14: San Jorge 5

¡Buenas!

Second to last week of my first change.  It's been a busy one.  I've kept busy.

Yes, my really messy desk...

First of all, Wednesday was my companion's birthday.  We went to the house of Hermana Fernandez (the really good cook) for lunch and she had the whole dining room decorated.  I went with Elder García 15 minutes earlier and we dressed up as clowns.  Then we got to sing to him.  They sing the happy birthday song in English, but with a thick Latin accent.  So funny.  Then they sang some other song, then counted to 20 (his age) and let him blow out the candle.  Then, apparently it's tradition there that the birthday-er has to take a bite of the cake before they eat it...and usually someone pushes their head into the cake while they're doing it.  So awesome.  But Elder Gonzalez was really afraid...so I held down Elder García while Elder Gonzalez took the first bite.  Yeah, it was a pretty sweet birthday party.  I think we need traditions like that in the states.  So awesome.  I don't have pictures of that, but Elder García does, so I'll try to get them for next week.

Also, I've got to be honest, I'm kinda getting fat...  Hermana Fernandez always gives us so much food (cause she loves the missionaries...I'm pretty sure she lives to feed missionaries), and here if you don't eat every single speck of food the cooks get offended.  You can't say no.  But wow, the food is so good here, especially the fruit.  The mangos here are unreal.  And the bananas are delicious.  Attached is a picture of me awkwardly hugging a banana tree.

The view down the road

Also, I baptized Pichi Pichi yesterday.  His name is Agustín.  He used to be a teacher, then he got way into drugs, got hit by a truck, and attempted suicide.  I remember the first time I met him a few weeks ago, we were walking to the Tinoco family's, and my companero said, "Do you want to meet a crazy person?"  Then I met Pichi Pichi.  He is so funny.  His arm doesn't work, and his voice is very raspy because of the crash, but he's so much fun.  He likes to dance, make faces, and mess around.  He's so happy.  So at first, I just thought he was a really crazy person.  Then last week he came to church, and was singing, and I realized he could read and write.  After talking with him for a bit, I realized that he was actually really intelligent, and wanted to be baptized.  So we taught him the lessons, and I got to baptize him yesterday (adults have to attend church two times before they can be baptized).  Honestly, I felt pretty normal after, but he was beaming with glee.  I asked him how he felt and he said "marvilloso."  It was a pretty cool experience.

We also got two families to come to church this Sunday:  the family of Jorge and the family of Edwin.  Both of them are very positive, especially Jorge.  He freakin' loved church.  I hope we can set a date with him this week, but he can't read, and he's pretty simple minded, so it's going to take a lot of teaching.  I'm pretty excited.

Today we got to go to Lake Uatepe as a zone.  Of course, we couldn't touch the water or walk over it on the dock, but it was a pretty cool view.  Honestly though, it was a pretty painful trip.  I just wanted to swim.  That water looked so, so tempting.  Wow, I miss not wearing clothes (and swimming).  I took a picture of the lake from the road.  Of course, if you look directly down from the road you can see what a lot of what El Salvador really looks like.  There aren't any trash cans here.  People steal them and sell them.  So instead, everyone just throws their trash on the ground.  How beautiful.

E. Delgado..basically a pro

Also, the zone leaders ordered t-shirts for the zone and let the hermanas pick them out.  Bad idea.  They're bright pink and say Modelo (our zone) on the front.  Kind of a little...well, yeah.  But Elder Delgadito enjoyed taking modeling poses in it.  So here's a picture of my zone.  Also, I learned this week that you can basically add -ito or -ita onto any word to make it smaller. 

So I've got one more week left of my first change.  I can understand Spanish now when they use words I know.  I can speak sentences that make sense to me, but a lot of times I just get blank stares when I ask a question.

Well, those have been my adventures this week.

¡Saluuuuu!

Elder Bailey