August 29 2011

              

Mom and family!!!

Now that I've gotten into my area, its been more like what I expected.

Here's what i don't like so much:

The food all tastes that same and I have no idea where it came from.

I can't drink the water.

I can't understand anyone.

Here is what i like:

My companion rocks.

I have a bed.

The temperature is awesome here. Perfect all day

I can brush my teeth with the water here(weird i know).

They have a MC Donald!!

I HAVEN'T  GOTTEN SICK!!!!

and the people are awesome here!

I had my first baptism on Sunday :) his name is Juan Paublo Gonzalis Aguilar, they have 2 last names because they take the last name of the dad and mom. Juan is 10 years old his mom is a member but his dad isn't. So we mainly needed the dads permission. So we taught the dad and he said it was OK. I wish i could say i helped more but i couldn't understand anyone so most of the time, so i just smiled. I have done a good bunch of teaching here - I'm good at listing for ¨and my companion will teach us more about....¨

My companions name is Elder Figueroa. He's a stud. He's from Bearacruse Mexico and speaks almost no English. Hes been learning what he can from his companions but that is not a lot. The Mission pres told me that he was one of the best missionaries in field right now.

Communication has been tough with my companion we use lots of pointing. I can understand most of what he says (given i know the words), but i think its because he slows down a little when he talks. I hate when i have to say slower, he says it slower and i still don't understand the words. It makes me feel like an idiot.

I haven't gotten sick yet :) but i think that its because I've stayed away from the tacos. The food is really.... tasteless here and all tastes the same, I am not a big fan of it.

The pictures that i am sending are of my First Baptism, Apartment, and the city

Its really weird to have so much poor next to the rich. They have a mall here that is awesome its the coolest I've seen. It has McDonald and  Subway... and all sorts of good stuff.

The one Major bad thing about this place is that they don't have a good trash system and its EVERYWHERE!  We have a ton in our apartment because we don't have a place to get rid of it. 

I thought I was in the get-tows for the first couple of days. But i asked a American about how my area compares and he said it was one of the nicer ones. So I am glad I am where I am at. I've seen some houses that are the size of our living room. We were at the Sanches Dieas; they are a married couple with 4 kids.  In the living room there is literally a bunk bed, another bed and a couch. So when they gave us a big cup of Coke a Cola we drank it and were very great full.

Its so different here and i don't have the time to explain why, but everything is different then it is in America.

Driving here seems like suicide. everyone is crazy. The buses/taxis/everyone trys to get to place to place as fast as they can. There are rules, but no one follows them. Today we were going to get on a buss and the guy started to drive away before i got on, because he was in the middle of a intersection (diagonally, he had stopped just to pick up a bunch of elders) and everyone was honking at him. But i haven't seen any wrecks.

The people are nice here, and good at trying to help me with Spanish. I've gotten a lot better. But sometimes i don't think the word they tell me is the right words for what i want to know. Its hard to explain an idea like ¨one day at a time¨ in Spanish because the direct translation does not mean the same thing. 

All the houses are made of concrete and the doors are steal. and it just so happens that my apartment is next to a somewhat busy street. and concrete does not  do anything to help with keeping noise out.  I hear car after car after car all night long. But some how I sleep.

The funniest thing I've seen are the druggies. They see that I'm American and come up to me to talk English. They speak perfect English and when I ask them if they speak English they say ¨nope, none¨ its funny. I saw a guy just passed out face first on the concrete, sleeping like a baby. My companion and I got a kick out of that.

some things i need would be:

1 or 2 more long sleeve shirts

some Cd's of Mormon tabernacle choir...

sour patch kids

hand sanitiser

Thank you for everything
Love you forever
Tray