Dear Family!!
How's school going?
It's so strange not going to school!! Happy Birthday Nikki!!!!! I'm sure it was
great and everyone will have to give her a birthday hug for me. As for the
pics, I'll sent the card home once I fill it up and the B on the mountain is for
Benemerito, I think for the school of Benemerito de Americanas that the CCM
used to be.
Customs went great
except that getting back into the states one of the people in our district had
trouble with TSA cuz his hair was so much shorter than his passport pic! That's
great to hear the kids got great teachers! Tell Justin to keep trucking with the soccer and sleep. As for
the scripture I suppose those will work but it'd be great to have some just for
as a missionary. Somewhere like in Enos I scribbled some notes out in pen and
being the perfectionist that I am it bugs me whenever I would use my old ones.
To be honest though, whatever you think works is fine by me!! Oh, I got the
package, it was the best and the card made me smile!!
Ooooo buddy, this week's been insane! The first night here President Ware
interviewed us and asked us our concerns. I had said I wanted to speak as much
Spanish as possible so that I could learn it quickly to be a better teacher.
Well, the next day when he made trainer and area assignments, he called me to
Othello spanish ward and Mixteco speaking... That was pretty dang surprising.
Mixteco is a language spoken by a group of people who live in the mountains in
Gurrero Mexico. It is really strange and the closest written language is Aztec
so we don't have any learning or gospel materials in Mixteco... It's been
around for forever and predates the conquistadors entering Mexico when everyone
learning Spanish so it's nothing at all like Spanish. If you want something
similar, listen to Chinese and Japanese mixed. The breakdown of Othello is
10,000 people total with 7,000 who speak Spanish, 2,000 who speak English, and
1,000 who speak Mixteco. A lot of the people we work with speak both Spanish
and Mixtecto so learning it is just a way of fellowshiping. My companion is
Elder Kupferer and I actually read his blog some before I came! His Spanish is
very, very good so that helps me a ton.
Working with the people here is so great and Othello is amazing. To be honest if you want a good picture of it imagine West Valley City (at least the areas we serve in) + Idaho + Mexico. There are so many opportunities to speak Spanish and honestly were almost always in areas where two white guys are in the minority. We only teach in Spanish which is something I had prayed for because of how it will help me learn. It is humbling to go into some of the houses/apartments and see how hard the people work for what they have. The majority of our investigators work in the fields so that means long hours 6-7 days a week. They are all super nice and the member are great as well. Honestly the biggest struggle has been eating everything we get fed. In Mexican culture it's offensive if you don't eat seconds so I've had to pray for an expanded stomach multiple times. The best thing we eat is Carne Asada which is just divine. (it's like meat on corn totillas with rice and is super yummy). The members always give me way more food than I think I can handle but I suppose life could be worse! :) We stay with some members who live on the outside of town and after our old beds and loud noises of the CCM it's been nice. Living in the middle of a corn field makes the whole harvest mission analogy way more meaningful. The fields go on FOREVER!!!
The work here isn't necessarily going super quick but it's about to pick up. In a month ish the picking should be done and people will be home more often. Another thing that will help is our ward mission leader. About 2 years ago he was on fire getting tons of baptisms, reactivation, and working with the missionaries a ton. Apparently he would get home from picking and go right out with the missionaries to work. Well sadly, about a year ago he went through some stuff and has been trying to get his feet back under him. Right now he's on the way up and if we can get him working with us we'll be good because he has a crazy strong testimony and also knows Mixteco. We visited with him and his family my first night here which was apparently the first time he had talked with the missionaries in a while. Since then we've been over every day talking and laughing with him and he even came back to church yesterday which was amazing. Big things are on the horizon for Othello.
These last few days have been crazy with tracting, teaching, realizing I don't know how to speak Spanish anymore, and helping. The Spanish will get there eventually but right know it's got awhile. Oh and getting to learn Mixteco makes things a little more hectic. One thing that's been rough is that I been feeling like I had the flu for a few days but am doing good now. That was no fun and for three days straight I went to bed before 10 which is something that hasn't happened since I was probably 6... Yesterday we had 2 investigators and the ward mission leader come to church which was really great. The bishop had me come up and bear my testimony and I kinda forgot all of the Spanish I learned in the CCM so that was pretty dang rough but tis ok. Life here's been great and I love being able to teach and talk with people even if I forget a ton of the names, especially all of the Jose's... When we first got here I had such a peace and knew that this is exactly the place the Lord needed me to be. I love this gospel and can't wait to teach it more!! Spiritual though o' the week: ''There's no comfort in the growth zone and no growth in the comfort zone'' Being here has really made me realize the truth of that quote, especially tracting in Spanish!
Working with the people here is so great and Othello is amazing. To be honest if you want a good picture of it imagine West Valley City (at least the areas we serve in) + Idaho + Mexico. There are so many opportunities to speak Spanish and honestly were almost always in areas where two white guys are in the minority. We only teach in Spanish which is something I had prayed for because of how it will help me learn. It is humbling to go into some of the houses/apartments and see how hard the people work for what they have. The majority of our investigators work in the fields so that means long hours 6-7 days a week. They are all super nice and the member are great as well. Honestly the biggest struggle has been eating everything we get fed. In Mexican culture it's offensive if you don't eat seconds so I've had to pray for an expanded stomach multiple times. The best thing we eat is Carne Asada which is just divine. (it's like meat on corn totillas with rice and is super yummy). The members always give me way more food than I think I can handle but I suppose life could be worse! :) We stay with some members who live on the outside of town and after our old beds and loud noises of the CCM it's been nice. Living in the middle of a corn field makes the whole harvest mission analogy way more meaningful. The fields go on FOREVER!!!
The work here isn't necessarily going super quick but it's about to pick up. In a month ish the picking should be done and people will be home more often. Another thing that will help is our ward mission leader. About 2 years ago he was on fire getting tons of baptisms, reactivation, and working with the missionaries a ton. Apparently he would get home from picking and go right out with the missionaries to work. Well sadly, about a year ago he went through some stuff and has been trying to get his feet back under him. Right now he's on the way up and if we can get him working with us we'll be good because he has a crazy strong testimony and also knows Mixteco. We visited with him and his family my first night here which was apparently the first time he had talked with the missionaries in a while. Since then we've been over every day talking and laughing with him and he even came back to church yesterday which was amazing. Big things are on the horizon for Othello.
These last few days have been crazy with tracting, teaching, realizing I don't know how to speak Spanish anymore, and helping. The Spanish will get there eventually but right know it's got awhile. Oh and getting to learn Mixteco makes things a little more hectic. One thing that's been rough is that I been feeling like I had the flu for a few days but am doing good now. That was no fun and for three days straight I went to bed before 10 which is something that hasn't happened since I was probably 6... Yesterday we had 2 investigators and the ward mission leader come to church which was really great. The bishop had me come up and bear my testimony and I kinda forgot all of the Spanish I learned in the CCM so that was pretty dang rough but tis ok. Life here's been great and I love being able to teach and talk with people even if I forget a ton of the names, especially all of the Jose's... When we first got here I had such a peace and knew that this is exactly the place the Lord needed me to be. I love this gospel and can't wait to teach it more!! Spiritual though o' the week: ''There's no comfort in the growth zone and no growth in the comfort zone'' Being here has really made me realize the truth of that quote, especially tracting in Spanish!
Love,
Elder Spackman
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