Well thank you everyone for the letters they were much appreciated. I guess first off I'll explain the pictures that should be included. One is of this crazy taxidermy armadillo we found on a lady's porch we knocked into. Another is of a vaguely racist sign we found in a Mexican trailer park we knock in. And the third is of a tux companies van we saw at a funeral. Maybe I can get them to cut me a deal...
This has been a pretty good week. We had stake conference where they split the stake. So now I am serving in the Pasco North stake, it doesn't change anything for us, we still serve the same units in the middle of nowhere. Elder's Ellis and Nattress came to speak and oversee the changes. They both did a very good job. Me, Powell and a bunch of other missionaries sang the mission's medley for a special musical number.
I suppose I should correct an error the mission made real quick. I'm not training Elder Powell, they sent out the training letter by mistake instead of the District Leader letter. Me and Elder Powell had a good laugh about that. I teased him a little bit about me needing to retrain him.!
Yesterday we had interviews with President and Sister Greer. Those were awesome, I really love them. Apparently yesterday was Presidents day, so President asked me what day it was. I had no clue, the only holiday that came to my mind was Martin Luther King Jr. day, but I knew that wasn't right because that was last transfer. Finally he exasperatedly explained what day it was. It's true, unless it's Christmas or Thanksgiving, holidays don't really mean anything to missionaries out here. Also what the heck, I never got school off for Presidents' Day!
The work continues to progress. I'm enjoying it a lot better as I am learning the area and people's names. I can't remember who asked, but someone asked who's Spanish was better; mine, or Elder Powell's. Well he's really good, but if I'm going to be honest I'd have to say mine is better. But we both help each other out a lot. We are still doing almost exclusively Spanish work which is fantastic and I am loving it.
We are working trying to get some people ready for baptism. We have two people on date, and they are both pretty promising prospects. They will be baptized one in march, the other in april.
In response to mom's comments on my pictures, yes, I have gained weight. I'm still thin as ever, it all goes to my chin. But I'm still exercising in the mornings. Speaking of exercising, after we finish using the weights and sit ups and what not, we have been playing ping pong for a little bit of "cardio." Elder Powell's pretty good. I haven't beaten him yet, but the games have always been real close, with the exception of one shut out.
The members here are absolutely fantastic. They are constantly offering their help. We have FHE with a different family each monday. So yesterday we were with the Ward Mission Leader (one of them) and his family. We had a nice lesson/discussion. Then afterwards because we had had such a good day lesson wise we stayed and played some games with them. Wacky 6's, it got pretty heated. Speaking of really good lesson numbers, last week we got 20 lessons in all. That's always been the weekly goal for me, but apparently in this area they've never had that many. So that was pretty neat.
Well my time on the computer is almost up so I'll close. But remember the gospel is true. We are working with a family who's oldest daughter has had some struggles. I truly believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be a source of comfort to them in this difficult time. So remember, the church is true. I love you all and appreciate all that you do for me.
P.S. I got the Vday package, thanks mom. Also if you could find the contact info for Kat for me that would be very nice, I haven't heard from her in a long time and I'd like to ask her how BYU is treating her.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Greetings from Pasco
First some quick business, in case you didn't get the snail mail, my new address is 520 Center St. Basin City, WA. 99343. Let the receiving of mail begin!
Well life is pretty good I'd say. I got to Pasco on Wednesday and met my new comp Elder Powell. He came into the field one transfer behind me so we're both pretty new. We are both each others' first Gringo comp. His trainer was from El Salvador, and of course I had a Mexican and a Peruvian for companions. My new companion is absolutely awesome and he is a super hard worker. It's kind of funny the way he talks and his overall personality really remind me of Jeffrey Clutter. We get along real good, like I said, he's a really cool guy.
Almost instantaneously with being paired up with Powell, both of our Spanish has HUGELY improved. It's really cool I can speak and understand soo much better, the Lord definitely blesses us with the gift of tongues. This area is technically a zebra area but I can count on one hand how many English lessons I've done since I got here. We cover five units ...3 wards and two Spanish branches. It's kind of a steep learning curve after covering only one ward. But the members here are way awesome, we get fed every night
I talked with Sauceda and he says the wedding for our investigators was way good. Lots of other investigators and Mexican families came, so that sounded cool.
My first Saturday here one of the branch presidents called in the afternoon and assigned us talks for the following day. They went all right I think. I had written something the night before, but while Elder Powell was speaking I jotted down a couple of notes and just talked about those. After wards the Branch President came up and told us he'd have to have us speak more often, so I guess we did better than we wanted to.
Another revelation I received upon arriving is that I got made the new District Leader. So I get to do all those fun jobs now, I have no idea what they are because I missed the training meeting because the Zone Leaders said I didn't need to go. But that's allright I'll learn on my feet. Yesterday was the first District Meeting (held in Spanish because we are all Spanish elders/hermanas) and in my opinion it was pretty terrible, but I don't know. It'll be better next week.
Well thanks for the letters, I love all of yall and I'll have more to say next week I'm sure. The Church is true.
Well life is pretty good I'd say. I got to Pasco on Wednesday and met my new comp Elder Powell. He came into the field one transfer behind me so we're both pretty new. We are both each others' first Gringo comp. His trainer was from El Salvador, and of course I had a Mexican and a Peruvian for companions. My new companion is absolutely awesome and he is a super hard worker. It's kind of funny the way he talks and his overall personality really remind me of Jeffrey Clutter. We get along real good, like I said, he's a really cool guy.
Almost instantaneously with being paired up with Powell, both of our Spanish has HUGELY improved. It's really cool I can speak and understand soo much better, the Lord definitely blesses us with the gift of tongues. This area is technically a zebra area but I can count on one hand how many English lessons I've done since I got here. We cover five units ...3 wards and two Spanish branches. It's kind of a steep learning curve after covering only one ward. But the members here are way awesome, we get fed every night
I talked with Sauceda and he says the wedding for our investigators was way good. Lots of other investigators and Mexican families came, so that sounded cool.
My first Saturday here one of the branch presidents called in the afternoon and assigned us talks for the following day. They went all right I think. I had written something the night before, but while Elder Powell was speaking I jotted down a couple of notes and just talked about those. After wards the Branch President came up and told us he'd have to have us speak more often, so I guess we did better than we wanted to.
Another revelation I received upon arriving is that I got made the new District Leader. So I get to do all those fun jobs now, I have no idea what they are because I missed the training meeting because the Zone Leaders said I didn't need to go. But that's allright I'll learn on my feet. Yesterday was the first District Meeting (held in Spanish because we are all Spanish elders/hermanas) and in my opinion it was pretty terrible, but I don't know. It'll be better next week.
Well thanks for the letters, I love all of yall and I'll have more to say next week I'm sure. The Church is true.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
What Happened with Transfers?
So, before I get to the bulk of email, what happened with transfers? Well, my number got picked out of the hat, so tomorrow I'm off to the Pasco Zone. I'll be working in Connell and Basin City, and to my understanding they are the equivalent of Boardman and Irrigon. So I'll still be the missionary isolated from all the rest of the zone, but that's all right. From what I've been told Connell is basically the same as Boardman as far as people and agriculture work, but about two times as big. It's a zebra area as well, Spanish and English. My new comp's name is Elder Powell. I met him briefly in the MTC and he seemed like a nice guy. He got into the field one transfer after me, so we are both very new. I'll be what we call, his "Greeny Buster." That is to say I'm the first companion after his trainer, so it's my job to end the Honeymoon phase for him. Should be fun. I talked with the Elder who's leaving there and he says that there are a ton of potential baptisms coming up, so that'll be cool.
This week has been pretty all right, I found out about the transfers yesterday, so we've been running all over the place to say goodbye to everyone. Some people took it really hard which was sad, but at the same time it's nice to see that I affected people that much. Nice to be wanted.
My bike is out of commission, the back tire is bent and the front tire is completely flat with a hole, so I wont be using it for a while, but that's all right because in the next area it sounds like I'll be exclusively driving. Also my debit card came in yesterday which was a huge relief because I had to completely empty out my mission card and borrow a little bit from Sauceda to pay my traffic ticket. So I wasn't to sure how I was going to by food when I got to Pasco, but life is good now
We bought our investigators their wedding license this week which was exciting. They are getting married this next Saturday on the 12th which is real cool, but I'll be in Pasco. Oh well that's the life of a missionary. They'll be baptized eventually, but they needs more time. The lady who we got the license from was super helpful, and she graciously ignored the elephant in the room that was their citizenship.
Thanks everyone for the emails, there were a lot, but that's good. Mom, you don't need to send me the emails from Elder Hudak, we're in touch. I'll send my new address next week. I got some real neat pictures the last week I'll try to send along too. I love you all and thanks for everything. The church is true.
This week has been pretty all right, I found out about the transfers yesterday, so we've been running all over the place to say goodbye to everyone. Some people took it really hard which was sad, but at the same time it's nice to see that I affected people that much. Nice to be wanted.
My bike is out of commission, the back tire is bent and the front tire is completely flat with a hole, so I wont be using it for a while, but that's all right because in the next area it sounds like I'll be exclusively driving. Also my debit card came in yesterday which was a huge relief because I had to completely empty out my mission card and borrow a little bit from Sauceda to pay my traffic ticket. So I wasn't to sure how I was going to by food when I got to Pasco, but life is good now
We bought our investigators their wedding license this week which was exciting. They are getting married this next Saturday on the 12th which is real cool, but I'll be in Pasco. Oh well that's the life of a missionary. They'll be baptized eventually, but they needs more time. The lady who we got the license from was super helpful, and she graciously ignored the elephant in the room that was their citizenship.
Thanks everyone for the emails, there were a lot, but that's good. Mom, you don't need to send me the emails from Elder Hudak, we're in touch. I'll send my new address next week. I got some real neat pictures the last week I'll try to send along too. I love you all and thanks for everything. The church is true.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
6 months in the field...
So yes, Friday is my 6 months. Crazy. I feel like I haven't been out that long, but at the same time I feel like I've been out here forever! But not a bad kind of forever so it's all good. I have the tie all picked out to burn, as per tradition. It's a really ugly one I found in a free box at the MTC, I've been saving it just for this.
Last night I had an exchange with Elder Hankins the district leader. It went really good, we had a lot of work and appointments lined up for it so it was a really good day number wise. After district meeting and lunch we (Hankins and me) went to one of my investigators Mike and changed a tire for him, then we went back to the house to shower. We had several lessons that went good. After our last lesson of the night we got a call from a recent convert asking us to come give her aunt a blessing. We've been teaching her aunt, she's the one who invited us to the bible class a few weeks back, real nice lady. Real quick side note: After the minister gave us the DVDs we watched them and they were super anti Mormon. We told her about it and then asked her not to tell her aunt. Well she told her aunt and she went down to the bible class and just tore into this guy yelled at him, cussed him out, how dare he do that to boys that she invited, so on and so forth. I felt bad that we messed up her relationship with her pastor, but at the same time I was kind of touched that she stood up for us to that degree. So we gave her the blessing (she was having panic attacks and freaking out) and she calmed down real quick. Then we got to talking about the situation with her pastor, she says she thinks she wants to switch to our church now because she has no respect for him. So yeah, new convert perhaps.
Last Pday we hiked the Butte, which is this "mountain" in Hermiston. It was a lot of fun and we got some really great pictures, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me. We got to the top of this one craggy outgrowth thing and sang a bunch of hymns up there really loudly and other people hiking looked at us like we were crazy. Not to mention we were all matching with the zone tshirts we had just gotten that day. It was a lot of fun.
A recent addition to the mission work out here: texting. So yeah, I don't want to sound as though I'm gloating or anything dad, but the mission wants us texting. And so far it's proved to be a really valuable and useful tool. It actually really helps a lot.
We're in the process of getting a Spanish couple we teach married. Then they can get baptized. It's customary for the elders to buy the wedding licence between the two of them for poor families. So we went into the court house the other day to ask about where we could get one. The receptionist gave us the hardest look, and kept looking back and forth between the two of us. We didn't correct her, it was pretty funny. The members got a big kick out of it.
Some more exciting news, we're going to be forming a Spanish group in Boardman in the next couple months. That will make the Spanish work so much easier, because we (or whichever missionaries will be here at the time) won't have to send our investigators off to Hermiston and hope they get there.
In regards to President and Sister Greer. They are both such awesome people. And super super kind. They're from Arizona, President Greer has a law firm back there that he is away from currently. I don't know, they're just really good people. Sister Greer is really funny. A little while ago I completely lost my voice so Sauceda called her to let her know that we were only going to go to appointments we already had scheduled that day (fortunately we had a lot). She was trying to explain to Sauceda what a lozenge was, but he didn't know the word so she had him give the phone to me. I say hello sister Greer and she just busts out laughing and manages to say between fits of laughter "You sound terrible!!" I thanked her for her vote of confidence and she laughed even harder. Really good people.
Well I think that does it for me, transfer calls come in this Saturday so next week we'll see where I'm writing from. I'm thinking either here or Vancouver. That's my guess. I hope here though. We did our transfer predictions at district meeting yesterday, there was a decent amount that thought I would stay. Anywho, the church is true and I love yall very much.
Last night I had an exchange with Elder Hankins the district leader. It went really good, we had a lot of work and appointments lined up for it so it was a really good day number wise. After district meeting and lunch we (Hankins and me) went to one of my investigators Mike and changed a tire for him, then we went back to the house to shower. We had several lessons that went good. After our last lesson of the night we got a call from a recent convert asking us to come give her aunt a blessing. We've been teaching her aunt, she's the one who invited us to the bible class a few weeks back, real nice lady. Real quick side note: After the minister gave us the DVDs we watched them and they were super anti Mormon. We told her about it and then asked her not to tell her aunt. Well she told her aunt and she went down to the bible class and just tore into this guy yelled at him, cussed him out, how dare he do that to boys that she invited, so on and so forth. I felt bad that we messed up her relationship with her pastor, but at the same time I was kind of touched that she stood up for us to that degree. So we gave her the blessing (she was having panic attacks and freaking out) and she calmed down real quick. Then we got to talking about the situation with her pastor, she says she thinks she wants to switch to our church now because she has no respect for him. So yeah, new convert perhaps.
Last Pday we hiked the Butte, which is this "mountain" in Hermiston. It was a lot of fun and we got some really great pictures, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me. We got to the top of this one craggy outgrowth thing and sang a bunch of hymns up there really loudly and other people hiking looked at us like we were crazy. Not to mention we were all matching with the zone tshirts we had just gotten that day. It was a lot of fun.
A recent addition to the mission work out here: texting. So yeah, I don't want to sound as though I'm gloating or anything dad, but the mission wants us texting. And so far it's proved to be a really valuable and useful tool. It actually really helps a lot.
We're in the process of getting a Spanish couple we teach married. Then they can get baptized. It's customary for the elders to buy the wedding licence between the two of them for poor families. So we went into the court house the other day to ask about where we could get one. The receptionist gave us the hardest look, and kept looking back and forth between the two of us. We didn't correct her, it was pretty funny. The members got a big kick out of it.
Some more exciting news, we're going to be forming a Spanish group in Boardman in the next couple months. That will make the Spanish work so much easier, because we (or whichever missionaries will be here at the time) won't have to send our investigators off to Hermiston and hope they get there.
In regards to President and Sister Greer. They are both such awesome people. And super super kind. They're from Arizona, President Greer has a law firm back there that he is away from currently. I don't know, they're just really good people. Sister Greer is really funny. A little while ago I completely lost my voice so Sauceda called her to let her know that we were only going to go to appointments we already had scheduled that day (fortunately we had a lot). She was trying to explain to Sauceda what a lozenge was, but he didn't know the word so she had him give the phone to me. I say hello sister Greer and she just busts out laughing and manages to say between fits of laughter "You sound terrible!!" I thanked her for her vote of confidence and she laughed even harder. Really good people.
Well I think that does it for me, transfer calls come in this Saturday so next week we'll see where I'm writing from. I'm thinking either here or Vancouver. That's my guess. I hope here though. We did our transfer predictions at district meeting yesterday, there was a decent amount that thought I would stay. Anywho, the church is true and I love yall very much.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
