Hey guys,
How disappointed I was not to recieve an e-mail from you guys... Tsk tsk tsk.
However, I was very happy to receive the two pound bag of Swedish Fish and all the other goodies that were in there. And the pictures too!!! I was so excited for that!! Now my investigators know what my family looks like and how tall they all really are. Thanks so much. And the thing that Sis. Galan made for the choir was very funny.
So being a trainer and district leader is not as tough as I thought it would be. Elder Bushman has been very patient with me as I struggle to get 100% healthy. I feel great. I think the thing that hurts the most is when I have to take of the gauze from the stitches because the skin around there is all raw from having to take the gauze off so many times. And then it burns whenever I have to take a shower. But other than that, I feel no pain, except for the occasional misstep here and there, a cough here and there, a sneeze here and there. The doctor keeps rescheduling my appointment with him so I haven't been able to see him since my surgery, but I go in today. So we'll see.
Elder Bushman came in on Wednesday. I felt really bad because I could do nothing to help with the luggage. I couldn't carry it up the stairs, so here he is, carrying 130 pounds of luggage by himself, while I stand by idly watching. Poor guy. It's kinda funny that I only have 6 more weeks in the mission than he does. So yeah.... But he's a great missionary. His Spanish... is improving every day. I think he'll do great. He knows how to speak the language fairly okay, it's just being able to understand what people are saying to him. But we're working on that. We take an hour everyday of language study, where basically he can ask me any question that he needs answered about Spanish and then we listen to someone speak in Spanish and we practice Spanish pronunciation. It's fun.
We don't have a lot of proselyting time because of all our additional studies. We have to do about 4 hours of studies everyday. But we've done a pretty good job of doing our studies.
Oh, so on Elder Bushman's first day, we set baptismal dates with Miriam and Chris for Dec. 18!! It was awesome. Going into the lesson, I really had no idea that they we were going to invite them to get baptized. And poor Elder Bushman, I had told him we were going to be teaching the second lesson, and instead I felt like we should change and go over the first lesson again. It turned out to be a good thing.
The next day, we had to go to the new missionary training and Pres. Martin asked "how many companionships were able to set baptismal dates on their first day?" And we were the only companionship that raised our hands. We received much praise from Pres. Martin for that. "Hahaha, I guess it takes a greenie and a crippled elder to set baptismal dates in our mission." Good one, president... Haha, no I love Pres. Martin.
Speaking of the new missionary training, that was good. It was the same exact meeting that I went to 12 weeks ago, when I got into the mission. We went over the same exact program that I went through. We watched the same exact movies that we watched when I was a greenie. I think the only thing that was different was the AP's. So, I learned some new things...
It was funny because during the training, we read the introduction of the new missionary program. Pres. Martin had me read, I think it was like the third paragraph, where it says "This program is designed to help missionaries, if called upon, be prepared to train a new missionary when they are done with this program." Then, he says "Elder Gruenewald, how long have you been in the mission." "This is my third transfer." "See, elders and sisters, this 12 week program does help missionaries be prepared to train after just 3 months." Thanks president. It was a little embarassing.
It was kinda weird because I knew only a handful of missionaries there, whereas pretty much every missionary knew every other missionary. I think that Elder Bushman probably knew more missionaries at that training than I did.
And then Chris came to church yesterday! Ok, a little about Chris, Chris is a 15 year old kid who is just great. It was kinda funny because on Saturday we stopped by quickly to make sure he would come to church and we were about to leave and he says "Aren't we forgetting to do something?? We forgot a prayer!" So we said a prayer. He's a great kid, and I think he will be able to go through with his baptismal date. Miriam probably won't because she works off-and-on on Sundays, but she says she will come to church. It helps that they have a member, Daisy, her sister, that lives with them.
Hna. Busch was so excited when Chris came on Sunday because she was the one that find them when she worked our south area, and then they were just sort of forgetten after she left. So when we picked them up again, she was so excited and when he came to church, she was just even more excited. Poor misionera, this is her 7th transfer in this ward. Almost a year. And she has not had it easy. They had 8 baptismal dates a few months ago, and there have been 0 baptisms as a result. But now, she's perservered and she has a lot of baptisms set up for next month. Some people that just kinda went missing are being found again. And she is happy again (because she was disappointed when she found out she'd be staying yet another transfer here; there's been speculation for like the past 3 transfers that she would be leaving the ward).
As for district leading, I don't feel any different. Basically the only thing different is that I have to give the trainings on Friday and we have a lot more meetings, which really stinks because that takes time away from proselyting and miles from our car (we get 1000 miles each month). But I know they're necessary. I have to go to meetings in Santa Clarita this Tuesday and Wednesday for district leader stuff.
We went knocking on Saturday. I did a few example door contacts for Elder Bushman and then I just kinda threw him out there. Poor kid, he just kinda froze at the first door. Some Philippino guy answers the door and he starts speaking Spanish to him and the Phillipino guys just like "I'm Phillipino." After that, Elder Bushman really didn't know what to do. But he'll get better. I think we just have to do a lot of roleplaying so he feels comfortable. It's ok though. I remember my first door, the guy just slammed the door in my face. Not fun. And my second door, the guy started speaking English and I had no idea what to do. It was funny. Once he gets those jitters out (which, quite frankly, I still have), he'll be okay.
Well, that's about it. Hasta luego.
Con amor,
Elder Nathan Gruenewald
