Freeze & Sweat

Hey everyone! 

This week was pretty good! As always the weather was out of control! Tuesday and Wednesday I thought I was going to freeze to death and then Thursday until today I have been dying of heat! We never know if we should turn on the AC or the heater in the night anymore! 

Miriam went to church this week and she is so excited to be baptized now we just have to wait for two more weeks! Its a little crummy because we have changes in a week so I dont know if Ill be here to see it! She really loves how much the church brings the family together and it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life to teacher her about the plan of salvation. I dont think Ill ever forget that feeling as she started to understand how much our father in heaven loves us. 

We are still searching for a house and we were supposed to have one before last Saturday... Hopefully we can find one soon! 

This Saturday Elder Oaks is coming to visit us and I am so excited to meet him! 

I hope all is well!

Elder Ahlmer

Duck Dynasty - Willie going green 

His Companions

Up in Chipinque

Chipinque Hike - Heavy Load

New Ride

President's Wife Sister Swapp

Just had a little time to converse with your son tonight.  He and Elder Estrada had an investigator and her small family to the baptism of a mother and daughter by the other missionaries.  Both families are beautiful and you son was so sweet with the young boys during the meeting trying to keep them under control.  He is a fine young man and a wonderful missionary.  We do love him and as we visited he shared a photo of your family and said how close you are and how much support he has from you.  You support and love gives him the freedom and confidence to do the Lord´s work with his whole heart for this time in his life.  Thank you for sharing your son with the people of Monterrey.  He is blessing the lives of many including ours.

Love Sister Swapp

Baby Blessings

So these past few days have been really good! Today we went to hike Chapinque with our Zone Mitras! It was so much fun but we couldnt see much becuase the top was covered in a cloud! But after we all went to a huge mall here and I felt crazy weird to be in normal clothes in a mall. It was really fun to just leave the city and see something green for the first time in too long! At the top there are a bunch of slides and the slides in Monterrey are just smooth cement so you cant really move too well but we had fun anyways! 

This Sunday was really cool to start the day off we watched 8 baby blessings! Like only two people could give their testimony! One of our investigators Angelica came and we have been working with her forever but she and her husband finally quit smoking and drinking.

Her husband is a member and she wants him to baptize her so we have to wait to hear what the bishop says to be able to baptize her but she has already gone to church a ton of times so it could be way soon! 

Well I dont have much time bvut I hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Ahlmer

Slug Bug and Cloudia

Hey everyone!

So this week has been pretty eventful! We got a call the other day telling us that we have to search for a new house for another two missionaries that are going to split our area. So now there is going to be 6 missionaries in our ward I still dont know how I feel about that, i guess well see how it goes!

So this week my comp put Vaseline in his hair thinking he could use it for gel or something... I dont think Ill ever let him forget that! I wish I would have got a picture! We started playing the slug bug game here and that wasnt the smartest idea. They used to use bugs for taxis here so just about every 10 seconds we are punching each other! So when I first met him he told me he was afraid of the dark and I thought it was a joke but no he was pretty serious. Like not just the dark but afraid of anything that isnt well lit.. Like every house we go into he has to turn the lights on even when its daytime. Its not too bad until he puts on this light for his alarm clock that changes colors. But it doesn't change colors slowly and calmly no it changes colors like were in a party ha ha. Its like a little strobe light and makes things a little difficult to sleep! 

We have meet some really cool families this week that are progressing well. We met a girl named Cloudia last Tuesday and shes been really interested but had a commitment with her sister this sunday so she couldnt come. She had been living with her husband for 16 years without being married so another family we have to try and help get married. Its so weird that people here live together for a good 30 years before making the decision to get married! 

I hope all is going well in the states! This are getting pretty cold down here!

Elder Ahlmer

Savannah's Smiles and Red Cheeks

Hey everyone!

So this week has been pretty eventful! It felt crazy long waiting to know how Savannah's surgery went! I'm so glad to hear she's safe!

My new companion is Elder Estrada from Nicaragua. He's so much fun and a really hard worker! Basically we are laughing 24/7. He does really like to listen to Christian Rock though.... Everyone thinks he's crazy young like 18 but he's 24 years old and its pretty funny watching him react! 

Sunday was pretty interesting we had stake conference and listened to president Hales and Christensen! Christensen speaks Spanish! 

With the days changing from hot to cold so quickly everyone is always asking me if I am hot or cold because of my red cheeks. Thats always an interesting conversation trying to convince them that I am okay! 

We met someone named Carlos who is crazy cool and accepting to the gospel! We have a meeting with him tomorrow and I'm excited to see what happens! As well we are teaching someone named Miriam she is the daughter in law to a member family. She really wants to be baptized, but we just have to wait until she comes to church 5 times! She works a lot so were working with her on that! 

I hope things are going well up there! 

Elder Ahlmer

Eating Cereal

Hey everyone! 

So this week has been pretty awesome! Today is the last day of the mission of Elder Diaz. So we get to travel around to his old areas and visit people! Its pretty fun but seeing him leave the people probably for the last time is pretty weird. Its made me realize that the mission really does end. Thats like one of the weirdest feelings for me. I really love being here  I don't think leaving sounds too fun! I guess I better enjoy the next 19 months! Theres only one downside. Everything Elder Diaz does is his last time he will do it. So he tries to give me a good 30 minute lecture on everything like how to eat cereal correcty... It drives me a little cazy but hey what can ya do! Im pretty excited and nervous to see who my new companion will be! 

So I was sick again this week and I've noticed that when your sick everybody and their dog tries to give you all these pills! One hermana in our ward tried to give me a good 20 pills! New years was way fun The fireworks here are just crazy crazy crazy loud! Its pretty cool but theres all these stupid little kids that run around with little m80s and throw them at people as they walk by! Thatll test you paticence! 

Happy new years!

Elder Ahlmer

Rambling Spanish Speaking Santa

Hey everyone and Merry Christmas! 

So these past three days have been awesome! We had our christmas party on the 21st and I had so much fun seeing everyone in the mission of course it went by way to fast! The party is the only meeting we will ever have that really has nothing to do with missionary work! So from 10 to 4 we could relax! We also had our ward Christmas party so another party is always nice except they had a dance at the end of the night so that was awkward not being able to dance we ended up leaving a little early... 

Of course during the parties Santa came and who knew he knew spanish as well! Its a god thing to or else he would have quite a few angry little kids! The Santa that they picked out was a little bit of a rambler and I think he took 30 minutes to give a 5 minute speech and watching the little kids get antsy was pretty funny! 

Today we went to the Huasteca again but this time with the whole zone! That was crazy fun! Let me tell ya hanging out with 28 missionaries is pretty dang fun! 

Well thats about it! Thanks so much for the Christmas wishes! 

Elder Ahlmer