Today we had a frantic weekly planning. Frantic because we have 8 people to be baptized this week and we still have to finish teaching all lessons 4 and 5. I am not sure how we are going to do it, but we gotta do it! After weekly planning we had comida with a member and then we came back home for our studies and to wait for a member to come with us to teach. The member was late so he called his brother to come and help us. The substitute brother showed up just as the original brother showed up. It was a bunch of arguing between brothers for no reason, haha. Made me a little homesick.The reason that we needed their help was that we were going to visit two less active members who live in a pueblo outside Tamazula that we have never visited. So they were going to take us to get to know that area. Anyway, the tour that we took included a “faster” off-road path which ended up being blocked by a river. We eventually got to the members house an they were so happy to see us. They are two old folks who don’t know how to read and it is difficult for them to get enough money to travel to church on Sundays. We gave them both a blessing, shared a message, and left. It was a cook experience. After that we had branch counsel meeting with President Torres who talked mostly about the importance of the counsel and the duty of its members. We talked about he weaknesses and strengths of the branch and planned and activity for the 16th of September. After the council we passed by H. to let him know that we would need to postpone his baptism until October 7th. He didn’t like that very much, but he is dealing with it.
September 8, 2017
Today we eat to see H, we finished lesson 2 and it went well, but he is having some trials with everything right now. I wanted to give him a blessing but for one reason or another we didn’t. After that we walked around one area we haven’t visited much and kind of wasted time in my opinion. We just seemed to wander around with no purpose. We looked for an investigator but he wasn’t home. We sent to lunch at a members house. After lunch we taught his family about charity and having peace in your family. We spent the rest of the evening contacting. My companion seemed to be especially good at contacting all the attractive girls we passed. We saw an old lady trying to chop a tree down with a machete so we stopped and helped her.
September 9, 2017
Today was weird. We taught some kids in the morning, ate lunch, looked for some people, the usual stuff. We went to Guzman in the afternoon which killed the rest of the day. The zone leaders wanted us to have the district class on Saturday, who knows why, but the whole zone was there. It was cool. Our district now has 8 missionaries and is the biggest district that I have been in on the mission. The class was good, but we got home late (9:15) because of the bus. I really miss driving myself to places. It would be so much more efficient if I had a car. Then again, I really don’t want to drive in Mexico…it’s crazy on the roads here.
September 10, 2017
Normal day today. After church we taught J. Well actually we helped him to remember the commandments. He understands and knows the basics, but he just can’t remember things very well. Later on in the day, we taught a less active young single adult. He has lots of potential and desires to come back to church, but he has now committed himself to work on Sundays and is struggling with sinful behavior. We spent the rest of the day walking around and my companion contacted more attractive girls.
September 11, 2017
Today was a wreck. It started out normal, but it ended super badly. One thing before I tell the bad part. My companion wanted to contact one family so we walked one and started to talk to them. From the inside of the ouse we heard this old guy mumbling and everyone outside started to laugh. Out comes this crazy old guy spewing swear words and telling us that he doesn’t have a name, and that he kills people, and that he never wants to see us Mormons again. All of his family was laughing at him because he was so out of it. Anyways, on to the bad part of the day. My companion had a breakdown because he was “missing money”. What he doesn’t realize is how much money he spends. We ended up having a big argument. He kept calling me a lier because of who knows what or why, and ugh just a bunch of stuff. Strangely it all started with him trying to convince me that using the floor when I am sweaty as a way to cool down will give me chest pain. Anyway, it was nuts. We ended up apologizing but he told me that he wants to go home and talked to the President again. He said that he hasn't be feeling good lately physically and feel like al he is doing is impeding the work. I just listened to him talk for an hour or so and we decided to do a fast to try to help him. I don’t know, I still pretty bad with this whole empathy thing.
September 12, 2017
Today was quiet. Neither of us really wanted to talk much. We had district class, which was good. We invited a new convert to help us with our practices, and I learned a lot from his comments. Afterwards we had an appointment with the doctor who told us that everything is fine and that my companions pain is normal post operative pain. He said that he could buy some pain pills but my comp refuses to buy them. He keeps saying that he doesn’t trust the doctor and is sick of taking pills and doesn’t want to take anymore. He says, “my bellybutton is killing me” every day at least 5-10 times a day! If it hurts, then buy the pills. It’s simple. After that we ate really fast and visited H, and then later P.
September 13, 2017
Today in the morning we went to go help weed and hoe a jungle. I got 5 million mosquito bites. Later in the day we taught J. who is ready and willing to be baptized but struggles with some things. The biggest problem is that he can’t read. Later we went to teach a new contact who was a little argumentative about our lesson. But towards the end he stopped arguing. We’ll see if he progresses. That was pretty much our day. We sort of got lost looking for him, because he only gave us directions without an address. We were going to stop by and give H a blessing but he wasn’t home. I think that we may have postponed it too late. Like we didn’t give him one when he needed it most.
September 14, 2017
Today was strange. During weekly planning, our new investigator calle dos saying he really wanted to se us as soon as possible. So, we stopped planning and met him at the church only to find out he wanted money from us. We told him straight up that we don’t have any money to give him but we did have some food that we could give him which he appreciated. We didn’t have time to finish our planning before going finish teaching our other appointments whose baptism is this Saturday. We taught everything super fast and then stopped by to visit H, who was drunk. We were sitting there trying to figure out how to get out of there when he brought out tortillas, salsa, and a huge chunk of meat. We couldn’t say no to tacos especially since we had just given away our food that morning. So we ate as fast as we could while heavy metal music blared in the background. So yeah, that was fun.
September 15, 2017
Mexican Independence Day!!! One year ago I was in the Ccm celebrating this same holiday. It feels like just yesterday. In the morning we contacted and met up with our branch mission leader to plan out the baptism for tomorrow. Then we went to eat with a member. Afterwards we met up with our zone leaders for a split so that I could do all the baptismal interviews. They all passed and we came home early because of the holiday. We did go to the roof with snacks to watch the fireworks and listen to the “viva Mexico” show. We eventually got tired of the fireworks and went to bed.
September 16, 2017
Today was jammed with tons of stuff to do. Both of the zone leaders were super sick. They were sick when they got here, but they got much worse. I let them use my bed, so now I have to wash my sheets from all their coughing and sneezing etc. I really don’t want to get sick again. Elder M and I went out and taught a new investigator, A. He was pretty cool. Then we went to the church to help set up chairs, tables and print out the program for the baptism. We planned an activity for after the baptism. Then we had lunch and went back to the house. Elder M and I left early to prepare for everything. The baptism started late as usual, but the other elders arrived late too. They BOTH fell asleep and woke up when the baptism was supposed to start.
Once it started, the baptism went well. I baptized J, and relatives baptized the kids. The water was very pond-like.
The activity afterwards was pretty normal but only about 30 people came so there was a bunch of left-over food. They also made me sing Karaoke “Don’t Stop Believing” and it was just AWFUL. I don’t think that the members will ever ask me to sing again. Definitely not one of my talents.
September 19, 2017 HAPPY MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY!
Strangely, on September 15th mismo, in the comida the brother who gave us food pretty much just talked about how corrupt Mexico is. Enserio amigos, Mexicans are great, but their government is messed up. Well this week has been rather interesting to be honest, all things considered! We had three baptisms this weekend. Javier, Osiris and Pablo. It was a huge blessing honestly and they’re excited to keep progressing in the Church. Especially Javier, he wants to accompany us and invite his friends and helps with the chairs and everything during church. Super super cool. Not much else to say about this week, it’s been full of very weird experiences, drunk investigators making us tacos, crazy old Mexicans swearing and threatening us, the norm.
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