First week in paradise haha! I got to Saltillo last Monday and then we met the president and had a basic orientation and all of that good stuff, and then we went over to the mission office to meet up with some other Elders and place some Book of Mormons around Saltillo. Soon after I walked into the mission office this Elder came up to me and asked how I knew some members of this ward in Saltillo. Of course I had a huge look of confusion on my face because I had never heard of these names, so he had someone translate lol, but I understood what he said the first time so I was just as confused after he said it in English. I had no idea how my parents would know anyone in Saltillo Mexico. Anyways, still a little confused the APs assigns us comps to go place some Book of Mormons around Saltillo and they assigned me with the Elder that said he knows some people in Saltillo who knew my parents. So I started talking with this Elder, and he said that we were going to go over to their house after we placed some Book of Mormons and visited some other members in the ward. Then we went outside the mission office, called for a taxi, and then he told me to sit in the front and talk to the cab driver ha. I noticed he had a Jesus bobble head on his dash, so I just started talking to him about his job and just about like the city of Saltillo and stuff. Then I brought up the bobble head and asked him if he was religious and he said he didn’t have a specific religion but he loved Jesus. So I asked him if he wanted another testament of Jesus Christ (el Libro de Mormon) but he quickly shut me down. I kept talking to him for the rest of the ride and then I asked him if he wanted a picture of Jesus and then I gave him a pass a long card!
Then we went and talked with people in the street and we placed a couple of Book of Mormons! Then we went over to the house of the family that said they knew my parents. When we got to their house, there was a girl that was probably about nineteen and she said that she talks to my mom all the time. So long story short, she got her mission call to Argentina and she posted about it on the Missionaries Coming Soon page on Instagram and when my mom noticed she was from Saltillo she commented and they have been talking ever since!
After we talked with a couple of other members in that ward we went back to the mission office. Then all of the new missionaries went over to the APs house to stay the night. We went back to the mission office Tuesday morning, to have a couple of more orientations and then find out where we will serve first, and who we will serve with. Anyways, my first area is Frontera Monclova, and my trainer (dad) is Elder Cruz from El Salvador. He doesn’t really speak any English but he’s a really cool guy so I was stoked to get to my first area!
After lunch we packed up and then got on a bus for like three hours or so until we arrived in Monclova. Then we went over to the apartment and there’s lowkey cockroaches in the place so rip to me. Besides the cockroaches the apartment is actually not to bad, it was a mess when we got here but its getting better every day.
The next morning, we had a Zone Conference. My comp Elder Cruz has been in Monclova for the past three weeks but he was in a different area so we are both new to Frontera. So we went and talked with members and started contacting new investigators. I had been feeling kind of sick my last couple of days in the CCM and it kept getting worse. So by Wednesday, My first full day in Monclova I didn’t really have much of a voice plus for some reason my ears wouldn’t adjust for about two or three days. So I could barely hear anyone and it was really hard to talk. So as you can imagine this made my first couple of days in Monclova were great lol. I made a great first impression with some of the members because I had to have them repeat simple stuff that I usually understand but it was difficult to hear because of my ears. Plus when I tried to say certain words that I have never had a problem pronouncing before they didn’t come out right because my voice was messed up. To be honest, this made my first couple of days way hard and I was kind of starting to get down on myself.
However, when we were in this lesson and we talked with this nineteen-year-old young man about the restoration. We showed him a video of the first vision. After the video we talked with him for a bit, and then I looked over and he was really calm, he just had this look of peace to him, and a little bit of water in his eye. I asked him if he was alright, and he replied with a little smile and a thumbs up. At this moment I remembered why I’m out here in the middle of Mexico, and that my personal problems with my voice and my ears, don’t matter at all because they are only temporal, and this work is eternal.
Over the next couple of days we started to figure out this area and I have come to the conclusion that the people in Monclova speak a different Spanish then everyone else in Mexico. Haha even after my ears adjusted I have still had a hard time understanding people because they talk way fast and it’s almost like they put words together, and if you ask me they probably just make up some of these words, because I definitely didn’t learn them in the CCM. It gets a little bit better every day though So I’m sure I’ll be fine in like a year or two.
Food wise, we eat a big meal with members everyday around like two or three. All of the food so far has been great. For anyone wondering how I still keep my gainz around here, for breakfast I eat a Quest protein bar that I put in the microwave and then for dinner I eat a Pure protein bar that I put in the freezer lol.
Quick surgeon update, I showed my comp Elder Cruz some of the ties the surgeon did in the CCM. Lol and we worked out a deal where he cleans the house while I work on his ties ha!
Much Love,
Elder Ceb
With my trainer, Elder Cruz from El Salvador!
The trainers, trainees and President and Sister Cahoon
Elder Cruz before and after the surgeon fixed his tie!
Thumbs up until next week! Thanks for reading and thanks for your prayers!
