My first week in Mexico

Hola Familia!


So, now let me tell you about the mission field. THERE REALLY ARE CHIHUAHUAS EVERYWHERE! Haha. ANd the work, it is crazy. Especially this mission! THey call it La Mision Maravillosa. People werent kidding when they said that we had a strict mission president. Here are some of the rules. We HAVE to wake up at 6 a.m., not 6 30. We get 15 minutes to work out, 15 minutes to clean the house. 15 minutes to eat breakfast. and then 4 hours of personal,companion, language study, etc. We do not really get a P-day. We do our laundry during study (our little house is one of the few in the mission with a washing machine), then we get an hour to do shopping, 30 minutes to write our families (we cant write anyone else! well we can handwrite, but there is a very small chance that the letter will be delivered) and then we get back to work. We do not get to play any sports or anything. ALSO, no music. :( My ipod, cd player, cds, and speakers are locked in a safe at the mission home, so dont send any music or anything. THis was a tragic blow to my spirits when i learned of this.

So we arrived in Chihuahua, Chihuahua on Monday, and we were in the mission offices for a few hours only. I got a 3 minute interview with the president. He spoke to us all for about 10 minutes, (I forgot to mention that he speaks absolutely zero english), and then we were shipped out to our areas. I am in a city at the very South of the Mission called Jimenez. It is 9 hours from Juarez. Jimenez is a Pueblito, with 50,000 people. We have a tiny little Rama, or branch, with about 50 active members, (BUT THERE WERE 75 PEOPLE AT CHURCH ON SUNDAY!!!) (including 5 of our investigators). We are not allowed to do any tracting here. No knocking on doors. We work 100% through member referrals. Oh, but we do get to ride bikes in my area! My bike seat was broken for the first couple days, so it was really only like 2 inches wide, and i felt like i was sitting on a bar. I bruised my tailbone and buns for a few days. But we went and bought a new seat. So Im all good now. It rained for 2 days here and my pants were covered in mud.

My companions name is Elder Leon. He is from Peru and speaks zero english. The other two elders we live with are both Mexican. Elder Tena y Elder Ledezma. Elder Ledezma speaks a little English, but not much. Our house is small, but it is nicer than other houses that the missionaries have in the mission. My bed is about a foot away from our front window, which has a gnarly human sized hole in it, which has a piece of cardboard taped over it. Siiiick. Ha. I love it here though.

At times I get really frustrated because I realize how little Spanish I actually speak. I can understand ALMOST everything, but i cannot really take part in anyconversations yet. So Elder Leon does most of the teaching, and then I just bear my testimony. But I am improving and trying to sepak more. The work is frustrating. No one is ever in their houses when we have an appointment with them. And we cant just go knocking on doors when this happens. My companion and I get the side of the city that has La Pri, which is an extremely poor part of the city.

I am out of time fam, and I have to get back to work. But I love you all and will write again next monday (my kind of pday). I hope you all have a good week. Please email me.

Love,

Elder Romney Vaughn Hansen