Mailing Address in Mexico

Elder Oliver Philip Hulme
Guadalajara East Mission
AV. 18 de Marzo #3088
Colonia las a Aguilas
Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico
CP 45080

Monday, October 28, 2013

October 21, 2013 - 1st Week in Camelinas, near Morelia


HELLOS
My friends and family, we did it. I've almost been in Mexico for one week, and it is the coolest thing.  I am in Camelinas, and from what I can tell, or what dad said, Morelia is about the size of Salt Lake. Today for special p-day purposes, we were in the centro of Morelia. It is absolutely beautiful. 

I am talking more in lessons but not a lot. We have lessons every day, and we have some investigators and we also go and visit with a lot of less actives and recent converts. We have a lunch appointment every day, except Mondays, we go to a members home and eat their food, it is awesome. It is like our Sunday dinners where you eat too much and talk. We aren't supposed to stay longer than one hour. One interesting thing is that, typically, we eat anywhere from 200pm-400pm, so when you eat breakfast at 730, and maybe like a snack before you leave the house, sometimes we are just starving when the lunch time starts and we just devour the food. The food here is toooooo incredible, it makes me want to cry. Just about  a half hour ago I pounded 8 el pastor tacos, and loved every every every minute of it, you would be so proud of me. And all the other food is grand, just grand. My first meal with a member was mole poblano and it was exquisite. Other things I have eaten: tortas, hamburgers, other tacos, just everything, the fruit here is super tasty as well, you just have to know what to eat. I've really taken a liking to tunas- they are these little green guys, about the size of a pear, and they have a super hard skin. You take off the peel, and just eat it, the seeds are always kind of tough, but the whole fruit is super good. Also, we have tons of guavas, I like those. The other night I bought 4 tunas and a grapefruit for 4 pesos, so less than 40 cents, needless to say, I was happy. 

The people here are the best things that have ever happened. Everyone is so nice, and just loves you, even when you don't know them. Last night we ate with the Abarca family, they are awesome, have 3 kids, but only one is a member and he is 11, they have been members for about 5 years, They want to go to the states, so I told them they could stay with us for a bit around christmas in 2015. Don't know if it'll happen, but I would love it if they stayed with us. I spent a little over one hour with them and it was awesome.  I dont have a ton of time today, because I spent a lot of my email time trying to fill out reimbursment forms for the bills we had to pay.

Church is different. All the floors in Mexico are tile, so when kids are running around it echoes a ton. It is also a bit weird not having a bazillion members-I think we had less than 100 in church yesterday, and our gospel principles had about 12. But it is good, our bishop is a bit intimidating but nice at the same time. We do in fact have investigators, one has a baptismal date for 11/26,  then there is a girl who we will most likely be baptized pretty soon. 

The language - language is good and a tough. I am learning a lot every day, but  you can´t quantify it. The only way I can explain it is, I have to ask Elder Lux to repeat himself less, which is still a ton. I have such a hard time understanding everyone, they all speak so fast it is ridiculous.

We do not have any other elders in our apartment, it is just us two. I sleep on the top bunk, which I cannot say I love because I know that one day I'm going to fall the 5 feet onto the tile. 

I'm loving most everything here. Friday and Saturday were two of the worst days, because there was a training meeting for all the trainers, (Elder Lux), so I had to go on a split for two days, with a new companion. He was nice, but for whatever reason, I was down, and grouch-a-pillar the whole two days- I didn't want to be but I was. It was just so hard being in another area that i did not know, with another companion that I did not know, trying to talk to people that I did not know, and I know I have to do all that stuff in my area, but it was different. We got chased by a dog, about the size of decca, but less fat, with much sharper looking teeth. It was behind its fence, but it had dug a hole large enough for it to fit under. As we passed, it escaped the mighty mighty fence and tried to chased us about twenty yards. It gave us a good laugh. As soon as I got on the cambí on our way home to Camelinas, I felt happy again and like I was home, it was weird.

CAMBÍS. They rock. They cost 7 pesos, they are pretty much the size of a swagger wagon. You can fit 20 people into them - driver, passenger, and then the back just has seats around the perimeter and everyone piles in. All the cars here are stick shift and everyone drives them so crazy, it's super fun. 

Love you, thanks have a good week

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