Hello everyone.
Welp, just about wrapping up my time here at the CCM. It's been a good stay, and i've learned a lot. I'll miss my companion, my district, and the teachers here a lot, but it's all good! Ready to go out into the wild and not understand a lick of what anyone's saying... It's the best! I love it!
I suppose i'll share my "in-field experience" i had last week. We went on splits with missionaries in the city, and we're going again tomorrow. It was crazy awesome!
My companion was Elder Estepan, whose english was pretty good, so i was lucky. great missionary who taught me a lot. I'll share with you an allegory he told me.
Before the mission, you're on the street with an eyesight restricted by buildings and limited by a horizon. While you're on the mission, you are raised high above the street to a bird's-eye view with a perspective on life unlike you've ever had before. So far, its completely true, and im excited to be lifted to those heights.
Anyway, the city... Wow. Chickens, cats, dogs and trash everywhere. Crooked side-walks, tin-roof buildings stacked on top of each other, slums on slums on slums! Dogs runnin and barkin on the roof, music in the air, good smells, really bad smells, everything was so foreign. Kids under the age of 4 dont wear clothes and people over the age of 70 dont either!
Our first appointment was with a member named Jerson to help him with his mission papers. Going up the narrow and winding stairs to his apartment, we had to duck under low hanging telephone wires. If people are home here, their door is open, and they have a metal-barred door/gate shut and locked. We entered this humble home, passing the shower curtain covering the bath near the doorway, to see the small room in which they lived. 3 beds, a bookshelf, fridge, small stove and interestingly enough, a computer. Wires spread everywhere across the cement walls. Jerson had to leave for work, so we sat down on the lower bunk-bed and taught people who i think were his family, (some of them). All members, three women. They had questions about a book one of them was reading online that was written by a member and was about Kolob.She insisted she got it from
lds.org, but upon further inspection, it was from blogspot. Elder Estepan talked with me later about it being a problem with new members trying to dive into deep doctrine before learning the more basic. Especially when using resources that are not church approved. It was a great discussion though. I'm able to bear my testimony, sing a hymn, and pray in spanish. That's about it right now...
When we contacted, i could introduce, ask a few questions, and then follow well enough to understand what was going on. But during lessons, they speak so darn fast, I just sit there with a big dumb grin on my face, and afterwards ask my companion what happened. All good though!
Our last meeting was this woman's first lesson, whose name i cant remember nor could i pronounce it at the time. Even though I couldnt understand what was being said, I could feel the spirit so strong. Elder Estepan afterwards explained that that's the only thing that matters. That they feel the spirit, and that we teach them to recognize what they're felling as such.
All in all, it was the craziest and most fun day here yet! I'm so excited for the field. 6 hrs walking in unbearable heat, my feet were mashed sausages, and that was only half a day! Wish me luck for tomorrow!
Also, transfer is Tuesday p-days in the field are Mondays, so you probably wont hear from me for about a week and a half. During that radio silence, I'll really be experiencing the field!
Thank you all for the Love and support!
Elder Brady
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