July 1,2013

July 1, 2013

 

Well, I´m here and the work has definately started!

I don´t even know where to begin! How about the heat since that is the biggest constant.... I thought Hawaii was humid.. ha the weather says it 86 in tampico but in reality it feels like 120 easy.. you are in a constant sweat here and no one has climas (ac). i have prob sweat more here in one week than all my life (excluding wrestling season ha) but ya... its miserable but i´m slowly adjusting and there is nothing you can do about it anyways.

Well, I arrived in Tampico and the first thing I see is military guys with loaded m-15´s ha they're everywhere. They drive the streets with truck mounted guns ect. its a little un-nerving but oh well haha thats just how it is here.

We got set up at the presidents house and had a meal and some talks and then packed all 10 of us into the assistances house since we were staying over night.... holy hot the house was like a furnace... you sweat so bad that it is litteraly like you stood in a sauna for a few min...soaked! The cool thing however was that we were right accross from the Tampico temple! t\The next day we had meetings and interviews in the morning and from there ate and were assigned areas and companions!

I am in the Mante area serving in the Boulavad ward! With Elder Tadeo who is a native to Mexico! And I have been learning very fast because he knows only the english that other comps have taught him haha! I love Mante! Its a little less humid but still averages 115 or so every day. We are on the outskirts of town so do a lot of walking and have some very poor parts of Mante. Majority of the houses that are in our area are no bigger than our living room and kitchen. I think I have some pictures... but every house is tiny and made out of concrete and sticks... but the people are wonderful! They are so willing to listen to us and give us water... which is amazing... but they are all very genuine, reminds me a bit of the culture in Hawaii.

Our house is one of the nicesest in the area and we have an ac where we sleep!! whooooo. Everything is very run down old and poor but people still have their tv´s and radios as well as i-phones ect. its just a very different life style for sure!

We have been teaching a little but they just split our area to accommodate for more missionaries so with that went a lot of our contacts and investigators.. so in a way we are starting from the ground up. We have already visited our area book and exuaghsted members. Its hard also because we aren´t allowed to tract at all so everyone we teach has to be a referral or street contact. We visit a lot of people that belive in the church and read and pray and all that good stuff but we just cant commit them to chuch. I would say more than 50% of the members in the ward are inactive and just wont come.

The spanish.... haha well, out of all the lessons we have taught this week ...13 or so I think I contributed to 4 and understood the direction of the lesson and what was said for about 2 ha. Its really hard to feel the spirit and really connect with the people when you dont know what is going on...I just need more time but until then im getting really good at nodding and smiling haha!

haha the other thing in mexico is you cant be a germ-aphobe! Although all the water has to be filtered the cups are dirty and prob rarely washed ha for example the water at the church building is in those 5 gallon culligan water things but there are 4 cups.... for the ward the same 4 cups for everyone every week haha.. but water is worth it! The food is amazing... not as spicy as I had hoped but still good! A lot of rice beans and tortillas... its essentially the same food every meal but for now I´m loving it! And even better yet no travelers Diariah yet! (knock on wood)... haha however I dont dare fart anymore haha!

One of the coolest things here are the taxis! Everyone uses taxis a ton here since so few have cars. the taxis are rediculous though! you feel like your in a demolition derby! Except instead of hitting other cars its see how close you can get to things ha. for less than a dollar you can go just about anywhere you want in town its so cool! think of a bunch of ants and thats the taxis in the street. They pay a fee so if you're a taxi you are pardoned by most street laws... haha so taxis can run red lights, drive into oncoming traffic ect haha! I\Its an experience for sure!

I am running out of time and sorry i didnt really have any cool spiritual experiance that i shared but next week!

hasta!