Sorry...no pictures this week...and this keyboard has the
backspace in the wrong spot, so sorry if there are a few extra type-o's.
Anyway, this week has been better; mainly it’s just my
perspective, but I am doing well. So, I made a big decision...Jessica keeps
asking what I want her to send, and I never tell her, but I just want to say
NOT candy…dessert is different obviously J
but no candy. I already eat unhealthy enough here, so yeah, no need to send
candy while I am on my mission after watching how much candy other missionaries
eat. Ha-ha.
So, we are moving this week! They finally found a new place,
and it is an apartment next to the trailer park where all of our work is, so we
will save tons of miles. We ended up 450 miles over this month; our vehicle
coordinator was aware, though, well ahead of time. Before I got into the area,
Elder Saldaña’s old companion pretty much used all of ours up going around the
mission, so things should be better this month.
So anyways, just about my Spanish: I haven't reported in
awhile. Most people that I talk to are surprised that I speak ok and tell me I
don't have a bad accent, which is good. Most missionaries here that learn Spanish
don't ever practice, so most people's reaction in the ward is surprise, because
Elder Saldaña’s last companion has been out a year and can't really speak it
still. I still have a ton to learn, but at least I can communicate fine. I am
working on doing flashcards for all the words in the small red book, all the
grammar reviews in the medium red book and just reading the Book of Mormon the
rest of the time. I couldn’t believe Tyson finished the whole Book of Mormon in
Spanish in a transfer, so I have been kicking it into gear and trying to do it
a little faster. I have been lazy about it and doing other Spanish things that
are probably easier and won't help as much.
So, we have this talk called ‘Feed My Sheep’ by Elder
Holland. We have it on video. It was given a year ago in the MTC. If you can
find it then watch it. It's like Remember the Titans, but with the Spirit. It
is awesome. Basically the whole time, it is really good, but then at the end he
finishes with talking about the exact moment that Peter became the great
apostle when for the third time (acknowledging the three times he denied the
Savior) he says he loves the Savior more than anything. And in that moment,
Elder Holland says you can forget the denials, the confusion, the not knowing
what to do but go feed sheep, because in that moment he becomes the great
apostle and "to that response the Savior of the world said then Feed my
sheep! (while pounding the podium)" and he talks about how the Savior was
conveying "I have asked you before to leave your nets, and I am asking you
a second time and don't want to ask you a third time, when I asked you to
follow me it was forever, when I asked you to be an apostle it was forever,
when I asked you to see this through to the end. it was because it’s not over
till its over, so go feed my sheep." Anyway, I can't do justice over email,
but it is seriously so awesome, and he gets very passionate and talks about how
awful it is to serve a mission then go home and go inactive, and that this
mission marks the hour that we will feed His sheep FOREVER. Not just two years…anyways.
So at random times during the day, I will yell out FEED MY SHEEP just because
we love it so much. In fact, it is about an hour long. It’s what Elder Saldaña
does for personal study a lot of the time. Ha-ha. (The referenced talk isn't posted here yet, but if we keep checking, I'm thinking it might get added to the list.)
So they had the missionaries translate in Sacrament Meeting
today. I was doing fine up until the guy started reading a quote by Elder
Bednar. I got lost and gave it to Elder Saldaña, and he did it through the rest
of the meeting, so I still have a ways before I can translate, I guess.
So something cool happened. I was reading in Mosiah 24-25
and didn't know why. Then later that day, a lady was going through a rough time,
and I knew just the scripture for her. It was cool how the Lord prepared me to
help her.
So, request for my siblings...tell me more about your
concerns/problems/worries whatever, maybe at least for my little siblings I can
have advice and then mostly because I can have more specific things to pray
for. I love getting your letters, so keep them coming. I am sorry if I can’t
write back every time. So, Dad I keep getting asked where you served in Guatemala.
We had dinner with a family from there the other day, and they are my favorite people
ever. It was kind of sad; they didn't eat with us. They just watched us eat,
because they didn't have enough for them, so we didn't eat very much but kept
saying how good it was, and it made them so happy. And my branch president
served in Guatemala when he was nineteen, and he was born in 68 so Dad would
have barley missed him.
So, we are continuing to work hard. My companion is burning
out a little bit, and he gets bored of doing stuff pretty quick and just wants
to drive around a lot. I am trying to discourage that as much as possible, but
it’s tough since I am the junior companion. He usually stays kind of obedient
with me, but the other day he took the car to get it fixed and was gone for
three hours and came back with shopping bags (he went with Elder Jolley). I was
mad but just didn't say anything since there was really nothing I could do at
that point about it.
I finally got Phil’s address; I will write him today. Tyson
should write him. I will send him the address. He respects Tyson a lot, and if
Tyson says the things he said to me then I think it will help him out. What he
said really helped and inspired me. Also can y'all send me some ideas of how to
serve my companion; people tell me that, but I don't know how. I am trying to
look for ways and have been just really nice to him, but I want to do more;
send me some ideas. We are usually good getting along everyday except for study
and planning. He doesn't really like to plan or study anymore. I really have to
push him to do it, so he is in a bad mood. The other day he was really mad,
because I came to him as humble as I possibly good and said, we need to change
the way we teach the Holy Ghost (basically we were doing everything that they
told us not to do in our last training and we’re teaching the Holy Ghost
incorrectly), but he was mad and said I think everything he does is wrong
and all I want to do is correct him, which I never do because I know he gets
angry.
We had branch counsel this week, and it was
interesting. OK, so at the last baptism,
a TON of people showed up, and the branch president said, “Wow, look at all
this support we have. This is great. Either that or they just love our relief
society president's cooking!” Anyways, normal comment, nice guy, someone got
offended and refuses to come back to church, because the branch president
thinks that she only comes for the food, so the primary president yelled at our
branch president for like ten minutes about this, and how he has no taste and
is offensive and all these things. It was interesting. But we went to his house
for dinner that night and talked to him, and he vented a little about it so we
are a little closer with him now. Also we met the lady that got offended.
She was cutting her grass, and we pulled over and tried to help. She said, “No,
absolutley not,” we would get our clothes dirty. So we said, “Fine, we are
going to change and come back and do your entire yard,” and she kept saying no,
but we didn't listen and went home and changed and did her yard and pulled a
TON of weeds. Although she said no, at the end she was happy and thanked us
very much. The new apartment we are living in is next to her house, so we will
start helping her with her yard often. Hopefully she will get to know us and
want to come back to church, and we can baptize her three kids that haven’t
been baptized yet. (The husband wants them baptized, but she doesn’t.)
We had hot dogs Mexican style. You have to try it. Actually,
it’s bratwursts (sorry no idea how to spell that) and you put them in a
tortilla with coleslaw, guacamole, and mustard, and it is soooo good.
We taught another inactive family this week about
forgiveness. They don't feel able to come to church, because they are angry at
their dad/husband for leaving them and are filled with such bad feelings, they
don't feel like they can take the Sacrament. It was one of the more spiritual
lessons I have ever had, they were all crying, and I talked about letting go of
the bad feelings and letting the Savior take those away, because they were
trying to handle it all on their own, and they wouldn't succeed without his
help. So the other night, random thing, I was reading and Elder Saldaña came in
and invited me to play cards. I said no, and I am pretty sure that Elder Jolley
told him too, but still Elder Saldaña would have never done something that nice
before, so maybe there is progress.
I am really sick of going out to eat everyday. I have never
gotten anything, but I sit there and wait, and they take sooo long to eat. So I
will definitely never have time to cook food, but it’s ok. I like sandwiches.
I learned this week that I cannot speak drunk Mexican. There
were three really drunk guys, and I couldn't understand them at all, so I will
know that I am fluent when I can talk to drunk people and know what they are
saying.
Dad, you said there are no fees on my new card, so if I get
cash from atm, and it gives a three dollar fee, will the bank just cover it? or
did I understand it wrong? I am way too cheap to pay fees, so let me know, so I
can avoid that. One thing that Elder Saldaña has been doing that
drives me crazy is he asks everyone how much their car costs.. He says oh cool
car! how much was it? and people get uncomfortable, but I can’t say anything to
him, because he would definitely get mad (as he does with any type of
feedback).
So I realized something this week: going to the gym everyday
at home really did help me for my mission. I was not feeling well the other
day, but I got up and went out and tracted anyways, and I realized it was just
like going to the gym: some days I wouldn't want to do it, but I did anyway,
because I knew I would be happier afterward. So maybe going to the gym was good
for something, because it made me learn to persevere and get up and go even
when I don't want to, or my companion doesn’t want to.
So none of our investigators are going to church or
progressing right now. They are nearly impossible to get ahold of, so we teach
one lesson a week to each investigator if we are lucky, but the member presents
have been increasing, and we got a really great referral last week, so that’s
good.
So anyways, I have been doing well. The music thing, like I
said, still drives me crazy. I hate how at home I can't get away from it, but
there is nothing I can do, so I just need to deal with it. The work is moving
forward and the members are getting to know us so things will turn around here.
Oh and also Elder Jolley started cleaning this week! At random times, he will
clean things, even his own dishes. I think, because he felt bad that I was
always doing it. So that is awesome to have some of his help. Hopefully this
knew place will be better. We met the owner of our apartment building, and she
asked if we are clean people, and I said yes, we would take care of her
apartment. Then Elder Saldaña said, “Well everyone is messy sometimes, and we
are pretty busy, so we will probably be a little messy.” The lady was like
uhhhh, and I just said, no we will be clean. Elder Saldaña got mad and said
fine, “I guess my companion is perfect and he will keep it clean!” So he
probably won’t be much help, and I doubt the lady that owns our building really
is happy to have him live there, but I am going to do my best.
Anyways, that’s all that is going on. I found out how bad
other people are at spending money even more this week, my companion has no
ability to resist spending money ha-ha. He looks around at stuff and just buys
whatever he sees that looks cool and doesn't get or comprehend at all why I
don't go out to eat more, but he noticed I am healthy, and he said he wants to
start a diet. So he started skipping breakfast and lunch one day and just
drinking soda during the day. Ha-ha. I don't think he knows that won’t really
help, but oh well. He takes like five different bodybuilding supplements, so
the caffeine and creatine should keep him going at least for a couple years.
Anyways, I hope all is well, love you all!
Elder Bassett
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