Reporting Home: September 2008

This week was off the wall!!!! I love it here! I can’t even tell you how excited I am to be here. Man it's so nice because everyone is Mexican, and I have so many people I can talk to now. It's so nice. People everywhere, things to do, places to go, people to teach. My companion is so cool too; I got hooked up with a bomb companion again. That’s for sure. Anyway this week was super good, even though Elder Stuart said the week was kind of slow compared to normal. But I was all over it. We did, I guess, have a couple of set backs because his bike kept braking down and then we had to buy a new one for him the other day. But I loved it this week; it went by so freaking fast I can’t even tell you how nice that is! The last six months, seriously, felt like a year and a half. I'm not joking. I forgot what its like to have time go by. Oh it’s just so cool out here! Even though we have a butt-hole of an apartment, I don't even care, I love it. I love the butt-hole apartment.

So we have a couple of families that we’re working with this transfer. A few people are really close to being baptized. We have awesome members that love to help. At least a few. I think I’m going to mount some pegs on my bike so I can haul them around with us. That will be pretty cool. I’ll look like an idiot but I don’t even care.

So a few days ago it was pouring all day. Monday, I think it was. It was tight!!!! We were drenched but I didn't even care, I had the time of my life. Everyone hates riding in the rain, but I was all over it. Tracting in the rain, riding in the rain just made the day super cold, but I loved it. Oh man, my comp is hilarious. We’re the exact same in so many aspects. He’s so tight, I love the guy to death, cracks me up. He’s not perfect with the rules and neither am I, but we both love to work and we go and get it done. It’s awesome, I love it. The city is cool. So, so, cool. We have a small area, it’s a skinny triangle that goes north to south, and the south side is basically black people and its super ghetto. I love going there; it's my favorite part of the area. The northern side is all Mexican, no joke. I love talking to people, even the ones that are stupid, at least I have people to talk to!!! Yeah. It’s tight. Wow! It's so different out here; I can't even tell you how much of a different experience it is out here. I feel bad for the greeny that just went to Woodstock.

We have a lot of fun. We like to do bike wars a lot, where we try to ram each other off the road, it’s so funny. We basically go shoulder to shoulder and try to ram each other to the ground. It’s hilarious, I start laughing so hard every time we get going and he usually wins. It’s funny. Oh, I got the pictures you sent mom. Thanks a bunch. Send more, I love them.

Yesterday was hilarious, we went over to an investigators house yesterday, and they gave us food. Well, we had a member with us named Vicente. He wanted to spice up his food, so they brought in these peppers named Habeneros. I didn't think anything of it because I love spicy stuff, and even the day before a family gave us food, and they were all shocked I was putting this super hot sauce all over my food. So here I am, thinking I can handle hot food, no big deal. I’ve eaten it before; Daniel made it for me a lot. So they bring in some habeneros and Vicente starts to cut them up and stuff. Anyway, he takes a bite and looks like he loves it, so he tells me to try it. Here I am thinking, “Ok. No big deal. I love hot food. I dump a bunch of it on my taco, meanwhile I’m laughing at my companion because he's choking over his tiny little piece of Habenero. I think, “What a wus!" and laughed at him, and then went to take a bite of mine. I took a huge bite of this taco, with all this habenero, and I chewed and swallowed, and then disaster. I tried to play it off like my mouth was NOT about to catch fire and kill me, but oh my gosh! The pain that came from that pepper almost sent me to my maker. My eyes started just shedding tears, the sweat started pouring out of my face, I got all red, my ears were burning, and I wanted to DIE! They were just sitting there laughing at me the whole, time, and I am still trying to play it off like nothing is happening. WRONG, and then the pain in the stomach comes. Oh my goodness, I wanted to just die, I had never had it that bad before, never. They just give me a paper towel to wipe off the sweat and give me a spoonful of Ketchup. Like that’s going to help! Man I’m so stupid! Then I remember Elder Killpack telling me a bout a super hot pepper called the habenero. My companion was just laughing at me, I’m just sitting there choking, sweating, crying, drinking water, about to die. Oh man, after I was so worn out, that I couldn't even speak, I was too tired. Man it was a painful night. My stomach paid for it the whole night. But how does the quote go? Pain/ humiliation + time = laughter. Something like that. Anyway, it was funny, I enjoyed the week.

The city is tight. I probably am forgetting something in this email, so if I am, I'm sorry. My first Sunday here was off the chain. We actually have members, good ones that come every week. Good week, hopefully we'll get something going this week with the work. I’ll let you know how it goes.

September 3, 2008

Well, right now I'm in an area called Hermosa Park. I'm pretty excited, because it's the city and everybody wants to go to the city. But I'm here now in the city, which is pretty sweet. Ha!Ha! My brain is about to explode!!!!Ha! Ha! Ha! I haven't seen this many people in a long time, nor this many buildings. All I've seen is corn for about 5-6 months. I'm pretty excited to be here, I won't lie. A little nervous, but at least my mind will have something to see and do all day, no more of this wandering mind crap going to happen. I think that was the worst part about Woodstock for me. So much time to just think... think about family, think about friends, think... think...think. It's not healthy. Well I'm in for a crazy ride I think. We actually have investigators down here which is exciting. It's going to be a huge change though. I feel like I'm starting my mission over. For real, that's what it feels like. I haven't taught a solid lesson for a really long time. My companion got transferred out along with me. Luckily he is still alive, apparantly the area had some negative affects on him. He was in really bad shape, I don't remember if I told you any of this, probably not because it seems I get less letters the more people worry about me. But anyway, my companion slipped into severe depression, couldn't go 10 minutes without braking down and crying, just weeping. Work slowed down big time. I tried to take him tracting but it made it worse. It was bad. Lasted for about 3 weeks. Most of it was cause to the area , and a few things at home, but he's alive, doing well again. He's in my zone here in the city now, so I'm excited for that. So that's about it for me. Just anxious to see what it's like down here in the city. Love you all. I hope Charlie's headaches go away. I actually get them a lot too. I hope he feels better.

Love
Elder perrin