Honestly, A Busy Week

Hola a todos! Como estan? Yo espero que ustedes estén bien.

Still the rainy season

Yeah, it was actually a pretty busy week. It seems like last Monday was a really long time ago! Where to start... So this week we got a new district leader. Things are definitely different with him. He seems a little more focused on how we can improve our numbers and help our areas more which is definitely a good thing. Our numbers haven't exactly been the best these past couple weeks, so we are going to need to step it up. We also didn't have any investigators at church again, which was pretty disheartening. This week we are going to really try and push for that I think. So hopefully next week we will have some come. We are actually speaking this week, so I get to really put my Spanish to the test!

Exchanges this week

So this last Wednesday we had exchanges and I went with another Elder to his area in Chiaotempan which is about a twenty minute ride in a combi (more on those in a bit) away. I had a really good time with him on that exchange. We actually taught a lesson and taught two or three members a thought too. I really enjoy working with him. Chiaotempan is actually a really cool area with a really sweet central marketplace. I think that it is actually better than the Central of Tlaxcala where we went last P-day. I´m going to have to go there and see if I can a find a cool poncho haha! So yeah, their area seems pretty sweet. They have a pretty nice apartment too. I actually had a hot shower! It was awesome! I will never for as long as I live will take warm showers for granted. We should have a working water heater with gas next week sometime though because we have to change our house, so I´m looking forward to that, a lot actually.

So we only had exchanges for a day, then it was back to normal with Elder Delgado. We had a pretty good week with some really spiritual lessons. Really when we teach the right way, it isn't us that is teaching the lesson, it is definitely the spirit. I always feel privileged to teach with the spirit when we have a good lesson. We have investigators that are progressing very well with our lessons but we can´t get them to come to church. It is pretty frustrating and we are going to hit that hard this week. It is also really tough in this mission, because even if someone is ready to make the covenant of baptism, they need to come to church 5 times before baptism.

So this week was also Elder Delgado´s birthday. He turned nineteen on Friday. I think he had a good birthday, it was honestly a slow day. However Friday night was great! We had Little Caesars pizza that night for his birthday. It seems really weird to me to eat Little Caesars pizza in Mexico, but even bad pizza is good right? Elder Delgado loves pizza too, so that was a great meal for him. That night we also had a kind of talk discussion with President Christensen (our mission pres.) about the Gospel of Christ. It was really spiritual and he interacted with the audience very well. We actually had an investigator show up to that and she really liked it. She even asked us when she could be baptized, which was awesome! Now we just need to get her to come to church!

Reunion with MTC companion

The next day we also had a meeting in Puebla at the offices with the president and all the trainers and new missionaries. It was really good, and I got to get some perspective on our companionship, and see the things that we do well and the things that we need to work on. It was fun to travel into Puebla and to see all of my MTC buddies.

This Sunday was good as well. We were actually told Saturday night that we were speaking, so we prepared talks and we had a class that we thought we were going to teach as well. I was actually excited to talk and teach a class, but we actually didn't speak and no one came to our class. We are speaking this week however, so I´ll have the opportunity to write another talk. It is honestly good practice for my Spanish to prepare a talk.

So some other things about my area and this mission in general is that there are a ton of dogs! A lot of them are strays but they're everywhere. Most of the time they will just leave you alone, but every once in while they kind of follow you and bark at you. So that´s always fun when you have to go down a street and a dog is right behind you just barking.

Also when we need to get around and it´s too far to walk we take these vans that are like little busses. They are called combis and they are always interesting. Another thing is that the drivers are crazy down here! Everyone drives really really aggressively and the speed is only really regulated by the many speed bumps. It´s pretty crazy, especially when you're crammed into a combi with like 15 other people and the driver is flooring it around the little streets and taking turns quickly. Honestly though, it´s pretty safe because everyone is very alert when they drive. I've never seen an accident and the President told me that he hasn't either. So some missionaries in Venice get to take those boat taxis around, but we get to take crazy vans!

Anyways, it was a good week. I hope you all are doing well with school starting and all. School is starting here as well, and all the kids have to wear uniforms. Anyway, love you all!

-Elder Hartvigsen