AJ's email from 6/19/12

AJ notes that he had a member post some pictures for him on Facebook. I don't have time to download them from Facebook and then upload them to the blog right now. So I will post again later this week after I have time to transfer the pictures - so check back. ALSO, our family is going to San Diego this week to visit with Elder Leavitt (there are pictures of him in previous posts) and his family, as he returns today and reports in his ward this Sunday. I am extremely excited to meet my good friend - and Elder Leavitt's mom - Lisa for the first time. We will bask is the warmth of Elder Leavitt's missionary spirit ...and I will get a vicarious hug from my son! We'll take some pictures to post as well. For now here is his email...

       there is a saying that we use a lot in english. "when it rains, it pours". normally we just use it figuratively speaking. but ive decided that that phrase works very well for chile but more in a literal kind of way. because thats how i feel about this week after all the rain that we`ve gotten. it rained SO MUCH this week. tuesday it rained all day, wednesday into the afternoon. then it started again friday morning and didnt stop til last night. but the good thing thing like always is how clear the air is today. the mountains here continue to amaze me, especially now when they are covered in snow. we were on our way to talagante this morning and i looked out the window of the car and could see the mountains perfectly. it was just stunning.

        this week was so action packed with so many things that i would be here writing for hours if i told everything. and i did predict that it would be busy but i didnt know that i would be SO busy. but i enjoyed every second of it, mostly.

       first of all i have changes for sure this week. i dont know where im going til tomorrow when we have the change meeting but i hope that i go somewhere good. although nothing will be as good as el monte has been to me. the other thing is that i will become district leader too. so im looking forward to that and having a little more responsibility. tuesday we had our interviews with pres king and everything went well. and thats when he really told me that i was leaving. so i knew like 99 percent sure that i was gone.

        the only other thing from this week that i want to talk about is sunday. it really was almost the perfect day here. we had the baptism and that went almost perfect so i was really happy. and then all day saying bye to people around el monte. and then finishing with the birthday party at the end of the night was so much fun. i havent laughed so much in a really long time. there were times where i had to take a deep breath or get some air cuz i was so red and couldn't breathe from laughing so hard. but it was good. im going to miss all the people here so much and ive really gotten close to them. but change is something necessary in the mission and in life to get progressing. so ill get through it. there are a ton of pictures from yesterday and i didnt feel like sending them all so i just had cynthia put them on facebook for me. it was just easier.

         sorry this is so short but i dont have a lot of time today cuz i still have to say bye to a few more people and then put my stuff together to go tomorrow. i hope that everyone is doing well. take care and have a good week

Happy Birthday to AJ!

We were together as a family last night for Father's Day and talked about AJ as we missed having him there with us. His birthday is this week...June 20th...so we decided to sing to him and email it for him to see today on Pday. I tried a couple times to send it, but it kept bouncing back. I think its too large a file and the church file server is rejecting it. So this morning it occurred to me that I could attach it on the blog and then send an email directing him to this post.

So...Happy Birthday AJ...from all of us! We love you!!

AJ's email from 6/11/12

AJ'S BIRTHDAY IS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20TH. EVERYONE SHOULD EMAIL AJ THIS WEEK!  EMAIL ADDRESS: anthony.mlazgar@myldsmail.net 
       im so tired of getting sick right now. its rediculous. this is like the third time in this change alone, when i had really only gotten sick like twice before in the whole mission. i dont know if its just cuz we are in winter now so with the cold its affecting me. and im sure being on bikes til 10 at night everyday doesnt exactly help but still, it sucks. im gonna ask president though if we are gonna get flu shots soon like we did just as winter was starting last year. cuz im sure that would help at least a little.

       tuesday we found this really good guy named ivan. we were knocking doors and found him that way. the cool thing about it though is why we were even there to find him. cuz 5 min before knocking his door, our cita at that hour called us to tell us that she wasnt gonna be in her house so that we didnt go all the way out there. and just before that we had decided to do some contacts for about 10 min waiting to go there instead of just going. so when she called, we just kept knocking. we got into his house and did the whole house blessing and everything. but what i liked the most about everything is that he told us that his best friend is a member and had served his mission in colombia about 5 years ago. so he has a good connection with the church and is interested in learning more. then later that night we went to a lady named carolina. she isnt the most interested person that ive ever taught, but at least she listens and she is pretty smart so she understands quickly. but then after i helped her with english cuz she is studying something to work in the airport so english is required and that was pretty cool.

      wednesday we did divisions again and this time i went with elder ramirez to cordillera. it was so cold that day i was frozen walking around. actually really the 2 days before that were also freezing. santiago had a "cold emergency" because it got so cold so quickly. the low was around 25 degrees monday tuesday and wednesday. so being in another sector and having it be so cold didnt help anything. but it was wierd cuz we were in 2 houses for a combined 4 hours to end the night. and considering we shouldnt be in any lesson for more than 45 min, that was a little overboard. but elder ramirez talks a ton and wouldnt never be quiet or say that we had to go so we just never left the house. and with the second house, we would have been there longer if we hadnt hit 10 o clock to have to go home. but i had a good time with him even though we dont exactly get along the greatest.

      thursday morning we had a cita with a less active lady and i felt bad for her cuz she and her family have been active for about 10 years now. but they are sealed in the temple and the dad was actually bishop for a while about 12 years ago. but apparently he lent money to some people in the ward that really needed it but then they never paid him back and he got upset and went inactive. and so now he wont go to church cuz he doesnt want to see those people there. i wish i could say that that kind of thing doesnt happen often here but it really does. people go inactive for really little things sometimes and they just dont realize how much they are losing out on when it was never anything with the church, just with someone in it. and now the wife doesnt have support from anyone in the family.

      friday we had another cita with ivan and it went even better than the first. he is really interested in everything and talks with us and everything. its been awesome. although he has said that he doesnt know if he wants to change churches but i think that once he starts coming and reading the book of mormon, that can change. he did say though that he is going to read what we give him cuz he does want to know. so thats good.

     saturday we found a new girl named maria elena. elder sanchez had contacted her a little while ago during divisions so i had never met her before. and that was the first time that we had gotten in. she is definitely someone interesting though to say the least. she is only about 22 but is really smart and is studying to be a psychiatrist so she has a big vocab and im not gonna lie, there were definitely a few words that i just didnt understand cuz ive never heard them before. but she said that she isnt only interested in listening for her spiritual side but also for her work to understand what we believe. cuz if she ever gets a patient with our beliefs, she wants to know how to help them. but she did seem pretty interested as we were talking to her and she said that she is gonna come to church this week to see how it is. so hopefully that happens.

       then yesterday was a really good day for us cuz maritza passed her baptismal interview and will be getting baptized next sunday. and she asked me to do it so im excited for that. it´ll be good for me though to have that probably the last week that im in el monte. cuz it´ll be the first real baptism that ive had in my time here seeing as how the other one we had was kinda a gimme.

       this week is gonna be crazy seeing as how its most likely my last week in el monte. and then we have the baptism, interviews with president king tomorrow, my "birthday party" on sunday (just something little before i go since most likely no one in my new sector will know its my birthday), and everything else that we always do. i hope that everyone is doing well. take care