Semana 7

Hola y'all!

Well it has been a crazy busy week. i apologize if I my writing doesn't make sense, but i am way tired, haha.

Well first off the food here is sooooo good! Elder Berger and I had a dinner appointment with an awesome member family the Nevarros (such an amazingly converted family) and wow is the mother a good cook. The best fajita style steak tacos I have ever had in my life. I've had some incredible tamales as well. The only problem is that you really have to exercise hard here because people expect you to eat at least two heaping plates of food or they think that you don't like their food. That's great and all but the food here is extremely corn and flour carbohydrate loaded and greasy and you fill up really quickly. I have struggled some nights to get the second plate down. There is worse things you could to do to please people though I guess haha because it is very delicious food. Hopefully I don't come home 30 pounds heavier haha. I am really learning to love and appreciate salads and vegetables!

I love my companion and the other companionship in our apartment. They are super funny guys and easy to get along with. Elder Berger has an extremely strong testimony, and is constantly building me up so I don't get overwhelmed out here. So I am so grateful for that.

The people here are wonderful. Super friendly, humble, and charitable. I feel like I have been out here for a year with all the friendships I have developed. I especially am amazed at how great the priests and teachers are here in our ward at being member missionaries. They constantly want to go out with Elder Berger and I to lessons and they are so much fun to be around. Especially a kid named Alexis. He totally reminds me of like a mexican AJ Halling, haha. He is so great.

 I am actually amazed at how many people here speak good English. It's gets really confusing when you are contacting. We will go up to someone and be like, "Como esta hermano? and they will respond "What?" and we get surprised and are like "Oh sorry, how's it going?" haha, it goes the other way as well so it's kind of a gamble as to what language to speak to people. I was actually hoping that there would be more Spanish speaking opportunities here so it may be a challenge learning Spanish at this rate.

So there is border patrol everywhere all the time. We actually one day saw one of their helicopters hovering low in a circle shouting at someone below on a megaphone and when we got closer there was a van surrounded by border patrol cars, haha, never a dull moment. The other crazy thing I found out is that many members down here are actually involved with cartels. It's actually a really bad and sad situation as once you are in, you can never get out so they have no choice really. Don't be nervous about me though, as the cartels have to respect missionaries and in fact stories I have heard from Laredo they actually have protected them as well. I would just not ever want to be a border patrolman though. The certain members talk about their enemigos all the time when you hear a border patrol copter going over haha.

So it has been raining like crazy down here! Storms are gnarly here. We have standing water all over the place at the moment and poor Elder Eskelson and Olsen who are bike missionaries got absolutely drenched during one of the storms and basically had to swim through a river on their bikes in a low spot.

Dogs are super scary here too. I haven't had one try to bite me yet on my bike, but Elder Olsen and Eskelson just about have to kick a dog every day haha. It's sad the shape that animals are in around here. It's just people are very poor here and live in very impoverished conditions (we actually had to help remove some debris that washed into some members little houses from the flooding and it was super sad to see what little they get by with) so I can understand why they don't do more for their pets. I just wish they would spay and neuter them so there wasn't so many feral dogs running around.

Well Spanish is tough, but the people here are very forgiving when I struggle with it. The spirit is so amazingly strong during the lessons we get to teach and one that particularly stands out is sister Cobalrubia I testified of eternal families in Spanish and I absolutely felt the spirit testify through me and help me speak the Spanish better. 

Well pray for cool weather down here! I absolutely melt when the sun is out and almost no one has air conditioning around here. The humidity consistently feels like when you are in a creek in August in Missouri (Dad will know what I am talking about) and the temperature is hotter than many days in Missouri summers. So needless to say, it is basically the hottest, stickiest conditions I have ever been in haha and I don't do very well when it's just a little bit hot, so hopefully I can adapt.

I can feel my testimony growing every day and I feel great love for every person down here. You really get a taste of the love God has for every one of his children on a mission. Even though the days are long, you are often very exhausted, and the work load can be very large, that is what makes it all worth it. When you can see peoples burdens being lessened by the Savior.

Have a wonderful week everyone! Adios!

-Elder Sheehy

 Oh p.s. if anyone is bored and  wants to send me a letter, the post office we get our mail from is:

P.O. Box 987
Peñitas, Texas
78576

I would appreciate it :)

Thanks everyone for all your support! Thank you to everyone who has been writing me! Sorry if I haven't replied, as i really wish I could if time alloted. I do read everyone's though! Have a wonderful week!

This is a picture Elder Berger's parents sent me (Stacie) when they first met each other.

He keeps getting companions that make him look tiny! :)