Monday, November 30, 2015

Week one in the field!

I don't have that much time to write today, but I'll do my best!

The mission feild is tough!  I'm still alive, but ya know, I'm kind of dying.  You see, going on a mission and learning a language is like playing guitar hero.  The MTC is like easy mode.  So when you get to the mtc and start learning, it's hard at first, but it's really not that bad.  By the end of the MTC, you're hitting all the notes!  You feel pretty good about yourself.  And then you arrive in the mission feild.  The difficulty automatically gets switched to extreme.  People speak like 30 times faster, I swear!  Oh, and I don't have anybody to speak english to.  So the guitar is glued to my hands, and I'm stuck playing guitar hero on extreme mode for eternity, missing pretty much all the notes

That is how I would explain it.  In all seriousness, it is so difficult.  You feel so alone when you can't even understand what people are saying around you.  People try to talk to me, and I want to understand them so badly.  But I just can't.  Even my companions, who are around me constantly, speak so fast, and I only understand a portion of what they say.

It's hard.  But it's okay.  I'm happy to be here!  I'm struggling so much every day, but I'm still happy.  I know that the reason I can be happy despite the trials that surround me is because God is "easing the burdens that are placed upon my back."  He doesn´t take away my trials, but he makes them bearable.  So when somebody talks to me, and I don't have any idea what they said, I can smile, ask them to repeat what they said, and not be too sad about it.  It really is a miracle that I am able to feel this way, because I am a perfectionist in nature.  I know that God has helped me so much, and I am so grateful for that.

What is really scary is contacting people!  I'm not good at talking with strangers in english, let alone spanish.  It's going to be a huge adjustment, but I have confidence that with God's help, I will one day be able to contact many people successfully.

This week I was reading the story of the widows mite, and it really got me thinking.  I compared myself to the widow.  I don't have a lot to give right now.  I can't speak very well in spanish.  But I find comfort at what Jesus said about the widow.  She cast in more than everybody else, because she cast in all that she owned.  I know that if I give all my time and talents to the lord, he will be pleased with me, even though I don't have much to offer right now.

Thats all the time I have for today.  I love you all!
Elder Prieto, Me, and Elder Silvestre.  This is when I ate my first bug of the mission!  I don't know exactly what it is, but everyone eats them here!  They have people just standing outside selling baskets of them.  It wasn't that bad, but I wouldn't eat them just for fun, ha...
The candy here is terrible.  I don't know who had the idea to add chile powder to candy, but whoever it was is completely evil.  I miss american candy!  But I did find this gem!  Kinder surprises!  I was so pleased!  That is the only thing mexico has over america candywise.


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