Hello again!

 

Well week 2 here has been just as interesting. Days seemed long, but the week seemed short. Well to start out wow I have a new niece! you will have to send me pictures. i cant wait to see. Although this week i learned a lot, it was kind of frustrating when you make plans that are very very reasonable, and then as you go through the day nothing goes through our no one is home or as this week our Investigator who was not really progressing, but then became progressing and  yesterday basically it sounded like he dropped us. that was a bummer because whenever we taught him and  listened to him talk, he sounded golden and was super ready to be baptized, but it ended up not working out. Thanks for my bike! yeah i got a call Tuesday from the office and they said it was in the garage, i must have missed it. our Zone leaders had a meeting up in  that area so they went and picked it up and dropped it off at our apt. later on that  night. I set it up the next morning and and did some adjustments the next couple of days and its an awesome bike. Defiantly makes the long rides much better.  Wednesday morning it was cloudy and basically the whole day it rained/drizzled all day. so i was a little wet, but the best was at around 6:30 we just finished a visit with a Part Member family and as soon as we said Amen. it started pouring like none other. not only did we need to go somewhere else, that somewhere else was about 5 miles away at the church bldg. Thankfully the member gave us a ride and we picked up our bikes the next afternoon on our way over in that direction. So yeah. 

 

But because it rained the couple of days right after that, were super cold and windy. Mornings were the worst. i found a huge jacket in closet from another elder so i would wear that. And also one of those cold days we went to an 88 year old members house, she was cold and felt bad for us and gave us little hats. it was the best. One morning it was super foggy and cold but it warmed up that day. I was going to get a sweater vest today at the store but we ran out of time. So a little bit about the ward.  our apt. is the closest to the bldg in our district. 12 missionaries 10 elders and 2 sisters all go to the same ward. that just tells you how big the areas are. Lots of different things happen that us elders don't agree with. one of which is that members choose which ward they want to go to. they know they shouldn't but no member, bishop, or president will stop them or try and change their mind so yeah. that just one example. people don't really work on activity. that's a major problem cause there are so many inactive members in our area alone we don't know what to do with them. Oh and you asked if i speak Spanish and English at different lessons. No There is an English ward that covers about the same area, and there are i think 4 elders over that area, and that makes up our zone. So no I do not teach English. But Most of the parents and adults don't know any or very little English, it depends on what they do for a living. BUT, all the kids usually speak English and Spanish, so if we are just talking to the kids we usually talk English or Spanglish. 

 

Red Districts or areas. These are just places to Avoid. There are specific rules for each area but we haven't been able to find much for ours. we did Find a specific area but not much about it, and it makes night time hard. basically its from Normandie to the 110 Freeway that we are supposed to avoid after 7 and soon to be 5 in the winter. What are we supposed to do? we don't know. we asked our Zone leaders about it and they said, if you don't feel the spirit don't go into the area. Well I hate to break it to you but when I'm riding a bike i its hard to feel the spirit because people are cussing you out, saying or doing all sorts of things. The only way to cope with this is to Ignore it. its pretty easy, once you've heard it enough times it doesn't even phase you. As My Companion said You are a servant of the lord nothing people do or say can bring you down, just ignore comments get used to them and never think of them again. And it works. So yeah. Lots of black people quite a few Hispanics. and don't think they are all Mexican. I've met very few Mexicans, lots of El Salvadorians, Guatemalans, and a few other central american countries. Its pretty fun cause each of them have their specific foods and specialties that are all super good. Defiantly getting Fed a lot and my Appetite has grown cause I'm biking around everywhere. That's pretty much all i know about the area. lots of cool and weird people. 

 

I could go on and on with all the different Investigators, but that would take forever. none of them are considered progressing cause either A) they are not keeping commitments, b)not going to church, c) were progressing but an issue came up are now not progressing. Its frustrating but as they all say, if we do our best with teaching and telling them all they need to know then at the end of the day they still have agency and can choose to accept or reject our message. That's the truth, it doesn't mean we wont be sad or devastated but we can still keep in contact and challenge them. so yeah that's about it. I love you all!

Thanks for you prayers and i'm going to be sending a some letters this week so yeah. Thanks for your prayers and ill talk to you all next week. I love each and everyone of you and you are all in my prayers. I hope you are all doing great. Send my love to amber and Lydia and send me some pics.

Love 

Elder Hollingshead

 

Oh don't worry about getting an over coat. if in need to ill get one as i need it but as of right now ill be getting a sweater that should do me good. im not really out side much in the morning. we don't leave the Apt. Until about 1.

And What Dorene is Getting Married. That crazy girl. Wish her my luck, if you see her.