Sunday, April 19, 2015

First bike experience as a missionary


(picture of dust storm, which are fairly common in Mexicali)

Dear All,
Guys it is so hot here. And people are walking around with like fall type clothes cause they say it's quite "fresco". I don't understand it. 
But yeah this week was pretty cool. I went on exchanges twice, which was pretty fun. The first time was with another Elder in my district who is training right now, and it was pretty fun. It was my first time on bike, and that just made it special. I remember thinking that missionaries would have some pretty sweet bikes or at least decent cause like they told us to have a certain amount of money to buy it, but that is definitely not the case here. I don't know if you guys remember that blue bike I got for like my 8th christmas? I think we still have it, but anyway, that was about the size of the bike I was riding on Tuesday. I was dying. I had to pedal about 4 times for every one time that my companion did just to barely keep up with him. So I got home and slept really well. But the best part is that there are 4 Elders who live together, the Zone Leaders and these guys. And the Zone Leaders are two Americans. And they're insane. Like literally. So spending the night with them was absolutely crazy.
Wednesday and Thursday were pretty solid too, we walked a ton, but we found some good new investigators and we got some who started to progress really well. I also had the most efficient contact of my mission so far.
So this lady was walking down the street, we stopped to talk to her and she kind of gasped and was panting and so we asked her if she was tired. She started to laugh and said no, that she was about to use the bathroom. And she was kind of dancing. It was hilarious. Anyway about three seconds later we had her address, she had a pass along card, and we had set an appointment. It was super cool.
On Friday I went on exchanges again, this time with the Zone Leaders, so it was a day spent in English. It was way fun. And again it was on bike. This bike was a little bit better, but not by much. It was my size, which was nice, but the left pedal was like slanted outward, so as it would go around the circle my foot would sway back and forth. Plus I couldn't really put any pressure on it cause my food would just slip off. So I got home that day with a weird cramp in my left leg and with my right leg absolutely dead. But I did sleep really well again. 
We spent Saturday, as usual, committing people to come to church. At the end of the day we had 18 people committed. And I'm not gonna lie, my first thought was that I was finally going to beat those Sharon Springs Missionaries with their 16. Haha missionary thoughts.
Sunday came and it was looking good. We had rides set up for a bunch, and we called the rest with cars to make sure they were coming. And they all said yes. So we got excited. And then we got to church and there were a few, and then a few more came, and then a few more came. We ended up with quite a few, not 18,but enough. And then a less active family came with someone we didn't recognize. It was one of their friends who decided he wants to listen to the missionaries. So we taught him right after church and bam. Baptismal date. And then we got a super cool call. There's a less acitve family here who just sent their son on the mission, and their other son is getting ready to go too. Anyway, the older son left behind a girlfriend, and she also wants to get baptized. So we taught her after the ward Family Home Evening and bam. Baptismal date. Mexicali is pretty fun.
I finally took some pictures this week too haha. There just isn't anything interesting here. Its all flat, the houses all look the same, there are zero physical features, there isn't even color. So I'll try to find stuff to send you, but I don't know. Maybe I'll send you a pic of my pet, his name is "Mátelo" cause that's what we yell when we see him, but he likes to hide a lot and eat our food when we aren't looking. We're gonna go buy him some special food today. ("Mátelo" is a mouse and if you aren't laughing at the name you probably don't speak spanish).
Anyway I'm doing good. I'll see the president on Tuesday, so I think that's when I'll get the packages. Hope you all enjoyed your Spring Break, and didn't do anything too dumb or get too burned.
Les quiero mucho,

Elder Rawlings
Elder Vega (Jenson's new companion, not to be confused with his first companion also named Elder Vega) doing magic tricks.

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