Familia,
So this week has been pretty neat. I'm guessing you all are wondering who is my new compainion and how things are going between us. Well, my new companion is Elder Francisco and he is a really cool guy. So first off, Tuesday morning all of the trainers had to be in the Cruz del Sur Church at 7:50 in the morning to be trained on how to be trained. We then ate with the new misionaries and got to talk to them. Just a few months ago sister missionaries from the United States started coming to our mission. It's super weird seeing white girls. Anyways only twelve new misionaries came to our mission this last change... we have been recieving about 20 missionaries or more every change so this week was a little different with only recieveing twelve new missionaries. And, it was even more weird because we recieved more sister missionaries than Elders - 5 Elderes and 7 Hermanas. After we ate we went to go and sit with the new misionaries. We all chose our spots and listened to a few messages. After the first hour and a half our president told us who our companions were. I happened to be sitting right next to my new companion Elder Francisco.
Elder Francisco is from the Dominican Republic. He's a darker guy... and by darker I mean black. In the Dominican Republic they speak Spanish but their accent is way different. Elder Francisco has a very strong testimony in the church and is super excited to be here in the mission. He is a convert to the church. His parents have been members for a long time but they have been inactive. Elder Francisco was baptized only 2 years ago. He felt that he really needed to serve a mission. When he recieved his mision call he has mentioned that he was not to excited to go to México... because all he heard about México was about the murders and the narcos but now he has started to understand that it's not like that all over the place. It's been a really good week with Elder Francisco he really is super excited to serve and learn more and help the people here. I thought that I kind of stuck out before.. walking through the streets of México being a super white guy... but now we get even more stares. Now everyone stares at a tall white guy and a black guy in white shirts and ties. It's kind of funny how much we stick out.
One thing that has been kind of weird is that I have been trying to help him get used to the Culture here. I'm not from here... but I am teaching him the culture. Its super funny. He also has a kind of different accent... and he has a vocabulary that's way different. He says things in a super funny way and I am learning a lot of different words I never have heard before... I also have a different vocabulary than him and I have been saying things he has never heard before. For example, he showed me a Book of Mormon in English the other night and I responded and said, "Que suave." The direct translation into english is "How soft" but here in Guadalajara it means "that's cool." Well when I said this he got really confused and was trying to understand why I was telling him that his book was soft. We both laughed about it really hard. He also isn't used to the buses. I am used to the crowded buses here with everyone just pushing together and plastering up against the doors... this concept was very different for him and he was a little nervous and thought I was crazy for shoving myself right into a crowded bus. It's really quite funny this companionship.
Something super cool is that I when I got set apart as a missionary I was told that I was going to know people from foreign lands and that I will recognize them from the pre-mortal life. I feel this way with Elder Francisco. When I sat down next to him in the meeting I felt like I knew him and I knew that we were going to be companions. He is a really awesome guy and we are going to continue to have a good time doing to work of the Lord here in Guadalajara Mexico.
Being a District leader has been all right. Pretty much I just make sure my district is safe in their house at 9 at night and I take data every night on what they did. Seeing how we only have 2 companionships in my district it doesn't take up too much time. I do have to teach the Gospel Principles class every Sunday though.
We'll I've got to get going. I'm going to go and do my first Baptismal interview with an investigador from one of the areas of our district.
Love you all,
Elder Summers
So this week has been pretty neat. I'm guessing you all are wondering who is my new compainion and how things are going between us. Well, my new companion is Elder Francisco and he is a really cool guy. So first off, Tuesday morning all of the trainers had to be in the Cruz del Sur Church at 7:50 in the morning to be trained on how to be trained. We then ate with the new misionaries and got to talk to them. Just a few months ago sister missionaries from the United States started coming to our mission. It's super weird seeing white girls. Anyways only twelve new misionaries came to our mission this last change... we have been recieving about 20 missionaries or more every change so this week was a little different with only recieveing twelve new missionaries. And, it was even more weird because we recieved more sister missionaries than Elders - 5 Elderes and 7 Hermanas. After we ate we went to go and sit with the new misionaries. We all chose our spots and listened to a few messages. After the first hour and a half our president told us who our companions were. I happened to be sitting right next to my new companion Elder Francisco.
Elder Francisco is from the Dominican Republic. He's a darker guy... and by darker I mean black. In the Dominican Republic they speak Spanish but their accent is way different. Elder Francisco has a very strong testimony in the church and is super excited to be here in the mission. He is a convert to the church. His parents have been members for a long time but they have been inactive. Elder Francisco was baptized only 2 years ago. He felt that he really needed to serve a mission. When he recieved his mision call he has mentioned that he was not to excited to go to México... because all he heard about México was about the murders and the narcos but now he has started to understand that it's not like that all over the place. It's been a really good week with Elder Francisco he really is super excited to serve and learn more and help the people here. I thought that I kind of stuck out before.. walking through the streets of México being a super white guy... but now we get even more stares. Now everyone stares at a tall white guy and a black guy in white shirts and ties. It's kind of funny how much we stick out.
One thing that has been kind of weird is that I have been trying to help him get used to the Culture here. I'm not from here... but I am teaching him the culture. Its super funny. He also has a kind of different accent... and he has a vocabulary that's way different. He says things in a super funny way and I am learning a lot of different words I never have heard before... I also have a different vocabulary than him and I have been saying things he has never heard before. For example, he showed me a Book of Mormon in English the other night and I responded and said, "Que suave." The direct translation into english is "How soft" but here in Guadalajara it means "that's cool." Well when I said this he got really confused and was trying to understand why I was telling him that his book was soft. We both laughed about it really hard. He also isn't used to the buses. I am used to the crowded buses here with everyone just pushing together and plastering up against the doors... this concept was very different for him and he was a little nervous and thought I was crazy for shoving myself right into a crowded bus. It's really quite funny this companionship.
Something super cool is that I when I got set apart as a missionary I was told that I was going to know people from foreign lands and that I will recognize them from the pre-mortal life. I feel this way with Elder Francisco. When I sat down next to him in the meeting I felt like I knew him and I knew that we were going to be companions. He is a really awesome guy and we are going to continue to have a good time doing to work of the Lord here in Guadalajara Mexico.
Being a District leader has been all right. Pretty much I just make sure my district is safe in their house at 9 at night and I take data every night on what they did. Seeing how we only have 2 companionships in my district it doesn't take up too much time. I do have to teach the Gospel Principles class every Sunday though.
We'll I've got to get going. I'm going to go and do my first Baptismal interview with an investigador from one of the areas of our district.
Love you all,
Elder Summers