WEEK 21: CADIZ CASCO ANTIGUO, CADIZ DISTRICT
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Monday- P day was pretty fun, we had interviews with President Andersen in San Fernando, so we just had to go there. We hung out with the missionaries from Gibraltar in the morning because they had come for interviews too and so that was way fun, I love those guys there. I bought a new suit as well and it's way nice and it's definitely European so it fits little skinny young Elder Hirst. Then we had an appointment with one of our investigators but she wasn't there when we showed up. And that was basically our day.
Tuesday- We had another awesome district meeting in the morning. Then this week, me and Elder Mitchell had an eating appointment set for every single day. So we ate lunch at the Jimenez family house and that was way good. Then we went and tried contacting our references we've been receiving from the office. Then we tried finding our investigator Luis from Bolivia but we haven't been able to find him for a while, so it seems we will have to drop him. :(
Wednesday- We did some street contacting as well as trying to meet with some less actives and other old investigators. I received an awesome idea from one of my great friends in the mission from my group serving in Puerto de Santa Maria which is in my zone, named Elder Beckstrom. What one does is try and make a game out of street contacting. The game is, one missionary makes up a word and the next street contact you have to use that word. So for example, we started with an easy one, diariamente, which means daily. So we would switch off who would street contact, and whoever would say the word first street contacting gets the point, and then you switch the word. It makes street contacting a little more fun, because honesty, it's really not my favorite thing to do. But this game makes it awesome. Then eventually, the most fun thing that happened that night was teaching English classes. Oh and we ate at the Martinez family's house.
Thursday- We did weekly planning for the morning. Then we ate at Juani's. Then we went to the ward to try and help the ward prepare for our huge ward activity. We went and helped set it all up for everyone and also helped prepare some food. Then we met with a less active named Juan, and I swear, all less actives here say the same thing "This ward and stake isn't what it used to be, it used to be so much bigger and there were activities and more missionaries and...." I don't know man. Basically what happened is there used to be 3 branches in Cadiz, and then they turned into 2 wards, but in about 2008 all the work in Cadiz just went away, and the unemployment just became enormous here, so lots of families moved to Madrid and other cities around Cadiz, so all the older people enjoy reminiscing about the good old days.
Friday- We met with Desire this morning and honestly, it wasn't the greatest lesson we've taught. It was just kind of all over the place, and there was a lot of confusion, and I don't know, sometimes lessons aren't the best, that's just the part of learning to be a missionary. For anyone reading this, I just hope that people realize that missionaries, no matter how good they may appear, still make mistakes and lessons aren't always these amazing spiritual things (although its awesome when they are) but sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes there are things just out of our control. I don't know, we just repent and find things we need to do better to improve our lessons. Then we ate at Rodriguez family house and that was awesome. Then we met with our investigator Zaira and she's way excited to learn more about our Gospel and I just know that she has so much potential and she will eventually be baptized, she even asked if she could come do missionary work with us once she learns a little more! That's golden if you ask me. All at this time, our investigator Javi was helping do service with the youth at the ward. I love teaching youth woooo they're the best!!! Then we had another eating appointment that night with a member Juan at an awesome Chinese restaurant. There's no way I'm not gaining weight right now.
Saturday- we played Futbol in the morning with the ward and Javi and a less active member named Juanmi came. We always have family home evenings with him and his wife. He wasn't able to play much because his hand is broken but he did play for Atletico Madrid (like the famous team in Madrid that isn't Real Madrid) 8 years ago as starting midfield so he's incredibly good. Both me and elder Mitchell had some pretty nice injuries too. But basically i used to not be able to do like anything in Futbol in the MTC and when I arrived but the members have said I am improving! Which maybe doesn't say much because I went from horrible to maybe just bad. Anyway, it was fun. Then our huge ward activity came at the ward. There were some problems at the beginning but they were eventually resolved. The food was way good, Javi helped out a lot, and Zaira really enjoyed meeting the members and stuff. The problem is she's way attached to us and the hermanas (the missionaries) and really what we need is for her to have great friends in the ward so that she feels their support. Then we taught Zaira about the restoration and invited her to be baptized at the end, but she said there's more things she needs to learn and think about before she gives a yes or no answer, but that's okay. Then we got to meet her whole family which was a very good thing because now they trust us. We would love to start teaching them as well, that would be the best thing ever another family baptism in Cadiz! I think they were just happy to know that we aren't jehovah's witnesses (I don't know if I've mentioned this, but they aren't exactly liked here).
Sunday- we had church and Javi and Zaira and her cousin rosio were there which is awesome as well as 3 less active members that we've been working with a lot. One of them was way good and he's so supportive of missionary work and that's honestly what's brining him back, he wants to help the missionaries more. Also, our investigators had a good time as well.
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