Ahhhhhhhhhhh!
So my thoughts are pretty much scattered so I hope you can keep up!
So I took a 50 minute plane ride from SLC to st george wednesday morning. Got there and had like 8 hours of training. Then got in a car and took a 7 hour *(with stops) car ride back up to my first area being Price! We got home at a little after 9, unpacked and knocked out! Crazy right??
So my first field companion. Elder Samuelsen. Just about the awesomest person evurr.
Yeah, I went there. He is 19 and from the neighboring state of Indiana. He has barely finished his training and is now training me. What?! Yeah, I know. Time goes quick here. He sings really well so he will continue to train me to sing less badly haha I am also trading spanish lessons for guitar lessons. Awesome!!
So our first area. Price. I would say it's a pretty low-income area although I hear there is a lot of good money working in the mines. 90% of our investigators live in trailers or basements. They all have an accent too o.O not particularly southern, but you can totally tell. I'll include pictures! Holy smokes mountains!!! I LOVE IT!! So pretty. So we have a car here and the senior companion is in charge of driving. They green dotted me for driving and I asked if it was a mistake. My mission president laughed. Haha So we are in charge of 5 english wards and 1 spanish branch. JUST my companion and I. Crazy huh? SOOOOOO many people to work with! The memebership here is 50/50 members to non members. and of the 50% of the members, 50% are inactive. So there is a lot of work to do! My area covers from Price to Moab, but currently concentrating on the Price Bilingual area. My companion speaks some spanish but I take the lead in all the spanish lessons which is an awesome learning opportunity!
................The feel of the town kind of reminds me of when we lived in Chi-city!
So, lessons! The day after we got there we did some shopping and went straight into it. In the 3 days we had left we had about 18 lessons. Ahhhhhhhhh! It was awesome! Although I've already experienced some people not willing to hear us. I can tell my companion gets really discouraged and i'm over here like, "that was awesome!" haha One example, we went tracting looking for a referral, and this older teen answered the door and the mum was in the living room. I introduced us, the boy said "Maaa! It's the missionaries!" All you heard was "Yeah, no" from the mum. The boy laughed and slammed the door. Hahaha It was so great!!!! I was smiling the rest of the day. Experiences are so real! Well, maybe because they are haha.
Side note: Computer skills are a blessing. My companion just leaned over and said he can't even see my fingers when i'm typing. Haha
So another experience. We are teaching these 2 teen hispanic girls, Kayla and Karla. I led the lesson and my companion bore a second witness. As I was explaining that as children of God, we are heirs to the kingdom of Heaven just as our brother JC is I literally saw Kayla's eyes go uber wide, and her mouth just shot open. 8-O <- Like that! It was absolute bliss. This message needs to reach everyone!!!
So one of the recent converts, Freddy....... He is an ex gangster from Cali who got baptized about a month ago. Ohmahgoodness! He has more scriptures memorized than I do!! He literally goes to an appointment as a fellowshipper with us like every other day. Walking testimony of how the gospel changes lives!
So first Sunday right?? We attended 2 of the english wards and the spanish branch. I got asked to speak in the spanish branch -_- haha surprisingly much easier as a missionary haha
So I feel I'm forgetting stuff :/ I forgot my journal in my residence. Oh! We live in the basement of an exbishop and it is awesome! Fully stocked and has a piano, ping pong table, library! haha It's pretty sweet.
So random facts. I've lost 5 pounds since the first week of the MTC. I was dubbed the classiest missionary at the MTC before we left, and continue to get compliments on the field. Yay-ah! Oh! For Caleb Menendez! I met a sister Alderson who knows a menendez from california! any relation? Where is Billy? That ninja disappeared the day I left home haha. We are getting iPad's soon and are not expected to be on FB which is a mucho plus! haha There is so much member missionary work going on it is amazing!
Overall, mission is great. I'm doing well. Love my companion. Weather is nice. Zone and district are wicked chill. Life. Is. Great.
Miss you all. Hope I covered everything. I'll start sending pictures.
Remember: We all hold power and authority being LDS members. Let's meet those standards. May every action, thought, and speech be an example of us being disciples of Christ.
Les amo mucho! Hasta la proxima semana!
Elder Castellanos :)
These are two pictures he sent as well.
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| { Provo, Utah Temple } |
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| { Provo West MTC District F } |
