Letter 13: "Changes"

Sonsonate, El Salvador
March 10, 2011

Cambios de mi vida!
Changes in my life! This week has been crazy! Especially yesterday! But I guess we'll start at the beginning!

So we had cambios* (Transfers*), I'm in the same place, but a lot of our district changed... so [many] new faces, a lot of gringos! Every companionship has at least one gringos.

I'm speaking a lot more English, which I don't like, but also my Spanish is a whole lot better... it's hard to think that I spent five years learning French , little by little, word by word, lesson by lesson... and in less that six months BAM! I speak Spanish waaaaaaaaaaaay better than I ever did speak French!

That is the power of God right there! It's amazing!

Anyway... so lots of new faces and a new District Leader. He's great, and he has a lot of animo (Enthusiasm or excitement) and he holds us accountable to our goals. So that's nice.

This week we taught a lot... it wasn't much different in that aspect from any other week... but yesterday was insane!

"Dates"
So, the assistants have been breathing down our necks for fechas* (dates)... for baptisms. Yesterday they came to our zone specifically to put fechas.

There were four investigators in sacrament meeting and I had no faith that we could put fechas with them... we had only been teaching them this week. We only taught half of the first lesson to one of them, and the other we had only met with twice.

Long story short, they put the fechas [anyway]...

Two things I've learned: (1) Miracles really do happen! (I knew this one before... but it's always nice to have it reaffirmed) and (2) I have a lot to learn about teaching!

I guess I better get to it! So here I go

I love you. God Loves you. what else really matters!?

* "Cambios": Spanish for "Changes" but in this context it means "Transfer"
* "Transfer": When a missionary is being move from one location or job to another.
* "Fechas": Spanish for "Dates" : missionary-lingo for 'reporting' the progress of investigators.