Hola Familia y amigos,
This week, this week... Well, to reply to Dad and Sean and Mom's emails at once...
Sounds like fun, the wettest may ever (and I love rain) is when I'm here in Mexico where it has rained I think 2 days, and each of those days only for like an hour tops, and then more sun. Haha but that's alright, I'm enjoying the sun here, and my skin color is changing daily. Soon I'll look like a real Mexican. I'm glad your job is going well Sean, and that you're getting a good amount of money for the things your family needs. And for fun things too! Sweeet. =) Dad, I'm really glad you kept your job and I'm glad you're seeing the others who didn't get to keep theirs start to find jobs as well. I'm grateful for all your prayers for me, I heard about the prayer for me on fast Sunday, and I'm sure there are lots of other prayers for me every day, and I appreciate it a lot. Pray for my companion and our companionship, and our investigators too, if you find the time. =) I've learned to ask and thank God for a lot when I pray, and I love the opportunities we have as missionaries to almost constantly be thinking of and praying to God in some way or another, it's humbling and uplifting and super helpful. I hope that after my mission I remember the importance of prayer and reading the scriptures. Congrats to Jordan for graduating, if I haven't already said it. That's sweet! Now just work your butt off and save. Who knows, maybe you'll save enough to have some extra fun money for your mission! I wish I had that sometimes, there is a lot here in Mexico that really isn't that expensive, and if I would've saved just a bit earlier, maybe I could've gotten some cool stuff or tried some interesting food that I haven't had the chance to try yet here. But that's not really what it's about anyway, so as long as you get as much as you can for the mission, it'll all be perfect.
Oh! While it's on my mind... Kung Fu Panda 2!? It exists!? I want to see it so bad. We keep seeing trailers for it while we are in investigators home and their tv is on. But apparently at Christmas time we might be allowed to watch it or another Disney-ish movie, so don't worry, just another 7 months or so. Haha and what else is new? New Pirrates of the Carribean I've heard, new Transformers probably pretty soon, if not already, right? New books coming out, other such things. But that's alright, I'm golden here, because I know while you're all enjoying that, I'm enjoying a different culture, different food, and the most satisfying thing of all, helping others to come unto Christ through (faith, repentance) BAPTISM! (holy ghost, enduring to the end) So take that, family and friends at home! Haha but yeah, all is well.
Random subject change:
I don't know who else gets Elder Burton's forwards, but in the last one he mentioned how the burgers here in Mexico are awesome, and I must second that, while it's on the mind. My companion asks the members for burgers every week, so we have them pretty often. I do like to try other new stuff every once in a while, but for the most part we eat chicken, burgers, tortillas, spices. Haha but in lots of different delicious ways, so I'm enjoying it a lot.
Aaand que mas... Oh yeah, I have this little outline in my agenda (...planner, in English, right?) for my email home! Okay, so next... Oh, it's cool that Mallory is waiting for a call, and again it's super cool that Ty is going to Argentina. Which mission in Argentina though? There were Elders in my zone in the MTC going there, and my companion's girlfriend is in the Rosaria (I think that's the name) mission in Argentina right now. Let me know when people get calls and where they're going and when and all that, it's super exciting to hear about. I can't wait to speak Spanish with Landon, Ty, and Adam after our missions!
Next thing, I'm starting to think in a form of Spanglish. I don't think in like spanish words very much, but the way I think things and form sentences in Enlish sometimes has a Spanish twist. Like, here you say 'tengo 19 años', which means I have 19 years. That's what you say instead of I am 19 years old. Age here is measured as how many a person has. So when we were talking to this investigator who's 16 and has a kid already, I thought to myself, ''Woah! She has a kid already, and I have almost 4 more years than her!'' Haha which is totally normal structure in Spanish, but then I realized it's weird in English. Also, my memories are becoming messed up. I'll be thinking about giving talks in church back home or being in the MTC even, and I'll start to wonder how in the world people understood me back then, because my Spanish stunk! But then I realize that it was English, but then a part of me thinks, ''And they understood English?'' I don't know... It's hard to explain, but when I think about the past now, it's always weird to think about things (especially church-wise) that aren't in Spanish.
But anyway, that's how it goes I guess! Some days when I've been speaking a looot of Spanish and getting more confident in it and stuff, and then I pause to say something in English to my companion, it just sounds awkward and sloppy to me. Spanish just sounds a lot smoother and clearer than English I think, once you get the hang of it. But yeah, sometimes I almost can't speak English, it's kind of funny. Especially since in reality, my spanish is still pretty bad too. So now it's almost like I can't speak at all, because my native language is weird, and I still don't know much at all about Spanish. Heh heh, but it's improving daily.
Well, I guess I'll send some pictures now! I don't know that I'll have many this week, because I've taken out my camera a little less than usual, to keep from looking like a tourist, as the white bible (missionary handbook) says. But I'll fill in gaps with old pictures I haven't sent, anyway.
1. This sweet bread snack you can buy at just about any store for about 50 cents, American. It is soo good, with chocolate in the middle. =)
2. Our district after the last transfer, we now have Elder Flores, who is from Peru and has one more transfer over me. He's cool, but he speaks Spanish really fast (as in, sometimes the Mexicans here can't even understand him), which I guess is normal for Peruvians.
3. This is on a wall right close to our house where we live, and it's pretty interesting. Get someone to translate it for you, it's pretty good. Haha I like the 'You decide!'.
4. Gotta love pig feet! We stopped by the church for something from the bishop, and they were cooking pig feet in some Relief Society thing, but we didn't stick around to try any. I will someday in this mission though, I'm sure.
5. Mmm, this steak thing that they make a lot here with rice, potatoes, and of course tortillas to make tacos from it all.
6. A sombrero. Classic, no? Haha
7. I don't think I've sent this one, but there's a street here that's called, 'sin nombre', which means 'without name'. So when we contacted this lady, she told us she lived on 'calle sin nombre', and we thought she was messing with us or giving us a fake address or something. Haha but we found it!
Aaand I guess that's all for this week! But you'll hear from me again soon. If you want letters for whatever reason (I don't know, they kind of take a long time to get from here to there, so you'd probably prefer emails), let me know and I'll make some time to write and send them. Until you let me know though, I'll stick with emails. I love you all a lot. I think about you all and pray that everything goes really well.
I love my brothers, I know I was a pain to Jordan and Braden a bit before I left sometimes, but I love them and miss them. I love my grandmas, my parents, my older brothers and sisters who are fantastic examples for me, and my friends!
I'll see you all sooner than you think! Time flies here.
Love,
Elder DeFreese
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