It's Already Heating Up

Dear Family,

Today I am writing to you from my new area and new home: Zapata, in the Mexican state of Guerrero. The most famous city in this state is Acapulco. Yes, that Acapulco--with tourists, beaches and cliff-divers. My area is about 10 miles inland from the coast, though, so I shouldn't be anywhere near any of that stuff. Only moments ago I was lifting my bags into my new living space (try lifting 50-60 pound bags up one floor... it is fun) and have already started up a nice sweat. If the Acapulco region is hot like it is right now in December, I can't imagine what it will be like in March or May. Of the three or four blocks I have seen of my area, Zapata, it seems a lot more ghetto than Alpuyeca, but it does have a cajero [ATM], big grocery stores, and KFC. I don't mind ghetto-ness at all. I am here to work.

This past weekend was a bittersweet one as I said goodbye to converts and members in Alpuyeca, where I have served since June, 2011. I wrote every single one of my converts a note, as well as some beloved members. I am going to miss Alpuyeca a lot, but I am also very ready for a new adventure. I enjoyed being in an area for 7 months but my time was definitely up there.

My time in my birthplace ended with a bang as we partied all night with the Ochoa family on the 24th. In Mexico the Christmas celebration is on the night of the 24th instead of the day of the 25th like it is in the States. We held a talent show (E. Anderson and I made up some songs about the Ochoas that had them laughing), hung out, and ate some delicious food: shrimp soup, mole rojo, a seafood plate whose name I can't remember, and delicious rosca de reyes. Rosca is a type of fruit cake, but so delicious.

Sunday no one was in church. The church culture in Mexico is different. Many treat going to the church regularly as something less serious than perhaps many members in the States do. Try 20 members in church in comparison to our normal number of 150-200.

After church I packed a bag and then went to the Ochoa's again to say hi to all of you on Skype. It was cool to see the family and also Marcelo and Andres. Looks like you guys had a very BYU blue Christmas.

Today Papi Ochoa took me to Cuernavaca, where I boarded a bus and sat for a good 3 hours and 15 minutes. The state of Guerrero is visibly different than Morelos. It seems a lot busier, it is a lot hotter, and there are more bright colors. I was nervous when I got the call to serve here in the Costa Azul zone, but upon boarding the bus I didn't feel nervous, just desirous to work hard. Sadly, I have learned by tough experience that I am not good at traveling long distances; either I start feeling sick or my body starts hurting. I hope my neck can recover tonight, because it feels a little sore.

My compañero is named E. Morales. No, he is not the E. Morales that was with E. Blair before I came to Alpuyeca, but a different one. He has 13 months on the mission and we are "co-iguales" [co-equals], or there isn't a senior or junior companion. I have no idea why president decided to do that, nor do I know how it will affect the companionship, so it is something I am not going to worry about. Apparently we have co-iguales district leaders, so instead of one DL I have two halves, haha.

I enjoyed my final weeks with E. Anderson. He should be able to get 3-4 baptisms this month with the people we had in teaching Alpuyeca. Here in Zapata there are 5 people currently in teaching, so we have a lot of finding to do. I hope we can really make an impact on this area.

I have more bad news about the camera-- we were trying to fix the memory card and what ended up happening was that the card lost all of its images. I lost 2-3 weeks worth of photos, maybe more. I am a little sad about it because we had some hilarious stuff on there. I am trying not to dwell on it and hope that my memory will serve me well of AlpucaYork.

Thanks again for the chat yesterday. Dunc may try and deepen his voice, Megan still isn't married, and dad's hair is a lot longer, but I can tell all is well. On to victory.

Love,

Elder Bosque