Elder Reid & his Comp Meet a Famous Boxer!!!

If you don't know this guy, he is Julio Cesar Chavez a famous boxer that lives in Culiacan. Read on...

Elder Reid has been serving in the heart of Culiacan for a few weeks now and is loving it. He's in the same Ward as his Mission President, the Ward is quite large and he's already talked in Sacrament (which he's getting a little more used to). He loves the fact that it's a little more "big city" than the areas he's been in, and more store/food options means he's not gotten sick since he's been there (yay!). There's a Sears nearby so he asked us to send him a little cash so he can replenish his "tie" options -- he's given a few ties away to previous companions and feels the need to switch it up a bit! He's still trying not to loose his way in the big city and talked about almost getting hit twice - once by a bus and once by a car "Crazy Drivers!" -- sounds like Utah! ha ha

I'm posting today's letter... quite entertaining!

hello my parents - how are you doing? sounds like you are doing good and ditching out on halloween huh? sounds good to me haha (Keith and I went to dinner and a show Saturday instead of passing out candy -- we have options now that we are empty nesters! Tried a really yummy diner called The Left Fork -- it was really really good!)

Do they do Halloween where you are at?
they do but it is not really big. they dont do it too much, there are not too many kids out probobly because there is so much drugs and stuff that they just don’t. its downtown where i am so its not like little kids can just go roaming the streets with all the bad people out...... (well, that gives me a warm a fuzzy)

How's the weather, has it cooled off at all?
yes it has cooled off but it is still hot during the day. it is not as hot, but it is hot. it is like perfect they say in dec and that is the month that no one leaves because the weather is so nice

Any near misses with buses or random street cars?
No, didnt have any incidences with buses lately. i am getting used to it and staying away from places where i can get ran over! haha

How do you and your comp get along??
fantastic! me and my comp get along really well (his current comp is another native from Mexico… Elder Gonzalez I think) he is way cool and we work together really well. we are going to have some good baptisms this month which is cool. we are going to have one baptism this week, a boy that is 12 and he is way cool. and then we just met this one guy, we talked to and taught him once and then we went back and did lesson two and challenged him to be baptised and he accepted! so at the end we invited him to come to church and he said "yes i will like that" plane and simple, it never happens like taht so we are thinking well who knows, with it being the day of the dead and stuff it is lots with the family - and so we are in sac like 10 min into it and thinking we are not going to have anyone in sac and in walks him haha. he came solo, it was amazing so we will have his baptism the 21 if everything goes well. that was cool to see that he came on his own. he loves to talk to us and learn more......

Dad and I google earth'd Culiacan city where you are at, it's huge! I can see why you get lost... and we found the rich rich houses you mentioned.
and yes it is big and we get lost sometimes not too often but it is big and we dont really work in the rich part because for one, in the day they are all working because they have huge houses, so gone all day until nine in the night so we dont really work there haha

Any exciting stuff happen lately?
and so exciting happen lately, well this week we went to go with a recent convert and we went past the house of this boxer that i told you about. he was out front and we walked past and he was yelling "run run up the hill as fast as you can" because it is way steep and we were laughing and then my companion says "its julio cesar Chavez, i want a picture with him!" so we go back down and talk to him and he says yes and so we take a picture with him and then he says if we can run up the hill as fast as we can without stopping he will give us 500 pesos... and then he says “no, a race against my friends” and so we go and race up the hill and we won and so we got back down and he hands us both 500 pesos like 50 dollars haha and we say no no of course, ha ha! So that is my wierd story for the week....... (this makes me laugh! Can you just picture two missionaries running their little guts out? Ties just a flapping in the wind... Classic!) -- and, I googled Julio’s name and there’s tons of cool stuff on the internet about him! Quite impressive career he's had. They should try double challenging to get a lesson in next time! :-)

Any embarrassing stuff? Ha ha
i have a story to tell you but i will need to write it in a letter and i am working on writing you a letter and so i will send it soon haha and it will have more stories like that i just dont have a lot of time to write all them down haha well in a email anyways. take care and hope all is well and goes well this week love you tons Elder Reid

Can't wait to get the letter! He only send letters once in a while but they are usually long and written over periods of time. It's fun to get more details. I'll post the pics of them with the famous boxer when he send the next thumb drive home (in a month or two). He mentioned in one of his last e-mails that he's having the time of his life! We feel very blessed that he's enjoying his mission so much!