Alive and Thriving

Hi Everyone! Nate is doing great. I don't think he misses us at all! He is loving his mission. He loves the people in Washington. His Spanish is coming along well and he is cooking, cleaning and loves being independent. I hope you enjoy some of his letters from this last month.
Love to you all!
(*I have inserted a few comments to help make sense of a few things)

February 17, 2015

I wish we could use the church computers, then we would have all the time in the world.:) We have to go to the library because we don't have a church key. At the library you get 1 hour max, they are on a timer and shut off when it gets to an hour. (*only one hour a week to read, write and respond to email!)

Dad, I feel... a...mission...is the best, truly a time to convert yourself to the Gospel.

 I haven't told anyone in the Rama (*I think Rama is the ward/congregation he is serving in) that I have T1D...:)) (*T1D is Type 1 Diabetes) I think if they knew they would try to make me healthy food.... haha. Only one family knows but they are cool about it. I have been able to take shots in peoples houses and they don't even know!! :) Well at least I think so.

I hope Ryan and Stacie's baby is okay. I will put them in my prayers. Also I am really glad Aubrey is doing better, concussions can be a huge headache (oh ya its a pun) (*Ryan and Stacie's baby is healthy and doing well! - Aubrey's concussion seems to be better!! Her headaches seem to be gone.)

February 23, 2015

I am doing really good! Thanks for the prayers! If you could pray for our new investigators we meet to start progressing with making and keeping commitments that would be awesome. 

Life as a missionary is really good. I would have to say it is a little different then what I thought it would be, but it is good. There is a really good spirit about it and I like it a lot. The apartment is really nice actually. Elder Hernandez and I are going to be companions for another 6 weeks. The only problem is that he likes the apartment colder than I do, I just turn on the heaters when he gets in the shower/uses the bathroom in the morning. When it gets to hot he turns it off. I think I understand how you feel now, we always use to say it was to hot and you thought it was cold... sorry about that. I am really glad you sent me those jackets, they work really good and they are nice, I wear them in the house sometimes even. The one downside about the apartment is that they put new lights outside and they are really bright and the light comes in through the window. Elder Hernandez and I hung up a blanket over the window and that helps a lot, I sleep a lot better and feel more refreshed in the morning. It has helped a lot but doesn't cover the whole window so I am going to get one of those things old people wear to block out the light...haha my companions will probably think I am weird but if I sleep better maybe they will start wearing one to. We have a nice washing machine and dryer and that is awesome. I am a lot like you though I am realizing. Along with not liking the cold I really like the apartment clean. I even like it vacuumed. Sorry I didn't do that good of a job with that before I left the house. 

The members here feed us really good too, some of them give us weird food but most of the time it is good. Yesterday we went to Hermana Reyes house and she is probably the best cook here. She made enchiladas. The only problem is she made enough to feed 20 people. I ate 11 enchiladas and two big things of rice. I was stuffed and prayed that I would be able to eat it all. I'm not kidding about praying to be able to eat it all by the way. Its not because it was bad, it was really really good! It was just a lot of food. Also, I think that I am getting more used to spicy food. 

I love you lots too! I want you to know that I really am enjoying it out here. My Spanish is coming along really well, its not perfect yet but it is getting better. Also, the culture from Mexico is pretty interesting, they have the wife do all of the cleaning and cooking (maybe they should watch the restoration video about the advice Joseph Smith gives to the guy when he is helping Emma clean the house). But they are usually really nice. They also seem to worship the virgin Mary. They also call her the Virgen de Guadalupe. They are basically the same thing except when they call her the Virgen de Guadalupe it is kind of like Idol worship. Sometimes they even pray to her which is weird because she isn't the one who they should pray to. But they are good people.

March 2, 2015

...the bike is awesome, I got it up to 24.7 on flat ground:) I am surprised at how well those things that go over the wheels (*fenders) stop the water from flying onto y

ou. The brakes are super good, you have to press them really lightly or it will lock out the wheel and you will skid, I had problems with that the first time I used them but I am getting used to it. The bike lock also works really well, with it I can lock up the frame and both tires, but not the bike seat so I hope that the seat wont get stolen, Elder Burkes did....

Nancy was our investigator but now is a member. Her husband just got back from Katar and he speaks Spanish as well and came to church yesterday which was pretty cool. Our main investigator right now is Patricia Alba she is from Chihuahua. She agreed to be baptized but she is going back to Chihuahua in 18 days so we might have to wait until she gets back. She is an older lady.  But we did set up some times with two other people two days ago for us to come by this week. Erriberto and Juan. Also we go to play soccer on Fridays, with the Hispanics. I scored a goal last week in my church clothes:) it is really good because when we were knocking doors (*proselytizing)  we recognized Juan and that might be the only reason he agreed to let us come back. Also there is Dilio and Yovin. Dilio I think has a lot of potential, we are going to try and set an appointment up with him soon. I don't know to much about Yovin yet though.

My Spanish has gotten a ton better. I am getting a lot closer to being fluent which is awesome and I can read a lot better out loud. The only problem with my Spanish is that when people talk about stuff like redoing their house I get lost because I don't know those words, but its good. Elder Hernandez says my Spanish is good, I have gotten a lot better at teaching in Spanish but still have plenty of room for lots of improvement.

Elder Skoubye and Elder Hernandez

Looks like way to much fun to me! These are a few of the Spanish speaking Elders and Sisters in Nate's mission. President and Sister Bladder are in the center front.

Nate looks good and happy!!!