July 25, 2011
Hey fam., friends, extranjeros,
How are y'all* doing? I hope very well, this week went pretty well. It was interesting though, I'll go into that now.
Weeeell
normal week-ish except for the fact that after my comp. got all his
medicine and everything for his kidney problems last week (think I
mentioned that in the last email, no time to check), he then felt more
pain the next day. So we weren't able to get out to work until after La
Comida like at 3 or 3:30 with all the calling of the mission president's
wife, the doctor, getting more different medicine, etc.
Then the next day they called us down in the morning to the offices
because they wanted to run some tests on my comp. and on some other
Elder that came up from some area farther south. So we went to the
offices, waited for the other Elder to show up, and then we split off,
the two sick Elders to the hospital for tests, and the two healthy
Elders went back to our area to work out the citas. Well, we were
running pretty behind already, but we went at it. Elder Bauman (will
attach picture) and I, and this is where some interesting news comes
in... I'm a dad! Okay, so I WAS a dad. Okay, so that doesn't make sense
to you, it's missionary slang, I was this Elder's Papá for this amount
of time which is soon to be revealed, because he only has 1 and a half
weeks here in Mexico! So anyway, that was sure fun^^
He had that newbie far of hardworkingness that you just have to love
with a little lack of understanding and speaking spanish. He could
understand better than I could I think, but almost couldn't speak the
language at all. It was really fun though. With the spirit, he worked
just as well or better than other Elders might have.
For example, we went to a cita with this investigator, Carmela. She's
the mom of Omar and Dalia, the couple we got married and baptized a few
weeks back. Well, the mom has always listened fine, but never accepted
commitments. Recently she's started to read the book of mormon and pray
and all that stuff, but wouldn't agree to going to church or baptizing.
Well, finally my comp. and I pulled together a great lesson specifically
for her this last week and got her to agree to go to church and be
baptized, but she would NOT say when. She has always been that way, so
we were just going to take it bit by bit. Well, Elder Bauman didn't know
that was the plan^^
When we went to teach her (mostly Moroni 6, to teach the importance
again of assisting** church), we pretty much ended and good ol' Elder
Bauman looked her straight in the eyes, and said... (and this will be
funny for those that understand Spanish, for the others, sorry^^)
''Seguirá la ejemplo de JesuCristo, nosotros salvador, por ser baptizado
por alguíen que tienen el autoridad de sacerdocia de Dios?'' Or
something like that, and I was thinking... Uh oh, he's going to mess it
up! But I got the feeling to trust him and see where he'd go, and also
let him learn through doing. Well, she accepted (and he did a little
dance of joy, seriously, right in front of her^^) and he said, ''Tenemos
una fecha de baptismo la 6 de augusta, usted le gusta este fecha?''
which casi me dio risa, but she agreed! She said yes, he did another
little dance, and we talked a little more and left. Haha I felt like the
Elder on Best Two Years, I had to say, ''He's just very excited that
you're making this great decision'', but she liked his enthusiasm, and I
was sure to give some too.
Anyway though, we also encountered some other new investigators that are
really good, and he put a baptismal date (and danced again) on them
too. It was pretty great.
So yeah, I had him for two days, and then
we went back to the offices to switch back comps. My companion, Elder
Porter, has some kidney problems, and now is on a pretty strict diet
(which means I am too) for a couple months. I think I'll start losing
weight even quicker, because he can't have very much... Sugar, salt,
meat, beverages, and a few other things. So the members cooking for us
will be cooking healthier and smaller portions, which I could probably
use anyway. Oh and a lot less dairy too, which means if he has cereal,
he pretty much can't have any other dairy all day. Not much cheese, not
much yogurt or anything like that. And nooooo snack foods. Like chips
and treats.
He is doing alright though, he's going to still work just as hard, and
he's had a pretty good attitude about it all, even with all the medicine
he has to take along with all this too.
But yeah, so Elder Porter
is back! Him and I get along really well, we're already pretty good
friends, like Elder Billings (MTC comp.) and I were. And they're both
from Utah as well, so we'll all probably see each other after the
mission.
Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention... I can pretty much say I'm fluent in
Spanish now. I mean, the real test was going out for two days with Elder
Bauman (who almost doesn't speak) and having to take the lead and
answer all the questions and everything all the time. It was kinda fun,
but it sure put into perspective how far I've come with it. I still have
a ways to go, but I already understand almost everything, and everyone
can understand my Spanish perfectly for the most part, so it's pretty
great.
Well, anyway... Today we are going to go shop a little, eat some, and
probably take a nap, because we're exhausted and last week's P-Day was a
little blown with him having to go to the doctor! Soooo that'll be all I
think. I love you all! I'll send a few pictures with another email too.
Love,
Elder DeFreese
*A word that I didn't use when I spoke English, let alone since learning Spanish^^
**That looked wrong. I realized that in English it's attending. In Spanish it's asistiendo.
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