Elder Thompson: Veracruz, Mexico/ Bakersfield, California Missions: week 7: learning to do laundry

my first day in Veracruz with President Palmer, his wife, and Elder Arroyo

Tuesday-We got up and took Elder Arroyo's old companion to the mission offices, and we went back to the house and I unpacked. We had some study time and then left to teach a lesson to a lady named Ivonne. We went to her house and found out she wasn't home so we contacted in the neighborhood for a bit. We found a guy named Miguel who we visited again later in the week, and we also found a lady named Irma. She has three dogs, and Elder Arroyo and I helped walked her dogs and Elder Arroyo taught her while we walked. We got back and she invited us in to wash our hands. On the way out I saw she had the picture of Christ visiting the Americas and we asked about it. That was pretty cool. I also found out that we almost always eat lunch with members, and because it's the main meal we don't really cook on our own.

Wednesday-We taught a few lessons, one with Miguel that went really well, and another with this guy named Manuel. Manuel is super cool, but it's sad because he lost one of his legs. We invited both of them to church, and to be baptized.

Thursday-Not to much happened there was a lot of contacting and another lesson with Manuel that went well. We also me with a few less actives.

Friday-We didn't do anything different, there was a lot of sun and I forgot sunscreen, but it wasn't too bad. I've been getting used to the heat and I'm literally always sweating.

Saturday-We had a few more lessons, and had to walk really far for our lunch appointment. Then we did some contacting, but we couldn't find anyone.

Sunday-We went to Miguel's house to pick him up for church at nine, church is at ten, but he didn't answer. We went back to the church and waited for the ward mission leader so we could go pick up Manuel. Manuel was ready to go and he enjoyed church. The ward has a lot of people, like 150-200, and it was super awesome. After church we ate with a family, and then we visited a few people.

I'm done with my first week and it's crazy how much I've learned. I'm really excited to be here, and it's crazy how different it is here. I'm washing my laundry by hand right now, and the house is super hot, except in the bedroom cause we have a swamp cooler.

--Elder Thompson

Bits and pieces from family phone calls:

Our casa is in a gated community where every house is exactly the same.

We have only cold water, but with the humidity, you never need a hot shower!

We have a concrete wash basin system in the backyard for doing laundry...so yeah, washing my clothes by hand and hanging them to dry takes so long.

We were teaching an hermana last week and she suddenly had us go hide behind her house. Because my Spanish isn't great, I had no idea why. My comp explained later that the Jehovah's Witness missionaries had pulled up in front of her house and she didn't want them to see us there....so funny! I was so confused!

We really only eat lunch here and the members made really good food.

We did go shopping and bought bread, peanut butter, yogurt, and nutella....that will cover breakfast/dinner for the week. They feed us so much at lunch, we just aren't hungry later.

We walk A LOT. We take a bus from our casa to the area in Veracruz where we knock doors and street contact. It's hot and tiring, but the people we talk to are kind. Manuel spends most of his time in the park. We are hoping he continues to progress and keeps coming to church.