DEAR EVERYONE

IM NOT DEAD

(just another p day switch) 

(lo siento)

Anyway,

After getting a whole half hour of sleep on tuesday morning before we were up and to the travel office. After that, 1 bus ride for 1 1/2 hours and we were finally at the airport. I am sorry to all my fam for not being able to call. The phones were all being used and I didnt get time to make any in Arizona either. I had 3 hours in mexico but i couldnt figure out how to use them because the operator was super quiet and all in spanish... ;(  But at least the flight into mexico city was bien cheeto! (really cool) (thats what the videos are) Then we were due for a beautiful 3 hour flight to tuxtla!!! We landed at 7 and it was totally dark but super nice feeling. 75 degrees and breezy with 85% humidity. we packed all of our stuff from 12 elders and 1 sister into a van and headed off to the mission home. We dropped our stuff off at a different appartment where 43 new elders slept. we were shoulder to shoulder sleeping. AWFUL. But before the sleeping we went to the mission presidents house to have some food and do our interviews which never happened because we ran out of time. Then off to the sleeping. 

A whole 5 hours of it. Then up at 5:00 i was the first one to shower which meant i got all 30 seconds of the hot water. then went down+stairs thatn but the same clothes back on. It wasnt a good shower either. The water was spraying everywhich way, and i was pressed against the sink and toilet. Cool beans. Then it was off to the temple and the church to get our new companions.

Mi nuevo companero es Elder Lopez! He is super cool and way chill but speaks no english. Pero esta bien. Although his english is sort of non existant, his spanish is apparently super correct and as far as I have seen he is far easier to understand than anyone else here. STOKED. The rest of the meeting consisted of little cesars and saying goodbyes. SUPER SAD. I have gotten to know those guys so well and its so hard to say goodbye. But it had to be done so I gave them the letters that i wrote to them and then we embarked on our 7 hour bus ride to Ixhuatan. I am in the Ixhuatan 2 area. So we got to our place at 11:30 and just crashed straight away.

The next morning we woke up, did a lot of prep, and study, and planning, and then headed out. The casa verde is mine and my companeros. It is super small. Two rooms with a separate structure for a bathroom which includes a shower and a toilet that doesnt flush water. AWESOME. Then we went out for our first lesson. It was to a couple with thier grandma. Alejandra y Victor. No clue what the grandmas name is. We just call her abolida which i think means grandma in spanish. I asked them to be baptized and they said yes!!! It was absolutely crazy! Then after the lesson, and saying a prayer, they fed us. What an experience. Apparently when they say fish here they mean just fish. Meaning i just got an entire fish flopped down on the table in front of me. So i followed what elder lopez was doing and just opened it up and ate it. Strange. Then we taught a couple other people including a 10 year old girl named Nelsi. That was super fun. She kept asking me to say things in english. They all get such a kick out of it! Then we had a district meeting with the other elders in the area and i didnt understand anything becasue my brain is totally fried. Side note. The houses here are all crazy. they are just concrete and cinderblock structures that look uninhabited. Literally hovels. Some dont even have roofs and some have dirt floors. Our place is one of 40 in Ixhuatan that actually has running water. 

DAY 2}

Today we got some food first thing in the morning becasue i had nothing to eat. I bought a whole basket full of food from the vendors and only spent 150 pesos. About $10 cray. We then ate and planned and then taught some investigators with a member in the neighborhood who literally lives with his family in a n alleway under a huge piece of corregated tin. He is super cool. I saw my first boobs today. People just breast feed during lessons i guess... I did 4 contacts and a couple other things, and then we just chilled at the casa for a bit becasue apparently around dia del muerte there are too many drunk people on the streets. So i looked through my photobook and played the harmonica. Made me kinda sad. But in all truthfulness, this is a really cool place with really cool people. 

DAY 3}

Started with making some good ol scrambled eggs on a tortilla. Good food is just good. Idk. I also had my first mole today. It was no bueno. The experience. I let it get too cold, and there were strange parts of the chicken in it, and i lost all desire to eat it, and so it was just a shame all around. The family was just wating for me to finish to start the lesson and i had no idea how to tell them that i was full.... We taught a couple more people with a member and then some contacts. I really stick out here. People just sit and stare because i look so different, and there is no reason other than a mission taht someone would want to come here. It makes for good oppurtunities to make contacts though. also a lot of distractions today, and my brain was fried so my spanish was awful.

Day 4}

Today was dificil. I am getting frustrated becasue i have so much to say on a subject but i cant say it because i dotn know how.... I am starting to build relationships with the members and investigators, and it is really fun. I really love the people here, and I couldnt be more happy. This is not what i thought mexico was like. I guess i didnt think a lot about mexico ever though.

DAY 5}

MAGIC SUNDAY! I hope.

My first sunday in mexico was actually pretty swell! it was a fast sunday, so i was hungry all day though. I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting this morning , and it was bien cheeto. Everyone seemed like they were hanging on every word of my broken spanish. Then i bore some in english which caught the attention of the rest of the little kids. We then had lunch at the 1st counselors house, and it was bien rico! (super rich)(means its good) It was some bean stew, fish and some veggies along with some tortillas and salsa with the best tasting lemonade of all time. I shared a spiritual thought and we were outtie. We taught a few spiritual thoughts today, and theyh were all swell. E Lopez said everything is always super peaceful and swell on sundays. Superb. Me frickin gusta. As for my spanish, its getting better, but i ma still frustrated. I can understand almost every word that everyone says, but I cant speak back. I guess it will come in time. Paciencia is a virtue. 

DAY 6} 

(today)

P DAY FINALLY!!!

So this morning we went to Alejandra and victors house to help them make cinderblocks. Woah. We mixed the concrete with s bunch of dirt and gravel and then used a stick to slap it into the mold. Then we had to take the mold over and carefully dump it to get the cinderblock out. Victor is adding on to the house. Literally by hand. It is incredible. Then we headed over to the church to play some soccer (I am better than  i thought, but still bad) and then we messed around on the piano for a long while. Took a good nap, and now am in the only cyber cafe sending emails. Good stuff.

OK GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS:

BAD: It takes packages and letter s almost 2 months to get to me. They take almost a month to get to tuxtla, and then we have to wait for a conference when the zone leaders go back to tuxtla and get the mail from the mission home. So send your christmas stuff now and I might get it.

GOOD: I CAN GET A GUITAR!!! So therefore I am going to be alright. I might actually survive this ordeal.

Scripture of the week: Mosiah 2:17 Read it. Ponder it. Act upon what you discover.

I wont be able to upload all of my pics but Ill sure try. So ill upload what I can and then send a few in the email.

Querría que estés aquí! 

              Elder Runyan