New Companion

Buenas noches de Villahermosa!

Hey everyone! First off, sorry for not emailing last week - and I also apologize in advance for the fact that this email's coming late and I don't think it'll be too long because we're short on time. As you mentioned, last week we were busy with transfers and my companion's phone call home and everything just got a little hectic. But Tuesday Elder Luna headed off to Tapachula and Elder Tanner, my new companion, arrived. He has been out for about 16 months and is from Spokane, Washington. Simply put, he's an awesome companion. He's funny, fun to be around, very spiritually minded, and extremely easygoing. (Plus, he's American. Hah.) We get along very well and we're going to have a great time working together this transfer. He's already been teaching me a lot - I like the way he teaches and talks to people; he's very warm and friendly and acts like it's the best day of his life every time we head out to work. He has a really good perspective and it's going to be a lot of fun working with him.

So, the reason for the craziness today - tomorrow we have a special four-zone conference with Elder González of the Presidency of the Seventy (and an Area Seventy's coming as well, but I forget the name), and today missionaries have been coming in from all over the place to stay with us in the house and so on. Plus, it was a normal P-day and we had a bunch to do (we actually went shopping in Wal-Mart today. It was pretty neat). So, we've been running back and forth a lot today, and time got kind of short. Also, it stormed up a pretty good one about two hours back. When it rains here, it pours and floods the streets and everything. It was rough, because we were caught washing our clothes and then had to walk for a bunch in the storm. But all is well! :) It stopped raining, our clothes are washed and dried, and we're going to be heading back home shortly. I'm really excited for the conference tomorrow. It should be very helpful and I'm certain I'll learn a lot. I'll tell all about it next week.

A couple things about what we've been up to. We have around 10 people or so that we've been teaching lately, but it's been sporadic and hard to get ahold of them sometimes. Karla (the one who had the baptismal date) has been working for two weeks in the feria (state fair type of thing) and so we had to do some rethinking about the whole situation. This week we're going to see if we can find her at home and talk about baptism. She's kind of cooled off, but we'll see what happens. We had a less active sister and her nonmember husband come to church yesterday, which was awesome; he's really excited about learning about the gospel, and beyond that, they have two kids who aren't baptized either. We'll be working with them a lot this week. Beyond that, Elder Tanner and I felt during our weekly planning that there's a family of four waiting for us somewhere this week. We're going to be working extra hard and looking for those people who are just waiting for us to find them (like the scripture in D&C that says some do not have the truth only because they know not where to find it). We've got some good plans for this week and I'm very excited for what we're going to be able to do with the Lord's help.

Today for lunch we ate seafood soup (some sort of trout, oysters, and shrimp in broth) and mojarra, then mangos for dessert. It was delicious. :) And, looks like we have to go now - man, that wasn't nearly as much time as I wanted. Sorry, everyone. Oh, but one more thing. Dad, you mentioned about how, on your mission, you would remember old pre-mission conversations with friends, but the memory would be of them speaking in Spanish. That happens to me all the time. I remember talking to family or friends back at home, and I remember the conversation in Spanish. It's really strange, but happens often. I thought it was interesting that you mentioned it.

Miranda, Gabbie, Reagan, Mom, and Dad - I love you all very, very much. I'm doing really well and having a great time. The phone call was wonderful, and thank you for writing. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and I'll be able to write much more next week when things calm down. Thanks for everything - lots of love!
Con amor,
Elder Greer