I'm to tired to think of a title - Week 11
1/16/2023
Hola todos!
As always another week enters the books. I was able to have a lot of cool experiences this week. We had intercambios, interviews, and lots of walking. I also found more Toads!
The week started off with an exchange in the Obrero area of our district. The day turned out really fun but it was a grind. I was with Elder Draper for the day, for being understoods sake, he was a fellow gringo.
Our first stop was the Bajo of Obrero. I was humbled there. There's a book I read last year called, Behind The Beautiful Forevers, it's a story about life in a slum in Mumbai, India. It's a book about the terrible conditions of life in poor parts of the world. For the first time in my life I saw, for real, what I read about in that book.
It was a striking area. Trash everywhere with people living in little more than concrete huts. While looking for our investigator family, we walked above a shallow river on banks of trash. We passed meandering people picking through the trash piles.Some were drawing water from the river to take back to their houses. We got a lot of looks. I think we were as alien to them as the bajo was to me.
When we made it to the family's house, 4 incredibly cheerful children greeted us. They were so excited to see two gringos and one of the little girls asked me what my name was. We talked with the family for a little bit but couldn't teach them because there wasn't another man in the house.
I noticed a few things when we were talking to the family.
Their house was a concrete hut with an opening for a door. It was about half as tall as me. Inside we could see it was dark, only one or two lights. The room itself was an open room with a bathroom to the side. The floor was dirt and I could see two mattresses on the floor. A cooking table was in the corner.
The little girl that first talked to me had yellow warts growing on her feet and growths on her face. She had a great big smile and all the kids were playing soccer together.
The kids and the mother were incredibly kind and gracious to us. They seemed so happy and content. They were curious, laughed and joked with us, and invited us into their home.
Despite the humble conditions that the family lived in, I saw more love, kindness, and happiness than I have anywhere else in my life. This week I have been immensely humbled. I have so many blessings and such a great opportunity to share the gospel and unite these loving families for eternity. I've spent most of my time writing about this experience because it has struck me to my core. I think each of us should strive to have more happiness in what we have and learn to appreciate our families more. Remember the most important things in our lives, our families, our faith, our God. Through this we can have so much more happiness and love for the world and those in it.
On a much less serious note, I caught 3 more Toads this week and I will continue to catch more! They are quite dumb so they are easy to catch. 😁
We have transfers next week so a lot could change or a lot could stay the same. Nonetheless, its like waiting for a christmas that can decide how long you're going to spend in the sun. It is a good and a bad waiting. Our area particularly is in question as we have 4 missionaries in a house meant for 2. Their area isn't doing so hot, which means that if they get transferred, our area doubles… which for us, is not a good thing. Vamo Ver (We´ll see)!
The walking has continued and the world is still hot. I will continue to walk this week and I hope to see you all next week with another interesting email! May the force be with you and may the grind never stop!
The best toad catching missionary on Earth,
-Elder James Tanner
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