... It hurt a lot and I didnt move for about a minute or so. It popped really loud. We got home and I iced it for a little while and I am wearing my brace today. It doesnt hurt a lot and I dont quite have a limp but I am definitely not going to do much on it for a while, besides biking ofc. So if you wouldnt mind keeping that in your prayers. Worst thing about it is that I probably wont dunk for a few months and no backflips either :(. Oh well.. we all get trails on our missions and mine happens to be that im an idiot.

    But so far everything has been really great. We got let into a house today by someone who apparently always throws missionaries out, and we scheduled to come back tomorrow. Some people here do speak spanish so I'll be able to practice. Also my companion has 3 hours a day from 11-1 that he only speaks to me in spanish and I have to only speak in spanish also :/. It is hard and he has to repeat a lot but I feel pretty confident. I say things in awkward ways but the point gets across.

    I cant believe dad got a truck! I mean i can but i cant. He has wanted to for so long! ahah thats awesome! Congrats. I hope you guys are still soulmates hitting the gym! I am jealous. I did about 6 sets of shoulders this morning because pressing 25lbs just isnt enough :(. But thats not really what I am here for. Everybody here says I should expect to gain at least 20lbs on my mission. Eating here becomes a chore. The way to the people's hearts is to eat their food. Down south the missionaries get fed about 4 times a day. Apparently around Thanksgiving and Christmas I should expect to eat about 4 dinners.

    Yeah I didnt get a sweater or anything but I got my sheets and I got my bike, it was not in one piece but we put it together and it wasnt too hard. Thank you guys so much! 

          Thank you so much for your prayers! LOVE YOU!

Elder Rosero (his comp) is to Duncan's left

Elder Birrell with his Mission President and Mission Mom

Week 5

Week 5

      Hey mom! So I´m coming home this week. Haha just kidding. The CCM has been really great and I was blessed with an awesome companion. The food here was usually really great, but sometimes they serve a dish called "Mole" and no you dont say it like the animal. But it smells and tastes like dog food. Apparently its pretty popular so that´s awesome... This week wasn't super special or anything but it was really fun, I mean after all I am in "The Best Two Years". Spanish is getting a little harder just because it´s not only a different language, the way they think is so different. It is coming along though and even if I use the wrong tense they can tell what I mean so I´m not too worried. I am just always worried that I will get someone in a super hard time in their life and they will ask how does God let this happen? I mean we have studied and I know a few scriptures that are for that purpose but there is no way to give them complete comfort and that is hard. All well.. that´s what the Spirit is for.

     I´m so happy that you finished your painting! Congratulations. We have been trying to lift weights 2x a week so its not too bad. So I don´t know about Texas but in the mornings here it gets a little cold, so sometime if you wanna send me a sweater... that´d be cool. I have a friend here who knew someone that went to that mission and said that he had access to a weight room the whole time. So pray for that, haha just kidding. 

      We are all better now, our whole district was pretty sick for about 2 1/2 weeks. I got to give my first blessing! I don´t remember if I told you that in my last letter. It was really awesome and totally different than anythin I've done before. The only thing now is I have like either a cut on the inside of my mouth or its a canker sore. I don´t think its a canker sore because I've had a million of those and this just seems like a cut somehow. It´s been there for a little over a week and it hurts a little when I eat or drink water but it´s all good. I needed to lose weight anyway. Just kidding. 

     While we are here we watch a bunch of videos from General Authorities and the Quorum of the Twelve. I wrote down a couple of my favorites. Elder Holland is definitely my favorite. "Safety for the Soul" by Jeffrey R Holland in the 2009 October conference. And a video called "True Doctrine Understood: Changes Attitude and Behavior" by Todd B. Parker, you don´t have to watch the whole thing because its 30mins long, we just watched the last 10 minutes. Parker talks super fast and throws so much information at you and it seriously blew my mind. Definitely watch it, he talks of everything testifying of Christ.

     Also we both learned how to do a backflip on the ground. There is an Elder here and he was a national state champ cheerleader and does parkour and he showed us how. It took about 10 minutes to learn. So I´ll send a video of that if I can.

      That´s all this week, next week I´ll tell you about the field!  Love you!

Don't we look fancy?

Week 4

   Its kind of nice with just you two? What are you trying to say mom?! Haha just kidding. Great to hear your painting is getting other eyes. I always pray for you to have revelation in your artwork.
   50s and 60s degree weather is nice but you should try coming to Mexico, its like 70-80 degrees every day and today is the only day in like 3 weeks that it has been cloudy. Last night we got a little bit of rain and it was really windy but thats it. 

    We taught a lesson in TRC, which is when volunteers, usually members, from outside the MTC come and let us practice lessons. My companion and I got to know him a little bit and then we asked what he'd like to learn about. He asked how he could receive more personal revelation. So I read to him Moroni 10:3-5 and taught about the importance of praying sincerely. Then we read Enos 1:4-8 and the end of 15 and taught about specific prayer and faith. We asked if there was anything he'd like us to pray about in our personal prayers and he told us about his son who has left the church and he is worried about. So, I bore my testimony of the truth and power of the Gospel, and to never stop praying and hoping for his son and the spirit was really strong. Both my companion, I and the "investigator" were crying. It built my confidence in my ability to teach and now I know that I can do this.

    Myler and I are getting pretty good at teaching and listening to the spirit. Not too much has happened this week though, just like 11 days until we are out in the field, kinda scary, but exciting. I hope I have an awesome first companion.

   Oh Elder Myler did sing on Sunday and he was sick and wasn't at his best but it was still really great. A ton of people were giving him props afterwards and this hermana was like "Hey good job, you're just a really good.. you singer!" And it was really awkward and hilarious so now I call him singer. But seriously all the hermanas here are always drooling over mi compañero. I always tease him about it but its all in good fun. I hope you all feel better and have a good week. Love you!