Monday, April 19, 2010

Preaching in the Rain

Hello Everyone!
So it’s official, I have been 5 months in the mission! That’s not a lot but it’s a lot better than having 1 month in the mission. Time flies by so fast, just 5 short months ago the only Spanish I knew was hola and uno, dos, tres! Now I can say a lot more—Hurray! Really, the Spanish is getting better and I can understand pretty much what everyone says. I just need to keep memorizing words so I can master the language. So I am out of the twenties and into the teens. My next goal is to make it to 12!!
This week has been pretty good. It rained almost everyday and I’m so grateful to Elder Zavala for giving his umbrella to me before he went home. Not that I need it because if it rains hard enough even with an umbrella my whole body gets soaked. It’s a good thing I love the rain and it’s awesome ‘cause when it rains then it’s not hot.
This week we set a baptismal date for Adrian, Cynthia, and Valedia Rodrieguz. They are an awesome, humble family that we have been teaching. We set the date for the 15 of May. Adrian is totally ready to be baptized. He just has problems with his work and he hasn’t been able to come to church. Cynthia is really awesome but is still working to know whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. She loves reading it and loves the principles—she just needs to keep praying to know that it is true.
We are teaching another really awesome family of six that I’ve told you about—Adrul and Jansie (parents) Adrul Jr., ?daughter (don’t remember her name), Gregory, and Kenneth. They are really awesome and the oldest son Adrian who is 15 years old (Spencer’s age) loves the Book of Mormon. He reads more than what we assign him. It has been challenging setting up appointments with them because the Dad and son work every day. Here in San Rafael everybody works, and I mean everyone.
On Saturday we knocked doors for 4 straight hours and hardly anyone was home. It makes for long hours, but I’m cool with knocking doors all day because the Spanish is getting better. So yah, I don’t know what else to write—not very much different happened this week. We just spent lots of time knocking doors and trying to spread the message.
It’s cool though, I’m not even worried about my comp anymore. I finally bought some weights so whenever I get frustrated I just work out. I will try to write more detailed letters from now on—I just need to keep some notes of what happened cause when you do the same thing every day, it all blends together.
If you could take some pictures of the house outside and inside, that would be cool. Members are always asking me what my house looks like, especially the kids. It’s so fun to talkiong with the little kids in Spanish. They think that in America all we do is eat fast food and every day is a party. Ha Ha!
I hope you all have a fantastic week! Nick—sorry to hear about the soccer problems; Spencer—good job on scoring goals. Keep practicing so that when I get home you’re better than me (that should be easy to do—all you need to do is get in shape so you can run up and down the field more than 3 times without needing a rest); Julia—I hope that I can see you when you come to Costa Rica; Landon—you only have to make it a month and a half before summer vacation. Yah, I love summer vacation and I will look forward to a vacation in 19 months. HaHa! Mom and Dad—Thanks for everything! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!! Elder Anthony Kent Kohkonen Smith