July 28, 2014
HOLA

pues primerament ¡GRACIAS por no escribirme la última semana! jeje las únicas personas que me escribieron fueron mi novia y su mamá jaja entonces necesitan levantar su juego.

alright. so this week was super cool. on Tuesday we went and taught this lady that has loved everything about the gospel but her only hold back is that she SUPER believes in the saints....los santos....i feel like it just makes more sense in Spanish I'm sorry. but anyway. we were talking to her and i have never been very good at teaching about the saints...or i guess i have never been good at resolving that issue...but his time was totally different. it was like 150% the Spirit. i was just asking her some super inspired questions and giving some cool examples that honestly i had never before thought of. after this really cool lesson she just sat there and was like....wow...that makes total sense. and she is now progressing SO much better. seriously i am so happy for her. she has a really tough situation because her husband is a major alcoholic and her 16 year old son is following in his footsteps. he also drinks and the two get super abusive. but she is a really strong and faithful lady. she is now praying correctly and feeling a better sense of peace and love in her life. other than that I'll be completely honest our area is struggling. we have been working super hard but honestly aren't seeing a lot of progress. so i was studying a copy of Our search for Happiness by elder Ballard and it has some REALLY cool stuff in it. just last night i gained a very profound testimony of the Atonement. it is a topic that has been occupying my mind for quite sometime and last night...idk....i just felt a change. even more than before. i think there is really something i need to learn here in this area and i believe that it will help strengthen my testimony of the Atonement even more.

well I'm happy to see and hear about all of the fun stuff you are all doing! just working hard and sweating a ton down here....oh yeah. and last week i bought a sombrero because the sun was burning me like crazy and honestly sunscreen doesn't help a lot. so ill send a picture next week. but now....ladies and gentleman...i am.....cowboy Jake from Chihuahua state. hahaha i just couldn't wait. its too good. I'm fulfilling my childhood dream guys. its great. love you all!!

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love

Elder Glenn

July 14, 2014
So Jacob didn't write a letter this week, as he was very sick. He did send a few pictures, and I was able to "chat" with him on email for a few minutes. He said it is the same sick as before, vomiting, severe headaches and fever. Praying he gets well soon.

 This is the family from Parral that he got to return to their baptism after he was transferred to Chihuahua.

Jacob being a ham

July 7, 2014

so this awesome computer is being really awesome and wont let me send any of my awesome pictures and i have been trying to do that this entire time and now I'm out of time to write. awesome right? haha

everything is great! not a ton of news other than that my comp is literally a short Peruvian version of Nate Simpson. its super weird but super awesome at the same time. he cracks me up all day long. we are working hard and it was great because some investigators came to church yesterday. also we live with 2 other elders and one of them went to school with Sam. his name is Daenen Rolapp and he is really cool. he draws like a mad man. he first saw me and was like wait a second.....you look familiar but not quite,,,,then i was like do you know Sam Glenn...OH YEAH!! yeah Thats my bro. but really sorry i don't have time to write. i gotta go. i love you all and i hope you all enjoy your week. Elder Rolapp and i totally sang 'Murica songs on the fourth of July in the morning for our hymns. it was great. okay i have to go. LOVE YOU ALL!!! AMERICA IS THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!! holy crap i never really appreciated it enough. but it truly is beautiful.

Love

Elder Glenn

June 30, 2014
Breaking News!!

so everyone can just calm down. THANK YOU first of all to everyone who fasted for me, i had no idea you all were going to do that, but apparently it did wonders because I'm good as new! so seriously thank you! now lets all calm down. ha ha seriously thank you all for your concern and prayers. helped me get all better. and i have some AWESOME news. so Monday night they called us and told me i had transfers....i was with the Rodriguez family when they told me and we were all just like...oh...okay...ha ha but i left and only cried for like 10 minutes and then packed my stuff and in the morning ran around my area saying goodbye to everyone. it was SO hard saying goodbye to Almancena, Parral. i spent the first 6 months of my mission there and i will never forget it. i love those people so incredibly much. my experiences there have changed my life forever.

 

so it was really hard leaving my first area, but i got to Chihuahua and saw my old comp/trainer and it was nothing but harassing each other, smiles, and laughs. i really do love that guy. as hard as it was being with him he is one of my greatest friends and taught me an incredible amount of valuable lessons. so i met my new comp. elder Mainasa. he is from Peru and has a year and a half in the mission. we are co-senior companions and are opening a brand new area! it's super challenging but I'm ready for it. we are basically starting from scratch, and my companion is super....patient....or timid...i don't really know to be honest. ha ha but he seriously reminds me SO MUCH of Nate Simpson its freaky. but he is super short, so that's different. we get along great. 

 

i got to go back to Parral on friday to see the Chavez family get baptized!!!! when i arrived the new zone leader there came up to me and told me "elder Glenn you left your area in an amazing condition" which was really cool because my objective was always to leave my area better than i found it, and i am full of gratitude because i was able to do that with the help of the Lord. i left that area with a bunch of baptism programmed for this coming month and a bunch of new investigatos. seriously going back there. wow. happiest day of my life! seriously. seeing the Rodriguez family at their baptism and seeing Susana, Christina, Felix, and Diana make this decision after having visited them since my FIRST day in Mexico.....words cannot describe how full my joy was. i have watched this family transform. the dad used to not even believe in God, the grandma has been catholic for 75 YEARS!!!! but they all received their answers and made this covenant with our heavenly father.  could talk about it for hours but it really was amazing. ill send some pictures next week because  i left my adapter at home.

 

so to leave you all with what has also made this week so fantastic i will tell you all of a talk i read by Ezra Taft Benson. it is called Beware of Pride. READ IT. it has 100% changed the way i look at everything and think about anything and do anything. it also made me realize how pride full i am and have been for SOOOOOOO long. if you want to make a significant change or impact on your own life please, i encourage you all to read this talk. another little thing that has made a HUGE change for me is something that was said in last general conference. "when we sin, we show that we love Satan more than we love Jesus Christ." and every time i think of disobeying mission rules or anything that little quote pops into my head and I'm like....uhhhhh i sure as heck DO NOT love Satan more than Jesus and i act accordingly. i hope that some of you can find some sort of inspiration in that talk or this little phrase.

 well i have to say that this really was one of, if not THE BEST week i have had here in the mission. i feel like i have grown a lot closer to the Lord spiritually and had the opportunity to step up and be a leader more because a lot of the missionaries in my new district are super burnt out. i love you all SO MUCH!  again thank you for your prayers, fasting, and concern. i hope you all have a fantastic week!

 

Love

Elder Glenn

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