Hey guys,
I don't know if you are aware, but Landon spent 3 weeks in the South Salt Lake Mission, awaiting a Visa, and ended up serving in our backyard in Kamas for about 10 days. That was funny. But, he is now in Monterrey, and is loving it. I think you will like his letter. It is long, but worth the read.
Well, Im now here in the Mexico Mission Office. Yes, still!
Yesterday, We all split up to go to church, that was a very humbling experience. Elder Moser and I had companions (assistants I think) that spoke no English whatsoever. It was lots of fun, though. We would teach them a little bit of English, they teach us a lot of Spanish. It can sometimes get pretty confusing, and difficult, but its all right. I hear this is how its going to be for the first 5 months here...
I`ll send this right now, maybe one of you is watching the computer.
By the way, Last week I did keep refreshing the page, I dont know why your replies didnt pop up. I cant type apostraphes on these keyboards...frustrating.
So yes, yesterday (Sunday) was wonderful. After church, I tried some of my first snack food. After that, we walked to a members home who was preparing dinner just for us. I cant remember the name of the family that we went to, but it was very filling and very fun trying to communicate, learning about one another, etc. Very amazing, wonderful people.
Being only in the city of Monterrey, I havent seen much yet, but last night I found out how beautiful this place is. During the day, you can see the mountains! These are some amazing mountains here, an interesting change from the Utah mountains. The city and houses go up along the mountainside, so from the road last night, it looked like a wall of lights.
So, my flight from Texas to Mexico was okay. It was a smaller plane, and I was getting way dizzy, but I didnt care that much, I was flying over the desert of Mexico!
I wrote a letter to you all yesterday, but I am not sure how fast its going to get there. Everything you remember about Mexico is right here in Monterrey. The skinny little streets, the graffiti, the wierd traffic, everything sort of worn out. Its different, and I like it. Its warm and humid, it hasnt been sunny yet, though. It really has been perfect here, but Im sure Ill eventually get some of those extreme temperatures.
So yesterday was church, then we went to lunch, then we had a little initiation where we learned about money and who we contact if we get sick and stuff. And half of it was in spanish. Lots to choke down. But yes, I have three cards full of money, so I think I should be all right. I just have to make sure I dont get beat up.
Then, we were able to go to President Mendozas beautiful home and have dinner with his family. He really is called of God- I had an interview with him, and (we all just had a group hug, that was great!) and seriously, He is amazing! It was all in Spanish, but I got all of it. Later, he had someone translate for him so we all could understand exactly. He told us all to remember that we were called of God specifically here. By Elder Bednar specifically. There is much to learn. There is much to do.
So now, I have been assigned to the Reynosa area with Elder Farnsworth. I havent met him yet, but he is American. Reynosa is right along the border of Texas, right at the tip, then east until the coast, and a little bit South. Pretty big area - but I believe that Elder Stidham is also in that area, I think even in my ward! Im so excited!
So about mail, I think Ill be able to give you the address to the person who takes packages to Texas for us. We learned about mail, Im going to have to make sure about somethings though. I could just send it from my area, or through the mission office, ugh. I dont know what the best way is. But I see lots of packages here for Elders (the unopened ones are with Mary and Jesus stickers) So I think things will work out okay.
So yes, Im here and Im safe. I had some great experiences in the airport and the plane - Im starting out with a bang. I wasnt able to place any Books of Mormon, but I was able to get some commitments out of people. Ill have to write about those some other time, because now I have to go and get ready. Ill try to attach a picture or two here.
On the plane to Mexico, we were all franticly trying to fill out papers and hold on to our luggage, but we eventually got through everything okay. Everything is just great!
I sure love you all!!! Please tell everyone that Im doing super great, and it was so wonderful to talk to you all. I think these next 21 months are going to be fun, and amazingly short, just keep up the great work, everyone! Remember what we are here for. Love each other! This is the time to show that love.
Sorry the picture doesnt have me in it - that is on the tram that goes around the Texas Airport, we are heading to our gate. It has been fun with these Elders, hopefully Ill see them often.
I Love you SOOOO much!
Elder Graham the 3rd.
Here they are...making the plan of what to do and when to do it. I think most of you are aware of Ty's love for maps, it's great to add one more city map to the collection. (Although he thought Dallas' map was superior to the one he had:).)
We met up with Dallas on Saturday afternoon at Notre Dame. Lucy took the opportunity presented to squeeze him as hard as she could...I wish you could have seen their excitement as they saw him across the plaza!! 
And here, Dallas got a chance to squeeze on Ruby...you can tell from the photo that she is smiling back at him...it was really fun. And a fun thing for Ruby will be that she met Dallas for the first time at Notre Dame in Paris, France! How fun is that!?
Here we are chillin' after our tour of the Louvre. It was really amazing that we found eachother here. It was Sunday afternoon and the train that we (the Allen's) were taking made us a bit late for our meeting time with Dal. There were SO many people there...I kept saying a little prayer that we'd be able to find him, because his phone wasn't working...and hello, there were thousands of people there and it is SO huge. We decided to start our tour and just hope to find him. We decided to started out at the Mona Lisa...and guess who we found also at the Mona Lisa? Their tour had already started, but they were there!! Thank you Heavenly Father for answering my little prayer!! (Can any of you guess what Dallas is dong with his left hand? If you get it right, I'll bring you a wonderful candy bar!!:))
Sunday we also made our way to the Eifel Tower!! It was so much fun! Wow, it's an awesome sight to see!! This was what my kids were most excited to see. They knew about it and it was a really fun time. The weather was wonderful...this photo was taken after 8:00 pm! We were really excited to see the tower with all the lights on at night...we got back to our appartment at 11:25 pm and it still wasn't dark!! just becoming twilight...so we didn't get to see it with lights...bummer!!
Hey all!! As those of you that have been to Europe will remember...when it's HOT, it's HOT!! We don't have the blessing of A/C here, and well...that leads to days in the pool! Now, I know our pool doesn't quite measure up to Scott, Stan, Amy, or Angie's pools....but let's be honest, it does the trick! We've spent several an afternoon playing in the water and eating popsicles to try and cool off! The two main floors of our house do stay "ok"-we keep the windows open all night and then close them and tightly close the blinds all day, and yes, we feel like we live in a cave, but we stay cool! The cellar stays nice a cool, but there isn't much to do down there! I want to introduce you to perhaps the best purchase we've ever made...
