I copied this letter just like Michael wrote it. I did some research and found there is only one church house in Leon City. One stake but soon to be two stakes. (Roxie) This is kind of a map of the area if you are interested.
http://www.lds.org/rcmaps/?lang=eng#lat=21.103776&lng=-101.66522&z=14&m=google.satellite&q=leon%20Mexico&x=find
Hola familia. you are going to have to forgive this letter. i am writing on a Spanish key board and it is really different. it will kill me not having proper punctuation, but in the interest of time, i will have to deal with it. so basically i arrived in Mexico. i had permission to send you an email to let you know i got here, but i never did. my bad. ha ha. i love it here so much! you cant even imagine. the people are so amazing. so humble. we have SO much stuff in America. for example water we can drink from the tap and good water pressure. awesome. it is really hot here. but not too hot. you get used to it.
i am looking more and more Mexican. my Spanish is alright. i can understand mas o menos what is being said, but it is still hard to speak it. i just keep trying to throw myself out there. it is getting better. also, my feet kill. you should see the size of the blisters on them! but, i just keep on walking and they are turning into calises. dont worry about it being dangerous down here. im safe. my area is the azteca ward. i am in the city of Leon. at times i wonder how in the world can we reach all of these people. we walk everywhere we go and the church is about half an hour away. i love all of the colors of the buildings.
the food is great. mom would be proud of me. i keep trying new stuff. my companion Elder Brady, doesnt like chile aka peppers. i keep trying them. two nights ago i had one and HOLY COW!!! i took a bigger bite than i should have. my face went bright red, there was fuego en my mouth, i started crying and hiccuping. it was intense!!! I didnt finish the whole pepper, but i ate most of it. We live above a member family. actually, the hermano lived in Utah and he went to snow college too.
The members here are so amazing. we eat with a member family everyday and they are so strong. We have some investigators too that are amazing. we have one that is going to get baptized in julio with his hijos. aslo another who is going to get baptized en junio. it is great to see the happiness this brings. we also have a another man who wants to be baptized. also, while tocando puertas aka tracking we came upon an addiction rehab place, and they let us in. well we started teaching them about 15. then the next time we came there were about 20. some really want the gospel, while others only listen because they are told to. it is hard teaching them all. also yesterday we were tracting and we came upon a guy. actually he was waiting outside for us. i guess he just wanted to argue. he let us in and we started talking. he was Catolico and said he didnt believe the Book of Mormon es verdadero. i could understand what he was saying, but i didnt know he was arguing. then i shared the scripture in 2 ne 33:10. I could feel the spirit there when i shared it. i also marked in the book of mormon we gave him the chapters when Christ comes. I felt like i did well.
Church was amazing. I loved partaking of the Sacrament. it was awesome. we didnt get just a little water down here. while we were in church it POURED! there is a canal in our area and some members were saying that this was the first time in two and a half years there was water in it. so yep. basically i love it here, but it is also really long days. i am always sweaty and what not. the members are great. the people are great. they dont have much, but share what they can. my comp is from Provo and im his first son o missionary he is training. he is cool.
that is pretty legit about the bear. ha ha ha. the worst thing we have here are dogs, which really dont like us. yes, i always get out of the hard work for the cabin, but this is definitely more hard. you cant take naps and what not. i still need to hear the story about Zach and sunny. i know my car is fun to drive kk. basically all is well.well,
i better go. remember every member is a missionary. it really helps us out. we dont use the members as much, i hope we can change that and get them more invovled. well, i better go. love you all
keep to the faith. it is so true. the world has nothing against us because we are the true church. the gospel is a way to live. i know it brings happiness. every-time an investigator holds the Book of Mormon i think, do they know what they are holding. do they know how precious it is. i have been reading in alma about the sons of Mosiah and the anti nephi lehi. have faith. know that everything is well and if you stay true to the covenants you have made, even unto death dont worry mom i wont die, you will convert and help your brothers and sisters.
love you all
Love, Elder Michael Blake Crouch
