I know I've said it a lot, but time is literally flying by! I used to think that two years was going to be sooo long, but I've already been out more than a month! I'll be home in no time! So now that I've gotten a chance to really get to know this area, let me tell you about it...
Pampa is a small city in the middle of nowhere. Almost all of the houses are really old and faded with trash everywhere. Completely neglected. It's a lot of rather poor looking streets. To be honest, this place reminds me of some parts of Tijuana...or Perris. Haha The people are either smoking or drinking when we knock at their doors. But there are one or two neighborhoods that are actually really nice houses. One is right next to the church and the other is a private community. And there are a lot of really nice people too! Those Western accents...if i hear someone say "I'm fixin' to..." one more time! -__- There is a Walmart here and a couple of fast food places. The high school football team sucks. There's a little lake that we can fish at. Other than that, there's no shopping centers or malls or restaurants. I know I'm still in Texas but this is pretty foreign to me! Haha just kidding. I kind of like it, there's less distractions. It's getting so cold here!! I'm talking 35 degrees with 40mph winds yo! Everyone makes fun of me because I'm the California boy used to beach weather. The snow is coming soon as well. I don't have any jackets and I'm not about to buy one at Walmart..... I'll write you privately Dad ;) haha Alright, on to the highlights of the week...
First of all, I mentioned last week that I really wanted to find more people to teach. We now have six new investigators including three families! Hard work truly pays off. Whenever I'm feeling tired or lazy I just think of those people who have been prepared for the Gospel waiting for me to find them. We found one investigator while actually teaching another investigator, how legit is that? This guy Isaac just came by as we were teaching a girl named Angelica on her front porch. He came by to hang out with her but we ended up teaching him and giving him a precious Book of Mormon to study, since he loves to study. Haha He reminded me a lot of you Fernando! Looks and everything! This other family that we're teaching, the mom's name is Lupita and she's already talking about "when I get baptized.." and "after I get baptized.." Her husband has been a member since moving here from Argentina but is inactive. She has an eight year old daughter who also wants to get baptized and younger kids who love listening to us. These are just some of the people we're teaching I just don't have time to write about all of them. We're truly blessed as missionaries in finding people that are willing to listen to us. My Spanish has gotten SO much better!! Dad, you wouldn't know it was me talking haha I'm teaching my companion English while he teaches me more Spanish. Half of our investigators only speak Spanish so it feels so good being able to easily teach them in Español. These Mexican families love me because I'm a "good looking Californian" hahaha it's awesome. The moms are like "so you're going to come back and marry my daughter right Elder Rios?" It's so awkward and funny at the same time!! I'm not even telling you guys this to sound cool or anything, it actually happens! Haha People here are amazed by my shuffling, too! Apparently they've never seen it before? As well as the Dougie and Cat Daddy. I'm bringing swag to Pampa, Texas ;) Holla 'atcha boy!
Everything is going great. I miss my home and family, but this mission thing is pretty fun!! I hope everyone is doing well and staying happy! Thanks for all the emails and letters, they make my day! I'm for sure going to try and send a couple of pictures today from a member's computer because this library doesn't allow you to hook anything up via USB.
If you guys get the chance, check out this sweet song about some sacrifices one makes in serving a mission..it made me shed some man tears. "Hardest Thing I've Ever Loved To Do" by Nashville Tribute Band
Make this week GREAT..y'all. :) Much love from Téjas,
Elder Rios
No comments:
Post a Comment