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