Dear Family,
We had another bit of a hard week here in Laredo, but overall I'd say things are going pretty well. Even if we're not having the most success, I do feel like I'm growing a lot as a missionary in this area. I've learned a lot about how to be motivated for missionary work and I have quite a few things I'm working on improving. So far, this area has turned into a bit of a refiner's fire for me, though I've only been here six weeks. We didn't really have any success this last transfer, but I feel like I've at least learned a few lessons that I'm excited to apply over the coming weeks that will hopefully help change the trends we've had.
One of the Elders I live with (Ed note: He's in an apartment with several teams of Elders), Elder Wilde, will be going home to Idaho Falls at the end of these six weeks. He's our District Leader here in the South of Laredo and a great Elder. It'll be interesting to see him on his way home. I have little doubt that he'll be working hard to the end. In fact, the District I was with this last transfer won't be changing at all. All three of the companionships here will be staying the same, something that none of us were expecting very much. However, as tradition dictates, we went out for a quick bite to eat after district meeting to end the transfer. We went to "Laredo Sushi" which was pretty fun. The first thing that I noticed was that every other time I've had sushi, it's been a small roll about an inch or an inch and a half in diameter. The sushi at this place was probably about 3 or 4 inches in diameter and about 8 inches of so long. Basically it was about the size of a burrito from Chipotle if you can think of that. It was pretty delicious and cheap, which was even better.
Other than that, the only story I probably have from this week happened while we were out tracting. We were walking down a street knocking some doors when we saw a family of four sitting out on their porch on the other side of the street. So we started crossing the street to go talk to them when the dad saw us. He tapped his wife on the shoulder, and all four of the, 8 and 10 year old daughters included, ran inside the house, closed and locked the door behind them. At this point, my companion and I are standing in the middle of the street just awestruck that they could disappear so fast. Anyway, we went down the street some more and ended up coming back up. So, the father saw us again and tapped his wife and they ran inside, closing the door after them and locking it. However, the 8 and 10 year old girls were getting something out of the car and were locked outside by their parents with the two terrifying Mormons coming down the street. We just smiled, laughed and waved at the girls, continuing on our way. I don't think I've seen anyone run away that fast from missionaries before. It was pretty funny.
Well, I'm out of time for today, but I hope everyone has a great week. I'll write again, soon.
Love,
Elder Wood
May 23, 2011
May 9, 2011, email from Laredo, TX
Dear Family,
Well, emails after phone calls are always a little bit dry, but I think I can come up with a few things to put down.
This week was a little bit slow. We had trouble finding new people to teach this week and were on pretty much a dry pool from the week before. We didn't get to spend too much time teaching, and our time spent finding didn't yield too much fruit. So, not too much of a productive week, but I have high hopes for the week coming. The colleges here got out this last week, and that means that a large portion of the student body has a little bit more free time on their hands. We have a few "formers" that were going to school that have invited us over again now that their schedules are more permitting. So hopefully we'll be able to see some results from that soon.
One thing I realized on the the phone with Mom is that I'm definitely getting into the habit of speaking Tex-Mex. Multiple times on the phone I wanted to say something in Spanish because it was the easiest way to express it, but caught myself having to think and change to English sometimes. I'm sure it's even harder for the missionaries that are in 100% Spanish speaking missions, but it was still a funny experience.
I'm also equally astonished at the fact that Elder Johnson called Mom for Mother's Day. I'm sure that must have been a conversation that Mom wasn't expecting. But, our families are good enough friends that I'm sure it wasn't too weird, overall. I hope he's doing well in Peru, and that everything is going well for him down there. (Ed. note: Mark couldn't get anyone to answer the phone at the Johnson household, so he called us. I could tell him that Rene was on a ten day trip to Guatemala. He went as an assistant for her father Father who is a dentist. They are on a humanitarian effort to improve the dental work in those preparing for missions and members and non-members needing free dental work. Jeff was also traveling. Mark ended up getting permission to call on Monday for his Mother's Day call from Peru so he could talk with family. We had a short, fun chat with Mark.)
Well, I'm not sure really what other stories there are to tell, other than the fact that I saw the pictures of Natalie on the blog which are pretty hilarious.
I hope that everyone had a great Mother's day, especially the new mothers in the family, and that everyone has a good week coming up. Next week I should have some more stories to tell since I won't have exhausted them the night before with Mom over the phone.
Love,
Elder Wood
Well, emails after phone calls are always a little bit dry, but I think I can come up with a few things to put down.
This week was a little bit slow. We had trouble finding new people to teach this week and were on pretty much a dry pool from the week before. We didn't get to spend too much time teaching, and our time spent finding didn't yield too much fruit. So, not too much of a productive week, but I have high hopes for the week coming. The colleges here got out this last week, and that means that a large portion of the student body has a little bit more free time on their hands. We have a few "formers" that were going to school that have invited us over again now that their schedules are more permitting. So hopefully we'll be able to see some results from that soon.
One thing I realized on the the phone with Mom is that I'm definitely getting into the habit of speaking Tex-Mex. Multiple times on the phone I wanted to say something in Spanish because it was the easiest way to express it, but caught myself having to think and change to English sometimes. I'm sure it's even harder for the missionaries that are in 100% Spanish speaking missions, but it was still a funny experience.
I'm also equally astonished at the fact that Elder Johnson called Mom for Mother's Day. I'm sure that must have been a conversation that Mom wasn't expecting. But, our families are good enough friends that I'm sure it wasn't too weird, overall. I hope he's doing well in Peru, and that everything is going well for him down there. (Ed. note: Mark couldn't get anyone to answer the phone at the Johnson household, so he called us. I could tell him that Rene was on a ten day trip to Guatemala. He went as an assistant for her father Father who is a dentist. They are on a humanitarian effort to improve the dental work in those preparing for missions and members and non-members needing free dental work. Jeff was also traveling. Mark ended up getting permission to call on Monday for his Mother's Day call from Peru so he could talk with family. We had a short, fun chat with Mark.)
Well, I'm not sure really what other stories there are to tell, other than the fact that I saw the pictures of Natalie on the blog which are pretty hilarious.
I hope that everyone had a great Mother's day, especially the new mothers in the family, and that everyone has a good week coming up. Next week I should have some more stories to tell since I won't have exhausted them the night before with Mom over the phone.
Love,
Elder Wood
May 2, 2011, email from Laredo, TX
Dear Family,
Well, this week I don't have too much to write about. All I know is that this week was pretty much a blur. We spent a lot of the week trying to find new people to teach, with limited success. We taught a lot of first lessons with people, but had a hard time finding them home for the next appointment. The area I have been in has been in a long rut with church attendance, but we managed to break that this last week and at least have someone attend. So hopefully, this week we can continue that trend and keep improving.
As far as the call for Mother's day goes, I'll probably call on Sunday night, but on Sunday morning or afternoon I'll probably call just to get the timing down. I'm not sure I have Christian's number, but I guess if I call Dad first in VA I can probably get it from him.
In defense of my pancho, Mom, it's more like a Mexican sweater than an actual pancho. It's got sleeves and a hood and fairly tame colors but in a cool pattern. I can actually see it coming more into use than you'd think. I should be sending a box of stuff home, soon. I'm starting to collect random trinkets from the mission that are taking up a bit of space. I'm going to try and ship some of those off to Christian's house if he would be willing to throw them under the stairs for me.
Laredo has been pretty hot this pat week. We've been hitting temperatures of about 110 degrees, without any wind. So, basically, everything outside here just turns into an oven. I've been tempted to crack an egg on the asphalt of the street, just to see if I could really cook it. Today is actually quite cold though. A cold front rolled in from up North or something because it's all cloudy and the temperature probably dropped a good 20-30 degrees or so. That seems to be something consistent here in South Texas. For a few weeks it will be super hot, and all of the sudden one day a cold front comes in and it's cloudy and cold. It normally clears up in a day or two, but it's always a shock when you open the door and freeze without expecting it.
I'll be sure to remember some more stories this week for the call on Mother's day. I was glad to see the pictures of Calvin. He's quite a cute little nino. I hope everybody has a great week and I'll get to talk to some of you, soon.
Love,
Elder Wood
Well, this week I don't have too much to write about. All I know is that this week was pretty much a blur. We spent a lot of the week trying to find new people to teach, with limited success. We taught a lot of first lessons with people, but had a hard time finding them home for the next appointment. The area I have been in has been in a long rut with church attendance, but we managed to break that this last week and at least have someone attend. So hopefully, this week we can continue that trend and keep improving.
As far as the call for Mother's day goes, I'll probably call on Sunday night, but on Sunday morning or afternoon I'll probably call just to get the timing down. I'm not sure I have Christian's number, but I guess if I call Dad first in VA I can probably get it from him.
In defense of my pancho, Mom, it's more like a Mexican sweater than an actual pancho. It's got sleeves and a hood and fairly tame colors but in a cool pattern. I can actually see it coming more into use than you'd think. I should be sending a box of stuff home, soon. I'm starting to collect random trinkets from the mission that are taking up a bit of space. I'm going to try and ship some of those off to Christian's house if he would be willing to throw them under the stairs for me.
Laredo has been pretty hot this pat week. We've been hitting temperatures of about 110 degrees, without any wind. So, basically, everything outside here just turns into an oven. I've been tempted to crack an egg on the asphalt of the street, just to see if I could really cook it. Today is actually quite cold though. A cold front rolled in from up North or something because it's all cloudy and the temperature probably dropped a good 20-30 degrees or so. That seems to be something consistent here in South Texas. For a few weeks it will be super hot, and all of the sudden one day a cold front comes in and it's cloudy and cold. It normally clears up in a day or two, but it's always a shock when you open the door and freeze without expecting it.
I'll be sure to remember some more stories this week for the call on Mother's day. I was glad to see the pictures of Calvin. He's quite a cute little nino. I hope everybody has a great week and I'll get to talk to some of you, soon.
Love,
Elder Wood
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