Miserable week...



My Dear Family!

  This week was MISERABLE. Oh it was AWFUL. I got sick! And so did my companion! Tuesday we went to district meeting, and I was feeling "cuerpo cortado" or basically achy in all my body. But I got ALL my mail!! AND a package! WHICH included 2 llama ties from Reagan! (Reagan, you are my favorite person! Thank you SO much!) So I was able to shrug it off. But during the bus ride back to our area, I got a killer headache, which lasted until yesterday. I got a fever that evening. Still, we kept working. Then went home. As I was getting ready for bed, Elder Willett's body began to ache. Aye aye aye. All night he was moaning and moaning ahah. He says it made him feel better. Wednesday we stayed in the house all day. I just had diarrhea and the headache, but my compy suffered from it all. We thankfully didn't vomit all week. We felt fine enough to work Thursday, but we were weak. Saturday night I woke up 6 times during the night to go diarrhea. Aye. Finally we think we're okay. But maybe it's just the Pepto Bismol covering it all up. Anyway, we didn't have a good week in numbers either. I was just feeling burnt out. But I'm so glad I got to read all your emails. It lifts me up!

  I don't have much more time! But know that besides my infirmities, I'm doing great. We have a select group of cool investigators. This week we hope to do some fun and creative things with them! I hope Cassie has a great first week of school. Did she choose Bio or Chem? Cassie, your junior year is only SUPER hard if you're lazy about it. Put a little effort to stay organized and ahead. You'll do great!

  I love you!

 Love,

   Elder Mitchell Poirier (como pollería, pero no vendo pollo)

News from Polanca

                                                Empanadas de queso y jamon

Dear Family!
  First let me tell you that none of our leaders have gone to the offices in a month (even though they're super close), so I haven't read a letter in a month. For that reason I have stopped writing people. Plus there's no post office in my area. And I don't have money right now. I will continue writing letters soon. Anyway, this week Elder Willett and I had a great time and a lot of success! When we planned for the week, we talked about how we were going to work this week so that it'd be like we'd already been working in this area for six weeks. Accelerate it basically. He had only been here two weeks. So we were new to the area and everything. We planned certain goals:

1) Gain the trust of the members ASAP. We started by complementing their houses, their food, their testimonies, etc. We left sticky notes on their bathroom mirrors after we'd eaten with them. Thank yous. And I continue asking for recipes!
2) We were going to gain the trust and love of our investigators ASAP. On Friday we celebrated an unbirthday party (Aleksi's idea) with a family. It was really a lot of fun. We'd made a cake. (We're going to do it again with other people. It will be even better. Plus we'll remember our cameras). We sang "Feliz Cumplenada a nadie" Also, Friday night we made empanadas for another family. We baked them! But obviously we had to be cheap, so we filled them with cheese and ham (so Mexico). Everyone loved them. I got some photos. Elder Willett told me it was probably his favorite day on the mission so far. I continue to have plans! Creativity is what makes this fun and successful!

3) We wanted to complete the Standard of Excellence (our weekly mission goal). We did! Whoop whoop! President Jesperson even came to church on Sunday, so it was great to be there with 6 investigators in church. This ward is FULL of hermanas, but hardly any hermanos. Sad. We only have a Bishop's counselor. And of course NO Gospel Principles teacher. Dumb. We had to teach it. I don't like that because we already teach the investigators ALL week. So Sunday should be different.

   Personally, I'm trying to be more Christ-like. Have charity. I want to be the best missionary, sincerely. I want to love the mission!

Oh, and we've been running in the mornings!
I love you all!

Read other books please!

Love,

  Elder Mitchell Poirier

TRANSFERRED to Polanca

 

Dear Family!

  First of all, I got transferred today!! I'm still in the city, in a ward called Polanca, a stake called Victoria. My new companion is Elder Willet from Gilbert, Arizona. Yes, the same ward as the Shreeves!! He's a really humble and happy missionary. We look forward to a lot of success. I love being in a new house and a new area! I'm so excited! I know that Elder Silos will be great in Libertad still! I hope he takes good care of all of our converts. We'd started a project. We made 7 bios of the 7 people we've baptized (Blanca, Salvador, Abel, Israel, Soraya, Karina, and Carolina) and are visiting the members to explain how we're doing OUR part, then help them to do THEIR part. So they have to read the bios and pick who they want to fellowship. Take them out to breakfast. Invite them to get icecream. Visit their house with cookies. Sit with them at church. Etc. Simple and effective. It should continue well.

  Our Christmas in July party was a blast! It was so much fun! We started with two Christmas hymns, then watched The Nativity. Soraya wanted me to translate it. What she didn't know is that it's NOT english either. Funny. We took turns having to stand up holding a pot of poinsetta (I don't remember how to spell it correctly. the red christmas flower) and share a christmas memory. I talked about Cassie wanting a star one year. And the other year wanting a robot friend. Laughs! Then we played a made-up (by me) form of pictionary.  A mix of charades and pictionary really. It was a lot of fun. The man in the photos who is wearing a white shirt and blue pants is named Noe. He is SO funny because he is socially awkward. He was fun. We all had a good time eating my cookies and then took photos. It was a good night. I want to keep doing fun things! If you can think of anything, tell me. Thank you mom for the empanada dough recipe. I want to meet a few people here and decide with whom we'll make empanadas.

  I loved the photos I got to see from the trip to the Keys! So fun! I'm glad you all had so much success catching wahoo and lobsters! I thought the other day about how happy dad will be--retired--to take me out on the boat the day after I get home and go fishing! Of course passing time with dad is what I look forward to, but also that I can get RID of this AWFUL tan without a bunch of people seeing. And as for the Hunger Games. Those are SO old. And Book 3 was STUPID. But anyway. I met a woman this week as we were talking to people passing by. She said, "oh, but I don't live here. I live by the beach." And I replied, "I live by the beach too!!" We had a mini conversation. It changed her attitude. She walked away happy afterwards.

   It's already August! How? And how have I lived a month without mail?! Yes, a month, because NO ONE has gone to the offices to pick up our mail! I hope that tomorrow..

   I love you family SO much! I love you! Keep busy and time will keep flying by!

Love,

   Elder Mitch Poirier

  Max, it's time to get your papers and interviews finished.

TEN Months

Dear Family!
  Today is Christmas in July! Merry Christmas! We're going to make those peanut butter kiss cookies for our little party. Peanut butter is super expensive here and very hard to find. But we got it! And the kisses too. I have really good news to tell you, but first I want to say that I'm a little jealous you are all in the Keys. Second, that we knocked a door and a little boy yelled, "Quien?" I said "hola!" And he replied "Who's 'hola?'" Kind of funny. Third, that yesterday I vomited TWICE in the street. Gross. The first time we were trying to make it back to the chapel so I could vomit in a toilet. But I didn't make it. So I threw up into a bucket of trash outside of a little store. Miserable. One guy gave me some toilet paper to wipe my face and offered water. I gave Elder Silos money to buy me a gatorade so that I could rinse my mouth with a flavor. I felt MUCH better. We'd eaten tacos the night before at a place we'd never gone to before. Later, I felt it again. This time I vomited in a storm drain (or whatever they're called--the things no one wants to walk over because of the fear they'll fall through). This time as well someone called out offering a cup of water. But it turned out they were offering a cup of beer and joking that I drunk too much. Elder Silos became infuriated. Whatever. They were drunk. They probably vomit a lot more that I ever will. And we kept working. Poor Mitchell. I still feel really weak and my stomach hurts.
  So. This week we decided to challenge Soraya, Karina, and Carolina to be baptized Saturday the 23rd of July. They were a bit hesitant, but decided to accept. They all passed their interviews! And on Saturday they got BAPTIZED!! Woohoo! They all wanted ME to baptize them! And Elder Silos? I told them to think about it. Carolina decided to ask him instead. She's very compassionate. The service was beautiful! I love baptizing! We're so happy for them! Three baptisms! Now we've got to work on Soraya's husband and two sons. Mom, can you write me all about your baptism, maybe even all your conversion? Please! :) And do we happen to have photos of my baptism?
  Last night I had a dream that Max got his mission call to...AFRICA. I woke up relieved. I don't want him to go to Africa. It is wonderful being in another country, an adventure, but I really do miss Arizona and hope that Max gets called state-side. I know he'll love it. Oh, also in the dream, Sam Ballard was called to Africa as well! I want to hear when they actually get their mission calls!
  Family, I love you and hope that you are enjoying your vacation. I can't believe 10 months have gone by! I'm ready for a new area. This is the last week of this transfer, and I hope that I get changed! Thank you for all your prayers and love!
    Love,
 Elder Mitchell Poirier

Weekly Email!

Dear Family,

  I have no time to write. I have to go! But next week will be a better email. We had a great week of success. Soraya and ALL her family came to church this sunday!!! It was wonderful! We're planning to do a Christmas in July this coming Monday for our investigators and a few members. We'll be baking the peanut butter cookies! Thanks for sending me that recipe! I love you all! I can't believe that this week I complete 10 months on the mission. How soon until Max has his interviews?! UGH.

     Love,

 Elder Mitchell Poirier

MEXIQUITO

Family!
       We were planning on baptizing this Saturday, but we got a call from our investigator (who's about 60 years old) that afternoon telling us that her children found out she was going to get baptized and became infuriated with her. We went to go visit her right away because we thought that it'd be possible to resolve. She wasn't home. So we started walking to the gym (she's ALWAYS in the gym) and ran into her! But she was crying. That morning her sister had a heart attack and passed away. This is the third sibling to have died in this year. She is heart-broken and depressed. We tried anything we could do or say as we walked back to her house, even offering to go with her to turn in the body, but she was too hurt and sad to understand what we were saying. She told us she needed to go cry and shut the door on us. We figured she obviously needs time before she'll let us speak words of comfort to her. We were pretty surprised, but tried not to get discouraged. We kept working even harder.
      Last night we still needed three new investigators. Honestly we hadn't contacted people as much as we should have during the week. The Lord saw that we did ALMOST everything therefore to complete the Standard, so he only ALMOST helped us complete it. We knocked doors in the rain after all our options had run out. It was POURING rain. It's wonderful here! But to be outside is cold and miserable. And in church clothes! Everyone everywhere was watching the Mexico vs Uruguay soccer game, so we unfortunately didn't happen upon the door of anyone whose heart was warm enough to let us in.
       This week I was blown away by my companion! On Tuesday we'd discussed putting a baptismal date with Soraya, a Christian who'd come to church and several activities. My companion felt that we should wait until the next week. We decided we'd see how she progressed during the week. Thursday came and suddenly my companion took control of the lesson briefly to set a baptismal date with her. Soraya easily accepted the 30th as a goal to be baptized so long as she receives her answer that the Book of Mormon is true. She's really excited in fact. I was so impressed with my companion for having recognized that she was ready and for having listened to and spoken with the spirit that lesson. Soraya came to church again this Sunday. We trust the Lord will strongly answer her prayers, or that she'll recognize he's already answered them.
    I'm happy all is well in Stuart, Florida. I love you all! I wish you could all enjoy the wonderful food I eat! I'm trying to collect recipes, but it's a slow process of asking and reminding and reminding again. When I get home I'd like to invent a Mexican pie, which will of course include chili, lime, or salt instead of sugar. Is there such thing as mango pie? I assume so, but only refrigerated pies. I understand that you're going on vacation and all, but PLEASE don't forget to send me emails! I love you!
     Love,
   Elder Mitch Poirier

PS yesterday there was a boxer in someone's porch shivering cold! I wanted to give it some warmth or something, but the gate was locked. Poor thing. And today there's a basset hound wandering the streets for food. Sad! Tell Bentley he doesn't know how good he has it.

PSS PANCAKE NIGHT
   It went really well. We (as in I) made about 60 pancakes. We had a lot of fun. There's a game that's kind of dumb that we played, but somehow everyone really enjoyed it. Especially Salvador... remind me to tell you about that when I get home..   Anyway, the game is that everyone has to write about 3 embarrassing things that they want other specific people to do, for example "I want Max to dance the Electric Slide." Then everyone's lists get collected and the person in charge says, "This game is called 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'" And everyone has to do the things they wanted others to do. Super funny only because Soraya wrote 7 things! One of them being "I want Elder Poirier to eat all the extra pancakes" and "I want Elder Silos to drink all the extra milk." Of course we didn't make her do it. But Salvador sure did try (to make her do it).... later. I have to act it out for you.

Happy Fourth of July!

My American Family!
  Why doesn't anyone celebrate the Fourth of July here?! Nothing! This week was wonderful. I didn't tell you, but last week the Assistants to the President called me and basically asked, "what's wrong with your dats?!" and "you're an example to your companion and your district" etc. But in a super nice way. Still, it made me feel horrible because we didn't know what the deal was, why we were having such little success. But the night before that phone call, we decided to sit and talk about what we need to do differently (proof that i recognized our error before getting called out by our leaders). If we wanted to be able to tell the Lord, "we're doing EVERYTHING we can, please do your part" then we had to do EVERYTHING we could. We made a list of things we need to change. To be perfectly obedient we needed 1) call for permission to get home later that 9 PM, 2) Exercise every morning until 7 AM, 3) Study like we should on Pdays and Sundays (when no missionaries study), and other things that are complicated to explain, but basically teach in the way that President wants us to teach. This week was a total turn around. We completed with the Standard of Excellence! I wish I could describe all the miracles that we saw, though small. The Lord knew exactly how he was going to help us reach our goals.
 Soraya came to church with her daughter Karina!! Whoop whoop! They arrived a little late, JUST as Hno. Pedro (a CRAZY old man) was bearing his testimony. Ugh fast and testimony meeting. But after that the testimonies were fine. And they went to Sunday School where we learned about the Holy Ghost and how Christ was going to give it to the apostles. Soraya really enjoyed it I think. Tonight we are making pancakes for ALL of our investigators (of course not all will show up..). We've invited a few members as well. Good ones. President wants us to do things with our investigators that we'd do with our family. Things that will show them we actually love them. We're not just teachers. Did I tell you that my compy, Elder Silos, is only 18!! He turned 18 in January. He's younger than Max!! SO weird. Anyway, I hope Soraya and her family come tonight! I'll send photos. We haven't really had anything to take photos of. Sorry.
  This week the mission did a Mobile Visitor's Center (like a temple visitor's center, but brought to a park in our area). We invite people walking by to do a 10 minute tour to learn more about Christ and our church. It was SO FUN. The members were the ones who had to approach people and invite them to come in. I got such a kick out of watching them muster the courage to go talk to people. I tried to imagine mom and dad doing it. As we were taking it all down, the rains came POURING. I love it. It basically has been raining everyday from 4 PM until the morning when we wake up. And did you know that there's such thing as colored lightning? Yes. I saw green lightning that night. Look it up and explain it to me because I'm SURE Aleksi and I did NOT learn about that in our Extreme Weather class ("sure" because it was I who tried to pay attention everyday).

  I love you family!

Happy Birthday Max!!! Get your butt out on a mission ASAP. Don't you realize that if you don't leave before September 22 it'll be more than 3 years before we see each other again?! What is taking you so long?!!

Love,
  Elder Mitchell Poirier