Saturday, November 29, 2014

GREAT WEEK OF THANKS!

Zone activity.
My study area.
I like my area a lot, it is pretty small so I have seen all of it already and we walk everywhere, but it is nice.  The people are really friendly, and even when they dont want to hear our message, they listen politely and then say no thanks, so it is different here to Chicago or other areas in our mission.  The weather is definately different.  It is hot one day, cold the next, and rains very sporadically.  I miss the snow already.  I can live with the cold, the heat is terrifying.  They dont have air conditioning or heating, the kitchen is about the size of your bathroom and we only have an electric stove, and the fridge is college size.

We had a lot of good lessons this week.  We have 3 baptismal dates, with two of them being really positive now. It is the Familia Maria de Jesus.  I am super excited for them, I can already see the changes in their lives from the gospel. 
We don't do anything for Thanksgiving here I think, it isn't a holiday in Mexico.  Which is surprising frankly considering how many holidays they do celebrate.  They have had over 8 fiestas since I have been here, so either it is this time of year or they like fiestas.   They are a celebrating kind of people.  My companion and I are getting along fine, commuication is a struggle at times but it normally means I get to play pictionary for a bit. We have been trying to help each other learn the language, so he sort of understands English now, but he cant speak much of it, same for me with Spanish.  I am at the point now where I can understand when a word stops and starts, but not what the word actually is.  

The mail here is very slow so you can send your Christmas card now and I may get it by Christmas.  Have a great week!
Entrance by house.

Mountains on a clear day.

More mountains.



Rabbit

Zone activity

Good morning!

Very windy day.

So windy.  


Sunday, November 9, 2014

MONTERREY, MEXICO...FIRST WEEK HERE!

My first companion Elder Hernandez
The mountains are awesome here.  The ones in Utah are rock with some shrubs, the ones here are covered in trees and look amazing.  I am looking forward to getting started in the work.  I know I am as ready as I can be at this point, all that is left is to get to work.  So my first week has been great.  I am still trying to figure out how we get around but I sort of know where things are now.  I have met most of the members in the ward (area he is in) now and all of our investigators.  We have 8 or so investigators right now so we visit 4 everyday and spend the rest teaching inactive or less active members or finding contacts and references.

The people here are really humble and kind. The area I am in is more of a suburb of Monterrey and is fairly tiny.  Houses and buildings are never over 2 stories except for large convenience stores(Malls).  We use buses and taxis to get around in Mexico.  They drive like maniacs.  I mean really, the first 3 days were interesting learning how the traffic works here.  In terms of driving hierarchy, it goes buses, taxis, cars, bikes, people, with motorcycles mixing in somewhere between bus and car.  But I am used to it now and it is fun now.

My companion is Elder Hernandez.  He is the first in his family to serve a mission and is from Tijuana. He has 4 siblings and is a convert to the church along with his family.  He has 14 months in the mission, so he isn't new. He likes English pop songs but hasn't the slightest idea what the lyrics are or how to say them which is funny.  He just substitutes the words he doesn't know with whatever other English word he happens to know. Otherwise, he is a good companion.  He helps me understand the context of a question asked and answers what questions I have on proper grammar.

 I met Justin´s teacher Ashley, not sure what else to tell.  IT isn't scary here, just different. The people are all much poorer than even the poorest American I have met yet they act like they have more than we do.  I haven't been sunburned yet but I use sunscreen everyday so I don't expect it to happen soon.  The language isn't harder to speak, but definitely harder to understand.  the speed they speak at is faster, they have thicker accents, etc.  but I enjoy it.  I think I will have it by the end of November, but that is a ways off yet.
View from my apartment.

Fuse blew out my first day.


Justin's teacher from the MTC.  She probably thought he was coming back for seconds.

My district.

Campechana