Oh, Mexico.
Wow! Yes I am here and yes I am alive. We got here Monday at about 5 pm. It was supposed to be 4, but the stupid plane from Dallas was overbooked, so they had to put some people on the next flight and of course their baggage was already at the bottom of the plane, so they had to take it all out and put it all back on. Also, since there were about 20 missionaries flying to Guadalajara from Dallas between the two missions combined, there was too much baggage for the tiny little plane, so half of us only made it with one suitcase. More about that later.
Guadalajara is enormous. I didn´t realize how big it was. Also, it´s very green and beautiful, especially compared to how hideous and brown Dallas was. Wow. But yeah. I was kind of freaking out as we were flying in. It was raining and super green and the mountains and big green ravines with rivers at the bottom just looked so SWEET! Oh gosh! So yeah, we flew in, the President and APs picked us up, we had dinner at the mission home (super sweet house) and then slept in the mission office (super ghetto). The next day, we did some orientations and then met our companions. My companion is Elder Heath. He is from Kaysville Utah and has 3 months left. There's pros and cons to this. Pros: he speaks english. cons: he speaks english. I will be his last companion. He´s cool. After that, they shipped us out to our area. We are in an area called Auditorio--it´s on the outskirts of Guadalajara, about 30 minutes from the Centro. It´s pretty much just a bunch of little houses and shops, all stuck together and crowded. To find it on Google Earth, just type in Colonia Auditorio, Zapopan, Jalisco, or something like that. Also, this is a brand new area that we're opening. Neither of us knew anyone here except Elder Heath had met the bishop once. We had no investigators, no area book, no map, no ward list, nada. To add to that, the house for missionaries in this area only fits four, and now there are six, so two had to look for a new house before we could move in. So until Saturday, we were living in Elder Heath's old house, sleeping on the couch because it's a two person house, and having to take 3 buses for 30 minutes to get to our area. Also, my biggest suitcase with all my clothes, toiletries, etc., didn't make it on the same plane as me, so it was dropped of at the mission office when it arrived and didn't get to me until Friday. Welcome to the mission field, Elder Pew. I was happy to get that and not wear the same clothes that I had worn all week.
It was a crazy week, but I'm fine. I don't say any of this to complain. I'm doing well. It's hard for me to understand the people still, and I need to just work on getting up my confidence to talk to people on the street since we don't really teach a whole lot of lessons. We've taught a few, but we're really just starting from scratch. We haven't taught anyone more than one lesson yet, but we're working with the members and talking to everyone to find people to teach. The members here are really solid, so that's a blessing.
We don't have a specific limit on email time so you can still email me, i think. Dear Elders are reliable and Elder Heath says he's only ever lost two packages, and that mail sent back to the US almost always makes it too. So that's good news. I don't know my address, but just send everything to the mission address anyways, it'll make it there.
Well, I think that about does it for this week. Pray for us to find people to teach and for me to be confident talking to people. I love you all and miss you! See you soon!
-Elder Pew
