week 34: pet crocodiles

missionaries being missionaries

This week felt short, until I thought back to Tuesday, because Tuesday felt like forever ago, so that was fun.

Tuesday we had a service project and it was cleaning up a yard. I had done this before and thought it would be a lot of weeds in front of the house, but nothing more. I was wrong. We entered the forest of a backyard and worked for like 2 hours and barely made a difference. That basically killed us for the rest of the day. We went on splits after lunch with the other Elders and that was fun. Wednesday we spent most of the day trying to find new people and found no one. That sucked.

Friday we had splits with the Zone Leaders and I got put with Elder Rawlings who trained my first trainer, Elder Arroyo. We worked in his area and it was fun. We had a lot to do and people to teach, which is always fun. Saturday we had a problem, Elder Torres, one of the other Elders in Lerdo, was sick. So we went on divisions for a bit so his companion could go and visit their investigators. 

--Elder Thompson

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

Transfers are next week...can't believe how fast this 6 weeks has gone! I've been here 4 months, so I'm ready for a change if that's what happens.

We made bacon cheeseburgers today for lunch with the other elders....heaven...that's all.

Funny thing...we have soup before so many of our meals. My mom will be glad I'm learning to tolerate it...doesn't mean I'll eat soup when I have the choice.

My companion has been lifting weights...he got a homemade one from a member...it's basically a big rusty piece of pipe with concrete (shaped in buckets) on each end. I'm definitely not lifting weights with him...pushups once in a while, but....walking miles every day is enough for me. 

Discovered how much I hate hills this week...on splits we had some big hills to walk...not a fan. 

Pray that we find more people to teach this week!

going to get coconut ice cream with the mission pres!

zone conference

view from our house/apartment...

looks pretty similar to the house I live in

someone here has a pet crocodile...

I don't know who, or what you can do with one (maybe play catch or take it on walks),

but I took a picture. It also is giving the turtle a ride.

week 33: is there really meat on the chicken neck?

Zone Conference--notice the matching ties.

You probably won't see us wearing them again...

they were the weirdest shapes ever.

Hey everyone,

This week was great. We visited a lot of people Tuesday and it was a little tough because a lot of them weren't home. Then Wednesday we had interviews with our president. That went good and then we went on splits with one of the assistants to the presidents, Elder Cervantes, and it was pretty fun. We visited a recent convert and after we went to the church to lock it and our president took us to get nieve de coco (really good coconut ice cream) and we taught the couple that sells it. 

Thursday we had zone conference and it was awesome. The trainings were good, the AP's taught on listening, and President taught on aligning ourselves with God. We watched part of Interstellar for the training and it was awesome! I miss movies. We also ate pizza for lunch. Friday we had lunch with a sister and she gave me the neck of the chicken. It was covered in nasty looking stringy things that probably would have given me twelve and half diseases, so I asked for more chicken and ate all that. Then I attacked the neck with my fork and knife so it looked like I attempted to eat it, and hid it under a pile of chicken bones.

That was basically my week

--Elder Thompson

Bits and pieces from family phone calls:

Pray for us to find new people to teach...most our investigators aren't really progressing right now.

Tortillas are made to hold everything edible.

Matt Damon in interstellar blew my mind (the 5 minute clip we watched).

Avoid chicken necks...they are not made for eating.

my mom has been asking for pics of my apartment,

so...this is my kitchen/bedroom/study room.

Our beds are across the room.

And yes, you are seeing things right--

no cupboards, half size fridge, the window holds our salsas--

and the dish rack, that is where we store all the dishes.

our heated shower head...heavenly.

and TOTALLY safe...haven't been shocked yet!

the bathroom....well, I wouldn't call it clean...

and yes, the shower is right next to the toilet, no curtain.

My mom asked if the toiletpaper is soggy....

these dudes have been living above my bed...

we have an agreement not to bother each other

best part of the apartment...the air conditioner

it's not pretty but it's light,

and we sure missed it when our power got shut off!

week 32: 2 elders, 3 buckets, 1 toilet

Fredy's baptism day!

So this week was awesome!

We've been working on finding new people and it's going a little slow, but we also spent a lot time with Fredy to prepare him for his baptism. There was only one small problem. There was a baptism a few weeks ago and we opened up the drain so the water could leave and half of it didn't leave. The water drains into a tank which is then used as sprinkler water, but the tank was full and the sprinkler system wasn't working. So there had been water sitting in the font for a few weeks. The branch president couldn't take care of it on his own, so he called the maintenance guy to come take care of it and he came Friday, but Friday we had to fill it because Saturday we ate in Cabada, the chapel is in Lerdo, so we wouldn't have time to fill it in the morning. So Thursday: 3 Buckets, 2 Elders, and 1 toilet emptied a baptismal font. The way we did it was that I was in the water without shoes, socks, and pants rolled up, I would fill up a bucket, pass it up the stairs to Elder Jimenez, and he would dump it down the toilet because it was the closest place we could dump. 

It was awful. Lots of gross stuff floating in that water. 

But Fredy got baptized so WORTH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was great even though only three members came. Then Sunday he got confirmed and we found out that the district we're in is really close to becoming a stake. This is awesome because Los Tuxtlas is literally the only district in this state.

Well that's about it, I just forgot--real quick I learned how to make empanadas, so that was fun.

--Elder Thompson

The water was up past the second step when we started.

That was disgusting...water should not sit like that...bugs, dirt, just gross.

But also, totally worth fixing it up!

Best kind of day

Well...shoelaces aren't doing so great.

But a few weeks ago, one of my companions needed new shoe laces.

So I bought a pair thinking I'd eventually need them.

My mom would be so proud that I thought ahead!

She also reminded me that there is a shoe shine kit in my bag...

but shining shoes is soooo much work.

We bought knives at a market in town.

Don't worry mom, I leave it in my house.

week 31: creation of adam

This week was pretty chill.

This week we went to a place named called Tecoloapan, and the members we ate with have a river behind their house so we took pictures there. I am just going to tell you all right now, it is the single most glorious picture that has been taken in Mexico. (see below)

We also have been teaching a family and three of them came to church which was awesome. We also had Fredy come to church which was awesome because that means this Saturday he can be baptized. We're so pumped! Things are going good with Elder Jiménez and we are having a ton of fun. 

--Elder Thompson

Bits and pieces from family phone calls:

Teaching is going well...we've got some solid investigators.

I found out that in Guatemala they have Wendy's...that for sure beats McDonalds here. 

I was excited to have a hamburger this week...and disappointed that the burger was actually just a ground chicken patty.

Ants got into my ritz crackers...never ever leave food outside of the fridge.

Elder Jimenez and I get along so well! Definitely makes the work less like work!

Elder Jimenez and I recreating the

"creation of Adam"

EPIC

Me, Elder Torres, Elder Bradshaw, and Elder Jimenez