October 22, 2012 (Week 10) [ First email from Mexico!]

October 22, 2012 [ First email from Mexico!]

I dont think we are in kansas anymore... Sorry about the keyboard. Its in spanish hahaha but yes im here and loving it. Well most parts! I dont have too much time, only 45 minutes to write and send pictures. In any case, my mission area is Nuevas Esperanzas in the Villa Rica stake. My address as far as i know is yañez and prosperidad. Yellow building with a big front porch.

Basically.. Mexico Veracruz. Im dying here. Its so hot haha i sweat so much. Holy. Welcome to the land of the Crazy Taxi Drivers. Seriously. if you could compare them to New York in taxis its a fair statement. Except they dont have lines. Or stop lights.. The people just fly around corners and work their way through intersections. Freaking crazy. The buildings here are solely made of concrete. If youre lucky. If not, they are tin and rotten wood. The poverty here is kind of crazy in areas. If you have more than one car, youre richer than everyone here. If you have a dishwasher or AC or a sink youre probably richer than most people... Its insane. We have eaten, my compañero is Elder Castañeda and he is pretty chill, but weve eaten at some houses that are straight tin. Speaking of eating... The food here is comprable to the Hairy Chicken and stringy corn Brad ate. Can you say mystery meat? They drown all their soup in this wierd orange stuff too. But their soup consists of usually meat, potatoes, and whole vegetables. You heard me right. Some people cut up a cucumber and zuccini in 4 to 5 parts and throw them in soup. HUGE. Its crazy...

Ive already had my first bout with the food. I think i won. But the next day, Sunday, The curse of the Headache is back. Thanks for those crappy genes dad... Hahahah so i suffered through sacrament with my head throbbing and then through countless meetings of the natives speaking 60 mph.. Sheesh. Couldnt walk without the blood pounding. I think ive got the Gripa! Every sickness here is the Gripa to these people haha. I love it. My compañero had dengue so we chillled at our apartment and went to a few doctors visits with him, one of which i had to watch him get a shot in the butt... Awkward haha so we eat about 1 time a day. Lunch is the big meal. People feed us soup, tortillas, and rice, and meat. Pretty good. I wake up, eat a slice of bread, make it till 2, eat alot, need to take a nap, make it till 10, eat another peice of bread. Im dyin. We get to go to Costco today, so im going to stock up on food for breakfast haha

Man. What else. Most of the roads here are potholed and trash and dirt littered. The others that arent potholed are just dirt with small streams of who knows what kind of water running through them.

im sitting at a pay computer and writing this, which is different. I cant understand the people very well and its hard because they dont realize that i cant understand. Even when they do they still speak fast. When i try and teach some english, which i had to do on sunday night at the ward, i spoke slow, and used easy words. They dont really comprehend that principle.. Kinda sucks. Dont feel like im doing much in lessons. Especially when they speak about non gospel stuff. FREAK. so hard to pay attention. My brain just shuts down. I understand most of the words but they speak too fast for my brain to put them together. Drinking from a fire hydrant perhaps....

But in any case, amongst all the infirmaties, and sweating, and wanting to punch a wall or fall asleep for lack of understanding, im doing great. I love it here and i love the people. We are good friends with a family of who knows how many, and they have a few 12 and 13 year olds that really like me i think. They are fun to mess with. I speak engilsh really fast when they speak spanish too fast. Remembering names is a nightmare too. These people have 10 of em and they mumble them all. Latinos do not move their jaw very much when they talk and their syllables are soft. Makes it even harder. But yeah. Love it here. Couldnt think of anywhere else id like to be.

 Its a great time here, and we are working really hard to get this old couple in their 70s to baptism but their kids dont want them to change religions. They are Angel y Donada. Great old couple. Finally know the problem with this mission, people arent serious about it. We commit a ton to baptism and a lot say yes, but dont follow through. That leaves us with a few for the picking. But these people are receptive to our words. Seriously the Chosen People like the Book of Mormon testifies of. Im literally fullfilling scripture by being here teaching the gospel to the people of the Lamanites. Pretty cool to think about.

Cant email friends, only family. Dear elders are the most reliable, and they take about a month to 1.5 months for me to get them and about a month for it to get back to the states. So warn people. I still want letters though! Love em. In any case, I Love you Mom, Dad, Garrett, Riley, Brad, Shay. You guys mean everything to me and i think about you alot! Not more than the chosen peeps though :) haha anyways, logging off to send pictures! expect em! LOVE YOU ALL. Les amo! Quidese.