This week, I just had a stupidly amazing idea: What if I wrote the big letter first, so that I had time to write everything I wanted, and THEN answered the little ones? It'd be so much better that way! So today, that's what I'm doing!
Investigators:
Brother J, Sister B, Brother F, y Brother J - Progressing like monsters over there. Basically set up. Brother F and Brother J (Jr.) are going to be baptized this week, and in around 2-3 weeks, the parents will be baptized. It's super cool. They're basically set up for the temple in a year.
Sister C - She's doing well, but we haven't had much chance to talk to her. She's actually going to be baptized soon, but the problem is we just can't seem to talk to her! Grrr.....
Brother L and Family - New family we found from a member in the other side of our ward. Turns out, he's got 2 kids that are in the age of being baptized as well. We could potentially baptize 4 of them. However, THEY AREN'T MARRIED. We're going to be praying and fasting for a miracle there, because they all went to church together.
That's about all for now. We're working with them mainly.
Okay, so yeah, this week was kinda bad. I was sick pretty much all the time, and I lost my voice for around 3 days, so I was forcing myself to speak Spanish with just the absolute WORST sounds coming out of my mouth. It wasn't as bad as Elder Sant's stomach infection, so I guess I can't complain right?
Anyway, it was really rough this week because I don't know how to find. I just don't know how to do it. I've tried a lot of things. No one here gives us references for some reason, and I CAN'T SEEM TO CONTACT PEOPLE. I just have no faith in contacts because I have heard very little about success in that aspect. However, I think I might just give up and start contacting a ton because I can't go another week without finding.
Now the fun stuff!
1 - Family, do you guys remember the Elder that like, never spoke unless we talked about Celebrity Jeopardy with him? The Elder that always wore a scarf, even inside, and was just generally very... weird? I guess?
Yeah, my companion is like that guy. He DOESN'T TALK. Like, ever. I try to talk to him about his family or something, and he answers with 2 words. I asked him one time:
"So, how many brothers and sisters do you have?"
"One."
That's all he gave me. Nothing more.
"Is he or she older or younger than you?"
"She's younger."
"And, how old is she?"
"18."
"Is she a member?"
"No."
And that's how it goes! It's so frustrating! I can't joke around with him or really just be friends with him because he doesn't let me do it! The only thing he talks about a ton are movies!
Now I guess I can understand why you didn't want me just staying at home all day, BECAUSE I'LL END UP SAYING 2 WORDS AS A CONVERSATION!
The hardest part about the whole thing is the fact that he doesn't actually know how to teach all that well either. So, we get into a lesson, and he just has no confidence in what he's saying, and basically just throws us off a little in every lesson, because he just talks about whatever the heck comes to his mind. It's very very hard.
I mean, don't get me wrong, he's got plenty of awesome things, like he's super organized, he's very nice, and he's willing to work. He's a great guy, just doesn't talk, and has almost no self-confidence. I'm going to work with him to try to up that a little bit, and help him so that he teaches and knows how to teach better. I'm sure this transfer will be awesome.
2 - We've got a joke now in our district: "Ya tu sabes como hacemos esta viana aqui" (You know how we do this thing here.)
Basically, in the mission, we can't speak in Tu, but we do it as a joke like the rappers in Spanish. They always say stuff like that. YA TU SABES COMO LO HACEMOS AQUI ESTA VAINA. (Viana is like, any thing. It's like cosa, but a little more rough. Like the word crap kinda. YOU KNOW HOW WE DO THIS CRAP HERE!)
Anyway, we say that basically all the time now because ya tu sabes como lo hacemos aqui. We just like enjoying ourselves.
3 - I've started reading the Bible from cover to cover. Gosh dangit. The Old Testament is just chock full of a bunch of random stuff. Like, a donkey that talks, Moses throwing sticks into a room to see which one starts sprouting almonds, and a guy thats sitting in church who stands up, grabs a lance that was for some reason AT HIS SIDE, and then chases a guy and his, well, lady into a tent, where he runs 'em both through. That's the word of God right there. And gosh dangit, the law of Moses was nuts. Guess what? If you picked up a stick on Sunday, YOU DUN GET KILLED! If you gave birth as a woman, you were unclean for like, 2 weeks or something, unless it was a girl, and then it was 2 months. Just the weirdest junk in that law. But there you go. Now you know how it is during Moses' time. Pretty awesome right?
Anyway, with this newfound knowledge, Elder M and I had a Bible Bash. I ended up winning because he misread something in Spanish. It was super fun, and we decided that on the last month of the mission, we were just going to Bible Bash a bunch of people. Just to enjoy ourselves on the last month. It's giong to be awesome.
Okay well, sorry I don't have good pictures this week. I kinda forgot about them. I'm sending this one as like, a preview I guess. I know, it's lame, but you gotta understand that pictures aren't really my priority when I'm outside. I don't even take my camera. It's super dangerous....
I'll take better ones this week. Don't worry.
See you all later! Love you to death!
Elder Carter
