WELCOME!

Hey Everyone!
This is my blog about all the activities and details about my mission. My folks are going to be updating it weekly, based on the information that I send them through my letters. My current address:
Elder Brigham James Merrell
MTC Mailbox # 138
CHI-CONS 0706
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Friday, September 24, 2010

Monday: We had lunch, before coming home and cleaning. The president an his wife are coming on thursday, to inspect the house,because we`re going to try and move into a new one. We met with the millahual`s, and Fernanda assured me that there have been many missionaries who though they would never be noticed, and are married now. It just made sense! My time hasn`t come yet! There`s a TIME I`ll meet a girl and date her. It`s always supposed to be after the mission. There was never supposed to be anything before the mission! I didn`t mess up. It`s that I wasn`t wanted. My "appointment" hasn`t come yet! It finally clicked after all these years! Heavenly Father gave me an answer of peace and knowledge.

Tuesday: We got up this morning and discovered we were completely out of gas and had to go without showers. Well, everyone else did. I took an ice shower which I regretted immensely. Especially when I was towelling off, and shivering the whole time. I don`t remember getting warm before we left for our Distrizona meeting. I got to give the lesson to our district on how to develop faith to find people. But I got distracted and gave tips on how to od better contacts. Something that I`ve seen Elder Barajas do, is just say, "how are you," make small talk, and say, "You should come to church." They will never come! And not just because there`s a different church every 40 feet, and that is no lie. I told everyone to teach when they contact. The most powerful thing we have, besides pure doctrine, is our testimonies. People want to knowhow our message has changed our lives. We didn`t have lunch planned for us today, so we went shopping! Yay! We got fixin`s for some delicious hamburgers and headed home. I also got shooting star cereal. After some initial trouble with lighting the stove, we made lunch, and enjoyed it heartily. We met up with the Zone leaders, and got our agendas that we should have had last week. We had fun being able to plan again. We also discovered an extra $10,000 ($20) in our accounts at an ATM. So that was swell. We did contacts for a while, and visited Pedro and Christina. They`re living togethe. He`s a member, and doesn`t want to get married. She wants to be married and baptized. We`re, therefore, rooting for her. But tonight turned out to be a social visit, andnothing more. But we were told that they`re going to get married "soon." Just like Joel. "soon" is the same thing as "someday" which doesn`t exist. People like that aren`t going to commit to anything. We visited Robin and Bilha afterward. Things are going really well for them. I love how happy they always are. I`ve definitely felt calm today. My heartfeels more at peace that it has in a long time. No more wishing for things to be different. Everything`s as it shouldbe. It always has been! I wish (<--- haha) I could have seen it sooner. But that hsould have happened too. It`s so interesting to imagine that. And that evrything is for our good. wow. (We bought soap that, instead of saying, "for hands", said, "for touchers." I laughed so hard.)

Wednesday: So I had TWO horrible dreams last night. The first one was basedoff an actual experience I had before I turned in my mission papers. I have feared my mission my whole life. I really have! It`s been kind of like death to my adolescent mind: the end of relationships, the end of friends, and the en of my family. It was always just...looming ahead of me. i woke up one day, and though I was on my mission and just felt utterly terrified and lost. But then I realized I was in my bed, and started to cry, I was that scared of my mission. Today (lastnight) I had a dream where I realized that there has been a sort of progression in my mission. Hoe to MTC, MTC to field, and in my dream there was some other step that I can`t remember. I think I went to Russia, and we didn`t have companions. So I got the same horror in my stomach andwas too scaredto more in my dream.Then I woke up feeling like I was going on my mission soon. Like all thishad been for nothing. Then I had another dream where Ilost SOME of my teeth. That one has been recurring. I hate that! It`s one of my worst fears. We did contacts for a while before visiting Teresa. We finally met her husband, Jorge. He`s cool, but not very religious. We`ll see. We came back, for lunch, It was take-out from Hna. Espinoza, so we got to eat atthe house. I wrote letters t some of my friends. Elder Barajaswrote a letter to a girl that used to work with him. How did we have so much time, you ask. well, he has "churrete" which translates to "squirts". haha. We had to stay near a toilet until he felt better. We did more contacts before visiting the Acuñas. We visited for a while, and played UNO. After that, we went to the Millahuals. We entered into a sober atmosphere. Minina, the cat who has stolen my heart, got hit by a car. But she didn`t die. Oh no. Her right lip was torn up and her eye was dangling out, soaking her face in blood. Papà Joel cleaned her upa nd put her in a box to take to the Vet. tomorrow. When Camila saw minina, she didn`t want to bring her in. But afterward, she felt like it was her fault. I never wanted to be off my mission so much as tonight. I just wanted to give them all hugs. Camila`s just like my little Cassie(sister). I just wanted to be her big brother and hold her while she cried.

Thursday: We woke up this morning, and I told Elder Barajas to talk to me, to keep me awake. He announced that today was the exact one-year mark of his mission. We were listening to his ipod to a song saying, "the end is just a beginning" or something. He said time was going too fast, and that he didn`t want to go. Life is always busy, differet, and fun. Maybe my wife and I can come here for a vacation. I got a picture of the ocean that Elder Barajas took. It`s gorgeous. We gopt up and I did my pushies and my sitties and my stretchies before joining Elder barajas in our study room. He was writing letters to some of his friends. At least he did after a while. So i busted out my notebook and wrote a letter to Alan. I miss that kid so much. I`m forgetting a lot of our inside jokes. Good thing most of them came fromSpongebob, and we can watch that afterwards. I toldhim of things that have been going on. I told him how thankful I was for his friendship. We never spoke about our friendship out loud. We never had to. He was the only one I didn`t need to say anything to about how I felt. He had alwasy known how I felt, and, in hard times, what I needed. We could sit in silence forever, and not feel awkward. He`s my bestest best friend. So we wrote our letters, and left to send them off. Elder Barajas found he DVD`s of pictures and we had to print some of those of too. The printing took an hour longer than we thought, and we barely made it to lunch on time. Actually, we were 20 minutes. late. :P So we had to eat quickly. We came home, and Elder Barajas showered while I took a nap. We headed into the rain with our laundry, and hustled through the mud to deliver it. We headed to pedro and cristina`s to visit. There was a party tonight for stake conference, but we couldn`t go without an investigator, and all of ours were ascared of the rain. So we had mate and sopaipillas with pedro and cristina. Then we found out our meeting got concelled, and headed to the millahuals. Minina`s going to have her eye removed tomorrow. We met with the branch pres. of Lautauro and went to the hospital to give a brother a blessing, who had broken his wrist.

Friday: Today, as a whole, came as a complete shock to our tired minds at 11:00 because everyone had forgotten to set the alarms. So we hustled to get our clothes on before heading into the continuing rain. Th first thing we did, was get a ticket for Elder Barajas to go to Los Angeles(chile version) on monday for training. I`ll stay here with the comp. opf anothe rdistrict leader who has had less time than me! I will meet up with him at 6:15 in the morning, and then we`ll party `til we`re purple on our pday. Maybe not. When we got back from the terminal, we did some contacts, and checked up with some old investigators to see if we can help them. We had lunch with Hna. Sara before heading over to the millahuals to help osvaldo with his english homework. But we were dismayed to find mamà Maite worried again. She was concerned that every time their friends needed help, she and her husband were always there to help. But when Maite needs help or comfort, nobody comes to help. At first, she was just telling us what was on her mind, but then she REALLY let loose. She went from sad to angry in 3.2...as it were. The funny/sad part is that she`s one of those people who finds one thing they`re passionate about, and say the same thing 7 different ways. She ranted about how everybody else was wrong, and needed to change. She even named a few people...like the bishop. Elder barajas and I just felt the spirit leave, and felt miserable. He doesn`t know how to helop depressed people, and I couldn`t speak. It`s not that I don`t know how, but she just sopoke so fast. the Chileans don`t have social niceties such as "not interrupting while others are talking." You have to say it in one go, or you lose your turn. So I got frustrated (angry) and stewed while she started with her family. Eventually, she and her husband left to do errands. We made brownies for her and I wrote a letter of comfort to her using the revelation I had Monday (everything is as it should be). Something I realized I missed more than technology is reading just for fun. The adventures I`ve had in books have been amazing. I miss it. Ialso realized 2 years is longer than any missionary (or any of his friends and loved ones) realizes. I`ll be here for a while. I can`t imagine the things I will yet encounter.

Saturday: So today was fairly interesting. We woke up, all ready to go play soccer, but found Stake conference had caused us to cancel our own event, which was both inconvenient...and awkward. But as we were walking by this lady`s house, she totally sicked her gimpy, 3-legged (one broken), german shephard on us. But this wasn`t just any gimpy german shephard. It was gimpy because of another missionary the lady had sicked him on. Elder Barajas had told me that story when I first got here. It`s never so much as growled at us, although Elder Barajas assures me it hates missionaries. Today I found out it was actually the owner. So we were walking by, the dog was sleeping, and the lady yelled, "¡Atacalos!" the dog woke up and leapt at my elbow! I jumped back, and did a double-fisted slam into it`s head. It hurt, but Iwasn`t done. I decided to discourage it by giving it a kick in the ribs. I think I broke 2 or 3. But after that, we high-tailed it out of there. we got elder barajas`s refund from the bus, because his trining won`t be for another week. When we got back, we showered. Elder barajas went first, and I asked him if the slug that had previously been on the shower curtain was sill there. he said he didn`t see any. I looked anyway, and found 3! I aked Elder barajas to help me get rid of them. He called me a tool and baby, and told me to do it mytself. It as with love, of course. So Igot some toilet paper and did what a man (like myself) had to do. The rest of our day was spent at Stake conference. We were surprised to find president there. He`s so cool. He taught us, and I could understand his spanish and his lesson. He asked the congregation, which consisted of Priesthood leaders, who was a convert. Almost everyone raised their hand. Then I realized how important missionary work is. wow! Afterward, I saw some sister missionaries talking to Pres. and they hugged him. He hugged them back, as only a father could. I could just see it in the the way he held them gently. Hna. Swnson told me neither of the sisters have fathers, and that Pres. had become theif "father" for them. I wanted a hug really badly, right then. I started cryng because I was being spoiled again. Hna. Swenson tol dme that new missionaries all have something to let go of, and after, they just seem so...function better. What can I lose?(When Alan and I were younger, we were asked to teach in front of the young men and young women as "What missionaries shouldn`t do." We related the restoration to a popsicle. Today i found out that one of the reasons Elder Barajas got baptized, was because of the fun lessons, including popsicles! haha!)

Sunday: We got up, and readied ourselves for our second session of stake conference. We called Teresa and cristina but neither of them answered. We walked to robin and bilha`s house, to help them to church, but they called us when we were close and said they were gone for the day. So we went to the stake center alone. We got there, and said "hi" to President & sister swenson. I looked out across the congregation for 15 min. (elder Barajas had to play piano, and we sat in front) searching for one of our investigators who might have arrived. none did. We listened to the messages given, and I wrote a song about the Atonement. Afterwards, all the missionaries got to talk together, and just talk. Elder Hawker, our zone leader, is super cool. He`s always smiling and praising people. He falls me good, as the Chileans would say. Elder Barajas introduced me to some families around the stake, especially from Lautauro, his "birth" sector. We talked for a long time, and got to lunch a little late. But hna. Billit is rially cool. We had eggs and mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes tasted like...thanksgiving. We even watched a documentary on history channel during lunch. It was really interesting. Then we went to the millahuals, to check on them as well as minina. She was sleeping in her spot under the stove. They had removed the eye, and all was well. We enjoyed a fewminutes with them, before we headed off to catch the bus for Lautauro. We`re spending our pday with the memberes here, tommorrow. I`m here righty now. We got to spend the firsthour with Pres. Jimenes and his family. They`re soooo cool and nice! He gives great big hug,s even though he`s about 5`7". His wife said my spanish is relaly impressive for only 2 months (can you believe it?!) We got to know each other before we got dropped off at the missionary house. But we visited another family, Elder Barajas`s favorite in the whole mission, the family Pinchaita. They`re two younguns with two baby boys. They`re super nice.

On Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 8:37 PM, Brigham Merrell wrote:

I love you mommy! I love you! I love you! I love you! things are going great here, and I think about you all the time! I tell my investigators about your stallward example when you had your trials. You have always been an example to me. I sent you a happy birthday card. I guess it never got there. Stupid mail. Where the heck is woodland hills? Thanks for sending me Alan`s address. I`m glad you all had fun with lindsay. She sent me some fun pictures. It looks like Dev`s getting all long and lanky! I didn`t recognize him in one of his pictures!

Moday: Whenever I start these entries, I pause and consider not only what happened that day, but also how I felt. And then I record both. Today was very emotional and not much happened. So this entry will pretty much be full of feelings. We woke up and went to do internet. Cassie had written me two emails. One as a response to the email, and the other was a response to my letter I sent two weeks ago. She asked me if I had liked her right before my mission. I told her the truth: That I wanted to know that very same thing. I`ve mused about my feelings about her before, but I`m still not sure. I think that`s my answer. If I had feelings, I`ve fairly sure I would be pretty definite. But I just don`t know. I turned the tables, and asked her why she had wanted to cuddle and fall asleep on me on purpose. I hope I don`t scare her away. I`m trying to figure myself out too. But I`m afraid. If I like her, I`ll have a horrible mission, being away from her, instead of being here and liking it. If I don`t like her...what do I lose? I feel like I`d lose something if I didn`t like her. Or love her. But these are the consequences of not bieng in the same country of those you care about. The emotional part of my day started at the millahual`s. I thought of a time when I was sad, and Kayla drove over and we sat in my car and talked and I felt scared to lose her(Actually, I was sad because of her, just so you know). But I did. I wasn`t what she wanted. I wanted to have someone to rescue me, and accept me, and love me for once. Cassie might have felt that way at one point, but her standards prevented her from acting on it. She was stronger than me. So tonight, I felt like I I have yet to have someone be there for me, in a loving way. My mission has always been in my future, an ever-present ender of things. I`m feeling so unprepared, emotionally, for trials in my love life. I just want to find someone for me. That`s all I`ve ever wanted to have. And it`s the only thing I`ve never gotten. Maybe that`s what I need to learn on my mission. Grattitude, and living in the moment. Because when I pause to consider what`s happening, it`s great! I also looked at my picture of mommy and Daddy for almost 5 min. I miss their hugs. I miss them telling me everything`s going to be alright. I miss being able to help Daddy. I miss crying with him and mommy. I miss Mommy´s laugh. I miss sitting with Daddy in Priesthood. I miss being their little briggy boy. I miss him tucking me in. I miss running to Daddy when I was scared. I miss going for drives with Mommy. Just for fun But I`ll go on as normal. I just need to cry a little.

Tuesday: We woke up this morning and did a massive cleaning of our house. Actually just our stuff. We were tired of cleaning up the other two`s mess. But our study room was put in order quickly enough. We then read from Preach my gospel until lunch. We had a lot to catch up on. But we had a fun time with it. Elder Herrera forgot his orange cream oreos (weird, I know) here, and I had some milk that needed to be drunk pretty soon. I`ll leave it up to your imagination to figure out what we did. :) Also, I thought it would be fun to randomly start laughing while Elder Barajas was reading, so HE would start laughing. It worked with tremendous success, because (1) he has a quiet laugh (2) he had a stuffed nose. We both agreed he sounded like a very happy dog. We had lunch with Hna. veronica. Soup, as always. We secured our clean clothes and crossed our little bridge, and hopped across the stones in our little marshland to our home. We took time to put our clothes away and keep our room clean. I got ready to take a shower, and came downstairs to do just that. But as I got off the staircase, in just my towel, I realized that Elder Rodriguez had returned from the terminal with his new companion, Elder Garcia, from El Salvador. I acted like I wasn`t embarrassed (`cause I wasn`t), and carried on with bisiness. We planned our day on a notecard, becuase we won`t get next transfer`s agenda `til tomorrow, and then headed out to do contacts. After the miserable time in thte windy, freezing rain, we visited Hna. Ema. She makes really good food when we come over. We finished up with a visit to Robin and Bilha. He`s been working ages to try and find a wifi hacker for his laptop. He found one last week. He`s relaly tech savvy. But he got a new charger today, and it totally burned his new laptop! It was about 2 weeks old! But he just broke out his trusty soddering gun and motherboard, and went to work. I`m feeling a lot better than I did last night. A lot less homesick. I`m trying to refocus and work hard. I know there will be times in the future when my strength wavers, but I`ve got friends to help me out. And I know the lord is walking with me. The place where I am, is on the other side of the world than the United States. 2 years of isolation here, and then returning will be weird. Lots will change. Technology, people. Lots. Devin will probably be my height, and skinny. Maybe we can play together. Yes. That sounds like a plan.

Wednesday: We started out the day with our Distrizona meeting. I`m officially not the newest! Elder Deleon, the brother of the visiting missionary from Friday is in our zone, along with another newbie. They just had a blank stare through the meeting. I know that look very well. I just wanted to help and teach them. I can`t wait to be a trainer. Elder Barajas` district consists of Querihue, which is pretty much the two other Elders we live with. After that, we went to go grocery shopping. I got some Axe and Brut shaving cream. Brut was my very first "daddy smells" and every time I smell it, I think of the Christmas when I got it. I love remembering that. I remember going downstairs in our P.G. house, and seeing it all lit up, with Mom and Dad smiling the whole time we opened presents. Thinking of Christmases, I remember, now, my worst one, when I woke up and mom was in the hospital. Daddy said we should open our presents, `cause he wasn`t sure if mommy was going to come home. That year we didn`t have many presents, and I started crying, because I was embarrassed that I wanted more. Not because I was lacking, but because I realized I THOUGHT I was lacking. That was when I decided to start being grateful and selfless in my life. Or, at least, moreso. After doing contacts for a while, we visited Renato. as a student of Tae kwon doe, and having missionaries through his house for 15 years, he likes deep thinking. We talked deep doctrine for a bit before he showed us something cool. He took out a tool that measures voltage. He stuck it on our skin. His and Elder Barajas` were 220 and 200 (in some measurement). Mine was 40. He said that the higher the number, the happier the person. 150 is normal. I don`t know what I had been thinking. But after, we tried controlling our thoughts. This time 25 was normal. I got up to 60. Elder Barajas got 51. Renato didn`t try. My happy thought was writing Cassie, and Daddy telling me he was proud of me. Thn we tried sad. Elder Barajas got 11, and I got 7. I thought of never being good enough for anyone. I know it`s silly to keep having these thoughts, but it is honestly how I feel. We finished up by visiting Robin and Bilha, then the Millahuals. Hna. Maite got an answer of what to do with Osvaldo, who is bipolar they found out, and felt peaceful. While Elder Barajas was with the others, I spent some time in the scriptures, helping her understand why God gives us trials. (2 Nephi 2)

Thursday: I got up this morning, noting, briefly, that it was uncomfortably cold. So I waited in my bed for the shower to be available. As it turned off, I dropped myself out of bed, reluctant to leave what little warmth I had accumulated, when out of the blue, Elder Garcia, this fat hulking giant, suddenly opened his eyes, leapt from his top bunk, and flew into the bathroom before I could say, "Great Odin`s raven, what`s up with all the Hulaballoo?!" Elder Barajas had just finished, and was ascending the stairs to our room in his towel. He usually has the heater going, so, in my newly-awoken, shivering self, I trailede behind him, desperate for warmth. But we found out that Elder Rodriguez had stolen it during Elder Barajas` shower. I chilled in Rodriguez`s room, and read a book called, "How to be an extra-ordinary missionary" by John Bytheway. I found myself feeling quite happy with the work I`ve been doing. Our ceiling has boards supporting the upstairs that make a great plaid pattern. When we stand on the bottom of the stairs, I can grab the 2nd story floor. So I started hanging and swung my feet forward and wedged myself in between the ceiling boards. I said, "I`m roofed in between the wedge, and it hurts!" (Because the grip was sharp wood) And then dropped down. Elder Barajas started laughing at the mix-up and the hilarity. He even blew a not bubble, and then we both laughed forever. Then we had cookies and milk. We went contacting, and Elder Barajas said I was in charge. I said a prayer, and tried to pay attention to the promptings of the Spirit. I thought I had it a couple times, but we were rejedcted. I felt sad. Really sad. Like my chest hurt. We turned right, and the pain stopped. I turned back, to face the house I had been facing, and the same heated pressure returned. I got excited when I approached the door, `cause I heard a TV. Someone was home! I knocked softly with no answer. I was afraid. What if I couldn`t understand them? What if they rejected me too? We went to the next house, but I kept thinkin of the house. I told Elder Barajs we should go back. As we approached, I felt like I did after bearing my testimony when I was little, overcome with emotion and about to cry (don`t question it, it`s just who I am!). It was weird. I was trying to hold it in, and told Elder Barajas about my fear. He read D&C 84:88 "I am with thee always, on your left and on your right." and Moroni 8:16"I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear." All of my pressure of fear and crying was moved, it seemed, to my skin as a radiating heat. I bore powerful testimony and he said he didn`t have time, but that we could come back later. I found one other lady in a similar manner. I`m doing it! (I told Elder Barajas what I told Cassie in the MTC: That I feel like another face in a suit. Same here, with thte members. He told me I`m not just a face in a suit to the people I promised to save in the preexistence.

Friday: Today wasn`t nearly so spiritual as it was emotional, and that was only within the last half-hour.I watched "charly" on Elder Barajas`s ipod. It was a love story where a girl found the gospel and it changed her life. They loved each other so much and married in the teample, and sealed for eternity. It had never hit me, the joy of this message. I cried so much when the husband found out she had cancer. He prayed to Heavenly FAther. I got chills when he said the same words that I uttered when mommy had cancer, "I`m scared." Words cannot describe how I felt when I said that. Saying, "I`m scared" aloud is something that makes it seem more fi9rm in your mind. Like the thing you`re afraid of becomes more of a reality. I think that was the day I first got my testimony. Because by the end of my prayer, I felt better. Calm er. I`m not afraid of dying. I`ve alwasy been afraid of losing my loved ones. I remember when I was about 5, my mom told me that she was going to die. She meant it in the sense of "eventually", but I was terrified. I wanted to spend every minute with her. I was scared to be alone. I`m alone now, as I write this. I want a hug. I want love. I want someone to love. I want someone to hold onto forever. I want to get married in the temple. I want to live worthily. I want to help others. I want to be the "someone" people come to for safety and comfort. I want to feel safe always. I want to preach the Gospel to the world, and tell them they don`t have to be alone! They can know that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them just like he loves me! I love my Savior so much for the blessings in my life, and for the people that love me. Every tear that falls right now is a spiritual gift from them, and the influence they`ve had on me. I`m grateful for my mission, for the privelage I have to leave my family for a little while, so other families can be together forever. It may be difficult at times (like when I thought of Cassie this afternoon), but tonight was a reminder of why I`m here, and I`m so thankful for it.
Saturday: We got up today to a foggy day, full of cold. But we dutifully headed out in our soccer clothes to pick up our investigators for our weekly game. Actually, we had 6 new people come today. One of them, specifically, caught my attention. He`s name is Jordan (He has an older brother named Michael) who is 16 years old. When he runs with the ball, it just looks so graceful. And his kicks pack a whallop. When I was goalie, I blocked a shot with my SHOE and it hurt. After that, I didn`t want to be goalie. And when I was playing offense and he was guarding me, he would say things like "boo" or "Ah!" thinking he was intimidating. He`s a great guy,m and I love him, but when he kept rubbing in how much better he was than me, I felt like I was back in High School and had to prove myself to others. I was still bad at soccer, and couldn`t really do anything. I got frustrated with myself, and felt sad when he kept laughing at me. I had prideful thoughts, that I wasn`t good enough. Or that if we were in a pool, I`d show HIM. I just couldn`t help but compare myself to him. It was bad because I`m competetive, and he`s good. I felt so disappointed afterward that I had let myselft down. I thought I had become comfortable with who I am, but I`ve just been able to hold "it" in and be more patient. Which is good, but I need to be able to not compare myself to others. I am who God wants me to be, and worrying doesn`t do any good to anyone. After soccer, I had my heart`s desire of bread and avocado for lunchy. We also made rice, soaked in chicken broth. I had a lot more sandwiches than delicious rice. After lunch, we got a bunch of potatoes ready, and carried them over to a family in the other ward. I cleaned and peeled them for an hour before we started frying them. Elder Barajas and I had another appointment, so we got to eat first, before we left. We met up with Juan, a ward missionary, and went to FHE with Hna. Ema`s and her hubby were joined with some non-members who were a little antagonistic. So it was a little less productive than usual. Then we visited Guido`s family. He wasn`t there, but his sisters were. One`s 19 and pregnant (Every girl about my age has already had at least one baby. weird), and the other had her 18th birthday today. We finished the night, teaching Juan english.

Sunday: We woke up today with enough time to get everything done. We readied ourselves, and called Teresa. She told us she would have to stay home again. Out of all the rotten sundays, the one good one was the one that her mom decided to go visit someone. Lame. She said she had to stay home with her kids as a result. We went to María Soledad`s (A new investigator that seems a bit slow) house to pick her up. Her cell phone was turned off, and her gate was locked. So she didn`t come to church. we went to church, and were having a grand old time until they came up to us in the middle of a talk, and asked us to do a special musical number. The choral leader practiced with us outside for one verse, before we went back in, and sang hymn #1 in front of everyone...a capella. It was fine exept where the hymn tries to join two words with one syllable. It`s dumb. And then Elder Barajas started laughin the last verse, and my butterflies in my stomach made me start laughing. We`re going to make a list of 100 things we learned on the mission. #1 is "improvised musical numbers never work out well." As we were heading, red-faced, back to our seats. Guess whose face we saw smiling out of the congregation? Teresa! She had come, after all! And she had brought her husband, who happened to be home from work today. But she left after sacrament meeting. At least she got to make a few friends. We had lunch with Robing and Bilha. We had mashed potatoes with horse. There was also steamed carrots and onions too. After that, we were deprived of any energy we might have had, by the power and effects of a food coma. So we had ourselfes a tuto (nap). We were revived, and went to the Millahual`s. Osvaldo has had a 40-degree C fever since Friday, and has been very sick because of it. I got to help Octavio with his iPhone, and even read some things afterward. I read the first two pages of a book by Jim Butcher, the same author as the Dresden Files, and felt that I`m not going to write my book. The quality is totally horrible in comparison. More like a joke. I`ll just be happy with "Dragon Knight". I also read some talks by Elder Holland. Then we ate sopaipillas with Robin and Bilha, and watched 30 minutes of "avatar" while doing so. Then we came home and planned this next week`s goals, after reporting our #`s to the zone leaders.
P.S. Elder Barajas found out at 1:30 in the morning that we were both still awake. So we talked and even did literate exercises. We wrote about love. We wrote about heartache. We talked with each other about those that we love and have loved. We went to bed at 5:00 this morning. I wonder why I was so excited, that I couldn`t sleep?

I love you all so much. Please know that I love you, and think about you all the time! Just think: I get to call you in 4 months! that`s only a third of a year! It`s flying for me. I`ve almost been in the field as long as I`ve been in the MTC. woot!

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