I constantly want to check Jeff's and Lauren's Facebook page to see what they are doing now that they are home. But I can't. They don't have Facebook.

GUESS WHAT!

Not to rival the wonderful report from Puebla, but Nathan and I totally got robbed tonight. I know right! But don't worry. The little unarmed Mexican man didn't take much. He got our watches, some cash, our phone, and my bank card. But it has all been taken care of. It's really just more inconvenient then anything else. But to top it off, I had left 27 pesos on the bus we had just taken and Nathan got charged an extra peso for the metro. Lame! Anyway, we are very safe and sound. We still love Mexico and we are glad we came. We just started our last workshop today. It's a great group and they are going to bring real food for the breaks. That should be amazing. Well, I hope you are all doing well. We are excited to see you all soon and can't wait to hear your stories. Have fun and we will see you in the homeland.

Esteban y Diego

Update from Puebla

Things are winding down here in Puebla as we prepare to come home one week from today! Hopefully we will get to see you guys soon!

We taught our 14th workshop at the Employment Center this week!
This was one of our favorite groups yet. Each one of the participants was soo eager to learn and start their own business. They were intelligent and really understood the principles and participated a ton, which made the workshop so much fun for us! They all stayed after class for over an hour just discussing their plans with each other and talking about what they learned. It was really cool for us to see.

Today we interviewed one of the participants from our workshop for a success story.
Meet Jesús González:

He started a transportation company and talked to us about how the workshop helped him put together a better plan for his business. Specifically how it helped him better plan his advertising and finances. He even drove his van to show us the new canvas advertisement he made to advertise his business. Awesome!

It will be bittersweet to leave in a few days, as I'm sure you're all feeling as well. We are pretty ready to get back to the land of the free and the home of the brave--we definitely have a new appreciation for all things AMERICAN! :)
However, we have met some truly amazing people here, and it will be hard to say goodbye!

Girl Power!

Finished another workshop today. This was our first graduating class of all women. They were awesome. But that alone is not the reason I decided to write. When we showed up to the chapel this morning we found it a little wet. Apparently there had been a leak in the kitchen that was never really fixed. But we weren't discouraged. The members of the class all jumped in and within an hour we had it all under control. I'm glad things like this are happening towards the end and not when we first got here. We probably would have had a little panic attack. Last week we had two different workshops where we were locked out of the chapel. Each worked out just fine in the end, but we lost an hour each time. Oh well. I guess that is just how life goes. Well, that's about it. Enjoy the pictures.

I Got Sunburned Again

Sounds like everyone is doing great. Things in Mexico City have been fantastic. On Monday we had the opportunity to go to Teotihuacán. It was the celebration of the Spring equinox so there were a ton of people; many of them dressed in white. We didn't get a chance to climb the pyramids because of the three to four hour wait, but we are going to try and go back before we have to return to the states. The picture is of the Pyramid of the Sun. In any case, we started another workshop this week. There aren't a lot of people, but they are still a great group. They have a lot of amazing incites. Once we finish this group we will have two more workshops finishing up the first part of April. Can't believe it's all coming to an end. I don't think I'm ready to be surrounded by tons of white people again. Well, keep up the good work everyone and I hope to see as many of you as I can on May 5th.

Twelve down, four to go!

This past week we finished teaching our 12th Self-Employment Workshop! 
We've been teaching a ton but there is nothing more rewarding then hearing success stories from people who attended one of the workshops.

Mayorazgo Stake graduates:

Valsequillo Stake graduates:



Tehuacán graduates:


We can't believe how fast the time has flown by! I'm sure we can all agree this has been a pretty incredible experience!
We probably wont be able to make it on May 5th, but we definetly want to get together with everyone when we get back, if one weekend or Sunday night works for any of you....?!

-Jeff and Lauren

This feels like the end even though we haven't had our supposed "half-way" call yet.

Team!! You guys rock! We hope that you are doing well! We are off to our last workshop for the time that we are here. We have taught 9 and we are starting our 10th today and finishing our 11th on saturday. We have loved teaching the workshop and the spanish comes much easier during the workshop as well. Today we are projected to teach 100 people in a place called La Romana, rough translation, (Heaven on Earth). You know, beautiful beaches, Europeans, and lots of fun.

I wish we could post some pictures of our recent adventures in the ocean and with our new friends down here. Alas, you'll have to wait to see the photos (May 5th!!!!).

We recently had to stay at a dirty little hotel in a dirty little place in Azua. There was a goose right underneath our window that honked all night. All night. We almost killed it for breakfast the next morning.

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn ^awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the ^bservice of your ^cfellowbeings ye are only in the service of your God."

See ya'll soon.

Benditas

Wow. We have done so much in the past four days, don't know where to start. This weekend we were assigned to teach in Puno, which calls home the shores of Lake Titicaca, which is also part of Bolivia. This is the highest altitude we've ever been to. The clouds were so close!


We found out a day before we were supposed to teach that we would be teaching separately for the first time, which meant I had to review/learn parts at the last minute. After a five/six hour bus ride, Jenny was dropped off in Juliaca, a super sketchy commercial town about 40 minutes from Puno, while I stayed on the bus to teach in Puno. 


Puno consists of pure hills with the Lake Titicaca to the side. Beautiful. When I got to Puno, I found out that there would be 60 people in the classroom. 60. We have NEVER had a group this big, let alone, teaching it by myself. Adventure for sure. I felt like I was screaming to keep their attention.. hilarious. Apparently the director had asked for 5 representatives from each ward to come to the workshop, so some people were there and didn't really have solid business ideas, which made things a little more difficult, but fun none the less.


On Saturday, I joined Jenny in Juliaca for some Carnaval fun, and then headed back to teach the workshop. 


Sunday. We went with the employment specialist of Puno, David, to the branch on Lake Titicaca. The Uros people live on these floating islands made from totoru reeds, which they replace every 15 days. They basically live on plants that have been stacked up for years. Felt like I was on another world.


Apparently this branch is only about a year old, and some general authorities from the church  came to dedicate it a little while back. The coolest thing was to see how humble these people are. Their neon colored clothes, both men and women, gave an interesting contrast against Jenny and mine's dark, black coats and tights. Sunday school and Relief Society was in Spaymara, or what I like to call Spanish, and Aymara, the native language of these people. They learn Spanish while in the public schools. This was probably number one on the COOLEST THINGS I've done here in Peru so far. Afterwards, we ate a lunch of locally caught trout, and chuno, which are potatoes that are dehydrated, frozen, literally stomped on, and then served. They taste just about how they sound ;).


I finished the workshop that day, with the group a little bit smaller than before. Awesome learning experience. Puno has been the most organized in terms of being on the ball and wanting to continue the workshop compared to all the other places we have visited.


Loved visiting with a Quechan family. I feel like the grandpa and I were soulmates in another life.


Monday was our P-day, and we traveled around with our workshop friends to some interesting ruins. Check out Facebook photos coming soon.... let's just say pictures say a thousand words. By far the most interesting ones we've been to so far ;). Jenny and I were lucky to get back home in time before it got dark when we went to some other ruins, Sillustani, which are tall funerary towers built by the Incas, which we got into for free. Don't know how. Got back home to Arequipa at 3 this morning! 


We're here for another three days, living on a fruit diet, and then we travel to Tacna on Friday, which is on the border of Chile. Whoop whoop!

"Elay Pue"... El (esta) ahi pues

Oh my goodness, I can't believe we only have a month left here! With seven workshops down and five to go we  are feeling much much more confident than we did our first week here. I think the workshops have been my favorite part of the day and it's been really fun getting to know our participants and what their goals and dreams are. Something really fun: When we first write the rules for the class we ask them what penitence they want for people arriving late, cell phones ringing, etc. In our second workshop one of our participants suggested that they sing and since then we've made the same suggestion to our other workshops. It's been a hit. And we all get a good laugh. :)

We're off to Cochabamba in a couple of days and we're excited because we'll get to see the temple!! We'll be teaching three workshops there and we'll go to La Paz for a few days to visit. And we finally got to hold a monkey (few weeks back). It was awesome. Peace out!

Singing time!

A Super Amazingly Original Title

Well, we did it. Our monster of a group has come and gone. I think we finished with around 70 graduates. That sounds about right. It was a lot of fun when we did the graduation. We brought both classes together. Sure, it may have taken a little longer, but it was interesting to see how different the classes were and how loyal they were to their teachers. It was a great experience. Now, I'm not saying that I want to teach another huge group, but it definitely made our following group of 30 seem like a breeze. We finished Cuautitlán Thursday evening and then Friday morning we got up early to take a two hour bus to Taluca. But oh has it been worth it. We have just over 30 students and they are amazing. They even show up on time. How great is that. To make it easier on us, we staid in a hotel Friday night. It was a lot of fun to walk around a new city and see what there was. We even came across the showing of an independent film. I didn't really care much for it, but Nathan seemed to like to. I guess I'm just not artistic enough. Anyway, things are good. This other picture is of our lemonade market analysis. We had one person from each group represent their business, at least one from each group act as a potential client, and the rest of the people went around asking questions and gathering information. I think they had a lot of fun with it. We talked about what they learned and a lot of them came away with an idea that they need to practice it. You can't just know what your business is, but you need to be able to present it. Anyway, life is going well. Don't really have any complaints. Hope you guys are all living it up.

Mexico City

Steven and Nathan

"Como te va Nene?!?"

That came from a nino that is with us right now in the center, he is really funny, he was baptised on saturday and his name is Alvieris. Sweet name no?

I can't remember the last time that we blogged, its been a long time. We have been to several beaches now. Samana was that last one we told you about. We have been to three others now on our days off. We went to a beach called Playa Caribe and we were tossed around like pumpkins that fall out of a big Dominican truck. Okay, that was a horrible analogy but the waves were like 8 feet tall and were super uneven. We would dive underneath one, come up for air quickly and have to dive again to save ourselves from being overcome with sea water! IT WAS AWESOME!! Then we went to another beach, much more tranquilo called Juan Dolio and I, Tyler, got SO BURNED!! (Lindon is now super tan) I didn't put on sunscreen and oh did I look like shrimp for the next week. Then a few days later we went to the beach the entire day with some friends of ours, the Rappley's. He is in charge of CES for the whole Caribbean and knows Lindon's Dad so they have been kind enough to take us to several places here on the island. We went to Bahaibe, probably the most gorgeous beach I have ever been to in my entire life. You know those wallpapers that come on your computer already there with the beach, the palm trees, blue water, sun, white sand...Eric and I can officially say..."Yeah, I've been there!" :) It was GREAT!

Then my family came last weekend and we went to a new beach and side of the island that we hadn't been to yet. It was a place called Cabarete, a gorgeous little surfing town on the northern part of the island. We stayed the weekend with my parents and went to the beach, also to 7 waterfalls where these huge Dominicans pull you up these waterfalls and then you either jump or slide off, it was RADICAL!!

We are going to the Camila Concert this weekend which is going to be incredible! We are going to try to be close enough to get the drumstick whenever the drummer throws it!

Oh yeah...the workshops! ;) We do work! A lot actually, we have taught 6 so far and are currently teaching 3 more right now. We love the people and they all are super ready and prepared for the class. Lindon and I have had a blast traveling and meeting tons of people!

We miss you guys!

SOMOS MOLLENDO!!
Awesome week for us!

Wednesday was a crazy day, but a really productive one. We met with our director and figured out our schedule for the rest of the semester. We don't have much time left!!  Sad. With the way that our schedule is worked out, we will be traveling EVERY weekend to teach the self-employment workshops. So excited for that. That means that we won't get to know the people in our ward very well, but it does give us a chance to meet DOZENS of new members throughout Southern Peru as we travel. I'm planning a research project in which I ask members about education, their goals for the future, things like that. I'M STOKED!!!

Before we headed out to teach in Mollendo early Thursday morning with the jovenes in a camp out, we took advantage of the fact that THE MARC ANTHONY was performing at the nearest University's stadium. So, aprovechamos, and went with our friend Gary, who taught us salsa. The guests were the local group Somos Mollendo, which I thought was pretty ironic since we taught in Mollendo, and Eva Ayllon, a native of Peru.

The next morning, we headed out on the beach with the teenagers of the stake and spent the whole day at the Punta de Bombon, where we did homework, body boarded,  and danced the night away with our friend Pablo.  Peruvians are gente pilas. ENERGY!!!

We were so rudely awakened by super loud megaphone with a ear-splitting alarm by one of leaders while we were in our tent. 6 in the MORNING. They sounded it RIGHT IN OUR EARS FOR A WHOLE THREE MINUTES. Jenny and I just sat there and didn't move. We probably looked like lazy young men, or we had died in our sleep, because we didn't do ANYTHING. Jenny and I couldn't stop laughing about it the rest of the day.

Our third workshop was in Mollendo, and we were on our own this time. The leaders in these branches of the church were worried that people weren't going to show up, so they made an announcement OVER THE RADIO that we were going to be there. So, that automatically meant a whole eclectic mix of people that showed up. Awesome.

Currently, we are back in our apartment in Arequipa, taking advantage of the time we have to do homework. Today, we found out that our workshop for this week is cancelled, so that makes for more time here!

Jenny and I both realized this week how lucky we are to do SO MUCH of Peru while we are here. We travel A TON.

We Rock! With humility of course.

So, started the day with a graduation of three wonderful students. I think they are ready to take on the world. Well, at least Mexico. Ok, Mexico City. Anyway, that is two workshops down. But our day did not end there. Straight from the Employment Center we traveled to the city of Cuautitlán. It was about an hour drive. And I know I said that we were going to have 150 students, but no surprise, we had less. We only had about 140. No biggie. So, Diego took the chapel and I took the cultural hall. Yes, the whole cultural hall. A few students showed up late, but we each ended up with about 70. And you know what? It was great! Sure, we were pressed for time, but the groups were very excited and there was a great energy. Doing the wave with that many people is amazing! We can't wait to go back tomorrow. I just hope the students all feel the same. Random question. Do you guys ever use the workshop lingo in your daily lives? I've been starting to do it. All of a sudden I find myself comparing things to a lemonade stand. Life is great.

Until next time,

Steven y Diego

Ciudad de México

Feliz Día de San Valentín

No purpose other than to make all you rule-abiders jealous: I had a hot date last night.



Did I get flowers? Ya, ya I did.
Did we eat delicious Italian food?  Yes, yes we did.
Did we feel bad you guys were all stuck with your comps?  Yes, we kinda did.

No, just kidding guys, we love you guys and hope you had a G-RREAT (enter Tony the Tiger) Valentines Day!

150!!!

So, just found out tonight that one of the workshops we will be teaching this week is supposed to have 150 people. Oh... my... goodness. So, we need your advise. We already have a number of ideas in mind, but for all of you that have worked with larger groups, what have you found that works? Realistically I don't think all 150 will show, but regardless, we will have a large group and only three hours a day to teach them. This is going to be one interesting week.

Mexico City

Steven and Nathan

One More Down

So we just finished one more workshop yesterday. I know some of you have had pretty big groups, but this was our first really big group. The first day, there were 38 people there. Not all of them finished, but there were still quite a few at the end. Since the high council room wasn't that big, we ended up having to split the group in two. Garrison taught the whole workshop to one group, and I taught it to the other. It was really fun and this was a really fun group of people. They were all really good to participate and were fun to be around. Garrison got pretty sick this week, but now he is alive again...so that's good. Peace out.

The Best! More photos than anything!

This week has been Spectacular! (I'm actually going to talk about last week and Monday of this week) We finished our first two workshops and we graduated 35 in total. They were a great group! They had tons of ideas and we laughed together and they made us treats! One group made us BROWNIES!! OH BABY! But they also made us these...super weird corn bread, that included tomatoes, carrots, and corn flakes. I will just say that it wasn't anywhere near to how good the brownies were.

News Flash: Look at ESPN's story on Jimmer. Look up Eamon Brennan. SO FUNNY!!

On Sunday we went to church and were interviewed for callings. We should be getting those soon, they have also asked us to work in the temple which is going to BE AWESOME!! We can't wait!

Monday, we went to the Beach! We went with some of our good friends, a missionary couple here! Here are some pictures para uds.!!

I have to go but I'm going to blog mas ya mismo!

Somos Brasileiros Já

So time flies when you're having fun, right? I seriously can't believe that it has already been three and a half weeks! I am sad. I don't want to go home. With every day that passes, we're one day closer to being back in Provo. But, life goes on.

So me and Garrison taught our first workshop together last week in a town called Pelotas that is south of here. It was pretty fun. I was a little sad though because they weren't quite as excited about the workshop as the last group I taught. They were really shy and kind of didn't pay much attention. But whatever, each group is sure to be different than the other. Maybe they didn't like Garrison...hehe

This week, we are teaching a workshop in a town very close to here, so we will just go teach and come home each night. Out of the 10 workshops that we will teach here, 7 are far away. The trips have been really fun. It is so fun to see the beautiful landscapes. I was so used to the Amazon Rainforest, that it almost seems weird to see fields and crops and farms and trees and lakes. It is very cool in southern Brazil. But I think I still like the Amazon better...

Me and Garrison have quite a few friends down here that have been good to include us and take us places. Garrison went to the beach with some of his friends. I have played in some volleyball tournaments down here, and I even went to a Brazilian movie theater for the first time. That was actually really fun. We saw Season of the Witch with Nicolas Cage which was really stupid but the theater was sweet. I had a good time. College students here get in to movies for half price if they have a college ID card. My friend was like, "show them your BYU card." I figured they wouldn't let it slide, but after looking at it for a few moments, he was like, "I guess this works." So I got in for half price...about 4 bucks for a Friday night movie. I will definitely be doing that more often.

We sure like hearing updates from everyone. Our internet isn't that great, but if you guys ever want to skype us, we would love to chat. Oh and my older sister just called me yesterday to tell me that she is pregnant with twins! So that is pretty sweet. Alright, see you later.

So here are some actions of us teaching
This is our assistant manager and his family and some of their friends. They invited us over for dinner the other night.

Vaughn and Garrison

galletas casino

 This week, my temptation of the week is Casino crackers. Creamy mint center in between crunchy chocolate cookies. Menthe goodness.

Crazy week.. and it's just going to get crazier.

Hermana Llanos, Jenny's companion from their mission in Ecuador came to visit us in Arequipa and is staying until Friday. She is AWESOME. We've totally taken advantage of the fact that we have a native with us, going to the market ANTIPLANO and buying stuff to make a caldo typico, or typical Peruvian soup. Jenny and I nos enfermamos, got a little sick, when we passed by the open meat markets. I'm not used to seeing hanging pig heads on the side of the street every day.....

 So much work buying things, but so worth it in the end.

We got some sweet pirated reggaeton, salsa and 80's hit music on the street ;). No tengo la culpa.

I'm learning SO much every day. I love it.

I got scammed for the first time in Sudamerica. Someone gave me a fake 20 sole bill. That's about 7 bucks. 

Today was our first day in our new ward. We will attend church here every Sunday that we're not traveling. I LOVE the members. So much FAITH and so loving, welcoming, and understanding. For some reason, whenever I hear a Latin bear their testimony or their conversion story about how they found the gospel of Jesus Christ, I appreciate it so much more. I cry almost every testimony meeting. Pathetic, but true.

Me encanta latinoamerica.

I attempted to communicate some thoughts during a testimony meeting today, but ended up being super emotional, spewing fountains of tears, and not sure that I exactly got my point across. What I was thinking was... "I love your culture, I am so happy we all believe in God and share the same beliefs, and I secretly wish I were Latin."

So, that concludes the week. This week we have a busy week to look forward to, we teaching the workshop, have some lunch appointments set up, and I need to start looking for a coat :).

A little update from Laur and Jeff:

This past week we started four new workshops, in four different stakes. We typically teach four times a week in the evening to groups ranging from 15 to 40 people.  So far the people have been so fun and friendly and really receptive to the workshops. 

Puebla is a beautiful city! We've loved exploring and getting to know our way around the last few weeks.  Last Saturday we spent the day in the city center browsing the street vendors and trying different foods.






This week we learned how to make true, homemade Mexican tamales!
Avelina Flores is the secretary at the Employment Center and we have become good friends. She found out that I (Laur) love to cook and that I especially wanted to learn how to make tamales, so she had us over for a "tamalada" or a Tamale making party. Her mother, who is 83 years old, is the true expert at tamale making and she taught me all her tricks!

We made 4 different kinds of tamales; mole, salsa verde, salsa rojo, and dulce. We made everything completely from scratch, including the dough, using dried corn kearnals. It was so awesome!
We made about 300 tamales which we cooked in steamers like this one:

That's all for now! We are loving life in Mexico; we're working hard, playing hard, and having a great experience!

Keep blogging everyone! We love reading what everyone is doing!

GO PACKERS! :)  (Just for you Kirsten)

...

lets go steelers!

Last Thursday Kirsten and I finished teaching our first Self Employment Workshop. The following picture is us with all of our students. From left to right we have Christian, Sledge, Kirsten, Owusu, Jonathan, Godfred, Nawal, Richard, Ali, Rancy, Lizzy, and Rufus. Don't they have the coolest names? Sledge and Godfred are still working on how to be seen in a picture but at least you get the idea, right??

It was so wonderful to get to know each of these people. As we taught them you could see that they began to have hope that their dreams and aspirations really can come true by through planning and applying sound business principles. Robert is here this week and he was asking us about how our first week of teaching went. He asked us if it seemed that the lightbulb really went on for them and the conclusion we came to is that the lightbulb is beginning to flicker. At first they were quite shy but over time most of them opened up and were willing to share with the class. I am excited to start teaching more people next week!

This week the manager told us that we would be consulting with our students individually to help them further develop their business plans. We told our students this and gave them our "office hours" when they could come in and get help from us. We set here all day Wednesday and Thursday without a single visit. It's been nice to have lots of internet browsing time but that isn't what we came here for. We want some work! Yesterday we were sitting here all bored when Nawal (pictured above, wearing the pink shirt) walked in to show us the advertisement that she has created for her business. She is currently preparing to go and visit some potential customers for her grocery delivery service. It was such a wonderful end to a long day! I am so happy that she is excited and moving forward with her business.

I'm not going to lie.

I just about cried when we finished up our first workshop. I love these people.

Sweetness!

Today we finished our first workshop. 10 of our 12 made it. They were seriously the best group. The time went by so fast and everyone was quick to get involved. Being the fourth day of the workshop, we had a lot of time to recap and present. We also gave our students about 10 minutes to write a review: things they learned and advise they had for us in the future. It was some great feedback. These people are just amazing.

To finish things on a good note, we presented our personal business plans, had our manager talk about the resources in the employment center, and had a small lunch. But before we left, the class broke out into "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." We are all going to become Facebook friends and try to keep in touch. We really couldn't have asked for a better group. I know you are all jealous.

Reporting from Mexico City,

Steven and Nathan

Lluvia!

Hey guys!


So after a little miscommunication, we are finally in our own apartment. We have been chillin' out at the Resource Center this week, because we have not been able to start the workshops due to lack of publicity. But.. we are starting them this weekend, in a beach town called Camana, about two and a half hours from where we are right now.

So guys, we need your teaching tips. We're really excited to start teaching the workshop.

It rains here every day in the afternoon, and it's their summer. Weird. Yesterday, we went to a museum with two friends we met at the institute in the Centro de Plazas, which has the famous frozen ice princess, Juanita. She is not there from January to April, so Sarita is in her place.. I thought it was so awesome!!! The Incas would offer sacrifices on top of the volcanoes, we're surrounded by three, and a lot of them have been frozen for about 500 years.

After that, we explored the catedrals made out of the volcanic rock, sillar. They make awesome backgrounds in fotos.

Jenny is an expert at making refried beans. It's a long process that takes about three hours to boil them, and that's after soaking them afternight.. She's going to a be a pro bean maker by the time we're done..

Tips, give us your tips!

Hope you're all doing well!

The Lord isn't going to do CachiBachi with us!!

Okay team. I am proud to say that Lindon and I are proud owners of hips that move like some of the latins we danced with on friday! We went to the institute kickoff and I had been told that there was a dance but didn't really believe it until Lindon and I entered the dance floor and it was packed, we only had about an hour to get our groove on...so we did. We learned bachata and salsa dancing before the night was over and went home peacefully to our humble aboad at the temple. Saturday, we didn't think we were going to teach but last minute our assistant director told us that we would be traveling to a pueblito called Monte Plata, about an hour and a half away from the capital. We adventured onto a public bus that took us there with no hiccups. We taught about 18 people in a beautiful capilla and it went well from all aspects. We were dropped off by the branch president there to a restaurant that looked like a tahitian hut, we enjoyed incredibly sizzling pork chops with choices of french fries or tostados (patacones or fried plantines...a delicious treat) It was a super satisfying experience I would say. We then proceeded to where the bus was...was supposed to be I mean, it had left 10 min before we arrived so...Jeff you need to read this and believe this man...here in this town they do not have taxis...they have moto-conchas...I know that second word is bad for you but...its like a moto-taxi okay...anyway out in front of this bus stop/station there are like 7 or 8 men and their bikes, and once there here the phrase "Where did the bus go?" They saddle up on their boss hogs and come to our rescue! Lindon and I got on the backs of these guys motorcycles with them...like it was a taxi...but it's motorcycle and we were raced off to try to catch up to the awaiting prize...the bus...only to mention...the last bus out of Monte Plata. They raced as two flipping greyhounds after the bus and as we were approaching and nearing and approaching and getting closer...the bus left our eyesight and we thought all was lost. The moto-taxis left us on the side of a road...literally and after recieving their wages...30 pesos they were on their way. They told us to wait because hopefully a bus would be coming from some other place that I don't remember the name and would pick us up. After about 20 min of waiting we were picked up and started our journey back home to the temple housing.

Now, to explain the title...Does anybody know what the word Cachibachi means? It was definitely used in sacrament meeting today during a talk about youth and their leaders and the family proclamation to the world. If anyone has any comments or revelations about this word...please do tell. We went to a different ward this week in a place called Nazao. We were invited by our good friends The Roberts (A missionary couple here in the temple) who have been very kind and generous with us. We went to a cute 60 person branch in a place about 45 min from the capital and met a future major league baseball player and his coach which was super cool! He is a 16 year old kid who just got signed to the Texas Rangers for $800,000...yep let me say that again...$800,000. He is 16...that kid is making bank! It was a fun adventure! And the rest of the day has been pretty chill for us, we ate, and speaking of food...the avacadoes here are to die for!! I feel bad because I practically ate the entire thing! Anyway...this is how the cookie crumbles! haha

Wall-e

So, it's not actually the animated Character in Wall-e, but a re-invention of Volleyball. And apparently it's kind of a big deal here. We spent most of the day playing Wall-e with employment center workers from each stake and from other centers. It was so fun, it's inside so you get to use the walls to bounce the ball off of AND you can kick the ball over the net too!! Afterwords, we spent most of the day at the pool getting a tan. After playing a few games in the pool, our manager randomly started showing off his doggy paddle while making a strange barking noises that sounded more like an otter. We couldn't keep from laughing. jajaja. Then they took us all to this really expensive Argentinian restaurant with the rest of the staff. That was the best meat ever! I brought home enough leftovers to last me for a few more meals :)

This week has been pretty laid back as it was our only week off. We went to see Enredados (tangled) ...There was a two for one deal so we got in for aboubt 3 dollars total. Everything is sooo cheap (a full meal is about 2$). Also, we went to the zoo and saw Tigers fighting each other and llamas, and finally, monkeys. Also, I got my interview done for grad school and sent it off!! Hooray, so now I just have to wait (keeping my fingers crossed).

We've had a lot of fun getting to know the single adults here. Last weekend we went to a wedding. It started at about 10pm and went until 5am. We danced salsa and merengue to a live band! Then, early the next day we went on a 3 hour bus ride with the YSA to some waterfalls in the middle of the Jungle and swam and played soccer on the beach all day! We're loving it!

Back in Action

Well, it's official. One workshop down, and several more to go. Me and the assistant manager headed off to a town called Santa Maria on Tuesday for my first workshop. He wanted to go down there with me to "help me out." I don't know how helpful it was to have him there, but it was certainly fun to be there with at least one person that I know. So Tuesday night, we went to the church downtown to start up day one. The first day, there were 15 people there and 9 graduated. They were all really fun, and we had a really good time together. The assistant manager taught the Introduction and I taught the first cornerstone. He left me about 45 minutes. I tried to fit in everything that I could.

The next day, he came back to Porto Alegre to finish up some things here and I finished up the workshop alone. My hotel was really sweet. Holy cow! I was honestly a little surprised, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. During the days I was able to get a lot of homework done, and I taught the workshops at night. Last night, after the workshop was finished, the manager in Porto Alegre had come to say goodbye to everyone in Santa Maria since he's moving. So I just hitched a ride with him back home. We left there at about 11:30 and got home around 2:30 in the morning. He was driving so fast. It was nice to get home quickly, but I was a little worried for my life.

Today, me and Garrison went to the mall for a while with the assistant manager to eat some lunch and make some purchases. It was pretty fun to hang out a little after my "rough" week of work. We are having a good time here, and have enjoyed hearing from all of you. Keep us posted.
This was me with my peeps at a family home evening last Monday. The kid in the green shirt was my really good friend in the MTC in Brazil.

Vaughn and Garrison

BYU Basketball.

Enough said.

BOOM BABY!!

Team!
We taught our first workshop today which was incredible! We had about 18, super qualified, happy, loved crazy clap, people in our workshop which made it a blast! We were suprised at how fast the time went by. They each has great ideas for their lemon stands, they didn't quite think of the one in a lifetime idea of PUCKER UP but they had great ideas and are STOKED to learn about this stuff. We had a guy come in named Jesus who wants to start a gym and he wouldn't leave the workshop till he had finished his homework, he had it all planned out! It was AWESOME!!

This weekend was AWESOME!! Here in the Pais it was a long weekend from two holidays magically falling on friday and monday so on friday we went to a YSA activity which had a whopping 8 people, we played volleyball and watched the new Preach My Gospel videos which was actually really cool. The youth here are super strong and really desire to do what is right, and they have made us feel welcome.

On Saturday we were invited to a HUGE villa close to a beach with a young single adult and her family. We pretty much chilled by the pool and sipped lemonade in martini glasses with cool little beach umbrellas in them. haha just kidding. But we did chill by the pool. On Sunday they made us give talks about the second coming and the millenium to welcome us to the ward...just kidding! haha Our ward rocks! We have the biggest number of returned missionaries in the whole stake in our ward! Yesterday on monday we went to a YSA family home evening where we blessed the house of a member of the ward who had recently changed homes. Lindon and I were lucky enough to understand and laugh at some of the jokes that were said at the dinner table but we still draw blanks sometimes when they ask us questions and expect us to understand when they talk a million miles a min. :)

We love you guys and pray for Lindon who isn't feeling so good right now.

Tyler and Lindon

Semana Loca

So I felt bad when I looked on the blog to see that there was three pages of unread posts... I read all of them, and it made me so excited for you guys and what we're all doing.

The food is absolutely amazing, just like I had imagined Argentina would be when I got my mission call (I was disappointed by the food there, but here it's fulfilled my dreams).

We teach our first workshop on tuesday, and, like Steven mentioned, we have six planned. It doesn't seem like a lot, but supposedly there are forty-eight more blended in somewhere in the background... Our first few days of were crazy. Monday we spent nine hours travelling with our manager making visits and running errands. Tuesday we spent 13 hours! On the drive home I thought about those interns who spent forty/sixty hour weeks travelling and decided we couldn't do it. Luckily, the next morning I work up at three in the morning with a stomach ache and thought, "I'll use this as an excuse so we could rest and get some homework done." Little did I know that that stomach ache would keep me on the bathroom floor spooning the toilet until later in the day. I didn't get any homework done but I did rest. And the soup my manager bought me was fantastic.

The people here are so much, we went to a friend's house last night and played Halo and watched an english movie Grown up with spanish subtitles.

Loving the mexican life so far. Too bad I have to go a few days without eating picante.

Diego y Esteban.

One workshop down...

We finally taught our first workshop this weekend! We taught on Friday and Saturday night in a city about 1 hour outside of Puebla called Tlaxcala.

We had our first taste of "true authentic Mexican food" in Tlaxcala with our director and his wife. It was a buffet which included lamb, cow stomach, tongue, milanesa, and cactus leaves, which are a popular vegetable here. It was all actually super yummy!

We taught 37 people the first night and 32 the second. Our group was awesome and we had a ton of fun.