His first baptism and 9 investigators!

Elder Martin made it to Mexico!

 Mike and I were thrilled to talk to Kade as he waited at the SLC airport preparing to fly to Mexico at 5:30 am on October 13.. He was anxious for his new adventure but sad to leave the MTC where he met lots of good "homies", enjoyed lots of good food, sang in the General Conference Priesthood Session, which was a pretty great experience for him, (see Kade's facebook page) and learned some basic Spanish. He traveled with 2 sister missionaries, and his companion, Elder Jeppesen. Kade's uncle Justin met him at the airport with some last minute essentials and  "tidings of great joy". He talked about a week long bout with the "Christensen bowels" and how he had to sit by the emergency exits and use them!   More funny details were provided, but we won't share them here. :)   He arrived late to the mission home after lots of turbulence and delays, and finally met President and Sister Egbert. A total of twenty missionaries arrived at the mission home that day. The other 16 came from the Mexico MTC. The picture below is Elder Martin's "awesome" district at the MTC.

Left: old comp Elder Jeppsen
Right: new comp Elder Cruz from Peru. Below: district missionaries

It was a long week before we heard from Elder Martin again. Sister Egbert did email us from Pachuca to let us know he made it safe,  where he had been assigned to, and that he was the only English speaker in his whole district! Yikes! (She keeps a great blog up and later posted pictures on pachucamexicoldsmission.blogspot.com.) Finally, on Monday we received an email! Here are some excerpts from that...." OK! I am here in Mexico. Things are crazy, but also exciting. It was sad to leave the MTC last Monday. I definately made some good homies while I was there. It was the best! Now, I'm in the real world. It has been an overwhelming experience adjusting to this change. He then told us about getting up early and his experience at the airport and what a miracle it was his luggage was under the 50 lb. limit. "I sat next to Elder Jeppsen, which was interesting (and kind of funny) because he got sick like ten minutes before we landed and started gagging. A bad first experience on the plane. To be fair, the was rough and we practically hydroplaned when we landed. It was crazy, but because of the bad weather, our flight was delayed and I got to eat at Panda Express, so it wasn't all bad. We landed in Mexico City, got through the hectic crowds and met up with the mission President and his wife, the Egberts. I haven't known them for long, but they are so awesome! We drove to the mission home, interviewed, ate, and slept at the assistants apartments for the the night. The next day we received our new assignments. Im in APAN, a small area near the edge of my mission with my new comp Elder Cruz from Cuzco Peru. He's awesome and hard working. Mexico is so different. Who knew? Haha. It's different adjusting to it. The people here are so friendly and even though I have been really busy everyday, it's rewarding to be here. The small branch already has plans to grow. I have laready had interesting experiences. The other day I went to the atm with my new mission ATM and I pressed cancel when I meant to press delete and it disappeared, never to be seen again! During our district meeting on Wednesday, I was asked to teach the native missionaries English...that will be interesting!

Every missionary in the world is encouraged to learn English since the church is headquartered in America. My Spanish is still suffering but improving a little. People talk so fast here and have like a million names. It's a little frustrating not being able to communicate well with others especially when I swear I have Whooping Cough. But, I mean it's better than having diarrhea."  Kade went on to say the climate was rainy and listed a few things he needed and let me know what music to send him. He ended his letter by saying he loved and missed everyone back home and encouraged us to pray every day and look for opportunities to share the gospel, because as saints who know the truth, it is our obligation to do so. What a relief it was to finally hear from him! I know he is tough and prepared and that gives me peace (most of the time). We sure love and miss this boy!

 Missionaries from the Pachuca, Mexico mission above, 2 photos above, Elder Martin practicing his teachings in Spanish.