Well I'm finally here! It's not exactly Mexico, but it will do just
fine for five weeks or so. So after three days in Chicago I already
have news about my visa! I'm actually going to see the visa consulate
tomorrow morning, but I'll still be here for until the end of the
transfer (another five weeks) because they don't want new missionaries
coming into Mexico when they just barely changed companions and areas.
That's alright though because that means I get to stay here and have a
good old fashioned Chicago Christmas and then next year I'll get one in
Mexico! I'm lucky and get two missions and since everyone always says
their mission is the best in the world, I can actually choose which one
is better. I'll probably end up saying that I had the two best missions
in the world or something. ha.
Ok so I'll start telling about my week from when I got to the
airport.
Me, Elder Vrska and some other Elders actually got to ride
first class for some reason which was cool, but not that great. I wanted
to start talking to people all around me and stuff, but it's harder
than it sounds because they were either reading a book or sleeping.
I
did end up talking with the flight attendant though. Too bad she was already a
member though. I mean it's awesome that she's a member, but...you know
what I mean.
So we got off the plane and met my mission president at the bottom
of the escalator at the airport just how I imagined it and gave us our
copy of the Book of Mormon to give to someone. We loaded up our luggage
in the van which drove to the mission home, but we headed to the famous Millennial Park by train. So it was hard at first, but I actually talked
to this elderly man on the train in Spanish with the help of one of the
Mission President's assistants. He was actually doing pretty much all of
the talking and I did a lot of smiling, nodding, and trying to find the
right times to laugh or say, "si". I definitely have to work on my
Spanish comprehension though because it might be obvious, but people who
grew up speaking Spanish talk differently than the RMs at the MTC and
so it's a little tough to understand sometimes (especially on a train).
So we went to Millennial Park and saw "The Bean" (giant mirror shaped
like a bean) and Olympic Stadium which was pretty cool.
Once we got on
the train to go to the mission president's house I started talking to
this guy, but then one Elder tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at a
sign that said, "Quiet car during rush hour" and I was like AW MAN! How
am I supposed to teach people if I can't talk?!
Chicago is the place with the biggest buildings and the most people
walking around than I have ever seen and it's pretty dang awesome. I
like the city, but being in the suburbs which is where I'm at now is
awesome too. I got paired up with my new companion known as Elder Adams
(perfect right?) and we are doing awesome together. He's from Bear
River, UT and is a rodeo man which is pretty cool. He's been in Chicago
for 9 months and is helping me out big time with the Spanish.
Although a
couple days ago we were eating at this old lady member's house who
almost mumbled to herself when she talked and he went to the bathroom to
purposely leave me alone with her for like twenty minutes. It was good
though because I just asked questions like, "What are you doing for
Christmas?" and then just sat back and listened because she talks a ton. It was pretty
funny and he keeps pulling little pranks on me like going up to the
wrong house when going to an appointment and waiting to see if I would
notice. Don't worry, I did. He did get me though when he told me we were
going to tract a street and we got into this one house with a man
asking all sorts of specific questions about the Book of Mormon and
almost yelling asking me how he could know that's it's true. I was like,
"Oh, ok great! Good question!" and I had him read the last two
paragraphs of the Intro. He was like, "Ok, but don't we have to pray
first?" I was like, "Ya that's right! You already know!". That was when
finally he jumped up to give me a handshake and told me he was Hermano
Quinones, aka a member. Hahaha it was pretty funny. We actually go over
to his house and have dinner with him like three times a week now and
they are really nice and friendly.
So everything is awesome here in Cicero, Illinois. There's
definitely a lot of work to do here because the missionaries before us
left a ton of inactives and former investigators that we are going to
try our best to reactivate and keep them on the path to eternal life
again. The food is fantastico! I'm getting so stuffed here and it's
awesome but sometimes it's too much. One time we were going from one
dinner appointment to another and we were locking up our bikes and I see
Elder Adams making himself puke so he could have room for more food.
Haha I was like, I will never do that. So ya good food. I'm not so great
on a bike (crashed on my first day) but that's alright because I think
we are putting them away for the winter. Ha I'll tell that story later
probably.
I'm all out of time! I miss you all!
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!
Love,
Elder Adam Shurtliff
