New companion and new area

Wow it really is interesting looking at those pictures, it always depends on the computer here but once again I will try to send ya guys some. The one with dad and puppy made me think of how much we have back in the States. Carpet...fancy comfy bed...puppies...ya know, and the rest. Hopefully if this computer wants to be my friend you can see my new living conditions. And hopefully someday I too will be as buff as Ethan Kellogg.

I did have a change this last Wednesday to an area called Santa Elena, I have yet to really know what it means but I think Elena is just a name so it wouldn’t be too hard to figure it out if so. Btw Santo, or Santa depending on the noun it describes means ¨Saint¨ or ¨Holy¨. My conditions here are a bit different then they were in Juana de Arco.

There, we had a family above us who was incredibly nice; our bathroom worked with a bonus of hot water in the shower, and in the kitchen was the pila (where you clean the dishes). Here, (not complaining just stating the facts) we live alone in a big garage type building, a small living space on the floor above. 3 rooms, one bedroom, one kitchen and one study room. The pila is down a flight of incredibly steep stairs, and down there too is our toilet and shower. For over 25 odd days now we have not had running water and have been using stored rainwater to do what needs be done. The shower, as you can guess is cold and most mornings I only have the courage to stick my head in and wash my hair and pits. Yum!

My companion is named Elder Segura and is a Latino. He’s a good guy but has a couple difficulties like getting up on time in the morning; nevertheless I hope we will get along. He’s been in this same area for

4 and a half months poor guy and by the end of this change he will have had 6 months of his whole mission here, a whole forth. Our bishop and ward leaders live outside the area and are pretty much out of walking distance except when we meet for church. We have few investigators but I've been putting my trust ever more on the lord and he has already blessed us. The last week, we, through a little bit of service, found a family who turned out to be long lost inactive members, with their father never having been baptized. Martin, the father, is an...¿como se dice? Evangelist? And prays like one and likes to preach to us during our lessons but we’ve been able to get passed that. Within the first week of meeting him we taught him the restoration and the plan of salvation, and he came to church. His son Wainer is an inactive but he listens intently to the lessons and he with his father came to church this week. Yesterday we were looking for an investigator and at his door was another teenager who lived there named Henry. He let us in and we taught the restoration. At the end we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said that we wanted to read it.

Ever since changes to this more impoverished area, not knowing anybody, and living in a house that lacks a lot more of what I used to think of as essentials (ex: knives and bowls) I’ve grown a lot closer to the Lord and rely on him all the more. I’ve been reading Jesus the Christ and man! You can learn a lot in that book. Currently I think I'm around page 280ish.

Ok questions...

Oils? Hmmm I’ll check this week and tell you the next but I remember lavender, terrashield, digestzen, and.....more next week I guess haha I I already told you my situation with changes, but I could mention that Santa Elena is very very close to Juana de Arco, in fact I saw Elder Bowman today when we were shopping, him and Elder Winkle! Super-sadly my best buddy here on the mission Elder Smith se fue al Peten...i mean left for Petén which is at the very tippy top of Guatemala and I haven’t heard from him since...tear...we’ve been together since MTC Provo until now.

I might get my package this week but you never know, hopefully (or in Spanish Ojalá pronounced like ohhalA). As for this Brandyn character...have the boys text him up and see what he’s up to, I’ll be reading his email after yours so I don’t know this weeks situation yet.

Love love AMOR!!

Elder Andrew James Bronson