Week 13

February 10, 2014

Wow I can't believe that I will be on a plane in a week from today headed down to Mexico City!! That is so crazy to me and even though I'm very nervous I'm also really excited! I think I will finally be able to post all of my pictures on drop box today so you can all see those!

One story I forgot to mention last week was the Haywain burger challenge. There is a place down here in downtown SLC that is run by a Tongan man who lives up here now. Like a lot of local hole-in-the wall restaurants he has an "eating challenge". The challenge is called the Haywain burger challenge and you have to eat a burger that is about 10 inches tall, has 10 oz of hamburger patty, 10 oz of Kahlua pork, 10 oz of ham, lettuce, onions, tomato, cheese, mayo and a thick slice of pin apple. But that's not all, you have to eat this along with a pound of fries in 30 minutes. I was doing really well and was devouring the burger and fries. I was about half way done in 10 minutes and I thought I was going to be able to finish with time to spare.... about 5 minutes later I got hit with the feeling of being stuffed and couldn't eat anymore... I have pictures on drop box but I finished about 3/4 of it before I felt like I was going to die... haha.

These past three days have been really cool and lots of fun. Yesterday was a great day and was one of the best Sundays so far in the mission. I am still feeling sick and Sunday mornings after study for us are very relaxed. I took a long nap because I was feeling sick and then felt ready to go for the day. At church I had to give my first talk in Spanish and it was about 15 minutes. It went really well but was kind of a weird experience because the branch has a translating service for those who attend and can't speak Spanish. So as I was giving my talk in Spanish I heard our ward mission leader off to the side translating everything I was saying into English. That was kind of a cool, awkward, funny situation that I never thought I would be in. After we had dinner with a Mexican family where the wife actually served her mission in the Mexico City East mission. She was very kind and cooked us the most Delicious authentic Mexican food I've ever had. We had Chuleta (Which is pretty much very salty pork chops) Quesadillas, Spanish rice, and amazing beans! She provided us with so much food and encouraged us to keep taking more. My companions and I each had 4 plates of this amazing Mexican dish and all left the house having a hard time walking because we were so full... haha. After that we went to Temple Square and the Conference Center with Diego and Hydi which was very cool and lots of fun. Diego and Hydi are dating and both as of yesterday are considered reactivated members. Yesterday we had 7 members be reactivated yesterday and that was a huge step for our small branch.

This morning (and every P-day) we went to Penny Ann's Cafe which is an amazing little dinner that reminds me a lot of Pat's dinner in Cortland. The owner of the restaurant is LDS and told us missionaries that we can go once a week and get our whole meal for free. We always look forward to eating there because it is free, and more importantly, AMAZING FOOD!!!!

I don't have a lot else to talk about, the last thing that I can think of is an investigator names Josue, he is a 9 year old kid that we are going to be baptizing this Saturday. His mom is less active and his 15 year old brother is newly re-activated. Josue has MAJOR ADHD, has a hard time focus in lessons and one would be nice by calling him crazy... His mom thinks he is possessed by the devil and he does crazy things all the time. Some examples of this are: 1. During lessons he will go grab a sharpie and start to draw up and down his arm. 2. He tries to place mouse traps and other sharp objects on the floor and get people to step on them. 3. One time when we asked him to pray he said no, him mom convinced him to and he said "Dear Heavenly Father.. Amen" "There HAPPY!?!" the mom then said no and so he began to say another prayer that said "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless that my mom will shut up, and that she will give me 100 dollars, Amen" and then stormed off. We are trying to work a lot with him and he is progressively getting better but he is still very very very rude to his mom and whenever he talks he lifts up his hand like he is going to back hand her.... This is very difficult to work with but we are seeing noticeable progress.

One more funny story, we have an Elder who lives right above us who is Hawaiian named Elder Paulu and he has been working on his Spanish and we taught him how to say "Le gusta mi corbata? Tiene Pina" Which means "Do you like my tie? It has pineapples" because he has a brand new pineapple tie. So he went up to one of our Mexican friends in the Branch and quotes this line, and Juan replay's "si, pina para la nina" and me and my companions started to bust up laughing while Elder Paulu stood there not knowing what he said, he then asked us what he said and we responded "Yes, Pineapple for the little girl" (which in Spanish rhymes) Elder Pahulu died laughing and we always say that to him now.

Sorry my thoughts were kind of everywhere today but I miss you all and would love to hear from you, I leave to Mexico City next Monday so I'm not sure when my next email time will be, but when I get my travel plans and flight info I'll be able to email, text, or call my mom with those details and then we can set up a time to talk in the airport :) Love you all and miss you!

Love,

Elder Adams