f41f26c88fb0--journal-10-2001-1-2003-steven-roper.txt

1/8/03 Dear Bear: How was your Christmas? Christmas came and we were not ready for it. We did try to get a Christmas spirit by inviting a family down the street to a FHE. We did and they are from Bolivia. I hope we can continue to share the gospel. Well on Christmas day we went to Mexico. Monterrey. Bakes mission. We drove 22 hours from grandma Vickers house in Victorville to McAllen Texas. Slept one night in the states then off to Mexico. We went and saw the movie Twin Towers, Lord of the rings (Sub titles in Spanish) in Reynosa while Bake went and set up some families to see. When the movies was over Bake showed up with a friend. Young girl named orlanda. She went with us to a family named Havier. Bake had baptized this family. Only the mom and kids and the-father got baptized after Bake had left. Strong family and really smart in the gospel. I was impressed with the family and how they knew why so many families fall 0,^ from the gospel with they just join the church. (Retention) They said it was the members

i

[email address removed]

Y ou

Charity Beck

i

fault cause they don’t fellowship them. The missionaries do their job and the members don’t. They told me Bake was not the typical missionary and that is why he will do well in the gospel after his mission. So many change their ways after they come home from their mission. The next day we were going to Monterrey, which is three hours away. The travel paperwork and vehicle-permit situation got too confusing to keep driving, so we left the van at the bus station and took the bus to Monterrey. Cindy was worried about the uncertainty, but we got through it. ON the bus Bake met a girt (Young girl that sat by him on the bus) He said he was in her house when he was a missionary and that she told him he looked familiar. Didn’t teach them the gospel but she was interested and gave bake her phone number. We got off the bus to enter the El Centro bus station. It was a zoo. You could tell it was not a safe place. So we left as soon as we can and stayed in a hotel two blocks away. Bake and me got a taxi and went to the mission home. Before we left we ordered a dominos pizza to the fam in the hotek The mission home was in one of the churches. One of the elders help us out a lot. By finding the cheapest car in all of Monterrey. Let me tell you it is not cheap to rent a car in Mexico. You think it would be cheaper but it is twice as much. I freaked out but soon can to my senses and paid the price. The first day we had a flat tire. Tire was rotten and they wanted us to pay for the tire. Unbelievable the way they handle business in Mexico. Not all places were like our car rental place some were honest. 1 told them to take back the car. After some argument they said they would not charge us for the tire. But when we brought the car back they wanted money for the Hubcap. Wouldn’t you thing they were both related. All they wanted was money. Some people are the same no matter what country you are in. I threw down 200 pesos and told them they were dishonest people. Bake said we should get a taxi as soon as possible because we don’t know what they will do. We had other problems with our hotel but they resolved it in an honest matter. So I would tend to think Mexico is not all bad. Only if you rent a car from the cheapest place in Mexico you are bound to have problems. Right. You would think that we didn’t have a good time but that is not true. I had one of the best times of my life. I know things didn’t go as well as they should, but that is the adventure of going to a foreign country. We went sesame street amusement park. We saw one of the most beautiful falls you could of ever seen. When we got there. The falls. I let-Angel, Tima and David. (A 14 year kid bake baptized) ride horses. WE walked, bake, Danielle and me. (An 18-year girl bake baptized} I didn’t know that they took two different trails to get to the falls. I went crazy cause when I got to the falls. My kids were not there and they left before I did. They told me I could find them at the top of the falls. I walked up

there and they were not there. So the only thing I could do is go the beginning and wait. ON my way down 1 saw them and every thing was Okay. They were good guys that guided the horse but some-times you just don’t know. This family that we brought to the falls wanted us to go with them to the mountains. WE stopped and bought T-bone steaks. Cheap. And cooked them in the mountains: It was an awesome time. No English but you can tell the love we had for each other because we had a common bound and that was Jacob. He was such a great missionary and it was nice to be there to find that out for out selves. You never know the influence you have on people until some one else can see it for them selves. Bakes two years were ones that he spent doing the best he cap in serving the Lord. Jacob wants to got back and help more people there in Mexico but now he has-to get on with his life. Lam proud-of that boy for doing so well and taking the gospel seriously. I just loved to be in the place where my boy served two years. Lv Alwys Steve

1/8/03 Dear Bear: How was your Christmas? Christmas came and we were not ready for it. We did try to get a Christmas spirit by inviting a family down the street to a FHE. We did and they are from Bolivia. I hope we can continue to share the gospel. Well on Christmas day we went to Mexico. Monterrey. Bakes mission. We drove 22 hours from grandma Vickers house in Victorville to McAllen Texas. Slept one night in the states then off to Mexico. We went and saw the movie Twin Towers, Lord of the rings (Sub titles in Spanish) in Reynosa while Bake went and set up some families to see. When the movies was over Bake showed up with a friend. Young girl named orlanda. She went with us to a family named Havier. Bake had baptized this family. Only the mom and kids and the-father got baptized after Bake had left. Strong family and really smart in the gospel. I was impressed with the family and how they knew why so many families fall 0,^ from the gospel with they just join the church. (Retention) They said it was the members

i

[email address removed]

Y ou

Charity Beck

i

fault cause they don’t fellowship them. The missionaries do their job and the members don’t. They told me Bake was not the typical missionary and that is why he will do well in the gospel after his mission. So many change their ways after they come home from their mission. The next day we were going to Monterrey, which is three hours away. The travel paperwork and vehicle-permit situation got too confusing to keep driving, so we left the van at the bus station and took the bus to Monterrey. Cindy was worried about the uncertainty, but we got through it. ON the bus Bake met a girt (Young girl that sat by him on the bus) He said he was in her house when he was a missionary and that she told him he looked familiar. Didn’t teach them the gospel but she was interested and gave bake her phone number. We got off the bus to enter the El Centro bus station. It was a zoo. You could tell it was not a safe place. So we left as soon as we can and stayed in a hotel two blocks away. Bake and me got a taxi and went to the mission home. Before we left we ordered a dominos pizza to the fam in the hotek The mission home was in one of the churches. One of the elders help us out a lot. By finding the cheapest car in all of Monterrey. Let me tell you it is not cheap to rent a car in Mexico. You think it would be cheaper but it is twice as much. I freaked out but soon can to my senses and paid the price. The first day we had a flat tire. Tire was rotten and they wanted us to pay for the tire. Unbelievable the way they handle business in Mexico. Not all places were like our car rental place some were honest. 1 told them to take back the car. After some argument they said they would not charge us for the tire. But when we brought the car back they wanted money for the Hubcap. Wouldn’t you thing they were both related. All they wanted was money. Some people are the same no matter what country you are in. I threw down 200 pesos and told them they were dishonest people. Bake said we should get a taxi as soon as possible because we don’t know what they will do. We had other problems with our hotel but they resolved it in an honest matter. So I would tend to think Mexico is not all bad. Only if you rent a car from the cheapest place in Mexico you are bound to have problems. Right. You would think that we didn’t have a good time but that is not true. I had one of the best times of my life. I know things didn’t go as well as they should, but that is the adventure of going to a foreign country. We went sesame street amusement park. We saw one of the most beautiful falls you could of ever seen. When we got there. The falls. I let-Angel, Tima and David. (A 14 year kid bake baptized) ride horses. WE walked, bake, Danielle and me. (An 18-year girl bake baptized} I didn’t know that they took two different trails to get to the falls. I went crazy cause when I got to the falls. My kids were not there and they left before I did. They told me I could find them at the top of the falls. I walked up

there and they were not there. So the only thing I could do is go the beginning and wait. ON my way down 1 saw them and every thing was Okay. They were good guys that guided the horse but some-times you just don’t know. This family that we brought to the falls wanted us to go with them to the mountains. WE stopped and bought T-bone steaks. Cheap. And cooked them in the mountains: It was an awesome time. No English but you can tell the love we had for each other because we had a common bound and that was Jacob. He was such a great missionary and it was nice to be there to find that out for out selves. You never know the influence you have on people until some one else can see it for them selves. Bakes two years were ones that he spent doing the best he cap in serving the Lord. Jacob wants to got back and help more people there in Mexico but now he has-to get on with his life. Lam proud-of that boy for doing so well and taking the gospel seriously. I just loved to be in the place where my boy served two years. Lv Alwys Steve