July 27, 2015

 

Also have very little time...getting real frustrated with the internet here. Been sitting around twiddling my thumbs and pulling my hair out trying to get the internet to work. 

 My comp's name is Yzquierdo. Elder Left in english. And my other comps have been Vasquez, my trainer, villegas, the weirdest comp ever, Mendieta, and now Izquierdo. Sandoval never was a companion, just a friend. (but suprise, his sister got baptized this weekend! He's the 25 year old that joined the church because he was building the Tijuana temple)

And funny that you mention the spanish music thing, me too. I miss arizona every time mexican music comes on, I'm excited to go back to the valley and go to all the taco shops and all that. I love driving the 60 in the valley in the early evening listening to mexican music with a pepsi. 

I hate the food here though. I don't know what it is. I used to love it. But I just can't do it anymore. Maybe because it's because I've got sick so many times, I don't know. So much grease, food that's not fresh, food cooked with unpurified water, I don't know. And the only thing fresh about the food here is the fruit, everything else is mass produced and frozen and its honestly pretty bad.

And the breakfast ideas...haha no english muffins, but I do enjoy making a little sandwhich with whitebread. I would kill for good milk and real bread-homemade bread, toasted with butter, with really cold chocolate milk...I hate to be so negative about the food but it consumes my thoughts sometimes! 

And I don't know about the spanish teacher, I really doubt you'd be able to learn anything. I never truly learned anything in high school spanish. 

But yeah, the Ortiz family is good to go, and excited. August is gonna be a big month for us! 

How come I haven't been seeing any gopro pics? with all this surfing going on I'd think to see more. But thats cool, I'm glad they're so into it. Good activity. I wanna surf too! Any shark stories yet? 

And my next package-shoes! It's time. With extra inserts/soles. Don't really care what kind, but my brown pair held up alot better. The black ones actually crapped out about 6 months ago. Always want tshirts. Light shirts, light cotton, nothing weird, just good old fishing shirts. Guy harvey shirts no though, the material is too heavy. 

Sorry I'm not more talkative, I'm kinda ornery because of the internet and the woman that runs it (who is actually the mistress of the owner even though the wife of the owner lives a block away, and the owner hasn't talked with his mother in years, even though she owns the pharmacy next door-fun fact. It's a small town and people just feel the need to dish out all their darkest secrets on the missionaries-we know everything) 

Good week though, productive, we had a fun time in church this sunday. I was pisseddddd sunday morning-sick of honduras, the culture-it was a rough morning. Tito was drunk, the inactive family we were gonna bring to church was asleep, we had to wake up our investigators-I was so sick of the culture and how every one says yes and never follows through and how there is no sense of committment or follow up. But, it turned out pretty good because we were able to bring a mix of 6 investigators and less actives, all of them young men, that stayed for all three hours and liked it and fell in love with the young women, so it ended up pretty good. 

I need to relax though. I don't know what's going on lately. Not anxiety or depression or anything like that, I'm just...uptight! I get irritated easily. I'm normally really laid back and patient, right? I'm getting snappy all of a sudden. Having to remind myself to smile. Always walking around with a weight on my chest, constricting feeling. Not having anxious thoughts, I don't know. Also don't have energy. I'm always tired. I'm just not excited about the work.Lately I get up out of bed every day because It's my job, its what I do, and its whats expected of me. I need to work on my motivations-I'd love to say I'm here because I love the saviour and the honduran people but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm also here out of a sense of duty, making my family proud, doing the right thing, setting the example, etc. I have my moments, no doubt, but at the rate I'm going I'm gonna burn up if I can't change my motivations! I want to do what I'm doing because I love the Lord, not because it's my duty or I want to make you all or my mission president or myself proud. Any tips? I want to change that with all my heart-do what I'm doing because I love the lord, give my will to Him and all that, but I'm trying and it's not happening. 

That sounds worse than it is, I'm having a good enough time, it's just that...its a struggle! I have to force myself to have fun and enjoy the work and to see the positive and all that. I want it to come naturally! Any sage advice for me? 

Anyways. Sorry for venting and asking for so much and telling you all so little! Really this week was pure work. Had some really interesting lessons, seeing just how corrupt and fallen the catholic church is. Also had one really good experience, teaching the law of chastity. Our investigator up and shacked up, and they were really open about it, so we we're like "ok buddy, time to go big, we're called to preach repentance, let's go" and we had a solid lesson-really straight up, no holds barred-in his face. But we managed to do it with so much love; it felt really good. Powerful testimonies, lots of love, and teaching the commandments without apology. And then afterwards he sincerely thanked us and in english he told me privately (he didn't want to admit in front of his relatives) how he was feeling guilty and wanted to change. The bad part is I don't think he will change, but we did our part-we fulfilled our calling that night. 

Is curtis liking utah? flying all by himself, thats fun! I love flying. Excited to hear about his scout camp experience and all that. What's he getting into? Sterling is surfing, what does curtis do? 

 Have fun in aquatica, I still have never been. 

 All I want in life is to be a young mens leader. That's my dream calling right there. Put my talents to use. Backpacking, high adventures, fishing, diving, hunting, shooting, sea base type stuff, my young men would have the coolest activities ever. But yeah, about what you told me about dad and his calling as bishop-thats interesting-I do really well with that, finding everyone interesting, just need to work on loving them. Also still waiting on dad to see what he has to say about the bishop thing. And the spouse thing, its true haha your companion is like your spouse basically and its true. Whenever we have to do something for the district that is an extra duty he's like "ok, lets go!" super supportive. Good kid. 

And Sarah, I changed my mind about my zl. There's better ones. No need to waste your time. When Measles or Gillens gets home I'll definitely set you up with them. Especially Gillens. I still think you should write him, I really don't know anyone else (besides orrin) I'd rather see as my brother in law. Sad to sell your horse? How much are you gonna be able to get out of the sale? Excited for provo? Got things all wrapped up with Michael or not quite? 

 

Kate looks like she's having a blast in Utah, I'd love to utah if there weren't quite so many mormons! I wanna see more pictures! FInd yourself a boyfriend? Isn't it nice to swim in a lake without worrying about alligators, or sharks, or jellyfish? Still, Florida's better. But Utah is fun. 

Anyway, if i think of anything else I'll hit yall up. Have a great week!

 Love you all!