10-19-09

Sorry I didn´t write too much last Preparation Day, we were in such a hurry, but we did get to do something super cool. We hiked through the forest above our city to see a waterfall! It was like nothing I´ve ever done before, I wish I could send you pictures. But it was like hiking through a rain forest, so cool, with members of the church, they used machetes.

This week has gone really well, my Preparation Day is Monday. We had Zone Conference last week, which was cool. President Lovell brings our mail with him to Zone Conference (which is every 6 weeks).

There is so much to talk about. My companion and I are getting along well, he’s cool. My Spanish is coming along, but it is still pretty tough. I am being patient- the people here talk soooo fast. It is crazy, but I can already understand much more than last week, the Lord is teaching me and helping me, and I really have felt His help here. The cool thing is that I have had experiences like Scott, like when teaching, where God really helps me speak much better Spanish than I know, and the people understand perfectly a story I tell or something, but then later after the lesson my Spanish goes back to where it was, not as good! But I have definitely felt help from Heavenly Father here. Like at Zone Conference, President Lovell taught in Spanish for over 2 hours and I understood 90 percent of it, I was able to learn all that he wanted to teach, because of help from Heavenly Father. Other times I don´t understand much, the people speak sooo fast here. But I am being patient and doing really well. It is really cool to be on a mission, an awesome experience.

A lot of the people here don´t really want to talk to us. Some people listen but they don´t keep their commitments (like being at the appointment they said they would be at), which is difficult. But I know that the Lord prepares people everywhere, and there are people here that we will meet who really are searching for the truth. I wish that I could write so much, but you can be happy knowing that I am keeping a great journal, and that you can read everything when I get back.

My momita is great, and her family is so nice. We are going to buy fresh made empanadas from her today! They are good. It hasn´t rained too much here so far. It is summer here, but the mornings still have been really cold! Very cold. But I am sleeping really well and doing great. My companion and I are working really hard and we are going to find someone amazing this week to teach about the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ. I am learning so much about missionary work here, and my testimony is as strong as ever, I just love this church and the happiness it brings me to know that it is true.

I am trying to think of some cool stories to tell you. We are going to clean the apartment today, because it is dirty and I am buying cleaning stuff. There was a baptism this week and two people were baptized.

One funny story is that when I got here I heard people call me a gringo, and I thought that meant a new missionary, because we call new missionaries greenies in the States. So I introduced myself like two times in the first couple days here as, I am gringo. What the word actually means is white man, or white boy. So I found that out and that is funny, I was saying, I am white man. But I only did it twice.