So, I forgot to tell you guys this last week, but my first couple days in the field I already met a pro baseball player! We met him while we were ordering some empanadas (which are incredible) and he started speaking english to us! We asked him where he learned, and he said he learned from his teammates on the Minnesota Twins. His name is Fernando Romero or something if you guys want to google him!
A little bit about my pueblo. San Juan is pretty awesome, and it´s a fairly small town and I guess that our house is one of the only houses in the mission with hot water. So that´s a blessing! Also, you obviously can´t drink the tap water, so we have giant blue jugs of drinkable water that the colmado delivers every week. We don´t sleep in mosquito nets and I haven´t been bitten once since I got here. The power doesn´t go out a ton, but sometimes it does when it´s raining. We have ceiling fans, so that´s nice. Also, we live so close to the chapel that you can see it from out our window, which is really great. The branch is pretty small, but the members are awesome! And as much as I hate to say it, mom you were right about the piano. They asked me my first week here with a gleam of hope in their eyes if I played piano, and I had to tell them that I didn´t because I didn´t take my mom´s advice, and I quit. Sorry mom! I realize that I mentioned Colmados earlier, so I should tell you what those are. They´re just little shops that are basically on every street corner, that sell various snacks and stuff. They´re really handy when you need water which you can buy for 10 pesos (like 25 cents). My favorite thing to get though, is a soda brand called red rock, and they have chicle soda, which is bubblegum flavor. So that stuff is awesome! And to answer your question mom, I have seen a couple mango trees here! Also a ton of banana trees. People sell fruit on the side of the road, and the mangos and avocados are HUGE. The avocados are the size of mangos, and the mangos are absolutely monstrous. Also, I´ve used my Roxberry skills and I´ve made some mango and chinola (passionfruit) smoothies.
As far as lessons went, this week was good! I´m starting to understand most of what´s happening in lessons, and my comp can just look at me, and I´ll start teaching from where he left off. I can´t really understand much of the small talk before or after the lesson, but I know most of the gospel words, so I can understand and teach the lessons and share scriptures! One lesson in particular was really good! Remember the man and his sons that I challenged to baptism? Well, we´ve continued teaching Manuel (the dad) and Robert, and Elias, and they´re really receptive! Manuel has had an addiction to smoking for like 35 years, and he´s in the process of quitting right now. Well, we were talking about the atonement, and his smoking problem came up, and I saw an opportunity to teach about the enabling power of the atonement. I told him that not only is the atonement for a remission of our sins, but it gives us the ability to strengthen ourselves from sinning in the future. Elder Christofferson said in a missionary devotional ¨The Atonement not only helps us become spotless, but sinless. When we sin, it changes something inside of us, the Atonement helps us to put it back¨ (That was a paraphrase, but a pretty good one) I hope Manuel and all of us take that to heart. I think that the enabling power is often overlooked when talking about the Atonement, but it´s so important and can help us immensly in our lives. Manuel said that that day was the day he quits smoking, and I´m so excited for him. Their baptismal date is October 22nd, so let´s hope it works out for them!
Well, that´s all for this week! It´s so great to hear all the news from back home! And I hope everyone´s doing great! Love you all!
-Elder Anderson
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