Well... im in the city. I feel like Elf. we got out of the friendly parts, and into the downtown city. we have the ocean but we can't see it, and the area is full of old retired catholics and protestants who don't want to change. The ward is in the same situation, 45 people at high tide, but we have 2 families, one is awesome but the other is half inactive and the bishop is the head of the family. He texts on the stand. I gave a discourse on missionary work, after his daughter asked me to speak at 9:15 the night before. The bishop didn't even ask. I said yes, thinkiing it would be a good opportunity to introduce myself and say we are here to work with the ward and baptize. They laughed when I pulled out DC 18:15 and 16 because they've heard it a lot. They sure don't listen. They don't give us references, or support us. They are way scattered in the area so it's hard for us to get everywhere, but we do have a date with one of them and then they forget and are gone. It's frustrating. I wish the president would put me in a sweet area for once instead of an area full of pride. The wards down here go through the pride cycle, and we both think that they need lazy missionarys for 6 months until they realize how good they had it. idk. We are really frustrated down here. We get planced (yelled at) every night by a leader for not working... We work harder then 80% of the missionaries. Frustrated. I almost am jealous of Elder Boyd. He is in such a cool area and his ward has 3x as many people and way more families willing to help them.
My comp is Elder Westhoff. A cowboy from the boonies of Escalante, Utah. Moved around a lot, but is a cowboy through and through. We have a great time together and like talking about trucks and engines. We get along really good and have the same mentality. We are learning a lot from each other. No, I was the only one that moved from my MTC district. The rest stayed and only E. Maughan got a new comp. I guess I'm lucky... but our area is even worse. It's considered one of the hardest and everyone shudders when they hear 5 de Mayo haha. We don't care. We work hard and are united and have some really spiritual lessons, and I think we are going to start baptizing. Nobody's baptized in this area in a few months... He went last cambio [transfer] without a baptism. Going to change that though. If we don't run ourselves into the ground first. We bought hammocks to sleep in so hopefully we get a better nights sleep haha. The apartment is big, no washing machine, but it's still big. Ants are everywhere.
It's getting hot here again, winter break is over, and there's still a strong north wind that closes everyone in their house and blows wind in our face. Kinda sucks, but it's a cool breeze. I wish I could see snow again! quit whinin!
Explanation. Last week we went to a lady's house named Mercedes. We went to her house every night 3x a night to try and find her. Found her Saturday night and talked, She wanted to get baptized, so we filled out the form, felt the spirit, and left with the promise that she would be there at 10 tomorrow, but had to go to a rare work thing after that until 8. We said ok, just go to church and we can baptize you that night. We were stoked because we might have had 3 people, a pair of brothers named Alan y Andy that wanted to get baptized. So we went home and fasted that things would go well and that most of the 8 people we had committed to church would be there, that Mercedes would get off work early, and other things. Passed by for 3 families, nobody was awake. Ran to church in suitcoats and waited.. and waited.. and waited. Nobody showed. We got so dissapointed. Especially because of the promise that an apostle made that if you contact over 140 people every week, you'll baptize. We contacted 150 and probably knocked 600. We got spit on by catholics, doors slammed, yelled at, and got into a heated discussion with a protestant lady because she looked me in the eyes and said the Book of Mormon is not from God. Instead of planching her until she cried, I testified of the book, but she cut me off by saying her son is a prophet and receives revelation and she can cast out devils. So yeah, contacted, did our best, fasted, hoped, and prayed a lot, and didn't get much. We didn't do much that Sunday. A drunk yelled at us and told us we didn't know anything about God, and then walked off to buy more beer. We got pretty lost in our thoughts and didn't really have the spirit of teaching with us that day. We tried, but it wasn't there. Came up with the theory that we need to give more glory to God instead of pride in ourselves. Hope we learned our lesson. Because we are tired of the leaders calling every night with plances and pep talks.
It's getting hot here again, winter break is over, and there's still a strong north wind that closes everyone in their house and blows wind in our face. Kinda sucks, but it's a cool breeze. I wish I could see snow again! quit whinin!
I'd love letters from friends even with the time delay. I'd love letters. but it just sucks to find out from you guys that my best friend -- and probably the reason I was held back from the July 5th Elders group to the MTC, so I could sit back and talk with him and other people -- and not him. That's all I wanted my friends to do was serve a mission since I started getting ready for mine. But I don't really get much outside of you guys. Life goes on, but I'm sure you remember, Dad, a letter from a friend or anyone for that reason is gold. I'm sorry. I'm in kind of a different mood...
Explanation. Last week we went to a lady's house named Mercedes. We went to her house every night 3x a night to try and find her. Found her Saturday night and talked, She wanted to get baptized, so we filled out the form, felt the spirit, and left with the promise that she would be there at 10 tomorrow, but had to go to a rare work thing after that until 8. We said ok, just go to church and we can baptize you that night. We were stoked because we might have had 3 people, a pair of brothers named Alan y Andy that wanted to get baptized. So we went home and fasted that things would go well and that most of the 8 people we had committed to church would be there, that Mercedes would get off work early, and other things. Passed by for 3 families, nobody was awake. Ran to church in suitcoats and waited.. and waited.. and waited. Nobody showed. We got so dissapointed. Especially because of the promise that an apostle made that if you contact over 140 people every week, you'll baptize. We contacted 150 and probably knocked 600. We got spit on by catholics, doors slammed, yelled at, and got into a heated discussion with a protestant lady because she looked me in the eyes and said the Book of Mormon is not from God. Instead of planching her until she cried, I testified of the book, but she cut me off by saying her son is a prophet and receives revelation and she can cast out devils. So yeah, contacted, did our best, fasted, hoped, and prayed a lot, and didn't get much. We didn't do much that Sunday. A drunk yelled at us and told us we didn't know anything about God, and then walked off to buy more beer. We got pretty lost in our thoughts and didn't really have the spirit of teaching with us that day. We tried, but it wasn't there. Came up with the theory that we need to give more glory to God instead of pride in ourselves. Hope we learned our lesson. Because we are tired of the leaders calling every night with plances and pep talks.
Me and Elder Westhoff do have fun though. a lot. We think alike and I'm glad to have a comp like him, even if we don't speak spanish all the time. He's been out for a year. I'm going to write the president a good email, so I'll send some fotos if the computer will let me and sign off. Don't worry.. I'm fine, just frustrated, and learning hard lessons. Pray for me, but dont worry. I can take care of myself in this crazy mission haha :) Nos vemos! Elder Mortensen
No comments:
Post a Comment