3/12/12

(Letter to Mom)
Hey,
This week was basically the same as last week. We've been trying to find new investigators still, so we've been knocking a lot of doors and contacting people in the streets. A lot of people won't listen to us, and it seems like the people that do are always only here in our area working, and live somewhere else. It's also weird because a lot of people here won't just say that they aren't interested. They always just say that they're in a hurry, or they busy, or tell us to come back another day, but you can always tell that they are lying. We tried to contact this lady while we were walking to an appointment on Saturday, and she said she was busy, so we told her we could walk with her, but you could totally tell she wasn't in a hurry, she just wanted us to go away. A lot of times, when we knock doors, people will say ''not right now, come back another day'', so we ask them what day, and they say ''well the thing is, I work every day and I'm never home, so I can't really say a day'' or they just say again ''I'm busy right now come back another day''. I think since I've got here, I've only had three people straight up tell me they aren't interested.
I haven't got any letters yet, but they could just be sitting at the offices.
Did you talk to the missionaries or have them over for dinner or something? I hope so. So in my mission, the mission president has taught us a way to teach members how to share the gospel that is super simple. Basically, it consists of two visits. The first visit, you basically tell you friend or whoever about some of the blessings that you have received from the gospel and that you want them to be able to experience those blessings as well, then you give them the pamphlet or whatever you got from the missionaries to them and commit them to reading it and set up a time when you will be able to check up with them about. Then, the second visit, the one that you set up with them, you follow up with them, you see if they read it and if they had any questions or what they thought or whatever, and then you tell them that if they would like you could come over with the missionaries and they would be able to teach them more or answer any questions or whatever, and then set up an appointment that you can go by with the missionaries. It's super simple, and you don't even have to teach them anything. So that's what I want all of you to do this week. I know it will work and you'll be glad you did. And if you feel worried or scared of what your friend or whoever will think if you share the gospel with them, then don't worry. Even if they aren't interested or don't listen, they will still be your friend and they won't think anything bad about you. A lot of people here reject us, but tell us that they appreciate what we are doing as missionaries, and they respect us and think better of us even though they don't agree with what we are teaching.
Well, I hope you all take the opportunity to share the gospel with someone.
I hope you have a great week. I love you and am grateful for everything you do for me.
Elder Janda
(Letter to Dad)
Hey, I'm glad to hear you had a good week. I haven't really eaten many weird things, just intestines and stomach. At least that's all I know of haha. We eat at members houses every day, and most of the time I don't even know what I'm eating haha. I had sushi again this week. One of the members we ate with is a chef, and we ate with him three times this week. One day he made shrimp tacos, another sushi, and then another he was going to make pizza, but he didn't have time to get all the ingredients and everything, so he just made some tacos. The food was good, but the bad thing was that we were there for forever every time cuz he usually didn't even start making the food until we got there. I've had tacos al pastor a few times. They're always on the street selling it at taco stands. They're really good. The area I'm living in is pretty poor. It reminds me a lot of the poorer parts of Mesa only more poor haha. And it's pretty dirty, there are stray dogs all over and they just poop wherever they want, and no one cleans it up, so there's always poop on the sidewalks and there aren't really any people who clean up garbage in the street and stuff, so there's garbage everywhere. The most they do, is sweep it into piles on the side of the road.
Valentin didn't get baptized yet, but he's going to either this week or next week. He has to quit smoking, and he won't just quit straight up, he's doing it slowly, but he finally came to church this last week and he says he wants to get baptized and everything. With the Orozco Soto family, we haven't gotten to teach them this week. They haven't been home almost every time we've passed by.
And yeah Dulce means either sweet if it's an adjective, or if it's used as a noun it means candy. Her daughter's name is Dulce too haha. For our clothes, we usually take them to a laundromat that a less active owns, or ever once in a while, a member will offer to wash them for us. And for email, there is an Internet cafe like two or three doors down from our house, so we usually go there. There are Internet cafes all over though.
I haven't gotten to play any fútbol since I've gotten here yet which stinks, but I'm sure I'll get to play eventually haha.
Thanks. I love you and I hope you have a great week.
Elder Janda