Wow... Where to begin. Today has been an exciting day because I talked to an Elder from my MTC District... IN ENGLISH!! It was so exciting! Now to get to talk to you... It’s amazing. Best thing I’ve had for awhile. Anyway that’s awesome you got to go to your school reunion! I bet it was crazy seeing all your old friends. I can imagine how awkward dad would have been with the whole hugging thing especially with his old girlfriends. HAHAHA. Well that’s awesome about the classes and the surgeries! Don’t fail out like I did! haha. I would love to work for Jeremy again. He is way awesome. That so awesome that Bec's is finally getting married. I remember we used to always talk about who she is going to marry and now she is. I will ask about the Christmas thing, but like you said, it’s still a ways away. Dad you could be a surfer! I want to learn how to surf. We will go surfing when I get back. I will answer your questions then tell you about my week so far... I can hardly understand anyone. I can barely understand my companion. He is a native of Mexico and speaks like 10 words of English. It is very frustrating. Very very very difficult. I do not have a maid and yes the houses are made or brick or concrete. They all have fences around their houses and some of them are straight concrete with broken glass at the top so people will kill themselves if they try to get over. My first area is called Reynosa. I am in the San Jose Barrio. I am basically on the boarder kinda by the coast. I saw my first dead animal in the road the other day. It was crazy. I live with just my companion and we live in a descent house. I have pictures and videos I will try to send in a bit. There are lots of bugs inside the house as well. I killed a cockroach the size of my thumb the other day. It was nuts. I have taught people, but I can’t understand a word they say and they can’t really understand me so I usually just sit there and look pretty. Spanish is kicking my butt hard core. The members here are WAY awesome! The first night in the field, the Bishop took us out to this all you can eat joint. Our first night we slept in the mission home. The second day we met our companions and since we live on the boarder 3.5 hours away, we stayed in a box (very very tiny house) with another companionship. People are treating me well from what I can tell. The other missionaries that worked in this area were white I believe. My companion and I are both new to this area. We are "White Washing” the area. This is his last 3 months in the field and I’m his last companion, first greenie, and some other things that I can’t remember/ didn’t understand because it was in Spanish. I have not pooped diarrhea yet. I have befriended Mexican niños, but I haven’t played soccer yet. Today at 4:30 we are going to play soccer I believe. That’s awesome about the dog! I bet its crazy annoying, but that’s funny.
Ok so my week.....
On the plane to Texas I had a 2.5 hour conversation about the church. It was intense. She asked some questions about Laminites and stuff and the guy sitting next to me jumped in and helped. It was nuts. I wonder if she will check out the church. After that in Texas, I saw some players from the Chivas soccer team and got a picture with 3 of them. Like I said, our first night was in the mission home and all day/night, we had interviews with President Walker who is WAY sweet. Tuesday we sat around all day waiting for our companions to be trained on a new thing we're doing. After my first 12 weeks, I will be trained on training and everything so I might possibly be training my next transfer... It’s intense. Just a lot of talk to lots of people, say these things, everyone you meet commit to baptism. Oh we have 5 baptisms lined up I believe. I don’t think they are going to go through with it because they haven't come to church. The first area called Paraiso was intense. It is exactly what you think Mexico will be like. Here in my area there are streets but some dirt roads as well. I had my first Mexican taco and it was fantastic. This night was whack because the house didn’t have air conditioning so it was the hottest, most humid time of my life. I could barely sleep. Our new house has an air conditioner in the bedroom thank goodness but it blows really soft so it helps but there is definitely room for improvement. The drivers here are WHACK! The Taxis are destroyed (rear axle) and they drive so crazy. The rest of the days were basically the same. The people speak a million words a second and they don’t say the whole word so it all sounds like one word. It’s very discouraging. I only have another couple of minutes and I need to write my president so I will talk to you soon!
I love you guys!!
Love,
Elder Stark
