Zarahemla Week 7

Our district, from left to right: Hermana Garcia, Hermana De La Pena, Hermana Ferger,
Hermana Jex, Hermana Hepburn, Hermana Salvador, Elder Drysdale,
Elder Torres, Elder Colunga, and Elder James

This week has been pretty cool! We found out on last P-Day that Elder Colunga and I have to move out of our 4-man apartment, so we've spent a lot of time this week getting ready for that (we're moving today). But it's fine, we'll have much more time!

Monday was pretty uneventful. The two appointments we had that night had both "smurfed" (weren't there or cancelled when you get there), so not much happened. We did find a pretty cool alley that we took a couple of sick pictures in.

Me with Elder Wensel

Tuesday was decent. We were pretty sad, since we had to say goodbye to Elder Brenchley, but I'll see him again so that's fine. We checked out the new apartment, and it's a bit nicer than our old one, but it's quite a bit smaller. It's definitely enough for our needs though, so we'll make it work. We then went out to our appointments, and it started absolutely pouring. We got soaked and really cold (it was about 8 degrees Celsius), and didn't get home until late, but we made the best out of it and had some fun. Visited with an elderly member who has been having health problems recently, and she was very happy to have some company. It's awesome to be able to help people with any problems they have. It's been a very humbling experience so far.

Me and Elder Tueller

Wednesday was great, it had stopped raining which was amazing since we had a lot of walking to do. We visited an investigator who we've been working a lot with recently, and he's been progressing consistently. One (sort of) problem with teaching in Spanish is that the investigators like to talk A TON. With him, our lesson ended up going almost two and a half hours long, and he talked for about 85% of it. It's awesome though, he's very friendly and I'm sure he'll be baptized soon. He has a baptismal date for the 18th of November, so hopefully he'll be ready by then! We then went over to a recent convert, Rafael, to give him a French Book of Mormon to practice his French (and get him to read). He's super awesome, we've been visiting him about every week and it's been cool to get to know him. He's from Mexico and is really funny. We went back home and did some language study, and I got to know Elder Tueller's new companion, Elder Wensel more. He's pretty cool, although I'm not going to get to know him very well since we're moving out today. It was great to meet him though!

Thursday was pretty uneventful, had district meeting and met the two new missionaries in our district. One new Sister is on her 5th transfer (I think) and is awesome, and one new Elder who is right out of the MTC. He's cool as well! We got a lot of planning and logistical things done that day, which was great. We didn't have any appointments set up that night, so we went bus contacting for about an hour and a half. I talked to a woman from Peru for a long time, and she was super interested in the Gospel! I taught her most of the Restoration, and she was super interested to come to church. She is going to bring her friend next Sunday! She seems very solid, which is great.

Friday was fairly busy, which is always good. Had a coordination meeting with the ward mission leader, which was great. Went back home, had lunch, and left for Jesus and Yeni. On the way, we met another guy from the Dominican Republic who was also really interested to go to church next Sunday as well! This week in total we found 4 people who right away just wanted to go to church. It was so crazy and so cool! We didn't even invite any of them, they all asked if they could come! Jesus and Yeni were amazing as always, they're progressing so consistently and fast. They love reading the Book of Mormon, and finally said that they know it's the word of God! They're very ready for baptism. We then went to the chapel to go to a ward Halloween party that we had invited a couple of investigating families to. We visited for a while there, got fed (I love Hispanic wards, we've been getting so much food from them recently), and then went home. Pretty awesome day!

Eating McDonald's after a hard day's work!

Saturday was great, even more busy than Friday. We got ready and left right away for a lesson with a part member family which went really well. They have such adorable kids! We then headed back home to do our studies (the family could only meet us in the morning, so we had to skip them). After that we headed over to Francisco’s house again, and had a lesson with Hermano Farfan, who is the ward mission leader. It's always great to have members with us, it makes lessons a lot more spiritual with a third perspective. It was a little shorter this time, only about an hour and a half long. But it was great, he learned a lot. We then picked up A TON of food from one of the Hermanas in the ward (leftover from a Relief Society activity). We then left for the Varaona Family, and visited with them and shared a thought. There's awesome, and the mother always calls us "Mis Hijos" which means "My Sons." They're so fun. We then went home fairly late, so we grabbed McDonalds (we had both been craving it all week long) to save us time instead of cooking.

Sunday was good, and fairly typical. The Primary Program was that day, which as always is super adorable. Makes me feel bad though that four year olds can speak better Spanish than I can! We then got fed by one of the Hermanas again after all the meetings, which was amazing as always. We left and did some contacting, passed by a few investigators, and had dinner at the Amador Family's house (members). They're Dominican, and are super funny. The food is very similar to Haitian food, which of course means it was amazing. We then did a bit of contacting on the busses, then went home.

Monday was fairly good. We spent a good portion of it packing. We had been taking small trips of stuff to our new apartment (since we have to move by bus and walking), and we took all of our study materials and spent a bit of time getting things set up and taking inventory of things we needed to buy on P-Day. then went to visit Hermano Mendoza again in a new hospital, but he had given us the wrong address so we sort of wasted a chunk of time looking for it. But it was fine, we had a decent amount of contacting time. It was insanely windy, apparently the other Elders saw one of the white car tents (they put them up to protect from snow in the winter) flying down the road. The wind was about at a constant 45 km/h! It was really crazy. After doing contacting, we made our way to Hermana Guerra's house for dinner. It was SO amazing. It was like a three-course meal plus dessert! We were super grateful for it, especially since we skipped lunch. We then went home and did a ton more packing in preparation for moving. Pretty great day!

As you can tell, the members in our ward are SO awesome. We've been fed so much by them this week, it's insane. We're so grateful to see them sacrifice for us, especially since sometimes they are in tough financial positions. We always are thoughtful in not eating at particular member's houses too much of course, but we know that they will be blessed for their sacrifices. I've been having such an amazing time, and I'm so grateful for this opportunity.

Love you all so much, have a good week!

Zarahemla Week 6

It's definitely fall here and it's beautiful!

Last week of this transfer! It's already gone by super-fast, and it's weird to think that I'm already more than 1/10 done with my mission! The other Elders in my apartment have all been out a year or more, and they always tell me how scary fast the mission flies by.

This week was quite a bit better than last, in that almost all of our appointments were executed as planned, which was great. On Wednesday, we had district meeting which was wonderful, as always. We went a bit longer, since one of the members of our district is going home this week. We had a little testimony meeting and it was awesome. Then we went out contacting for a bit on the way to a dinner appointment with the Ortega family, who is really amazing. They've been feeding us every week and are super cool. We got out of it a little late though, and couldn't go contacting where we originally had planned on going, so we prayed for guidance and just waited until we got an answer. We both had the same idea to go down a particular route on the metro, and we found a lady from Mexico (I think) who is now a very promising investigator! Right after we found her and got all her information we both knew that she was the one we were supposed to find. It was an amazing experience, since we don't find promising Hispanics every day!

I've been working on my fried rice skills!

Thursday was pretty decent, we spent most of it at our apartment since we had weekly planning to do which lasted about 3 and a half hours, on top of all our other studies. But after we were done we went out contacting again. We accidently totally missed one of our bus stops, and had to wait a long time to get on the bus going back. But it was another little miracle, since on the bus ride back I found an awesome little family from Peru who were super interested! The mother was particularly interested in the Book of Mormon when I gave a little description, so I gave one to her with a few recommended passages, and she seemed really excited! Sadly, they were only visiting, so we won't be able to teach them, but I told them how they can get in contact with the missionaries there. It was so cool! But, right as our conversation was slowing down, a Quebec-qoi woman behind them tried to start Bible bashing me right there on the bus. I sort of knew what she was saying, but her accent was thick Quebec-qoi (which is really difficult to understand and doesn't even sound like French) and I couldn't respond at all. Luckily Elder Colunga saw what was about to go down and came and rescued me and I talked with the Peruvian family a bit more. Bible bashing happens a ton out here, and it gets pretty interesting since most of the arguments they try to argue make absolutely no sense. We (obviously) don't argue back at all, but we always take a little humor out of it. It never weighs us down which is good.

Friday was okay, but I had forgotten my bus and metro card at the apartment which caused many problems the rest of the day. I had to buy a temporary card with the little money I had, and ended up being late to many of our appointments. But besides just having to spend money and being a bit late, it didn't cause too much of a problem. We met with an investigator from the Dominican Republic, who really wants to be baptized. He has some problems though with understanding the doctrine, so we've been working with him with that. After that appointment, and another appointment, being cancelled (not by us surprisingly), we did a bit of contacting the rest of the day and updated the progress record for all of our investigators for our ward leaders. I got to talk to a few Hispanics which was cool, one of which was from Cuba whose accent was SUPER hard to understand. I've been noticing a major difference in all the accents, and it's been hard to understand. For example, Chileans speak fairly fast, and don't pronounce ANY S's unless it's at the beginning of the word. Dominicans have a ton of slang, speak faster than Chileans, and basically leave out half of the letters in every word. Then Cubans, I've come to know, speak insanely fast. My Mexican companion had trouble understanding her at times. It's been hard to pick up on all the different accents, but I know it will get easier and easier.

Another great picture of Elder Colunga 

Saturday was mostly revolved around the baptism of Luisanna, who I mentioned last week. Elder Colunga and I were the witnesses, which was fun! There was a little party as well after with tons of good Hispanic food (of course). It was an awesome experience! We also had the opportunity to meet with Jesus and Yeni again, and they were amazing as always. They were trying to surprise us with a barbecue with Carne Asada that smelled absolutely incredible, but they ran out of propane so they ended up buying us Haitian food again and also gave us a (much needed) ride home. But we're going over tonight instead for the barbecue so it all works out! They are so amazing, I love them so much. We also got transfer calls (when your mission leaders call and tell you where you and your companion are going to be for the next transfer, or 6 weeks, and who will be your new companion), and I'm staying in Zarahemla with Elder Colunga for another 6 weeks! I was almost definitely going to stay in Zarahemla, but our Mission President likes sometimes getting a second trainer for the second transfer, which would have been super hard for me since I don't have as strong of a relationship with the members or investigators as Elder Colunga does, and I would have to help my new companion with the area which would have been hard (but obviously would be an awesome experience to learn).

Sunday was pretty average, we had a meeting with all the ward leaders, we went to church which was awesome as always, and then had a couple appointments that evening. The Bishop of the ward seems to love us now, and he's been giving us rides home from church which is so helpful, and saves us a lot of time. We spend a lot of time at church trying to coordinate with members, and our apartment is super far away, so we didn't get home until about 4:30. Then we left and headed out to the appointment with the Varaona Family. They've been investigating and progressing for a while, and they're so awesome. They have a little 3-year-old girl who is absolutely adorable. There was also a woman visiting that night, so we got to have a great lesson with her as well. She is now an investigator, which is great! We then headed home and went a long way, contacting a bit on the way. It was a pretty solid Sunday!

Me (eyes closed) and Elder Brenchley

Elder Brenchley, who has been in our apartment these past 6 weeks, is leaving which is sad, but I'll probably see him around! Elder Tueller is staying though, and will be getting a new companion tomorrow. I'm mainly glad that I'm staying; a few missionaries from my MTC district actually did get sent to other areas and/or got new companions which would definitely have been stressful. But I'm glad that I'm staying!

Love you all so much, I hope everything is going well. Missionary work is awesome, and I'm having a ton of fun! Love you!

Elder James

Zarahelma Week 5

Elder Barraro

This week has been pretty chill, both literally, and figuratively! The weather has been cooling down a lot, and it's been rainy most of the week. We're starting to break out the sweaters and jackets!

Elders Brenchley & Tueller are trying to teach me Spanish
(and they don't speak Spanish)

On Wednesday, we had a meeting for all the missionaries in training, which was so cool since I got to see all (except Sister Boyle who is serving in Arizona) of my MTC district! Although we weren't able to talk for very long, we all got to catch up a little bit which was so amazing. I've missed them all so much! The meeting was really great, the Assistants to the President, Sister Phillips, and President Phillips all gave lessons on different topics, and it was such a great meeting. I learned a lot! That night Elder Barraro, one of the Assistants, came on exchange with Elder Brenchley. He's a really cool guy and such a great missionary. It was fun to get to know him a little bit.

Elder Gauthier and I had a great time

On Thursday and Friday, I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with Elder Gauthier, one of our zone leaders. He's from France and is so cool! He is basically a genius. He got two masters degrees from Columbia, and wants to go back for another! And he's only 25! He worked in DC at the French Embassy for a summer, and it was cool to talk to him about it a little bit. He is also extremely good at contacting, specifically on the metro. He helped me a ton, as I was struggling a bit with contacting, and I was able to find 6 people on the metros that day in only 2 hours! It was so awesome. I also was able to teach a couple of lessons in French with him, which was so cool to be able to give my first real lessons in French. It was such a great exchange! On Friday night Elder Colunga and I went to the Lemos Family for a dinner appointment, and they were so nice! It's always awesome to eat real food. We then went to the chapel for Elder Colunga to do a baptismal interview for one of the Sister team's investigators in our district. She's getting baptized this Saturday! So cool!

Some weird stick figures we found in the city while we were lost

Saturday pretty slow, and all of our appointments fell through. We had three lessons and an appointment with a member, and all of them either weren't there or told us they couldn't do it when we got there. We were a little bit discouraged, but it wasn't bad. We had a ton of time to do contacting which was great! There are always going to be days like that on the mission, but it just opens up opportunities to do other things. We had another baptismal interview with one of the investigators from the Elder's in our district, and he got baptized on Sunday!

Sunday was fairly average, went to church which was always great. Later we had a great lesson with a less active member and her husband and their two kids. Her husband is progressing fairly well, and he will probably be baptized eventually which is great! We also went with the Bishop to a less active member's house and just checked in to see how everything was going. The Bishop is super cool. He is Chilean, and speaks Spanish SUPER fast, so sometimes I can hardly understand him, but my Spanish is continuing to get better so I've been able to talk to him a little more.

Monday was also fairly slow, but we got to do a lot of contacting. We visited Hermano Mendoza in the hospital again, and he has another surgery that we hope goes well. But he has a ton of faith and hope, which is amazing to see. Most of our other appointments fell through, but it wasn't a bad day!

I'm starting to get the hang of missionary life, and although it's hard, I'm enjoying it more and more as the days go by. It's so amazing to see all the miracles that allow us to work, and I keep seeing them every day. I've also been able to notice how my French and Spanish are improving, and it's been amazing to see, but I definitely have a lot of work to go. Luckily my trainer is super helpful so I know it'll get better.

I hope everything is well! I'm having a ton of fun, and I'm loving it out here. Love you all so much!

Elder James