10 May 2026
VOLUME 14 – NUMBER 644
Monte in José Maria Morelos
Monte
Wow, transfers were wild, and I'm officially in José María Morelos as of last week. It's a little pueblo down south close to the Mayan ruins of Tulum and the city of Chetumal. It's really cool, and after my first week, I'm really liking it.
My companion, Elder Contreras, is from Mexico City, and he is awesome! He's so funny, and we get along great. I've learned so much from him to help my Spanish get better, and I will continue to learn. I also forgot how much contagious energy new missionaries have! It's awesome!
One thing that Elder Contreras and I love to do is to buy new ties. They are everywhere here, and they have some pretty nice ones. It's safe to say, though, that Elder Contreras has an addiction.
Monte and Elder Contreras
Well, other than buying ties and getting to know the branch down here, nothing much happened this week...just kidding! One of our friends named Mateo got baptized! It was pretty awesome, and Mateo's a pretty awesome kid.
We also moved houses today! We went from a several room house, to a one room apartment, but to be honest, the apartment is in much better shape than the house was, and I think that I prefer the new house more.
We've been working real hard out here to help our friends get baptized, but the people with the most potencial are under the age of 18, and their parents are often difficult. We try to teach the families all together, but the parents are always doing something like "cooking." It's a grind, that's for sure.
Elders Contreras and Hill at Mateo’s baptism
We also did intercambios this week with Tihosuco (another pueblo in our district). I went with an elder named Elder Jernigan. He's been out for about 17 months. He's a really cool guy, and we have very similar interests in life. For example, he likes to make medieval weaponry. Yeah, pretty sick!
During the intercambio, I met a guy who was willing to live in a different place from his pareja (live-in girlfriend) until she can divorce her current husband so that he can live a life worthy to meet God. Might I also say that he's been with his pareja for over 50 years! That's some amazing stuff that you don't see every day.
It was also Mother's Day yesterday, so to all you mothers and future mothers, felicidades. You all are pretty awesome, especially those moms who have kids on their missions, and to be even more specific, who have two kids on their missions named Monte and Gloria. Mom, I love you so much! Always remember that! I hope that you could enjoy your special day.
Remember that God loves each and every one of you, and that he gives us difficulties in our lives so that we can grow. Just push through them and focus on God, and everything will turn out fine in the end.
Monte with members
Ashton
We had the boys' trip this week, and we did it a little bit differently than we normally do. Every other time, we always take a trip to celebrate the end of school, where we choose a video game to completely beat from start to finish, all while living the most unhealthy lifestyle for a weekend. This time, we felt like we could change it up.
We got out of our Airbnb a few times to go to some parks and things like that. We played a lot of foosball and still had some video games, but supplemented some of that with us voting through brackets about certain topics that will remain confidential to those that were there, haha. Go Team Dolores!
Love doing stuff together as siblings, and that trip is always a highlight of the year for me.
Troy helping Quinn and Joanna cook
Troy
We did the boys’ trip this week, and it was super fun. We didn't have a game that we were going to finish; we just brought the Switch and played games like Gang Beasts, Luigi's Mansion, Tetris, etc.
Me, Isaac, Kai, Ashton, and Caleb went. The Airbnb was nice. It had a foosball table, which me, Kai, Ashton, and Caleb used while we finished our series, which was super fun.
We watched Thor: Ragnarok very late at night, and we didn't finish it. We also went to the park and played on the playground and played like pig, doing a bunch of stunts.
Back at home, we are also starting to move, packing things up to take to the new house.
London and friends on camping trip
London
I went on a little girls camping trip with my old roommates. We wanted to go somewhere a little warmer, so we went down to Capitol Reef.
It was a pretty chill trip, where we made good food, sat around the campfire, and then did a day hike the next day. We went to Cassidy’s Arch, which I have rappelled before, but we hiked in a different way.
So it was fun seeing everything from a different perspective!
Monte’s last day with Elder Larson
Caleb
Recently, on Tuesday evenings, I've started a little weekly tradition to go to the movies with my friend Mike. We've been to see Michael, Mario Galaxy, a Top Gun: Maverick rerun, and Breadwinner. It's a fun tradition. Mike's a good friend.
Boys trip was so awesome. The foosball competition was serious, with some crazy comebacks and swings. At the end of the day, Troy and I earned the bragging rights despite all the close competitions. We won the final seven-game series.
We also did a parkour challenge at a park. That was fun. Definitely got some bruised shins, but we were feeling cooler than ever by the end. We had some fun conversations, played some Boomerang Fu, and had some decent food.
Also, my friend Sebastian Miranda from Chile is up here for the summer working. So we met up and got some Taco Bell.
Emmett
Dad / Arkin
On April 27, we got an email from West Jordan officially denying our business license application. They said they would not approve a home-based dog training business. That pretty much ends all debate on moving for us. We don’t know how to proceed with our business any other way.
After a second or third visit to the “Unity House” in Eagle Mountain, we were talking to Amy about the difficulty of trying to sell our house while still operating our dog business, and she offered to let us stay in one or her rental homes in her neighborhood until we can sell our house.
That offer was an answer to prayers. This will allow us to continue to run our business while selling our house. Our current plan is to move into what Amy calls the “Himalaya House” (it’s located on a street called Himalaya View Court) and sell our house, all while continuing to look for either a house or land in Eagle Mountain.
Pulte Homes Eagle Mountain model home
We did put an official offer on the “Unity House” about a week ago, but our offer and counter offer were rejected. That was a little hard for us. We really liked that house! We also looked seriously at building a Pulte Home further south in Eagle Mountain, but realized that lot was too small.
We are struggling with a lot of different options. Should we buy a house in Eagle Mountain with a half acre of land, which would allow us to keep six dogs at a time—not quite enough bur more reasonable priced—or spend a couple hundred thousand more on a full-acre property, so that we can legally keep eight or more dogs?
It is very complicated puzzle, and I often find myself struggling to evaluate all the different options. However, we do feel like Amy’s Himalaya House offer at least helps us make the next step.
Veidi walking dogs
Veidi
We finally decided for sure that we are moving, so that means we are letting people know about it now. I told my friends, and they were sad about that. I am a little sad that we are moving, but I am excited for a new chapter in my life, so I can get to know new people and make more friends.
We have also started moving things over to the Himalaya house. We take it over one trailer load at a time. We had to start with our rooms first to get things out and get rid of a lot of things we don't need, so it’s been a lot.
We are also looking at houses in Eagle Mountain. I like to go and look at houses with Mom and Dad, so that’s a little bit of a bonus.
Mother’s Day was also this week, and I got Mom new hot pads and some candles.
Hermanas Garcia and Hill
Gloria
Hola mi familia, ¿cómo están? Te extraño muchísimo y te amo! Wow, last week has been one busy week for us. Let's just say there was not a whole lot of time to do regular missionary work. I was pretty much busy doing other things.
This week, we also had a zone conference on Wednesday. Lots of little lessons on my different topics that we need to work on. But it took forever, like six hours. I got to see some of my old mission friends, so that's fun, but I don't really know too many yet.
On Thursday, I went on exchanges with a sister because our companions are STLs. We did have a couple of lessons. It's always so weird when I have to teach in English because I'm so much more familiar with the Spanish lessons.
Gloria with young friends
On Friday, we helped out with the open house in the Yorba Linda Temple. We didn't teach or anything. We were just there to greet everyone and answer their questions. It was so nice. We met a lot of new people, and most of the people love the sealing room.
On Saturday, we had a baptism! It was for our eleven-year-old friend Sophia. The baptism was really beautiful. Her family got baptized last transfer, but she decided not to because she felt pressured and wasn't ready. Then on Monday, she let us know that she was ready for baptism. When she got out of the water, she started crying, and I started crying.
Spiritual thought: Pray for people. Everyone needs a prayer in their lives and always have a little prayer in your heart. Also thank God for the things that you have in life and the blessings that you've seen. Prayer is real.
Gloria hugging Sister Giles
And this week we got transfer news, and I'm leaving Corona. I thought I would be staying, but I'm going where the Lord wants me.
Not a lot happened this week, just lots of finding and trying to make new friends. Our friend who is on date for Sunday has not been in contact with us for almost a week now, and we think that they took him because he was working on his papers. Last time we heard from him, he was excited to be able to get baptized, and he was so prepared.
We also went to Terry's house for lunch as a last gathering with her. I’m going to miss those and having Terry around. And a few days later she gave us a flower. On Friday, we went to the Yorba Linda Temple to help out one last time. We went in the morning, and it was actually really great. It was so hot, but we met some really cool people.
Spiritual thought: There’s a great general conference talk called “Ministering—“That Ye Love One Another; as I Have Loved You.”I invite y’all to listen to it and let me know what you liked about it!
Troy helping Quinn and Joanna cook
Quinn
It was the boys’ trip. I couldn't go because I wasn't old enough, so it was just me and Dad and all the girls. We had a lot of fun, though. They wanted to dress me up as Quinncy like the year before to make me a girl, so it could be “Girls’ Weekend.”
Anyway, we ate outside when Endia came over, and Dad got Arby’s for dinner. It was awesome. When the boys came back, they told us what happened, and I’m sure you have already read about that in their newsletter articles! So anyway, a lot happened. Bye!
Monte and Elder Contreras