Door to door at last! - Saturday, October 23, 2010

Well, the hopes of having a warm shower this morning were shattered! I really should have known better. So I had another cold shower. I didn't wash my back this morning though. I just couldn't handle that today. So just washed my head and the front of me, which is ok because it's the front that people see anyway (that joke was stolen from my Aunt Julie who I talked to online today!).


We went out in service, small group for a Saturday. I guess Saturday isn't a very big service day. Not sure why. Maybe people work or wash clothes or something. Most people don't have a washing machine and they aren't any laundromats here, so washing clothes is a time consuming task. The weather was nice today though. The sun came out for a little while, but for the most part it was cloudy and cool. I really like the weather up here.


I worked with Nora this morning (see picture below). She was going to the territory for a while, then to a study. So I went with her and the group to the territory. It was so nice to finally get to go door to door and talk to people. Someone was home in every house we went to, and everyone listened. So I have two return visits to go back on tomorrow after the meeting. We saw some cows in the street out in service today. I have a short video but I can't figure out how to post them on here. I keep getting an error message. I think they were taking them to slaughter since they sell meat in that barrio (neighborhood).

Maria, Wanda & Nora

I finally passed the two hour mark out in service today. I was out for 2 hours and 45 minutes!! When I got back Maria (see above photo) was cleaning the hall and setting the chairs out. They move all the chairs after the meeting to mop the tile floor, and each week 3 families are assigned to arrive early and clean the floor and put out the chairs. So, we did that. Then had some lunch, and just pottered around the house until it was time for the meeting at 3:30.

The meeting was very nice. There were about 45 there I think. The demonstration I did went well, I think. I didn't fall over the microphone wire or forget how to speak Spanish, so in my books that means it went well! They announced two new regular pioneers tonight too. Nora who I went out with this morning, who as of this morning didn't know if she'd been approved yet or not! And Magda who I went out with on Friday and who got her pioneer letter that morning. So that was nice. That puts the number of regular pioneers at 7.

This evening a brother stayed to eat, and a study of Mario's called Jaime. He delivers the newspaper too. He's very nice. I don't have a picture of him yet but I'll have to get one since he spends quite a bit of time here. He's always full of conversation. He was wearing a sweater today that had Santa Claus on the front, and a Christmas tree, and it said "Ho, ho, ho" on it!  But like I said - he's just studying!

Charley has the public talk tomorrow. He's giving the one he does about young ones. Mario Sr. has to go to the convention to do the drama tomorrow, so I'm not sure if his whole family are going with him or not. But we'll be staying here for Charley's talk.

Hopefully I can find my return visits in the afternoon. And when I say "find" I'm more concerned about actually finding the houses, not wondering if the people will be home when I get there. You see, there are no street names here, or house numbers. So my notes for one return visit say "Barrio Jonatan. Pasando donde venden carne. La segunda casa en frente de la casa que tiene una cruz en la puerta". That's the address - "Jonathan Neighborhood. Past where they sell meat. The second house in front of the house that has a cross on the door". Like I said - I hope I'll find my return visits tomorrow!

You also don't knock on doors here. You just stand at the gate and yell "BUENAS...... BUENAS........BUENAS" until someone appears! It would be easy for people to hide, but most do come out eventually.

Oh, and here's a picture of Charley out in service today. I thought it looked like something you'd see in the magazines, except one thing seems to missing. Can you tell what it is?!

Well, I'll sign off now I think. It's only 8pm but it seems like we get tired earlier here!! Probably because we get up at 6am and it gets dark at 5:30pm.