A lone missionary... With his companion versus the 90 acres of the CCM... Will they survive the next 4-5 days until their departure dates? Tune in next week to Week 6/7 to find out... Depending on whenever I arrive to Honduras and am able to email next.
Anyhoo! This week has been super fun. LET ME GIVE YOU THE PLAY BY PLAY.
Friday... A day that began seemingly like any other... UNTIL! Elder Andersen's alarm goes off! BOOP BOOP BOOP. At 5:50. Yep. 5:50... So after Elder Andersen's funeral later in the day we went to dinner, when it began to pour. And I mean POUR. And the water has absolutely no where to go so the streets were rivers. BUT! Good news is, is that my shoes ACTUALLY ARE WATERPROOF. Who would've known right? So as long as I stay in water beneath the ankle I won't get my feet wet, WOOHOO it's magic.
Saturday I couldn't tell you a darned thing other than that Elder Andersen (whose alarm now goes off at 5:55) went to the TSM building... Thomas S Monson building, the main building here, to do a service project where we cleaned up all the doors while Zone Mom Swept and told her stories. OH I HAVE TO TELL YOU ALL ABOUT ZONE MOM (at the bottom after all the week is done). Anyway we signed district 10A's transfer journals and stuff and took a big Zone picture because the left on Monday for their missions. Couple to Chile, couple to Pocatello, and one to Des Moines.
Sunday, we watched a couple short movies like the church movie about the Stonecutter. 5:55.
Monday was a day of regrets - I ate bad meat. Lots of Classes. 5:55.
Tuesday we had a devotional that was fun. Lots of Classes. 5:55 Alarm again.
Wednesday. OH BOY WEDNESDAY. 5:55 alarm. Yesterday was a day I won't forget. Outside of our classroom, like literally outside of our classroom there is a water dispenser, and everybody goes outside to get water alone, because you can still hear your companion and you can actually see the dispensor from most parts of the room. WELL I GUESS I NEED TO BE MORE OBEDIENT AND STICK WITH MY COMPANION. Because I went and got water, and Hermana Silva sees me and yells "Elder! Where is your companero??" and I told her he was just inside, (Like 5 feet away.) And so she grabs this gauze like cloth and ties Elder Andersen and I together for the next 30 minutes until she told us we could be freed. Yes. We had to go to the bathroom with it on. Anyway, I probably should take my companion with me, but it is the MTC, what is going to happen when we are 5 feet away? I guess it's just a good habit to set before I go out into the field. I like Hermana Silva, but I don't like being tied to my companion with a maximum distance of 4 ish feet of cloth between us...
Then our afternoon classes came, and Hermano Galicia was teaching us, he taught some Spanish, then we went outside to practice contacting in the MTC and getting referals. I went off with Elder Durham and we were walking past the computer labs to talk to some Latino Elders when we see President Tenorio, President of the MTC, in his garage unpacking his groceries. Immediately I look at Elder Durham and I say, "What are the odds?" and then he said "Nah, we HAVE to." so we run over to Presidente Tenorio and Introduced ourselves as missionaries of La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias... And he gives us the most confused look of his life. Then Elder Durham tells him that we are practicing contacting and getting references, and what was supposed to be a 5 minute activity, turns into this. President Tenorio invites into his home. On the outside it looks like every other house/building in the MTC. On the inside it's actually pretty well furbished, he has nice paintings/pictures on his walls, and he asks us to sit down on his couch in living room with a huge flat screen TV.
He sits down and we begin asking him questions to get to know him to know what to teach. USUALLY, you pretend to have problems or be some one else or a non member. He obviously didn't get the memo. We ask him about his family, he responds as Pres. Tenorio. We ask him about pretty much everything and get to know him pretty well. About his kids, one of which is at BYU, about his 15 grandkids, about his wife, everything. He responds as Pres. Tenorio. Then he says "Wait. Am I supposed to be a non member or member?" And at that point I could only just chuckle. We decided that we needed to get back to our class because it had been a while, so we close with asking him for references. He had 0, hahaha, and so we asked if there was ANYTHING we could help with. And he finally opened up and said "Yes." he told us that he and Hermana Tenorio were starting a diet and so they had to get rid of a few things and guides us to the freezer, where he hands Elder Durham and I two Vanilla Popsicles dipped in chocolate with assorted nuts embedded into the Chocolate. It was Christmas morning. Then he hands us a big bag of regular fruit popsicles and we leave on our way. We walk outside to find our wandering district and teacher looking for us. They were pretty mad until they saw the popsicles.
Today we got up at 5:30. Ate breakfast at 6:30 and went to the Temple to do a session. It was super cool and they didn't give us headphones so everything was in Spanish and we did surprisingly well. There was so much traffic though that we left at 7:15 and did not get back to the MTC until 1:30 at which time we ate lunch and did laundry up until now. I don[t exactly know when next I will write because Pday in the field is on Monday and I leave Tuesday to El Salvador then to Honduras. I'll miss the CCM and my district but I am pumped to get out there.
NOW. Zone mom. Zone Mom left on her mission nearly 8 years ago. In her final week at the Provo MTC she tore her shoulder playing Volleyball. Now she is returned as a missionary to serve as a 29 year old Hermana in Washington. She pretty much HATES all Elders and preaches them the rules that she herself breaks. Zone Mom Patrols the hall going class to class making sure everyone studies... But where is her studying? Oh yeah, she has been preparing for the last 8 years so she "Doesn't need to." Although I promise you she NEEDS TO STUDY SPANISH WHICH IS SO IRONIC BECAUSE SHE TRIES TO CORRECT EVERYONE ELSE. I don't understand that or her. There's always more to learn. I don't hate zone mom. I just don't get her. I think she's just uncomfortable being 100 years old around a bunch of teenagers. She's a good pianist though and I think it's super cool that she's going on a mission still after a million years of surgery. It's just a little weird just how much she embraces the name "Zone Mom."
And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to play in the field of Volleyball, until my hour hand and minute hand shall again reunite at 6. And I am brought forth triumpant in Volleyball. To play my last time for many years. Amen.
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