Monday, June 2, 2014

Summer but alas....no tan.

Dear Family,

There is an Elder Mull out here!!! I only know him by name though...he's tall, skinny, and blonde, does that sound like him??

Haven't got the package yet, but maybe today or tomorrow!

Well, the good news is it's summer!! The bad news is, I can't really get a good tan....;) The worse news is, the people are working more and harder than ever, which I didn't even know was possible....but it's made it almost impossible to get in and get lessons with anyone, because the men are always working and we can't go visit the women alone, it's pretty ridiculous...

So last monday we were able to teach a less active, Guadalupe, which was really cool, because I guess E Beus hasn't been able to teach her since he's been out here. But we invited her to church, and she said she'd try. She didn't however come...but I think we'll be able to start seeing her more often now!! She doesn't seem happy, she's in a weird sitiation...Let's just say there are TONS of Law of Chastity problems here, so only like 20% of the people that come to church actually take the sacrament...it's a problem...Hence, lots of the people we teach aren't happy. Monday night we had a Noche de Hogar with la familia Tlatepa, and they fed us a lot of really good food. And then we shared a short message and left. Monday wasn't supposed to be P-day because of the temple trip, but because of weird circumstances and a Mem. Day branch party (which consisted of the missionaries, the branch mission leader, and the branch president, that's it) it basically was a P-day haha! Because of traffic and weird store closings for mem day we didn't get home til like 7:30 haha! But we still got 2 lessons!!

On Tuesday we were only able to teach one lesson. We taught Odilon, who is a way strong member! Like I said, everyone here works 24/7, so we teach him in the afternoons during his lunch break at like 4:00. It was good! We've been teaching members about their role and importance in missionary work, because it's a commandment from Jesus :) John 21:15-17, and Odilon is preparing a referral for us!! Which is awesome!!!!! Referrals are so hard to come by!!!! But that was good! 

Wednesday was the temple trip!!! So our zone leaders picked us up at 6:30 in the morn, we drove to Newark and met the rest of the zone there, then took the train up to Penn station, then the subway right up to the doorstep of the temple! It was awesome, as always!!! Then we took the subway and the train home, switched up cars a little bit, and I drove home from Newark. It took us 3 hours to get home. New Jersey traffic is way way waaaaay worse than anything you could ever find in Utah. No joke. After we got home, we had a dinner appointment with David and Rocio, members! David actually just barely got called as the new branch mission leader yesterday, and he's a boss teamup!! They bought us the best tacos ever, tacos al pastor!! It's pork marinated in pineapple :)

Thursdays and Saturdays are the worst days. We didn't get a single lesson on thursday. We drove around and walked around all afternoon, and our only set appointment canceled on us. But then we had basketball that night, which usually makes it okay, but the Mexicans gang up on me now, and it's not even cool!!! Like I'll post up, I'll get the ball, and then all five of them surround me and slap me! It's not even basketball!! The good news is, my block stat is way high. But it was a good time.

We taught five lessons on friday!! The Plazas (elders quorum pres and fam) and Luz (member) fed us at back to back appointments, then we gave a blessing to luz' son, and then we had a lesson with Fernando, our investigator. David came on teamup for that one, and it was so good!! Last time we talked about the Restoration and committed him to read 3 Nephi 11 and pray to know, he didn't specifically pray to know or read, so we read that chapter with him and talked about the importance of baptism. He asked a lot of good questions, and we were able to answer them, and David explained some things in a way the missionaries can't because we still don't speak spanish ;) But we really felt the spirit. And we're pretty sure he did too. We've got another lesson with him tomorrow, and then hopefully we can get him on baptismal date!! He hasn't been baptized before, which is good, it eliminates a lot of confusion haha!

Saturday I was on exchange with E Garcia again for a few hours while E Beus and E Flores were at district leader council. E Garcia is still in training, so I got to kinda be a trainer for a little while during studies and stuff!! I hope I get to train or be a district leader or something soon! It was a really good experience for me! That night, E Beus and I were able to teach a former, Awilda, who randomly showed up at church last week out of nowhere, so we set expectations with her, and hopefully we can get her on baptismal date soon too!!

On sunday, the sisters in our branch had a baptism, and it was really good!! Not as good as Obdeli's ;) but it was good!! Then we had a lunch appointment with some members, and ate more really good food. Then we couldn't get in to anyone's house for the rest of the night haha! The weekends are the worst because literally EVERYONE is drunk, so we can't get good contacts, we can't teach lessons, we can't do anything...

That's about it for this week!! I can't believe you guys are out of schooL!! IT's nuts that it's already june....I have less than a month of being 18 left...Have a great week guys!! Love ya!!

 Love,
Elder Tanner Nelson

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