Hey there :) how's it going? :)
Sorry no pics this week but a lot went down.
Wow, yeah, culture shock within a culture, it's different down here and I'm still getting used to it. I had gotten used to the super easy going way of life in Savio and then to be yanked out of there and thrown into the middle of the city with more responsibilities and having to learn everything again, it was an adventure.
So thanks for everything, I just barely got my Christmas card, did you guys make a Christmas card like the one with a picture and everything? I got the tree and the decorations and the stocking with the other little presents. I don't know if I'm missing anything else?... oh well yeah about the call. We just learned today that we can call either on Tuesday or Wednesday, Christmas or the 26th. We don't have any idea what we are going to do. I want to Skype but we need to find a place where we can do it and find all of the equipment. We are getting together as a mission in San Fernando to have a Christmas devotional, it should be a party. It's weird to think that this will be my second Christmas away from home and this time in another country.
There's just so much to say... First about the area. It's Constitución and that's the name of the ward. We live in the area of San Cristobal, and we work a lot in the area called Barracas. A huge train station is in our area and we have a tiny villa on the bottom of our area. We are covering two areas. They used to have 2 sets of missionaries in this ward and now we are down to one and my companion doesn't know the other area so we are getting to know that area. It's definitely a change for me and I'm slowly getting adjusted to it. The people are different, the members are nice but not the same as in Savio. You've seen movies of like the Bronx and how ghetto it is, well times that by a Latin American country and the culture and that's my new area. We walk accross or under the tracks alot and we are in small apartments with dirty streets to walk around. The ward is like 90 attending and yes, I bore my testimony yesterday. The bishop is really awesome, he's a super humble guy from Peru and they fed us twice last week and it was really good. We don't have a really active ward mission leader, though he did come to church yesterday which was nice, because he could help us with our baptism. Oh yeah, we had a baptism yesterday. :) He's a brother of a recent convert and we found him this week, he already had attended 2 times and he wanted to be baptized on this Sunday. He asked me to baptize him, :) so that was a sweet experience.
As district leader I don't have any personal time at night, we get done with planning and then I'm calling the other two areas in my district. In San Cristobal it's E Harrison who just barely came up from down south and E Sweeney, the Redshirt BYU baller, he was with us until Wednesday night and we stayed up talking about bball and BYU bball. It was cool to see the insight of the players and to realize that they are just normal students like us as well. Then in Almagro it's two hermanas. They are both great and its funny talking with them every night, they always have some sort of story or funny thing that happened. My district is a beast, this last weekend we had 2 baptisms and 2 confirmations with more possibilities for the next coming weeks. They are working really hard right now and as a mission we need 35 confirmations in the next two weeks to acheive 1500 confirmations for this last year. We have 2 planned from our district so I'll let you know. My zone leaders are awesome as well. They are helping me learn how to become a better district leader.
My first interview (for a baptism) was on Wednesday. They need a manuel for stuff like that, haha more than just Preach My Gospel. I guess you just learn from experience. My first District meeting was good and I planned really well for it and it was like any other district meeting that I've been to for the last year. I find myself praying more and more for the other areas in the district, and it's fun having this responsibility on my shoulders. Now we have to learn and get better. We take the bus alot everyday, we live a long way from our area where we work the most, so we are riding the bus home everynight. My companion is awesome. He served 4 months in LA and came in the same group as E Stewart. He speaks really well and we get along just fine. We are going to work really well this next transfer and have lots of success.
So in la Boca is the biggest LDS church building that I've ever seen. It's three stories, the bottom story is a parking garage and the top floor has the chapel and an indoor bball court, with wood floors and with actual nets, it's great!! So we are going to play today with other elders. The pension is newer, and I'm back in another high riser. I set up the tree and put up the lights, it's fun going to sleep everynight with the lights on. Thanks for the tree, it's beautiful and the ornaments as well.
So thanks for everything that you've done for me, say hi to Gma y Gpa´s and all of the cousins. Well, have a great week and good luck with Bball, keep up the great work!!
Love,
So thanks for everything, I just barely got my Christmas card, did you guys make a Christmas card like the one with a picture and everything? I got the tree and the decorations and the stocking with the other little presents. I don't know if I'm missing anything else?... oh well yeah about the call. We just learned today that we can call either on Tuesday or Wednesday, Christmas or the 26th. We don't have any idea what we are going to do. I want to Skype but we need to find a place where we can do it and find all of the equipment. We are getting together as a mission in San Fernando to have a Christmas devotional, it should be a party. It's weird to think that this will be my second Christmas away from home and this time in another country.
There's just so much to say... First about the area. It's Constitución and that's the name of the ward. We live in the area of San Cristobal, and we work a lot in the area called Barracas. A huge train station is in our area and we have a tiny villa on the bottom of our area. We are covering two areas. They used to have 2 sets of missionaries in this ward and now we are down to one and my companion doesn't know the other area so we are getting to know that area. It's definitely a change for me and I'm slowly getting adjusted to it. The people are different, the members are nice but not the same as in Savio. You've seen movies of like the Bronx and how ghetto it is, well times that by a Latin American country and the culture and that's my new area. We walk accross or under the tracks alot and we are in small apartments with dirty streets to walk around. The ward is like 90 attending and yes, I bore my testimony yesterday. The bishop is really awesome, he's a super humble guy from Peru and they fed us twice last week and it was really good. We don't have a really active ward mission leader, though he did come to church yesterday which was nice, because he could help us with our baptism. Oh yeah, we had a baptism yesterday. :) He's a brother of a recent convert and we found him this week, he already had attended 2 times and he wanted to be baptized on this Sunday. He asked me to baptize him, :) so that was a sweet experience.
As district leader I don't have any personal time at night, we get done with planning and then I'm calling the other two areas in my district. In San Cristobal it's E Harrison who just barely came up from down south and E Sweeney, the Redshirt BYU baller, he was with us until Wednesday night and we stayed up talking about bball and BYU bball. It was cool to see the insight of the players and to realize that they are just normal students like us as well. Then in Almagro it's two hermanas. They are both great and its funny talking with them every night, they always have some sort of story or funny thing that happened. My district is a beast, this last weekend we had 2 baptisms and 2 confirmations with more possibilities for the next coming weeks. They are working really hard right now and as a mission we need 35 confirmations in the next two weeks to acheive 1500 confirmations for this last year. We have 2 planned from our district so I'll let you know. My zone leaders are awesome as well. They are helping me learn how to become a better district leader.
My first interview (for a baptism) was on Wednesday. They need a manuel for stuff like that, haha more than just Preach My Gospel. I guess you just learn from experience. My first District meeting was good and I planned really well for it and it was like any other district meeting that I've been to for the last year. I find myself praying more and more for the other areas in the district, and it's fun having this responsibility on my shoulders. Now we have to learn and get better. We take the bus alot everyday, we live a long way from our area where we work the most, so we are riding the bus home everynight. My companion is awesome. He served 4 months in LA and came in the same group as E Stewart. He speaks really well and we get along just fine. We are going to work really well this next transfer and have lots of success.
So in la Boca is the biggest LDS church building that I've ever seen. It's three stories, the bottom story is a parking garage and the top floor has the chapel and an indoor bball court, with wood floors and with actual nets, it's great!! So we are going to play today with other elders. The pension is newer, and I'm back in another high riser. I set up the tree and put up the lights, it's fun going to sleep everynight with the lights on. Thanks for the tree, it's beautiful and the ornaments as well.
So thanks for everything that you've done for me, say hi to Gma y Gpa´s and all of the cousins. Well, have a great week and good luck with Bball, keep up the great work!!
Love,
Elder Ryan Pittard
