Ben 11 April 2011

Familia y Amigos,

This was a good week, we worked with members a lot and contacted a lot of references. It´s definitely true that contacting references is much more effective than knocking doors. Every once in a while though, we find somebody that progresses from just fishing.

There were 3 baptisms in the ward this week, two kids turning 8 and one woman, Ruth Elizabeth, Serna Cortez, that we and the previous missionaries taught. One of the kids, Jesus David, was my first ever baptism and Ruth was my second. I did them both right the first time, which was nice. My companion and others from the ward did the confirmations.

Spanish is coming. That´s about all I can say, I´m not sure when I´ll be able to hold a conversation without saying ¨Que¨?¨every other time somebody says something. I´m trying to learn some vocab every day, and I can say things more easily than last week.

I usually teach a small part of each lesson, but I realize now how much better I could have used my study time in the MTC. It´s not that I wasted time, it´s just that I couldn´t understand what real lessons in the field were like. I have a lot to learn still, about the lessons and about how to teach in general. My training is 1-4 over, so I need to learn quickly.

Yesterday I made jugo de mango. It was good, but I felt a little nauseous after drinking it. Today I made jugo do guanabana, but when I left it in the fridge to cool somebody knocked the glass over...gah! But I´ll have lots more opportunities here, I suppose. I need to buy more guanabana pulp.

I have a long way to go yet, but it´s nice to be involved in the work even as much as I am. If nothing else, my trainer couldn´t be here working without a companion, so I´m contributing something. Oh, he is a gringo, he´s been here for 18 months, in the mission for 20. He´s a hard worker and a good teacher, and I´m learning a lot from him.

I enjoyed cinnamon´s letter, lots of the things I didn´t understand during conference because we watched half of it in Spanish. Maybe when the Liahona gets here I´ll be able to study and figure things out.

Other things...Not many people are writing me, but I don´t really have time to respond to them if they did, so I guess so long as they realize that.

My brain has stopped functioning...I hope everybody is doing well!

Elder Coffman