Dear Family and Friends,
#thedynamicduo is back!!!
This is the first time I can say that what I actually wanted to happen in a transfer has happened. Elder Erickson and I have been reunited (we served together exactly a year ago) and … we are zone leaders together in the Broadway Zone! I could not think of a better place to end my mission.
So… we are in a different area/ward than when I started my mission. But we still go to the same church and go to all the same places so I get to see a lot of the same people. In fact, yesterday I got to see a lot of the ward members from Broadway 2! A lot of them still remembered me. I also saw Haydee and her daughter Venecia, my first two baptisms. They are doing great. Haydee got her temple recommend not too long ago.
The area we serve in is called Magnolia. It’s right next to downtown Houston. It’s a pretty small area, so we bike a lot, but since we are the zone leaders and have to pick a bunch of people up and take a bunch of stuff everywhere we also have a brand new Dodge Grand Caravan. I like it a lot except it is super hard to park. I thought I have served in some run down areas before… Denver Harbor (where I served at with Elder Erickson last year) was pretty rough, and South Park in Beaumont is just plain crazy… but as far as run down, poverty I think Magnolia is the worst I have seen. It is really sad. I met maybe 2 people all week who speak English though haha so at least the work will be good for us here!
Teresa
Speaking of which… my mission trend has continued. By that I mean going into areas where there aren’t any progressing investigators or baptismal dates. However, this weekend we were able to set a date with one investigator named Teresa. She is in her late 40’s maybe. She has had a very hard life and needs the gospel so badly. We have been able to help her get over smoking and she hasn’t smoked for days now. Also, she came to church and accepted a baptismal date for July 27th. It’s a little soon but it’s what we were prompted to do so we did it. She is so prepared! She’s awesome.
Getting Going
Our first couple of days this week we spent a lot of time getting situated and running things out to missionaries like beds and furniture and insulin (yeah, that was a crazy one). We also had to clean the heck out of our apartment because the last missionary who left here and just went home trashed the place before we left. Our zone has had some changes made to it. For any of you old missionaries from T.H.E. mission reading this… our zone now contains the Galena park district and lost the Broadway 2 district who went to the Pasadena zone. this is because Liberty and Baytown are now their own zone. Elder Jones is the new district leader in the Galena park district. He is serving in Denver Harbor and training. It will be cool to work with him. He is a great guy. It will also be cool for Elder Erickson and I to go on exchanges in DH again.
Blacked Out
Also, on Saturday I had one of the worst days ever. Never on my mission have I had to stay home even for a little bit because I am sick. I’ve just dealt with it. Well, Saturday morning we wake up and work out hardcore (that’s the other sweet thing I love about being with Elder Erickson. Together, we probably have the best workout setup in the mission. We go sprint two miles in the morning and then workout in the apartment. It’s nice.) And all morning during studies I was feeling terrible. I had some crazy nausea. But, we went out and worked anyway. I tried to avoid drinking or eating anything all day because even just thinking about drinking a sip of water made me want to throw up. So, most of the day we spent driving around trying people I had the seat laid back and I closed my eyes as we drove. I had 0 energy. Every time we got out of the car my head would pound and I had a huge headache and I felt dizzy. So, then we went to eat lunch at a member’s house. We climbed the steps to get to the apartment and at this point I felt like I was holding everything in. I ran to the balcony and tried to vomit but I couldn’t. I felt so terrible. Then, I can’t really remember what happened, but I remember backing up against the wall and everything going black. The last thing I remember is me saying, “Elder, I can’t see you.” To which Elder Erickson replied, “shut up.” hahahaha I don’t think he believed me. It’s probably cuz I am such a prankster. Anyway, he probably believed me soon because next thing I knew I was laying on the members couch and they were trying to convince me that the best way to get over whatever I had was to chug some coke and drink a bunch of “grape salt” stuff. I don’t even know. Mexican people have some funny remedies to things. That is one thing I will miss haha. So of course I didn’t do that. Well we went to the apartment and Sister Crawford told me to sleep. I knocked out. I woke up again that evening and felt better. She told me not to go out until the next day but we did anyway. I felt like such a loser for staying in.
Anyway I feel a lot better now which is good because this is going to be my first pday at the Broadway Chapel in a year and a half and Broadway knows how to ball so I am pretty excited!
Oh yeah, just so everyone knows, my new address is:
6527 Miraglen #211
Houston, TX 77023
Love y’all!
Elder Viitanen
Carlos dear! I was worried to read your mail. You need to drink and eat enough,you know.When you spend energy more, you need to eat and drink more. Are you sure that you didn’t have food poisoning. Or, do you know how was your blood sugar.I think that if sister Crawford ask you to rest, you need to do it.You have to let you permission to be sick,by needed.
I understand that you are enthusiastic about your work, but you need to take care of yourself, too.
I am happy because you continue your excellent work to the end of your time as missionary.
I love you. Take care! Love, Mummi