Nov. 13, 2017
Wow! Time really doesn’t exist in the mission field! lol Next week I hit my three-month mark and finish my first transfer in the field. Everything has been going really good in Frontera, my Spanish has improved immensely, I’m not fluent by any means but, I definitely see improvement each and every day.
This week it was one of our Zone Leaders Elder Wells birthday and we got invited to a "Carne Asada" with some members to celebrate! Everyone talks about these "Carne Asadas" all the time so I had high expectations when I arrived, however, those expectations were definitely exceeded when they pulled out like fifty steaks ha especially because there was only like ten people there. Anyways, we ate tons of carne asada and a bunch of other food! Then they pulled out the Tres Leches cake! Which was probably one of the best cakes I’ve every had! So in conclusion, my first "Carne Asada" was a success lol hopefully there’s many more to come over the next two years!
Since I’m about to finish up this transfer this week I figured it would be a good time to share a couple of stories from my first transfer in the mission field!
So, the first story was approximately two or three weeks ago. Elder Cruz and I were talking with a non-active member and as we were leaving she asked if I was from the United States. Then she said, "Trump is a demon." However, I didn’t hear/understand her say Trump so I thought she just said "ahh United States you’re a demon." I was kind of confused so I was like what? Then she thought I didn’t understand the word demon in Spanish so she said "Trump is bad." However, once again I didn’t really hear/understand when she said Trump so I thought she said "ahh United States you’re bad". Anyways, after we left I was kind of confused haha and I was talking with Elder Cruz and he said that she was talking about Trump lol but because of how she said his name I didn’t catch it lol. Honestly, it's easier to understand people’s Spanish than their English ha!
The next story was when I was talking with a big group of kids. Elder Cruz and I were just walking down a street and these kids surrounded me and they were like "he's from the United States and he speaks Spanish and English".... Then they proceeded to start asking me how to say different things in English. At first it was just simple things from around our surroundings like house, car, bike and what not. However, then one of the kids asked me how to say this word. I wasn’t really familiar with this word so as I was trying to think if I knew what it was in English I said hmm what is "______" like once or twice. After I said that I didn’t know the word the other kids started saying this word in English. Let’s just say it was a really bad word ha so hopefully I don’t accidently say it again.
Another story happened like two weeks ago. Elder Cruz was getting a haircut and after he finished up we proceeded to walk out of the barber shop... Elder Cruz walked out first. I said "adios" to the barber and as I turned around and walked out the door, I ran into this guy that was walking into the barber shop. He was really short, so I didn’t really see him... Anyways, I was like "oh sorry man" and I continued to walk down the street. Then he came out of the barber shop and was like "aye missionary" so I walked back over to him and then he started acting kind of tuff as he was standing on his tippy toes. At this point I noticed he had three tear drop tattoos on his face, and then he started saying that he wanted to fight me... (He said a couple of words that I didn’t know and I think one of them was the word from the story above) So I was just like "I’m sorry man please forgive me" Then Elder Cruz tapped my arm and we walked away, we haven’t had any problems since so hopefully I don’t run into him again.
The last story happened this past week. Elder Cruz and I were just contacting as usual. Then as we got to the next house it was my turn to initiate contact. So I knocked on the door and then this head pops out the window, and then he popped his head out the window on the other side, and then this guy opened the door. I started talking with him and he was giving me the weirdest look... but we don’t judge so I just kept talking with him as usual. I was kind of distracted because of how he was looking at me so honestly it was some of my worst Spanish. However. despite my Spanish he invited us in to hear our message. As we walked in I was still kind of getting a weird vibe, then when we sat down, he shut the door. When it shut it made a loud click and there was just like this little box thing so I was kind of thinking we were locked in. Anyways, we started talking with him just about like the usual stuff about religion in his life and various things about his life. At this point he started asking me tons of questions. It was almost like he was obsessed with me he kept asking my full name and then he had me write it down and he kept repeating it like "ahh Karsten William". Then he said that he has noticed me around town a couple of times, but he hadn’t really seen my companion. Anyways, after we talked for a bit Elder Cruz and I proceeded to teach a short lesson. After we finished up he said he knew someone who was a member of our church in Monclova. Elder Cruz served in Monclova for three weeks before this transfer so he happened to know this member... Since Elder Cruz knew his friend he wanted a picture of us so then we stood up and he took a picture of Elder Cruz and I. Then he was like just Elder Cebollero and he took like six pictures and I was like good and he kept saying no one more... and then he took one picture of Elder Cruz and then he said he wanted pictures with us. After we took pictures we talked for a bit and then it was time to leave because it was time for lunch. As we said goodbye and started to walk out the door he grabbed my arm and said "ahhh guapo (handsome). So um yah It was kind of a different lesson.
I hope everyone enjoyed those stories. I’m sure I’ll have a bunch more over the next two years. Thanks for all of your emails- I love hearing from each and every one of you.
As always,
Much love, Elder Ceb
Chillin with Don
Outside our apartment
Elder Cruz and I
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