Hey everyone!
As you may have seen from the title of this email, I ate a rat this week! Don't be too concerned for my health, it was a chocolate rat that one of the members brought us for dessert one day. It was really funny when we opened the box, and there were just a couple of rat-like things inside. Great fun, honestly. I've really enjoyed the food here so far. The members are so kind, and bring us lunch every day. So far I've had enchiladas, tacos, a soup, a whole lot of different kinds of chicken, and a cactus! Yes, that is correct. A cactus. Didn't taste at all like I expected, but I kind of enjoyed it, to be honest. Also, on Monday, I finally got to go to one of the street markets and buy some fruit! It was delicious.
Anyway, moving on from the food things. It's been another amazing week in the mission field! We set goals at the beginning of every week for how many new people we want to try to teach, invite to sacrament meetings, and invite to be baptized. This week, we almost doubled the number we set for our goal! We even had two people in one day accept the invitation to be baptized! That was definitely a miracle.
I've had a lot of little miracles happen while I've been serving here so far. First and foremost on my mind: The Lord has definitely been keeping me in good health, because from the stories I've heard, almost everyone else who came down here with me from the MTC got sick in week one. So I'm super grateful that I haven't gotten any bugs yet. Another small miracle happened on Thursday. My companion and I were riding home from the church, and the brake on my bike decided to stop working. My companion was worried that it was gonna cost a lot to repair, but I said I would take a look at it when we got home. As luck would have it, nothing serious had gone wrong, the brake cable had just slipped at the end, making it too loose to work. Fortunately, I both had brought my multitool with me, and had paid attention to my dad when he used to help me fix my bike. I was able to fix it no problem, and save us a bunch of money!
Saturday was a great day for teaching people. We had four meetings that afternoon/evening, all of which were such amazing experiences. The people here are so eager to learn, and have such powerful faith already. It's clear to see that the Lord has been preparing people everywhere to hear His message. I can feel the Spirit so strongly when we're teaching, even if I can only understand one out of every three words that gets said. It's a work in progress on that front.
Another thing I've been working on, (when I can find the time to fit it in) is practicing the piano again. I've never really given it as much attention as I should, and it's amazing how quickly you can improve if you just put the time in! So that's my spiritual thought for this week. Maybe you have something you wish you were good at, or a talent that you want to develop more. Make a goal, and put in the time! I promise that you'll see results faster than you expect!
On Sunday, we got to meet in the chapel for what I'm told is the first time in a long time. It was an awesome meeting, and we had seven people that we invited to attend who came to the meeting! It was awesome. On top of that, it was a fast and testimony meeting, so they had the opportunity to listen to the members bear their testimonies. My companion and I got up to bear our testimonies too, me doing the best I could with the ever increasing amount of Spanish I know. It was an amazing experience.
Anyway, I got people to serve, a language to continue learning, and spirits to uplift! I'll be here again next week!
- Elder Blankenbiller
Attached: A sketch I made of our apartment, and my companion and me at our office.
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