Working in the villages has proven to be quite the adventure. The people in the villages, while most speak Spanish, everyone also speaks a dialect called Mixteco. They all call me "Yangui" which is gringo in Mixteco. The culture is also very different in the villages, too. The food is different (but equally spicy), the customs of greeting someone when you walk in their house is different, but the one that threw me off the most is that sometimes the old women don't wear shirts. I mean, they usually do, but sometimes the don't. It's that, nobody dares tell grandma what to do. If grandma doesn't want to wear a shirt, you suffer in silence.
But we continue to have lots of success in the villages, especially Yutandayoo and La Estancia. We had a Family Home Evening in a member's house in each of these towns. The members invited their friends and family, we played a few games to explain the Great Apostasy and the Restoration, then watched the video. (And of course, it always has to end with food. My belt won't let me forget that.) We found lots of great new people to teach from these Family Home Evenings and they're 10x more interested now that they've got some friends in church and some doubts taken care of.
The belt comment... So the members feed us every day. And many of our investigators too, and they don't ask, they just give, and they don't take rejections either. I think on Wednesday we ate 4 times. I eat a TON.
On Thursday we made plans to go visit a reference that we have in a town called Santa Maria Zacatepec. We figured out where it was and how to get there, and one of the counselors in the mission presidency had asked us to pay a visit to Zacatepec, so we went. It's 2 hours from Pinotepa. (Actually, there's missionaries in the Oaxaca mission closer to Zacatepec than us.) First we had to ride one pick-up truck 1 hour to a town called Cacahuatepec (Fun Fact: Cacahuatepec basically means peanut land), then another pick-up from Cacahuatepec to Zacatepec. The road between Pino and Zacatepec is beautiful. (Not the road-road, but the scenery.) Rivers, mountains, gigantic trees, cows grazing in the field, it was beautiful.
We got to Zacaptepec, asked around to try and find the address, but everybody said that address didn't exist. So we went and Googled it. Turns out, the address we were searching for is in Santa Maria Zacatepec, Puebla, not Santa Maria Zacatepec, Oaxaca. Different state, different mission. And after 2 hours of contacting, without a single interested person, we went back to Pinotepa. 4 hours of travel and $220 pesos later (which is only like $15 dollars, but that's expensive in pesos.) we didn't accomplish anything on Thursday and I was irritated.
Friday, I experienced what we call the Double Dragon. By Double Dragon, I mean fire coming out two ends... es que... I ate a raw egg. #noshame #jkyesshame
I spoke in church yesterday. I talked about the Book of Mormon and it was FANTASTIC. But it was like talking to a brick wall. We had 70 people in church yesterday. (12 of which were investigators. *dab*) The branch presidente then spoke after me. He said that he felt the need to build upon my words. He said that we don't believe in the bible anymore because there are no true translations left in the world. It was straight apostasy. I hope as many people were paying attention to his talk as they were to mine.
All that, and much, much more. To finalize, this week I was able to finish reading the Book of Mormon again. One of the verses I read that spoke to me was Moroni 8:16. It says:
"...Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear."
I know what I know to be true, and I'm so thankful that I have this chance to declare it to the world. I don't have to worry about what people will say or what they will think of me, because perfect love, which only comes from Christ, takes away any worry, any fear, and makes any sacrifice worth it.
I do apologize for the length of my email. But no, not really. I love all y'all! Have a great week!
-Elder Aldrich
FOTOS
1) Iguanas.
2) "The problem isn't the area, or the members, or the people, or the streets, or the missionaries that were here before, the problem is you." 1 Pino 13:7
