Letter from 8/9/10
i went on exchanges this week with elder johns for three days.. it was sweet. hes from springville. worked hard and had success so far. grabed a baptism for the 22. also he happened to leave the iron on and managed to start a small bonfire in the upstairs of their house. he just screamed fire!!! it was hillarious. i ran up with the garrafon. the big jugs of drinking water and put it out. it was hillarous. and just had a good time working with him. also i heard that the utes are now in the pac 10 to make it the pac 12!!!! sweeeeeeet. who else it in it? anyway. thats about it. just trying to work hard and get along my skin is terrable here though. pretty tan now but the heat and that just destroys my skin. anyway. im off love you all and miss you so much. and hope to hear from you soon.
love nate.
Letter from 8/2/10 - Happy Birthday Nate!!!!!!!
its crazy that im 20. the time went so fast from when i turned 16. highschool and life after flew. miss hanging with the family and skiing with my brothers and the neighborhood kids. ridin the bike. going to school. doing nothing all day with my friends and mike. bein a kid. family trips. days by the pool. the birthday was fine. i sang to myself. go me. thanks mom and dad for the package. it was awesome. the book is really great. and mike made i have come to the conclusion you have good taste in ties.
last night was fun as i was throwing up for about an hour. yay. maybe it was the cactus we ate.
it only took me a month here to find real milk. or the closest thing to it. the milk realy here sucks for the most part. its like drinking half and half. ive found a new colone. its called deet. deep forest scent. ladies love it. ha. i miss the temple too. going every week for almost five months you realize what a special place it is. how much ive learned there and the peace realy is amazing. its just a spiritual recharge. weve just been workin hard here. its alot of walkin in the heat. takes about an hour to walk from one of our area to the other. walking fast too. and we cant have bikes in this area cuz its too dangerous.
were teaching a really cool family too right now with two daughters ingry and fatima. theyre four and ten. and have a date for the 22.
anyway. im off. we only have an hour to email and write a letter to the pres so thats why i dont email everyone every week.
its ok to send letters to the office. its a little quicker i think. just barely. only its just cheaper to texas but packages send to texas only. especially if they have more than ten dollars of anything. plus its a ton cheaper. i really dont get time to write hand written letters but im gonna try and find time soon. love you all hope you all doing well.
love. nate
Letter from 7-26-10
we live in an entirely concrete house that is more like an oven. the only benefit is you cant punch a hole in a concrete wall. ;) I usually have a rock or two in my pocket at all times too to throw at the dogs that occasionally attack us.
and Mexican people are funny. whenever they eat its like a race. just frantic. hands only ha-ha and they like to pet people. its weird....
oh and this week was awesome cuz they found like 63 bodies in a hole five minutes from our house that are all from the past two weeks. ah Mexico. but anyway. thanks all. thanks a ton. love you all and miss you all.
love Nate
The bodies of the 51 were found 5 minutes from Nate’s house thought you might be interested in this article.
July 25, 2010
Reporting from Mexico City —
Forensic workers have recovered 51 bodies, some burned and mutilated, from a mass grave believed linked to Mexico'sraging drug war, authorities said Saturday.
The site near a trash dump in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon is the second-largest clandestine grave found in recent weeks.
Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina said most of the dead were probably drug traffickers killed in fighting with rivals. But he acknowledged that the bodies had yet to be identified.
"They could have been people linked to organized crime, [killed in] a clash, in the war that the cartels are fighting among themselves," he told reporters.
"It undoubtedly shows the level of violence with which they confront each other."
At least three women were among the dead, authorities said, and the rest were men, aged between 20 and 50 and many bearing tattoos.
"The tattoos may tell us if they belonged to one group or the other," Adrian de la Garza, head of a state police agency, told Milenio television. DNA testing may be used to identify some of the dead, he added.
Some of the bodies were burned and some were dismembered. Several had their hands tied with rope or cords. They didn't appear to have been dead for more than 15 days, De la Garza said.
Digging began Thursday, when a military patrol reported seeing body parts and disturbed dirt in a field near the town of Juarez, and concluded Saturday. Workers used backhoes to move the earth and refrigerated trucks to hold the corpses.
De la Garza said several other graves appeared to be at the same site, suggesting that the number of dead could rise.
About 25,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched a military-led offensive against powerful drug cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006.
Calderon has said most of the dead are traffickers, but victims also include police, soldiers, mayors and civilians. Most killings are not investigated.
In late May, another mass grave, at an abandoned silver mine near the picturesque city of Taxco, yielded 55 bodies.
Letter from July 19th
so did you guys finnish the cabin finially? i miss it up there. more than anything i miss hanging out with the family. if i could do anything more it would just be hang out with you guys doing nothing and eating like were good at. the food here isnt bad. sometimes its awesome sometimes your scared for your life. omaha. theres a song by the counting crows. somwhere in the middle of nowhere. mikes way fun to be with when hes not whining haha anyway. we had a baptism last week if i didnt tell you. im outta time but ill send pics next week. his name was jonothan reyes. way cool. 27 and was investigating for a year and 7 months haha thats cool about brother tuller. i love that temple so much. thats the thing i miss the most right now was goin to the temple every week for four months. love it there. can get you through everything that peace. anyway. love you all. thanks for everything. brooke edit this letter hahah oh and ive only thrown up like four times since ive been here. heat sucks. and love you.
love, nate
Nate's Mailing Info
Thank you for all you have done to support Nate. Many of you have asked for his mailing address. You can send letters to him throught the pouch at the following address:
Elder Nathan Clair Free
Mexico Monterrey East Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City UT 84130-0150
USA
Pouch Mail Instructions: To prevent possible fines, only postcards and letters that are single sheet, folded into three-panels, and taped at the top only (no envelopes) may be sent through the pouch.
Letters in envelopes and packages to the Mission must be mailed to the Mission Office at the following address:
Elder Nathan Clair Free
Mexico Monterrey East Mission
Cerralvo #134
Col. Libertad
67130 Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon
Mexico
Phone: 52-81-8379-6858
If your family ships a package with a private courier, they will need the mission office telephone number indicated above.
Letter from July 5th
hey family so how are you. love you all.
im currently in guatalupe in monterrey in nuevo leon in mexico. in a little house in the tamaulipas branch. our house is orange. three rooms. two beds. a desk two chairs one dresser and a fridge or and a toilet with no seat and nice cold showers. awesome?
but its interesting here. i have kidds throw stuff at me every day. walk like 10-20 miles, in the hottest place you can imagine. take gold showers and sweat in my sleep and every other waking moment and sick every day. speaking of i was pretty sick this morning doin some good barfing and all that fun stuff. that was sweet. rained for three days strait here and washed away half the highways. and flooded tons of peoples houses like 3 feet in places. crazy. my companion is elder mirelez. doesnt speak a lick of english. makes things interesting and very frustrating at times to say the least. its hot too very hot. did i mention that? the people are great though minus the drivers haha they're all insane. my english gets worse and worse. thats about it. dont have any pictures yet cuz havent had the guts to take my camera with me anywhere. all i can say is im so greatful for the situation i live in with the people and family i have. and for the state and country im from. itll be interesting for the next 20 months.
hidey ho.
anyway. love you family. ps and friends ha
love nate(elder free)
Finally in Mexico!
so i am now in monterrey mexico. sitting in the office at the mission home. its like a little prison. in a good way. haha big gates. bunks and the courtyard. the works way cool. here till i think tomorrow when i will be sent out to my area. its crazy for sure. almost died ten times just driving to lunch and back. monterry is huge. and so pretty. the mountains are amazing. and its hot as satans armpit to quote elder kade herbert. loving it. went to bed last night at very late we´ll say. got two hours of sleep. and flew here through dallas. awesome stuff. this place just makes me smile. its amazing. im pretty lost when ten people are yelling at once and some guy is trying to sell you windshield wipers as you stop at the stop light but its awesome. anyway. im safe and sound soon to get out there. wish me luck. love you all
-nate
oh ps. dunno who my companion will be but he is a native. and thats it. love you
