Week 7

Hola todos!! I have a lot a lot to say. Sorry for not emailing for a bit the ccm was just kind of the same thing every Day.

One week ago today I got up at 2 am to get on my bus to the airport. There was one other person from my district on there with me but once we got to the airport I was on my own. Went through security and checked bags and was in Merida by 9 am or so. The mission president and his wife and the APs we're there waiting for us to come through. We got in a van and drove to the mission home. After a little of being there we met with all the trainers and people who work in the mission home and we had pizza and Hung out for a bit. Then we all sat around in a circle and we we're assigned companions. Luckily, I got a guy who Speaks english. There was a big possibility that wouldnt be the case so PHEW.

After that I got my hammock (its all Hot pink) and called my fam and then me and my comp left to get to my first area.

Took an uber to the bus station and bussed 2.5 hours to my area. When we got there we had a dinner appointment that we went right to.

This was such an immediate culture shock. Everyone here lives in concrete and mud huts. I go to this house and sit Down in a dirty stained plastic chair and this 3 foot by 3 foot little table and I look up and there hundreds of bugs crawling out of the ceiling and geckos and spiders all over the wall. There we're bugs falling in my food from the ceiling. Everything is old and ratty and dirty and I was actually thinking how was I going to live like this for 2 years. For these of you who know me you know I'm too big of a germaphobe. Especially when it comes to other peoples germs. Now I'm eating off slighty washed off utensils eating foot made in these conditions. 

Then after to make me even more uncomfortable we get to my house at like 930 at night and the place is a STY. Socks, clothes, dust, dirty bugs, spiders everything you can think of was just lurking. And the house was so Hot and humid I was so disappointed HAHA. That was my first day.

Next morning we went to another town for district council and I got my sombrero. We got some food then did some mission work at the end of the Day. 

Lot of walking haha we walk everywhere except to get to other pueblos.

We algo ate Lunch at a members house that Day. I had prayed to just feel confortable and to be humble and I havent had a problem with anything since. Whats beautiful is that these people have so little and theyre so happy. Everyone lives with next to nothing, doesnt affect them just because thats how it is here, I love it. 

I also killed a scorpion that night in the house. I promptly took to cleaning and sweeping out the whole house. I broke down so many ecosystems and animal families haha. Now I can be somewhat comfortable here.

Next day was our first day in a new Pueblo, like a 30 minute bus ride from our house. The highlight of that day was a specific lesson. This family let us in and my comp gave such a good introduction to our beliefs and the book of Mormon. What is hard for me right now is not knowing enough of the language to contribute much. I just sit there trying to figure out what my comp is teaching and talking about waiting for a question he will ask me. That lesson, he asked me what the book of Mormon means to me. And my mouth was FILLED and without an extra breath I bore my testimony of the book of Mormon and why it's so important in almost perfect spanish. My comp recited to her the first vision and I couldn't help but tear up. They asked so many questions and were genuinely so interested and said they had been waiting for something like this because they said they've found so many other religions are corrupt. And these principles of the gospel to them were just ground breaking knowledge you could see their excitement. 

We had a few other good lessons that day, ate a lot of food with some members there, I realized I hate HATE flan. 

Next Day was another Pueblo all the way on the edge of the gulf. Had a few good lessons that day too and I felt more confident in being asked more questions by my comp. It just gets frustrating sometimes because there's so much I want to say and bear testimony of and my lips are tied and I just have to sit there. It's okay for now I'm just supposed to be learning. 

We gave a lesson that day to the cousin of this member who drove us around that day. She had only heard of us through her cousin. We gave a message on the book of Mormon and she also seemed really receptive too. I actually kind of led that discussion.

Next day was stuff around here in my home town. Cansahcab. The natives here call it Kansas city. I don't even know why.

Highlight of that day was probably teaching this one boy, he's about like 14, his family is inactive but he still takes lessons from us. I challenged him to read the book of Mormon everyday for the next week until we see him again and to pray about it everyday with true intent. I told him if he doesn't feel a thing, we never have to see him again, but I promised him if he wanted to know it's true then to take me up on what I told him, and I said he had nothing to lose. I know he's reading, I'm excited to see him again, my comp is going to invite him to get baptized next visit if all goes well.

Nowwww Saturday was a regular day, we taught an english class to some members and did normal work. That night we were having trouble talking to anyone none of our contacts had time or were home or wanted to hear. We prayed to find somebody and the next house we knocked opened the door long enough to hear a lesson and we gave her a book of Mormon. We're following up this week.

Sunday is a DOOZY. I woke up with a stomach infection. Probably the sickest I had ever been in my life. I couldn't stop throwing up. They asked me to give my testimony in church and I had thrown up 2 minutes before I got on the pulpit haha. So after I got the day off and I didn't leave my hammock from Maybe 2-3 yesterday until now. I think I'm all better. The testimony went good! For one week down the members and I were impressed at my ability to talk and say what I wanted to, I think they like me.

Miscellaneous stuff:

My favorite thing in the world here is cheap bread. I could eat it forever.

Dogs- oh my goodness the poor dogs. I don't even know where to start. They are all skin and bone and all of them are beaten by their owners. Every dog I see won't let me come within 10 feet of touching it or if it does and realizes I'm not going to hit it with a machete, won't leave me alone haha! Because I don't beat them. I see them tied up to trees everywhere just alone and starving. Some with their paws half cut off from being hit with a machete or worse. The other night while my comp was sharing a message to a guy, his kids were playing with the dog. They would rub their hands in the dirt and then rub all over the dog to get it dirty then they'd grab it by its hind legs and drag it across the asphalt. I went up to the dog and started loving on it and I swear this dog started just crying in my arms. It just tucked its head in between my neck and shoulder and refused to leave.

All animals here are beat haha but I have the most sympathy for the dogs. 

I don't mind sleeping in a hammock at all, I am getting better at it everyday its actually a skill to know how to configure yourself and distrubute your weight. For those of you who don't know, it's too hot here to have beds so everyone sleeps in hammocks. 

And, the heat. I average like 36-41 degrees centigrade here which is like 96-105 degrees fareinheit. The humidity will be as low as 30 and as high as 80. I don't mind it really I just have come to expect nothing less than to sweat my guts out haha.

Oh and the house. We lose power and water pretty frequently so it'll get hotter in here sometimes than outside haha. There was one day when we were trying to do comp study in the house without any fans or anything and we we're just pouring sweat. I couldn't look down at my book without soaking the page haha! But just all part of the fun here.

I'm sure there are things I've forgotten but at this point I'd be surprised if most of you read this far so I'll end it here.

I'm so happy to he here and I already love it. I love my Lord and I can't wait to see you all again.

Merida

 Date: 8 May 2023  

Dear family of Elder Bastian,

We are pleased to receive Elder Bastian to the México, Mérida Mission.  President and Hermana Olguin have met with him and your missionary is with his trainer Elder Cline! We are grateful for the service of Elder Bastian in this great work of gathering Zion.  We love him already!  

Bye CCM, Hello Merida!

Paxton got up at 1:45 this morning, gave his companion some knuckles and headed to the airport to fly to Merida. He was one of 8 people from the CCM traveling to Merida and the only one from his district.  We just got a call from him so that he could tell us he made it to Merida safely. He was able to meet his Mission President and now he has a 3 hour bus drive to his first assigned area. He did meet his first companion in the field who surprisingly is a white guy. He said most everyone in the mission is Hispanic and speaks Spanish fluently. It’s pretty intimidating but his Spanish is coming along. He can teach gospel lessons in Spanish but regular conversation is still a work in progress. 

He said is unbelievably hot. It’s almost indescribable as it’s 101 degrees at 78% humidity so he just went from 70 degrees to 107 (with the humidity) it’s going to take some getting used to for sure!

He didn’t have long to talk, they had to hit the road but he is safe, and he is happy! ❤️

(This is his last picture with his CCM district that he has been with since day 1 of home MTC. They are all heading to different parts of the world speaking Spanish). 

What incredible young Men and Women!! I am so impressed and amazed! I know the Lord is watching over them but please keep the missionaries in your prayers as they go forth to preach the gospel of Jesus  Christ! 

Some MTC pics

p.s.

 Ps. I'm insane at pickle ball

Week Dos

 Holaaaa

Over the last week I've realized that everyone can speak a certain amount of spanglish. It just comes down to peoples ratios. As in, the ratio of how much they can speak Spanish as opposed to English or vice versa. This week I have gotten a little better. I'd say I am almost 50-50 here almost after this week. More in terms of listening and reading spanish. Talking is still not as easy obviously but it's coming. Spanglish has become a common term here because they're encouraging us more and more to just speak Spanish as much as we can and as much as we know and fill in the gaps. My district last Sunday for some reason thought it'd be a good idea to do an English fast for a day. So on monday we decided to speak only spanish for the whole day and the one who spoke english the most on accident had to buy the district ice cream.

This was the dumbest idea ever.

The whole day just turned into one big game of charades haha. And our brains were fried by the end of the day and most of us would have rather just bought us ice cream so that we didn't have to participate in the challenge. 

Speaking of Sunday, it was a pretty special day. I was the most prepared for a sacrament and priesthood session I probably ever have been and I felt the spirit so strongly. Which means I cried the whole time. The way things are set up here is you have a district over you when you come in, and when that district teaches you the ropes they leave and the following weeks we have districts under us that were assigned to teach this week. The district in front of us was leaving Monday and bore their testimonies to us and almost all of it was in Spanish and I couldn't make out anything but the spirit they had with them and how passionate they were.

Wednesday. Some general authorities came from the seventies. One was in the presidency and he was kind of the keynote talk. His name is Elder Palmer and he was awesome. He had a thick Australian accent and I didn't see him without a smile on his face. He shook everyone's hand in the audience that day and I got to talk to him. Apparently Bastian is a good name to have here because the other guy from the seventy had served with a Bastian, and I just found out that two of my teachers are best friends with another one of my cousins from their mission. I was wearing a Guatemalan Tie Wyatt had given me and my teacher asked where I got it and when I said Guatemala she said Wade's name. Different brothers but cool nonetheless. 

Thursday I left the ccm for the first time since I got here. Ironically I'm one of only a few people staying in Mexico here at the mexico mtc so I had to go get my immigration stuff done this week for the next year. I got up early to get in a 9 passenger van and drove two hours into the city. This place is pretty cool. Though I saw a dog get killed by two other dogs and I got carsick from the terrible roads here haha. That in large part was my whole day.

Today has been pretty cool because the whole district got up early and we went to the temple. I LOVE unique temples that just aren't like the other ones. This one was old and big and the inside was all brown wood and set up super cool. It was cool going through it with my whole district and the celestial room was gorgeous. I was happy we got to do that and invite that spirit especially because I gave a priesthood blessing to someone else in my district today when we got home and it was really powerful actually having no distractions and the spirit being so strong. The last one I gave there were people screaming in the halls and no one in the class had prepared really at all or been reverent up until the blessing so it just wasn't an ideal environment. This week I controlled all the variables and it was a completely different experience. It is definitely worth it to take the extra time to make sure the spirit is residing in anything we do involving him instead of rushing through it. I still had given a blessing before, but this time I feel like it was confirmed to the hermana I gave it to how much the lord loves her because she could feel it. 

I'm doing great. This week was a little tougher because I feel like I'm so busy and always in class or something so when I get time where I{m not doing anything and I should be studying it's hard not to relax for a bit. To make matters tougher When I do get to personal study I'm in second Nephi so even when I try Im not getting as much out of it because I cant hang on every word so I feel like I don't get the full message and I get discouraged. This week will be better! Just always gotta keep trying. 

One of my companions wants you guys to know that he found a cockroach in his shoe this week, not until after he had already walked a block HAHA. 

I love you all, already halfway through my time here! Can't wait to get in the field.

Adios

First mission email from the MTC

Hello all! Thank you for giving me your emails! I miss all of you, but it has been a long and a good week. I suppose I can just start off by giving you the rundown of my days here so far.

I flew out Tuesday morning and flew to Atlanta. When I got to the terminal there were four or five other missionaries there already waiting for the same flight to Mexico city. I quickly realized that I have an intolerance for socializing. More so when all the people around me are asking each other the exact questions directly out of the handbook we are taught from. What's your nameeee where you fromm where you goingggg how many brothers and sisters do you have. Then if it wasnt that it was people flexing their spanish knowledge that's better than the rest of ours. Luckily, I will have plenty of time to become a people person and somehow admire fake questions :)

I Slept the whole flight and went through immigration when I landed and met up with all the missionaries that came in at the same time. I was the first one out and waited for about an hour for all the missionaries waiting for luggage and whatnot so I helped myself to a burger from Hardees. I walked in and forgotI was in Mexico and was bewildered with the exorbitant prices. 200 dollars? Safe to say I might not be the brightest HAHA.

My whole district was at the airport and we got on a charter bus to go to the MTC. We drove through all of Mexico City. Actually such a cool town, and sketchy. But for some reason I have an admiration for gritty big cities. Maybe it comes from growing up in Caldwell Idaho and not growing up in that haha. It was like I was inside the movie Fast 5. I love it.

We got to the MTC and met the mission president and all of the other presidents. I think all of them used to be mission presidents and ust work at the MTC now. One of them was the mission president for one of my cousins, I became quite popular fast being Wes Bastian’s cousin. We ate dinner, went to a devotional and that was the day. I fell asleep within ten minutes of getting to my dorm. My yellow pillow was of no problem to me at that moment. 

Nextttt day was just about a regular schedule. Get up at 630, breakfast until 8, class until noon, lunch, then exercise, then personal and companion study, class, dinner, class, bed. That's what my days consist of. But I love the work. And THE WEATHER HERE. Makes me wonder what we were ever doing in Idaho, but I suppose that is easy to say when I'm in the middle of a spiritual oasis.

Speaking of which, that is the best way to describe this place as a spiritual oasis. Not much needs to be said in terms of explaining how normal life is in the heart of Mexico city, and then there is us. There is a wall around the whole CCM and a whole beautiful campus here. Mountains on either side of us and 65 degree weather all the time. The streets are lined with perfectly landscaped bushes and flower beds and big trees with purple blossoms. I am actually so happy I didn't get sent to the Provo MTC. Though, I would have probably said the same thing if it was the opposite. I am also here during the low time of the year so there are only about 200 missionaries on campus so that's great.The UV index here is like a 10 all of the time haha. Though it's 65 degrees you'll get burned in just a few minutes. I have a guy in my district named Elder Young and he's a redhead. And now he's a red body HAHA. I really love my district. I've had the thought a few times that if I put in my missionary papers a week or a month later I wouldn't be having this experience with these people now and I feel so blessed. The guys are all really cool, 6 girls and 4 guys. All the guys are in one room with two bunk beds, two desks and 4 chairs and two showers. Luckily I like them.

I won't lie and say I'm doing the best with the language. There is a lot to remember and to memorize on top of the scriptures and paragraphs we have to memorize everyday in spanish. But it hasn't gotten me down at all, I trust in the lord and I didnt know more than hola and a count to ten in spanish 3 weeks ago. 

Not a lot of people are taking the stress well in my district though. I was called t district leader the second day, which ust means out of my family here everyone goes through me and I have a few more responsibilities. I send a weekly evaluation on how everyone is doing every week to the mission president and I have to interview everyone in the district to see how they are doing. I have a few more responsibilities pertaining to leading lessons and discussions and teaching new districts that will come in next week. But these are just the ones of note. I interviewed everyone yesterday and there were a lot of tears. Only about one or two people didn't cry to me about how tough and stressful it's been to them.I suppose you're either not doing okay and need help, or you are doing okay and need TO help. I had asked the lord for opportunities to serve and be a better leader and I got this calling. I think I really helped with a lot of people bearing my testimony and telling them It's going to be okay. I am doing just fine, I know the Lord is there for me and is blessing my family and I. The toughest thing actually is not having enough time with the Lord It seems, ironic enough haha! I'm just so busy and always with me so other than my morning and night prayers I don't get to talk to him personally. And if I make time for personal studyit takes away from my Spanish memorization that I need to stay on top of. But nevertheless, I know He's there.

I'm sorry for the long email, they probably won't be this long in the future, it has just been a busy week. I love you all and feel free to contact me on messenger or through email if you want and I will try to get back to you.

Yo se que Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial. Yo se que la iglesia es verdad y yo soy muy felicidad ser misionero por mi Señor. Te amo a todos.

 (I know that God is our Heavenly Father. I know that the church is true and I am very happy to be a missionary for my Lord. I love you all.)

Headed to the Mexico City MTC

Blessings

 

Easter 2023