Short letter the week before Christmas-

December 23, 2013

I may not have a lot of time to write today because we went to Santiago to play ball. But just so you know I am fine and doing well! And the packages from you guys and the grandparents got here, thank you very much!

Jugamos futbol, basket y futbol americano.  It was really fun to play ball, I just got fried! I threw 2 td passes to Elder Webb, lefty to lefty!.

I think we are going to write on Christmas day around 6 and we are going to try to find a member who has skype. Thank you so much for the shoes and the belt, I really needed a new belt and I do not know how you knew that! Thanks for the ties and the candy as well. I did not want to but I felt that it was necessary to take the candy to church and share it with the members which I did. It is funny, there is something that I have learned from all of my companions. Elder Martinez was really good about sharing and giving everything he had to others, I know he would have done the same thing in my situation

Just a question, the tie with the catholic churches on it was a joke? I thought that was pretty funny, maybe you did not recognize it.

One last thing...... I will actually be writing at 4 instead of 6 because I forgot we have a lesson at 6, and tell Sam Heron I said thanks as well!

Love you guys Elder Jarvis 

Staying in San Blas, back with Elder Garcia!

December 16, 2013

Hey mom! Happy Birthday this coming Friday! To tell you the truth, Dad did remind me of it, but I had already remembered it as well! Sounds like you guys had a nice fun week this week, busy as usual. We had a good week as well. With transfers coming up, Elder Martinez and I went to the soccer field to run Wednesday through Saturday. My legs felt SORE, and it was absolutely wonderful, and I´m not being sarcastic, I loved feeling like that. We had our zone class this week in Santiago, and they gave us Microwaves, which I, of course had to carry to the taxis and such, at one point I was walking along with the big huge microwave and this guy stops and say, "lo bueno es que estas grandote, si no estarias cansado." I thought that was pretty funny. I had a few funny experiences this week, you know that when you are at your house, everyone always says to shake hands with a firm grip, well, I think that is usually good advice, and I tried for some odd reason

I´m not really sure of to put that advice into practice this week. So, here I was shaking hands a little bit more firmly than I usually do, being about twice the size of the average Mexican, and I bet you can figure out the rest. Several members complained to me about breaking their hands, I didn´t really hurt anyone, but I´ll make sure to shake hands a little more gently this week. 

This week was a little bit of a tough one for our district as far as our investigators and less active members and sacrament meeting attendance goes. Only 60 came to church, but 5 less active members did come, and Gabriela, our recent convert came as well. 

We had transfers this week and they transferred Elder Martinez to Puerto Vallarta,and I received a "new" companion. He is a familiar face, his name is one you´ve heard before........Elder Garcia. We are companions again, I am pretty excited for that. We are working here in San Blas and I am excited for that. At several points this week I felt very irritated with my companion and didn't feel like I was being a very Christlike person. I am excited to be with Elder Garcia again, and things have gone really well right now. He has a nice ipod and some good music that it was fun to listen to last night. 

Speaking of nights, something that I have forgotten to mention to you guys in middle of some difficult times, one big blessing that I have been receiving lately is that I have been sleeping really well. There has been several times when I have wanted to keep reading, but have been so tired I could not and have fallen asleep reading. I also find myself occasionally drifting off while praying, I pray on my knees on the hard floor and using a hard wooden chair, and it is not like I am trying to fall asleep but it just happens sometimes because I am so tired. For me, that has been a blessing. We have a nice fan in the house and I have had many nights when I have slept very peacefully. 

But, all in all I had a good week, we got back late tonight, and I will write a little bit more tomorrow. Happy 47th Birthday on Friday mom, and it makes me very happy to see all the success Nate is having, I am glad he is being such a great missionary. 

Better week, Christmas devotional -

 THIS WEEK WAS MUCH BETTER THAN LAST WEEK, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!  There were many reasons for that, your prayers, my companion, thinking and praying for Jess knowing she would be starting varsity and Nate knowing he had transfers. I felt a little bit like you guys feel when we have transfers when I felt that way for Nate. I feel optimistic and positive now. I'm glad Nate is staying with Elder Gooch, it sounds like they're tearing it up! 

We found several new investigators this week, put several on baptismal dates and had a good time. My companion gave me some good advice, some of the which I am not sure is true, but we had a fun week overall. I exercised 5 days out of 6, the only day I didn't was because I had some dishes to wash and had to wash them. I did my pushups, but did less, and was ok with that. I did 432 today and less the other 2 days that I did them.

We visited a lot of people this week, few of  which came to church, but it was alright. A less active family came to church, the Santos Sojo family, and one investigator, Ruben.  His wife is a pretty much active member, she just makes sure to not come too much so they don´t give her a calling, but pretty much always comes. We were able to watch the Christmas devotional in one of the offices in the church with the branch president and his wife.   Agustin and Karla came to church as well, they are recent converts who hadn´t come for the last 2 weeks. Karla told me while they were passing the sacrament that Agustin didn´t come to church 2 weeks ago because he drank, and wasn't sure if he should partake of the sacrament or not, I didn't know what to do and because he hadn't talked to the branch president yet I told him to take it, maybe not the best decision but oh well. They are really awesome, I like them a lot. They are like many people here, who have hardly any food to eat and give us everything they have.

Thank you so much for the letters, I really needed them this past week. You just reminded me, I did separations, or like, little mini interviews with the elders in our district on Tuesday after District Class, and was able to talk with and mostly listen to, and to some point help a missionary who was struggling and thinking about going home.   He said many things to me that, like you and your clients, I can't tell you, but I can tell you that he doesn't have a dad and has had a really hard life. It felt good to listen to him and try to understand him. That was the second time in my mission that I have had the chance to do that, and I cherish every chance that I have to do it, just listen to the problems of others. Thanks for reading and studying and praying specifically for me, the time spent was not spent in vain. ……..

This week we had a funny lesson. We went to visit a less active member, and several of her daughters and daughters in law, and one of her friends were there, and after listening to them talk for a fairly long time about how good looking I was (no joke) we had a really good lesson with them. We started teaching them about the restoration and were able to answer a lot of their questions. The friend, the one that really liked me,(50 years old) had questions about Sin and Justice and Mercy, and I had just been reading about those things in Alma 42 and was able to really clearly answer her questions, with some of my best Spanish. It was one of those fun lessons when you don't have to think about what to say, but just speak, words just flow out of your mouth, and they are understanding and everyone feels the spirit, and it was just awesome!

Zone Conference in Santiago

Monday December 2nd-

The San Blas Elders (Ben's companion, Elder Martinez, is the little one next to him)

So, this week went well. We had Zone Conference is Santiago and we took a test on Preach My Gospel and I got the highest score in the zone, but not to brag or anything, and Elder Martinez got the second highest score. I am just a little bit taller and wider than him, but just a little. 

We were able to visit many less active members and investigators this week and invite them to church. Many less active members came and a couple of investigators as well. I went on divisions with Elder Webb this week, he is my zone leader, we have the same time in the mission and it was fun to talk about how we will both be going home soon. It was fun, and a little tough at times because Elder Webb speaks REALLY good Spanish, like he knows how to tell jokes and talk slang and has a really good accent, so it was good and just a little bit hard because of that. I fasted for all of my converts so they will stay active in the church. I felt a little bit bad because I had a really easy time fasting this week, I was not hungry or thirsty and it was kinda weird. We ate  A TON this week, first the huge sandwiches in zone conference. Then, we ate Thanksgiving with Sister Chellenberg and her family, and we ate several times Saturday, we ate a lot!

One of the sisters in the zone, and the zone conference sandwich

The three that finished their whole sandwich!

We had some good discussions this week, 73 came to church in total, not so great of a week. The sandwich was really good at zone conference. We ate all of the normal american food for thanksgiving. We ate pie and potatoes and gravy, stuffing, chicken, all of the normal good stuff. We have a ton of investigators, but only 1 of them is really progressing, her name is Nina. She came to church on Sunday. It was fun because she was not going to go, but we passed by to invite her Sunday morning and she came.

One of the nice things of this week was being able to visit Karla and Agustin. They are a young couple who were baptized just a couple of months ago, they have not been to church in 2 weeks and we visited them 2 times this week. They are really humble, awesome people. When I am with Agustin I just feel like he is pure and awesome, he is the kinda guy I would've hung out with back at home. I am sure that they will be back to church next week. Also, Alicia, a less active member who had not been to church in my time here came to church on Sunday. And we also were able to gain the confidence of her sister, Mari, who is also a member and can´t come to church because she works on Sundays. Edgar and Andrea also came to church on Sunday, it was fun because we saw Andrea walking into church by herself and thought, "well, cool that Andrea came, but that stinks that Edgar didn't", but he had come in the other entrance on his motorcycle. We are hoping that they can be sealed in the temple soon. They both have more than a year as members of the church and I am pretty sure that they keep the commandments and are worthy to enter into the temple. Have they started construction on the Cedar City temple? Hopefully they have. 

I have got to go now. Thanks for the awesome letters you write to me each and every week.  I pray for you guys often and thank God everyday for sending me to the family he sent me to, have a great week!

Love, Elder Ben Jarvis

A baptism in the river, and a trip to Mexcaltitan

Monday November 25th

So, some of the highlights of this week were watching the parade, playing with a crab, having Gabriela´s baptism in a river, going to the island, and a cruel joke that a member pulled on me and my companion. What happened, is that Brother Manrubio, one of the faithful members of the branch who always goes with us to teach, called me and said that he had committed a serious sin and that he needed to talk to us, and so I got all freaked out and got into it a little with my companion and it turns out it was all just a joke and he invited us to eat Tortas and Sodas, but he called us at the 11 in the morning and he knew that if he just invited us to eat we would have said that we had lessons to teach. He is a really cool guy and he said that he only invited us to eat because, "le caemos bien."

The parade was in celebration of the Mexican Independence Day, which was the 20th of November. The Island is called Mexcaltitan, Tell Grandpa Happy Birthday for me! I do have photos from Gabriela´s baptism, I'll send them later. I bench pressed 255 if Jess is there, you will have to tell her sorry but big bro is still the strongest one in the house, but that she is a close second!

98 people came to church on Sunday, the most that have come in my time in San Blas, so that was pretty awesome. The bad thing is that none of our investigators came. I confirmed Gabriela and it was the first time that I confirmed a person in my mission, it was pretty awesome, I didn't feel like I did a great job, but it was fun! I have had the chance in San Blas to bless the sacrament, teach the youth, and teach the Gospel Principles class. Our area is the one that is farther away from the beach. We eat with the same members every week, and one of the poorer families feeds us 2 times a week, the 4 of us, can you imagine that! Speaking of that, that sounds fun that the missionaries ate with you guys last week, I´m sure that was fun for both you and them!

Sounds like you are keeping yourselves busy and that´s great. I wrote to Nate today and he wrote me a nice letter as well. We are going to have Thanksgiving with Sister Magdlena, the one who lived in the U.S. for a long time, she made us lunch this week, we had roast and it was pretty awesome, it was a little different for Elder Martinez, I am not sure how much he liked it. I did my normal exercise this week and did divisions with Elder Krambule. He is from Idaho and we talked in English the whole time, it was pretty awesome. We had a lot of success that day and I felt very relaxed for a change.

Thanks for the letters you guys wrote to me, they help me a lot and I always need them, and am grateful for them. In every one of my prayers I thank God for sending me to this earth to the family he sent me to. I remember one time, an elder said to me, "elder, you don´t know how lucky you are to have such a nice family," and I remember thinking, no, I have a great family, but a pretty normal one, but then I realized that wasn't true. I will give you a few examples from my companions of why I say that, and these things are between me and you guys. …...........Just a few examples, and the more I think about it I am more and more grateful for the family I have. I love you guys and am thankful for everything that you do for me. Thanks for all of the money that you have sent to me, and I will do the best that I can to spend it more wisely. I love you guys and miss you and think about you often!

Love, Elder Jarvis

p.s. I also saw some people playing baseball today and it made me a little homesick, and this week I contacted a guy who had a baseball helmet on, a lot of people here use those as motorcycle helmets as he was doing, and anyways, the point is that he actually knew something about baseball! His son is a pro baseball player here in Mexico! Can you believe that!

Toenail trouble and 91 came to church, a new record!

President Artigas with the ingrown toenail.

This is a picture of my bloody toenail after President Artigas took out my ingrown toenail.

He did it really well, he numbed me up a little bit, which hurt, but then when he took out the nail I did not feel anything. We took the rest of the day Monday off.  But we worked hard the rest of the week and had a good week. We had our zone class in Santiago and it went well.  Something funny about last week, after having my toenail taken out, Elder Martinez took out his hammock and put it up between 2 trees for me to rest in, but it wasn't too comfortable because I pretty much sunk to the ground.

It did hurt just a little bit when he injected me, but after that it hardly hurt at all.  

Me pulling the rope that lifted the pinata up.

We had a fun week this week, we had an activity for the little kids and about 40 of them came, some of them members and some of them investigators.

so in the activity, we were the 4 elders and the 40 little kids, and no adults, the Relief Society had an activity at the same time, so it was a little bit really hard to control all of them, but it ended up being really fun, 

Gabriela is going to be baptized on Friday and came to church again on Sunday. She is doing really well, the only thing that she needs to do before being baptized is begin to read the Book of Mormon. She has to take these pills that make her tired and then it is harder to read.

91 came to church, the most that have come in my time in San Blas!

Another cool thing about this week is that Elder Martinez and I almost reached the Standard of Excellence, which is like goals for a week for the mission.  The funny thing is that we almost reached it, but afterwards,  President Wagner lowered the standards for the 1st time.   I think that only one companionship reached the first standard of excellence and they only reached it one time.

On Saturday, the branch president´s daughter, our relief society president, Cynthia bought us tacos, and I accidentally stuck my finger in someone else´s tacos, but the lady put the tacos right in front of me, so I thought they were mine, haha.

This is a picture with Sister Magdalena. She was one of the first people to join the church here in San Blas. She if from Mexico, but lived in the United States for a very long time. Her husband passed away 14 years ago. He was from Switzerland and spoke 5 different languages! She obviously speaks fluent Spanish, but also has an accent from Europe that is really cool. She likes to eat at Golden Corral and says that her english isn't that great because her husband told her that she had to speak 100% spanish with their children so that they would learn spanish.

We had our zone class in Santiago and it went well. I did divisions with Elder Montano who is here in San Blas as well. We all thought this painting outside of a store in Santiago was pretty funny.  

Transfers come and go, and 89 at church in San Blas!

November 11, 2013

We had a really nice Sunday yesterday. 89 people came to church which is really good for San Blas, and 10 less active members from our area came. We had a fun experience this week. I went to Villa Hidalgo, a small town about 45 minutes from San Blas, the other 2 elders in our district are there. The week before, I had gone there to do a baptismal interview, and the man did not pass because he had smoked on Saturday and we had the interview on Wednesday. His wife is already a member, and he was really disappointed.  We went again this Wednesday to do the interview again and this time he passed, he had not smoked for about a week and a half. G... works for Banco Azteca and works on Sundays, but just leaves for an hour to come to church. On Friday, we ran into a less active member in the street who also works for the same company but here in San Blas and we told him what Gerardo was doing to make it to church and he ended up coming to church as well, the one that lives here, and his wife as well. His name is Edgar, and his wife is Andrea. They are a really cool family, the elder who baptized them was Elder Bitter, who was an AP in the this mission and we also saw him when I arrived in Mexico and he was heading home to Texas.  They have a little daughter that is about a year old and I often shake her hand and hold onto it for a second and she doesn´t really want to let go of my hand either and her parents always say things like, "nope he´s got to finish his mission first" and then they realize that I am a lot older than her and they say, "nope, you'll have to wait for his son" sort of things and they are really nice.

Many members accompanied us this week and I think that was why so many less active members came to church on Sunday. I think that a visit of 15 minutes from one member to another is worth more than one of our hour long lessons, when they can see that the other members really care about them, that seems to help them more than anything else.   The tough news of the week is that Silvestre, Bere´s husband does not want us to come over there anymore and they are not going to get married anytime soon. Neither of them came to church this week. Gabriela came to church, she has now been 5 times and wants to be baptized, and could be baptized this Saturday, but she has to go to Vallarta on Sunday and would have to wait more than a week between her baptism and her confirmation and that is not a good idea, so she will likely be baptized the next Saturday.

Gordon Reid wrote a nice letter to me this week.  We continued to run at the soccer field, there are a ton of dogs there, that usually just fight within themselves, I have gotten used to the dogs here and have realized that they don't tend to attack me, but this week, I started to feel very fearful of them once again and one of the dogs started barking at me, so I had to pick up a rock, but luckily did not have to throw it at him. I have still been doing my push ups as well, and am still just a big person, I still have my arms and have packed on a few in the stomach area. A member yesterday said that I look like a Mexican boxer, his name is "Canela" or "Canelo," so that was a nice compliment.

The branch President here is going to take out my ingrown toenail here in a little bit and I will make sure to take plenty of pictures of that. It is one of the same toenails that I had taken out before. Yesterday we had transfers and nobody in our district was transferred.   A family of 10 that the other elders are teaching also came to church yesterday. Our investigators who came were Juan, Gabriela, and Ruben. Juan is the husband of a less active member, Alma, who also came to church yesterday, and Gabriela is the sister of Isabel who is member here. Ruben is the husband of Ofelia, a pretty much active member. The less active members who came were, Andrea and Edgar who I have already talked about, The Santos Sojo family, a family of 7, the parents and 5 kids, 4 girls and one boy. They have been members for a long time, are ostioneros and normally do not come because one of their daughters is handicapped and that makes things a little bit difficult. Also, Alma came, and Moises, a middle aged man who fishes for a living just like just about everyone else here in San Blas, Ofelia also came and a few others. Some of the new investigators who we found this week were Eva, who is a police officer, she works here and lives in a little town close to San Blas. She is like a guard and we went and taught her with Brother Manrubio while she was on duty and luckily nothing happened while we were teaching her. She works 24 hours and then rests 24 hours. Also, Nina, who is a substitute teacher and sells ice cream. We taught her a couple of times this week.   We have to contact 10 people a day in the street, and only about 5,000 to 10,000 people live in San Blas, so I am thinking that pretty soon we are going to know everyone in town.

Yes,...the branch president  is a doctor, he is pretty confident in his abilities as well, he says that he can do pretty much anything, he seems like he knows what he is doing. We always joke about the doctors here, saying things, "Well, you scraped up your knee, so I guess well just have to cut your foot off," like, what does that have to do with anything? They are an awesome family, we wash our clothes in the washing machine that they have at their business and they feed us a ton. This morning I wanted to buy cookies and Sister Artigas was not going to let that happen, she said "No, we have pan," and she also made us chorizo, juevos and pie.