Six Month Mark Tie Burning Ceremony

Well it was quite an eventful week. Despite the fact that I got food poisoning again. My comp was throwing up all Wednesday, and it hit me on Monday I think it may have had something to do with stuffing my face full of carne asada and hot links. Besides that though, the week was awesome.

So I know I hit six months almost a month ago. However, I didn't get around to celebrating it till this week. For anyone that doesn't know, it's tradition to burn a tie at your six month mark. Living in the middle of nowhere however, I had the chance to do the greatest six month tie burn with my companion ever. We tied the tie around the tip of some homemade arrows, and then shot flaming arrows off our roof into a six made of tires. It doesn't get much cooler than that.

Ready, aim, fire - 6 month tie burning ceremony

Successful attempt

6 month mark in mission

View from above

It also rained pretty hard our here. And since all of our roads are pretty much dirt, we got to drive in the mud like all week. Let's just say I'm glad I'm the driver. It sucks though cause we need to wear dress clothes. So I got those pretty muddy. Especially when we played some soccer in the mud.

Tacoma Truck after riding through mud

On a more spiritual note. Elder Nielsen (the head of the missionary department) came and spoke to us. It was super awesome to be able to listen to him. Besides the fact that my stomach was hurting the whole time he spoke. He also told us (the missionaries from Puerto Rico) that we will probably be sent back pretty soon. Reason-to-rejoice-missionaries-return-to-Puerto-Rico Mission life just keeps on getting more and more fun though.

Les quiero,
Elder Busco

Another Baptism - Mission life is the best!

So we had just about the sickest week. We went on an awesome hike with our zone to start it off on P-day. It's amazing. Even out here in the middle of nowhere where all there is is dirt and cacti for miles, the view was still so beautiful. ... But then we came back to find a couple hundred dollar ticket on our truck. Apparently we were supposed to pay to get in. We got that all settled out though. But it freaked us out when we first saw it. Especially since I was driving. 

Hiking in Chapparel

Brian off the cliff (of course!)

Other than that, we had a pretty normal week. Besides the fact that we had another baptism! It was such an awesome experience. The dad has been a less active member for pretty much his whole life. We started teaching the kids though. We've been working with them for forever. A couple weeks ago, the dad decided to turn his life around because he saw his kids reading so they could be prepared when we came over. He saw them super interested and it motivated him because he wants them to have the best life they can get.

It was probably one of the coolest experiences ever to work with them and watch them change. He invites us over all the time now. We go and play football with the kids while he's out on the grill. It was the greatest thing ever to be able to hang out with them after the baptism. The sun was setting, the weather was perfect, everyone was happy and we were having a bunch of fun. There's nothing greater than that. Mission life is the best!

Baptisms of children of less active family

Made Senior Companion

So this week has been pretty crazy. We had transfers and I'm staying in Chaparral still. We were going to have another trio as well. But that only lasted for like a day. Then there was an emergency transfer so I'm back to only having one companion now. My new companion is Elder Gee. He's from Michigan and is super awesome. We've both been out for about six months now and supposedly I'm senior comp. So let's see how that goes. I also am officially no longer a greenie as of this week. I guess I'm supposed to know what I'm doing now. As far as missionary work goes though we had a great week. We found a couple news investigators which is awesome for Chaparral. We also should be having a baptism coming up the tenth of February which will be super cool. They are such an awesome family. They were teaching us how to make some Mexican food just the other day. I need to learn how to cook this stuff before I get back. It's been going great out here sharing the gospel. 

It was such a sick week, and we're about to have another one. We should be having a baptism this Saturday. It's been awesome to be able to work with them, and help them progress. It's been so busy out here. Normally it's hard to plan for our days because we are trying to figure out what else we can do. Recently though, it's been super hard to plan just because we've had so much to do out here. We've had a lot of service as well lately which is awesome. It's a blast out here. This past Sunday, we brought our enchiladas out on the roof and ate while watching the sunset. Then I played my guitar up there which was super cool. We've been going on the roof to do a lot of stuff recently. We actually brought up a table, and did our Spanish studies up there once. We also got to gorge ourselves in Carne Asada this week for one of our dinners. I had five steaks and a Bratwurst. It was awesome. Everything is going great out here. Love you guys and miss you guys lots.

Brian as Senior Companion with his new companion on roof 

Brian with his "Chappies" on the roof (again!)