Week 34 (8/9/10) Email to Mom and Dad

Hola!

I don't know where to start. This past week has had potential to be my hardest yet. First off it has been a hard adjustment to a new area. Its hard getting to know a new area. In El Cruce all of the streets were numbers. We covered from calle 1 to calle 31 one way and 100 to 123 the other way. Here the streets are all names and the streets aren't a good old basic grid. Its also hard because its all new faces. I don't, or at least I didn't know anybody here. Those aren't that hard though, those are adjustments that will be pretty quick. The hardest part is my companion. He is very difficult. Very difficult. It has been a long week. He is a good missionary and a great teacher but he can be very frustrating. He is very obedient which is great, obedience is important but the way he acts about it is just too much. He acts like I'm bad and he's got to put up with my disobedience even though I feel like I am doing a really good job out here. He also walks like a thousand miles an hour everywhere. Last night when we got back to the pench my shins hurt so bad I could barely walk. I don't think I've been so tired in the mission yet and it doesn't even feel like we're doing any really good work. I like to just walk like a normal person and talk to people we pass but he says we don't have time for that it makes us too late. His style is just so much different than what I am used to and comfortable with and he has just been shoving it down my throat. When I ask him questions about anything he never gives me the right answer at first, he likes to stretch the truth, he thinks its funny but it makes it hard to believe what he says is the truth or if he's just trying to be funny. I don't really feel like I know him that well. He doesn't like to talk as we walk down the street because he says it is too distracting from the work. Its ridiculous. Mike Mortenson, one of the guys I went to high school with was his companion two transfers ago and he told me it was going to be a rough transfer for me. I didn't think it was going to be that bad and it wasn't that bad for the first few days but the last couple days have been pretty bad. I'm trying hard to do my best to be happy and keep a good attitude, its just hard sometimes. I just have to remember that I'm out here to serve the Lord and to help the people here feel the joy that comes from being part of the Church of Jesus Christ. I'm also doing my best to just love my companion as Christ would if he were his companion, because I think thats really what he needs. Its hard but I'm hanging in there.:)

My last few weeks in El Cruce with Elder Maxfield, we were focusing on getting inactive families back to church and we didn't see a lot of success with it but he told me on the phone that they were seeing some good success from our efforts. I miss working with Elder Maxfield. Those were two good transfers with him. It still feels like that's my ward, I'm just away for work for awhile. I also talked to Gabriel on the phone last night for ten minutes and it was really good to talk to him. It made me feel a lot better. When he realized it was me on the phone he was like WOOOOOODSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEEEEAAAAAHHH!!! He finally found work fixing computers and they called him this week to be the ward secretary-less than two months after his baptism. He is also set to get the Melchizedek Priesthood this month in stake conference which is really quick. We're hoping to get together and play some pádel with Elder Maxfield and Elder Henrie. We're all in except I have to convince Speedy Gonzales to do it. Its like in A Goofy Movie when everyone knows Max's dad is taking him to see the Powerline concert except his dad. There is no other way I would rather spend a P-day so I'm hoping we can do it week 4 or 5.

Thanks for all of your love and support. I love and pray for you all!

Love, Matt