July 30, 3012

To everyone: thanks for the letters and keeping up with me. I don't have much to say. I'll talk with you or see you soon..

 

It was a good last full week. We had a baptism and some investigators in church and some last actives. I'm happy with how I'm going out. Did I get the attendence where I wanted it? No, but it has gone up a lot. They hit 50 or above basically every week. Before it was 35-40--sometimes less. They have everything in place to hit 60 and above very soon...within a month I`d say...I'm happy with what I've done.

 (she may not be smiling--but she was happy)

 

 

I also took some people out to eat and the youth gave me some presents yesterday. I'm not gonna lie. I'm gonna miss being here. I think I'll miss it a lot.

 

 One thing we need to do is get my suit dry cleaned--it's different colors now...

 

I can't wait to see Sallie and Delainey. They might not be too interested in seeing me at first but I'm excited to see them.

 

I remember thinking Saturday night, "Wow! Dean got married today. It was weird to think. I'm looking forward to seeing him, though its gonna be weird with him being married. Do you think Eli will let me take him to do things...like play bball? But I`m excited to see him and her honestly. It will be fun to speak Spanish with her and Dean.

 

Well, I don't have a whole lot to say. Just see you on Thursday. The mission has been real. It's been fun. It's been real fun. I'm gonna miss it. I hope someday you can get to know the people that I have gotten to know here in El Sal. Great people. You'd love them.

 

I miss you...but only for 3 more days!!!

July 23, 2012

This was a good week. Not the greatest in the world, but it wasn't bad either...

Yesterday in church for the first time in my mission I had to give a talk of 15 minutes with 5 minutes notice. The girl who was supposed to give the talk didn't show up--but her mom did--so as we are singing the sacrament hymn, she comes over to me and said, "Hey, my daughter couldn't show up and I didn't have time to prepare anything so can you do the talk?" I said, "Yeah, that's fine" (obviously). (It was about missionary work so it wasn't super hard.) But I also had to go bless the sacrament so I didn't really have time to think at all because I had to give the first talk after the sacrament. I ended up using D and C 18 where it talks about the worth of souls and D and C 4 and sharing a few stories from my mission. I think I was kind of rambling until I got to 15 minutes and then I finished...haha...

That's cool that Austin will be back in NC. It's fun to have the cousins around, although I think it dooms Mason more to being a State fan...

The missionaries were amazed, huh? I haven't really done anything super interesting. I just visit with them and read with them and stuff like that--but you have to be patient. Some poeple show no progress for months and it's normally when you are ready to give up on them when they actually come back. Others no. Others come back pretty fast. It just depends.

It is amazing that Delainey is 4 years old. That is crazy. I still remember you crying when Devin called and said she was here. I think there is a picture floating around on Facebook about that...haha. You can't take pictures in the waiting room now? Weird. Didn't we take pictures when Sallie was born too? I don't really remember....

It sounds like everything is starting to come together. I hope you get it all done. Ready or not...I'll be home soon...

This week we should have a baptism. Everything is planned or getting planned and we should be good to go. It's a young adult who is getting baptized. She is 18-19 and she wasn't going to any church. Since we invited her to church, she hasn't missed once. She has come a month and half straight basically--the last few times by herself. But she has friends in the church. Ingrid (the girl we baptized a few months back) has really helped a lot. She has become good friends with her.

I took the cook out to dinner with some family of hers last Friday night and I know I'll be taking some more people out to dinner this week.

Also Saturday after the baptism, the youth have a pretty cool activity planned. And we are invited. As the YM President told me--it's to say good bye to you. Probably because I have worked a ton with them during my time here so I think we'll hang out with them a little before we go back to work but it will be fun. 

 

I'm gonna send some pictures so I'm gonna stop writing and send the pictures. Sound good?

Later...thanks for the updates...see you soon!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

July 16, 2012

Life in El Salvador is pretty good. There were some pretty strong storms. They kind of reminded me of NC storms, but luckily we always got to a house before it got too bad so I didn't get too soaked.

Church was pretty good...good attendence...not many investigators....but a good amount of people that weren't in church a month ago. A good amount of less actives and we confirmed a lady that we baptized on Saturday. She is super nice but super hard to understand--she has a speech impediment--but she was good to teach. We may have a few more baptisms before I go...that's the idea anyways.

Wow! Dean is getting married super fast, but that's cool. It's what he wants. I can't wait to see him...and his wife. That was a weird sentence... Man, that is gonna be weird that Dean is married but it's cool for him. Does his bride to be only speak Spanish? I would imagine that her family is only speaks Spanish. Maybe I can help them learn English if that's how it is.

Today we got a ride from Sta Rosa to a point a lot closer to San Miguel. We were talking with the guy and he was super nice. He had an interesting philosophy. He said , "The whole world focuses too much on the bad things that happen and so they get depressed. I try to focus on the good things I have: my family, my job, that I can see, that I'm alive...so I'm happy. And thanks to this happiness I serve others and try to make them happy as well." Then he was talking about how he knew he had a spirit in his body and that he came from God and everything--and all this without really doing anything with religion--no group really ever caught his attention. Afterwards me and my comp were talking about how he'd probably love the Plan of Salvation. We took the reference to give to the other missionaries. But I thought it was interesting. He seems pretty prepared. It was also an experience to realize that we should be grateful for what we have. He even said. "Yeah, sometimes bad things happen, but if we focus on what we have, it doesn't matter how hard life can be." I liked that honestly. A good thing to think about from someone not of any faith.

That's about it. Thanks for the updates and the stories. It's gettin close...later...love you

 

 

July 9, 2012

Life in El Sal is good. Hot as always but if it has been as hot as NC...I couldn't tell you. If it rains every day this week, that will be more rain than I have seen in a long time...

The gators are good. We had 8 in church--I think 5 were repeats--and 3 for the first time. We have 12 that have been at least once, so that's pretty cool. We should have a baptism this Saturday. It's a lady that is super nice but super hard to understand. She has a speech impediment so sometimes I have absolutely no idea what she said but she is great. She loves the church and hopefully I baptize a couple more before I leave. I told this to Dad, but the next Elder that lands in Santa Rosa is gonna be super happy. He will baptize quite a bit in August. 

I can't belive Dean is getting married! That's cool for him. That seems kind of sudden to me because school starts up in like a month and everything but maybe he doesn't want to be engaged for a long time. I hope I can go though I imagine he's getting married the week we are at the beach...

The 4th sounds like a good time. Durham Bulls--are they good this year? Not that it matters if they are good or not... It's always fun to be at the games even if they don't win. I think I want a bunch of fireworks next year. I have 2 years without fireworks and you had best believe that there will be un monton de fireworks next year for sure.

And that's cool that the Draughons were around...I miss them. I guess I´ll get the chance to see them next year...maybe.

Sounds like a good time with the Keatons as well...haha...that will be fun to see them soon. Who knows when I will see Austin and Shanna but at least Aunt Ann and Uncle Terry, I will be seeing soon. So that should be super fun. I haven't talked with them in a long long time.

Honestly nothing super exciting happened this week. We did a bunch of LPES (talking with people in the street or knockin doors) and it rained on Saturday night a bunch, but the youth just kept playing. They loved playing in the rain. They all got soaked but they definitely just enjoyed it. It's been super fun to see that. When I got here, there were like 2 youth. On Saturdays we get like 20 to come....it hasn't translated to them coming to church yet, but it will help in the future. I know that slowly they will start getting pulled in on Sundays as well.

That's about it. Thanks for the updates and for all the stories. Love you

Darin

¡¡¡Mapache!!!

 Racoons are pretty sick actually. I kind of want one. I don't know why but it reminded me a lot of Kota.

 

July 2, 2012

Life in El Sal is good. The days are hot, but I don't know how hot. It's normally pretty chill at night, so I'm surviving--but surviving isn't really the hard part..haha... I think everyone says that Sta. Rosa is hotter than San Miguel. I don't know if that's true or not. It might get to 100 some days but idk for sure...

I can't wait to see Sallie. She'll be the biggest change probably just because when I left she only had 1 month and didn't really do anything. But I know that Delainey will probably blow me away as well and Devin is indeed an old man. What does that say about you then? =)

I can't wait to see the Olympics. It should be sweet. I like watching the swimming and beach volleyball and it should be fun to watch bball and soccer as well. The beach should be a fun time...

Sta. Rosa is doing good. We had a good activity for the youth on Saturday night--probably between 25-30 youth and young adults with about 40 in all. We shared some principles from "For the Strength of Youth", played some games and a few participated in a game that was like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" with the rest as the audience. It was a fun activity and even though it didn't go entirely according to plan, it was still cool and the youth and young adults enjoyed it for sure.

Also this week, 3 days straight people offered us money. I don't know what was up with this week but people kept trying to give us money and we had to keep saying "no, thanks, we don't need it.  You keep it" and trying to not offend their offer. It was interesting.

On Friday night a drunk guy came up to me and put up his hand like he was gonna talk to me and so I just gave him the bottle of juice I had and kept walking. I didn't even say anything. I just gave it to him and kept walking. It worked...haha Luckily I had finished almost all of it so I didn't lose much.

From a church perspective, we had a good amount of less actives in church so that was good to see and about 7 investigators. We have more than 10 that have come at least once, so we'll see what happens with all of them. Things are going good here. The branch is getting a little stronger every week from what I can tell. I honestly love this area. I think this is the most fun I have had in one area. So many good people here..

well, that's all I got. I keep forgetting to look through my journal to have things to say... Maybe next week...

thanks for the updates...later...miss you and love you...salud!!!

Oh yeah, I forgot. One night we were walking and all of a sudden this cow turns the corner and comes trotting towards us and past us with a rope attached to it. We keep walking and turn the corner where it came from and then we see two guys and then they asked me something I thought I would never hear: "Have you seen a cow around here?" Definitely an El Salvador thing...

soccer shirt

 in the back of a pickup

June 25, 2012

Today is the last week of June...weird...

I'm still in Sta. Rosa and I'm still with Elder Azuara, so nothing new really here in Sta. Rosa. We had some investigators for the first time and others came for the 2nd, so things are progressing here We also had a family who hadn't come to church for years that was in church again yesterday. They seemed pretty happy to be back, so hopefully they keep on coming. 

WHoo! Number 1 on the board! That's whats up! Maybe you should take a picture to commerate the moment...haha...

But...let's see...something that is interesting--and kind of funny--depending on your point of view....

So, in Santa Rosa, there are two statues. One is the Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus and the other is just Mary by herself...I think. Anyways, the mayor of Sta. Rosa right now that just got voted in goes to some Evangelical church. I had noticed that they had started building something behind the statues of the Virgin Mary. So finally I asked the cook about it and what she told me was that he had decided to build public bathrooms (they aren't super big) behind the statues and the Catholics are super mad about it. Apparently a lot of people aren't super happy about it. And the mayor is building like a park next to the church where he goes...so it's a little interesting. Apparently some old Catholics stopped at the construction sites and started doing the Hail Mary prayer and some other ones in protest of the construction...Kind of interesting, huh?

Lets see...what else idk I don't really have time. I was looking over my schedule and stuff so that took some time so I don't have time to write. I hope you like the gecko picture and I´ll give you some more things next week.

We got a ride from a member from Sta. Rosa to San Miguel. It was pretty sweet. Thanks for everything. Thanks for the updates. Love you and miss you and see you in...idk how many days...later

June 18, 2012

We had a meeting with Elder Richard J. Maynes of the Presidency of the 70. We didn't get back to San Miguel until like 9:30 pm. The only thing I remember was he talked about the Book of Mormon a lot and it's importance. He also mentioned President Woods from the San Antonio mission. He said that he was doing changes and at the end two Utah cowboys were together and he wasn't sure if they should be together so he started changing everything again but at the end they were still together.  He prayed and felt it was right so he left it at that. They were the perfect combo to baptize a lady who owned a ranch...haha...go figure...The lady had come into contact with members because she went to Montana or some place like that to another ranch (like a vacation one) and the owners were members and she wanted to pay them extra because she loved the week. They used that money to "buy" time from her saying that if two guys with white shirts and ties ever showed up that she would let them in and she agreed. So when the missionaries showed up, she remembered the other members and the promise and let the missionaries in (even thought she honestly didn't want to) and they had a lot in common (obviously them being cowboys and she had her own ranch) and in something like 3 weeks she was baptized...Fun, huh?

6 weeks left...kinda...idk for sure..

The investigators are good. We have found a bunch of good ones lately and they are progressing good. We had a handful in church yesterday and they liked it. We are gonna try and raise the number this week that come. So...if everything goes according to plan...I'll be leaving with a few more baptisms. But honestly I'm happy that we got a less active family in church. It was super cool to see them there. I was happy. 

And my comp is good. He is a good Elder. I hope I don't get changed.I don't think so but it's always possible.

I got some pictures to send. We made pizza with the cook and I got a bunch of pics from it. Hope you like them. Later. Love you!

Oh yeah, I actually got around to talking with a 7th Day Adventist. She was very smart. It was very interesting to hear their side of things--but obviously the Gospel is true--I don't doubt it.

 Pizza!

Random Pictures

June 11, 2012

Just so you know, the transfer didn't have to do with us. Azuara (my new comp) had a bunch of problems with his old comp. That's why the change happened.

I look forward to seeing Evan, even though I think he won't see me because he will be asleep...haha...

If Devin comes home saying Coach K isn't that bad of a guy, I will force him to resign or I'll do it for him...haha Or maybe just hit him one time and he will come to his senses...

Baby Flip...huh...I still like Wilfredo and Wilhelma...haha...

My comp asks people if they have ever talked with missionaries as handsome as us. It normally gets a laugh. All the woman say, "No, of course not..."

Today at the laundry place there was a racoon tied up. It was someone's pet. It was super cool. I wish I had had my camera. The racoon was super funny. If you came close, it would come over to you and if you held out your hand above it, it would get on it's hind legs and try and grab your hand. My comp got too close and it actually basically hugged his leg. I just let it hug my foot...haha...It was super fun.

Also my comp got his agenda signed by a drunk guy. That was interesting and he also burned the hairs on his hand lighting the cook's stove because he turned on the gas before he lit the match and so there was a little explosion...haha It was funny after we knew he was fine.

We had a good week finding and teaching. Definitely looking positive for the future of Sta. Rosa. And we should be able to get some more growth in the branch with them. I feel like they can progress. I hope they open their hearts and do progress...

Well, that's about it. I got some pics to send. Tomorrow I'm down to 50 days. Fun, huh? That's the only milestone I have marked down...

Miss you and love you....