So firstly, we had a pretty fun day this last Friday, because.. Well, it was interesting. It was just like a classic missionary defining day. By telling you about this day, it will sum up basically what Mexico is like and what being on a mission is like in one go.
So, we woke up at 6, half an hour early, so we could be at the other Elder's house by 7 to go do service. But then at about 6:50, they called and just told us to meet them at one of our investigator's houses at 8, because we had to get a baptismal interview done before Saturday, the next day. So yeah, we could've slept until 6:30 as it turns out, but too late now. So I read my Book of Mormon, of course, gotta love it. I really do get grumpy when I don't get like an hour of reading in each day. So it's good that I do get an hour or so of reading, most days.
Anyway, so we met the other Elders at the house to do the interview, talked to them for a bit, and they fed us picadas. Sooo good. Delicious bready tortilla thing with sauce and cheese and onion and it's great. Probably one of my favorite dishes here. But anyway, the interview went well, and then we headed over to this other house to do the service, and when we got there they told us that we couldn't do it that day because... Something or other in spanish. Buuuut, they had empenadas for us! Which is my other favorite dish here, I think I've already told you about those, sooo good. And so we ate some of those, even though we weren't hungry.
Then, we went back to the other Elder's house, but guess what! They'd forgotten their keys. And our spare was in their house in my bag. And the landlady was somewhere else, who knows. Well, here in Mexico, sometimes there's like a gate before the door and you can lock the gate too, and that's how this is, it's like a locked gate (I'll have to take a picture, because this explanation is bad. haha) but it goes up to a roof sorta thing, so you can't just climb over. So we tried a bunch of things to get in different ways, and finally were able to use our manly strength and wit to pull as hard as we could on one side of the gate and have Elder Camacho, the district leader, squeeze in the crack where we were pulling at. Which worked somehow. So then we got our stuff and headed back up to our house to change and put stuff away (I'll explain why we had stuff to put away later), and when we got there, by taxi because it's far-ish, I checked the pocket of my bag and the keys weren't there. So we called the other Elders, and told them we left the keys there, and for them to search for them for us and if they found them to call us. We then got a nearby broom and started fiddling with the door through the window, because, well... Door handles are different here, don't ask questions, just know that it made sense at the time. =P
But eventually, we got in! And then, once we got in, all sweaty and tired, we called the other Elders, who said they couldn't find it, and now Elder Camacho decided to tell me he thinks he put it in my bag somewhere, so I check a different pocket, and sure enough, there are our keys. My companion and I just started laughing. But we showered and got changed super fast, and then... Well, after all that it was already time to go eat La Comida, so we went to eat with the members. So we had 3 meals in about 5 hours, and then went on with the rest of our day.
Also, of note, my camera charger broke, so we Mexican-ized it, and got it to charge my batteries anyway, and I'll attach a picture of that, but that was fun. Of course, we had happened to contact a guy in the street that spoke English the night before, who happens to run like this little store thing outside his home of electronic stuff, so we took it to him and he fixed it. He's way nice, and we took his two kids (17 and 12 years old) to a baptism, and then to church the next day, and they're already asking when they'll be baptized. And the dad and mom are super good with it, and will probably be baptized once we can get them to church, which is hard because the day he makes the most money with his electronics happens to be on Sunday, and the busiest hours happen to be during church.
And thus it is, with missionary work, but we'll get him. And if not, we'll get his kids, and they'll be great examples to him and he and his wife will slowly come, bit by bit, into the church. Or quickly, who knows. Some people end up giving up their jobs completely for the church, there's a lot of faith here. That is, once people can let go of those things that are so hard for them to let go of, whether it be drinking, smoking, or their belief in another religion that they were raised in but never attend.
But yeah, that was good...
Que mas... We had churros the other day. Which reminded me of Adam's ''last chance for chuuuurrrroooos!!" thing, that nobody will get but him, haha but it made me laugh. Also, I've had the coconut song stuck in my head lately. ''I wish I were a coconut, a coconut, a coconut, for if I were a coconut, unbreakable I'd be!'', etc. Ahh, the good old days of molestando los lideres del barrio, como Hermano Olson. Lo siento Hermano Olson, pero claro fuimos una ayuda para su paciencia, no?
Pues...
Oh, the churros. They had filling in them, chocolate, something else, and a thing called Lechera. I think we have it in the states. If so, get it! It's delicious, we had it on pancakes too, before. Mmmm.
And, well we had two baptisms this last Saturday, one of them of this guy that had to wait for a long time for permission to be baptized for reasons, but he got it and our mission president came to the baptism. I'll send a picture of that too. Although, you could just wait and see it in the LIAHONA in a couple months. Yeeeeaaaah, son! Haha no, probably not, but they did say they're sending the picture to the Prophet.
The baptismal service was really spiritual though, the bishop bore testimony of how the church changes your life, your family, and everything about you. He testified of how much happier he is in the church than he was without it before, as he is a convert of not too many years. He choked up some, and I being a baby got a little teary eyed too, it just hits you a little stronger when you're one of the people helping bring this change about in people's lives. Even though I don't help much yet, with my Spanish being a little lacking.
The thing is, I'm finally about to the point where I can understand the gist of what everyone is saying, but sometimes my brain gets tired, so I pretend not to understand so they'll go back to talking to my companion. Haha which probably isn't what I should do, but I'm still new enough to get away with it. They say I understand and speak better than a lot of the gringos they've met in the mission. Oh, and I never do that with an investigator by the way, only ward members. And they ask weird questions anyway. Haha
Well well, this has been a sort of long email, has it not? So I think I'll probably wrap it up there, but let me add the pictures and some explanations.
Oh, and no, I haven't gotten the package yet mom, but I'm sure I'll get it soon, and I've been getting all your dearelders. Thanks!
1. This picture is gold, because this little girl is really shy, and NEVER smiles. But one night I got her to smile, whipped out my camera, and snap! Perfect. She reminds me a bit of Hailey, and I do miss my sobrinos y sobrina.
2. Oh, I forgot to mention why we had stuff to put away at the house, and this picture reminds me... We were on... Divisions? That's not the right word, is it? In Spanish it's Divisiones, but I think it's something else in English. Dunno, but anyway, Elder Camacho and I were companions for two days, so Elder Coffin's stuff was at the other Elder's house, y por eso, we needed to take his stuff back to our place on Friday. Anyway though, this is Elder Camacho and I... Uh, teaching.
3. Same night, heading back we found a guy selling fried banana with cream, and it was gooood.
4. If you can see here, we took apart the charger, found that metal needed to touch metal at a certain part for it to church, and so we stuck a screw there. It worked!
5. Bautismo de Eugenio, the man I mentioned earlier. His son, a returned missionary, baptized him. It was awesome.
6. Bautismo de Fanny, the niece of the woman we baptized last week. She's great.
7. This owl that an investigator has, it's smaller than my hand!
8. My comp. wanted a picture of us pointing (ish) to a little island off in the ocean, so we took this.
And there you have it, life in Mexico! I have a lot of little videos, that I'm not sure I can send through email, but you (the family) will see those when I send the SD card. I have a lot more pictures too, so be excited!
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