August 29, 2011

8-29-11

Hola Y'all,

 

     This week has flown by. Things here in Athens have been pretty good. I have discovered that our area is pretty massive. We cover over 950 square miles. Just thought you'd like to know.

     We had a bit of a disappointing cap to the week Sunday. Elder Guerrero and I had about 5 investigators whom we invited to church and all committed to come. We even went with a member to go pick one of them up, but the investigator pretty much dodged us. None of the others answered our reminder calls and no one showed up for the meetings. We aren't sure exactly how we're going to handle everyones situations but I'm afraid there may be a few that we have to drop, including one of our dates. We will be fasting about it this week and seeking revelation as to how we should move forward with everyone. Things will get better, but these situations are always difficult to navigate.

     We found a new family from a referral we received from our zone leaders in Tyler. The family seems to be very nice and is interested in coming to church. The biggest challenge(for me): none of them speak English... My Spanish is coming along slowly. I am able to understand more and more, but my speech hasn't really progressed. Part of my fast will be for help learning enough of the language to be able to communicate simply enough to build off of. The official transfer calls went out Saturday night, and neither Elder Guerrero nor I received one. It looks as though we get to remain companions for at least another 6 weeks, and my Spanish has definitely got to improve if I want to be able to contribute anything to roughly half of our teaching opportunities.

     Helping Elder Guerrero perfect his English has been a really interesting experience thus far. Even if my Spanish isn't coming along as well as I'd like, my teaching skills in English are definitely growing from the experience. I am constantly forced to be on my toes in conversation with my companion. At any moment I could get the "I have no idea what you're talking about" stare(this look is traded fairly often throughout the day). At this point in the conversation, the objective shifts to re-wording and simply explaining the terms and/or themes that are unfamiliar. I think this is why I'm able to understand more and more, because my Spanish vocabulary is growing at a semi-acceptable pace. Now if I can only make some sentences...
     I hope everyone has a great week and I hope the first day(s) of school are or have been fantastic! If you have luck, take it. Care for it. Until next time(as always); be good, stay safe, and keep the faith!

 

Much Love,

 

Elder Michael P. Lyman

   Texas Dallas Mission