Week 2

Hey!

So first of all... me and my companions have had a few struggles this past week, I'll get into that later. And mom, President Wilkinson does remember your family.  I have not yet gotten accustomed to all the hills, I'm still dying. It doesn't hurt my lungs to do all the walking like it would in Utah, just my leg muscles. I have gotten a little bit more used to  the humidity, I don't itch as much as I did before... yes, the humidity makes me itchy. And now I'm getting a lot of bug bites, so I just get more itchy. So yeah, but the nights are cold, so that's nice. And sorry if I spell stuff wrong, it's correcting me using spanish, so it says that everything is wrong. Alright, now down to business.

P-days are really chill, we can kinda do whatever. We have a lady that cleans our laundry, so we just have to go and drop it off. Other than that, we can do whatever we want. So I spent all last week listening to music and playing the piano. And those are our P-days. So I don't remember who all I told you about, so I will probably repeat a name or two.

Last Tuesday we got up and went to do service for a really funny member of the branch here, Geovanni. He is...different. He's awesome though. We went over to his house and did something that I thought was really pointless. We dug up plants and threw them across the street. I have no idea why, the plants weren't in the way or anything, he just wanted them in a different spot. It wasn't even in his yard, it was on the path/road that led to his house. And then his wife made us lunch, so that was nice. One thing about here, members make us lunch everyday, and they always have really good juice to go with it, so basically, I'm in heaven. There is always more juice. Anyways, later on, we went to the Chapel to wait for the mission secretaries to come pick us up to go to the other area in my district (my district consists of two areas, 5 people). We were going over there to get my bed! I have a bed now! Yeah! After that we went to the church for a party, an Hermana had just returned from her mission in Chile, so we had a party. And after that we had English class (every Tuesday and Saturday).

Last Wednesday we got up, I made breakfast sandwiches for everyone, and then we started studying. When we got to our companionship study, Elder Ramírez, the senior companion, informed us that we would be moving the next day... Elder Garrett and I had no idea, so we were upset. The house that we were moving to is in a worse location, it's smaller, and has bigger bugs... One thing that is nicer about the new house, the ducha. The ducha is the thing that you put on the shower to heat the water. It uses a lot of electricity though, but at least I get my hot water for now. And the view is nicer too. I don't have too many pictures, we should be taking some today though, so next week =) So yeah, Wednesday, I was really frustrated cause I never know what's going on. 

So yeah, I don't really like being in a trio, because there is always someone who doesn't know what is going on... and that someone is me. The other two were already a companionship so they just kinda do their thing... We are always late, lessons are usually an hour at the shortest, and I can't speak Spanish. When they say that the first few weeks of a mission are the hardest, they aren't lying, it's really hard right now.

But now something good. Well first... we have about... 0 progressing investigators, they are all lazy, uncommitted, and it's frustrating. But yesterday we had a lesson with Fatima and her two kids. They are the closest to baptism. We talked to them and after about an hour, they said that they would be ready for baptism on the 16th! The mission goal is to have a baptism per week, so I really hope that this works out. One other good thing that happened during the week, Elder Garrett and I went contacting in the park. He really wanted to contact a family, but there were none in sight. so after 30 minutes I decided that we should say a prayer. We did, and after 25 minutes of walking around and being rejected by families outside of the park, we were making our last round around the park when Elder Garrett had the feeling to talk to some punk... and so I didn't want to take the chance of it not being by the Spirit, so we went and talked to him... nada. We were walking back to where we were supposed to meet on the other side of the park when we were walking right past a family! We talked to them and they seemed real interested. They had just moved here 3 days earlier, so they didn't know their directions, and they didn't have a phone, but it was still a blessing that they were put in our path.

Ok, now for a funny thing of the week. My first FHE here was with a less active family with a non-member dad. So all in the same FHE, there were cockroaches in the house, a lizard came in, a snake came in and the mom beat it with a broom and it wouldn't die so one of the kids stepped on it, they have a baby and the mom was breast-feeding and I wasn't ready for that, and then the husband went on a rant about random things... all in one FHE. It was probably the weirdest FHE of my life.

So yeah, it's been a crazy week, and this Wednesday is Elder Garretts birthday, so we've been receiving cakes =) I'm still not totally used to all the houses being barred and razor wire surrounding a lot of the houses, but it's getting to be more normal. And also, one more thing. Mom, here they have made empanadas with potatoes and cheese in them and they are really good, you should try something like that. And you should send me some simple recipies, just for fun. Anyways, that's my week, hope you enjoy!

Love,

Elder H. Black

P.S. Could you print these off weekly and stick them in a binder/scrapbook or something?

P.S.S. Happy Birthday Grammy!!!!!!