Wesley's letter 10-10-11

Well honestly its not that bad here. Last week I was just really stressed. Those of you who have served missions know what the first month is like (especially if you served foreign) Its pretty tough, most of all just missing everyone and everything you ever held dear. A lot of the sadness has to do with, when you stop and think about how bad things are, that’s when you get depressed. A stone that’s not moving collects moss/mold. And with the heat and humidity, it collects real fast (not just figuratively)!

Well, anyway this week has gotten a lot better. Elder Villanueva knows how to use time a lot better than Elder Bautista, I love Bautista but he really did not know how to plan for the little time we had, and because of that it was a pretty high stress situation when you have to choose between writing your family or eating that particular day.

I actually like it here now. (Partially because its now only in the 80s and not 90s)

So more about the culture here.

Its pretty sweet serving here because the ambiance is perfect. Every other house has Cuban music playing, which gives Kulkucan a nice Caribbean theme.

On top of that there’s a military base about a mile away so there’s always gunshots going off which makes it feel more ghetto than it really is. It feels a lot like a “Call of Duty” map haha.

The people here are extremely nice but this is one of the poorer parts of Mérida so there’s a lot of really messed up, sad situations. There are way too many pregnant teens here, most between 11-14 years old. This place is definitely caught in the poverty cycle, more than I ever thought existed anywhere.

It’s been a real eye opener living here. And it’s really helped my testimony of how the message we bring really changes lives, because the only people I’ve seen here living in remotely decent living circumstances, are members of the church. More than anything I think its just the moral backboard people have here.

The dangerous living conditions these teen girls have their infants playing in, is seriously horrifying. I’ve seen more than a few kids that couldn’t have been more than three, playing on highways, and playing barefoot on broken glass.
Another sad thing is that probably one in 5 people here are missing an appendage of some sort, a finger, arm, eye, or foot. All due to either industrial accidents, just lack of proper health care, or playing with glass on the highway as a kid.

Anyway more with stuff that doesn’t make me feel like a big jerk for being white.

The graffiti art here is crazy awesome, kicks the crud out of American graffiti!

So, the other night I found a tarantula the size of my stretched hand roosting under my back pack and that was sweet, because that night we had other elders sleeping at our house and I had to sleep on the floor. I don’t know what’s worse, the spider the size of my palm that can jump 7 feet or the spider the size of my face roosting under my back pack. I’ve mistaken one of those jumping spiders for frogs about 6 times now because they hop and at night it’s easy to mistake them.

Good news I haven’t gotten sick one time...yet.

So here are the things this week I have accomplished:
-Had to eat a straight onion soup this week, it was just that, an onion with water, I think I’ve mastered my disgusting-food poker face.

Good news I haven’t gotten sick one time...yet.

-Had a baptism!

-Finished the book of Mormon in Spanish.

-Had my first Maya conversation.

-The language clicked more or less.

Welp see ya later,

Elder Ésmit