Buenas tardes :)
1. Dad wants to know if any of the people you come into contact with
during the week speak English at all? Does your companion speak any English?
In San José, Tapachula, Elder Howell and I talked to five people
during our time there that spoke English pretty well (three of them being
people that the Jehovah´s Witnesses sent to talk with us, which was a lot
of fun). Three of those five lived in the States for long enough to learn
it pretty well, one just took a lot of classes in the university, and the
other was an English teacher there and had done some of both. Since
getting to Huixtla, I have spoken with no one here who speaks English (well
enough to be understood in saying more than "good morning",
"good afternoon", or "good night"), with the exception of
the first councilor in our branch presidency who knows quite a few words in
English. Elder Alonso also knows a good amount of words and grammar
and stuff too, but has only had one gringo comp other than me his whole mission,
so he hasn´t had much time to practice his accent, and it´s just easier to
speak Spanish. It´s ridiculously hard to speak English with people here,
because the way we speak English in American is a nightmare, and I have a
harder time thinking how to simplify what I say into simple and perfectly
grammatically correct English than I do just speaking in Spanish. So
usually I just stick with Spanish. I do get to speak English once a week
though at district meeting (all the zone goes to the stake center in Tapachula).
Not too much though, because nobody else in my district is from the States, so
just a little bit before and a little bit after.
2. With such a large area, do you take the bus some places? Especially
if you are going to one of the outlying towns? If so, is it expensive?
The buses here a very interesting experience. They aren´t a
"bus" like you would think of, more like a big van with seats in the
back. They call them the "combi" or "microbus".
They just cram people in even when there´s not more room, and when you
want to get off, you just yell "baja porfa". There are
different routes and we take them quite a bit. The buses are really
cheap though, usually 5 pesos per person (except for the one that takes us to
Tapachula is 15 pesos). But we spend most of our time working here in
Huixtla, as just the town alone is a pretty big area for just two
missionaries.
3. Do you find with a native companion that things are very different
than with an American companion? The work ethic or way of doing things?
Or, are the differences things that would simply be different from person
to person anyway?
I haven´t noticed too much difference, apart from speaking no
English. The differences really are just more person to person kind of
thing I think. But, I´ve only had two comps to judge by, so we´ll
see.
4. With a smaller branch instead of a well-established ward, do you
have less people feeding you meals?
Yes, so far we´ve had members feed us about 2/3 of the time,
and it´s the same couple of families the majority of the time.
The branch is small, but we have some really solid members. The Branch
President and his family are awesome, as well as the first councilor and his
family.
5. Did you get your second package yet? I'm really
anxious for you to get your camera battery charger...
Yes! I actually just got it this week. The zone leaders
went to their training in Tuxtla that they go to at the beginning of each month
and they brought it back for me. Along with my order from church
distribution (in which they sent me a sacrament tray instead of one of the DVDs
I ordered. I´m going to call them about that tomorrow). I took a ton of
pictures that I was going to send this week, but I forgot to take my triste
camera to the ciber. Side note: I have recently learned that they
say a lot in Mexico "triste" + noun. Which is just
"sad" + whatever word. But it´s great because it´s like saying
"flippin" and then a word. So that´s a lot of
fun... Anyway hopefully the remembering of bringing my camera
next week goes better. But thank you a ton for the package. It
was great, and the almonds are awesome. The white chocolate ones especially
were a big hit with Elder Alonso and me. Also, the 4th of July
decorations made me remember to tell you how Elder Howell and I celebrated.
We flicked matches all over the house, since they´re made of concrete (the
houses, not the matches) it doesn´t do any damage, and it was kind of like
fireworks. So that was a lot of fun too... I have a really cool scar on
my forearm from one that hit the ceiling fan and came back and got me.
Love you and miss you all tons!!
Con amor,
Elder Nickerl
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