Rain Finally Quit

December 8, 2014

Scott says he is always wet!  This flooding is from all the rain - very poor drainage!

I´ll find out tonight what´s gonna happen with Elder Vasquez. And there´s always the possibility that I could go but its unlikely. But yes, this week is changes so you will hear from me twice! And if you don´t hear from me, it means I got transfered. 

Christmas is garbage here. It´s not that great on the mainland but even worse on the island. People celebrate with fireworks and all day every day it sounds like a war zone. But they´re not good fireworks, just homedmade pipe bombs that people set off in the street. It´s literally wearing down my nerves. Although, there are some really good things about christmas here too-we had a branch christmas program that the missionaries put on that went really well (although I think part of the reason it went so well is that all the less actives that came got it confused with the branch christmas dinner that we´re going to have later, and im sure they were disapointed when we only served a sandwhich and punch for refreshments)  and then we had great attendance, most of the branch, to watch the christmas devotional. 

But yes, retention! we do alot of work with less actives and recent converts-and this is a trend in all of latin america because baptisms are so high but retention is not-but we do have above average retention for the mission and everyone is improving. 

also, we are killing it right now. We are working hard and effectively. We have 4 people with a baptism date-bucho and the family. progress has slowed a little bit since last week but we also found a few new families-which is the best, we usually teach individuals-but the best family we found can read, has children, and are religious but dissatisfied with the churches on the island. perfect. Also their dog has attacked me twice, and the first time he charged me from 20 yards away so i bent down to pick up a rock and was getting ready to get down and dirty but then this little girl ran out and started hitting the dog. saved by an 8 year old. 

but yeah, spanish is good. I´m at a real crucial point of the language-people understand me and I can always understand them, and this is where alot of missionaries call it good and slack off and then come home sounding terrible. I´m close to fluent but i can fully communicate-´just not well. But, I have done very well in not sounding like a gringo and working on my pronunciation-people often think im from italy (not sure why but i figure because its close to spanish that i don´t have a terrible accent)

but yeah, this week has been kinda weird. the rain is a pain. everyone leaves the island for christmas. 

but our branch is actually pretty strong for a branch. sacrament attendance is usually around 100. still, we have a lot of responsibilities, but the leaders do a pretty good job. and the president and his counselors and all th eleaders of the priesthood and auxillaries are solid. We have a good foundation. But its also hard because the island is very transitory, we may loose a couple key families in the next year. 

I´m very sorry to hear about Kobe. What´s julies email address? Id like to email her. 

 

And that´s a shame about the bears. Can´t blame them for coming out for food when the whole state is being turned into a subdivision. 

also, those blowguns are a blast, Matt cruz and I did the exact same thing right before I left...that´s funny. Maybe i´m not that mature after all. Has matt left yet? haven´t heard from him. 

oh, and tell curtis happy birthday! send me a picture of the kayak.

 Do you guys have plans for christmas break? do really fun stuff for me so i can live vicariously through you guys. 

I´ll have another chance to email you all soon-i´m gonna email friends and take care of some mission business for now-but in case you don´t hear from me til wednesday, love you all, and thanks! my update will be coming in the next email.