Written July 6

We have been stressin out here in hondo with johnny's baptism. we got it all planned everyone's talks assigned and then he didnt show up. Not only that we talk to his daughters mom and she wants to make sure that her kids know what they are getting themselves into so they werent able to get baptized either. We had a great fourth of july though at a members house so that was fun.Johnny De la Rosa-- We have been work real hard with johnny this week. it the past johnny was a fighter mainly on the streets. Along with that he drank alot and smoked alot. Basically he has had a real rough life and his old lif seems to be caughting up with him alot, now that he is trying to change.And we knew that he was slipping with his cigarettes and fighting. So this week we have been basically in daily contact with him and give him as much support as possible. For the 4th of july we knew satan was going to test him hardcore. So we set up Bar-B-Que with one of the members that he could go to and get away from his house. and meet with him that day to make sure he was coming. We meet with him and he seemed pritty tired real loopy and we learned he has an ulser that he has to go get blood for. He said he was coming and so we left. At the bar-b-que we called him. He didnt answer. Called again. He didnt answer.We didnt hear from him till the family that normally picks him up for church came in with out him. It turns out after we left he took a nap, slept through the BBQ, and then woke up at 2 o clock in the morning and starts tring to find something to do. When he went out into the street in front of his house his ex-wifes uncle calls him over to him. when johnny gets there he starts provoking him. provokes him alittle more and the WHAM clocks him across the face. We had talked to johnny about not fighting and just walking away to he turn around after just getting hit and tries to walk away. the uncle then turns him around again and WHAM clocks him again. So then johnny got into it with his uncle. Needless to say, he was in no shape to get baptized and when Elder Tervort went over to his house his teeth were bleeding and his jaw was swollen up. Earlier in the week we went and talked to Johnny's ex-wife Alicia about her daughters getting baptized. She wanted to wait and make sure that they knew what they were getting into. but it was freakin sweet. So the mom turns to the 10 year old daughter and asked her what it meant to be baptized, expecting her daughter to know nothing about it, and sabrina, age 10 just goes off and tell her mom all about what we had taught her, all about the holy ghost, what happens at baptism when we get was clean of our sins. Then she starts going off about the sun, the moon, stars about the pre earth life tells us that she going to go to the sun. It was the most vindicating moments ever. She remembered what we had taught her. Just fantastic. Then we turn to the mom and asked her if she need to get any help getting to church to see johnnys baptism. She never came because we never had the baptism but it was still an awesome moment.Eddy-- I mentioned eddy in the last letter but Eddy is a former investigator from two transfers ago that appeared back on the map. He has been going to church with a family in our ward for a while and he is really familar with the church, Has freinds in the ward, basically he is a member but he just hasn't gotten baptized yet. the reason he didnt get baptized before was because he wasn't 18 and he didn't have a very supportive family. He now he is 18 so it solves both problems. Long story short he is getting baptized next week and he is STOKED. Nothing we do in missionary work is a sure thing but if there was ever a investigator that would get baptized it would be him.We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week i went to San Antonio, it was fun to speak alittle spanish again. By the way the BBQ on the fourth was fantastic we got chicken smoke with mesquite and had fun talking with the ward. Later we stopped tracking at 8 and went and did fireworks with another family in our ward, the Romeros. Oh and i think the mice have retreated because we have only caught 2 all week, which is good because the battle was starting to get alittle gorey and there was blood everywhere.
So that was my week
Mom-- it is good to hear that you are making new friend with the people around the blockRob-- What?Jannene-- Thanks for the love. And the apartment is great the only problem is that the mice seem to have the same oppinion.Raschel-- I need to work on my follow through but after that i will be the best dunker ever.G-Ma Loveless-- Thank you so much for the letters, I read them, I love them, I just hope one of these days i will be able to reply to one of them
Elder Loveless

Written June 29

Alright so i will start with the awesome news, This week we have 4 peeps with a Baptismal date, BOO YAH!!. We have Jonny and his daughter Sabrina, age 11 with a date this week the 5th, and Vacilia Johnny's oldest age 13, and Eddy Rodrigez next week the 12th. Johnny is going strong, we got his one his three youngest kids to come to church this week, which was sweet and... they loved it. Vacilia the oldest daughter was able to come to church but hopefully she will be hear of her sisters experience and get to church.
This week we have been having a war with Nature. Last week we figured out that our apartment has Mice, so we went to war. We now have 4 traps set at all time. so far we have killed 29 mice and counting. the mouse trap seems to be snapping at all times in the day. Our best day was wednsday when we caught 8 mice, at one point all 4 traps had mice in them. Our greastest triumph so far is the "two-fer", where we caught two mice on one trap at the same time, We got two-fer-one and yes we have pictures of it. I think we have scared the mice off when they saw that we were caughting them 2 at a time becuase we havn't caught any mice for two days.
Anyway everything is going good here. Everyone thankyou for you letters, love, and supported I couldnt do it with out you guys. Alright love ya all bye.
Elder Loveless

Written June 22

So Not much is going on here in Hondo.So our area from tip to tip is about 260 miles long we cover about 6 small towns out here, so it is huge.We are the only two missionarys for 50 miles so we stay pritty isolated from the rest of the mission out here. We have a truck which is nice becuase its an oven out here, This whole week it has been about 103 with the humidity. Most everyone speaks english out here even the Mexicans so i mostly speak english. My companion, Elder Trevort, is the district leader here which is cool. He is a way sweet missionary and works hard so it nice, it makes it easier to lose yourself in the work. He Got the flu over this last week and so we had two days where we stayed indoors. He is fine now i have been feelling great. We Got one investigator with a baptismal date over the last week, which is sick. His name is Johnny, oh and his daughter was sitting there listening intently so while it was our first time meeting her we got her with a target date too, Thats how we do it in the TSAM. But Elder Trevort knocked into Johnny Boy he is a single dad with 3 kids, he lives w/ his parents and everything so far has been going good. Satan seem to work the hardest on people right before they do something great and with Johnny we are starting to see that so we are starting to get nervious right now but hopefully everything will pan out. Well i hope ya all know by know that i love guys. I hope everything is still going good. I hope brother Jarvis is alright. Here is my new address for all ya all
2805 Avenue U #908 Hondo Tx 78861
Elder Loveless
Ps. Dad, HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!

Written June 15 2009

Ok so i didnt quite make it to the border. I they dropped me off alittle early. Anyway there is a small town inbetween the border and San Antonio named Hondo texas. If you googlemap it, it is only about a mile and a half from one side of town to the other and the nearest town is about 20 miles away, I am there. Talking with the ward it seems like there is alot of work to do out here though, out of 400 people on the ward roster only 70-100 people are considered active. Most people in Hondo have heard our message so it seems like that is where the most potentail is. Hopefully we can reactivate 300 people and get a few people baptized as well.Alright well i love ya all

Elder Loveless

Written June 1

Alright so last week we had a great week here in the TSAM ( Texas San Antonio Mission). Our zone had 6 people baptized yesterday which is Fantastic. And yesterday i had my first chance to baptize someone and it was sweet. He is a 10 year old Kid named Johnathan just an awesome kid. About a month and a half ago his grandma and mom came up to the bishop and told him they wanted him to get baptized. We taught for three week each tuesday and had a date for him to get baptized when he completely fell off the face of the planet and missed his date. It was strange because he has been coming to church for awhile with his grandma. After two week we just dropped him and moved on. And then last week his grandma called out of the blue on day and told us he was at the church and we needed to teach him. We come over taught him and got him baptized Sunday. It was such a relief it so frusarateing to see the easy ones slip between the cracks, but it all worked out for the best so i guess it all good.AdiosElder Loveless

Written May 18

Alright so it turn i do have some stories for ya all the. First So for p-day we're able to go and play sports or go shopping food. so two weeks ago we went to a member house which was a ballin house right on the river with their own baseball field football field pool, just ballin. But so we were playing a little football and i caught one pass and came down from the pass and some how my feet go tangled with another elders and i came down hard on my shoulder and just heard a pop. I stood up and tried to start playing again but my arm wouldn't lift up it sucked. So after a few minutes i decided i probably could play without lifting up my arm so i went inside. Two hours later i was sitting in the emergency room. They told me that i had torn my rotator cuff. I set up an appointment for a specialist. At the specialist office, a week later, they correct that diagnosis and told me i had separated my collar bone from my shoulder blade. They grade them from 1-5 1- it pops out and goes back in 3- you get surgery and 5 it sticks out of the flesh. Turns out i have a 2 which means out of socket but i don't have surgery. But everything is fine and my arm has been able to raise more and more everyday. I want to stress i am fine and there is no need to worry about me Also i is funny that you guys asked my about weird food cause later that like 2 days after i talked to you i had the most disgusting meal of my life. Alright so it went a little like this. So we went over a members house. She had feed us a few time before and but that night she decided to treat us with a "mexican delicasy", Mundo. For those of you that don't know what mundo is i will explain it. Mundo is the inner lining of the cows stomach and intestines. There two types one has a honeycomb texture on one side and a really slimy texture on the other. the second has a almost hairy texture To be Continued......


Mundo... it is just covered in "cilia" with a slimy side. It was nasty. I could get past the fact that my stomach was going to digest stomach i don't know how that would or should wark stomach should digest stomach. And she did a really good job of preparing it but occasionally you just gott a whiff of straight raw sewage. Horrible. but it gets worse. As a side dish we hash Chicharon. Chicharon is raw uncooked pig fat. just a big slab of pig fat. I almost puked while sitting there. Anyway i apologize if anyones stomach is sick now but i had to tell ya all about but i have to go now. See ya

Airplane ride, New Companions, Texas, and Baptisms

Texas is the best place on earth. It's fantastic here my and so are my new companions- and yes I am in another trio but it alright cause they're sweet guys- are Elder Loumeau and Elder Orme, the Zone leaders here in the Lake Austin Ward in Austin. Man I have no idea where to start. Alright from the top I was able to do a few approaches at the airport. They went well. With one I met the Mayor of South Ogden. It was sweet he was in his skater\tennis shoes and tee shirt. It turns out he was a member for 30 years going off to a committee in San Antonio. Then on the plane I talked to a pharmacist salesman also a member. Then we touched down in San Antonio and at the luggage claim. I talked to our pilot from our plane and introduced him to our church. We met our Mission President President Cutler, went to his house ate. After We got to the Alamo and got proselyte there, again sweet. We did get to tour the Alamo because it closed right when we got there, But still it was cool to be there. So that night me and my group of 18 other missionaries sleep at the Assistants to the Presidents house and two other apts. I then got told about and shipped up to Austin Texas, Gods country, to meet my new companions. The moment I got here they put my luggage into the apartment, ate and we went proselyting and teaching people for the rest of the night. To be continued...


... So over the last few days I have taught around 20 different lessons. We constantly just work all day long and never stop. If an appointment fall through we knock, from 6 o'clock in the morning to 10:30 at night So we are in the ghetto here in Austin and there are a ton of humble people that like to here about our message so get to teach a lot lessons. Some of the success stories are that we just attended a baptism for another companionship yesterday and we now have two with dates to take the plunge.
Anyway like always love you all But the time is up.

Ryan

P.S. A little explanation about the title. The Texas pride here is everywhere. So we were driving down the freeway on our way to Austin and there was a big Street sign that said "Don't mess with Texas", it was hilarious