So let me tell you about what has all happened. After we got on the flight after I called you, I arrived in Puebla, but the Mission President wasn’t there. There were a bunch of soldiers with big rifles.... Kind of scary... but I see plenty of that all the time so it’s no big deal anymore. Then we went up to one of the officers who didn’t have a gun and struggled to talk to him and use his cell phone. Eventually, after an hour the President showed up. Then we went to the mission home. The mission home is super nice… nicer than our house, but a little smaller. We slept there and yeah it was great; however, I did not know that was the last time I would take a real shower. So… we had training and then went to our apartment. Wow!... what a dump lol… it’s not that bad, but that was my first thought. So… then we didn’t do much because it was like 6ish, so we just went and visited a member. Then we got back and the sink was full of dirty dishes... super gross. So… we woke up early to clean up a bit. Everything was messy because his companion before me had been sick so he didn’t have time to clean.
Oh… my companion is Elder Rodriguez. He only speaks a little English, the other 2 missionaries from the states got trainers that are fluent (English speakers). Oh well.... in the morning I was washing the dishes, the grossest dishes I had ever washed! There were cockroaches in the sink too and I said a little prayer in my head, “let me love this....” then the music that we were listening to switched to Zelda music. LOL. I was like OK I can handle this a bit.
Yeah… so there are cockroaches in our apartment, I secured my desk with duct tape on the legs and pulled it away from the wall so I at least don’t get them in my books any more...
The rain is super random, so that little umbrella is perfect. Also, these shoes are like 100% waterproof, my feet didn’t get wet at all. There are so many little things that mom told me to pack that are perfect, and I’m super glad I have them. I can’t even remember them all, but there have been a number of times I thought, “Thanks, Mom.”
Well then... I actually took notes so I wouldn’t forget anything. So we visited this member. I couldn’t understand a thing she was saying, but she sounded like Aunt Janet for some reason, kind of weird. We had dinner at the Bishop’s house and I was playing with the kids and I couldn’t understand them, but that doesn’t matter. Anyways… they then attacked me with their dirty hands and got food all over my shirt.
Oh, I saw a license plate 373LYM (our car at home is LYM, too).
Then there was a less active member who we visited who was had on a Wisconsin Dells T-shirt, she didn’t actually know the Wisconsin Dells... how sad.
So then we ran into a guy who had lived in the US for quite a few years and he spoke broken English. So I told him I was from WI and he said, “oh they have a lot of buffalo there right?....” No, you’re thinking of Wyoming. lol.
Then there was a less active member who we visited who was had on a Wisconsin Dells T-shirt, she didn’t actually know the Wisconsin Dells... how sad.
So then we ran into a guy who had lived in the US for quite a few years and he spoke broken English. So I told him I was from WI and he said, “oh they have a lot of buffalo there right?....” No, you’re thinking of Wyoming. lol.
So you know it is sad went you get excited to hear the song that goes "Sweet Dreams are Made of These, who has the mind to disagree. Yeah, also “Total Eclipse of the Heart”.... but today at the bank I heard “Walk” by the Foo Fighters. That was awesome.
So these kids in the street ran up to me and asked how to say German in English, that was pretty random.
So everyone here gives dead fish hand shakes... kind of lame.
So everyone here gives dead fish hand shakes... kind of lame.
Yeah, Wigington is impossible for anyone to say. So when people try to talk to me in English when I don’t understand them, it just makes things worse. lol. Usually it makes absolutely no sense at all.
So our bathroom is super musty gross smelling, but on the brightside it never stinks like poop, the must covers it all. lol.
So we have a prison in our mission too… that’s kind of cool.
So we have a prison in our mission too… that’s kind of cool.
Yeah, my district lead, Elder Bertha said that this is one of the most dumpy areas of the mission. But my District Leader is super cool. He is from California.
Oh shoot. I forgot to bring the address. You can send mail through the regular mail and it almost always comes, packages too. Just send it to the mission office or what ever I’ll see if my comp has the address. I’ll put it at the end. So yeah… we played soccer with the zone today. That like super sucked lol. The last time I played soccer was in gym in high school and all these Mexicans are like super good. lol Yeah, I think we should play water polo or something that’s kind of like soccer. So Elder Bertha told me that one time they tried to play flag football but none of them could catch or throw. lol.
My companion has no money, and they only gave me 300 pesos, that’s like $30. So I’ve been paying for both of us with some of my own money. I was pretty careful with the 300 they gave me and we have just been eating corn flakes for breakfast and dinner. We do however eat lunch at a members house every day at 2 so that’s cool. The food is pretty good, a little hot, but not too bad. We will get more money on Wednesday, I think.
To be completely honest, it has been really tough. I understand more and more, but only big ideas. I feel kind of useless because I don’t say much in lessons but I’m OK if I’m talking one and one, but if two natives get going, I'm done.... Yeah, it is really frustrating. but whatever.... It is interesting though because we have gone to two members homes to eat that have gone on missions; I could understand both of them really well. They talked less slurred than others which I thought was interesting.
There are no pretty spots in my area that I can go. The roads are nuts.
Let me tell you about my shower. I fill a 5 gallon bucket of water about half way and then I put this heating rod in the water to heat it up. Then I fill it up the rest of the way with more cold water, so it is about the right temp. Then I take a cup and scoop water out of it and pour it on myself.... You really don’t feel super clean after that.
My apt is in Margarita across from a supermarket, Blockbuster and a pizza place. It is a big red brick building and my building is the one with "Plaza de Venus" on it. It is about a 5 min walk from the mission home.
Anyways all is wellish... it’s really hard to be in a lesson and not understand a thing that is going on. We only have two investigators; this is a really tough area because it is super catholic. We spend most of our time hunting down less actives.....
Well I hope all is well back home, take an extra long shower for me.
Oh so the other day we were teaching a lesson to a less active of like 20 years. I couldn’t understand anything that was going on and the kid was making a lot of noise. It was quite distracting, so I did what I do best: I started making subtle smiles and eyebrow raises at the kid and took control of the situation. The parents then were paying attention while I was using my non-verbal skills to keep the kid from making noise. I don’t think the parents even noticed, they were focused on my companion. I may not be able to speak Spanish, but I can entertain kids from across a room, without talking. There is a little kid that is in a family that we stop by a lot. They live almost right next to us. They have a kid about 3-years-old named Moroni and he likes to play with me. I don’t know why because I have no idea what he says. Swim America has taught me a lot.
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