Written by Elder Dallin Remund, currently serving in the Virginia Chesapeake Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.
Hello everyone!!
I hope I'm finding everyone at a great time in this wonderful summer. July is almost over! And today marks two months since I left Herriman, Utah to serve a mission. What a great two months it has been so far. It has been flying by so fast!
This week has been sooo awesome! I basically got to celebrate another birthday because all my letters and packages came in this week. Thanks to all those that sent me letters and flowers, and all the fancy lotions and stuff! Haha! I love y'all.
By the way, y'all has become a part of my vocabulary down here. Everyone says it. People can tell there is something weird about you if you say 'you all' or even 'you guys.' Welcome to the South! Another thing a bunch of people do out here is instead of saying 'I'm going to', they say 'I'm fixin' to.' I'm fixin' to go out and preach the gospel tonight!
So, on Wednesday, we went over to the Hernandez's house to paint their fence! We were outside all day with Brittany and Alison, who are both Young Womens' age, and their non-member friend, Sergio. After a day at work, we taught Sergio about the Restoration! He seemed to really like it, and he keeps going to church with the Hernandez family! The next day, we had a scripture study with him and we studied the Introduction.
Yesterday we went back to the Hernandez's house for lunch and I had my first 'sopole' which is like a Mexican soup with hominy-type corn stuff with chicken and pork. It was pretty good! It was my first Hispanic meal out on the mission! We taught Sergio about the Gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) afterwards and he is continuing to progress! He is enjoying it. We hope to have another lesson with him this week and invite him to be baptized at the end of the month. The only problem is that he lives in a city outside our mission boundaries, so we would have to get special permission to go to the Albertson Ward. Hope everything turns out okay.
On Saturday, we went over to Milo and Mildred Harper's house to paint their house. More paint! We are professional painters now. They have 10 kids, and 9 of them live here in Albertson. The other kid and their family lives in West Jordan and their daughter went to Copper Hills and knows James Wright. Small world! But Brother and Sister Harper are part of the reason that the whole ward is related to each other! So many kids and they all stay here and then someone marries into the family. It's not the Albertson Ward, it's the Harper Ward! Hahaha! One older member named Brother Huggins gave me his 'talk' he gives all missionaries saying there's a trend that there's a lot of missionaries that serve here and come back to marry an Albertson woman and settle here. He says "they cook great, they clean great, they're kind, and they make beautiful babies." Hahahaha! I was dying.
We've been doing a lot of contacting Hispanics this week and it's been really great. It's nice to finally be more immersed in the language I'm supposed to be speaking! I've become a lot more excited about speaking Spanish with others as I've exercised my faith in Christ that I can do this! The mission is so fun!!! We went to go to visit a non member family we had an appointment with last night and they ended up being muy 'ocupado' or busy. :-) I've become used to people canceling, but I learned that when one door closes, another opens! We met their Mexican neighbors who were outside. The wife was super crazy nice and excited to talk to us, and the husband was interested, too. We set up an appointment with them on Tuesday! Not sure how it will turn out, but a door opens when another closes!
I am super excited for this week! I'm going up to Portsmouth, Virginia this Thursday for my trainer's training. We're going to stop off in Greenville, North Carolina, and then go up to Virginia! Should be fun to visit Virginia again!
Well, time is just about up! It was great to get emails from everyone this week. I love you all! I love this work! This is the Lord's work and I am on His errand.
I'm grateful for the strength the Lord has given me and for all your prayers. I sure think about y'all a ton! This gospel is TRUE and through application of its principles through prayer and study, we can be truly happy!
Con paz y bendiciones ("with peace and blessings"),
Elder Remund
Called to Know the Richness of His Blessings!
