Hola everybody! This is it! My first email. How crazy. I don't
even know what to say. It's been a long couple of days. There's a
really weird time warp here. Each day feels like two days, but then I
look back and can't believe it's already Saturday. Crazy.
Thanks for all the letters. Unfortunately, I've only
had time to read one of them--the first dear elder one from mom. They
keep us pretty busy around here. So thanks to Steph and whoever sent
the other two DearElder letters I got yesterday. I won't be able to
respond to them until next Friday, because that is our first P-Day.
Today we just had some time to do laundry, so they told us to email our
parents real fast to let them know we're still alive.
So I'm one of the lucky elders who gets to have two
companions. It's pretty great. Their names are Elder Duncan and Elder
Bonner. They are both cross-country runners, so I kind of feel like a
third wheel sometimes, but it's all good. Elder Duncan is from Cedar
City; he is half-mexican and most of his mom's family actually still
lives in--guess where--Guadalajara. Also, they are all Catholic, so
we've already got some work to do there. He's cool, kind of quiet but
super nice. He's also going to Guadalajara with me. Also, he was a
wrestler in high school. Elder Bonner is from St. Louis. He's going to
Lima Peru East and he leaves in three weeks for the Peru MTC. He's
super outgoing but pretty awesome and he works really
hard. The rest of our district is pretty awesome. We're bonding pretty
well. In case you are wondering, Scott and Dylan are both in my zone;
we all live in the same hallway--and these are not big hallways. So
that's fun. Cade Larsen and Jordan Turner also live on this floor.
Crazy.
Some funny things: I've heard a lot of funny spanish
mistakes. Elder Bonner has twice accidently said that Christ atoned for
our "pescados" (fish) instead of our "pecados" (sins)." Another elder
in our district said that Adam was the "primo profeta" (cousin prophet)
instead of the "primero profeta" (first prophet).
The food here is really weird. Sometimes it's good,
sometimes it's gross, and almost every time it makes you feel like you
just ate a bunch of rocks. The breakfasts are almost always nasty, so I
think I'll pretty much just stick to the cereal from now on. Last night
we had Papa John's pizza for dinner, so that was awesome.
The Spanish is coming. I already half think in Spanish
and it's really hard to not write half this letter in Spanish. I
already don't speak English anymore, but I definitely don't speak
Spanish yet either, so communicating is kind of hard. I'm definitely
the best Spanish speaker in our companionship, but there are a few guys
in my district who really know it pretty well. It's amazing to me that
after three days I can already competently pray in Spanish.
Gym time has been fun. I scored three goals in my MTC
soccer debut, and after playing with some different guys yesterday who
really didn't know what they were doing, my average is up to about 4 per
game. The rest of our district seems to like to play basketball, so
maybe we'll make it in there to play with them sometime.
We started teaching our first investigator yesterday.
His name is Leonardo; he's from Columbia and he works construction here
in the US to earn money for his family back in Columbia. Yesterday we
taught him the restoration. He talks really, really fast so that
was kind of hard. This is when it is nice to have 2 companions, though,
so if you are talking and your mind goes blank there are two people
there to save your bum instead of just one. It was amazing to me that
even though this was a simulation and even though our Spanish was
utterly pathetic, the Spirit was so strong. Apparently, one
of Leonardo's hijos died a while back, and after he told us this we
taught him that he would see his son again some day, and the feeling in
the room was incredible. Leonardo was almost in tears. I don't know if
he was just a really good actor or if it really was the Spirit, but it
was still pretty awesome. We're teaching him again today, so hopefully
that goes well.
Hmmm, Que mas? I haven't been sleeping that great at
all. I am so tired all the time, but once I get into bed, my mind
starts racing and then trying to translate everything I am thinking into
Spanish, and by the time I finally fall asleep, I've already been lying
there for an hour. Also, my pillow did not seem to make it down here,
so if you could send that to me, that would be great; because the
pillows here are not much better than sleeping on an empty pillow case.
Well, I'm about out of time. HopefullyI'll get around
to reading those letters soon so I can answer any questions you all
might have or anything. I hope Izak and Timo had fun at scout camp and
made it back without any broken arms or legs. I love you all! I miss
you! Talk to you soon.
