I'm still speaking english actually. I just got a good chance to hear lots and lots of spanish and say "yo testifico" a lot this week. Elder Harden and I went on exchanges with the zone leaders. They cover the same area, but spanish. We found them lots of investigators but only one for ourselves, haha. The ones we found are super sweet though! There's a guy named Jesus who saw us across the street when we were headed back to the car and said "Mormones!" He lived in Utah for years and years, but he and his wife never converted. When he saw us he was excited to hear where we were from and if we'd been to the Provo City Center temple, since he went to the open house. We went in and Elder Snow taught them the restoration, and they loved it! I wish I could have helped, haha.
We also taught some kids who are in an immersion program at school, so while they were reading in spanish, I did get to say some stuff! And that's where I learned how to say word, since they were talking about their favorite english words. I like "banderas." It's fun to say.
I haven't gotten to meet our new investigator yet! We should talk to him on Wednesday though. It's a great thing, because it feels like there's a little bit of a drought and bad luck going on here.
We got dropped by a couple of people around here recently, which is sad, but it's their decision.
I wish I'd taken a picture of my scriptures to add on to this. They're starting to look pretty crazy, since I've been putting little sticky-note tabs on scriptures from PMG. It's been great to go through and read all of them and study them, but I think I'll need to figure out a different scripture case situation.
The members here are feeding us pretty well! The latino ones especially. Their food is really good. I'm not going to say I love spicy food now, but I'm definitely "warming" up to it. And the music! On Saturday nights everyone is partying, and the spanish music cracks me up. Every time I hear accordions it makes me smile.
We talked to a bunch of little kids outside one of the parties. They asked who we were, so we told them we're missionaries that go around teaching people about Jesus. They were all "I love Jesus!" until one was like "I love cheez-its!" and then they all talked about their favorite foods. Maybe I'll stick to teaching kids that are baptism age ;P
I also had my first bible-bashing. That was a thing. It grew my testimony of the word of wisdom though. We saw some teens outside of a Christian concert in someone's backyard, and they asked how we were enjoying the service and if we were mormons and stuff. We walked down the street and back, and when we saw them again they were smoking. Then they followed us and tried to tell us that God told them to prove we were wrong. I don't think it works that way. It was frustrating, not because their questions were hard or anything, but because they just weren't willing to listen. Now I know that smoking is DEFINITELY bad for your spirit.
Even if it feels like we're not teaching too many people, I know we're doing God's work. Every day is long and difficult, but I've never loved what I'm doing more. I feel courageous and steadfast in a way I never have before, despite the trials. Thank you so much everyone, for supporting the missionaries.
Love,
Elder Adams
