February 13, 2023 THE HOPEFULLY NOT SO BORING ADVENTURES OF ELDER WILLIAMSON CHAPTER XVII

annnnd here we are again.. we had zone pday, and that was super fun.. the only pday where i get to hang out with anyone who doesn't live in my house, so it was good to see other people.. we played kickball, and some soccer, and some people threw baseballs at each other.. yk, all that kinda stuff... and then went to the church and played some card games, and signs (here's a signs explanation for you... a bunch of people sit in a circle and take turns pretend to know sign language, but in reality none of them know sign language, and one person stands in the middle trying to intimidate everyone, and choose who they think is currently pretending to know sign language, and they have to sprint as fast and as obnoxiously as possible at that person and tap them before they pass the sign to someone else).. it's more chaotic than it sounds, but it's pretty fun with the right group of people... we had some lessons, some contacts, some people who gave us a ton of different foods like, bananas (which most of the time here they eat when they're still super green), avacados, annnd.. something that i haven't ever seen in the US, so i have no idea what it's called in english, but it's a root, and it definitely just looks like something that should never be consumed by living creatures.. its' appearance is like ginger mixed with a potato.. buttt it's taste is and consistency, is that of a potato with all of the juice sucked out of it.. "bUt wAit a potAto doEsn't hAve juiCe!?".. correct, but compared to this thing it does.. sooo it's just super dry and flavorless.. annnd it cAn be good if you put it with other foods that.. you know.. hAve flavor, but usually they just chop it up, boil it, and and then just choke it down how it is.. buttt anyways we now have like a 20 pound chunk of that stuff sitting on our table... we did our last exchanges of the transfer, and that was pretty good.. kinda boring tbh, i went to "the other elders' area" except for that we literally just all share the area now, and we just have different investigators.. the other elders have a lot less investigators tho for some reason.. sooo we just visited a lot of members, annnd we got "bon".. bon is the ice cream here, and it's like the oNly place that has ice cream, sooo they have those little freezers (that you can find like ice cream sandwiches in and stuff) in lOttts of the stores here, and they have whole shops for bon, kinda like coldstone or something (iceberg ig, but we all know iceberg isn't good).. annnd then they also have trucks and guys on motorcycles that go around playing this obnoxious song that let's people know that ice cream is coming.. buttt anyways we have a bon store by our church, so we got some of that... thursday is temple day!!! every six months the whole mission gets to go to the temple, because the temple falls in our mission.. orrr maybe in the other mission, but wherever it is it's close to the border of the missions, sooo we're just gonna claim it as ours... anywaysss.. it was super cool, we got to see some buddies from our group that we came with, that we haven't seen in like 3 months or something, and that was super fun.. annnd the temple was just super cool, it's a pretty big temple here, and there was a little bit of some mix ups and stuff, but it all ended up good in the end.. i understood a whole lot more this time ofc, which was super cool just being able to kinda understand what was going on.. buttt that took up the whole morning and took the place of studying and everything (which i'm nottt complaining about, i'll take any good reason to not have to study).. we got some lil ceasars in san cristóbal, and that's always nice ofc.. annnd then we came back, planned the day for like 20 minutes, and then went straight out to teach... we had a pretty good day that day, and it went by super fast, annnd we got a lot done actually... it's rained super hard a couple of the days here, buttt so far we've gotten lucky, and it's always when we're in lessons, or at home, sooo we haven't gotten wet.. it's super weird when it rains here tho, because if it's super strong, then it's just gigAntic rain drops, and they come down super fast and close together.. sooo if you're out during it, you'll be soaked in seconds.. annnd there's almost no warning either, like it will just be nothing, and then suddenly a random hurricane like storm for like 5 minutes, and then it's over.. annnd when i say it's like a hurricane, i'm not even exaggerating, the only difference, is that a hurricane lasts a lot longer, so it causes some more flooding and stuff.. buttt i'm pretty sure while i'm here i'll see at least oNe real hurricane.. we'll see... okkk, so we have this one investigator, who is progressing sUper well.. which was a surprise to us at first, because he didn't seem very interested in the beginning, and after the first lesson, he seemed like the kind of person that we might not be able to find a second time.. buttt fast forward to now, and he's reading the book of mormon (consistently too, which is a first evEeer) and he's all the way in 2nd nephi already!.. annnd today we taught him the word of wisdom, which we thought might be a good idea, because we've seen vapes at his house, and a couple pics on his whatsapp (everyone uses whatsapp here as a way to not have to pay for a text service or whatever) stories, of him puffing out vapor.. and ngl the pics lOok super cool, buttt it's still not good for you... sooo anyways we were teaching him the word of wisdom, and he actually understood it really well, but we weren't sure what the results would actually be (because usually when we teach something like that, the people agree (or claim to) buttt then continue to do the thing we just recommend that they not do)... buttt we were looking on his story, and there was just a picture of his vape with a caption that said "vendo" (i sell).. sooo that was probably the greatest thing i've ever seen.. we're really hoping he continues to progress tho, because he's a super cool guy, and the ward here could really use him... transfer news is tonight (sunday) sooo stay tuned.. we're gonna see what happens.. here are my predictions... my comp gets transfered tooo.. somewhere in the capital.. i stay here, and get a new comp who has about a year or so in the mission, to greenie break me.. elder palmer goes to south to be a zone leader.. annnd elder macdonald stays here and becomes district leader, with a new comp who's a little younger than him on the mission... okkk here's what's actually gonna happen.. elder macdonald and i are staying here, we're both getting new comps, and our old comps are both going to ausuwa (no idea how to spell that, but may as well just say infierno, cuz that place is infamous here for being the hottest desert place in the mission) and they're both gonna be district leaders there.. annnd my comp is super old in the mission.. he only has four transfers left, sooo he shOuld be really good, idk.. i'll meet him on wednesday sooo we'll see... that's all for this week tho, love you guys, have a good time, listen to an american song for me!... helaman 13:5 And he said unto them: Behold, I, Samuel, a Lamanite, do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart; and behold he hath put it into my heart to say unto this people that the sword of justice hangeth over this people; and four hundred years pass not away save the sword of justice falleth upon this people.