First Letter from Mexico!!! And pIctures!!!

Holy cow this week has been crazy! I don´t even know where to start! These keyboards are super weird and the computer thinks all of my words are wrong haha so I guess I´ll get used to it eventually... First things first my area is Villa Cuahutemoc 1, Zona Tampico. My companion is Elder Flores, 20, from Ecuador. He is great and my area is great too! It's just across the river from Tampico (We have to cross in the lanchas) and we go to Tampico once a week for district meeting so I get to see the city a bit which is cool. So I got off the plane and waited in the customs line and when it was my turn it was taking a while because for some reason the thingy would t read my passport for a while.  I don't know why but it eventually worked. I didn't know it was a ´red light´until you mentioned it. I guess it all worked out haha. After I went through the customs stuff and went out the door, President and Sister Jordan, the assistants, Elder Strong and Elder Granda, and my companion, Elder Flores, were waiting for me. It was a friendly sight to see 3 Americans all wearing name tags haha! We went to the mission home, which was really nice, the nicest I{ve seen here and probably the nicest I will see. There, President interviewed me and talked a bit about the mission. He is really nice and I´m excited to get to know him better. After that we ate dinner, which was tacos (The Mexican Way!) which were delicious! I was wiped out from the trip and from waking up early and from the heat and just all the craziness and was super tired but I tried to hide it haha. They probably saw right through it though. After that, President drove us to the assistants apartment, which is literally right across from the temple. It was all lit up and it was really pretty. I forgot to take a picture though :(. After we got there me and Elder Flores planned for the next day, entirely in Spanish (I could understand pretty well for being almost asleep). Apparently my district that came last week was telling them how good I was at Spanish but I was so tired and I just couldn't remember how to speak Spanish, it was weird. They speak really fast here and I´m lucky to pick up a few words every once in a while. President Jordan says they slow down eventually haha. 

We woke up the next morning and went across the street to the offices and they did an orientation thing with me and then we went to this mall with a walmart to take a picture for my visa or something. Oh yah, theres armed police literally everywhere, even in walmart. It was weird at first but you get used to it. Nothing really ever happens but I think they just like to show their power. Mom, you can sleep easy, I´ve never once felt in danger or anything (well maybe in the taxis haha but that´s different). After Walmart we went to our area, went and got some groceries for the next week, and went out to teach. I couldn't understand much so I didn't really contribute which stinks. I feel like I am prepared and ready to teach people but I can´t because I can´t understand what they are saying to me. Literally everyone asks me to pray though haha. its funny we ask them who they would like to pray and it's always ´the nuevo´! We got food from a member and then went back to casa to eat it. It was good, but my stomach did not like it. I was sick for the first few days but now I am okay. Our bedroom has AC which is heaven after a long day outside. Wednesday was really hard because it was like the peak of being sick and we had to walk forever through Tampico to get to district meeting and I lost my tag in a taxi (We found it) and everything and I couldn't understand district meeting and I was so tired and hot. Theres an elder in our district called Elder George, from Utah, and we talked in English which was really, really nice haha.I started feeling a bit better after the meeting but I wasn't totally good until maybe Friday. I just had to forget about myself and get lost in the work and that helped me not concentrate on being sick and focus. On Thursday we met the Bishop, who is a taxista by day and a fitness teacher by night haha. he is a great guy though and you can definitely tell that their family has been blessed by the gospel. They have two sons, and the older one is 17 and will be serving a mission soon. He speaks English pretty well and its fun talking to him and helping him learn. He speaks french too and wants to speak 5 languages before he turns 25. OK jeez I only have 15 more minutes and I need to email president too ahh! Time is flying! 

Okay so I'm doing great, I have running (cold) water and AC so I can't ask for anything more, maybe less ants. Things are going great and every day is better than the last. The members are so great and loving and I´m having a blast! Oh and I found out that if you send me mp3 files of music I can put it on my flash drive and listen to it through our DVD player so that's cool. I have asked 3 people to be baptized and 2 said yes and 1 said maybe so that was really cool. They have to go to church 5 times in a row with only 1 miss in between before they can be baptized so it´s a bit more work on both our and their part but it helps them stay active after. We teach lots of less actives and will probably have a baptism on August 2nd if Brandon goes to church next week. Brandon is 14 and his mom is MA (menos  active) and his dad is military and not a member but we cant teach him because he doesn't live here. He went to EFY in Monterrey last week with a bunch of other member kids which was a good experience for him. He has an 8 year old brother Julio who will probably be baptized the same day. I will keep you updated. I hope I told you everything you want to know. I will check real quick after I mail president and answer short questions. Love you! Bye! 
Happy Birthday! Love you so much!

Love,

Elder Skalla

Elder Skalla and his trainer, Elder Flores

Casa, Sweet Casa

He says Coke light isn't the same as Diet Coke....he is too much like his mother!