Elder S. Twede: Mexico City Chalco Mission: Week 4: Another crazy week in Mexico!

Another crazy week in Mexico! I'll get right to it.

On Tuesday Elder West my trainer had to go into Chalco, leaving Elder Huefner and I alone for a full day. So there we were, two missionaries that could hardly speak Spanish with a schedule full of appointments that we would have to do on our own. It was pretty intimidating, but I learned something that has really helped me this week. While trying to teach I wasn't able to say a whole lot, but this opened the people up in a way that couldn't happen if I were fluent. Because the way I speak in Spanish at this point probably resembles how a cave man would talk, I have to rely on the spirit to really teach anything. This requires the people to pay extra close attention in order to understand. Relying on the spirit and attentive people = perfect teaching opportunity! I realized that I really shouldn't stress about not being able to speak Spanish. I mean, I can't wait to be able to communicate better and I'm not going to stop working super hard to learn it! But I should also enjoy this special time that I won't get again when I do know the language. I pray so fervently for the gift of tongues, but if I suddenly could speak Spanish I would miss the opportunity to learn to rely on the spirit in ways that I wouldn't otherwise.

But I still can't wait to be able to talk to people.

We found this family that hasn't been attending our ward and they are amazing! They have three kids ages around 12, 9, and 7. The two oldest are boys and the youngest a girl. They were super inviting when we went to their humble house and they gathered the kids around to listen to our little message. When Elder Huefner and I bore our simple testimonies about why we chose to serve missions, the parents were in tears. They told us that they have very strong desires for their sons to serve missions. They then asked us what it was in Utah with all the Saints that helped us choose to serve. They are obviously very concerned about raising their kids in a place like this. What it came down to was what I was taught in the home. I told them that my parents raised me in such a way that I loved the gospel and understood the importance of it. The home is where the love for the gospel is developed in the hearts of children. As I looked at them and how amazing their family is, I knew this to be true. Their kids have all grown up in Mexico City, yet they are very different from anyone else that I have met here. Since this lesson with this family I have thought a lot about how I was raised, and I am so very grateful for so many things that I was taught in my home. I have been blessed to be raised by very amazing parents, now I hope I can go out and help other families so that future generations can recieve these same blessings.

I went on splits for the first time this week! Elder West is district leader (He's been a lot of things, previously to training us he was assistant to the president! He's really amazing!) but there was an Elder having some troubles so he went on splits with him. Elder Huefner and I got to spend the day with Elder Ovesen. He's really great and goes home the end of this month. It was fun to teach with someone knew and see the new teaching styles that he had. I realized how important it is to stick to the very basics with most people, teaching simply doesn't mean that it isn't as powerful. I probably had some of the most powerful lesson this day because Elder Oveson taught simply, but with power.

Fast and testimony meeting this last Sunday was propably the most amazing one I have ever attended! We had 23 less actives (I typed menos activos first and didn't even realize it..) and most of them got up and bore testimony about missionary work! It was very rewarding to hear and see the difference that we have already been able to make in our area! The amazing family that I talked about all got up and each bore their testimonies and it brought tears to my eyes even though I didn't understand much of what they were saying most of the time. The spirit was just so powerful.

Today we had a mission wide futbol competition between zones! It was super fun and my zone won it all! I'm super sore though, I decided that I wanted to take advantage of the chance to work out, so I almost never stopped running whenever I was playing. And because my team made it all the way to the top we had to play three 40 minute games to get there! So in other words.. I did a lot of running today. I'm probably going to regret it tomorrow... and I got pretty sunburnt. But it was a ton of fun! I wish I would have played soccor as a kid! It's a blast!

Last week I told you about the bed bugs... Well.. I got rid of the mattess and have been sleeping on the ironing boards all week... And I still ended up having bed bugs in my blankets... But my mission president just barely gave me a new mattress today! I'm super excited to sleep on it! But I might not have any blankets because they're all up on the roof...

Today I got 8 dearelders! It was pretty much the best thing ever! Thank you Bryce for putting those symbols at the beginning and end of yours! You should show everyone else how to do something like that with their own sign so that it doesn't take so long to figure out the order of them all. But I really enjoyed reading them! I hope the play perfomances are going well along with all the other crazy stuff going on back home. You all asked me a ton of questions! I can't remember them all... But I'll try to just answer some.

In my area I can't see the volcano. I have seen it though and it's huge! But it isn't very active at all right now.

There are dogs everywhere, but they aren't ever a problem. If one comes at you, you just have to bend over like you're picking up a rock and they go running.

I haven't ever gone tracting and I probably never will! We work a ton with the ward members! I like it this way though.

There really aren't any big bugs that are here that I've seen. I did see a big month, but that's it. It's the little bed bugs that are the bad ones...

Missionaries here don't have bikes or cars, because the drivers here are too crazy. I wasn't kidding when I said the other week that you have to look both ways on a one way street befoe crossing! Even on roads as big as bangerter!

The main ways we get around are walking and taxis'

It rained every day for the first two weeks that I was here, but it has slowed down now because it isn't the rainy season anymore... I miss it.. now it's kinda hot. But they say the entire year it won't get below 60 and above 90 hardly ever. Unless you're by the volcano where it does get pretty cold.

Sorry if I didn't get to all of your questions... But I'll try to talk more about what my mission is like in each email.

love you all so much! Thank you for your letters! They were so much fun to read! I'm safe and doing well and really starting to enjoy the work more and more! I have my hard days, but the good ones far outweigh the bad.

Until next week,

Elder Twede