"He had to buy me a machete!"

January 19, 2015

Hola!!

Oh man, what a week.... 

On Monday literally right after I finished writing, I received my Christmas package! Thanks so much mom! it was perfect! It was full of everything I have been craving! The photo books were super awesome! My companion and I had a bet. He thought he could finish the gallon milk challenge correctly so we went and bought milk. To make a long story short, I ended up winning and he had to buy me a machete! It was fun and awesome! We also had a testimony meeting and said bye to Elder Sanchez who is finishing his mission. Tuesday we had another service project and I got to use my new machete!! That thing is so awesome! Haha! As we leave our pention these little kids always beg for money and this time one of them said, “Hey greengo!” I’ll let you marry my sister if you give me 2 pesos!! And his sister came outside and looked at him like, “what the crap?” And he was yelling, “This is my sister! This is my sister!!” Haha! All the elders thought that was so funny. I will never hear the end of it. So on Wednesday I was still sick. Hermana Zambrano had me stay home for the day and gave me a list of medicine to take. It was like antibacterial stuff and I was super dehydrated so she gave me this stuff to put in my water. It sucked, I never want to stay in again. But then on  Thursday I was good as new, no more problems! And you know how said last week there was a huge storm… this week, we had a storm that was even bigger!! We were eating dinner at our pention’s house and it was just pouring rain and water just starts flowing into her house. So Elder Wertz and I grab shovels and run outside to redirect the water and save her house. We were just drenched in water and meanwhile all the latin elders are huddled up trying to stay dry… what the? Haha! So we grabbed them and we threw them all outside. It was pretty funny. Afterwards, we had an activity at the church about a mile away and I kid you not, we were walking in the streets in mid shin deep water! It was crazy! Then we get to the church and no one showed up... but the whole experience was fun anyway! Earlier that day we taught one of our investigators and he always seems super interested but after the lessons, he just grills us with intense questions and after all of that, he's super happy. So I hope he is feeling the spirit and is taking in everything we are teaching him. Other that that no one wanted to listen to us so literally all week was spent tracting... and walking around. It was tough... and Friday wasn't a good day, it was super hot, no one wanted to hear our message and none of our investigators let us in. It was frustrating but we just kept on pressing forward. Saturday was the same but this time me and my comp were playing stupid little games to keep our mind busy. Haha! It was fun. Then on Sunday, we get to church and we were told we have to teach the teenagers in Sunday school! So we just kind of winged it and the kids thought it was soooo funny that I have trouble understanding Spanish...... but it was super fun teaching them!!

Tomorrow they are bringing in hermana missionaries in my area for the first time in 20 years! Its been too dangerous for hermanas, but we are having a test run! Also there is rumor our mission is expanding and creating another area! But we are losing an area to the La Paz mission! In July, I think which ever missionaries are in this specific area may being switched to the La Paz mission. There is a small chance that could be me but I doubt it. I love it here we have the best group of elders and the best president!!

I’m loving it!

Love,
Elder Harding

PS (potty talk)

The teachers back home had some questions about how I shower and use the bathroom. So the showers are these weird pipes with a normal shower head on them and there is a bunch of wires on top and that how we get our hot water. We have one shower with hot water and you flip two switches to get hot water but this week the wires just exploded and caught on fire so now we have no hot water. Haha! It’s alright, you get used to cold water. So the bathrooms in our house are for the most part like in the USA. But at members houses, they are outside. And two different kinds. One is a normal toilet except you have to go get a bucket of water and pour it down to flush it and you cant put your toilet paper in there. You just throw it away. And the other type is a toilet like normal but it just leads to a hole in the ground. And there are two holes on the toilet one for number 2 and one for number 1. So if your aim is bad on number 2 and you hit the middle you’re screwed! Haha! So thats for all you teachers…

My Zone

The Emergency Flood Rescue Team