What's up everybody? This has been an awesome week and I'm loving it here so far! So many good people and an awesome ward. Good things are happening this transfer!
Tuesday
We had transfers and I drove the whopping three miles to my new apartment from the church. I'm now with Elder Ibarra and I'm loving it! We got back and I unpacked all my stuff and then we got right to work! We went and had a lesson with Janet who is a less active lady in the ward. We had two members with us and it was awesome! This Spanish group is like being part of a family. They love each other so much and you can tell they love the missionaries. Hermano Reyes came with us and after we dropped him off he called us back two minutes later to come get some food. 😍 I'm going to have to watch my weight here.... my word. Haha those tortillas were amazing and the salsa was killer. It was so cool to be in their humble little home speaking Spanish. I love it here. 👍🏼
Wednesday
There are only two companionships that drive in downtown Pittsburgh and I'm starting to see why. It's a mess down here! Hah if you can drive in Pittsburgh you can drive anywhere. It's amazing how many streets there are that make absolutely no sense at all. Luckily Elder Ibarra has been really patient with me but it's been a struggle for me so far. 😬 We did some service at a Presbyterian church and I guess missionaries have done it for awhile. It's called Days for Girls and the purpose of it is to help girls in struggling nations to maintain good hygiene. We help make these bags out of fabric that are later filled with feminine products and sent all over the world. They have us sew and do all these little things so I'm learning some good skills. 😏 There were a lot of people there as well so we got to talk a lot! Not your typical service, but hey it works.
Thursday
Solid district meeting with the new Pittsburgh crew and after a little game of pool during lunch we hit the streets. 😏 I absolutely love our assignment here. We're in charge of all the Spanish in the 3 Pittsburgh zones so we basically just go where we know we can find Spanish people and knock their doors. We're just focusing on the hispanics and it's fun to look for signs on mailboxes, cars, or whatever and knock their doors. We walked around for awhile and and found a few houses. There's a lot of potential here we just have to organize ourselves a little bit better. We had a good dinner with Margarita and Ramon who are couple of the active members of the group. They're awesome and have a ton of desire to share the gospel. They talk crazy fast but I'm warming up my Spanish game again, it presents a new challenge but I'm trying to work hard and ask a ton of questions!
Friday
The Reyes family is trying to learn English and Elder Clarke from the mission office came out and helped us teach them! It was really fun and really funny. One of those things you just had to be there for. 😂 They're such good people and have the purest desires to learn English. We're going to try and help the once or twice a week and invite other people to come as well! We had a great dinner that night with Hermana Cárdenas and she just brings out all this food and leaves us there to eat it while she watched her soap opera. A little different, but the food was great. I've eaten my fair share of beans this week and I'm alright with it! We went to our golden Spanish areas at night and found a few more people! Elder Ibarra has a sixth sense for Spanish people and it's pretty amazing to watch. Lots of finding to come in this area!
Saturday
We did a ton of service in the morning. All sorts of moving and helping out where we could, it was good but wiped me out. We helped move a lady who just recently started coming back to church. She was hilarious and I love black people from the hood. They don't take "no sass from nobody." That night Joanna Reyes was baptized! They invited so many people and it was awesome! E. Ibarra translated a ton of it and I played the piano and it worked out really well. We got to talk to a bunch of non members and I think it was a good experience for all. Pluuuus Hermana Reyes cooked a ton of good Mexican food, that might have been why so many people showed up...
Sunday
Church was great and it was so cool to have everything in Spanish! The group is awesome and we had close to thirty people show up! Some were just visiting but still! There are some great people here and there's a special spirit among the hispanics. We had an awesome lesson with Jamie and her husband Will who just had a baby. She's a member and he grew up with a baptist background. They were both really chill and receptive to our message and want to learn more! It was sweet! That night E. Ibarra had me use some language study to call our Spanish potential investigators and we ended up picking up two new investigators. Sunday night is a good time to call people. 👍🏼
Random thoughts
- Elder Ibarra took me to this little taco stand while we were out finding and it was amazing. 😍 I have faith in Mexican food again.
- Momma will be proud to know that I'm the official new piano player for the group. For all those reading, I can humbly admit that the day has come where I thank her for teaching me to play!
- We were walking around on Sunday night and EVERYONE was watching the Steeler game, when they scored you could hear it. Sadly, they didn't pull through.
- Elder Ibarra and I are the oldest companionship (mission age) in the mission. 😳
We've seen some great things happen this week and I know they're going to keep happening as we work hard and pray with faith! Hope everyone is doing well back home!
Hasta Luego,
Elder Halls
Pictures: Elder White replaced me on Tuesday. They make me look like a Hobbit!; Typical Pittsburgh; Walking around looking for Hispanos; This view is right by our house. Maybe .2 miles away.; Serving in a church a member bought. It was built in the late 1800s!; Noche de Hogar with Raymond, Armando, Janet and her daughter
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