Week 64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't really know what to write! I mean, we talked for 45 minutes yesterday and with my companion being sick, there really hasn't been too much to write about!

So the best  thing about this week.... The nurse told him to buy Gatorade, so I bought some Mexican flavor Gatorade for me! Like, not flavored like Mexicans, but flavors Mexicans like! So I bought Cucumber Lime, Watermelon Citrus, and Tangerine. The Cucumber lime is the best flavor ever!

Ok but for real, last night after calling we ate posole with Hermana Alonso, from El Salvador. She's the best member ever! Just so solid, always comes and teaches with us! The hard part is that she has a really hard family life. Her RM husband is less active, her kids are rebellious, and like they're all always gone. And so she just really loves the missionaries a ton, and we were able to spend a great mother's day with her! And she gave me posole to take home since she knows how much I love it, and so I have lunch for the next few days!

Also of note, our crazy investigator, Gustavo (who promised me his daughter... I don't know what to do about that), has the most solid wife ever. So we got her cell phone, and we're going to start teaching her with Hermana Alonso, because I think she can get baptized. We also found the nicest less active of all time last night, and we have an appointment with her thursday! So good things.

Elder Minkler is pretty much better. We discovered a mutual love of Ben Folds when he said "I was never cool in school" and then I said "you probably don't remember me" and then at the same time we both said "DO YOU LIKE BEN FOLDS 5??" So yeah, new connection!

Well... That's it!

Oh also we went to the temple. Which I already told you guys about yesterday. That was nice! I love the Oakland Temple!

Love you guys tons!!!!!!

Elder Foster

(From Week 63)

One more cool thing from this week. I've been praying for the chance to contact a guy wearing a Wu Tang Clan shirt, and finally my prayer was answered! Elder Minkler stopped to give some first aid (band aids and alcohol) to a lady that fell on her bike, and then this guy was walking by wearing a Wu Tang Clan shirt. So we talked about that for a little while, and he was a cool guy. He was pretty surprised to see that I was a normal guy!

And then after that, as we were riding back to the pad, our branch mission leader and his wife were eating tacos outside at this taqueria as we rode by, they flagged us down and bought us each two tacos de cabeza and a glass coke! It was awesome. Well, inside I see this guy, pretty young, with his wife/ girlfriend type person. He's got short, almost buzzed hair and a beard and I notice he's kind of laughing at us (great and spacious building...) and then I notice he has a misfits tattoo on his forearm. BOOM! good conversation starter. He was actually really nice, and was surprised! It was cool. So a good week! See, punk rock is good for your soul!!!

Week 63

Halfway through the transfer! Well, it's been a crazy week. Remember
the CDA cares thing with all the people and he teeth and over 12 hours
of volunteering? Well, that's a lot of people in one building. And lo
and behold, Elder Minkler got sick. Really sick. Like a major sinus
infection, cough, cold type thing. He woke up just dead on Tuesday,
and since then we've gone out to work only like 4 times, not for any
longer than 3 hours at a time. Being sick in a bike area sucks. It was
a major bummer, but we actually taught 5 lessons, and picked up a cool
new investigator. So God definitely blessed us and made up for our
weaknesses this week. Not that it's his fault only, though. I was
fairly sick with some mucous and a bad cough and a sore throat from
Wednesday to Saturday. I literally just sat in my study chair hating
my life. I read through the whole book of Mosiah in Spanish. It was
literally bummer town for a week. We also decided our dream Pokemon
teams and decided what the best all around Zelda game is. Which, in
case you wanted to know, is Wind Waker. And since you probably don't
care about my dream Pokemon team, I'll spare you the details. He got
me sold on Lucario. We talked about Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit.
We talked about Spiderman, X-Men, Batman, the Avengers, and Justice
League. We talked about Star Wars. With all that time, we got pretty
nerdy. I also watched a Special Witnesses of Christ, The Testaments,
Together Forever, and On The Lord's Errand in Spanish. Looooooong
week. Almost as depressing as listening to the Smiths on a rainy day.

But here are some good things. We picked up a new investigator from
Guatamala. He's 21 and came here like 7 months ago. He doesn't speak
any English. It's like a completely different kind of Spanish. I've
got to be on my game. I wouldn't say that Spanish here in the US is
Spanglish, but it's like United States Spanish. Mauricio, this
investigator, speaks real Spanish. It's pretty interesting to think
about it. I can't really explain it.

 There is a family in the branch called the Castañedas. They took us
out to dinner at a Chinese place. I sat next to their 6 year old girl,
and she was so cute! I sat next to her and we were talking. She was
all "estás enfermo?" And so I said "sí, Elder Minkler me hizo
enfermo!" "Yo me enfermé la semana pasada, pero se me quitó bien
rápido!" "Qué tenías?" "Muchos mocos!" "No me gustan los mocos!" And
then in the cutest voice ever, "A mi tampoco!" So that is when I
decided that I'm going to have little white Mexican kids. Period.
They're the cutest kids in existence.

So that's my week. A new Guatamalan guy that's sick, and me
daydreaming about having Mexican kids. But it was good! I'm not too
sick anymore. But this week we have Mother's Day! I'm so excited to
talk to you guys. And also a temple trip Thursday! We're going with
brother Sigui, from Nicaragua. Aka Hermano "if you don't try the
Keeenders, I'll kill you!" But I'll explain that later.

Love you guys! Have a great week. Can't wait for Mother's Day!

Elder Foster

Week 62

Dear Family,

Well, it's been a weird week to say the least! I guess we'll go from
Tuesday, where we did the best service thing of all time. There is a
Christian revival place where every Tuesday they give out food to
homeless/ needy people. We help out every Tuesday from 3-4. It's
probably the best thing ever. To start off, we sing songs like This
Little Light of Mine and such, and then we do introductions. So the
preacher's wife gets up and says "We are so thankful for the Elders
who are here with us today. Everybody say God Bless!" "God Bless!" "Elder Foster" "Elder Foster" and so on until we're done introducing ourselves. So then anyone who wants to share stuff can, and so, for example, Elder Dascomb gets up and starts sharing some stuff from Psalms, and everyone in there while he is preaching "AMEN!" Or "HALLELUJAH!!" And all in all. It was just a fun experience.

Then! Exchanges on Wednesday to Thursday. On Thursday we weekly planned because on Friday- more service! There was this thing here called CDA cares, which was like this huge free dentistry clinic thing. All volunteer, a bunch of dentists from all over California. I saw Brother Perez from Napa again, which was cool! It went from 5AM-6PM. It was a loooong day. But fun. And wet, because it was raining and we were escorts. So I talked to a ton of new people Friday. We also saw all of Fairfield Zone and Napa zone, which has some of my favorite missionaries, like Hermana LeMmon and Hernandez, and Elders Tepox and Despain. It was way fun. And according to all the people I talked to from Fairfield (missionaries and people I was escorting) Fairfield is getting dangerous. I guess there have been a lot of shootings in the last few weeks. I was also translating for all of the Spanish people which was a lot of fun. Helping them fill out paperwork, helping them communicate with the dentists. I really enjoyed all of it!

Saturday we finished weekly planning. It's been kind of a slow week, seeing as I didn't really get too much time in the area. But I'm getting the hang of it, and I love Vallejo! Last night we went to an investigator's house and he was having a BBQ with some family. We shared a message, and answered a lot of questions. It was fun. The investigator also promised me that after my mission, if I come back I have permission to marry his daughter. I told him if she got baptized I would consider it (don't worry, I'm not really considering it.).

Also, as I'm sure you guys swam the Diaz De Leon family came over to Vallejo (it's like 10 minutes from Cordelia) and took Elder Minkler and I out to lunch!! I just love them so much. I can't wait for you guys to come here for their sealing a meet them. They are the greatest! Best recent converts of all time.

Hopefully more to update next week! It's been a good week though. Love you guys and miss you a ton!