The
results of transfers are in... I'm now in Santa Rosa de Lima. It's a
border town, more or less. My house is about 15 minutes in bus away from
the border of Honduras. My area goes all the way to the border, though we
don't work that far out. Oh, and everyone says that Santa Rosa is THE
hottest area in the mission. So I have gone from the coldest area in the
mission to the hottest. On the bright side, December is the coolest month
of the year down here, so I'm not dying from the change of climate. Much.
From
what I've seen, I'm going to love Santa Rosa. This town is alive!
There is always something going on, always motion, always noise, at least in
downtown. Very different from Berlin, where everything was closed by 6:00
at night.
The
work is going well here. We have several progressing investigators, and a
couple of for-sure baptisms as soon as we can get permission from the parents.
Today
has been an interesting P-day so far. The bus we were on died. We
were on our way to the city of La Union for an activity with the zone. A
guy on a motorcycle pulled up alongside the driver's window and yelled
something at him, pointing behind him. The next thing I knew we were
pulling over very quickly. We soon found out why. As we came to a
stop smoke started pouring in the windows in the back of the bus. Most of
the people on the bus stayed calm, but a few started to panic. In their
fear, the clouds of smoke were as bad as seeing roaring flames. Lots of
screaming and yelling ensued, but thankfully nobody got trampled in the mad
rush to get off of the bus. They thought that the motor was on fire, and
that if they didn't get off of the bus that very instant that they would die!
In that moment, I felt a tiny bit like President
Nelson did in the experience that he tells about in this video. The other
missionaries and I sat in our seats calm as a summer morning watching as
other's hearts failed them. Now, I know that the situation was not nearly
as serious as an impending plane crash, but the same principle applies.
Knowing who we are, why we are here, and that we are doing our best to live the
commandments of God gives us the confidence needed to be calm in spite of the
storm around us. Even in a life-threatening situation like that mentioned
in the video, we can be calm, and have the reassurance that we are ready to
meet our maker.
In
the end, the emergency on the bus was not nearly as serious as those poor souls
thought. The brakes on the rear left tires had failed, and the brakes
were burning. That in turn froze the tires in place, so the tires were
burning. Hence all of the smoke. I didn't see any flames, but the
cobrador (the guy who takes our money when we pay) and the driver were throwing
a bunch of water on the parts that were smoking. Once they got things
cooled down we started on our way again, only to stop five minutes later
because the same problem started up again. They tried repairing it again,
and not even a minute later it failed again. At that point they told us
to just get on another bus, and that they would pay for us. Which was
very nice of them. In the end, we made it to La Union unscorched, just
lightly smoked!
Now,
for the explanation of the email title. Yesterday's lunch was spaghetti
and rice, accompanied by tortillas (everything here has a side of
tortillas). After eating my rice as quickly as possible (I'm really tired
of rice, seeing as I eat it literally every day I eat with a cocinera) I
decided to try something different. Here in Oriente they make tortillas
super thin, about the size of two mexican-style tortillas stacked on top of
each other. I decided that they would be perfect for tacos. So I
made spaghetti tacos. And they were delicious.
That's
all for this week. Tune in next Monday for more of Elder West's crazy
Salvadorean adventures!
Love,
Elder Colton West
El Salvador, San Salvador East Mission
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| Feliz Navidad from Yoda aka Elder West! |
