So life in the field continues to be good. Thanks everyone who wrote for the awesome letters. So I'm writing on Monday this week because our Pday got moved around for some kind of Zone Leader Conference or something, anywho it'll be back to normal Tuesdays next week. DQ Monday just doesn't roll of the tongue like Tuesday...but that's all right! Speaking of the random ridiculousness of Elders, DQ Tuesdays have led to good Elders Buchanan and Yamada are teaching who we call DQ Girl, the girl on staff every time we go in. She even came to a baptism and everything.
This week has been a good week for us in Boardman/Irrigon. Two of the investigators and their kids and cousin came to church again which was way cool. I translated the whole meeting which I was rather proud of. And it was a regular talk meeting. I had to paraphrase a lot of stories and scriptures, but I got through it and they said they could understand me and enjoyed the meeting. Another cool thing we had happen with them is that they have a wedding date now, so we just need to go and get them a license and we'll be good to go. They'll be getting married on the 12th, a cool tidbit is that they will be the opening act to the High Priests Valentines Sweet Heart Dinner. So that'll be way cool. Then we'll try to get them baptized the next day on the 13th. Hurray progress! I really hope I'll be here for one more transfer so I can see that happen. Transfer calls come in on the 5th.
We also had our missionary potluck dinner this week. It wasn't the biggest turn out we've ever had but it was really good. Everyone had a fun time, Leonardo and his family were there. The members were real nice to them, and everyone stayed afterwards and chatted, which never happens. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards we went over to see a recent convert and her son's place and visited with them. Her son has become inactive because of his slightly goth girlfriend and it's been a big cause of stress for her. But through friendly bullying we got him to sacrament yesterday which was way awesome. We're really making progress with the members.
We went to that bible class as well. It was ok I guess. The preacher had a few ideas that weren't exactly right, but he was a nice guy and shared some good thoughts. Afterwards a lady gave me and Sauceda a DVD with Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith on it. We were a little apprehensive about it for fear of anti propaganda. It started out neutral enough, then got progressively more and more biased against the Mormons. It got more and more offensive and then when it started going into the temple ceremonies we took it out and threw it away. We haven't met with the lady since then, but when we do I'm sure we'll have a chat with her about it. But whatever, there wouldn't be such hateful opposition if the church weren't true.
I had some bike troubles this week. One day I noticed that my left peddle was crooked so I got a hold of a wrench and unscrewed it, when I went to screw it back in right I discovered that the slots for the screw were completely smooth. So today I'll be taking it in to the bike shop to see how much it'll cost. They've told me that labor is free for the missionaries since we provide so much business for them. So if I don't need any new parts it'll be a no problem fix. We had a specialized training with President and his wife on Friday which was way cool. They're such awesome people. Well, I think I'll wrap things up for the week, but I love yall and appreciate your letters and support. The Church is True.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Cloudy Times in Oregon
Hello One and All. So first off I will clarify for dad, I am not corresponding with others my lack of email content is just from lack of things to say. Anywho, thanks for the phone number mom, I'll get that resolved today. This has been a slow transfer for mail, but last night both me and Sauceda had a nice little stack, it made the week a whole lot nicer.
So, what has happened to me the last week? Well I suppose I'll go ahead and explain the title, times are good, but the sun has been obscured for the past week or two. Some rain, the snow is all gone. Maybe I'm crazy but I love the rain, so hopefully some day I'll spend some time in the Vancouver areas. Also, due to I'm not sure what to be honest, we are very much ahead of schedule on how many miles we have left for the month. So we've been riding our bikes around like real missionaries. It's been fun, despite the extremely sore backside I enjoy it. We ride around Irrigon in the mornings and then load the bikes on the car and drive to Boardman, park the car and ride the bikes around there until it's time to go home. Yesterday was INCREDIBLY windy. We were in Boardman and almost getting knocked off our bikes. It was pretty nice when the wind was at our backs because we didn't have to peddle, but when we were going into the wind we could hardly move, so we ended up walking our bikes around for the day.
The work is going along rather nicely. There's one couple and their brother we have been teaching and have on date for the 29th. The couple needs to get married before then, and the brother just moved to Kennewick, so we sent his information on. All three of them came with us to church in the Boardman ward, so we got out the translating equipment and translated the meeting for them. I started and had gotten through the Sacrament prayers and all the hymns when the first speaker (the high councilman's son) got up to speak. I've translated entire fast and testimony meetings before and those are pretty easy, because each talk is really short and everyone says more or less the same thing. But this guys talk was jumping all over the place, and I was tripping all over my words and really struggling, so I hurriedly apologized to them (the investigators) and then passed the head set over to Sauceda who finished the meeting. One really neat thing that happened was the High Councilman got up and at the end of his talk bore an awesome testimony to them in Spanish. They really appreciated it. It was a good meeting, afterwards we found an empty classroom and taught them a lesson.Tonight I'll be doing an exchange with the Zone Leaders.
So Sauceda will stay in Hermiston with Elder Yamada, and Elder Buchanan will come back to Irrigon with me. I'm pretty excited because me and Buchanan get along really well, he's an awesome missionary. So that'll just be until tomorrow. Should be fun.
There was one experience this week that was rather unfortunate. I won't go into the details of it, but I found out why two of our former investigators became former investigators from a very angry neighbor of theirs. Apparently there had been some sort of misunderstanding or miscommunication from my Spanish that I guess offended them. They are still very happy and pleasant with us whenever we stop by to say hello, but the neighbor was much less pleasant when we street contacted him. Gave me what-for.
On a more pleasant note. We knocked into a Jehovah's Witness (Spanish) the other day and had a very lovely chat with her. We were talking about our beliefs in the Garden of Eden and what went down there. She explained some of her beliefs to us and helped me to understand the role of the 144,000 as they see it. We asked her if we could give her a card and she said yes only if we would take something from her. We agreed and she ran off to get it. When she came back it was a nice little pamphlet about the Garden of Eden, so we said that we should get to give her one of our pamphlets to make it a fare trade, so we gave her the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. She promised to read it and we promised to read hers. It was a good tracting experience.
Last night we got a call from our recent convert (that was terrified of being baptized) aunt, saying we needed to come to her house (the aunt's, house that is) and give her a blessing. (She's been having a real hard time with panic attacks). So we went over right away. We'd been there once before to bless her son who was very sick at the time. But both times the aunt and aunt's friend were there. We've now had two very lovely chats with them in which we've gotten to explain different aspects of how the church works to them. This Friday we'll be going with them to their bible study class, and then they'll come with us to church on Sunday in exchange. It should be fun, they are very nice to us. They are very...I guess you could say "feisty" but they are very nice to us. Last night tthe convert's tia gave us a worship cd that one of her ministers put together. The minister is from Peru and tia said that the cd was made there. But after we put the cd in the car within two seconds me and Sauceda both started laughing because it was the most Mexican thing ever. Definitely not from Peru. It was this Mariachi"ish" music with a guy possessing a thick Mexican accent singing about different reasons that Jesus is great. It was kind of fun I guess, I liked it because I could understand most of what was being sung.
Well, I think that does it for me, Dad, hopefully this satisfied your desire for content. Like I said I just don't usually have much to say or can't think of anything, but here's a pretty good example of what my weeks are like I guess. Mike/Jess and Whit/Cody, hopefully yall are good and still living. I'd love to hear from you some time. Eric, keep safe, I'll make up for the lack of Christmas present when you're stateside and I'm not a missionary. Mom, thanks for the updates on people last week. Grandpa Richards, thanks for your never failing weekly letters, I appreciate them. Anywho, I love you all and look forward to hearing back next week.
So, what has happened to me the last week? Well I suppose I'll go ahead and explain the title, times are good, but the sun has been obscured for the past week or two. Some rain, the snow is all gone. Maybe I'm crazy but I love the rain, so hopefully some day I'll spend some time in the Vancouver areas. Also, due to I'm not sure what to be honest, we are very much ahead of schedule on how many miles we have left for the month. So we've been riding our bikes around like real missionaries. It's been fun, despite the extremely sore backside I enjoy it. We ride around Irrigon in the mornings and then load the bikes on the car and drive to Boardman, park the car and ride the bikes around there until it's time to go home. Yesterday was INCREDIBLY windy. We were in Boardman and almost getting knocked off our bikes. It was pretty nice when the wind was at our backs because we didn't have to peddle, but when we were going into the wind we could hardly move, so we ended up walking our bikes around for the day.
The work is going along rather nicely. There's one couple and their brother we have been teaching and have on date for the 29th. The couple needs to get married before then, and the brother just moved to Kennewick, so we sent his information on. All three of them came with us to church in the Boardman ward, so we got out the translating equipment and translated the meeting for them. I started and had gotten through the Sacrament prayers and all the hymns when the first speaker (the high councilman's son) got up to speak. I've translated entire fast and testimony meetings before and those are pretty easy, because each talk is really short and everyone says more or less the same thing. But this guys talk was jumping all over the place, and I was tripping all over my words and really struggling, so I hurriedly apologized to them (the investigators) and then passed the head set over to Sauceda who finished the meeting. One really neat thing that happened was the High Councilman got up and at the end of his talk bore an awesome testimony to them in Spanish. They really appreciated it. It was a good meeting, afterwards we found an empty classroom and taught them a lesson.Tonight I'll be doing an exchange with the Zone Leaders.
So Sauceda will stay in Hermiston with Elder Yamada, and Elder Buchanan will come back to Irrigon with me. I'm pretty excited because me and Buchanan get along really well, he's an awesome missionary. So that'll just be until tomorrow. Should be fun.
There was one experience this week that was rather unfortunate. I won't go into the details of it, but I found out why two of our former investigators became former investigators from a very angry neighbor of theirs. Apparently there had been some sort of misunderstanding or miscommunication from my Spanish that I guess offended them. They are still very happy and pleasant with us whenever we stop by to say hello, but the neighbor was much less pleasant when we street contacted him. Gave me what-for.
On a more pleasant note. We knocked into a Jehovah's Witness (Spanish) the other day and had a very lovely chat with her. We were talking about our beliefs in the Garden of Eden and what went down there. She explained some of her beliefs to us and helped me to understand the role of the 144,000 as they see it. We asked her if we could give her a card and she said yes only if we would take something from her. We agreed and she ran off to get it. When she came back it was a nice little pamphlet about the Garden of Eden, so we said that we should get to give her one of our pamphlets to make it a fare trade, so we gave her the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. She promised to read it and we promised to read hers. It was a good tracting experience.
Last night we got a call from our recent convert (that was terrified of being baptized) aunt, saying we needed to come to her house (the aunt's, house that is) and give her a blessing. (She's been having a real hard time with panic attacks). So we went over right away. We'd been there once before to bless her son who was very sick at the time. But both times the aunt and aunt's friend were there. We've now had two very lovely chats with them in which we've gotten to explain different aspects of how the church works to them. This Friday we'll be going with them to their bible study class, and then they'll come with us to church on Sunday in exchange. It should be fun, they are very nice to us. They are very...I guess you could say "feisty" but they are very nice to us. Last night tthe convert's tia gave us a worship cd that one of her ministers put together. The minister is from Peru and tia said that the cd was made there. But after we put the cd in the car within two seconds me and Sauceda both started laughing because it was the most Mexican thing ever. Definitely not from Peru. It was this Mariachi"ish" music with a guy possessing a thick Mexican accent singing about different reasons that Jesus is great. It was kind of fun I guess, I liked it because I could understand most of what was being sung.
Well, I think that does it for me, Dad, hopefully this satisfied your desire for content. Like I said I just don't usually have much to say or can't think of anything, but here's a pretty good example of what my weeks are like I guess. Mike/Jess and Whit/Cody, hopefully yall are good and still living. I'd love to hear from you some time. Eric, keep safe, I'll make up for the lack of Christmas present when you're stateside and I'm not a missionary. Mom, thanks for the updates on people last week. Grandpa Richards, thanks for your never failing weekly letters, I appreciate them. Anywho, I love you all and look forward to hearing back next week.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
I'm still alive
Hello One and All. So sorry about the lack of anything last week. We got to the library late and all the computers were full and I didn't get a computer until all the Elders were leaving for the traditional DQ Tuesday, and I wasn't about to miss out on that. But yes, I am here for a real email now. So today is Elder Sauceda's birthday. I plan on getting him a cake at DQ later, then the member we're living with is baking him a German Chocolate Cake, then the Castanedas will probably make a cake on his head (Eric I believe you have some experience with this from the Peru days).
Last week (before the crummy email I sent) I got busted for speeding. On my defense we were hurrying to get home before curfew, needless to say, after the cop's shenanigans we were late. I talked with Elder Buetler (the vehicle coordinator) about it, he said no harm done because this is the first ticket on my record, and that there would be no negative repercussions as far as my driving privileges. On a lighter note, he seemed quite angry at the cop's warning of how our bike rack obscured the license plate and needed to be moved, he says "that's what they're made for". So no harm done, though I do have to pay a decent amount of change, but maybe the judge will take pity on a poor missionary, we can hope at least.
The people on date are still on date, but I only have hopes of one or two of them being baptized. The one that should be baptized this Saturday is very resistant to it. We talked with her very thoroughly about how she did have a testimony (because she does) but she still has her doubts. The really frustrating part is that she even recognizes that the doubts come from Satan. This last Sunday we went to her trailer and did everything short of dragging her out of bed to get her to church, it was a very stressful morning. But she did get to the Spanish group. Late, but she got there. Then the night before we called in our weeks numbers we had been told that she would go to the Spanish group Elders as an investigator at church. I had a few things to say about that after the fight I put up to get her there. Needless to say, we got the number.
On Sunday Boardman got about 4 or 5 inches of snow, but oddly enough Irrigon didn't get any. So our days are very weird when we work in one spot then go to the other to find a lot of snow. Life is good here in the mission field. Sis. Hoffman, the lady we live with, is real nice, always wanting to chat. She cuts our hair and provides the occasional baked good, so can't really complain about that.Well, I think that about does it for me this week. I'm doing good, my Spanish is coming along. I hope all of yall are well. Remember, I enjoy the occasional email. Hint hint.
Last week (before the crummy email I sent) I got busted for speeding. On my defense we were hurrying to get home before curfew, needless to say, after the cop's shenanigans we were late. I talked with Elder Buetler (the vehicle coordinator) about it, he said no harm done because this is the first ticket on my record, and that there would be no negative repercussions as far as my driving privileges. On a lighter note, he seemed quite angry at the cop's warning of how our bike rack obscured the license plate and needed to be moved, he says "that's what they're made for". So no harm done, though I do have to pay a decent amount of change, but maybe the judge will take pity on a poor missionary, we can hope at least.
The people on date are still on date, but I only have hopes of one or two of them being baptized. The one that should be baptized this Saturday is very resistant to it. We talked with her very thoroughly about how she did have a testimony (because she does) but she still has her doubts. The really frustrating part is that she even recognizes that the doubts come from Satan. This last Sunday we went to her trailer and did everything short of dragging her out of bed to get her to church, it was a very stressful morning. But she did get to the Spanish group. Late, but she got there. Then the night before we called in our weeks numbers we had been told that she would go to the Spanish group Elders as an investigator at church. I had a few things to say about that after the fight I put up to get her there. Needless to say, we got the number.
On Sunday Boardman got about 4 or 5 inches of snow, but oddly enough Irrigon didn't get any. So our days are very weird when we work in one spot then go to the other to find a lot of snow. Life is good here in the mission field. Sis. Hoffman, the lady we live with, is real nice, always wanting to chat. She cuts our hair and provides the occasional baked good, so can't really complain about that.Well, I think that about does it for me this week. I'm doing good, my Spanish is coming along. I hope all of yall are well. Remember, I enjoy the occasional email. Hint hint.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Hola
Hello one and all,
Ok, so first of all sorry for not emailing yesterday. On Monday during district conference we were told that President and Sister Greer were coming to town yesterday to do interviews, so our Pday got bumped to today. Sorry if that caused any concerns. So, my week has been pretty good. We have a few baptisms coming up, Eloisa next Friday and Bob (the guy in fossil) Nov. 6th. Life in the field is good. Thank you very much mom for talking with Ricardo and Haley, I do appreciate it. Unfortunately off the top of my head I do not know the members address I live with. I'll get that to yall next week, and it's looking like I'll be here for at least another transfer, So I'll probably be here for a while.
I'm glad you enjoyed the old senior video mom. That was a lot of fun to make. I remember when he put it up on YouTube copyright people made him take down the original credit sequence which was really cool, so hopefully he got to put up the original.
So yeah, I have my bike, but we don't use bikes here, so it's in the garage. Some other area though I'm sure it'll come in handy, speaking of purchases. On Monday I bought a pretty nice GPS at walmart for just under 100. I was wondering if maybe I could get reimbursed as a early Christmas present? It will definitely help me out. So one fear I have, it's a very good chance that I'll be training next transfer. I'd get a Spanish elder who has 6 weeks less of Spanish experience than me, and I would be in charge. So that's kind of a terrifying concept, but we'll see what the Lord wants in a few weeks.
So Elder Montoya goes home at the end of this transfer, and it turns out that he's from Houston, only about 40 min away from us, in Humble. So I'll give him the phone number and address, and if yall want you can have him over for dinner some time and hear about the area I'm in. Should be fun, and he says he'd like to meet yall.
President Greer says the other elders I came in with are doing good, Elders Tom and Hansen. Dad to answer your questions, we do our laundry at the members home we live in, we email in a library, and we only drive. I'm in the Hermiston area and living in Boardmen. So far on Pdays we've just taken it easy in Boardmen. Today we picked apples in the backyard for the Olsens (our "host" family). The fruit here is very good and fresh. I had several apples while working, then we washed the car and that's been about it so far. Next week we're going to go to Hermiston for zone pday and that should be pretty fun. The work is about 60/40 when it comes to English to spanish. Mostly in English, but there's still plenty of Spanish to have. Well, I think that just about covers everything, I love you all and thank you for the emails mom and dad and Grandpa. In the mean time I probably better write president. Les amo.
Ok, so first of all sorry for not emailing yesterday. On Monday during district conference we were told that President and Sister Greer were coming to town yesterday to do interviews, so our Pday got bumped to today. Sorry if that caused any concerns. So, my week has been pretty good. We have a few baptisms coming up, Eloisa next Friday and Bob (the guy in fossil) Nov. 6th. Life in the field is good. Thank you very much mom for talking with Ricardo and Haley, I do appreciate it. Unfortunately off the top of my head I do not know the members address I live with. I'll get that to yall next week, and it's looking like I'll be here for at least another transfer, So I'll probably be here for a while.
I'm glad you enjoyed the old senior video mom. That was a lot of fun to make. I remember when he put it up on YouTube copyright people made him take down the original credit sequence which was really cool, so hopefully he got to put up the original.
So yeah, I have my bike, but we don't use bikes here, so it's in the garage. Some other area though I'm sure it'll come in handy, speaking of purchases. On Monday I bought a pretty nice GPS at walmart for just under 100. I was wondering if maybe I could get reimbursed as a early Christmas present? It will definitely help me out. So one fear I have, it's a very good chance that I'll be training next transfer. I'd get a Spanish elder who has 6 weeks less of Spanish experience than me, and I would be in charge. So that's kind of a terrifying concept, but we'll see what the Lord wants in a few weeks.
So Elder Montoya goes home at the end of this transfer, and it turns out that he's from Houston, only about 40 min away from us, in Humble. So I'll give him the phone number and address, and if yall want you can have him over for dinner some time and hear about the area I'm in. Should be fun, and he says he'd like to meet yall.
President Greer says the other elders I came in with are doing good, Elders Tom and Hansen. Dad to answer your questions, we do our laundry at the members home we live in, we email in a library, and we only drive. I'm in the Hermiston area and living in Boardmen. So far on Pdays we've just taken it easy in Boardmen. Today we picked apples in the backyard for the Olsens (our "host" family). The fruit here is very good and fresh. I had several apples while working, then we washed the car and that's been about it so far. Next week we're going to go to Hermiston for zone pday and that should be pretty fun. The work is about 60/40 when it comes to English to spanish. Mostly in English, but there's still plenty of Spanish to have. Well, I think that just about covers everything, I love you all and thank you for the emails mom and dad and Grandpa. In the mean time I probably better write president. Les amo.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Finally in the Field
First off business for you mom, the girl's name is Haley Parker, thanks very much, also if you could give Ricardo a little motivation. Also when it comes to sending mail, if you could make my mission address known to the masses, that's how I get mail. They just forward it from the office.
Ok, it is good to be in the field. So Tuesday morning we flew out in a real small plane. Then almost 2 hours later we landed in Pasco Washington airport that had to be smaller than Sartartia Middle School. 14 or 15 of us flew out on the same plane, 4 of us were Spanish speakers. That night we had meetings with President/Sister Greer, the AP's and Senior Couple. I love the Greer's they are really great to us and care deeply for us. We got to walk down to the Temple there, small but really beautiful. That night all the elders went and stayed at the AP's apartment in bunk beds and floor mats. Then the next day our trainers drove from all over the mission to pick us up.
I'm down in Oregon, a real nice area. My trainer is Elder Montoya is great. He's a native Mexican so he helps a lot with the language. We get along great and have had mild success in teaching. This is his last transfer so he heads home real soon. After he leaves I'm not too sure what I'll do. We live with a nice older couple from the English ward we attend. As far as the split of lessons we teach in languages it's probably 60/40 English to Spanish. And as far as Spanish here goes, well I don't understand too much. If I can get them to slow down and speak to me like a slow child, I can usually understand, but that doesn't happen too much. The tricky part is hearing where one word ends and the other begins, but it's slowly but surely getting better. Although, I do love the Spanglish lessons, I can understand almost everything in those. My first day I couldn't understand a word, I very slowly improving.
There's this one family in the Spanish branch, they're recent converts the Castinetas, I absolutely love them. The first time I met them they were a little unsure because I was replacing their Elder who baptized them. But we've visited with them several times before and they have since adopted me into the family and shown a ton of love to me. They're great. We're teaching some people who will probably be baptized with some time, but the one I'm really excited about is Bob. Saturday night a Branch President from this branch out in a small town called Fossil (about an hour and half away from us) called and said there was this guy who had been attending church and wanted to meet the missionaries and be baptized.
So Sunday came and Elder Montoya went to our branch and I went with Hopper (A local priest) to Fossil to meet and teach Bob. We had to split because we had investigators coming to church that needed tending. So we get there and I don't think this place could be called a church, just a set apart meeting house. This used to be a little home that got converted. Also there were 9 people attending, including me, Hopper and Bob. They had one priesthood holder, the president, and the rest were sisters, save the president's son.
So after a nice testimony meeting where all of us shared something me, Hopper the president and one of the sisters went into a separate room with Bob. I proceeded to teach the first lesson with random input thrown in by the other people there. It went very well and the spirit was strong, at the end I invited Bob to be baptized, which he accepted, tomorrow Elder Montoya and I are going back down to fossil for the next lesson. I'm very excited about him. Because he's my first solo teachy.
There are a few other people that have been found since I've gotten here, but that's probably the neatest story. The members are real good about feeding us every night, and you can never leave the Castinetas trailer hungry. There's both ends of the spectrum here, we live in a nice house. But most of those we teach are in pretty humble conditions of trailers, or double wides, or whatnot. They are all very generous and kind, just living humbly.
Elder Montoya and I have both been sick this week, but are slowly improving and feeling better, so that's good. I think that's about it from this end. I was quite pleased to hear about Austin winning BOA, go Bulldogs! You'll have to go see a football game and tell me how they look. Hopefully everyone is doing well. Hey Whit, here's a favor You should do me. If you would be so kind as to send me copies of the prayer cycle, adagio for strings, appellation springs, things like that that are appropriate, that would be super awesome. Well I better go, but I love you all and look forward to the work and language progressing.
Ok, it is good to be in the field. So Tuesday morning we flew out in a real small plane. Then almost 2 hours later we landed in Pasco Washington airport that had to be smaller than Sartartia Middle School. 14 or 15 of us flew out on the same plane, 4 of us were Spanish speakers. That night we had meetings with President/Sister Greer, the AP's and Senior Couple. I love the Greer's they are really great to us and care deeply for us. We got to walk down to the Temple there, small but really beautiful. That night all the elders went and stayed at the AP's apartment in bunk beds and floor mats. Then the next day our trainers drove from all over the mission to pick us up.
I'm down in Oregon, a real nice area. My trainer is Elder Montoya is great. He's a native Mexican so he helps a lot with the language. We get along great and have had mild success in teaching. This is his last transfer so he heads home real soon. After he leaves I'm not too sure what I'll do. We live with a nice older couple from the English ward we attend. As far as the split of lessons we teach in languages it's probably 60/40 English to Spanish. And as far as Spanish here goes, well I don't understand too much. If I can get them to slow down and speak to me like a slow child, I can usually understand, but that doesn't happen too much. The tricky part is hearing where one word ends and the other begins, but it's slowly but surely getting better. Although, I do love the Spanglish lessons, I can understand almost everything in those. My first day I couldn't understand a word, I very slowly improving.
There's this one family in the Spanish branch, they're recent converts the Castinetas, I absolutely love them. The first time I met them they were a little unsure because I was replacing their Elder who baptized them. But we've visited with them several times before and they have since adopted me into the family and shown a ton of love to me. They're great. We're teaching some people who will probably be baptized with some time, but the one I'm really excited about is Bob. Saturday night a Branch President from this branch out in a small town called Fossil (about an hour and half away from us) called and said there was this guy who had been attending church and wanted to meet the missionaries and be baptized.
So Sunday came and Elder Montoya went to our branch and I went with Hopper (A local priest) to Fossil to meet and teach Bob. We had to split because we had investigators coming to church that needed tending. So we get there and I don't think this place could be called a church, just a set apart meeting house. This used to be a little home that got converted. Also there were 9 people attending, including me, Hopper and Bob. They had one priesthood holder, the president, and the rest were sisters, save the president's son.
So after a nice testimony meeting where all of us shared something me, Hopper the president and one of the sisters went into a separate room with Bob. I proceeded to teach the first lesson with random input thrown in by the other people there. It went very well and the spirit was strong, at the end I invited Bob to be baptized, which he accepted, tomorrow Elder Montoya and I are going back down to fossil for the next lesson. I'm very excited about him. Because he's my first solo teachy.
There are a few other people that have been found since I've gotten here, but that's probably the neatest story. The members are real good about feeding us every night, and you can never leave the Castinetas trailer hungry. There's both ends of the spectrum here, we live in a nice house. But most of those we teach are in pretty humble conditions of trailers, or double wides, or whatnot. They are all very generous and kind, just living humbly.
Elder Montoya and I have both been sick this week, but are slowly improving and feeling better, so that's good. I think that's about it from this end. I was quite pleased to hear about Austin winning BOA, go Bulldogs! You'll have to go see a football game and tell me how they look. Hopefully everyone is doing well. Hey Whit, here's a favor You should do me. If you would be so kind as to send me copies of the prayer cycle, adagio for strings, appellation springs, things like that that are appropriate, that would be super awesome. Well I better go, but I love you all and look forward to the work and language progressing.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Heads up ...we've got (snail) mail!
Hello all, I made it to Washington alright. As of right now I am in the AP's (Area President's) apartment with maybe 20ish other missionaries. Tomorrow is transfer day so we'll get our trainers then. I'm the only newbie going to the Boardman area/Hermiston Zone, that's in Oregon. I'm way excited because my trainer (Elder Montoya) is a native speaker. I can't wait to meet him tomorrow.
I absolutely love my Mission President and his wife. They are so loving. When we got to the airport they were there to meet us and send off 15 missionaries. It was really neat to see all the teary eyed missionaries leave. It was cool, we flew in on this tiny plane. Also we got to see the Colombia River Temple. It is so beautiful. I got some awesome pictures.
Tuesday is our P. Day (Preparation Day) for future reference. It's the day when we clean our apartment, shop, do laundry and write letters, etc. Well, I need to go get a shower in before lights out. Oh , before I forget ...for packages they have to be sent U.S. Postal Priority Mail because UPS, FedEx, or DHL can't be forwarded from the mission office to the missionaries. Which apparently is where we're supposed to get our mail from. Once I find out my address letters can be sent directly to my apartment. I'll clarify that with my trainer tomorrow.
Anywho I have to go, but it was so good talking to yall today. Sorry I couldn't say good bye to you Mom. I love yall so much, and thank you for your sacrifices.
Love,
Elder Steve
I absolutely love my Mission President and his wife. They are so loving. When we got to the airport they were there to meet us and send off 15 missionaries. It was really neat to see all the teary eyed missionaries leave. It was cool, we flew in on this tiny plane. Also we got to see the Colombia River Temple. It is so beautiful. I got some awesome pictures.
Tuesday is our P. Day (Preparation Day) for future reference. It's the day when we clean our apartment, shop, do laundry and write letters, etc. Well, I need to go get a shower in before lights out. Oh , before I forget ...for packages they have to be sent U.S. Postal Priority Mail because UPS, FedEx, or DHL can't be forwarded from the mission office to the missionaries. Which apparently is where we're supposed to get our mail from. Once I find out my address letters can be sent directly to my apartment. I'll clarify that with my trainer tomorrow.
Anywho I have to go, but it was so good talking to yall today. Sorry I couldn't say good bye to you Mom. I love yall so much, and thank you for your sacrifices.
Love,
Elder Steve
Friday, October 1, 2010
The Last MTC Email
Happy October Everyone!
Thanks to all who wrote letters, they really do brighten one's day here. Now then, the last week was longer than all the others, but it's been good. We've had a slightly different schedule around here, what with departure meetings and whatnot. We're all very excited for conference. Be sure to keep an eye out for me. I'm really excited to attend in person for the first time. Singing in conference, this is truly a once in a life time experience.
Speaking of church leadership, I got a chance to watch Pres. Monson's talk from the Relief Society broadcast (on Joy Shaerrer's recommendation) and it was phenomenal. So I highly encourage any one who reads this and hasn't seen it to go check it out at lds.org, or mormon.com, whichever site it's at. (Speaking of the Schaerrers, mom, could you thank Joy for me for the letter she sent. Let her know I'll be responding when life becomes less crazy.)
Now a belated happy birthday to Mom and Dad, I hope it was great. If they haven't arrived yet yall should each be getting a letter from me soon. I don't know how dependable yalls mail lady is. Tell Elder Hall hello for me, also, one of the Hermanas in my district Hermana Van Taendren is going to Houston South. So if you ever see the Spanish sisters go say hello and see if it's her. I'm sure she'll have a story or two about me to share with yall. Before I forget, mom and dad: on Tuesday I will have the chance to call yall from the airport before leaving. I report to the travel office at 8 in the morning so I'll probably get to the airport at 9:30 or 10 maybe. So I guess just be available Tuesday morning. I look forward to having a quick chat.
I hosted again this week. It was fun, the mothers weren't too upset so that was good. This past week I have had several personal English fasts where I go 24 hours of only speaking Spanish. They're certainly a challenge, but they really do make a difference. We had a great experience at the temple today. I look forward to my first temple session off the mission.
Today we got word on the audition some of us did a month or so ago. So it turns out we'll be singing at the departure devotional this Sunday. So they finally called us in. Alright, that's all I have to report on. But I have a homework assignment for all the immediate family: I leave Tuesday morning, so I ask that all of you write me through dearelder one last time before I leave the MTC. For some of you this won't be an issue I know, but I would really appreciate it if I could here from yall one last time.
Thank you so much everyone for your love and support I love you all dearly and pray for you daily. I cannot wait to get out there in Washington and start doing some good. It's been a long 2 months, and I can't wait for the rest of my mission to begin.
Love,
Elder Richards
Thanks to all who wrote letters, they really do brighten one's day here. Now then, the last week was longer than all the others, but it's been good. We've had a slightly different schedule around here, what with departure meetings and whatnot. We're all very excited for conference. Be sure to keep an eye out for me. I'm really excited to attend in person for the first time. Singing in conference, this is truly a once in a life time experience.
Speaking of church leadership, I got a chance to watch Pres. Monson's talk from the Relief Society broadcast (on Joy Shaerrer's recommendation) and it was phenomenal. So I highly encourage any one who reads this and hasn't seen it to go check it out at lds.org, or mormon.com, whichever site it's at. (Speaking of the Schaerrers, mom, could you thank Joy for me for the letter she sent. Let her know I'll be responding when life becomes less crazy.)
Now a belated happy birthday to Mom and Dad, I hope it was great. If they haven't arrived yet yall should each be getting a letter from me soon. I don't know how dependable yalls mail lady is. Tell Elder Hall hello for me, also, one of the Hermanas in my district Hermana Van Taendren is going to Houston South. So if you ever see the Spanish sisters go say hello and see if it's her. I'm sure she'll have a story or two about me to share with yall. Before I forget, mom and dad: on Tuesday I will have the chance to call yall from the airport before leaving. I report to the travel office at 8 in the morning so I'll probably get to the airport at 9:30 or 10 maybe. So I guess just be available Tuesday morning. I look forward to having a quick chat.
I hosted again this week. It was fun, the mothers weren't too upset so that was good. This past week I have had several personal English fasts where I go 24 hours of only speaking Spanish. They're certainly a challenge, but they really do make a difference. We had a great experience at the temple today. I look forward to my first temple session off the mission.
Today we got word on the audition some of us did a month or so ago. So it turns out we'll be singing at the departure devotional this Sunday. So they finally called us in. Alright, that's all I have to report on. But I have a homework assignment for all the immediate family: I leave Tuesday morning, so I ask that all of you write me through dearelder one last time before I leave the MTC. For some of you this won't be an issue I know, but I would really appreciate it if I could here from yall one last time.
Thank you so much everyone for your love and support I love you all dearly and pray for you daily. I cannot wait to get out there in Washington and start doing some good. It's been a long 2 months, and I can't wait for the rest of my mission to begin.
Love,
Elder Richards
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