The week was a little hectic but pretty good. We had a lot to do and very little time to do it in. We are starting to get adjusted to when people are around and stuff, so that is super helpful. We got all unpacked and everything. It’s a good time. It’s still a work in progress, but it really is coming along.
We spent some time in Fernley. Fernley is technically about 1000 people bigger than Fallon, but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t take the navy base into account. Really they are about the same size, Fallon is probably slightly bigger. It is about half way to Reno, so it becomes a little bit of a suburb for it. There are a lot of Hispanics, but it is hard to find them home. Really we just need referrals from there. We stay at the English elders appt. It is a 4 man appt because there used to be SpanAms there too, but now it just has 2. Yerington used to be covered by Fernley. It has 2 Wards, and then they cover the ward in Silver Springs too. It is not quite the Mormon town that Fallon is, but its still Nevada.
On Sunday, the speakers were easier to understand, especially since it wasn’t testimony meeting. I got just about as much as I do in English, haha. I had a libreta (like a small flip notebook...I don’t know what you'd call that in English other than that) out the whole time and wrote down words that I heard that I don’t know so that I can look them up later. It was a pretty good meeting, but next week will be better...we are speaking. Hahaha. That is going to be quite a challenge for us, but at least we get to write out talks out before hand. Speaking in Spanish off the top of my head is still a little rough for me, though it is getting better fast because it has to.
The best part of the week was probably when we had a lesson with the lady named Claudia. She lives in a trailer park where a couple of members live (kids who converted without their parents actually) who are about 14, 15, and 16, and the 16 (Junior) year old’s best friend (Kevin) is always around. We were in the lesson when Kevin and Junior came in and joined the lesson because Claudia is Junior’s aunt, but everyone there is just one big family anyway. We finished teaching the lesson and started asking who was going to give the closing prayer. I said, "alright, everybody say a metal in Spanish. Plata!" And then Junior said "Oro!" And me and Elder Bowe said oh, ok, and bowed our heads. “Oro” in Spanish both means gold and I pray. What was cool in the end was that Junior was like...”nah, I think Kevin should pray.” Kevin kind of wants to be baptized, but doesn’t have his parents’ permission. Kevin said, "I don’t know how." So Junior taught him how right there! It was great. It was exactly how missionary work should be. Somebody teaching their best friend how to pray. Then Kevin did exactly what Junior told him, which was exactly how we teach it. It was way good. (Look here for more about prayer.)
