Familia y Amigos,
Things have been going pretty well here in Guadalajara, México. Elder Francisco is a really cool guy. One thing that has been really hard for him is that he misses his family a whole bunch. I try and get him to talk to me about them and how he feels and such and it seems to help. Things are going well with the companionship and it's weird how verde [green] he is. It's weird to think that I was like him when I got here (minus the skin color and me not being able to speak Spanish), he just is super nervous to teach in the lessons and has a real hard time talking to people in the streets. He kind of gets bugged with me because I talk to everyone... even to the people smoking and such. He kind of told me he doesn't really feel comfortable around that "type of people"... I just tell him that they are children of God as well and they need to hear our message even more than other people. It's weird that I am just comfortable talking to people now... but really fun.
Something that was really tough this last week is that a whole bunch of people promised to go to church and guess what... they didn't come. It's super tough sometimes when we feel like we have taught things super simple and tried to understand the investigadors needs and have tried to help them... but they just don't act. I don't know... its chill if people don't want to listen to our message and stuff but it's better not to waste our time and just tell us you aren't interested. I guess we are just planting seeds and sometime these people will accept the gospel and actually do the things they promise to do.
Things have been going pretty well here in Guadalajara, México. Elder Francisco is a really cool guy. One thing that has been really hard for him is that he misses his family a whole bunch. I try and get him to talk to me about them and how he feels and such and it seems to help. Things are going well with the companionship and it's weird how verde [green] he is. It's weird to think that I was like him when I got here (minus the skin color and me not being able to speak Spanish), he just is super nervous to teach in the lessons and has a real hard time talking to people in the streets. He kind of gets bugged with me because I talk to everyone... even to the people smoking and such. He kind of told me he doesn't really feel comfortable around that "type of people"... I just tell him that they are children of God as well and they need to hear our message even more than other people. It's weird that I am just comfortable talking to people now... but really fun.
Something that was really tough this last week is that a whole bunch of people promised to go to church and guess what... they didn't come. It's super tough sometimes when we feel like we have taught things super simple and tried to understand the investigadors needs and have tried to help them... but they just don't act. I don't know... its chill if people don't want to listen to our message and stuff but it's better not to waste our time and just tell us you aren't interested. I guess we are just planting seeds and sometime these people will accept the gospel and actually do the things they promise to do.
Funny thing happened at church this week. A stray dog got into the building during Sacrament meeting and nobody could catch it... so guess who volunteered to catch him. Yup. Elder Summers. It was kind of funny and after a good 10 minutes of chasing this street dog I finally caught him and I just started gnawing down on his back because I was hungry... okay actually I just put him outside the wall of our church.
After seeing the pictures you sent of Dad installing the new dishwasher, it made me think of an activity I had to do this last week. Our bathroom hasn't worked for probably about a year and no one has bothered to fix it. Everyone just has used the bucket to flush everything down the drain. I took the liberty and went and found the parts that we needed in some tiangies (its kind of a swap meet or open-air market) and worked on the bathroom trying to put things together... not really knowing what I was doing. Turned out it was pretty simple and I got it fixed and our sink and toilet work again. I was super dirty afterwards but now it was worth it. ;) I seem to be learning a whole bunch of things out here on the misión.
I just remembered something else about Elder Francisco that is super funny. He doesn't like comida picante [spicy food] so its been really hard for him these last two weeks. He also thinks I am crazy for eating a ton of chile all the time. I am trying to get him to try some chiles I bought but he's not going for it. Love this guy.
Well I will talk to you next week.
Love you all,
Elder Summers
After seeing the pictures you sent of Dad installing the new dishwasher, it made me think of an activity I had to do this last week. Our bathroom hasn't worked for probably about a year and no one has bothered to fix it. Everyone just has used the bucket to flush everything down the drain. I took the liberty and went and found the parts that we needed in some tiangies (its kind of a swap meet or open-air market) and worked on the bathroom trying to put things together... not really knowing what I was doing. Turned out it was pretty simple and I got it fixed and our sink and toilet work again. I was super dirty afterwards but now it was worth it. ;) I seem to be learning a whole bunch of things out here on the misión.
I just remembered something else about Elder Francisco that is super funny. He doesn't like comida picante [spicy food] so its been really hard for him these last two weeks. He also thinks I am crazy for eating a ton of chile all the time. I am trying to get him to try some chiles I bought but he's not going for it. Love this guy.
Well I will talk to you next week.
Love you all,
Elder Summers