Hi everybody, I just finished my first week in Mexico. Seriously in about an hour, I think my plane landed last week. I guess you probably want to know where I am. I am in Real de Palmas. Which is on the outskirts of Monterrey. My companion is Elder Peña who is from Utah. Oh, and we opened this area. I guess the last missionaries here 7 or 8 months ago were losers and the ward didn't like them, but now we are back, and I think that most of the people like us. The first thing we did all week was try to get to know all the people in the ward. And I think that we know all of the active members now, but there are a ton of inactive members, because the church is an hour long bus ride from here. So that seems to be our first goal. I don't really know too much. Everything is good.
The food is okay. We eat like one meal a day at 2:00, and it is really big. And we might have a little snack partway through our morning study time. Honestly, the eating is the least favorite thing that we do, because I don't really love the food. I am getting to like it more and more. I actually like rice. The beans are hard to eat, but if you but them in a tortilla with meat and rice they are all right. That is usually what we have. Beans and rice and some kind of meat in a tortilla. Everything is pretty good here, and I'll send a few pictures of our apartment. It looks small and dirty, but that is just the way things look here. In reality, they are all right. I am really happy to be here most of the time. Sometimes we just sit in a member's house for a little while after food or a visit and that gets boring, and then I think I could sit in a very similar room at home, but actually understand what was being said. But as long as we are out doing things, I am pretty happy to be here. Before I forget, I'll talk about all the pictures I'm sending home. One is our MTC district and there is another with our zone. I've got a few pictures of the apartment, and then there is a picture of Gregory and I that you should be able to recognize.
The weather here is pretty alright too. It hasn't been too hot, but one day, it was this torrential downpour that was pretty bad. Other than that, everything was great. I write in my journal a ton, because if I talked to myself people would think I was crazy. I want you all to know that I love you. And that I miss you, but I'm happy here. But i miss spending time with you guys. Like yesterday on the bus to church they were playing cowboys and aliens, and I wanted to just sit back and watch it, but I didn't. But in two years we're going to sit around and watch movies together, okay? Oh, and kids watch My Little Pony and Pocoyo and even Peppa Pig in Spanish here. It is pretty crazy. But I bet Lily will like that. Speaking of Spanish, they talk fast. But I am getting to the point where I can understand most things. Except for people from the South of Mexico. They speak really fast and with a heavy accent, and I can barely understand a word. But people here are understanding when I try to talk or when they need to repeat things. They all seem to want to know English so they already think I'm cool for speaking English.
There is a rooster outside of this ciber. I just think you should know that, because it is kind of crazy. I liked hearing about all of you guys, and I hope you are all having a great time and not missing me or worrying about me to much. Everything is good here, and the streets are just a big party all the time with music blasting, and people just walking around. It is really nice, and I like it a lot. Right now the days are just a blur. I'm excited to talk to you all on Sunday, so you better all be there. I don't care if the prophet is down at the Stake Center- you all better be sitting around that computer waiting for my call. Just kidding, but really I'm excited to talk to all of you. And its going to be awesome. But it is crazy loud in here right now, so that might be happening, too. Another cool thing is we have these district and zone meetings once a week, and there are two other people in my MTC district there- Elder Jensen and Elder Sheibler. Most of us are going to be staying in this Monterrey mission but Elder Dalrymple and Elder Fullmer will be off in the Saltillo mission.
I started reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish all the way through. I'm going to read it through, and I started this week. My companion told me about how Elder Bednar told some missionaries somewhere to do it and go through and mark all the names that refer to Christ and then all of the words of Christ. It is kind of hard in Spanish, but I can usually understand what it is saying, and it isn't so bad. Plus, I think that it helps me to learn Spanish more. Like a lot. And it is one of my hobbies. I have two hobbies-journal writing and reading the Book of Mormon. We taught the restoration lesson twice this past week and that was pretty cool. I get a lot better at Spanish every day, and I think I should be able to speak it fluently by the end of these twelve weeks, for sure. I should be able to understand everybody at least. The MTC teachers told us that Mexicans talk weird, so I might not really be learning Spanish but Mexican. Who knows? But I'm going to learn it, and then I will come home and speak it to you, and you will all be so impressed. And I guess I will tell you about the shower, so you don't think I am lying to you and telling you everything is perfect. The shower is cold. All the time. There is no hot water. And it doesn't really have a shower head on it, so it is just this ice cold beam of water. It isn't any fun, and I don't like it. Everything else is really good. Since we opened up this area we got a lot of new stuff. So our mattresses are all new, and we have these awesome bunk beds. We don't really have any dressers or anything, but our house is big enough for two more missionaries, so we have plenty of space, as of right now.
Also, I think you already know this, but Elder Holland is coming to our mission sometime, and that has everybody all excited. Did you know everybody likes him the best? I guess he gives the best talks. I don't really know, but I just read an article in the paper up at BYU saying that all of the prophets have different ways of speaking, and just because some do it in a way you like more, the stuff they teach isn't more important than other apostles. That being said, apparently Elder Holland is the best.
And I don't want you guys to worry or anything, but sometimes I think that it would be easy to just go home now. Because I've learned all these awesome things, and if i could just go live now, it would be easy. But now I'm here because I need to get other people to learn the things I've learned, and that is harder. But time passes quickly, and if you count time by fast Sundays, I am already one twelfth of the way done, so here I come! Just kidding. Don't worry. Everything is good here, and I like it, and I feel at home. I don't know why, because the other day I thought about what I would think if I saw this street in America, and I would be absolutely horrified at all of the garbage and huge puddles of dirty water, and I would wonder about the hoards of children walking around playing soccer, and why they were playing so much awful music so awfully loud. But in Mexico, it just seems natural. And they play enough American music to keep you sane.
I like the way you all wrote different emails. Lily's was pretty nice. I will try to have good behavior like she said. Maddie didn't write me an email though, so I can add that the list of things I'll cry about tonight. And they don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo. I seriously wrote so much I might as well not even call you guys on Sunday. Just kidding, but my companion's family is more spread out, so he has more people to write, while I've just got you guys. I thought I was done, but he just keeps on going, and it's getting to the point where I think we're wasting time, and so I want to go and do this thing. I'm excited to talk to you and really looking forward to it. I love you guys. Bye!
Love, Elder Parkes
No comments:
Post a Comment