So lots of people here
(kind of) know how to say “Happy Birthday”, but my companion, who speaks
English like my mom speaks Spanish (please pester her to demonstrate), was my
favorite. I want you to picture Gru, from Despicable me, with a mouthful of
peanut butter saying “Happy Birthday”, and that’s how my companion says it. If
you know me well, you know I have a gift for description, and I thought long
and hard about this. It’s perfect.
Also, I have to share, he
is obsessed with meeting Zoë. I have some pictures on my camera from a ski day,
and he keeps telling me to introduce them. The best part is that Spanish doesn’t
have the “Z” sounds, it’s just said like an “S”, so he practices like this: “ZZZZZZZOë”.
It’s adorable.
My birthday was really
just another day, except WE GOT ANOTHER CONSTANTE. I don’t know how that
translates, but it means an investigator with a baptismal date. Happy birthday
to me. His name is Felipe, and he’s a sweet little man of about 55-60. He’s
swell.
We’re preparing Nailea for
baptism this Saturday, but we have to postpone Diana and Reyna because we
thought they had had all the lessons, but we don’t have their teaching record,
so we’re going to teach them all again just to make sure. Raúl and Yadira are
working really hard to get married so they can be baptized, and Yadira told me
it’s their goal to make it to the temple as a family. So far, that’s been the
best part of my mission, because that’s why I’m here!
Please get to the temple
as often as you can. The members here are great about going once a month, and
their temple is in Monterrey, 4 hours away. They’re such an example to me, and
I hope you guys take advantage of the temple, because it’s such an easy way to
get blessings! If you don’t do it for anything else, do it because you’re
selfish and you want those blessings.
And now, I have a story
for you:
“La
Pesera”
(The
Bus)
“Just when you think you’ve
seen it all, the world opens your eyes”
- Someone, probably
It was a Tuesday. We were
doing some work, like any other Tuesday. We were heading to our lunch
appointment with a member on the other side of the area, so we were going to
have to take a bus. You may have heard a bit about the buses here. I thought I
knew a little about how it went down. I was about to be corrected.
We stood on the sidewalk
where we knew the bus passed (there are no proper bus stops), and flagged one
down. He was kind enough to slow down to a gentle 3 or 4 mph to allow us to
leap on. I handed him our 16 pesos, and we made our way to about the
back-middle of the bus.
As I boarded, I noticed
the box above the driver’s head that read “Emergency Equipment Inside”.
Luckily, the glass was clean enough so that I could see it was totally empty.
If only I had known what an omen this would be.
It had already been a long
day, so I thought I’d try to shut my eyes for a second. I was shown the error
of my ways when I didn’t prepare myself for the impending left turn and smacked
my head on the window. I won’t make that mistake again.
We were passing through a
rougher part of town, when the bus-driver opened the door. Ahead, I saw a shack
on the side of the road about big enough for one person, standing room only.
The driver slowed, and from inside the shack a man tossed something to the
driver. I have no idea what it was, but the driver caught it, set it on the
seat next to him, and carried on.
We stopped at the
equivalent of Wal-Mart and allowed a rather more motley crue than usual onto
our bus. As I diverted my eyes from the school girls with the low-cut
short-skirted uniforms, I noticed the man in front of me holding the bar over
my head. Or rather, I noticed his belly, which was protruding from his shirt
with a boldness I should try to use in contacting. What struck me, though, was
that of the range of emotions I could/should have felt, the only one I could
identify was jealousy. “Why can’t I only button one button?” I thought. I’m
sure that breeze was delicious.
After an uncomfortable
ride, and the departure of this very lucky man, a mother and her two children
got on. The elder, a girl of about 7, and the younger, a boy of about 4 or 5,
sat on either side of their mother. After almost no time at all, the girl had
lost a button on her shirt. As she looked in horror at where it had landed on
the floor in front of her, her brother, now covered in what looked like
raspberry jelly, began crying”Mom! You didn’t tell me it was spicy!”
We arrived at our
destination, leapt off the moving bus, and took off, with many thoughts to
occupy the still 20-minute walk to lunch.
Such is Mexico.
For the record, I
misspelled “motley crew” on purpose.
Guarden la fe
Muah.
Elder Webb
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