Hola hola todos,
Where to start? It has been almost a month here and my tan lines are coming along just swimmingly. It is crazy that I passed the two month mark. I still feel like it is July and I just got here. But I am almost 10% done, which is strange.
Whenever we need to go somewhere outside of walking distance we either hop on a bus or in the back of a pickup truck (peeekup en español). The buses are always blasting music and crazy colors and crammed with people, so we stand a lot, but the headspace
is not ideal for someone of my height, haha. Lots of stooping over for a long time. You can just wave over a bus or pickup from anywhere and they come barreling towards you. Hop on and then hop off wherever too.
When people try and figure out my name, it often goes like this:
What's your name?
Elder Harris
Ah, Hah-rris, like Hah-rry Potter.
Yep.
I love the life on the streets. People are always outside and there are little pupusa stands everywhere and practically every corner has a little store where you can buy a soda or some sweet bread or something through the door. Women walk around balancing
giant baskets of bread on their heads with incredible ease. There are crazy markets like in the movies that are just big mazes of stands and people selling stuff with canopies over it all.
Here is something kind of cool, the other day we were studying in the house when everything starts rumbling. We were in an earthquake! Nothing fell over or anything, but we just vibrated for 10 seconds or so before it was over. Very fun and exciting. Apparently
that is pretty common here.
As far as daily life goes, we actually never knock doors here. We are either visiting members or inactives and most of our investigators come from referrals from them. We still talk to people in the street going to or from appointments, but never actually
knock doors. I love the ward here. People are really the same everywhere. I could see the Elders Quorum presidency being back in Utah, except their names are Hermano Juan Yanes and Hermano Eduardo and they speak Spanish. They are some good guys. Everyone here
is so happy and generous even though they live in humble circumstances. The members are always giving us some sort of food or snacks and are very nice. The ward here has about 80 members.
I have obtained a huge testimony on praying for comfort. Maybe before my mission I just never really needed it, but I know for certain that when I am a little lonely or tired or frustrated or whatever, I have been able to pray and receive comfort. It is
not an immediate, overwhelming thing, but it is real. After I pray, it doesn't take too long before I am feeling good again. Heavenly Father knows how we are feeling and doesn't always take away our hard times, but he is so willing to help us through them.
Prayer is real.
Pictured are my growing number of presidents on dollar coins because everyone uses coins here. Very few bills. Kind of fun. Also me with the tools of trade. Sort of.
Haha, see you all around,
Elder Harris
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