Las Arada - Week 3

Dear Family,

 

Yeah it rains every night here.  It only downpours for a couple hours, but when I say downpour, its definitely the hardest rain ive seen in my life.  Our apartment is pretty nice, its two stories, and we have a microwave.  We dont have an oven though haha.  I guess ill be in this area for twelve weeks, at least.  It kinda depends how long your in an area, because some missionaries I talk to change areas every six weeks, but my companion Elder Salas has been in this area (Aradas), for 7 months of his mission.  I havent really been handing out the pictures we bought that much, but I am handing out the rings to little kids here.  They think their pretty cool.

 Im getting to know my companion a little better, but my spanish is still pretty bad, so not that much.  Hes a pretty cool guy though with a strong testimony.  His moms inactive, but the rest of his family is pretty strong in the church.  My shoes are fine.  I just wear them untied because I get blisters when their tied.  Its all good though.  Yeah I like where im at.  Its definitely really pretty, and we walk probably five miles a day here.  Im pretty sure im losing a ton of weight.  The people dont have a lot of money, but their pretty humble and everybody lets us in to talk about the Gospel.  A lot of them like what our church says about being able to live with your family forever. 

Im starting to like the food here a lot.  Papusas are really good and frijoles here arent even that bad either, their definitely better then they are in the US.  They dont really it that flower papusa thing either, so I guess thats good haha.  Every P day here we get wendys or pizza hut, so i get a taste of home every week. 

Apparently my ward right now is a branch off another ward.  Because of this, my branch only has like 20 people in it.  Its a lot like the... greenfield brach in ohio?  Our  first counselor just got back from his mission in Argentina like three months ago, so that kinda tells you how small our ward is haha. 

I need to send some pictures.  I was going to send some today, but I forgot my camera so ill try again next week.  Life here is going well.  At least for now, this is the hardest thing ive done in my life, but im just hoping it will improve.  Ive only been here for a month, but im learning spanish slower then a lot of missionaries.  Mission life is good though, and im just trying to make this the best I can.  Well love ya fam, ill try to send some pictures next week. 

Pictures...finally! :)

Guatemala MTC District.  The guy in the yellow vest was a guide at a large map of Guatemala that the MTC President takes missionaries to and discusses the Book of Mormon lands

Jason's MTC Companion hard at work?

Pupusa's for lunch

 Pupusa's with beans and rice is the standard meal..he seems to be enjoying them.  Clearly the clock and calendar is off on his camera since he wasn't there in 2012! His house doesnt look to bad, 2 stories and three bedrooms....

  Jason's Companion, Elder Salas, from the Domincan Republic

Las Aradas - Week 2

Dear Fam, to answer some of your questions...

Companion    I have a latino companion, Elder Salas, as you guys know.  Hes collecting all the quarters, so do we have any of those quarter collection books lieing around.   It would be cool to give to him.  House is still pretty quiet since he doesnt speak any english.  I think thats one of the toughest things, just living in silence most of the time haha.

Shoes...  Those eccos we got... hurt.  My feet are all cut up from them, so today im just wearing them really loose.  Cant do anything about that though haha. 

We have a baptism date for the 29th of June.  Weve just given a guy two lessons, but he was definitely prepared, and attended church on Sunday and loved it! Here for baptism people have to go to church three times, and then they can be baptized. Elder Salas will baptize him, but it will be a great experience to be able to attend that.

Package... I havent gotten your guys package yet, but it will probably come soon!

Area... Yep I think thats right. Theres not that much in aradas other then dirt floor houses!  Theres a small neighborhood where the hermanas in my district proselyte.  Its a lot richer then where I am.   Its fun having a hermana from my district in the CCM in my district here. 

Temple...  We got to go to the San Salvador temple last saturday.  I should have taken pictures, but i forgot my camera!  I really dont have too many pictures right now of the mish.  Its a nice small temple though.  We took investigators up there, and just taught them about the temple.  All of the investigators we talked to about the temple loved being able to go up there and see it.  It was a great experience.

Food... Im not a big fan of the food here haha.  Papusas here are better then the ones we had, but i like them more with ketchup then the salsa.  Im just not a big fan of tortillas, and they eat tortillas here... for every meal.  They do have real milk here though, so i get to have cereal in the morning!  It makes me feel like im back at home.  Ive been sick for the last week though with big d. 

Serving here is really just two years of camping!  Were in the forest all day every day, so it really does feel like were just camping for two years.  Also, i guess its not really all that dangerous here.  Ive been talking with the elders who are about to go home, and none of them have ever seen anybody get shot.  I have faith that as long as I do what Im supposed to, I wont see anything like that either.

Ive just been praying every day for charity.  Im having a tough time caring a lot about the people here, but need to change my focus.  I guess Im kinda having a withdrawal from the Reds.  Who knew baseball could be an addiction! haha  Well fam one more week down, \but I guess im just not used to having to do hard stuff.  One thing an older elder here talked about was no regrets.  He just wakes up every day trying to make sure he doenst have any regrets at the end of his mission.  Im gonna try to take that motto too!  Well love you fam thanks for the support. Oh and... reds update??? haha

Mission Arrival Letter and Pictures

Dear Richardson Family,

            We are happy to announce that your son, Elder Richardson, has safely arrived to our mission. The night of his arrival, we enjoyed getting to know his in a dinner at the mission home, and we can tell that he is a great missionary. We are grateful for his sacrifices and your sacrifices to allow him to be here. We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will pour out his blessings upon your family. We are very happy to have your son with us and we know he will bless the lives of many people here in the great country of El Salvador.

He has been assigned to the Las Aradas area in the Modelo Stake. His companion is Elder Salas from the Dominican Republic. We expect to see many miracles from this companionship.