Forgot to post this last week....oops!!

Sorry, forgot to post this last week!!!!

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing? I hope that everything is going well, and that you are all getting excited for graduation and everything! I can not believe that Kylie is graduating this week. It just doesn't seem right it is so crazy! I wish I could be there soo bad but oh well i guess haha. I am sure that it is going to be an awesome experience though! Good luck!

Things here were pretty good this past week. There really was not a ton that happened that was too exciting. It rained a lot this week, so there were a lot of wet days haha. We got to play tennis a couple of times in the morning for our exercise time though so that was cool. I am absolutely terrible at tennis now...apparently 9 months without practicing at all is pretty bad for your tennis game haha. 

One thing that was pretty exciting is that there was some truck that was just randomly on fire on the side of the road one day. I am not really sure where it came from or what was going on, but we just drove past it on the freeway and there was some guy with his face painted like a clown who walked up and grabbed a backpack out of this flaming car and then walked off. When we drove back past it on the way home it was still burning and there were firetrucks there just dumping tons of water on it, and the crazy clown guy was nowhere to be seen. It was super weird!!! 

Other than that is was just a normal week pretty much! 

Well I hope that you all have a great week! I love you and miss you all so much! I will talk to you soon!

love,

Elder Searle

Ups and downs...

Sounds like he had an interesting and a bit frustrating week!!

Hey everyone! happy memorial day!
I hope that you are all doing great! It sounds like it was a pretty good
week so that is really good!
This last week here was pretty crazy! overall good! We had a baptism this
week. A 19 year old guy named Kevin Torres. He is super cool! The
missionaries started teaching him about 2 days before I got to Caparra, and
we have been teaching him since. It was really cool to see how much he
likes the church and everything. He is a really nice and sincere guy. Elder
Nadauld and I were very excited about him being able to get baptized.
This week I also crashed my bike one day because there was a ton of rain.
It broke the gear shifter right off of my bike and the back tire fell off
while I was riding it. It was pretty crazy. So then we were walking a lot
for two days, and on Friday I had to take it to get fixed at the bike
store. 60 bucks later I have a good bike again so that is good! haha.
Another thing that was really cool that happened this week was that we had
a meeting with a guy that just moved into our ward a couple weeks ago and
his wife. His name is brother lee and he is a former mission president and
a former 70, so it was a pretty sweet appointment. He is a really cool guy
that knows a ton!
I got the package with the shirts in it too! Thanks so much for that! It
saved my life cus it rained litterally all week and my clothes did not have
a chance to dry haha but I had new shirts so it was no problem!
I did not hear anything from the Kirks or get to see them. That is a
bummer!
Well I don't have a ton of time cus it is another holiday :( but at least
today is a real holiday haha.
Well I love you and miss you all! Talk to you soon! Happy memorial day!
love,
Elder Searle

Mothers Day!

Well as you know, Elder Searle was able to call home today!  It was awesome!  He was supposed to call at 2:00 but he actually called at 1:00!  Thankfully we had decided to leave church early just in case.  So glad we did.  So, I got to talk to him for quite a while.  We had a total of about 45 minutes on the phone and another 45 minutes of Skype.  It was totally awesome!!!  He is really happy!  He looks really good and he sounds really good.  I was just so happy for him today.  I am happy to report that I didn't even cry when I talked to him.  I know, I know, it is truly a miracle.  Anyway, things are going great for him.  He loves the people and he loves the food.  Right now it is the beginning of the rainy season and it rains a ton!!  He said that is better than it being so hot though.  The bad thing is that  they don't have a dryer and they are supposed to just hang their clothes outside to dry.  Well, they never dry!!  Haha. Another bad thing is that he hurt his ankle really bad on Wednesday.  He thought he broke it but now he things he may have just torn something!  He showed it to us and it doesn't look very good...poor kid!!  Hopefully it feels better soon!!  So, we surprised him and had the nieces and nephews here so they could Skype with him.  It was pretty cool!!  Not everyone was here, but it was still cool!  I think he loved it!  Also, Amanda came up and so he got to see her too!  It was a good day!  I still miss him like crazy but this definitely will help me get through the next little while. I am so thankful for modern technology and mostly for Skype!!!!  What a great Mothers Day I had!

Rain, Rain, Rain

hey everyone!! 

It sounds like it was a pretty good week at home so that is great! I am happy to hear it! Things here were pretty good as well. One thing that was pretty crazy this week was all of the rain. I am pretty sure that the rainy season is starting here because it has just been coming in buckets and buckets. On Tuesday, there was so much rain that the streets basically turned into rivers. There was water almost halfway up our bike tires and the sewer grates got ripped out of the ground and floated away!! It was crazy! I don't think i have ever been so wet in my life haha. It was also the first time that I have been cold here. 

This week I spent a lot of time in meetings, so that wasn't super fun, but at least it was more time in air conditioning haha. And I went and bought a tennis racket because we were going to play tennis today for P-Day, but it is raining a ton now so that probably isn't going to happen haha. But I found out that there are tennis courts and a golf course in my area, so I hope the weather starts being good on P-Day's so that we can have some fun! haha. 

we taught quite a few lessons this week so that was good. There are quite a few people here who let us in and listen to us. More than in the other areas where I have been, so that is really good. 

Other than that the week wasn't all that exciting..But this next week is going to be great!! Almost Mother's Day! Woohoo I am way excited! I can't wait to Skype you and see you guys! It is going to be a great Sunday that is for sure!

Well I hope that you all have a great week! I love you and miss you a ton! Talk to you Sunday!!

love,

Elder Searle

Doing awesome!!!

Here is today's email and he is doing great!!

hey everyone!

How is everyone? it sounds like you all had a pretty good and exciting week! That is great! I am happy to hear about cheer, and track, and mom's race, and Ty's mission call! that is all great news! Super exciting that Tyler is going to New York! That is crazy he leaves almost the same day that I left too! Exciting stuff!!

This week here was really good! I am really enjoying my new area! I get along really well with my new companion, and the other people in our house, and overall it has been one of the funnest weeks that I have had on my mission. Things overall just went really well! It was definitely a little bit weird to be with a new missionary for my companion, mostly just because he doesn't really speak Spanish yet, but it was really good! I also really like being more in the city area. There are so many more people to talk too! And my area is way smaller! It is definitely a different style of work here, and I definitely like it a lot better. In the last week I talked to soo many people it was crazy! And we set a baptismal date for the 18th of May with one of our investigators so that was really cool! He is a 19 year old kid named Kevin, and he came with us to play basketball at mutual and stuff and loved it. He is a cool guy and we are way excited to keep working with him in the next couple of weeks. 

Well I am getting way excited for Mother's day! I can't believe that it is less than 2 weeks away! That seems crazy. the last couple of weeks have just kind of flown by! 

Well I hope that you all have a great week! I love you and miss you all so much! Talk to you soon!

love,

Elder Searle

Transferred, Adidas, and dengue...

Hey everyone! 

How are things going back home? I hope that you are all doing great! It sounds like it is finally starting to warm up a little bit so that is good! I bet you are all happy about that. 

Things here are really good! I got transferred!! Now I am in Caparra, with Elder Nadauld (the person who was supposed to come be my companion a few weeks ago). Caparra is in the city so I am super excited! It is also the area right next to where I was at in Toa Baja. I am super stoked because I like the North side of the island a lot better! Less sun and more green haha. So now I am the District Leader of the district up here, which is my companion and I, Elder Astle and a new missionary who is coming in tomorrow, and two sister missionaries. I am going to be living in the same house as Elder Astle so that is sweet! I think it is going to be a really good transfer! If nothing else it will be interesting. I will be in a new area, as a District Leader, and training as well. Half of the missionaries in my District are new missionaries so that is pretty exciting too haha. 

Last week was really good. I took a kung fu lesson last P-Day from this crazy kungfu teacher here who is an inactive member. He learned Kung-Fu when he was a prisoner of war in the phillipines and it is crazy all the stuff he can do. He started it off by doing pushups off of one of his thumbs! It was a really cool experience! 

Then another cool thing that happened this week is that I went and did some service at a members house. We were mixing and pouring cement, and it got my shoes really dirty and everyone except for me was really worried about it, so when we were about to leave, the guy gave me a brand new pair of Adidas that he bought for his son a few months ago but he never wore them. He wouldn't let us leave until I took them, and I thought it was super nice of him. They are pretty sweet shoes! 

Other than that this week was pretty crazy. I was in meetings all day on Tuesday and Thursday. Didn't sleep in my own house until Friday, worked in 4 different areas, and on Friday Saturday and Sunday I was with an Elder in my District who had dengue. He is feeling a lot better now, but it was pretty rough for him for a while. I definitely don't want to get dengue! But yeah so it was definitely a little bit out of the ordinary this week. 

Well I hope that you all have a great week! I love you and miss you all so much! I will talk to you soon! 

love,

Elder Searle

Sounds good and yay for some pics!!!

Hey everyone!
I hope that you are all doing superb and that the past week has been great!
Things here have been pretty good. Probably the most exciting thing that
happened this week was that we had a super awesome service project. We went
and washed the fishing boat of this super rich member. It was soooo sweet!
His boat is super nice and we got to start the day hanging out on a boat,
but it wasn't in the water, in a Nautic Club, wearing shorts and my
Sperries with no socks, and sunglasses. It was definitely a lot of fun.
Other than that it was another pretty crazy week. I am still companionless,
and last week I only spent 12 hours in my area so that was definitely a
little different. I did way more driving around than I usually do so that
was alright haha. If nothing else it was a good change of pace from riding
my bike around i the sun all day everyday!
This week is probably going to be more of the same. I have meetings
tomorrow and on Thursday, and I won't be getting a new companion til next
Monday or Tuesday, so I will be doing a lot of hopping around again! I
actually kind of like it, it is just hard cus I don't get to work very much
with the people that I am teaching.
Hmmm other than that there really isn't all that much new around here.
Today is another holiday, I am not sure what it is though because nobody
that I ask ever knows what all these fake holidays are haha. But yeah it
was a really good week, and I am looking forward to another one!
Well I hope that you all have a great week! Enjoy all the snow out there
haha, it is still super sunny and warm here!
Love you and miss you all! Talk to you soon!
love
Elder Searle

 

Now this is the kid I remember:)

 

Love this!!!!

 

Oh goodness....