short letter...I fell asleep

I know what it's like to be super tired; i actually fell asleep mid-letter today, and woke up an hour and a half later on top of my notebook. It was pretty funny, but used up pretty much all of my writing time I had today.

I've also been reading Jesus el Cristo again (en espanol this time) and it's pretty awesome. I've gotten to the point where I can read in Spanish almost as well as in English, my only real problem with understanding people is the accent... also a couple idiomatic expressions still throw me. I can't think of the words to use as well as I can understand them though, but that will come with practice, which I take every opportunity i can to get. I was actually able to talk to a couple mexicans the other day who agreed to meet again, but I had to refer them to the spanish elders.

Haha I've also met quite a few people who are quick to try and point out faults, and I've gotten quite a knowledge of good bashing scriptures down. I haven't used them, though.

It actually did get cold enough here a few times to wear a thick coat. Mostly it's pretty warm though. I'm excited for the warmer months, though. Apparently the wildlife gets pretty crazy.

Well, I've got to head out now. I hope everything is going fantastically. I love y'all :)

Hi y'all

So yeah, nothing super exciting happened this week. We did find some new people to teach, and lost some old ones. It's weird... So much happens in such a short amount of time that it's really hard to remember anything specific by the time I get to the computer... Funny story, Alma 8: 11-13 is very much like our experience in a few apartment complexes... I read that this morning and it made me laugh. Also, look at the connection between Alma 5: 28 and Ether 12: 27. Also, Alma 48: 17 talks about how cool Moroni was and how we should all be like him, then verse 18 talks about some other guys who were like him, then if you go back to Alma 17: 2-3 it tells you how they got to be that way. It's good stuff.

We've been finding more bilingual people who like to talk to us in English, but also speak Spanish, so I've gotten some more practice that way. I'm relatively comfortable talking to people who enunciate clearly now, but that's not the majority of people... haha. I do most of my reading in Spanish, though, so I pretty much know the words and grammar and all that.

I wish I had something more exciting to tell about... so many things happen and there are litle miracles that happen every day, so nothing really stands out... We did meet a guy who thought we baptize dead bodies. That was kinda funny. He also said he might buy us a car or something, at least some wedding gifts... Surprisingly nice for the misconceptions he had. haha I'll have to find a way to keep in contact with him. I also scraped a dead lizard off a lady's door. That was fun.

We found a dog in this one neighborhood who followed us around the whole time we were there, and answered when we called, and sat and stayed when we asked, too. It was pretty hilarious. I took a picture of him, so I'll send that some time when I get my pictures printed.

I'm trying to pick up on more of the Texas slang and accent, though there isn't much in this area..but I did say howdy without thinking one time, and I do say y'all now....

Alright, gotta go, love y'all

Another week..

(Brock asked us to express to everyone his thanks for the cards and gifts he received for Christmas. He is trying to write everyone a personal thank you note but it is taking more time than he has.  He wants everyone to know how much he appreciated everything everyone has done and continues to do for him.)

 

So this week was not super exciting, we kinda had a lot of people bail on us, so we did a lot of going door to door.  I'm considering carrying around a dictionary so I can show people the definition of the word "solicit." We got kicked out of a few places and yelled at by a few people for soliciting. One guy actually said he didn't care if we were doing what Christ would do, but we could come in his house while he called the police... Soliciting is asking for donations, or selling something. It is completely okay to knock on somebody's door to offer service and ask if they would be willing to listen to a message (that doesn't involve asking for money or selling anything), then leave if they say no. To prohibit such would be a violation of first amendment rights. We do leave if it is a private neighborhood or something and they tell us they don't want us there, but still... 

 

Anyways, I went on exchanges with another missionary to hillbilly country and it was awesome.  One guy answered the door in his boxers, and told me he liked my tie because it was his two favorite colors, chrome and paisley. I also almost got eaten by a dog. Luckily the knot held and he couldn't get off his rope.  There were some of the nicest people I have ever met up there... Actually, the first door we knocked on invited us in, gave us water and had a nice conversation with us before inviting us to share our message.  That's kinda funny compared to the richer area I'm in haha.  It's great though, I really do love the people in my are, it just requires a very different approach.  The wards we cover are so amazing, they are all very missionary minded and invite people to all sorts of things and host activities for neighbors and all that.  They fellowship like crazy, which makes our job a bunch easier.

 

So as much as I'm trying to eat well for the meals I control, I have disovered the deliciousness that comes from wrapping everything in a tortilla, then frying it in butter until it's crispy... It's pretty bad haha. There is some good food down here, though. I'm still waiting on some real mexican food... I've mostly just had tex mex. Except, we do actually have some homemade tamales in the fridge right now... I also had the opportunity to get a lengua with sauce on it, but I decided I'd do it next time. haha

 

So apparently there are a bunch of scorpions here in the summer. I'm pretty excited. There is a good chance I'll try to catch one. I also hope to eat rattlesnake before these two years are up, though it doesn't seem to be as common of a dish as I had hoped haha.

 

Alright, I've got to go now, but I'll try and do some super exciting stuff for y'all to hear about next week. Paz fuera.

 

Elder Katzakian

Typing at the library

So I know I sent you a letter, but I'll do a brief runthrough of how christmas went anyways. We had breakfast and lunch at two differrent member families' houses. Basically I ate a lot, because people didn't realize other people were feeding us too... Then We had dinner with the Briggs, who we're teaching, and they also fed us a lot. I pretty much had to roll myself into the apartment that night.

 

At the end of this month, there is a pretty good chance that we'll be moving in with some members, so my address will change then. Also, transfers are on the twentieth, so it's possible (but not likely) that I'll be moving then, too. If you're going to mail anything that week, just go ahead and send it to the office to be safe, or to be super safe you can just wait untilI send an email sing where I am for sure. Monday would still probably be okay to mail though because the twentieth is a thursday... so yeah.

 

Kelly Briggs is getting baptized!!! We had a lesson with her, basically just trying to really firmly establish the Book of Mormon and the restauration of the authority to Joseph Smith, then ended with baptism. She said she'd do it but needed time to get ready... so give her maybe about a year. We told her we didn't want to push her into anything she wasn't ready for... but we knew that she could be ready by the end of the month (the date is the twenty-second). She laughed a little and told us we were crazy, but that she would pray about it. That night after she prayed she had a song pop into her head that something about don't wait until tomorrow because tomorrow might be too late, so the next day at church she said she'd do it, and now we are getting her ready for baptism :) We pretty much did little happy dances because we had been praying really hard for that, and fasting, and yeah... It's just so awesome because I know it will help her a lot. She is doing a lot for her whole family and has a lot on her plate right now, and baptism is such a great strength... then the gift of the Holy Ghost will help carry her through all her trials. I know everyone needs it, but of the people we are in contact with right now, she needs it especially and is very ready for it. It's awesome.

 

The lady who we were way excited to get to the christmas devotional has started dodging us. She got nervous and chickened out on going to church. Her son likes to talk to us though, and I think we'll be able to get back to her that way. A lot of other missionaries weren't able to get to her... but I have a really strong feeling that by now she has been prepared enough, and if we are persistent and loving, we will be able to help her overcome her challenges.

 

We have some really good things happening, and some really good people investigating. This next week, between the three wards, there are something like fifteen people who we think will come to church if we can be faithful, obedient, and hard-working throughout the week.  That would be exhausting and I don't know how we'd be able to manage it exactly... but as we prayed and planned we felt good about every single one of them. So yeah, we're just going to hit it as hard as we can and I know God will help us accomplish. I've seen us be able to do so much more than we thought we could, or really should have been able, through following the spirit and just being obedient to the rules and the promptings. It's intense. Then, at the end of the day, we pretty much die in our beds.  I've never been so tired in my entire life, and I've had two full days of work where I didn't sleep between them before... so yeah.

 

So yeah, still way behind on thank you letters for christmas... probably won't be able to write any today... we had more car problems and we have to do extra shopping, and crazy stuff all over the place. So we'll see.  So yeah, if anyone get's something from me saying thanks sometime in february, it's from christmas haha... Thank you, though, to everyone for the love and support, and thanks for the Christmas things. We had a sweet little fiber-optic tree that we lit up for christmas and it was fun.

 

Oh, ashlie, you said something about my sugar comment and I forgot to tell you... for a while before my mission I was showing some symptoms of hypoglycemia, though i never went to a doctor to actually be checked... but yeah. I never really have sugar highs at all, I just crash really really hard, but if I don't have any sugar, I get shaky and light-headed. I try to be careful out here and it's not getting worse, but it's tough when I have to work all day, so I need to eat to have energy, but I don't have control over what I'm eating for the last meal... so it's usually more than what I need and just packed with carbs. It's not as bad as this probably made it sound.. but yeah, my companion needs to stay low on sugar too, so we're gonna work on it together.

 

Padre, te agradezco las historias de tu mision. Fue super chevere escucharlas. Tambien es bueno poder relatarme a las cosas asi.  Es extrano ser misionero, aunque maravilloso.  Si tienes mas historias, ?puedes eviarmelas? Me ecantaria, y probablemente me ayudaria tambien. !Mucho amor!

 

Thanks for everything!!! I love all of the love and support I get, and I'm sorry I don't have time to respond to everything.  I've gotta go now to finish up our stuff today. Talk to y'all later! Love you.