WEEK 10

HOLA!!!

This has been a progressing week for me. My Spanish gets better every week and I am teaching a lot more in lessons. I am starting to understand more also. I can kinda communicate with the Latinos now haha.

So investigators... We taught Hermano Estanislao and the importance of the sacrament and I taught a lot about that but then he didn't go to church so that was a bummer. We have a new investigator. His name is Hermano Ricardo and it is the Hermana that we live with it's her daughters boyfriend I think haha but he pretty much just said that he wanted to get baptized so that's way cool! haha so we are going to be teaching and getting him prepared for baptism. Hermano Victor.. haha he didn't show up for our lesson but he came to church but he is still going to the catholic church as well. He said he was baptized 22 years ago but we checked his records and there are no records. So when he is ready he will have to be baptized. 

The weather here as been pretty chilly I actually had to put on a jacket. It is raining right now too haha. 

So cool story. I was having a meeting with the mission leader and he said that I was the first gringo that smiled all the time so that's good! 

So that mission conference was good. It went from 8:30 to 3:30 so pretty long haha but I did have 

to end up talking. It went good and everyone said I did really good. I saw Elder Paul from my district from the CCM so that was cool to talk to him. Oh and before the conference I was helping the Latinos with their English talks haha. 

At church I had to pass sacrament because there was no one else that could... 

Today I ate at pizza hut with Elder Scott also from my district from the CCM so that was really nice to talk to him. 

Anyways that's my week. Your hair looks good!

**Mom said:  With the missionaries here, like I told you before Elder Ramirez from Mexico City and Elder Reeve from Texas puts hot sauce on EVERYTHING....even popcorn.....***

And ya they put hot sauce on everything here haha but I am used to it and I like it.

**Trevor's Grandma fed the missionaries this past Friday and had Hawaiian haystacks with homemade gravy, YUM***

Hawaiian haystacks look sooo good haha I want them.

Elder Ramirez had given me (mom) a name of a family he knows from his hometown for Trevor to look up***

And .... I'm in the Lindavista stake!!!! And my ward is politecnico but I think another ward because I don't know a Ramos family .. and I looked at a board of missionaries and he isn't on there so idk.. That's about it. 

 

**Did you dress up for Halloween? Or go to the parade there for "Day of the Dead"?**

No I didn't dress up unless you count being a missionary and did not watch the parade

**Colt said he was an FBI agent with his black pants and black tie**

Ya I saw hahaha I wasn't that clever....hahaha

Anyways keep being strong and I love and miss you!! That's good that you are still going to church I'm proud of you and I know it will make a difference in your life. (side note: Mom didn't make it to church this last Sunday but glad he is proud) oh and you should send all my pics that I've sent you and some on my phone to my google drive.. you have my info. 

Mosiah 29:20 

Love , <3  

Elder Bastian 2 

Halloween Decorations

Happy Halloween from your Elders

Sorry not sorry Colt....(I took your sweater...didn't think you would miss it in your 100 degree weather)

Glad I brought a sweater....It's a little chilly tonight!

Me and Elder Scott

One of my Elder friends from CCM

My talk in Spanish for the first time

The first real breakfast made vs cereal

Elder Paul from CCM and I at the conderencia

Helping the Hermanas with their English talk

The really nice house I talked about in one of my letters before, love visiting here

WEEK 9 - 2 months

Hola mi familia y mis amigos,

So just some random stuff to get out of the way. The fruit in Mexico is so much better here! mas fresco ( more fresh) especially the piña!! I never really liked it that much before but now I love it. We had 2 service projects this week. One of them we took stuff out of a room with sooo much stuff in it and cleaned the floor and put everything back haha. The other one is that we painted the capilla in the church or chapel.. sorry . and we painted it more white. Oh I saw a guy on a motorcycle get hit by a car.. he was alright haha but loco huh haha G pa Stacy would not want to ride in this city. 

My Spanish is getting better and I'm able to understand more. I have been teaching a lot more in lessons and I'm really good at sharing my testimony haha. No but for real that is by favorite part is testifying the truth to people and feeling the spirit. We do a lot of contacting and going to inactive members houses but people never want to listen to us and the people are "never there" haha so we do a lot of walking. We have about 6 investigators tho. Hermano Estanislao has a baptism date but he didn't go to church so that's a bummer. Victor went to the Catholic church after our church haha. and the others we haven't talked to very much. 

So cool story.. so at our zone meeting the Hispanics work on their English and the gringos help them. I help Hermana Aldrade. She is from Peru.. anyways she has a weird medical issue that she can't eat certain foods or else her stomach hurts a lot and she was scared she was going home. So she wanted a blessing and I ended up doing the blessing. I gave it in English haha because I don't know enough Spanish yet. After the blessing or during I guess she starting crying. So a few days later during the service project of painting, we were talking and she thanked me for the blessing and said that she could feel the Holy Ghost really strong. So that made me feel good and made me realize that I have that much power of having the Melchizedek Priesthood. I mean it is the power and authority given to man to act in the name of God. 

So I'm pretty sure I have to give a talk on Thursday because it is mission conference and they always pick the newbies to talk. It has to be in Spanish haha and it's on priesthood authority. I already have most of it written. oh and I'm learning a song in Spanish.. 

Victor Rocha Cruz

Apartado Postal 118-184

Gustavo A. Madero, México D.F.

CP. 07051 

that is the right address..... sooorrryyy unless it's the same one from last week haha 

Anyways sorry Colton for stealing yours but mom rushed me ;) haha but my fav so far is 

Mosiah 2:41 .. 

Well that is all ..Have fun and good luck with your hair.. red lobster sounds pretty good. They don't eat seafood down here. The mountains are looking awesome!! I miss them.. it gets hot here but only like in the 70s or maybe 80s but this week has been nice and has been cloudy and cool so I love that.. all the natives think that it is cold haha .. 

love and miss all of you <3 Alma 13:27-29

- Elder Trevor Bastian 

sick case for my agenda that Hermana Aldrade made me

the cover says " I Choose to be a Hero" " follow the prophet. Prepare to serve in a mission. 

D&C 15:6 and the one with Christ is " The love and the service is what distinguishes us as disciples of Christ"

and the other is go forward in a steadfastness in Christ 

this is with weird settings on my camera haha and the one is just barely takin haha 

Get ready for the selfies that you love!!

MOM CAPTION: How can you not love his smile! Melts my heart

Service project and the one in the pink is Hermana Aldrade.. She is very cool!

WEEK 8

Hola,

Mi español es mejor esta semana. No puedo entender o hablar mucho pero me gusta mi misión aquí en Ciudad de México. Oh wait you guys don't know Spanish haha . My Spanish-ing is better this week. I can't understand or speak a lot but I like it here in Mexico City. This week is frustrating because I can finally kinda understand people but I don't know enough Spanish yet to say everything I want to say... and I want to say a lot haha but esta bien.. or (its good) haha   . My companion and I are getting along prettty good but he gets annoying sometimes but everyone does I guess. It's still hard to communicate with him but it's getting easier. Me and him starting working out together in the mornings. He is training in martial arts so it gets pretty intense haha. I walk so much everyday and I sweat a bunch haha. 

So last week when I was doing my laundry it made my clothes dirtier I swear haha. The Hermana that we live with has 24 cats!!! Mucho Gatos!!! haha and like 12 dogs.. all on her roof where we do laundry. And she doesn't have a working dryer so we have to hang our clothes on a line with clothes pins. 

The streets are pretty crazy here too. I saw this guy smash all the mirrors and doors of a semi haha while the driver was in it and they tried to pull him out but he drove off. ewww and there are a lot of gays here haha it's weird. 

We had a service project that we ended up not doing but while we were waiting some of the zone bought spicy chips and we all passed it around and took turns haha .. it was really spicy but I hung in there.. and that wasn't even the worst part! One of the Elders bought a chili or pepper.. and we all took a bite of it and it was super picante! spicy! So I ran to the nearest store and bought ice cream. 

It's going pretty good with our investigators. We have a baptismal date for Hermano Estanisloa on November 27th .. he wants to prepare himself that is why the date is so far back. also the Durantes familia went to church with us and only one daughter is a member. Hermana Beatriz is still going strong! We have a couple new investigators.. one we actually met at church and he was in dirty clothes but he was wanting to become closer to God. So we set an appointment and it was actually today right before emailing.. I talked quite a bit.. or more than usual.. I explained the plan of salvation and Ether 12:27 because he said he was going through hard times and then I beared a pretty good testimony to him. I could tell he was feeling the spirit so that was a neat experience. 

Letras:

Victor Rocha Cruz 
Apartado Postal 118-184 
07051 CUAHTEMOC, Distrito Federal 
México

paquetes:

Victor Rocha Cruz 
Apartado Postal 118-184 
07051 CUAHTEMOC, Distrito Federal México

That's about all I think but anyways Love and miss all of you!! and.... 

Happy early Birthday Grandma!! Love you and everything you do .. you are awesome.. 

Love,

- Elder Trevor Bastian 

Sign of my birthday!

Mexico City

WEEK 7

There is so much to tell you guys!! It's so crazy here in Mexico haha. SO let's start off with the language ... I can barely understand anything so I mostly just sit around and follow my companion around haha but it is getting better and better everyday.

So we walk soooo much everyday! haha I think I'm losing weight and plus I work out almost every morning now. The food is soooo good mostly haha. One family made me eat a pepper and it was the spiciest thing that has ever been in my mouth! I tried to act like it didn't bother me and then my eyes were watering and my stomach starting making weird noises and I was coughing a little haha. Good thing I had some water with me. My light in my bathroom still doesn't work so its just dark all the time in there haha. 

So my Zone is really cool. Some speak a little English and there are 4 other Americans in my zone. We had a service project and we had to get like a whole dump truck load of dirt by just using just shovels and buckets. It was hard work but it was fun and they fed us good food after. "Gorditas" 

So My birthday was an eventful day. We went to the temple and that's always a good experience. We also just did normal stuff and then Hermana Lobato , the girl we live with, gave me some pizza and baked me a chocolate cake. 

We Have been contacting a lot because we don't have a lot of investigators. I know how to do it in Spanish now so that's cool. Most people don't want anything to do with us. But this one dirty looking guy we were talking to was interested and we gave him a folleto or I mean pamphlet and we left. We went the wrong way so when we came back he was reading the pamphlet on the side f the calle or street. So that was a good experience. 

I made hamburgers for Elder Olivarez to show him American food haha. 

YUMMM

So.... I already went to my first baptism haha. I never taught her but it was still a good experience. During the program me and my companion sang the "First prayer" in front of everyone and then I recited the first vision so that was kinda cool. 

Hermana Beatriz (In the middle)

So Sunday.. It was testimony so I gave a short one. And during class there was a 15 year old girl that was from Canada eh, and so they had me translate. I did alright haha . Oh and it was Hermana Lobato's birthday so I went to say happy birthday but I said Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas) instead of saying Feliz Cumpliaños ( happy birthday) so that was really embarrassing haha and Elder Olivarez just made fun of me the whole night haah. 

I cant send pics because the computer is dumb.. and I wish I could be hunting today!! and I miss the cold weather. I hope you all are doing well. LOVE and miss you guys 

- Elder Trevor Bastian 

***Back and Forth while online the same time***  Extra info...

MOM:  Go buy you a light bulb so you have light in your bathroom!

ME:  It's the wires not the bulb haha but they said they were going to get it fixed

MOM:  So are you doing ok? Like the area you are in?

ME:  Ya I'm doing good!! Just frustrating with the language.... I want to communicate with people!! and ya the people are nice 

MOM: You are doing great with your letters and love all the pics   (delayed email sent)

ME:  Thanks! Did you get the pics? and the one in the middle got baptized ( Hermana Beatriz)

@CCM-MTC When it rained a bunch and we played Frisbee golf ....soaked!

CCM Haircut

Show some "Love"....Gonna miss him!

Got me some Frosted Flakes...YES

New backpack for my long walks

Some of the items I bought so far

The rest of my castle!

My study area

Sleeping quarters (Hope my companion doesn't snore :/

Talk to you ALL next Monday!! Have a GREAT week and do awesome things!

WEEK 6- OUT OF CCM

¡Hola!

So I have a lot of stuff to talk about and a short period of time so I'll try to get everything. 

So starting on last p day... haha We played basketball and wrecked everyone to keep it short and then we challenged another district to a volleyball match and we dominated. I had some really good spikes and I was stuffing people left and right. After that Elder Lloyd and I played some ultimate Frisbee with another district and while we were playing it started to down pour with rain and we kept playing it was way fun. It was a pretty active day 

haha and I was worn out after that. 

I got my package!!! That was so awesome!! The brownies were soooooo good! And the creme soda also. It was a good birthday present. Definitely the best one I got this year haha. Oh and I saw Elder Morris . Or Levi Morris .. That was pretty cool .. I didn't get a pic because I didn't have my camera. 

Now Saturday and Sunday.. I watched general conference both days like all day haha and I won't give you any quotes because there are just way too many and all of you should've watched anyways ;) But after Conference, we gave blessing to everyone since we were leaving the next day. I gave Elder Lloyd one and that was pretty crazy haha. The spirit was strong and that was my first one so I was pretty nervous. OH and lets back up a little .... so for lunch that day I think they were serving roadkill enchiladas haha they were gross, and I think I got food poisoning because I felt super sick after that and after conference while other people were doing their blessings I puked in the bathroom haha and when I got back it was time for dinner.. I didn't eat dinner.. and my stomach was killing the whole time. So after dinner it was our turn for blessings so like I said I gave Elder Lloyd one and then after he gave me one. And they decided to give me a blessing for my health also .. so they had to use the oil. When they were giving me my blessing I didn't feel my stomach at all . and then after I hurt a little but not as bad. But by the end of the night I felt better so that blessing worked. Definitely a testimony builder haha. So also that night we watched the video called "Just a stone mason" I think but it's a way good video. We also watched How to have faith in Christ or something like that but that was way good. And then that night we packed and stayed up pretty late.. 

Ok now the moment you guys have been waiting for.. So Monday morning ... I only got 3 1/2 hrs of sleep so that sucked and then the mission president picked us up and we went to his house only like 30 minutes away with traffic. And then we had breakfast there and had interviews with the mission president and then had classes. And finally we got our new companions.. His name is Elder Olivarez he is from Poeitp Valloita Jalisco Mexico I think. And he knows little English and I know little Spanish so it's a little difficult for both of us. After that we ate lunch and went to our area only 5 min away. The area is the Politcnico/ Linda Vista Stake. We live in the house or more like apartment slash house of a member and we have a pretty big room with our own bathroom. And the bathroom light doesn't work and I took a cold shower in the dark haha. We then walked the whole area and talked to some members on the way. It is hard to understand them haha they talk so fast. Way faster than in the CCM.. And I was super tired the whole time. And then when we finally got back I unpacked. That was about it for that day and then today I worked out.. studied for like 5 hrs and then went shopping for food and supplies. I got a new backpack because my shoulder bag was killing my shoulder. After that we ate at Burger King!! that was way good . My first fast food in 6 weeks haha. We are now at a members house emailing and we also ate some really good pizza. 

There is probably more I can tell you but I have to go soon .. I love and miss you guys soo much . Buenos suerte and hasta luego 

Elder Trevor Bastian 

Welcome to my first area of my mission!

Elder Olivarez and me at Burger King