Written June 19, 2017
Hola, todos! Hoy es el dia de preparacion, entonces puedo escribirles.
Hi, everyone! It's P-day, so I can write to you.
There. That's my Spanish blurb for this week.
This week was sooo cool! We've been trying to find new ways to find people. One thing we did was put up boxes around town in the local mexican shops asking people to put in their name and number/address if they want us to help answer their questions about God. In one box, we got a note that said "I love it will you love me" (or something, we're not quite sure) and a suspicious mint candy of which we promptly disposed. In another, we found $2.25 in loose change (which we simply dumped in the tip jar). In the third, however, we found a name and a number! It was for someone named Naye. Unfortunately, when we called the number later on, no one answered. However, they called us just last night! Unfortunately, all they said was "Como tiene mi numero?" We explained, and Naye hung up. Oh well. Sounds like someone wanted to play a prank on Naye.
The results might seem abysmal, but actually, it's super promising! Thing is, people are actually noticing the boxes and reading what they say. Even if some people just want to play a prank on their friends, they looked at what we were offering. That means that there is one more way for Heavenly Father to prepare His children to receive the Gospel and for us to reach out to them. It may take time, and we may have to wade through weird love notes, mints, money, and pranks, but we have to do that anyway if we're just knocking on doors. This way, we can do both at once! Yay! It just helps us do it faster.
We're also teaching an awesome person named Jamie. She just recently graduated High School. We went by last week when we found her, and we shared with her the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. She promised to read the Book of Mormon, and invited us back for another visit. Later that night, one of the local youth who is preparing to go on a mission himself, Martin, texted us and asked if he could come to the next lesson. We went back Thursday, and it was great! Jamie had read 1 Nephi chapter 1, true to her word, and we talked about the Book of Mormon and praying about it. We're going back tonight to teach about the Plan of Salvation. It's super exciting. Also, did I mention all of Jamie's best friends are members of the Church? She's so awesome, and she's the coolest person ever to boot!
Love you all a ton,
Elder Adams
How are you? - Absolutely fantastically awesome, thank you very much!
Have you tried any interesting food? - I have tried pickled (or sometimes fried) pork rinds (Chicharones). Nasty texture. I've also tried Posole, though, and that's delicious!
How long has it been since you used shoe shine? Have you ever used it? - Actually, I totally use it, yes! I used it on my black shoes for the last conference with Elder Andersen. It's been longer for my brown shoes, but I've been meaning to do it for about a week now. I hope to get to it in the next day or so.
Did your district like the whoopie pies I sent? - Yes, except we kept forgetting to bring them to give to the sisters in Goldendale (we don't see them a lot; just 1-2 P-Days a month and District meetings once a week). So, we just ate those two. Sorry. I honestly tried several times and kept forgetting. Everyone else seemed to like them, though! They're the kind of food item that never goes bad and lists sugar as the first ingredient. I'm pretty sure we all accidentally gave ourselves diabetes, but it was totally worth it! ;-) Joking, of course.
How are Noe and Maria and your other investigators? - Great! Noé and María have both been progressing nicely. They fed us an absolutely incredible meal Saturday (they had signed up to feed us at church) of chicken in mole, homemade arroz, and hand-made tortillas. It was amazing. Their main obstacle is going to be the picking season, which eats their lives up. Seriously, it's almost slave labor. It's terrible. They're going to be working different shifts, and María will almost certainly be unavailable the entire time we have to work every day for the rest of the summer. However, we think we've got a plan.
We also have a really cool new investigator named Jamie; she just graduated high school and is best friends with, well, basically all of the youth here. She's been reading, and she's pretty much awesome! Her main obstacle will probably be just how deeply rooted and indoctrinated she is in the Catholic church. It's a common problem. From what I can see, being "Catholic" and being "Mexican" are synonyms for almost all of the people we teach. However, Elder West and I have super high hopes for Jamie. If we can get her to church, it's a cinch.
How are things in The Dalles? - Pues, todo esta bien, gracias! Estamos animados por el exito que vimos, y estamos tratando a encontrar mas de los elegidos aqui. Sabemos que hay mucha potencial; solo tenemos que encontrar a esas personas!
Well, everything is fine, thank you! We are encouraged by the success we have seen, and we are trying to find more of the elect here. We know there is a lot of potential; We just have to find those people!
What are you doing to stay focused on your calling, even on P-Day? :-) - Well, we're both trying to talk to people as much as possible, even on P-Day. It's really hard, and we're still working on it. The hardest part is talking to people when you're doing other things, like shopping. Man, that's a toughie! Still, trying to focus on that and also the missionary purpose / reason we do everything helps keeps us focused.
Pictures
My companion Elder West:
You know how Provo is in the heart of what is known as "Happy Valley"? Well, I saw this sign on the way back from the temple a while ago...
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