Ahh I love emails!!
This week has been NUTS! Thank you all for the advice. Dad, I was
thinking a lot about your visit to California last week, that must
have been pretty awesome. Mom, it sounds like your talkimony was
great! I wish I could have been there!
Haley, keep on keepin on! StuCo is challenging sometimes, but think of ways
to make it fun! Im trying to figure out how to make things fun when
everything is going wrong. Maybe we can help each other figure it
out.
I weigh 185 lbs. Thats ten lbs more than when i entered the mtc. And
it isnt fat :) I do push ups every morning. I hate it, but im
getting a bit bigger.
I never imagined how hard it would be going into a Latino district. I
thought it was tough living with a companion, but add on top of that
learning a new culture (AND language) and it has its ups and downs.
This was the hardest week yet and I cant wait to get into the field.
Elder Granja is awesome. But hes different. He said the F word twice
this week haha oops.
To give you an idea of the Latino mentality (or at least for this
group) is this: Elder Taylors companion goes to the bathroom nine
times a day. Every morning he adds four scoops of fiber to his
oatmeal. Elder Taylor explained to him that fiber makes your stool
soft. The next day, his companion added five scoops.
They dont ever take our advice. In my exit interview with President
Steimle, he asked about my experience (After making sure i understood
that it was a blessing). I told him theres a psychological effect
that takes place that makes everything really frustrating. Because we
dont have the ability to communicate well, the Latinos assume we dont
know anything else. It isnt an issue of pride, its just natural i
think. But that dont accept any of our suggestions and they wont take
our knowledge as legitimate. Elder Hock, Elder Taylor, Hermana Pelaez
and I frequently pulled each other aside to vent. All week. Perhaps
it wasnt a good thing to do all the time, but it was crazy. There was
so much bad stuff happening all the time. It was weird and soooo hard
to deal with. I dont know why but they dont realize weve been trained
for six weeks longer than them, they still wont listen to us about
anything. but it has been worth the difficulty. My spanish is way
better. My companion is reading this right now, i hope he doesnt
understand much English haha.
The temple this morning was great, I felt much better about everything
and Im so excited to get into the field. President Steimle told me
not to expect a studly trainer. He shared DyC 84:106 and explained
that I may need to help train my trainer...great. But he said it in a
way that got me a little excited about it. He told me to learn to be
direct, which I applied this week in district meeting.
Weve been having a huge drama problem in our district. Elder Granja
is our district leader and hes had some issues with other elders not
liking him, and making it obvious enough. Then he would fight back
and it just got ridiculous. So during the meeting, I shared Mosiah
18:21 and explained that I wanted to make the most of this last week.
And I cant feel the spirit when theres contention in our district.
Then I proposed a goal to overcome our differences and show our love
for each other. Then Elder Granja (who was one of the people I hoped
would try and change a bit) started to preach about the same thing.
Then it erupted into a nice long discussion about issues with one
another and i think everyone decided to change. It was sweet, but
this week was still tough.
Some of these elders are really prideful, while others are so amazing.
I dont understand what causes such a stark contrast in people who
supposedly have the same goal, the same mission. It frightens me.
But President told me to get used to it. He told me im going to be in
a leadership position for a lot of my mission (kinda caught me off
guard) and im gonna have to deal with that problem a lot. He said
that my president wont be crazy, he is guided by the Lord. And he
counselled me to have fun with improving myself as I help uplift my
companions. Im scared for that, and i dont know how excited i am to
deal with stuff like that, but i know i will and I better make the
most of it. We had another proselyting activity in the park this week
and it was tough. ill try and write about it in a letter. i havent
received any mail for a month. i dunno what the deal is. but im sure
its on its way. I have to go. UGH i have so much more to write. i
shouldnt have complained to much haha
But Haley, I love you. Mom and Dad, I love you and thank you so much
for all your advice. Brock and Aubrey, I love you too. Good luck
with things. Next week Ill be in Reu! Until then...
Love ya!
Elder Austin Tyler :D
