Week 52 in El Salvador

December 20, 2010

Hey,

So...I loved the photos...yes, the trails made me homesick for about five seconds, but what stuck out the most was the photo for the TVC party----what’s up with all the wrinkles? I mean come on, it’s only been like fourteen months. ...Speaking of photos, I haven’t sent much in a while, because the computer has been on HTML mode, and it’s super slow, and when I try to change it, it doesn’t respond. I’ll try to see what I can do today.

WEDNESDAY....We interviewed Hna Marcela for her baptism. She’s a single mom we’ve been teaching. a friend of Hna. Maira who was just baptized. She passed her interview with flying colors.

THURSDAY...went to San Miguel for the Christmas party. We did Christmas plays.... I started feeling sick.

FRIDAY...Baptism. It was awesome. We got started a little late, but it was really good. Marcela is very content, and she’s gonna be strong in the church. Oh yeah, ha ha, on top of it all, it felt good to baptize someone that wasn’t fatter than me.

That night I got really sick...Fever, coughing...my lungs sounded like a mix between crackling paper and a soft whistle, I was coughing up phlegm that looked like cottage cheese.... called the nurse.

SATURDAY...in bed all day. Fever of 102°F - 103°F. Hot and cold effects. Pain in the lungs, still with the same effects as Friday. Also started diarrhea. There was a huge process of getting permission form the nurse, and getting medicine. I didn’t get permission to do an exam until today, so they’re gonna make sure I don’t have pneumonia.... They put me on a five day medication of Zithromax...

SUNDAY.... I’m magically cured. The fever was gone. The diarrhea was gone, the cottage cheese-stuff was gone----all I have is a little cough, a little stomach ache, and am a little light headed...But my boy scout teacher will get a kick out of this.... I totally got the impression to bring toilet paper to church, and I get there, had to go, and guess what, thee was none there.

TODAY...I feel great. I’m light-headed, and my lungs only make a sound like a purring cat, but only when I breathe deeply. I’m out and walking.

I’ll make a call after Wednesday. My companion might be getting changed before.... I’ll get a hold of you though.

Welllllllll, that’s about it. Long story. Honestly I don’t know what I’ll talk about for Christmas.... Oh, by the way, I got your package,with the stocking. Thanks.

Chow for now,

Elder Day

PS....I just wore holes into my shoes again.... the ones that I had replaced the soles on. Can’t walk on damp roads anymore, so I started with my other shoes. I might be replacing the soles again with the money from the card...

Week 51 in El Salvador

Hey,

So my number is……. I have to check out the cell phone plans of the neighbors though, ‘cause maybe I can talk for an hour or so for a couple bucks.

That’s great about the weather and the candy. Sounds pretty normal.

As for my health, it has stayed the same, but I’m more worried about other things right now. It’s gotten a little better week by week.

Marcela is a single mother, and one of the friends of Maira Ayala who was just baptized. She is very honest and direct, which makes it easy to teach her. We just need to verify if she has completely put away drinking coffee, and she will be ready for this weekend.

A funny thing happened at church...George, one of our less progressive investigators, walked into the church, and asked the bishop (who was at my side), what he needed to do to get baptized.... the question kind of blew me away, because I wasn’t expecting it from him.... maybe I should paint a picture (he is about six foot redneck, scruffy-curly hair, with a pony tail...he drinks, he smokes, he is not married to his “companion,” and is nearly missing all his teeth, except for the yellow ones in front)...well, he asked what he would have to do to get baptized (he has been going to church, by the way)....and the bishop referred him to me. So, I told him the first thing to do was to get married to his girlfriend, and I told him we could help on the paperwork, but not money...so he opened up his wallet to pull out his I.D. card, and his cigarettes fell out of his wallet, followed by an “oh *****,” so I told him he would have to work on that too, and he was cool with it, so other than his minor problems, we have one more positive investigator. I think we’ll put a goal for next Christmas, but if he’s serious, we could do it sooner.

As for me, I’m doing good right now. I haven’t had a lot of time lately. I have realized many things, and remembered many things, and have become more motivated for the work, and believe we could be doing double the work. Thank you for sending the letter last week about being more strict. I have put it into practice.

Changes are two days before Christmas, and by the way things are going in the zone, I am worried. I’ll get a hold of you though.

Until next time,

Chow for now

Elder Day

Week 50 in El Salvador

December 6, 2010

Hey,

It’s surprising that Christmas is here already. It’s gone by so fast. I’m

thinking that I’ll still be in this zone for Christmas, so that will

be cool.

This week was kinda slow. I’ve had a cold, and am coughing up green

stuff, and I’m always tired. I think its passing though, because a

couple of days ago I completely lost my voice, but it has mostly

recovered since then. I’m still feeling a little slow.

The ward had a couple of baptisms, and they have been working with a

young woman named Lujana. She was baptized along with a boy of a less-active family. The boy was really nervous about it.

Our cocinara painted her house.... actually her boys painted her house.

First with the wrong color...neon yellow, and they were wondering

why their mom had chosen that color, and then she got home, and

freaked out when all the house was painted, and she called her

husband....and the first thing she says..”this is so ugly, what were

you thinking”....so he gets home, looks at the house, the first thing

He says is…”nah, that’s really cool, good job boys.” In the end

the mom won, and the boys had to go get a different paint.

This week we helped prepare for a birthday party for fifteen year old

girl. The 15th parties are huge, bigger than weddings. We were

invited to help prepare the food, and set everything up.

It’s been really cold this week, and I’m thinking about buying covers

for the bed.

Thank you for your letters, and for keeping me updated on the family.

That’s about it. I’ve got to run to the house real quick to grab some

records I forgot.

Chow for now.

Elder Day

Week 49 in El Salvador

November 29, 2010

Hey,

Happy Thanksgiving.

This week has been interesting.

On Thursday, the zone leaders had a baptism. The poor guy has a phobia of water. He wanted to get baptized, but during the first baptismal session they couldn’t get him under the water----the prayer was said, the sheet was filled out, the people had given their talks. But the guy thrashed and stiffened up, and held onto the walls...in short, they reprogrammed it for Thursday, so the bishop (a BIG guy), could baptize him. Only his family showed up (and me and my companion were there, because we had to drop off the baptismal clothes).... the bishop gave a short talk, and then asked the man if he really wanted to be baptized. He responded with a, “yes sir, I really want to do this.”.... once again the prayer was said, and the man thrashed, and braced himself. The bishop told him to sit down, and finally get on his knees...they were both struggling about fifteen minutes...finally the bishop told him to put his face in the water (forward), and the bishop unexpectedly did a football slam backwards in the water...I seriously thought he was gonna break the poor guy’s head on the bottom of the font...but he got dunked. Everyone celebrated afterwards, and the man was really happy, “I feel really content, really content”-he said.

We also had another baptism. A guy named Nelson, which took him nine years and hundreds of missionaries to decide to get baptized. He was the last one in his family to get baptized. He had a couple of dilemmas. His wife is a member, and was crying at he baptism (we did it on her birthday), and later we had a fiesta. The whole ward knows him, because he’s been going to the church for years, off and on when he wasn’t coaching soccer.

We started up English class again, and I got the help of Elder Dennis this time. It works a whole lot better now.

How have my friends been doing in school? How are the kids doing?

Until then, chow for now,

Elder Day

week 49 in El Salvador

November 22, 2010

Hey,

Sounds like everyone is doing well.... glad there is snow.

That’s funny about Alyssa. The daughter of our cocinara is about the same age. I should start keeping track of what she says.

Happy birthday Jared! What’ve you been up to??? How’d your birthday go???

I had bad first impressions of my comp. One of the other nights, we got home, and just started talking. He’s had a really rough life. But short story...he is misunderstood by many, but one of the best missionaries I know.

.... Anyway. The mission is actually going really well for now. I’ve been learning a lot. We’re hoping to have a baptism this Tuesday...a guy that has taken nine years to decide to get baptized. All his family are members, but he has said, “when they construct a temple in El Salvador, then I will get baptized”...well it’s time.

Chow for now.

Elder Day

Week 48 in El Salvador

November 15, 2010

Hey,

Yeah, my companion had changes the last minute. They told us 24 hours afterwards, when everyone was boarding the busses with their bags. We had to run back to the house (with my new comp too), pack the bags, take a taxi to Apopa, and drop him off---he was almost angry enough to have taken out one of the Zone Leaders for not telling. So we dropped him off, went to San Salvador to get back to the western terminal, and came back to Soyapango.

I’ll have to adjust to my new comp, because me and E. Alvarado were almost like brothers, and there is a big difference between him and my new comp...my new comp his from Awachapan in El Salvador.

Elder Dennis moved back with me. He’s the district leader. So we should have some new adventures to tell.

Also.... my cocinera loves all the spices and food seasonings you sent me. I told her that I would get some more.... in particular the seasonings for: buffalo wings, chili (soup), and taco seasoning. Beef stroganoff does not exist here. If you can, I would like to give that to her for Christmas, because she absolutely loves them, and doesn’t want to go back to normal cooking.

I’m glad you liked the paintings, but I think you are art starved. Maybe I’ll send one of my sketchbooks.

That’s great for the snow.... hey, if you could do me a favor, start the engine on frankensled, and let her run for a while. I don’t want to end up replacing parts.

Christmas is coming up. And there are a couple people with the lights already hung up. A few of them already have trees.

Everyone, be careful on the snow.

Chow for now,

Elder Day

School service project

Baptisms

Sonia's baptism
Maira's baptism
Beatriz's baptism

Week 47 in El Salvador

November 8, 2010

Hey,

I’m glad you got the package, ‘cause I was worried about that memory. Honestly, I don’t know if the paintings are better or not, but they were done with that little pallet that you sent me in the MTC. Two of them are from parts in my second area, and the third one (with the red tree) is a combination of things that I’ve seen on my way: a tree from San Vicente, the houses from La Palma, the rivers from Zacate. Glad they got to you.

That’s great about Kendra’s swimming! Olympics! Olympics! She needs to go to nationals. That’s great that she’s ahead of the pack. Keep it up.

That’s weird about the snow. Alaskaman must still be in el Salvador.....haha actually the temperature down here has dropped quite a bit. I took a video of huge clouds that came over the country really fast. Right now, everyone is in sweaters and beanies, cause there is a lot of cold wind from the north. The temp has dropped to about 26°C, and it has been a little chilly in the mornings.

We have changes this Wednesday. We have to pack, ‘cause they will call us on Tuesday at 10:30 pm to tell us if we have changes or not. Then we leave at 6:30 a.m. to group up Wednesday morning. Lots of packing and unpacking....

That’s it for now folks,

Elder Day

Paintings I did of El Salvador

Maira's Bible collection

Maira’s collection of different versions of the bible, from every religion here. Before her conversion she was adamant about the Catholic faith. The big one in

The middle weighs about 9 pounds.

Week 46 in El Salvador

November 1, 2010

Hey,

Both Maira and Beatriz were baptized, and our district leader baptized another Mayra. They are already asking for assignments in visiting teaching. The week was a bit busy, but the weekend was worth it. We were mostly just working with them. It was a great experience.

---The computers are having problems, so I’ll send this one now,

Chow for now

Elder Day

train tracks to Appopa

The train tracks to Appopa. That’s me and my companion at 6:00 am. We had to travel. Lost the train. Went in bus and got there the same time as the others for the multizone.

Gabriela

A girl in the primary called Gabriela. She reminds me a ton of how Alyssa is, and she’s almost got the look down too.

Week 45 in El Salvador more

Hey,

We are a little late in writing, and I think our time is going to get cut short too. The other cyber-cafe shut down, so the whole zone had to search for another one...and we couldn’t find one. Finally the zone leaders called the Pres. and he gave us permission to go into Plaza Mundo, probably the biggest mall in the country.

I love the pics of the fire, but doesn’t look like you got much snow.

You should be getting a package from me. It’s all for mom and dad, but I want the stuff when I get back.

I’m sending two photos.

The first one is the train tracks to Appopa. That’s me and my companion at 6:00 am. We had to travel. Lost the train. Went in bus and got there the same time as the others for the multizone.

The second one is a photo of a girl in the primary called Gabriela. She reminds me a ton of how Alyssa is, and she’s almost got the look down too.

I forgot my other memory card, and I’ll try to bring it next week, cause I’ve got some cool pics on that.

For my binder.... I hope you are putting your letters in there too. I’ve gotten pretty good at keeping track of my mish in my journal. I’m planning on saving it all, and the photos, and writing a book when I get back. I’ll just have to retranslate it all right now, ‘cause my second journal is almost all in Spanish. It goes by so fast.

Elder X is coming back to the mission. He went home in the MTC, but he’s gonna be here in December.

We have another baptism coming up this weekend, possibly two. Her name is Myra Hernandez. Its a long story, one I can’t really explain in writing, but its one of my best experiences. All I can say is that everything was prepared before us.

How’s the ward?

That’s about it.

Chow for now.

Corey

Week 44 in El Salvador more...

October 18, 2010 more

Hey,

This computer says to send pics, I need to format my camera. And the batteries just went out. I should be sending you one of my memory cards, with all my photos from Bosques de la Paz. The photos on that memory are the ones we revived, so they are still there, but you can only see them on the computer, because the camera now won’t read them. I’ll see how sending the package goes.

Other note. I will probably be using your card for my basic needs for a while. Every month, we have to send in our receipts. And even if the bills are paid and we don’t have the receipts, the president won’t pay us. And this month the owner had to pay for a problem we had with the water in the house, and there is no receipt, so the president took 70 dollars out of my assignation. Just a heads up...

Elder Day

Week 44 in El Salvador cont.

October 18, 2010 cont.

So, I’ll finish my letter.

We also did a service project for one of the high schools in town. We went one weekend before transfers and this last weekend. After we finished up, the church dance group put on a show of dances for all the groups that helped in the service. Two other groups were invited to dance too. The church groups that performed the dance shows were classic Latino American dances. Next one of the dance groups from the school went---the largest group by far, and performed a mix of modern dance (rap, hiphop, and break)---which later the stake president absolutely freaked out, and apologized for having invited us to the service project. I thought all of them were well performed for their age and extremely creative. The two older groups were the best---one of the church groups, and the modern dance group, the rest of them looked a little nervous to be there. I got parts of each of the dances on video, so I’ll send it in one of the packages.

I have some kind of mark on my hand and wrist. It hasn’t left in three weeks. It looks like a mild rash, but it doesn’t hurt or itch. The nurse doesn’t know what it is. Elder Foote has it too. One of the families I’m teaching says it is cockroach bite. I have no idea. As for the features, as close as I can explain, it looks the same as skin after frostbite, but we know that’s not the case. It’s too light-colored, so my camera won’t pick it up to send it to ya.

I’ll see if my camera has batteries. If I can, I’ll try to send some.

Chow for now.

Corey

Week 44 in El Salvador

October 18, 2010

Hey,

It’s a long story. My computer broke last week in the middle of writing the letter, so I switched to a different computer and tried to start over, and that one also closed down on me. By the time I was finished, I couldn’t write anything, because the zone leaders were leaving, and we aren’t allowed to write anything without them in the room. By then the second group of missionaries, the Illopango zone came into the cyber, I wasn’t allowed to stay with them, and so I talked to Elder Nay, one of my good friends. I told him to send a note to his mom, so she could contact you, saying that whatever was left of my letter would be in the draft pile. I wrote a note reminding him, and he set it out on his desk, wrote his family, packed, and then saw the note---he told me like three days later, so I figured you didn’t get a letter. Things happen, and I guess some things aren’t supposed to happen. I sent what was left of my first draft. The rest doesn’t exist.

So we had a baptism last weekend. Sonia Escobar. She will be one of the best baptisms we’ve had, the most prepared. We have two strong ones coming up for the 30th of October if all goes well too.

We had a capacitatoin meeting. He was supposed to deliver the message of what the apostles have changed in the missions. Basically its the same exact stuff that was already in Preach my Gospel, just explained with movies, so that we could see how we were suppose to do it.

I don’t know if I told you, but Elder Brandao is with Elder Dennis. It’s weird to see them together. Brandao has gained a lot of weight. He gave me a pair of skinny jeans that didn’t fit him anymore.

Things are still going good with my companion. We have the same charisma as I had with Brandao. Things are going well.

I’m still healthy, despite the fact that I almost swallowed a cockroach that was in my hot chocolate. My cocinara freaked out when I pulled the cockroach out of my mouth. She apologized, she said she looked through all the chocolate pieces before making it. She let me drink a two-liter thing of seven up, and also gave me a typical El Salvador-moral as an “early Christmas present.” I feel bad for her, but she still has a sense of humor, so I can bug her about it.

I’m sending you a package today, if I can. It has a couple little watercolors. Everything in it is for mom and dad. Mostly just pictures and posters. I’m also sending myself a little book. It explains the history of El Salvador from the ages of the Indians to the formation of fmln. It’s in black and white and in Spanish, but you can look through it.

I’m putting into practice what Uchdoft said in his talk--to simplify life---I actually get more done, have more success, and tend to have a little free time when we get home for the night. It’s smooth. It’s not that I’m doing less, I’m just doing it easier.

I’m gonna send this one before it deletes.

Chow---I’m gonna write more.

Corey

Spider

Week 43 in El Salvador

October 11, 2010

Hey,

Sorry. This letter didn’t send from last week. Here’s what was saved by the computer.

That’s weird about he weather up there. Down here there wasn’t much rain at all during the rainy season. People are surprised too. They tell of stories of storms and stuff, but while I was here there have only been about 6 bad storms, and not even that bad...just a little worse than the Missouri storms we use to get. We’ve only had to be shut in the house for two of the storms.

Monday we had a cool experience. We’ve got this lady we’re teaching. She’s read every version of the bible, from the Catholics, Jehovah witness, centro-america, latino-america, new world. She had been an orthodox catholic all her life and we have been teaching her for about a week, and are doing a little family home evening thing every Monday. Monday we did a little testimony meeting, and she started crying, and decided to get baptized. The whole story is really long, but honestly we hardly had anything to do with her preparation. It was like everything was set up for us before.

We did a bunch of projects this week, and the weeks past. I’m gonna try to send you photos.

Week 42 in El Salvador

Hey,

So, I didn’t have changes. I’m still with my comp in the same area. Elder Dennis moved up to zone leader and is with Elder Brandao in another area. They called a little while ago, and it’s weird that they are together, because back in Zacate, our district was so close that it seemed like one big companionship.

I saw Elder Johnson’s mom, and also Debbie Twitchell. President didn’t let her carry the package to me, even though she has been carrying it the whole time, so I should be getting it from him.

Yeah---I knew it was the Guatemala national bird in my painting. I believe that some of the ancient Mayans worshipped it as a god.

Not much has happened this week other than conference and transfers.

I have neither lost weight nor gained weight. But, back in Zacate, the first time I was sick with parasites, I dropped like fifteen or twenty pounds in two weeks. When that ended, my weight went back up to normal, and hasn’t moved since. I’m not sure I told you that.

Conference was great. I particularly liked the talk from Deiter F. Uchdorf on time management, and tree rings.

Alright, so I thought about your question on Christmas.... get me music on cd’s or mp3-cds. I can’t find Josh Groban here. I have one of his discs, but not the same one as we have at the house---particularly looking for “you raise me up.” Also, that Christmas cd that you have, I think it’s called Handles Messiah.

Week 41 in El Salvador

[Not much at all this week....sorry folks!]

I have one request---don’t send a box for Christmas. I don’t have room (cause I tend to collect stuff on the way), and I am doing good. If you send anything at all, send it in padded envelopes or those little 5x9 boxes that you sent my memory card in. don’t worry about sending food, because a lot of it usually rots inside the bag from the humidity (even if it’s sealed).

This week has gone well. I’ve learned a lot.

We have changes on Wednesday, and I’m hoping that my companion doesn’t go.

Week 40 in El Salvador

Hey,

I’m glad you got the letter, and that you seem to understand it. I wrote it at night after working a day, so I’m surprised it’s legible.

If I’m gonna have to wear a suit coat here, I’m probably going to buy a new one. I haven’t heard anything though, and I don’t know if the president would do it anyway. I’m pretty sure they moved me to the capital, because the orient was affecting my body too much, and I was always sick. ---Here is a lot different from Guatemala, but I’ll keep that stuff in mind.

---As for my companion, he is from Guatemala, so I think he’ll use the scarf there. Some of the days, people here actually wear sweaters and beanie-hats, but that’s only when its colder than 75 degrees.

That’s good about the scholarship, so I guess everything is set up. That’s weird that you are taking the same classes as Kendra.

Elder Johnson is in my district. The other day we did divisions, and I went with him. I’ve heard from a lot of return missionaries, and could see it.... the last weeks are exhausting. It’s weird to see him go now, since he was in my zone when I entered the mission. I guess his parents are coming to pick him up.

Me and my companion have been learning a lot together. He’s one of my first companions that take studying seriously. And we’ve busted out the huge institute manuals to study the scriptures.

The other day we learned something important. We had 11 people who said they would come to the church with us. We had planned divisions with the members to go and pick them up in the morning. I went with a member boy, and my companion stayed in the church with someone that was doing office work, so he could wait for the other member. I passed by all the planned houses, and all of them had fallen through---they were all already out of the house. The member for my companion never came, so he couldn’t go to the other end of our area, and we had nobody to church on Sunday. I had experienced this before in bosques, but my companion was really upset. He decided that we should go to a member’s house, and he started talking to my companion. He told the story of the scripture in D&C 18, that says “.... how great shall be your joy if yea shall bring one soul unto me...”----then he asked my companion, “who will you bring unto the father? “---And my companion was still upset, and began to think through his converts, and the member (Hno. Orsegueda), stopped him, and told him “No, you have the wrong idea”----then he pointed at my companion, and said, “first, you’re going to bring yourself. “---The spirit came in with his words. -----I know I can’t explain to you through writing how much I have changed, but I have realized that the successful missionaries are those that have become God’s progressing investigators, and all other things are secondary.

That’s about it for now, I’ll try to respond back to the other letters, and maybe send pictures.

Corey