It's been a good but long week. We have been in a slump, but I think things will pick up soon. It's super super hot here and they say it will get hotter. I don't even want to know how hot its going to get when we are already over 100 easy.
Most of the people that let us in are women. They are more willing to listen. Who knows why. Also it helps when you are tall, white, with colored eyes. Some people you just have to smile real big and ask nicely and they will let you in just for your colored eyes, haha. The ward is pretty good when it comes to priesthood but lots of room to grow. The mettings are run almost identical just in Spanish and every once in a while things are a little different, but its expected when youre in Mexico.
I think I started with the "can't find my way" gene, but it went away. I can use all the public transportation and stuff here pretty easy now. It's just a matter of learning the system.
I did get the package, thank you very very much. Here Easter is very different. It is very Catholic. They celebrate the Holy Week (last week of Christ's life) and they focus a lot on his death, which I'm not a big fan of. To make it even worse, no peeps.
Well, I have almost no time at all. We just got back form the temple and I still have to do laundry and stuff. I love all of you and am grateful for all the support and everything that everyone is doing to help me out. Have a good week. I will tty on Monday.
Elder K
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Letters to Dad and Mom, including answers to questions
Dear Dad,
Man oh man, I wish I could give you guys some of the heat. Its freaking hot here. [It snowed for three days straight in Logan last week.] We are hitting over 100 and it's only April. I am going to die. Sounds like the running is coming good. [Dad is training for the Ragnar.] I wonder how many over 50 yearolds run the Ragnar. I bet its not many.
Me and my comp are working great together. He is the District Leader and this is his last transfer. He is gone a lot out of the area to do interviews so I am the boss of the area. It's nice to do things how I want but tough.
No, I have not gained a single pound--I am still around 150. [Jake is 6' 4"!] Dont know what to tell you. I eat more than ever.
I am in a ward so I don't do as much in sacrament meeting now. Every once in a while I bless the sacrament and I still talk once a month, but that's nothing compared to my last area. I haven't seen anyone that isn't a missionary or Mexican since I have been here. I think that a general authority will be coming soon but not yet.
Depends on the area but we average around 25 to 30 lessons a week. For people here the Joseph Smith story is normal. It's not that hard for them to believe. Stuff like that is just part of the culture here. If you don't know the story of the Virgin Mary here you should look it up and you will see what I mean.
[Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadelupe) from wikepedia.com: According to tradition, Juan Diego, a simple indigenous peasant, saw a vision of a young woman on December 9, 1531. While he was on the hill in the desert of Tepeyac near Mexico City, the lady told him to build a church exactly on the spot where they were standing. He told the local bishop, who asked for some proof. He went back and saw the vision again. He told the lady that the bishop wanted proof, and she said "Bring the roses behind you." When he looked behind, he saw a bunch of roses growing. He cut the roses, placed them in his poncho and returned to the bishop. When he arrived to the bishop, he said he had brought proof. When he opened his poncho, instead of roses there was a picture of the young lady in the vision. Today, the icon is displayed in the Basilica of Guadalupe nearby, one of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world.]
Fruit is pretty cheap here, but it can be sketchy at times so you have to be careful. All the food has been really good here actually. There have been very few times when I have not liked the food. They have these tacos called campechanas that are pretty high on the good list, though.
Sleep depends on the night. It's been hotter so sleep is less and there also is a club on the same block as our house so weekends are pretty bad sometimes. I would say average is 6 hours a night.
I hope that was all the questions because I am running out of time. Thanks for everything. I love you.
Elder K
Dear Mom,
I still eat normal breakfast stuff, but yes almost all meals consist of tortillas. As for the ward stuff, we are pretty big here and there are a lot of good solid members. We (the missionaries) still help out but its nothing like my last area.
Spanish is coming really good because I am living with natives. At times it is hard to write in my journal at night in English. I have to think really hard when I talk in Spanish and English so I'm not seeing the good in this yet--haha!
So it was a good but hard week. We worked really hard and had a lot of good lessons and baptismal dates but then no one showed up for church. I honestly felt like crying as we were sitting up on the stand to bless the sacrament. To make things just a little harder, when everyone was giving their testimonies a fourteen year old boy came up and gave one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard. His dad isn't a member and he was saying how much he wished he was at church to hear him. Then with tears running down his face he turned to me and my comp. with the saddest face I have ever seen as if he wanted to say help me. After that there was no holding back the tears.
I don't have a ton of time but I answered a ton of questions for dad so you can get some more info from that email. I love you guys and thanks for everything.
Elder K
Man oh man, I wish I could give you guys some of the heat. Its freaking hot here. [It snowed for three days straight in Logan last week.] We are hitting over 100 and it's only April. I am going to die. Sounds like the running is coming good. [Dad is training for the Ragnar.] I wonder how many over 50 yearolds run the Ragnar. I bet its not many.
Me and my comp are working great together. He is the District Leader and this is his last transfer. He is gone a lot out of the area to do interviews so I am the boss of the area. It's nice to do things how I want but tough.
No, I have not gained a single pound--I am still around 150. [Jake is 6' 4"!] Dont know what to tell you. I eat more than ever.
I am in a ward so I don't do as much in sacrament meeting now. Every once in a while I bless the sacrament and I still talk once a month, but that's nothing compared to my last area. I haven't seen anyone that isn't a missionary or Mexican since I have been here. I think that a general authority will be coming soon but not yet.
Depends on the area but we average around 25 to 30 lessons a week. For people here the Joseph Smith story is normal. It's not that hard for them to believe. Stuff like that is just part of the culture here. If you don't know the story of the Virgin Mary here you should look it up and you will see what I mean.
[Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadelupe) from wikepedia.com: According to tradition, Juan Diego, a simple indigenous peasant, saw a vision of a young woman on December 9, 1531. While he was on the hill in the desert of Tepeyac near Mexico City, the lady told him to build a church exactly on the spot where they were standing. He told the local bishop, who asked for some proof. He went back and saw the vision again. He told the lady that the bishop wanted proof, and she said "Bring the roses behind you." When he looked behind, he saw a bunch of roses growing. He cut the roses, placed them in his poncho and returned to the bishop. When he arrived to the bishop, he said he had brought proof. When he opened his poncho, instead of roses there was a picture of the young lady in the vision. Today, the icon is displayed in the Basilica of Guadalupe nearby, one of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world.]
Fruit is pretty cheap here, but it can be sketchy at times so you have to be careful. All the food has been really good here actually. There have been very few times when I have not liked the food. They have these tacos called campechanas that are pretty high on the good list, though.
Sleep depends on the night. It's been hotter so sleep is less and there also is a club on the same block as our house so weekends are pretty bad sometimes. I would say average is 6 hours a night.
I hope that was all the questions because I am running out of time. Thanks for everything. I love you.
Elder K
Dear Mom,
I still eat normal breakfast stuff, but yes almost all meals consist of tortillas. As for the ward stuff, we are pretty big here and there are a lot of good solid members. We (the missionaries) still help out but its nothing like my last area.
Spanish is coming really good because I am living with natives. At times it is hard to write in my journal at night in English. I have to think really hard when I talk in Spanish and English so I'm not seeing the good in this yet--haha!
So it was a good but hard week. We worked really hard and had a lot of good lessons and baptismal dates but then no one showed up for church. I honestly felt like crying as we were sitting up on the stand to bless the sacrament. To make things just a little harder, when everyone was giving their testimonies a fourteen year old boy came up and gave one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard. His dad isn't a member and he was saying how much he wished he was at church to hear him. Then with tears running down his face he turned to me and my comp. with the saddest face I have ever seen as if he wanted to say help me. After that there was no holding back the tears.
I don't have a ton of time but I answered a ton of questions for dad so you can get some more info from that email. I love you guys and thanks for everything.
Elder K
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Update from the City
OK, so I am in the same area still. It's called Escobedo. I have a new comp, not Elder Ordoñez. We get along really well. This is his last transfer so he will be going home the first part of May. It's been an interesting week because we are both new in the area, but we are both learning a lot. I am still living with three natives so the Spanish is still getting better every day. I am really loving it in the city. It's really awesome.
Conference was really good. As missionaries we only watch on Sunday and priesthood session. Unless we have investigators there on Saturday, then we can go Saturday as well. They had it in English for priesthood and the afternoon session Sunday so I got to watch some in both languages. It's a lot more fun to watch when you can understand everything, haha. I guess I need to have someone lined up to get married the week I get home according to some of the talks--haha!
It is super freaking hot here. I am pretty sure I will come home looking like a Mexican. It's only April and we are pushing 100. They say it gets up to 110 easy in the months of July and August. Not really looking forward to that.
We eat a lot of salsa and hot sauce and all that. The food is spicy but usually you have your choice. They usually put the spicy peppers and salsa to the side so you can choose to eat it. I didn't think I would ever say this, but I have been converted. Spicy doesn't even bother me anymore. I eat it more than some of the natives.
So not a ton of stories to be told yet. Just working hard to get the area going. We have found some really good families this week and should have some baptisms in a couple weeks. The people that you would least expect to always surprise you and are golden.
Oh, and by the way, I have told the story of why our family is so huge about a million times and some of the members and investigators freak out and go to facebook to verify that I am not a liar so if you get invites that's why. It's up to you if you want to accept the invites or not... good Spanish practice, haha.
I love you guys and thanks for all the love and support
Elder K
Conference was really good. As missionaries we only watch on Sunday and priesthood session. Unless we have investigators there on Saturday, then we can go Saturday as well. They had it in English for priesthood and the afternoon session Sunday so I got to watch some in both languages. It's a lot more fun to watch when you can understand everything, haha. I guess I need to have someone lined up to get married the week I get home according to some of the talks--haha!
It is super freaking hot here. I am pretty sure I will come home looking like a Mexican. It's only April and we are pushing 100. They say it gets up to 110 easy in the months of July and August. Not really looking forward to that.
We eat a lot of salsa and hot sauce and all that. The food is spicy but usually you have your choice. They usually put the spicy peppers and salsa to the side so you can choose to eat it. I didn't think I would ever say this, but I have been converted. Spicy doesn't even bother me anymore. I eat it more than some of the natives.
So not a ton of stories to be told yet. Just working hard to get the area going. We have found some really good families this week and should have some baptisms in a couple weeks. The people that you would least expect to always surprise you and are golden.
Oh, and by the way, I have told the story of why our family is so huge about a million times and some of the members and investigators freak out and go to facebook to verify that I am not a liar so if you get invites that's why. It's up to you if you want to accept the invites or not... good Spanish practice, haha.
I love you guys and thanks for all the love and support
Elder K
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)