ENGLISH FAST/AYUNANDO DE INGLES

Oh my goodness, I don't know English. It's been so long. I have been fasting English as a zone out here for, like, forever. Whose idea was it to give me the zone leader from San Juan? I don't know how to Spanish, and now I don't know how to Ingles. This is terrible. I can't communicate in any language. What the heck, even are languages? My brain is broken. I hate this. I am tired of my brain hurting. Why can't I know Spanish? Jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj.

Anyways, so we had transfers this week which were sick. I love people. I've loved all my comps. Shout out to my comps for being the goat. The only problem is 1, I am barely out of training, so all I knew was Elder Christensen. So that was an adjustment to have to get used to not having him around me. And 2, I probably won't see him a lot until his wedding. He told me I could go (he didn't, but I am going). It's just weird because I haven't really had a comp switch. Because I did home MTC. Love you, Wiesler, but we didn't live together, so it wasn't nearly as weird as Elder Christensen just dipping.

Transfers were sick, though. We had like 70 missionaries there. It was so hype. We were vibing. Then the greenies came, and we were all watching them meet their trainers. I heard the kid say, "Oh no, we're sitting in the judgment seat so they can all judge us." That made me laugh because I was just there, and I knew no one. And it's so confusing your first day. You have no idea what is happening. Anyways, I felt a little bad for them because they were all sitting there as we looked at them, screaming "Called to serve!" and clapping, "Happy goodnight." Haha, it's an Elder Santana thing. You wouldn't get it.

There was lots of adjusting this week. I don't even know what happened with my week. Well, Monday we visited a family in Sabana Hoyos, and the grandma is already a super less active member from the Lares branch. But it's sad. She's bedridden. Sad. And her daughter is like 40 with 3 kids, and she told us to dunk her 12-year-old. Jajaj, not really, but basically, we have a lesson with them tonight.

I met Elder Hawkins at transfers. Shout out to that stud. Kid's like 7 feet. Really, I am 5'11 1/2", about. He's literally so big in the photo I will send.

I don't know English.

I don't know Spanish. It's a problem.

We had Barney, the blind guy that only speaks English, that is, like, against our church. He came to church. He told me Carmen promised him Pizza Hut after. Jajaj. So now we're using psychology to feel the Spirit. But also, we might need to re-teach the Sabbath day to our recent convert. Hahahahah.

Also, Melvin told us that Carmen only got baptized because he had to use psychology on her. Even though we literally had like 18,524,652 lessons without him. He was like, "How does Bishop know Barney?" (Blind guy). It was so funny. I am pretty sure he thinks we can't go to lessons without him. I love that man. Anyways, he thinks he was the reason Carmen got baptized and not the Spirit. And we also told her to pray and fast, and she said she did. It's funny. I love Melvin. I feel bad he was so sad when Elder Christensen left, and he said it's always the same. He really loves us and is like the best member ever.

I don't know what else happened this week besides the fact that my brain is fried. Like, what is this? Who decided languages were a thing? I hate not being able to think in any language. Also, it sucks when little kids are smarter than you and bilingual. Idk, help. SOS. Thanks. Gracias. Les extraño muchísimo.

I actually need to sleep. My brain is cooked. It's been like this since July.

Also, I forgot that we had a service with that lady that gave me an aloe vera plant, and that was cool. I told her she was my favorite. She said "bendito" again and always calls me her amor. I'm like her grandson. Anyways, she fed us rice and beans, and then we had to go to our member's house right after, the one that poisoned me. So I got poisoned again. Well, I wasn't needing to vomit, but my stomach was very sick, and I needed to use the bathroom a lot. Yeah, I love it here. Also, I forgot the spiritual thought. My brain is cooked. I told you this. It's moving a million miles an hour in Spanglish. I don't know, pray for me, please.

Alright, I liked this scripture this week: "And now, because ye are compelled to be humble, blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word?"

I love this because sometimes we're too prideful to repent, too prideful to try and have faith, too prideful to pray, too prideful to love. And sometimes God needs to compel us to be humble just because he loves us. But think of how blessed those are who choose to be humble. They get to enjoy all the fruits of life and the gospel because they're willing to humble themselves and do the small things. We must do the small things. And going on that, I want to share an awesome comment about obedience. Because to be receptive to the Spirit, we must follow the rules. But as missionaries, we have to follow every small rule too, like having a clean house. And sometimes the rules don't make sense, like not being able to go on sand in our mission or silly things like that. But we follow them to show to God that we are worthy of taking on the task of a human soul and its salvation. It's the same with work or school, basically anything in life. We have to show up to work early and clean up that mess in the bathroom, straighten your desk, show your boss/teacher/God that you're willing to do the small things so they can trust you with the gift of the Spirit and other stuff and a human soul. I only have 4-ish months as a missionary, almost 5. But as I have learned, I want to say this to the new missionaries and other missionaries on this list, that we need to do every single small thing so we can get the big things. Las cosas pequeñas, it's seriously true. Because when you're not even willing to do the things that are so easy, like the dishes, why would you be able to handle the salvation of someone's soul? Or, same with work, when you're not willing to clean up the bathroom, why would they trust you with the company's finances or a bigger project? Always remember how important the small things are, and humility is key. I am being humbled every day. We had a rough week. We had an amazing last weekend and Monday and Tuesday with awesome investigators. And then, God punished me for being on a high horse about it and us being awesome missionaries. I got all cocky and thought it was all us. And this week, we found no one when we were contacting. No one answered the phone. It was rough. I had to realize when I read this on Friday that I got humbled and needed to repent because this is God's work. This is his work and his kids.

We're just the ones bringing the good news of the gospel. The reason my email was so short is because I was humbled this week. Nothing really happened. And then, I have been English fasting. It's rough. Adjusting to a new comp (I love him, he's awesome), but it's so weird not to have Elder Christensen here. Like, he's all I knew in Puerto Rico. Anyways, this is it. Hopefully, I have a good week because I got humbled and learned my lesson. Don't be like me. Alma 32:16, blessed are those who choose to be humble rather than compelled to be humble.

Alright, let's do this thing. Okay, I have one more story that's absolutely so funny. I don't even know how I forgot this whole thing.

Alright, so we get to transfers, and it was so sick. There were all these missionaries. I don't know, it was like 95 degrees and clear skies. We go talk and party missionary style, so like kinda holy, you know? The vibes were all chillin' in the Guaynabo chapel and doing our thing. Shout out to my mom and grandma. I am known as the "package elder." Lol. Anyways, the missionaries got there, we get set up, and get our new comps. Do that thang, you know the vibes. Then we go to load everyone's car. We have a car, a Toyota Corolla, a tiny car with 4 elders and 2 elders' worth of stuff. Anyways, we go outside, and it's a hurricane. Not actually, but it's pouring literally 1 hour later, downing water on us. I'm like, "What the?" So I went to get bags, and I'm like, "Well, I am going to get wet anyways," so I just stood in the rain for like 15 minutes in total. Lol, I love rain. The only problem is, I thought I was wet and couldn't get wetter, but you can always get wetter. It's a true thing. I was leaving puddles in our house when I walked. Anyways, Elder [Blank] (not saying names) had so much stuff, took up the whole car. But we needed to fit my comp's stuff in too, so we put it in the San Souci car to have them meet us in Vega Baja, about 30 minutes west. But then President was like, "Nah," and I was like, "Fair." So we had to squish with soggy elders and suitcases on them and trunk full. And I am the smallest, and I got the most room because I was driving. Anyways, our car now smells like cheeks since then. I don't know what happened. It's like soaked seats for 4 days. They're finally dry, but now our car is disgustingly smelling. So I had to buy an odor bomb at Walmart for that. RIP our sanity. It's been rough. Every time we get in the car, it smells like rotten eggs or cheese or milk or spoiled everything, only from soggy elders. And it's probably the humidity and being trapped. I don't know where the smell is coming from. Someone seriously help me.