WEEK 10 - Nothing Matters When Knowing Nothing Matters....¡Come Ladrillo Niño!‏

The REAL Way To Prepare for a Mission

1. Be worthy
2. Read the Scriptures
3. Read Preach My Gospel
4. Love People
5. Dress Like A Clown
6. Eat a dozen oreos so your teeth are black
7. Throw 6 marbles in your mouth
8. Have everyone lie to your face so you can guess if they´re telling the truth or not
9. Write gringo on your back
10. Now go walking down the street as everyone gawks at you and how you stick out like a clown in at a funeral, and everytime you try to talk they´ll laugh and not understand a word you say, and the sweet sweet aspect of getting called GRINGO!! every 5 minutes.

There you have it my friends!! You are on the path to success!!!

Naw, I joke but oi this past week was a bit rough. I got sick and had terrible chills then a fever so the night was rough. I was all dizzy and sore and achy and getting up at 6:30 with a few hours of sleep was not appealing. But ya suck it up princess!!! I lived and got through the day with some pain killers. Then the stuffiness came and I´m surviving with other drugs. Hoorah for drugs!! But that was no fun.

Then the families we were teaching have fallen through. It´s sad. I thought I´d get over it but it´s heart wrenching. You find yourself sitting there at night thinking what went wrong and what you could have done to fix it if you were just a little better. Bah. But they´re alright. Everyone has their agency. It´s just frustrating. Like that one sister missionary said, that´s probably how God feels with us when we don´t obey. So it´s a new view on that. But we´re starting from scratch! We had one baptism on Saturday of Lenny, a guy who´s been investigating for about a month and a half and has been to scared to get baptized, but that was cool to see how he changed in that one meeting. They say it´s my baptism too but I don´t think so. Lots of other guys were working with him before and I didn´t talk much between the district leader and the branch president. Just told him he was in our prayers every night and that I know we have doubts but God will help us. That´s about it. So yeah we´re trying again, gonna work hard to get some members involved and start contacting. Move on. And I found a cool new family so I hope they work out.

I found the importance of attitude this week! So I am a horrible contacter, I can´t conversate well. But gospel stuff I can at least say. So it´s like: hello how are you, you live here, that´s great, I´m a missionary for the church this is my companion, and we want to help you. The gospel! But I dunno the mission has a way of magnifying your weaknesses. And I found one of mine. And that was self confidence. My compañero decided I need practice so we went to our neighbor. He said he wasn´t gonna do anything. So I knocked and our lady neighbor came out. I stammered that I wanted to explain who we were and why we´re here. She said she was Catholic and then just ran over me with Spanish. I fell flat and she shut the door. Ouch. I lost hope right there. My comp asked how did I feel. I told him rather nicely, HOW DO YOU THINK?! I´m a 19 year old kid out in some country I don´t belong, with people talking crap about me, trying to speak a language I don´t know, and on top of it all I´m trying to make them change their life for eternal salvation!! So I wasn´t the happiest camper. I felt crushed. But that´s where attitude comes in. You can see yourself as some struggling 19 year old gringo or you can realize that you´re a missionary called to preach these things to this people. This is why I chose my missionary scripture. Nephi, before he got the plates, said he was a young lad, but after his struggles said he was a man. I´m gonna be a man!! It just hurts a little. It´s like 2 a days. No pain no gain right? But now I´m doing a lot better. I´m trying a lot harder and talking more and yeah! I´m chill. Doing what I gotta do.

Talked to a 16 year old atheist. It´s sad. And it´s interesting to see the iceberg of why they feel the way they do. He said all churches just want to take money and if God loved him why does he have no parents or family. Everyone believes a way for a certain reason. He had a hard time. Others, Catholic religion is they´re tradition and way of life. One man couldn´t offer a heartfelt prayer, only what was memorized. That was sad too. That family had no hope, they´re poor and have a sick son. A lot of people have no hope for a better tomorrow and that´s one thing that has been sad to see. But that´s why we´re here. To help give them hope.

Um, I washed my underwear on a rock today. That was fun. We have to wash our underwear by hand. Makes you think of what you´re doing and makes you super grateful for a washing machine.

SO I have a Christmas list. Short. I would like peanut butter, a flash drive with missionary appropriate music (go figure! just not pure hymns.... I have a couple requests, Vocal Points´ Be Still My Soul, Praise to the Man, Nearer My God to Thee, and Josh Groban You Are Loved). But yeah I can buy a sweet little stereo here for 15 bucks and I can have that music on the flash drive. It would be great please. Oh and can I have a new razor head? NR HQ8, Philips Norelco....7310XL. If that makes sense.

But thanks for the letters!! Your adventure with grandma and papa made me laugh. Sounded great!! And rock on for Dillion, Tyson, and Ashley! And rock on Channing! Goodluck! I forgot to tell you I met an Elder from Panama and he was hard to understand but he might have known you in the Guatamala CCM. He said he did. But I forgot his name. OKAY! Rock on my friends. I´m off to another adventure!