May 21, 2013 (Plainfield)

We did CPR for literally 7 hours yesterday so we had NO time to do emails now. So I'm taking 5 minutes today (don't worry: approved by my zone leaders) to write you all.

HOW ARE YOU ALL? Miss you, love you. Life is sweet and rich here in Plainfield. Bryan and Jasmine are progressing well and the Manzano family is doing amazing. Everyone we visit is coming closer and closer to Christ every day. I love it.

Thanks for all your emails. You're the greatest family/friends I could ever have. 

"Love is all you need".

EC

May 13, 2013 (Plainfield)

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers in my life. You all are the greatest. Thanks to Mom, Bonnie, Aunt Grady, and Grandma for chatting with me yesterday. It was really wonderful to see you all. 

How is everyone doing? Life here is grand, except this morning during our morning exercises, we played frisbee... and I sprained my ankle super bad. Feeling like a wuss and a gimp. Hobbling around. AND Elder Leon convinced me to dip my entire leg into a bucket of ice water which I did and wanted to die immediately afterwards. Anyway, hopefully it will be good to go in a couple of days because I NEED to get out and keep working. 

One thing I think missionaries come to realize on their missions is this: if we're not working, you feel WORTHLESS. Obviously, with that comes pro's and con's. The pro's are: I won't slip into any super lazy routines and I LOVE progression. I always want to be better every day. Con's: you really do feel HORRIBLE about yourself if you're not putting every ounce of energy into some specific aspect of work. Anyway interesting concept.

This week was great. We spent some time studying with Elder Mortensen, the senior missionary that serves in the Plainfield branch with us. It's hilarious and fun studying with him because he has good spanish but he's always looking up these crazy HUGE words that NO ONE uses in spanish because they're from ancient spanish, really formal spanish, or dead spanish. He's wonderful though and he's a huge help to us.

We also did TONS of contacting. One day, Elder Sailsbery and I were out teaching, biking, contacting, etc. and literally throughout the day, 15 black people contacted us wanting to know more. We turned all of them over to the English elders. Bummer, sometimes i wish I could serve Spanglish so i could teach EVERYONE I meet. It's interesting how BECAUSE of that, you learn to pick out the Latin faces in the crowd and contact them. It's cool to pick up little cultural gifts like that..

Other things: we taught 46 lessons this week as a 4panionship. That was pretty rad.

I'm sorry this was so boring.

I know the church is true. I know that we have all been called and chosen and foreordained to be servants of the Almighty. The Lord Jesus Christ is out Savior and Redeemer and He shall come again. I have an unbreakable testimony of the Lord of our Father in Heaven. He cares. I hope you all have a wonderful week full of the spirit. God loves us.

EC

"We'll drink horse-bark root beer

and sit on the back stairs..." (summer song; Animal Tracks by three lovely ladies in a group called MOUNTAIN MAN).

May 6, 2013, Plainfield

Dear everyone I am in love with . . . 

How are you? We are doing great. Here's an introduction to the 4-panionship:

1. Me. Boring.

2. Elder Leon: Still the man. Hondurian, brings the cultural FLAVOR into our companionship.

3. Elder Whitton: from Murrieta, California. Looks like me, tall and thin, but with lighter skin. Already, about 3 people have told us that we look like twins. Loud, bubbly, loves to talk, even though he doesn't understand that much Spanish. He is a visa-waiter, waiting to be shipped off to Peru. Rides his bike like a foolish, 12 year old child.

4. Elder Sailsbery: from Layton, UT. White, dirty blonde hair, absolutely brilliant and strong spirited. Book/science nerd. Also waiting to go to Peru. 

Both of the new missionaries are really wonderful Elders that are willing to do, and I quote, "things that make [them] feel uncomfortable", like talking to random drunks, and speaking Spanish in a limited vocabulary. Every time we visit anyone, I try to "go to the bathroom" so they have one on one time speaking to the natives even if they don't want to. As far as training goes, I feel like I just lead by example, and by simply leaving the house to work. Missionary work is God's work and if these two Elders internalize that, as well as their simple doctrinal purpose, they will do powerful things and become incredible instruments in the hands of our Heavenly Father. Elder Leon: he's basically training as we are on eternal splits. We divide the work into Team 1 and Team 2 every day and we try to teach as many people as we can. Lots of street (bike) contacting and traveling time. I try to make my time with each new trainee as personal and powerful as possible in the short time that we have.

Other news: Hna Manzano got her paper to apply for a passport. Yes! Pray for her please so she can progress and so her and Hno Manzano can be married and baptized. ALSO, Feliz, Christopher, and Anthony got confirmed on Sunday.

I love everything about this area. We met a crazy black guy that said Jesus was black, had dreads down to his feet and said "brother" all the time. And as he explained this, every other word was a curse word. Also, met a super drunk El Salvadorian inactive member that contacted us and said he wanted to change his life and come back. The lord puts people in our path. 

The church is true.

EC

ps - I'm a little stressed but I'm doing GREAT. ONE LOVE.