Feathers

Aug. 26, 2013

This week I ate the craziest foods of my entire mission! We went and ate at a non active members house on Friday night. They live in the most humble part of my area. The whole family was there waiting for us with huge smiles when Elder Castro and I arrived. We found this family about a week ago while at a bus stop close to their house. They haven't been to church in over 10 years, BUT they love the missionaries and invited us over to eat and have a  quick family home evening. We were like, yeah cool whatever, we will prepare a spiritual message for you guys and if you want you can feed us. And dang did they feed us! We were seated down on their living room table and in walks the mom and the older daughter with huge plates in their hands, and they plopped them right in front of us.  I had half of a roasted chicken in front of me, with the head of the chicken still attached and feathers. yeah feathers. They gave me a knife and a fork but I didn't know where to start. I kinda just waited for the family to start eating their chickens. Theirs were less than half the size of mine, but they poured tons of salsa on, so I did the same. I kinda did my best to find the meat and pick off the bones and feathers when I could. (I didn't want to take a picture, I did not want to offend them. they would have understood, the gringo wants a picture of our delicious dish, but I didn't want to take the chance.) For the most part I have had very basic foods here, rice, beans, tortillas, and stews from time to time, but this feathered chicken masterpiece was a plate I will never forget.

This week was great. Life here in Mexico is great. Like we have been doing for a couple weeks, we focused on finding new people and families to teach. I love this part because you get to meet new people and adjust to their needs. I am learning lots about how to figure people out. starting with my companion and his unique personality and ending with the strangers I meet at the bus stop. Everybody has their story, and everybody has their issues, trials and faults. and EVERYBODY can benefit from the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We are so blessed with this knowledge. My life has been simplified in these last few months. Simply stated, if you want to be happy, forget about yourself, love others and live the gospel of Jesus Christ. As missionaries all we do is invite and this week we invited a ton. Sadly we didn't see as many investigators as we wanted to see in church on Sunday, but our hope tells us they will be attending with us soon. One family we met this week reminded me lots of my sisters. Gonzala is a widow of three years and has 3 beautiful daughters, they are all super smart and funny. We taught an incredible lesson on the Plan of Salvation and helped the mom and her daughters understand they their dad was in a happier place, and rooting for his daughters to be baptized ;) these lovely sisters were part of the bunch that didnt go to church on Sunday! haha

Me quedo pensando en las nuevas felices de mi hermana mayor y mi futuro sobrinita. I am so happy for you Brittany, Scott and Cam and I hope you are able to contain you happiness. I've got a niece on the way. Bertha Yohira Olsen will be a fantastic addition to the family ;) I love my family and am workin hard for you guys out here. Yeah sometimes I get down, things aren't ever perfect here, but the joys outweigh sorrows and I am more happy than ever. Oh, also this week we had crazy thunder and rain storms. I have never seen rains like these. exactly 1 week ago on Monday night we came back to our house and the big tree in our front yard had been mangled to the ground most of the branches were broken! the wind nearly dropped the poor thing. haha and the next day we were blessed with 115 degree weather :) have a fantastic week.

Mucho Love,
Elder Farrow