FIRST WEEK IN THE FIELD
This first week has been an experience I will never forget! I have been assigned to the area of Mattawah! A tiny area that is 95% Latino population. It's where all the workers work and is the most Latino populated part of my mission and of course I was the lucky one to be placed in it! Haha it has made me realize that my Spanish sucks and that the MTC hypes you up and tells you that your Spanish is good when its not! My area is literally a little mexico city, everyone speaks Spanish, even the music in the little store is Spanish. We proselyte a lot of the times in the trailer parks and the more ghetto neighborhoods. The other 5% of the population are the owners of the orchards and the farms (haha) and they all speak Spanish too. So basically I'm gonna be beast at speaking Spanish after these 12 weeks lol. Just messing around but I am so glad I was put in this area because my Spanish will definitely benefit from it!
My first impression of the area and the people was WOW. First of all my house. Haha I live in a trailer in the middle of a field! If I look 10 miles in each direction out of my window all I see is farm land and no houses haha but I have grown to love it! The first night I definitely felt homesick because my whole life I have grown up with multiple people in the house with me, hearing multiple voices when i'm going to bed. Just having me and my trainer and being in the middle of a field with no light and no sound kinda made me homesick but I have gotten use to it and I love it! Haha but on the bright side it's definitely is easier to go to sleep!
My trainer is Elder Corrasco! Hes from Venezuela and has a way strong accent!! He tries to speak English but is pretty fob lol he likes to speak Spanish more which is way good for me but most of the time I'm so lost haha! I love Elder Carrasco as my trainer. He is a spiritually filled elder and is always trying to help me! he is very soft spoken and I always tell him to speak up because i cant hear him.. it took me a day or 2 to get use to it but he is such a good guy! He is also the district leader so he teaches me a lot about how to be a better leader in the mission! President Jackman put us together for a reason and I'm learning so much from Elder Corrasco! Me and Elder Corrasco are both really into goal setting so me and him have been setting a lot of goals and push ourselves to be better missionaries everyday! In the MTC I prayed that I would be in an area that would push me out of my comfort zone with the language and challenge me to study harder and work harder to get the language down and also to let me be trained by a Latino... well I got a total Spanish area and my trainer is the most Latino elder out here haha! The lord has done his part, now its time for me to work and act in my part!
President and Sister Jackman are way cool!!! When I first met them I knew I was going to love them and as the day went on it just got better and better! Also Sister Royal part of the mission office was my grandmas best friend when they were younger living in Washington! It was so nice to hear her talk so highly of my grandparents because I love and miss them so much! Also shout out to my grandma for sending me a package full of my favorite beef jerky and peanut m&m's! Me and my comp have been killing that huge bag!!!
The ward and the branch here are filled with the nicest people ever! Even though I have just met them, I feel like I have known them for a long time! I love meeting new people and talking to them and getting to know them, now it's time to be able to do that in Spanish haha!
We were able to do service in Othello as well with the zone leaders! Me and Elder Carrasco made so many bags of cotton candy for the fair! Best service ever lol! We made bags for 4 hrs straight and it was actually a nice little break from the normal proselyting! We were able to talk to a bunch of people about the gospel and hand out a couple cards! It was a really fun and good experience!
The families that we are teaching are amazing and the spirit I can feel from them progressing in the lessons is so Nice! Most of the time I can't understand parts of the lessons but the spirit I feel during them testifies to me that they are changing and that the holy ghost is real! We are teaching this 13 year old boy named Yohan and his sister Ciani! They want to be baptized so bad but there parents are split and the mom doesn't want them too. When we teach them its so nice to see their faces light up! We'll see how things go we have them on date for Oct 20! We also are teaching this family The Garfias, another situation where they all want to be baptized and even the mom wants to be baptized but she doesn't believe in Joseph Smith! We are going to be working with her a lot this week and try and have the spirit testify to her that he is a true prophet and that he restored this gospel! It takes time and the lord knows when everything needs to happen, so me and my comp can only have faith and do the things we know we need to do and hope that everything works out! I love this family though and I have only met them 3 times! She has a boy named Lenin and he reminds me of my little cousin Vete! I hope that me and my comp can baptize them because I know they will feel the joy and happiness in this gospel if they just take the steps and keep the commitments that we give them! It's all on gods timing though!
I know this church is true and I love it! I know that the Holy Ghost is real and I know that if all of you read the Book of Mormon everyday and say your daily prayers with real intent and a sincere heart Heavenly Father will help you with anything you need!. Remember that the lord knows everything that we go through, we just need to ask him for the help that we need! We also need to remember that everything happens on gods timing be patient, HE LIVES and he will HELP you!
I love you all!
Amor,
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