Hello All!

Well this week was good. We found some new investigators and demetria is still excited for her baptism but geez i hope her nieces return soon so i can be here to see it. haha. We also have another BD for dec 6 for another one of our investigators Napoleon. Sadly the guardeas are struggling and we are trying to work with them but who knows. I have faith in them and hope that they can overcome there challenges. We also have a new investigator mary whos father died recently and she is super interested in the church so hopefully things will workout there. But reallly things are looking good for the future here in La cuesta and im not to worried haha.

Well nothing to crazy happened this week, more dogs but no more drug dealers at least for this week so thats nice i guess haha. I sadly have not received the packages and really want them too because this week i literally froze. Ok actually something crazy did happen this week. So our heater in our house doesn't work and literally every morning and night we put on our jackets and our blankets to study and yeah so we can live. It is literally like the ice age in there. Like seriously i have no idea how but our house is colder than the outside and no its not air conditioning. I checked haha. Oh we also ran out of gas in our boiler so we didn't have hot showers for the last like 3 days so yeah other than that i am doing amazing but might have hypothermia haha. I did buy something at the Sorianna here. It was a scarf and yeah it was pretty easy to buy with the card. No different than back home pero be careful to check it because it was $99 pesos but who knows if that will transfer into dollars in USA so yeah just a heads up.

Thats crazy about rob and yeah i had no idea that preston returned home for a couple days. I hope they are doing well and if they read this just know that i am praying for you and love you so much. Oh today i also get to go on divisions again and will be heading to a different area with the zone leader Elder Birchett from Utah. I cant tell you how excited i am to get to speak english for the first time in like a month haha. Jk i love Elder vilchis even if he can't speak english hahah. Anyways just know that im doing good and love all of you.

 

Love your guy

Elder Imlay

So this was my get up for the week also what i wore in the house so i didnt freeze to death haha.

Hello People of America!

Well this week was an average week and kind of freaking confusing with our investigators. So with Demetria, she is still excited for her baptism but the problem is, is that her nieces may not return from El Pasto until December for christmas break. So to fix this we have been working with the mom or Hna. Rubio to try to see if there is a way that they could return back sooner so that both me and Elder Vilchis would be here to see it but the good thing is that i know she will be baptized, it may not be while i am here but that is not whats important, and i am ok with that. With the Gardeas, things are tough because they are somewhat improving with the cigarette issue but will not come to church for some reason. Every time we visit them they agree and say they are excited to come to church but for some reasonn they do not show up. However i do have faith that things are going to work out.

Ok so this week the cold finally arrived and the water heater in our house wigged out and didnt work for almost the whole week. So we took cold showers and i literraly at times thought i was gonna die haha jk. But i would like to thank cammy for her blanket it saved me from dying of frostbite during the nights also it was nice not to have to use the blankets that they provide in our house because im pretty sure they have diseases in them haha.

Ok So elder Vilchis is super sick aand super chill. He can speak literally no english well pretty much no english but i can say that my spanish has at least somewhat improved because we are actually able to communicate and survive, so thats nice. Something kind of cool is that him and Preston were companions right before i entered the MTC and yeah so thats cool. So with the phone i broke it the first day i got here and threw the battery in a dumpster so yeah nothing to cool.I have not been sick yet which is nice and i think that i have put on some weight which is nice. I am also eating more than i ever have in my whole life like literally yesterday i ate a whole pizza and then had a bowl of cereal afterward haha.

This week nothing to crazy happened except for at one of our investigators houses (Miguel) well they own a dog and it literally hates me and elder vilchis. So usually when we go visit them one of the members of the family has to hold him back while we run in the house haha. But this week when we were leaving the dog broke free and came chasing after me. Luckily i reached the gate in time before he killed me haha but other than that nada mas. Actually in some colonies here they do celebrate Thanksgiving haha. I think Juarez is like the most americanized mexican city ever haha so hopefully i will get to celebrate thanksgiving but Quien Sabe? To dad sadly we have not gotten to do any service projects yet but hopefully we will get too. Anyways just know that i am Doing good and love all of you.

 

Love

Cam

My new companion Elder Vilchis

My district right before Elder Beltran left

Hello All!

This week was a crazy week yet again. So to begin my new companion is Elder Vilchis. He is from De Jefe or Mexico City for you Americans haha. He has been out 7 months and is 19 years old. He's super chill but knows literally 12 words in english haha. So its time i start picking up my language game. This week we visited Demetria and she is still excited for her baptism. But the problem is, is that her neices live in El paso and wont be here until december but we are going to work with there mom and i think everything should be alright all i know is that she will be baptized one way or the other and thats whats important. The Guardea family is doing good, we met with them a couple times this week and last night we went and visited them with our bishop and it was amazing. So our bishop has only been a member of the church for 4 years and before he was a member he had problems with smoking and when we visited them last night, he bore a powerful testimony and helped them in a way that we couldn't. They commited to not buy cigars this week and if they can accomplish this they can be baptized in 2 weeks. So hopefully all goes well but all i know is that things are looking up here in La Cuesta and im really excited for the future.

Anyways on a different note a bunch of crazy things happened to me this week. So to begin we met another drug dealer guy and this one was insane. He tried to get us to come to his house and smoke marijuana with him and other stuff and yeah it was really scary haha. Also like 3 dogs almost killed us this week but i have officially learned how to defend myself against them so thats a nice thought i guess haha. Also we saw like 3 dead dogs on the side of the road and then we also saw a dead lamb on the sidewalk which was super weird because yeah there aren't lambs here haha so yeah. Halloween was kind of different here i mean yeah there are kids out trick or treating but also there are a bunch of cholos or gangsters who roam the streets and it was kind of freaky but fear not i am ok.

Mom and dad if you see Danny that would be so sick and if so tell him i say hi. haha. Oh i also saw the big man this week (Preston). We had like this meeting for all of the missionaries in Juarez on friday. It was super long but i got to talk to him for like 20 or 30 min and he seems to be doing pretty good. He is a little sad but he knows that this is where he should be and yeah it was just really nice to see a familiar face. Anyways just know that i love you all and love America. Hope y'all have a wonderful week.

Love

Elder Imlay 2.0

Hello people of America!!

Well this week was easily one of the craziest weeks in my mission as far as the work goes. So the guardea family is still struggling with smoking but have overcome coffee which is a miracle. But the big story is that Demetria is going to be baptized either this saturday or the next. We are not sure because she has comitted to baptism when her neices come back from el paso which will either be this weekend or the next. Its so amazing, we have been working with her for so long and things have been really up and down with her. But we had a lesson with her this week and talked about 3 nephi 27 and how baptism is a commandment of god and how it can bless our lives personally. After the lesson we prayed with her to know if baptism was what she should do and the lord answered her prayer. When she finished she had tears in her eyes and comitted to baptism and she is super excited.

Sadly for all you thrill seekers nothing too crazy happened to me this week. The only weird thing is seeing the police trucks driving around with border patrol in the back with there guns looking for people to hunt down. hahah jk but its kinda freaky. Transfers will happen tomorrow and sadly my boi Elder Beltran is getting transfered out of the area. He is being transferred to Del Valle and is going to be a Zone Leader there. He is kinda bummed because he will miss the baptism of Demetria but he knows that god knows whats best for him. As far as me i will be staying here in La Cuesta which is super amazing and im so stoked. My new comps name is Elder Aviche or algo asi. Who knows? But im excited to meet him tomorrow and get to work.

I haven't been sick yet but i did eat the skin of a pig this week which my comp told was just pork but it was super rubbery and chewy and yeah it was a rough time but i perservered. Anyways thats crazy that you get to go on a cruise this week or whenever you are going and that kob is gonna hold the fort down haha. Anyways just know that I am doing good here and love you all.

Love 

Cam

P.S. We both cook the same amount we switch off making bfast every morning and then at night we just do our own thing anyways peace out.

Beunos Dias Muchachos,

Well we had a pretty average week as far as the work goes. We had 1 investigator show up to church which was nice but a lot of our investigatorsare really struggling right now as far as progressing goes. But one thing that did happen this week was with our prime investigators the Guardea Family. They have problems with coffee and smoking but we visited them yesterday and have been going without coffee for the last 3 days. They now eat yogurt in the mornings instead of coffee and apparantly it is helping a ton. As far as the smoking goes, the wife doesn't really have a problem with it but the husband is struggling a little bit. But i have faith that they can quit and i know that as we keep working hard and do what the lord desires of us, we will see miracles. 

 

Ok now i have kind of a funny story that happened this week. So i met my first drug dealer this week and needless to say it was a little freaky. So my companion and i are walking down this street and all of the sudden this random guy starts talking to me in like half english half spanish and yeah it was crazy. Anyways he tells me that he has been a drug dealer for the past 10 years and feels terrible about his life and wants to change his life and then he started saying a bunch of other stuff. So i wanted to help him but my companion said it was a bad idea. Apparently stuff like that happens a lot here and the people don't really want to change they just want to rob you or stuff like that in private so that they don't get arrested. Hahah so i learned a very valuable lesson to say the least. 

 

My spanish is getting better but is still freaking hard. I understand majority of what people say but yeah its tough. But ehh i aint worried, i know with time it will come. The only problem i am having is that i think i might be getting transferred next week and i really don't want to because i really want to be here for the baptism of the Guardea's. But i know that whatever happens is God's will. Anyways i got your packages and oh my gosh thank you so much the treats are amazing and it was great to eat peanutbutter for the first time in 2 months. But i gotta be careful cuz people will rob me if they here i got that crap. Haha jk. But seriously it is so expensive here. As far as sickness goes, no ive been doing really good except for lately el cambio de clima has affected me a little but i am alright. We had a barbeque last night with a bunch of the members and of my gosh carne asada is the greatest thing in the world. Oh and i now am starting to hate tortillas because we litterally have them with every meal haha. 

 

Anyways just know that i am doing good and am thinking about all of you. Pray for preston and for uncle rob. I know that as we act on our faith and have trust in god that he will help us and we will see miracles. I love you all.

 

Love you tons

Elder Cam Imlay

The pic is me with one of our investigators, his name is miguel and he literally is the Mexiacan Brad Wade. haha.

Our barbeque the other night. the man in the pic is our mission leader in the ward. He is super sick and super cholo. Look it up haha.

Me with the stinker ball....thanks a lot bros (The boys have this game where the last one to touch the stinker ball is it so they thought it would be cool to mail it to Cameron....We guess he is it for a while!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello All! How are y'all doing?

Life here in the good old murder capital is going pretty slow. haha jk its really good. So this week went really good we were able to have a lot of lessons and we have 3 new investigators so hopefully all goes well there. The big story of this week is that we finally got some investigators to come to church. Halelujah! haha. No but seriously it is amazing. Their names are Patricio and Clara Guardea. They are really amazing, they accepted the baptism invitation or are preparing to be baptized on October 25. When we invited them they felt like it was to soon but we told them that it was a goal and if they weren't ready at that date it was ok but that we knew how much it would bless their lives. So they accepted. Im really excited because on the day that i was "Senior Comp" these were the investigators that we came and taught. Well me and Elder Salcido and its just cool to me because i just feel so close to these two and really love them so much. They struggle with Coffee and smoking and are trying to conquer it but it is hard. We fasted with them on sunday and we are meeting with them again tomorrow so ill keep you updated. We also have another investigator Demetria whose whole family is a member and she has a testimony that this church is true but i think she is just scared because she is catholic and has been her whole life. Hopefully all goes well there. The language sadly isn't getting much easier, i understand quite a bit of what is happening but my speaking as far as conjugation goes rather sucks. haha idk if i should say that but whatevs. No its ok and is getting better everyday.

To answer some of your questions and sorry that i haven't answered this one yet dad but yes, i do keep a journal and have ever since my first day in the mtc. Its pretty cool to go through it and see everything that has happened. As far as the voice recorder goes, you could send one that actually sounds pretty cool. I did see the Elder from Colombia haha. The first day we were here, we stayed in this hotel and i saw him there. We talked a little but couldnt really communicate that well haha. But he seems like a pretty chill guy haha. Not as crazy in real life as he is on Insta haha. Zone Mtg. is today from 4-7. 3 hrs of pure boring. haha jk it will be ok i hope. I havent received su packages yet but i am guessing they are here or in El Paso our person just hasnt gone to pick them up yet. But Quien Sabe? haha. As far as sundays go, its pretty chill. We go to the Same ward every week. The La Cuesta ward. They are super cool and i love the members. We don;t have callings in the ward but just help with whatever. I havent had to speak yet but i did bear my testimony in testimony mtg. yesterday. I hope they understood me. haha.

So this week while we were just walking in the street i heard this dog barking but couldn't see where it was. Yeah it was on the roof of a house and that wasn't just a coincidence like i have seen like 12 dogs on roofs since getting here. Its super funny. Also this week Elder beltran and i nearly got eaten by a devil dog. haha. We were just walking down this street and all of the sudden this demon black dog just comes running at us and so i just by instinct start to run but elder beltran just turns and trys to scare the dog which didn't work but right before the dog killed us its owner finally caught up and stopped it. It was one of the scariest things of my life but apparently when a dog is coming to attack you, you are not supposed to run because that just makes the dog angrier but Quien Sabe? All i know is that im glad to be alive. haha. Anyways that was pretty much my week. I hope that uncle rob is doing better. I will keep him in my prayers and will fast on thursday. I love you all and am so grateful for your support.

Love, Elder Imlay

Bueno!!!!

 

Thats the first thing people here say when they answer there phones its kind of funny haha. So I went from watching about 4 hours of conference back home and sleeping through half of it to watching all 10 hrs here. haha But holy cow this conference was amazing.Especially the saturday sessions, if you havent watched them i would challenge you to. Its big time. We got to watch all 3 saturday sessions at the Offices in english which was super nice. On sunday we only had 1 investigator show up to the Capilla to watch conference and some others flaked on us which was really sad. We are not doing to great right now but i'm not to worried about it. I think that things are about to take a turn for the better. I can feel it. haha or at least i hope. On sunday i watched like an hour in spanish and the other 3 hours in english which was nice but i feel bad because my companion didnt understand much haha. Im kinda super jealous of the missionary choir like what the heck. Why does all of the cool stuff happen like 3 weeks after i leave haha. No it was cool and i actually knew some of the kids who were in the choir. 

 

Thats freakin hilarious that kob and ka got in trouble with glen, tell the boss i say hi. As far as money goes im not really to worried. I havent tried to draw money out of the card yet but if i ever need to i will. The language is coming along very slowly but i can actually understand quite a lot of what happens, i just can't really speak it well. But its not bad i am able to participate in the lessons actually quite a bit and the people understand what i say its just not correct grammar but that will come with time. Im not gonna lie i am so grateful for conference, it really boosted my spirits and i am feeling actually really good about all of this. It is hard at times and yes it is hard living with the same person all of the time and having to be with them all of the time but its ok because i have an amazing companion and know that this is where i should be. 

 

Umm as far as what we eat..... we eat a lot of tortillas at members houses and obviously beans an tons of mexican food. Its actually really amazing. At our house we have lots of cereal, smoothies, yogurt, Quesidillas, fruit, and grilled cheese sandwiches, oh and Hot cakes. Oh my gosh hot cakes are amazing. hot cakes are pancakes btw if you didnt know hahah. We actually have gotten to eat at Wendys 3 times since i got here and 2 times were with members haha. Oh and we ordered pizza one day which was amazing. I have not had mac and cheese yet and Peanut butter is wayyy to expensive so sadly no PB & J's haha. I havent been sick again but i will never eat Menudo again. It did unspeakable things to my body. ahaha. 

 

Sadly no i cannot see El Paso. I don't know what El Peso is mom. hahah jk! But yeah i heard that preston is right on the border i am more inland which is cool i guess.Thats so awesome that we have a movie now. I hope that its good you will have to tell me about it in your next letter haha. Anyways I am doing great and am loving it here. Oh one more thing, tomorrow i get to be Senior Comp. for a day because my companion is the DL and one of the Areas in our district isnt doing very good so he has to go check it out so me and Elder Salcido will be here in La Cuesta for a day and i will get to be Sr. Companion which is gonna be freaking dope. haha idk if i should say that but whatevs haha. anyways i love all of you and good luck with your lives.

 

Love Elder Imlay #2

 

My version of a selfie!

Me and my companion right before General Conference