January 31, 2011
Hey fam,Well changes are this week, should get a call tomorrow telling us who has changes and all that. I´m pretty sure that I'll stay and my companion will leave, but we´ll see who knows! But yeah this week has been pretty good, we´ve been doing quite a bit of service lately. We went to a place called las champas to help rebuild a house (I´m not sure if I´d even call it a house). This area is the poorest place I´ve area seen in my life. Over 5000 people live in this colony and all the houses are made out of cardboard, tin, and tarps. The roof broke on the house of this member so we went and tried to fix it. All we could do is put wooden beams across the top and tie a tarp over it. Inside the "house" there is just one bed that looks at least 70 years old and just a bunch of garbage with a dirt floor. Super sad! The thing is the missionarys don´t really go there because they know the church has money and think if they become members they´ll just get hooked up with money and food and that kind of thing. Apart from that it is super dangerous. I got questioned from the police for the first time in my mission there. About five minutes after we entered two police on dirtbikes came and questioned us and wanted to search us! And then on the way to the house I had two people stop me and ask us to build them a house. I told one guy we are just from the church and he grabbed me by the arm and said just come over so I can at least show you where I live. Anyways it was pretty sad!
On a lighter side, the other day I had to go and do a baptismal interview for a young twelve year old kid whose family was inactive. When I got there Elder Day told me that he hadn´t been taught the law of chastity yet so we just went over it real quick to a twelve year old level... ya know you have to respect girls blah blah blah. Anyways at the end we asked "alright Cristian so what is the law of chastity?" He sat there and was like"hmmm how do I explain this.... pretty much like you can´t force a girl into kissing you.. you have to do it gently" hahahah I about died and just said yeah man you´ve got the idea.
Well I got the package last week! It was way sweet I loved it. Those videos were awesome, I can´t believe how big Reese has gotten!!! She´s pretty much almost talking and walking! I can´t wait to see her. But yeah you all look good, and the house looks even better! haha. I´ve watched them all the three times each at least. The food was super good too! All of it was good so thanks. Man that stinks that Angie is having a hard time.... I´m going to send her an email. The MTC is tough especially at the first, but once you get into the swing of things it´s actually pretty sweet! I´d love to go back there for a week. But yeah I knew from the moment you guys told me that she was going to the Provo MTC that that was going to be a good thing. I think it would be a lot tougher in Brazil.
I´m excited to see where Jaxon goes!! That´s so weird that he is already going... gosh the time between when you get your call to when you leave is soooo weird. But pretty sweet at the same time, just livin the good life haha. That´s too bad about Angel.... I always thought that she would live way longer than Rosco just cause she was always way healthier.
Well not much else going on here everything is going well. I´m feeling good and not sick anymore so that´s good. Tell everybody in the ward hi for me and all the fam. Love you all talk to ya next week!
February 7, 2011
Hey!
How´s everybody doin? Sounds like you all had a pretty good week partying it up Super Bowl Sunday style! haha go Packers.
Well today I have to go to immigration to renew my residency here so I dont have a ton of time to write. But this week has been pretty good, just the normal stuff! I didn´t have changes... and neither did my companion.. haha so yeah another six weeks together. Oh well though, I´m sure it won´t be as bad as the last change. So pretty funny story, there is an elder who I came here with named elder Ottohenning, but he was only in the MTC for three weeks because his mom is from Honduras so he pretty much already knew Spanish. Anways, he couldn´t go straight to El Salvador after the MTC because he had troubles with his papers, so they sent him to Washington DC for a month and half. I don't know why I didn´t ever think to ask him but I finally asked him if he knew a Sister missionary Reid (Nichole) and he sat and thought for a second and said.... wait... Sister Reid?! and showed me a picture of her haha he totally knew her. He said that she was so straight and narrow and that everybody called her sargent Reid! haha how funny is that. I just laughed and thought way to go Nichole. So yeah you´ll have to ask her if she remembers an elder Ottohenning in DC.
So I got a package on the day of changes! The one with the pants and shirt and more video with Josh's choir concert and more Reese stuff. It was so good!! I loved all the food too. Packages are the best. Thanks for sending me a shirt I really needed it! The pants are sweet too. So this Thursday Elder Falabella from the 70 is going to come and talk to us so I'm really excited for that. We´ve had a lot of general authorities coming lately and I´m loving it. They also announced the date that the temple is going to be dedicated and the open house! The open house is going to be the first of July until the 21st, and the dedication is going to be the 21st of August! I´m so excited, I really think the Prophet is going to come. That would be sooooo sweet to meet the Prophet as a missionary I can´t even imagine.
So sounds like you guys are thinking of a little vacation coming up here, that would be sweet! I totally remember the trip to cali haha so fun. The muffins.. hahaha... and those gross jelly fish! I wonder how the beaches/water is here?
That stinks that Jaxon didn´t get his call... ah that´s got to be the worst!! I would have died if mine didn´t come when I thought it was going to come. Remember, my guess is Brazil! Speaking of Brazil, sounds like Angie is doing a little bit better, that´s good. She wrote me and said that the first couple of weeks were super hard but things are getting better and she knows better now what she has to do to get through it. She´ll be alright.
Well things are fine here, things are a little slow with investigadors right now, mainly because my companion just doesn´t want to do anything ever. So I´m going to start doing a lot of divisions with my district and try to get some better work done. Well sorry this is so short like I said I dont have a ton of time but I love you all. Seeing those videos was so good you are look great! Talk to ya next week! love nick
