Week 1

First order of business I think is that my companion and I get along really well mas o menos (more or less). He has already had 5 years of Spanish so when we teach our practice investigators it's actually not that scary language-wise because I know quite a bit again and he knows way more than I do. The names of my Latino roommates are Elders Chevez and Gutierrez and Elders Cuadros and Culquicondor. Elder Chevez is the main funny man of our room. He is always cracking jokes and the first 2 days I got none of it, but now that I actually understand him I can say that he is hilarious. My Spanish is coming back really well so I can hold basic conversations with the Latinos and I've gotten quite a bit of good practice with all the church related things and Spanish.

I'd say the most unexpected thing is that I actually have a decent level of respect from the Latinos in soccer. Because there are so many of us we have to only play teams of 5 on a small field and first to score a goal wins and then a different team comes out. Now, I can't play soccer at all, but they actually think I'm a really good protero (goalie). I had one game where my team was struggling to even shoot but I had to block 5 shots and then we ended up winning the game.

Elder James and I have a practice investigator that is our teacher but we are actually doing really well. She started out by saying that she didn't believe in God, and in 3 lessons we have her thinking the restoration is true. Now I'm certain they're going really easy on us, but it's still really cool to practice these lessons.

On Sunday we got to watch the MTC devotional from Elder Holland and it was super inspirational talking about the importance of missionary work and such. There was so much in there too and I got an email from my friend Ben saying that he actually saw him up close, but unfortunately they're told not to talk to them unless they start the conversation, but I think it's still really cool.

A little bit about each of my roommates, I already told you about Chevez, and his companion Gutierrez is not as outspoken as Chevez but he is one of the coolest guys ever. He is just one of the nicest people and he loves music and wants to be a classical violinist after his mission. Elder Cuadros is also really funny, he has a perfect Barney impersonation and knows almost every line to every Taylor Swift song. He is also a great example of service. Every morning after I wake up I attempt to make my bed, and it never looks too great but I was always content with it, and every time I come back from the shower to our room it is made perfectly, and just one time I walked back in while he was fixing it. Elder Colquicondor has helped me the most with my Spanish.  He doesn't let me not practice with him at least a little bit every time I see him.

Well that's all for now! TTYL!

Elder Martin