Right well I have quite a bit to share so I'll try to stay on topic.
First my area.
Lehi is originally the first location where the settlers came to Mesa. You could not find a more diverse area than where we live. Part of the area is populated by more livestock than humans. There are three wards that we cover Lehi, 2nd Monument and Mesa Vista. Monument is almost entirely cowboys, and the worst part is we're not allowed to ride horses. I attached some pictures of our little pink house. In our area there are about 2 apartment complexes and then there are about 5 trailer parks. We've talked to all kinds of people. On the south side of our area is the canal which is probably the only water for miles around. By the way did you know that to water your grass here you just flood the yard for a day.
The people
Everyone here is so friendly, I haven't really had any bad experiences, the evenings can be a little weird, but during the day time there's no where we can't go. We had a baptism this past weekend which was a wonderful experience. He's an absolute rock star. He's been living with a LDS family when his parents kicked him out and he had a genuine interest in learning about our life on earth and where we came from. Well that's what we specialize in teaching. The service was a great experience his good friend baptized him, and then Elder Berardi confirmed him the following Sunday. In another ward there's a young kid who has been investigating the church for years, and the only thing keeping him from joining the church was his parents. Now that he's 18 there's not much they can do to keep him from doing anything, but they do support him which is a miracle. There is a family that I think I talked about in my last email. She is a great investigator. She has grown up around members of the church her entire life. She lives with her husband, granddaughter and mother, and the three women want to be baptized June 11th which is so exciting, because they're the first people that I've taught from the beginning. The last individual we've been helping is R, she's from the Papago Indian reservation just next to us. We met her as we were seeing another investigator. She expressed a desire to quit smoking and to help her daughter who's 3. To help her quit we offered to take her cigarettes and no sooner had we said this, she got up and brought us all the cigarettes in her house. She's had a few relapses since, but she's really trying hard to quit.
Finally there's the problems
First there's my bike. This bike was pre-ordered and was here when I got here. I've riden pedal bikes in Washington for years and I have never gotten a puncture or a flat tire of any kind. Within a week I got 10 punctures in my rear tire and 4 in the front. Elder Berardi and I spent more time off our bikes fixing them than we did on them(he had several punctures as well). Finally we went to the bike shop and got heavy duty tubes and this liquid called slime that clogs up punctures and solidifies so you don't have to get a new tube. The tube that came with my bike measured just over 3mm thick which would explain the punctures. The heavy duty tubes that we got are one quarter of an inch thick. Hopefully we won't have any more problems.
Second the weather. I don't know if I told you but it rained the day I got here. Since then the hottest I've seen is 101 degrees, which is according to the locals very cool compared to a normal spring. It may be a dry heat down here, but you're always wet from all the sweat. I've turned a light shade of brown, which I'm sure will just get darker.
Anyway tell everyone hi and that I miss them. The horses in our backyard keep us in good company.
That's about it. I'm having fun and keeping safe.
Love you all,
Elder Davidson
In regards to mail you should know that it takes an extra two days to get to me(they have to forward it from the mission office) which means most people in the US have to send the letter a full week ahead of when they want it to arrive. I will respond to any letters received during the week on monday which means they'll be delivered around friday. Also they ask that you put my full name after Elder (ie.Elder William Davidson).
No comments:
Post a Comment