Estoy Aquí en Mexico

[Email dated January 3, 2011…catching up!]

So, here I am. Emailing in an internet cafe in Mexico. I´m finally here and it is great. 

I got here on Monday, as you know. As we were landing, we got a nice view of the city, it just keeps going and going, no joke. It is HUGE. we got picked up from the airport by the APs [Assistants to the President] and President Villarreal. He took us over to his home, where we talked with him, before meeting his family which consists of his wife and two daughters 17 and 13 years old. He has other children, but they are older and don’t live with him. He is from San Antonio and I talked to him about Kedrick Morris [Mitchel’s brother, who just returned from his mission in San Antonio] for a little bit. The daughters both said they´d heard about me from Kedrick. We ate dinner at their house before going back to the office for the night.  All 6 of us that arrived together stayed in the office that night. 

In the morning we learned a little bit about the mission from the APs and then we had our interviews with President. He then assigned us to our areas. There are 8 zones total in the mission. 6 of them are in D.F. or Distrito Federal which is Mexico City. And two are outside of the city in Toluca and Metepec. I got assigned to Metepec, along with Elder Juker. It´s about an hour outside of the city and its in the state of Mexico. Elder Juker and I are companions with the zone leaders. So all 4 of us live in the same apartment. I am companions with Elder Berezay who is from Washington and has been out 22 months. He likes wrestling and football and he is a really cool guy. Elder Juker is companions with Elder Molina who is from Lima Peru. He has also been out 22 months.

So, here I am in Metepec, and it is a whole different experience. Our area is sooo much bigger. So much different here. It is definitely Mexico though, that´s for sure. There are dogs running everywhere in the streets, people selling tacos on the street, crazy drivers, pirated DVDs for sale, we take buses and taxis to get around and we live in a nice run down apartment.  It´s great. Couldn´t of asked for anything better. 

Funny story. As you know it was New Year´s Eve on Friday. And naturally, kids and adults were setting off fireworks and partying in the streets. So we heard loud bangs and music all night. When we woke up at 630 in the morning, we woke up to the sound of drunk Mexicans singing. They were still up and going strong. They didn´t go to sleep until like 915 in the morning. It was not the greatest trying to study with them as background music haha. 

On Sunday we had church, and a baptism. He is an awesome little 9 year old kid. That was pretty sweet. The church buildings look A LOT different here. They are way newer looking and have allll tile floors and the chapel has chairs that you have to set up instead of benches. And they have a basketball courts and soccer goals outside instead of a court inside. A little different. Also our building is 2 stories.

I´m loving it here, its a whole new experience and I´m learning so much each and every day. Here are my addresses to mail me. 

Elder Justin Peacock

Mexico Mexico City West Mission

C. Sierra de las Vertientes 310

Col. Lomas de Chapultepec

Del. Miguel Hidalgo

Mexico, D.F.    C.P. 11010

That´s the address for my mission office so that will be my address for the rest of my mission. Send packages and letters there. Not sure how much postage you will need for a regular letter. 

And here´s the address for the pouch,  you can only use ONE sheet of paper folded in thirds. NO ENVELOPES or PACKAGES. It costs the same as a regular letter.

Elder Justin Peacock

Mexico Mexico City West Mission

POB 30150

Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

USA

Anyways, I´m out of time, but enjoy the pictures and I love you and miss you all. Hope you all have a great week, I know I will serving the Lord here in Mexico.

Love, Elder Peacock

And this is my joy (Alma 29:9)