From 11/11/2013
Hola!!!
Yeah, surprise, I am emailing today. It isn´t our PDay, but we switched around our district meeting and PDay this week, so I am emailing today (which is a bit of a bummer since I don´t get as many emails when I email early)...I would recommend emailing me during the weekend if you want me to catch you, because I honestly never know when I am emailing. Apparently next week I am emailing on Wednesday? I have no idea...
I have survived yet another week in the field! I love Villa Hermosa. It is so beautiful here, and most of the people are really nice and receptive to what we are teaching. I always go home SO exhausted and with sore legs and feet because we walk and walk and walk all day long. I was trying to think of a good synonym for how much we walk here and the best (and fairly accurate) one I came up with was imagine walking around the Minnesota State Fair everyday for 8 hours...and there you have my mission. It hurts really bad sometimes but the work is progressing here and it is worth the discomfort.
I knew coming into my mission, as a dog lover, that I was going to see some dead dogs. Well, I saw my first one on the way to our district meeting today. Surprisingly, it wasn´t as devastating as I thought it would be. The chuchos (street dogs) have a pretty awful life so actually being dead, for them, is the better option...
But seriously, the chuchos down here. There are thousands of them. And they all love me. I am the pied piper of chuchos - they all follow me around, especially one really funny one, who I now call my chucho. Her name is Oreo (yeah, I´m creative). 90% of the time when we are teaching a lesson outside, I have a chucho sitting right next to me. Sigh...they are just a little annoying. Except for Oreo, she comes when I call to her and we love each other.
So this week was a rollercoaster. It started off good, but got really bad really fast. Thursday, Friday, and especially Saturday were HORRIBLE. My companion and I were so discouraged and everything was going wrong and no one wanted to hear our message. One of the people we have been teaching, Gerardo, we had to drop, because he is drinking and lying to his wife and hasn´t shown up for the last 8 lessons. It´s hard to have to do that, because he was so receptive when we were teaching him, and we really want him to make the right choice, but he isn´t. Then we have Giovani and Florialma and their two kids. I contacted them in front of the grocery store, and we have been teaching them at their house ever since. Everything was going great with them and they were accepting everything we were teaching and Giovani even had a baptismal date and had gone to church, but on Wednesday he said that he knew everything we were teaching was true but he just needed time and he and Flor aren´t married and only one of the kids is his and they are moving to Peten in 3 weeks. Yeah, so there´s no way we can make this happen, especially since Flor has stopped showing up for lessons and they are moving and are unmarried. So, we are going to teach them until they move and then send a referral to the Coban Mission. Those three days, no answered their doors, all our appointments cancelled, no one we contacted listened to us, and we were so sore and exhausted and a little sick. We were praying and praying and praying to have a good day, and finally, we had Sunday.
Sunday was really, really good. We had 3 investigators come to church, 8 lessons with members, 7 new investigators, and 39 contacts. Finally, things picked up and our prayers were answered.
Lunches in the field are more than just a little terrifying to me. We eat at member´s houses more often than not and let´s just say that the standards for anything to do with meat are just a little different than in America. Also, the portions here are enough to make you want to die. Three days ago, we were served 2 hamburgers the size our our heads for lunch. It was nothing short of a miracle that I was able to put them down. What´s really terrifying is the chicken. I have not eaten cooked chicken once here. Uncooked chicken on the other hand....yeah. I haven´t gotten sick save some stomach problems yet, and I am hoping I will never.
Okay, so more on Hna Sol! She is literally the sweetest person ever and we work together so well. Oh, and somehow, this girl is FLUENT in English. She has been in the mission field for 7 months, and is such a hard worker but does it with kindness and love in her heart. We were both saying to eachother last night that next time we have an interview with President Brough we are going to say that we never want another companion and we are happy here lol...but I know I only have 9 weeks left with her and then I´m going to have another companion. Or two. But hopefully one.
Hna Sol comes from an inactive family, though her brother did serve a mission before going inactive. She loves him, and they talk often, but some of her family is a little less than excited with her being here. She keeps her spirits so high, though, and is a wonderful example of a hardworking missionary.
This week we taught 32 lessons, and had 523 contacts! I don´t like contacting, but In the last week I have learned how to do it entirely by myself. You just say, Hola! Much gusto! Nosotros somos misioneras de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias, y tenemos un mensaje a cerca de Jesucristo (or familias, or profetas, or iglesia, or...). Cuando podemos visitarle y compartir con ustedes? And then they usually say something along the lines of I´m catholic or I don´t have time or no...to which you say Ah, vaya, nos gustaria a invitarle a la Iglesia es a la par de la Maxi y las reuniones es 9 en la mañana a domingo. Nos vemos! Once in a blue moon you get an address, but usually it is the above exchange...
Tomorrow my district and I (6 elders and 5 sisters...all awesome) are having a tourist day! We get one every transfer (6 weeks), so we are going to Antigua! I am very excited.
Anyways thank you for the emails and letters. I love hearing from everyone! Talk to you next week!
