Two Letters from the Mission Field! Nov 16 & 22!!

Hola Padres!!!!!!!    16 Nov 2010
Well it is my first P-day here in the good ole mission of St. George. As you probably figured out by this email, my P-Days are on Mondays now. It was good to get here and actually be a real missionary, instead of one who just sits and learns in a class room all day. I have had a pretty eventful week. I am sure that my mission will continue to become that way. Well you are probably wondering where my area is and about my companion and all that stuff huh? Well my first area is in Hurricane!!!

Yes, Bro. DeMille called it before I left, he said my first area would be in Hurricane, and sure enough here I am. My area only has one little Spanish branch in it. But we cover 3 different stakes. We cover about a 30 mile area from one side to the other just because we are Spanish. The zone I am in was that most successful zone last transfer. I find myself lucky to be in this zone. The other good part is that we have a ton of investigators to teach and a bunch of inactive/part member families as well. The only bad thing is that a lot of the time we have to end up sharing baptisms with the English Elders. That is because the parents of a family may only speak Spanish, but most of the kids are able to speak English. So they will go to the English wards instead of the Branch. That only sucks because we end up finding about 3/4 of the baptisms for the English Elders, their only job is to teach a few lessons and then commit them to a date. (If only all missionaries could have it so rough!! – the mom)

Well my trainer is Elder Perez. He is a tall blonde kid from Miami. He is pretty cool. Once again not someone I would particularly choose to hang out with but he is a good Elder nonetheless. But wait there is more, for the second time I am in a Trio. The other companion is Elder Carter. He is technically not part of this mission; he just was reassigned here while he is waiting for a visa to go to Mexico City. He is from Bakersfield, California. The language is definitely a lot different out here then in the MTC. Everyone speaks so fast, but I am beginning to adjust to the speed of it all. But I still kind of just sit there during lessons just soaking it all in. I have been opening my mouth a little more and talking in our last couple of lessons. But I know that it is not my words being spoken, but they are the Lord's words. I am just trying to embrace the language and study as hard as I can to learn it quickly so I can communicate with the people I have to teach.

The weather here is basically a lot like home. It may be a little bit warmer here then at home but still a lot of the same.   The scenery is definitely different tho. The rocks and dirt is definitely something you have to see to believe. I am glad that I was able to serve in an area where it isn't to the point where I am freezing the whole time I am outside. I still am able to go out in just a short sleeve shirt in the mornings, it does get a little cold once the sun sets behind the mountains here. One of the really cool things that happened yesterday, was one of the recent converts that was only baptized 3 weeks ago, was called as the executive secretary of the Branch. So that meant that he had to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. It was pretty awesome to stand in on that, but also to hear it done in Spanish. That was definitely an experience. Church was also another one, instead of just half of a meeting being in Spanish, I had 3 whole hours to try and understand what people were saying. It will definitely be nice when I understand what people are saying to me all the time.

 At the end of the week, we have a BAPTISM!!!! There is a family that has been taking the lessons and is supposed to be baptized at the end of the week. The father was inactive for a long time but now they are back in the swing of things. That should be a really exciting experience to go through.

 It was nice to hear about Dyllon's mom and that she got baptized. That is an awesome thing. I love seeing how the happiness of the gospel truly changes the lives of people who apply the principles. Well things are going good here, and I hope that everything is going good back up in Washington. Well I love you so so very much!!
Live it, Love it, Preach it!     Elder D