One More Week

Que onda y como le va?

Well, we have finally reached the last week of this transfer! that means...this is my last week with Elder Espino! whooo!  Haha life is good!

Last week was great!  We had the conference with the president of Friday and we learned so much more on how to work with the ward. Uh my health.  I feel pretty good, I am definitely malnourished here. As are everyone.  But i am getting used to it. i will continue with good health after the mission haha. i haven't gotten sick in awhile so that has been good! We live off of cereal and hot dogs here because it is all we can afford and cook here in Tijuana. its kinda of a lot gross and bad, but we have to save our money to travel and work. so basically i live off of 1 meal a day haha. But i am very used to it now. 

Rocio is doing great, she is getting really involved into the relief society now! the president has taken special interest now too because she lives alone and is now inviting Rocio to go out and eat with her and even move in to her home, which is very large. so that would be good! I think she is ok with clothes too.  i think the relief society is going to do something.  

Sounds like The store is cranking things out! that is awesome! who all is still working there???? How are Pablo, turtle, brown and the other boys doing??? man i miss them! haha.  

I cant believe Quinn and Jaxson stopped by! haha that is the greatest news! I'm sure it was so great to just laugh with those guys for awhile! that's something we always did, laugh. haha sounds like they are doing well tho. Quinn sent me some pics of the farm and wow it was gorgeous! And I'm stoked for Jax and Jena, we all knew they would end up together, Quinn and i have known since Jr. High haha.  

Last Saturday, we went to an open house in another city called Tecate. They just opened a new chapped over there and it is gorgeous! it smells like the temple haha.  I was assigned to go contact people outside with my buddies Elder Garcia and Elder McCracken.  From Veracruz Mexico and Burley Idaho.  It was so fun! they had classes set up, food, each group of the church order did something! and there was a regional choir that came too! mostly, It was just great to be with Elder McCracken, i met him my my first week in the mission field haha, we had a lot to catch up on! he is a district leader too in the other part of my zone.  

in the next package, haha please send redvines...not for me. those are gross. but elder Vargas and Elder Penaloza want them. haha thanks!

really not much happened this week, just worked a lot! i am so stoked this week tho, we have 3 baptisms! time is flying right on by and I'm just working for the next transfer haha. love you all! please take care of yourselves, and make good choices ;)

con mucho amor,
Elder Westbroek

8 meses. Tan rápido.

Well, what can i say? another week down!

Things are looking up down here in Mexico. Things are getting a lot better with my companion.  We had another grown up talk this week haha.  We were walking to an appointment real far away and he said, 'Elder Westbroek, im grateful we are companions still, you have made me realize that i actually am 24 years old, not 18, and that i have to be more mature to get me ready for the real world.....'  He thanked me over and over haha, he has been with some real young companions lately. And we butted heads for awhile due to that. But life is pretty good now.

Well, best part of the week....WE BAPTIZED ROCÍO! WHOOOHOOO. It made me so happy :) After a long battle with the wonders of this world, Rocío finally made it! Last Saturday she was baptized and then confirmed!  The relief society also helped us out a ton! they did two special musical numbers and gave her a big welcome! it was so great! She chose me to do the baptism, i felt very honored. The best part was, right before we went down into the font, she says 'Elder Westbroek, i am so scared, but i know this is the right thing to do'. in her little Rocío voice haha :) the ordinance went so smooth and beautiful. and Sunday after her confirmation she just started crying and telling me thank you over and over again. Made me feel very happy! the church is so true!  It truly was a blessing we baptized her.

 3 days before the baptism, she decided to test the word of wisdom one last time. she was feeling very very sad and wanted some coffee to cheer her up.  in the baptismal interview she told our district leader this 'I wanted to see if what Elder Westbroek told me was true about my heart and coffee' (i had explained about the extra fatigue and stress coffee could put on the human heart, especially mixed with her current situation, she expressed that she has much strain on her heart with the separation of her daughters), and she told Elder Tall, DL, that indeed it was true and she had felt a difference in her heart. She said she received a spiritual prompting that yes in fact my words were the word of God pertaining to the matter of the world of wisdom, and she would receive a stronger heart due to this commandment.  (something like that, its hard to translate it to English haha).  

Sounds like everyone is very busy with school and work! I am honestly so jealous of all y'alls heading back to school! Megan! send me a pic of your class room! Kait! send me a pic of your new apartment!

i love ya all! hang in there! just remember, AFTER the test of our faith we will be blessed, more that we know!

Message from Mexico

Que onda mi familia :)

Hope everyone is doing well! From what i heard life is picking up and you re all doing great!  Kira! I got your package this week! thank you so much for the sweet pics of my little Wren and your incredibly gorgeous house! whooo :) oh and the Tesla was nice too......haha that car is so sweet!

This week was pretty uneventful. lots of hard work.  Getting sick again, something is in the air and water here in Haciendas de las Delicias in Tijuana. everyone keeps getting sick. even the locals. But we are back on our feet and doing better.  Hey don't worry about sending a water filter, the MTC gave me one.

Rocio is hanging in there. she went through a really rough time this week, she did get to see her girls this week!!! but sadly, this might be the last time she sees them for a very, very long time.  We almost lost her this week, literally. But due to an inspired and very timely visit, Rocio is fine and stabilizing.  Please keep her in your prayers if you could.....she called us late last night and was very worried and was crying and asked us to do a special prayer for her. Please send some thoughts and prayers her way, she is in great need.

This week, i was thinking a lot about our investigators and their needs, instead of mine. This is a great way to get rid of homesickness haha.  So, one morning i woke up early to made a memory card game for a 9 year old boy who will be baptized soon. i will send some pics.  This poor boy is so bored during the long lessons so i did a little something special to make it more fun and interactive.  i took the boxes from my packages and cut them up into cards. i then drew on the back of 30 cards different pictures to review every lesson and commandment we have taught to review for his baptismal interview. HE LOVED IT! haha the family was so excited. it was a great success :)

This week too, i went on interchanges with another elder from Idaho. it was great! We worked real good and we had a good talk about my comp and how I'm feeling. he really helped me out!

Things with the companion are getting better. I'm getting more patient. i read something in the bible this week that just kinda made me feel better. and kinda slapped me in the face too. 1 John 4:16-21. As a missionary i have learned to love just about everyone. i should love my companion too. so I'm working on that daily. things are getting better.  This week too we had interviews with the president and instead of saying anything bad, i told the president two things i like about my companion. and, well we are progressing. i know that we are companions for a reason, so i will work hard to help this kid stay strong and endure to the end.

Hey i need another oil vile, mine broke. and food requests....yogurt covered pretzels and beef jerky. peppered :) nada mas. no more candy ahah. i cant handle any more, but its been great! my district says thanks to all who have sent candy! also, tootsie rolls are great tools to teach the law of tithing :) haha.

stay golden everyone. Love you all. The church is true!

Elder Westbroek

I am my companion's last companion

'Hey y'all, not much to report from TJ except a rough week in the work.  We ran into some major walls this week with baptisms, family situations, marriages torn apart, commandments, collective weddings, spiritual and ethical problems too. My heart and head literally hurt after this week.  Also i received the "great news" that i will be with Elder Espino for the next transfer also.  whoo. So, all i can say is life down here is a little tough. "Pesado" or "heavy" as we say here in TJ.  But life moves on somehow and so does the work.  

I basically just spent a lot of time on my knees this week praying for a miracle, and lets just say i am now waiting on the Lord. Its a great thing i have learned to be very patient. 

Rocio is doing great, she has noticed some major changes in her Life thanks to the gospel! whoo, we are not working with her to drop the coffee, you should have seen her face when we talked about it, haha so sad. but she will do it, she overcame smoking and alcoholism so she can do anything!  Her kids got released from the government program and now are living with a friend of Rocio, She talks with them a couple times a week if she is lucky. i expect she will be baptized the 7th of august.

Thank you for all the packages! i was blessed to receive 4 packages all filled with goodies haha, it made my day! thank you for the letters and love. the candy, toys and snacks! honestly, i saved so much money this week with groceries because i have food in the house now haha. so thank you :) also, thanks for the sick superman under armour shirt. a cool pic is coming your way the following week :)  

nothing to report this week, i am doing ok, having a rough go at things right now, but that's life right? :) love ya all!  here is the only beautiful part of TJ!

Elder Westbroek

"Just Enjoy It."

I survived another week here in Tijuana Mexico :)

So another week has passed in the blink of an eye! i find myself staring at 7 months this week haha. did i just turn 6 last week? Man, i love this place.  This week i had the chance to just talk to a few elders about what we really think of TJ and our mission. We all love the work.  But we all agree that we have a very rough and tough mission filled with difficulties and without a whole lot of beauty haha. TJ isn't the most exotic or beautiful place...but then, you sit in a very humble home and talk to a family or a broken hearted man and you begin to find the...well beauty of it all. The ugliest place in the world, filled with garbage, drugs, gangsters, problems and more suddenly becomes a place to mend families, change lives, and create happiness. As missionaries we literally bring a message of hope and happiness.
This week, by some miracle, my favorite investigator came to church again. Her name is Rocio, she was recently deported after she got in a fight with her 18 year old daughter, her daughter then called immigration to come and take her mom away.  Rocio has lost all contact with her 18, 13 and 5 year old daughters. She is recently divorced and lives alone. She does not know anyone. And yet, she has hope. She has battled alcoholism for a few years now and is on the mend. you can see the effects of her situation weighing down on her. I have kind of made her my special project, focusing a lot of attention on her.  I really think the spirit is doing a number on her to guide her in her life now.  She told me yesterday at church that she can see a glow or a light when i talk to her and others...i find this rather strange, because my convert Armando in Mexicali told me the same thing.  I think its just because my hair is so blond now so the sun hits it and i glow ;) haha. But honestly, the spirit works just as hard if not harder than we do to bring these people the truth. and i feel very honored to be a representative of Christ here in such a dark city.

This week, we found the man that contacted us the other week while i was outside in basketball shorts and T shirt. He told me he had be apprehensive to talk with us while we were dressed up.  This has got to be one of the coolest guys i have ever met.  This man was deported about 8 years ago after spending 25 years or so in the USA, in California, and Utah. He has visited the temple and seen the visitors center in San Diego also. And well, he wants to know more!  His story tho, wow.  He was charged with some rather large crimes just because he was defending his life after he had a gun to his face.  After his buddy had been shot he defended himself and beat one guy to pieces ha. man.  After being tried, he wasn't granted freedom because this all happened on private property, but he was only given 6.5 years in prison instead of 25 to life. He was tried as a minor and was put in a special prison.  After 6.5 years he headed over to Utah and lived in SLC! But, got into more trouble.. He really is a great guy, wish i could tell you the whole story. Right now he is just concerned of taking care of his daughter and finding work.  I think he has a bright future ahead...especially as member of the church!

I feel a lot healthier this week, no more throwing up almost back to "normal", as normal as you can get around here.  Not going to lie, i almost cried the other day when Holland lost, man that was rough. i knew Germany would win tho, puro poder.

The mission really is pretty amazing tho, i love talking with the people and hearing their unique stories. i have become very close with many investigators and members here. Also, i truly can feel the spirit directing the work in the lessons and the streets.  For example, the other night we were walking and we heard some shouting and talking saw a man walking, and we now assume he was very heavily drugged, we continued, but then elder Espino and i stopped walking at the exact same time. we both had a very strong prompting to take the long way around.  Just as we did that the situation in our route got a bit intense haha lets just say.  Its amazing what the lord does to help us just simply use our brains and avoid disaster, but also, help us out of situations when we are completely oblivious to the danger.

Mom i loved the missionary activity you did with the kids, and the pioneer day activity will be awesome!  haha i also loved the book of Mormon story of the sister missionaries, crazy stuff like that happens a lot here in the mission!!

Well, i will send some pics. Hope to hear from you all soon!  Callie Brown, i will write ya back i promise! Tyler and Brittany King!!!!!! i love you guys. And know i pray for you two a lot :)

What else do y'all wanna know??

The title of my email is exactly as it says. at times life and the mission get super hard. but we just have to enjoy what we have and trust in the Lord! Keep on keeping on!

Love ya all!
Elder Benji Hyrum Westbroek

Life.

Muy buenas tardes!

There is never a dull moment in Mexico. I will tell you that much!  Each week it is new experiences, adventures and so on!  

To answer some fan mail...On average we teach 30 to 40 lessons a week. a lesson is a prayer to open, at least two principles, an  invitation to action and a closing prayer.  So we do a lot of contacts and partial lessons, but we only "count" the full complete lessons. We try our hardest to get members to accompany us on visits but they are so hard to find where we live. plus, no one has cars around here.  We try and get at least 12 to 15 member present lessons a week.  

We have been asked to not contact in the streets by playing soccer...but, occasionally a loose ball goes flying by and i am always the first one to take off to go get it, do a couple tricks and send it back haha. honestly, it is a fantastic way to contact, i have found a few new investigators that way! 
Our P Days...well those took a drastic change about a month ago. We aren't sure what went down somewhere here in Mexico in another mission...but we have been given new direction on Zone and district activities from the Area Presidency (Mission President"s Boss) and so now we cannot go out in public with a group of more than 4 missionaries.  We cant even go to the church to play soccer.  So, we don't do activities anymore.  Occasionally we will take two other missionaries to go eat somewhere, but we have to avoid the other elders if they are there too with their group of 4. It is rather sad. We have 6 elders in our ward, so we received permission to do the dinner the other week with the members. 
The tie tradition is great huh!? you burn a tie at 6 months, a shirt at a year and a suit on your last day.  

This 4th of July was a bit different, I was in interchanges with Elder Watts again, that was great. Two Americans working together, trying our hardest not to think about home and our families haha.  We worked really hard all day, we were so happy too! We get a long very  well. to celebrate, we had bought tacos, and then later that day some pizza to celebrate.  It was so much fun.  But i cant lie, i missed my family and the US a ton that day haha.

I don't know what it is with Americans and getting sick here in TJ. It happens a lot.  A few Americans here have been getting super sick repeatedly, and this week, it was my turn.  I woke up one morning and was just super nauseated  went to the restroom and got sick. real sick.  I headed over to other missionaries house and ended up throwing up there.  Then the same thing on our way back home in a store, and then again in our home when we finally got home again.  We talked to the doctors of the mission and judging from what was happening i had to go get an IV or drink some suerros and get checked out.  After a long ride to the offices i was checked out by the doctors for about an hour and a half, and then they drove me back to the house, there i received two huge injectors for the vomiting.  i almost passed out during the second injection. that was intense.  So far i feel a lot better. in over 48 hours i have hardly eaten anything, some fruit and crackers and that's all i can hold down. but I'm not hungry in the slightest.  I'm up and working today and i worked yesterday too.  Not sure what it was man haha. But it was rough!  Just some viruses we pick up here, us Americans. in the food, in the air. There is a long history of Americans getting sick here in TJ, and in this zone.  

My companion took a pic of me praying for my dinner. the only food i have really had in 50 something hours...ha. 

Work wise, we are finding people who are so so ready to receive the gospel! and we are working really hard trying to activate less actives. our calling as missionaries is very important in not just baptizing, but retaining members and reactivation. A few of our great investigators still have to get married, here money is a huge struggle and no one has the means to get married.  So they say.  Its either put food on the table or get married.  Luckily, we are having collective weddings this months and we are trying to get several couples ready for the weddings and baptism!  Nothing too exciting down here, just killing sin on a daily, doing our best to help save all of these families!  Hopefully we can find a miracle and baptize a woman and her two children next week!

I love you all! please take care of yourselves! And....Go Holland!

Elder Westbroek

Pictures from Tijuana

Trying on old jeans 

Harmin's Baptism 

6 months out & the burning of the tie ceremony 

Alexis's Baptism

Bob Marley!

Tijuana

Hey Family! How is life?

So yes, Tijuana. It is just as ugly as everyone says it is.  We live in, walk in, breath in, work in, run in, workout in, preach in, serve in....garbage. the city is filled with garbage. It is the nastiest city haha.  I think i would rather live in down town Ogden than Tijuana. Dad, you grew up in a sketchy area, i will give you that. But man, i think i would rather live there in Ogden haha. Just like Mexicali, the city is destroyed by graffiti, drugs, garbage and more.  There are literally piles of garbage 10 to 15 feet high.  it stinks so bad haha. but I'm adjusting fine.  Just like Ogden, there are very sketchy parts...just a bit more sketchy. ok, a lot more sketchy haha. Ogden is high class.  
The house, lets just say it ain't pretty.  its two floors but so so tiny.  in our bathroom upstairs you can shower, go to the bathroom and shave in the mirror all at the same time haha. its horrible. the other day we ran out of gas for a few days, and the water is so so so cold here! so what did I do? I did what any good Mexican would do! I cleaned out an old bucket, microwaved cups of water and slowly filled the bucket haha.  After about 20 minutes the bucket was about one third full and kind of warm haha so i lugged it up the stairs and showered using a cup. It was actually pretty legit. Do not take your bathrooms at home for granted!  It is just me and elder espino here in this apartment...you couldn't fit any more in there haha.  Elder Espino is awesome! he speaks basically perfect English because he lived in Texas and in Canada. He has about 3 months left in his mission so he is very experienced and a great teacher. But i fear the progression of my Spanish will be slowed down again with all these companions that speak English.....grrrr. The ward is HUGE! we have 6 missionaries in this ward! the usual attendance is 270ish. its so sick. total functioning. i love the ward.  
The new president will arrive this month on the 28th i think? that will be cool! i am very excited to meet him and see how he is going to help us out!  Also, the temple is looking amazing! still under construction outside, but is coming along fantastic! look it up on google! however it is not in my sector.  my sector by the way is HUGE also! we take so many buses, we get 400 pesos for transportation because we are always riding a bus or taking a taxi.  The work is good here tho! we are the highest baptizing zone in the mission right now, and we plan to keep it that way. its pretty legit. its hard tho being in a crazy busy city without any knowledge of the bus routes, colonies and all. but i will learn.  
well boys and girls. Wednesday marks 6 months. wow. you'd all be amazed if you were with me right now. i would say I'm a bit different than i was just 6 months ago. A better person. It has been an incredible road. full of thrills and spills. i have experienced more in these 6 months than many missionaries do in their two years haha. I look forward to many more. at times i get very overwhelmed by it all. but that is when we all must trust in the Lord. 
I love you all! i will have some better stories next week I'm sure! 

Elder Westbroek III

 " For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Romans 1:16

Home away from Home

Lucky Number 7!

Buenas Tardes,

Alright! Where to begin!?

Mom and dad! you're so close to me! Sounds like San Diego is treating you well! Whale watching sounds like a riot haha.  Nothing better than being on a boat! Let me know what goes down with the trip and the Big O convention. Dad i met a guy last night who thinks he knows you, do you know a Ricardo who works for De Anda Trucking? haha really random.  

Mom i know the feeling about being the only white kid on the block haha. Because i am!  And people let me know it. I am the end of many racist jokes and they all have many nicknames for me.  Haha the other day, a guy yelled to me in English "Hey what are you doing here white kid?" haha i introduced myself and told him about missionaries... he said "man, you can die in the USA, but it is more common here in Mexico! But i respect you for preaching the word my man." We had a conversation for about 20 minutes and it just got better and better every minute.  I really hope we get to teach this man.  

I think those skeletons are for the day of the dead. it is like Halloween, but it is for the family. it is a big party to celebrate your ancestors.  But it isnt for like 6 months or so.  

I might be back to the mission office in a week or 2 weeks for my visa, or in a month for conference? so who really knows.  i didn't get any packages in the conference last week, that was a little weird.  so i guess i will wait haha.  no i didnt buy any shoes, they are all bien bien caro, very very expensive. and i don't want to buy expensive shoes ha. i will keep looking in the streets for cheap nice ones.  i bought 2 cans of vegetables, the produce here isnt the best, we will check a different store next week. I am down 10 pounds....but my pants are getting tight haha you do the math! (don't forward that haha).

The title of this email is lucky number 7...because after a lot of work, prayer, blood, sweat and tears, we got 7 investigators in the church.  It was incredible.  And our bishop after his incident has a whole new outlook on life and his calling and he was just beaming ear to ear and he was so great with every single investigator! (dad i sent my letter to you about my week that was literally insane, so you'll know whats up in a couple weeks or less.) But man, it was an amazing sight.  We walked in with a family of 4, Mom, Dad, 2 young little boys.  This is the man that was beaten in front of his family, that we found one night.  They are one incredibly tough family.  

This week was full of little miracles.  Praying for silence, and the world goes quiet. Praying for words to come to my mind and i get a whole conversation.  Praying that we will find someone new to teach and we find a young man on a bus who is so ready and is literally looking for the truth.  Praying praying praying. And the lord keeps on giving. It is just amazing.  Every week really is a blur, this week i hit 4 months, it is such a short time, that has taken forever, but really has past in the blink of an eye.  Each day i am learning about the church, my life.  I have come to appreciate both very very much.  

I really don't have any complaints this week, the lord has answered all my prayers, and he is taking care of my family.  I have been truly blessed this week and my whole life with everyone who is in it.  The same guy who told me i could die here in Mexicali told me that my dad did a dang good job.  He said that by keeping us in the church we have completely different lives. And i believe that.  We don't see it always, but we have so much to be grateful for because of the teachings of Christ and applying them to our lives.  

Well that is all i can remember about this week, i should start writing it all down huh? Anyways, you all got any questions about Mexicali? i think we hit 100 degrees today. last year they hit about 135, and this summer is supposed to be hotter. yay. 

The church is true! 

Love you all!

Elder Westbroek

Week 2

Que tal le va?!

This week has been one of the longest weeks of my life haha.  The mission really puts in to perspective just how long our life is here on the Earth.  

Where to begin??  Monday, after running around town trying to find a laundry machine we finally found one with 1 hour left of P day haha.  The nice little lady let us use her washer and eat at her house.  That night we headed over to the zone leader's house because Tuesday morning we would be headed to Tijuana for a conference.  It was so fun to be with about 20 or so other missionaries.  We are all in Mexicali, but spread over miles and miles and miles.  We went to bed early at 8:30, sleeping on the floor with the spiders and cockroaches and what not haha.  

Tuesday, we woke up at 3AM, we had to be at the bus stop at 4:30.  20 missionaries using one bathroom haha that was funny.  We successfully made it out the door and to the bus stop. However the bus didn't come for over an hour.  It is about 2.5 hours typically to TJ, depending on stops, patrols and traffic.  It was great to see Mexico in the light.  When i first was driven to Mexicali two weeks ago, it was at night.  The mountains are pretty cool here, not solid rock, big boulders and crumpled rock basically.  I watched the sun rise over the desert too, that was pretty amazing, a lot different than Utah sunrises.  We got to the chapel in TJ where we took a picture with every missionary in the mission and Bishop Davies.  That was the main event of the conference.  The whole conference was in Spanish obviously so I didn't catch everything haha, but i did catch the part about the importance of temples and Likening the scriptures unto ourselves.  That lesson alone about the scriptures got me through this week.  I met up with my MTC district! it was so so so good to see them all!  They are all struggling just like me haha.  Elder Anderson is still alive too haha.  After the conference our bus driver took us to the TJ Temple! so cool! After that it was the long ride home and back to work.

Wednesday....Thursday....no clue. it is all a blur!  But Friday.  Friday was a good day.  We had 2 baptisms this week! It was so great! A couple, Refugio and his wife Amparo, about 50 years old were baptised.  Refugio is an awesome guy, he is missing his left leg due to Gangrene...rough stuff.  And Amparo...sweet lady.  She didn't want to be baptised when i first got here, so we met with them nearly every day and had lessons with them and answered questions and prayed with them.  Well long story short, she was baptised! and i had the honor of baptising here!  That was an adrenaline rush, seriously. 

Saturday back to work.  Sunday, The speakers dropped out so the bishop asked me to speak.  It was a little intense because I still don't know Spanish haha. He asked me to speak on conversion, recent converts and our responsibility as members to help them.  He wanted me to kindly ask the ward to help us out! haha. we struggle here getting ward members to help in lessons, callings and more. But the talk went great! i read some awesome verses in my personal study this week that worked perfectly with the topic, funny how things work out that way.  

Yes my birthday is next week! kinda cool! along with meetings, church and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, we plan on eating a lot of food haha.  We have two lunch appointments set heh heh heh.  So stoked.  The food here is awesome. Intense at times.  Last week i ate a pepper that literally about killed me.  The sister gave me chocolate to try and put the fire out haha.

Uhhh other cool things that happened this week?....almost got hit by 3 buses and a motor cycle, turns out cute dogs have big teeth haha don't worry i still have all my fingers, uhhh yeah i think that is about it!  

Love you all!!!

please tell everyone thank you for the B day wishes, i don't have time to email everyone back! 

Elder Westbroek

Arrival

ey Family!

Yes i am there and still alive barely.

One week ago, we flew in to San Diego and then drove across the boarder.  we were greeted by the mission presidents wife and daughter.  We had a little trouble at the boarder trying to get our bags across. it was quite the trip.

As soon as we crossed, i saw the biggest guns of my life, the Mexico military was at the boarder and ready for anything. i am not sure why, it was rather intense.  We worked our way past the guards, bridges, checkpoints and other things.  As we loaded up our luggage into the vans to head to the chapel to get our companions, we were surrounded by about 9 or 10 Taxis that blocked off all of our exits, all the drivers and people in the back seats got out and surrounded the van, one man got out his phone and took pictures of all of us and the vans.  it was kind of creepy.  our driver and the main taxi guy exchanged words, rather angrily and then we were given a ticket and the taxis left.  I talked to the driver in a bit of Spanish to figure out what just happened, from what i understand they are undercover cops? he says they are corrupt tho, so i guess this is my first experience with the bad type of police here haha.  

We drove for about 20 minutes, got to a church somewhere in TJ and all jumped out, and met some of the missionaries in our zone. Some members had prepared food for us all.  I was the first to receive my companion because i would be leaving in 1 hour. yup one hour to fill out paper work, meat the president, interview, pictures, eat, and grab my gear and other paperwork and go. i didn't even really get the chance to say goodbye to Elder Anderson or the others in my district. i waved goodbye as i was loaded into a minivan haha.  

My New companion is Elder Martin, he is a native from Mexico, in Guadalajara.  He only speaks a tiny bit of English so you can imagine how well it is going haha.  He has been out for about 6 months.  I am about two and a half hours to the east of TJ, in Mexicali.  This place is rather interesting.  In Mexicali, we live in a gated community...well everyone does.  Everyone has big gates, barbed wire, cinder block walls, pit bulls or all the above to protect their house.  The hones are rather interesting, most cinder block homes, full of bugs and large spiders.  When you go to the bathroom in a members house, you do not look up.  The other day i was in a members house and i looked up and there were about 100 spiders haha, large ones. i about died haha you know how i feel about spiders! but believe it or not i have become very used to them, they are everywhere.  Bugs are the norm haha, i had a huge cockroach in my suitcase one morning, and the other day as i was helping prepare a meal at a members house, one fell from the ceiling and into my hair...yep.  bugs crawl out of our sinks well yeah haha.  welcome to Mexico!

The people here are very interesting.  A lot of problems. Marriage is uncommon, economical problems are very common.  There is much work to be done here in Mexico.  My mission no longer has bikes, missionaries were getting robbed and hit by cars, so we walk.  We put in miles upon miles a day.  

One fun experience i had was helping 3 little kids this week, a lady driving a car had ran over one of the little boys bike and was dragging it all around the street as she drove, the kids were chasing here and yelling, my companion wanted to keep knocking on this one particular door but i knew i had to help.  i just ran other and got the lady to stop the car. i tried a few ways to get the bike out, but it was in there tight! So i just decided to go for it, i grabbed the wheel well and lifted the car as high as i could, the little boy was able to pull his bike out.  I asked for a hammer and then helped the little boy straighten out his pedals and handlebars. it was a lot of fun just doing this little random act of service.  It is a lot more effective than just knocking and hoping.  

The language is FAST! people here in Mexicali have an accent. The accent is, in fact, speaking fast. They talk faster than any other Mexican accent.  The people get mad at me for my pronunciation haha but they slur all of their words together. it is just awful. but i can understand a lot more now than i could last Wednesday. so that is good. with time, faith, and a lot of work someday i will be able to keep up in the conversation.  

The church is true.  I wouldn't be here if it weren't haha.  This is by far the hardest thing i have ever done in my life. But hey, i have a smile on my face and am still going. 

-Elder Westbroek 

Off to Mexico

Hey Everyone!

After 7 weeks, it is finally time to head to Mexico! Tomorrow morning, 6:30 we are on our way to the airport! Soon after we fly to San Diego, then drive to Tijuana! I am so excited to get out of the MTC and in to the real world.  

The MTC has been an incredible experience, one I will never forget.  I have learned more spanish in 7 weeks than I ever thought possible.  When the spirit is involved in our lives, we are able to learn, recall, comprehend and do so much more. Also the gift of tongues is very real.  The third day I was here, my companion and I taught a 20 minute lesson in spanish. It was so difficult.  We walked in with english and spanish scriptures, 2 different language and grammar books, a scripted dialogue and a notebook with vocabulary...and the lesson was so rough. Slowly we progressed, stopped bringing in the language books, then only spanish scriptures and continued on.  This week, my companion and I walked in to a lesson with only our Spanish scriptures and a diagram I drew of the Plan of Salvation, we taught a 55 minute lesson.  As we said goodbye to the investigator, I felt very blessed. The Lord looks over us all and knows the desires of our hearts. My desires the past 7 weeks have been to learn as much spanish as possible, and learn more about the teachings of Christ. Before I could be blessed, I had to have a trial of my faith.  When Moses lead the people out of Egypt, Moses had enough faith to part the Red Sea with the power of God. However, before they could cross the Red Sea on dry ground, they had to get their feet wet.  This was a trial of their faith.  We all must get our feet wet and show our faith before the way will be made known in which we can get through our trial.  

Tomorrow, will be another trial of faith for me.  I will get a new companion, be sent to a new part of Mexico, eating who knows what, and teaching someone about the gospel.  In a language I am very new to, I will testify that each and every one of us have a personal Savior, who is Jesus Christ.  

I hope all is well in what ever part of the world you may be in currently! Please keep me in your prayers, it would be much appreciated. Love you all!

-Elder Westbroek