This week I had my first exchanges here, so I went and worked in another area. A member gave us a referral, so we went to contact them. Strangely enough it was my first ever real door contact. We never did them in El Salvador unless it wasto ask directions or something. But it went well and we were able to talk with the guy and get his phone number. He then asked if the elder I was with was my son. The other missionary was older than me too. I am unsure how to even write an analysis of this experience.
We were waiting at the stop for the bus to come to go home from the exchange. The bus was there but wasn't ready to leave, so we were just outside talking. Three teenage punks walked past us and we didn't think much about it. They stepped into the bus and started giving the bus driver some trouble he asked them to exit the bus. He was sort of a bigger guy and was pretty firm with them, so they stepped out. Then one of the kids threw some trash at the bus, so the driver jumped out one of the kids tried to shove him and he pushed his hands off. Then one of the other kids pulled a gun on him! The bus driver yelled at them and was like, "Are you going to shoot me? Shoot me, then!" After a second they scattered and left. But that was crazy. The whole ride back the driver told us about all the run-ins he's had and he was a really cool guy.
Also, my chair has five wheels, but one broke off. So every now and then I lean back, and lean back, and then I am still leaning back, and then follows some flailing arms and things and a close recovery. I haven't fallen out of the chair yet, but we'll see.
Also, early yesterday morning we went over to the chapel to have interviews with President Rodarte. When we biked around back, we were surprised to see a lot of vehicles there, and then we realize it's the entire SWAT team preparing for a raid! They all waved and said, "Hi elders!" There were a ton of police cars, undercover trucks with their shells and backs full of gear and riot shields, and a giant military vehicle thing. It was metal plated and had a turret on top. We were scheduled first, so we were early and nobody else was there yet, but we waited outside just kind of watching for a few minutes. A little later two other pairs of missionaries showed up and we were all thinking that interviews could not possibly have been timed better. Then President pulled up in his car and jokingly yelled, "What did you do?" At this point they were all suited up with their bullet-proof vests, helmets, machine guns, and everything. There were probably 30 agents and as many cars. Then Elder Webber asked one of the agents if we would be allowed to take a picture. They said, "Totally!" and took it for us. They had all of us stand in front of the awesome assault thing. Then one of them said, "Wait, come over here!" And he pulled out a box and gave us all a poker chip with the Las Vegas Swat logo! Man, best day ever. Then we had our interviews, which were also great.
One sort of cool spiritual experience happened this week after our zone leaders were challenging everyone to think about putting baptismal dates. We thought that that sounded great but had no idea who we could invite, so we were kind of doubting. With being white-washed into a partial quarantine, we haven't had a ton of investigators. But then we were thinking that we should have more faith and trust that we can do it. So the next day, we made plans to invite one of the people we're teaching. And then! The lesson fell through. So that was too bad. Later we had a lesson with someone we had never met. It turned out to be a cool guy from ... El Salvador! We talked about the Book of Mormon, and then we felt like we should invite him to be baptized! We did and he accepted a date. So it certainly isn't set in stone and more like the start of the fight than the end, but it was so cool to see that when we really committed to invite someone that day, we found someone we didn't even expect! Faith is a cool thing.
See you all around.
Elder Harris
Pictured is the SWAT vehicle and poker chip, my company's birthday, celebrating first double-decker bus ride, and the return of planimal planet.
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