Week 34: July 1, 2019 San Antonio shut down and a new companion

Well its been a pretty crazy week and a half. Our pday got switched to today but Im just gonna talk about what happened last week so I dont have to write as much. 

Last tuesday was kinda of a normal day. We went to district meeting and then did some normal missionary stuff. At the end of the day we had a big lesson with Gudiel. We talked a lot about baptism. He said he knows everythings true but he wouldnt choose a date to get baptized. So went through a lot of different stories and scriptures, did a lot of drawing on the whiteboard and it didnt get us anywhere. Whenever we asked him why he wouldnt do it, he just said he didnt know. Finally we just decided to pray right there and ask for a date to do it. So he did. After there was a bit of silence and then he just said he still didnt have an answer. It was pretty rough and we just sat in silence for like 10 or 20 seconds more and then he just said june 29th. He said it just came to him so we were pretty pumped. Then we walked home and he walked with us and he had tons of questions. He seemed pretty excited. 

I woke up the next day to a bunch of texts from him on a random phone saying now he didnt want to. I asked him why and he just said now he didnt want to. It was super frustrating and it wasnt his phone so we couldnt talk more. I dont know what happened either because later, we had interviews with presidente.

Ususally we do them in Huehue but this time he came out to our areas because he was already close by. He came to Santa Ana and the guys from San Antonio came to us. It was a good normal interview. Then after we were going to go on divisions with SA. So I went home to pack my stuff. When we got back like 40 min later. They were still having interviews. We waited for a while and then the door opened and presidente called all of us in. He said he received revelation right then to close San Antonio. He said one of the comps was gonna be comps with my comp in Santa Ana and me and the other guy were gonna go to little hill of corn in Huehue (cerrito de maiz). I was pretty surprised. I was kinda of happy cuz I had been there so long but also sad because I had been there so long. He said we would leave in the morning.

I made a quick change of plans and said we would go to Nenton. We waited til after lunch because the lady that made us lunch is pretty cool and I wanted to say bye. After though we could not catch a bus. We ended up getting to Nenton at like 3Ñ30 and the last bus back left at 5. So we went with Ernesto. Had a normal gospel discussion and then he brought out my favorite soda that you can only get in Nenton. He didnt know I was leaving but it was pretty good goodbye present. When I told him I was leaving he was super sad. He said he was gonna come to church in Huehue and I was like Ernesto you dont come to church anyway and he thought that was funny. After we went to say goodbye to Samuel but tristemente he wasnt there. We caught the last bus back and then went to noche de hermanamiento which is like mutual but for the whole ward. Luckily more people came to that one than any other we had since I had been there. So I got to say goodbye to everyone. It was super sad. Especially P. Wayner and this old vaquero guy who i love named concepcion. Hes like 75 and doesnt know how to read or write and is out of it most the time but hes one of the most faithful members. Then I all the power in the town went out. So I went home and had to pack my bags in the dark.

The next day we met up and I left with my new comp. I asked him what happened and he told me. Some stuff was goin down but I dont think it was that bad. Mainly I think they closed the area because the branch wasnt growing and the members werent helping out at all. On the ride we got a call and it was from P. Diaz. He said that I was going with a different guy to a differnt area. So I was kinda pumped about that because its an Aldea and the other is in the city. 

When i say Aldea it means village. And this village doesnt have anything in it. It is out in the middle of nowhere. Its called Pueblo Viejo or Old Town. Theres only one road so you know what that makes the road…

It may be very old. But its not a town at all. Its litterally just a big long road that snakes through the mountains with a house every five minutes and a lot of corn. 

We live in a tiny little house on church property. Thats what all the aldea churches have. Theyre super small but theyre pretty nice because theyre made by the church. 

Right after we got back we had tarde de hermanmiento which is in the afternoon instead of night because people live super far away and go to bed early here. The ramas super cool and theres a lot of jovenes and ninos. Pretty much the ramas made up of three families with a lot of kids. Pretty much the whole aldea is made up of these three families too because everyone is related. Seems suspicious but whatever. 

Everyone loves me. I know its super humble, but its true. Especially the little kids. But yeah everyone here is super pilas. Its like opposite of Santa Ana. By the end of the year theyll send out 5 missionaries. 4 of them being girls. ITs pretty cool and the guy gets his call this next week I think. 

They always go to lessons with us and yeah, pilas pues.

Friday we walked 5 million years to this other place called Paxajtup. Its another rama but they dont have missionaries so we cover it.  At one point you could see three churches on the tops of different mountains. We met this one girl who got baptized like 12 years ago and got back from her mission like 3 years ago. Shes like 40. When we got back that night we went to this familys house. They taught us how to make corte. Kindof. Its called Ilo and its the first step. Then they send it to a place in xela to make it. Its pretty cool. They also taught me a bit of quiche. Everyone here speaks quiche but they all also speak spanish, which is pretty nice. Usually in places like this, the kids will speak spanish but the older people dont. Here even the super old people do. 

Saturday we woke up early to go help a guy clean his corn field. Getting rid of the weeds and what not. Hes the dad of a really positive investigator we have. Hes actually a member but then he got baptized in the evangelical church. Hes a super nice guy but also wont ever come back, even though he believes that it doesnt matter what church you go to.

Sunday I gave a talk. It was weird because I actually knew about it before hand so I had time to prepare. But the people with talks actually came prepared so I only gave like 8 minutes of my 25 min talk. Later that night we walked pretty far to have dinner with a family. They have like 12 kids with like 8 or 9 daughters so it was pretty crazy. But the dinner they made us was super good and they made a ton of it. Then they brought out a fat cake because it was someones birthday. It was a lot of food and not a very comfortable walk home. 

But yeah thats a bit of what happened to me since last pday.