June 23, 2014
HOLA

so this week has been pretty tough ill be completely honest. i contracted an infection from some chicken i ate...now this house...is filthy. the people are super loving and great but hole crap everything is so gross. I've been okay with it up to this date but jeez, one time i found a dead cockroach in my rice....like no thank you. no. and so apparently i got sick from their food almost 2 weeks ago and it has been killing me. i have had the worst headache of my life and my stomach just kills and i cant eat very well, when i do eat it makes me want to throw up...and i have thrown up several times. its hard to get rest because my head just throbs in pain. so i took a 3 hour trip to chihuahua and they gave me some pills that i feel like make it worse at times...idk...its been a little rough. BUT something really cool came out of it. we were walking one day and i was thinking about the Atonement. i was thinking about how surely Christ walked a lot longer and further then i have to and I'm sure he had ingrown toenails and sickness and all that stuff but he still did the work. and he was never once selfish and thought of himself. he was the perfect missionary. then i got to thinking about him suffering for our sins. he asked God if there was another way, because he knew how incredibly painful it was going to be, but there was no other way, and he followed through with his mission and sacrifice. he knew that a huge majority of the people that he was going to be suffering for weren't going to accept him nor take advantage of this sacrifice...but he did it anyway. he did it knowing fully well and did it so that EVERYONE would have to opportunity to accept him and take advantage of his atoning sacrifice and become clean from sin and become more like him. like wow. it just blows my mind.his insane amount of love for all of us. i just want to be more like him and spread the gospel to as many people as will hear it. 

some really exciting news! so there is a family that I have been teaching since my first day in Mexico and they are going to get baptized on Saturday!!!1 I'm so incredibly excited!! i have put all my effort into helping them and they have finally made this decision! ill let you all know how it goes next week! love you all!

Love Elder Glenn

Needless to say we have been concerned about Jacob being so sick, I emailed the mission home and got this from the secretary.

HI Sister Glenn,

Just to inform you he is doing a lot better. I saw him the other day and he is feeling better. HE had changes this week and is now in the city of Chihuahua, where he is closer to doctors and hospital in the case that he would need it.

If you have other questions just let me know.

June 16, 2014
so it was fathers day yesterday here and i honestly don't know if its the same there....so well just pretend it is. everything is going so great! we found this couple that is progressing really well and another family that is also moving along well. super excited and working SO hard. wow. the harder i work the fast time goes by. I'm already going to end this transfer this week and complete 7 months on Thursday(according to my companion, because i don't really keep track lol). time is just flying by me like mad. well i just want to send a couple of pictures too! love you all SO MUCH!! also....as I'm typing this there is a song on the radio...not gunna' believe it.....because i literally have only ever heard dad sing it, but never the real song.....HUH HOO wo ooh woah what is it good for?? absolutely nothin'! SAY IT AGAIN!!! HAHAHAHA totally made me crack up. so not a ton to say, but hope every ones summer is just fantastic! it finally is starting to cool down here...it like rains a tiny bit and is cloudy but is somehow baking hot...its great lol. love you all have a fantastic week!

Love Elder Glenn

yeah the computer is being dumb...ill have to send them next week. (One pic came through) but i got an infection this week from some chicken...its not super bad i just can't eat really well and when i do i feel like I'm gonna puke...also i have a super bad ingrown toenail....needless to say walking all these miles hurts lol

oh AND we don't get zone or district activities anymore....like all of mexico....kinda stinks but whatever haha

June 9, 2014

so i have been just working my tail off lately! loving this work and dying from this heat! holy crud its hot here. so real quick i just wanna talk about something that has been helping me out a ton. so i have always had this i guess pet peeve when teenage boys or guys my age refer to themselves as "men". idk why but it has always just bugged me so much especially when these kids just act like boys still. when they don't demonstrate respect for women or a million other things it just rubs me wrong. so i have never really referred to myself as a man because i don't want to come off with this appearance of thinking I'm better than i really am. and well i just know that i have a bunch of faults so i don't. well i was reading in 1 Corinthians 13:11 and it just really helped me out with this. a huge reason for why i initially wanted to serve a mission was to become a man. to put away childish things and become more like my dad and more like Christ. i have been praying and fasting and studying so much and setting goals and everything i know how to do to try and change myself and become a better man. now as i go throughout my day, before i make decisions i try and think "what would a real man do in this situation, or what would Christ do" and then i just try and forget about myself and do it. this has made such an incredible impact on me it blows me away. i can see the changes that it has made already. i have SUCH a long ways to go, but i this journey to perfection is a great one. its hard but it is SO WORTH IT. i hope someday soon i become a man. and i think that will come when people refer to me as a man haha. who knows. i love you all so much and i hope you all have an amazing week! that gospel is true and the book is blue!! well...my copy is black....but whatever. ¡¡¡les amo!!!

Elder Glenn

June 9, 2014

so this is the bulletin for this month....i know you wont understand it but its cool because our zone was the highest baptizing zone in the mission!!! and my area specifically with the highest baptisms for one month- literally we broke records!! 

HELLO

this is your beloved missionary elder Glenn speaking...so this week was pretty great!! now time is flying by like insanely fast. i literally cant believe it. but this week was awesome because we got this brother and sister to come to church! i have been visiting them since i got here and we are totally going to baptize them. and their whole family. its a for sure thing. its really cool to have some good pay off from hard work! so i basically have to translate to people what my comp is saying sometimes because they don't understand him...so yeah...that's a thing. love love Love this work! glad some of you little buggers are having fun on the house boat at lake Powell!!!! i totally feel like the missionary in the best two years, "they re at lake Powell?!?!?! THIS IS KILLING ME!!!!!" haha really would like to escape this ridiculous heat. anyway I'm probably going to be staying in this area for another transfer after this one! haha ill be here my whole mission! i would totes be cool with that. a lot of people focus WAY TOO MUCH on getting exchanges. jeez guys just work where you are. the success depends on what we are willing to do. i have been making a lot of changes and really improving my teaching skills. like a ton. seriously i have gotten way better and feel the spirit super strong when we teach. anyway love you all!!! have a great week!!

Elder Glenn

May 26, 2014
Sounds like fun stuff!!!!! i'll be sweating my literal behind off....its hot here....so Brannen is in Paraguay now? wasn't he in Juarez? that kinda confused me. anyway. things are going great here. just working our tails off! more than i have ever worked in my life!!!! ahhh. seriously and i thought doing heat was long....actually not doing heat is still really long and probably just as hot ;) but this is WAYYYY more rewarding...sorry Kev but killing bed bugs just doesn't compare to sharing the gospel! ha ha i am really enjoying all this work. even though we aren't have a ton of results, I'm still happy and excited to do all i can to hasten this work. i know I'm supposed to be here and i thank all of you for you love and support for when i was having a really hard time a few weeks ago. but now I'm just working like a mad man. i can understand my companion better. so that's good. last week our training went super well!! like i just felt soo comfortable up there training the other missionaries in our zone! afterwords a bunch of them came up to me and thanked me for it and told me i did a stellar job. who knew?! haha also our fellow missionaries in the Colonia right next to ours were going to have a baptism on Saturday but then their investigators said they wanted to wait longer....me and my companion and 2 members went over and helped them work through it and they ended up getting baptised that day!! wahoooo it was such an incredible experience and strengthened my testimony that God truly answers prayers...wow. anyway that's all i have for now! hope you all have a fantastic week!!

Love Elder Glenn
OH and i ate menudo yesterday.....that's cow stomach......its not good. i don't like it at all....there were little teeth and bits of bones in my mouth...pretty unpleasant and it smells like poo...but they love it. weirdos. anywho..least favorite things I've eaten so far haha

May 19, 2014
GREAT first week with Elder Matute. seriously this guy is awesome. he has 8 months in the mission and is younger than Sam haha crazy right?? but we worked harder this week than either of us have our entire missions. we don't have a lot of people that we are really teaching steadily right now so we have been looking for new people and contacting old investigators and just working our tails off in this ridiculous heat!!! and its only gonna get hotter...I'm already dying!!! hahahaha. we worked so much this week our zone leaders noticed how high our numbers were and asked us to do a training for the whole zone today when we meet..AHHH I'm a little nervous but totally stoked and ready for it! we have some really good stuff planned to help the rest of the zone have more success!! seriously we have so much work ahead of us but we teach with really good unity and have found some new families that are really interested in the gospel....gosh i have felt the spirit with so much intensity this week as we have fasted and worked hard. i don't really have a ton of time to write and mom i will get you my pants size next week I'm sorry i know I'm a total loser!!! i love you all so much!!! have a great week!!!

Love 

Elder Glenn

new comp, balloons that the primary kids gave me (no one understands that its glenn not gleen lol), my favorite grafiti in parral, the last picture is one with Elder Poulter, that I (Karen) got from another missionary mom.

Mothers day was AMAZING!!! Best day ever to talk to Jacob and see/hear how wonderful he is doing. He is dying from the heat!! He has also grown taller so we have to send him new pants, his sister Amanda asked if he shrunk his pants, he said " I don't have hot water or a dryer...NO!!" LOL we all thought that was great. He was also talking about how many sister missionaries there are in his area, he said it with a TOTAL Spanish accent, I called him on it, he said no way, and in unison ALL of us said  "YES YOU DID!" It is so great to hear his voice, and that he is getting the language down. They are having A LOT of success. His branch has grown from about 12 when he got there to 50!! He challenged His little sister to gain a testimony of her own and to know that she will need it to stay strong. 
It was all amazing, I love this kid and and so grateful for the things he is experiencing and learning, and for the lives he is touching. 
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!
Karen 

May 13, 2014
HEY!!!!

so first of all sorry dad that i didn't get to talk to you. believe me that i wanted to SO BADLY...I'm sorry. i know i should have, but at least you can watch the video that they recorded! love you dad. it was so great to see you all and talk to you and it gave me so much joy i was beaming for the rest of the day! seriously I'm so happy....but I'm a total loser and didn't even say HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!!! to mom...so there it is ha ha

SO big news....i got a new companion!!!!!! haha i learned SO MUCH from elder minquiz but i think i learned all that i could from him and now i have anew companion, but I'm still in the same area. his name is elder matute and he is from Ecuador.....holy crud his accent is THICK....like Mexicans can't understand him....and i sure as heck cant lol. but i will learn ha ha it may just take a little time. it almost sounds french because he doesn't pronounce like ANY consonants. don't judge me for me spelling. anyway he is so cool! he has a super positive attitude and is really uplifting and encouraging and has a great work ethic and i am SO THANKFUL to be his companion! what a blessing. also when we went to Chihuahua to get my new comp we picked up a brand new elder named elder Leon and he is Mexican so i started talking to him in Spanish like whatever right, well then he gets this confused look on his face and asks me where I'm from and i say Utah and he looks shocked...I'm like what...so he tells me that he totally thought i was Mexican HAHAHA he told me that he said i looked like a gringo but that i talked legit Mexican! WAHOO!!! that's what I'm talkin' about! he is actually fluent in both English and Spanish and has no accent in either language...lucky duck. but he is really awesome. its so nice to finally have someone in our zone that has less time than i do hahaha. anyway I'm doing fantastic and i am so prepared to be working hard with elder matute! thank you all for all of your love and support and helping so much!!! i Love you all immensely!

Love 

Elder Glenn

May 5, 2014
WAHOO!!!!! all this hard work finally paid off!!! the Rodriguez family were all baptized on Saturday!!!! i also put in a picture from Friday with their marriage certificate. SO SO SOOOOO HAPPY for this family. they are all such an incredible inspiration to me. they have taught me so much and i feel so absolutely privileged to have been an instrument in the Lords hands in their conversion process. i have been working my tail off for months and it all paid off! i am so happy for them. they are like a family to me. ha ha it was funny because the dad Roberto was telling me about the music he likes.....ALL of dads favorites I'm talkin' CCR Beatles, Zeppelin, stones, grand funk, the doors, i mean you name it ha ha we had a great time talking about it. but more than anything Roberto has showed me a new perspective on faith. he always demonstrated such an incredible amount of faith in this entire process, and such a strong desire to be more than he could be alone. he just did things when he knew it was right. he doesn't hesitate and he doesn't go against what he already knows to be true. he stays true to himself. i have so much respect for him and felt so privileged when he asked me to perform the ordinance. it is a true blessing and honor to be a missionary. this family is on the right path and they know it! awe gosh it just makes me so stoked to think about! i hope all of you are doing great and i look forward to talking to you mom this Sunday or Saturday. i love you all!!

Elder Glenn