22 Nov 2010 from Hurricane, Utah

Hola!!!                                                             22 Nov 2010

     Well it once again is time for me to write my email home. It is nice being able to actually feel I have time to write what I feel I need to, and not be rushed. There has been a ton that has happened since I last wrote. The joys of being a missionary huh?

     Last Monday was probably one of my favorite days in the mission field. We just seemed to have an extremely good night. We were able to just go and teach and I felt super good about it all. It felt like I really connected with the people that we taught and affected them for the better. But all good things come to an end; the last few days have been pretty tough. A lot of people have just been canceling our appointments and going out of town. Not very many people are progressing.

     We see some pretty funny stuff on the mission. One guy we are teaching named Cesar is probably one of the funniest of all. We invited him to be baptized and he said he wanted to, but he had to ask his mom first. Well most of you think well that is reasonable and that he is probably about 17 or 18. Well he is about 35 and has 6 kids of his own, but still has to ask his mom permission to do something that he wants to do.

     Well the one bright spot this week, was that we picked up a few new investigators. There is one that is practically golden! His name is Ricardo. He has definitely had a rough past and he is a UFC fighter. He has been threw a lot, but recognizes the happiness that comes from the Gospel. It's definitely weird to be around him. He gets really emotional and he doesn't like it because his whole life he has been told to not cry, but when he is with us he always cries. He is really awesome and enjoys having us over to help him and teach him. He is probably one of my favorite investigators. That is probably because he is the only one that we teach in English and I actually understand what is going on!! Like I said this week has been pretty tough. I know it is not about numbers, but our numbers this week, definitely don't reflect our efforts! Hopefully these improve.

      On Saturday, I had my first real day of walking. We walked about 6-7 miles. Which is really unusual for us, since we have a car. But we are trying to save our miles so that we don’t go over at the end of the month. But it was pretty tough, my legs were definitely sore! I even have a blister on the bottom of my foot. I didn't even get blisters from all the practices for basketball.

    Another funny thing, is here it seems that everyday more and more family of Bro. DeMille comes out of the woodwork!!! Like yesterday, we were just going to a correlation and a family that we ate with about a week ago, comes up and asks if I am from Washington, so I say yes??? Then she says did you have quite a character as a Sunday School teacher, and then says that they are related. It is ridiculous how small of a world it really is. So you can let him know, that his family has committed to taking care of me while I am here.

     Well it is weird that I have almost been out for three months. The language is still extremely humbling!! I am almost able to make out what most people are saying and can say little phrases. But being able to talk and respond is extremely hard. It’s hard just because most of my vocabulary is about the Gospel, not really outside of that. So I am really striving to work on, is being about to understand things outside of a Gospel context in SPANISH.

     Well I hope everything is going good back at home!! I hope that you have a good Thanksgiving and truly be grateful for everything that the Lord has blessed us with!!!
I love you all a ton!!     Live it, Love it, Preach it!!    Elder D