¡Viva México!

Hi everybody!

               

First off, it's going to be just a little bit more difficult to write these e-mails because the keyboard is in Spanish. :P Any ways, so much has gone on this last week that I don't know where to start. I guess I'll just answer my mom's questions first, then ramble a bit.

The flights were fun and interesting. I don't think I have time for all the details, but I'll try to include what I can. The first flight was in a normal sized plane from Delta. Because we were going to México City the plane had a lot of Mexicans on it. The man sitting right behind me was Mexican but lived in the US for a long time so he spoke English fluently. He was a funny guy and bought me and two other missionaries sandwiches for the flight. He was very kind and we talked most of the flight. We talked a bit about religion, but to make a long story short he turned out to be gay and I didn't really know how to respond. Any ways, he was a nice guy and the plane ride was fine. Then we got to the Mexico City airport and I pretty much had no idea what was going on. We called home again and bought some drinks, but didn't do much other than that. The plane to Veracruz was a pretty small one. It was about the size of a personal jet I think. That flight was short, but the scenery was way cool. There's a lot of open space around and a lot of (what looked like) forest. We flew over the ocean for a bit in order to land in the right direction. That was pretty cool too. Then we finally flew over Mexico City and I caught my first glimpses and took some pictures. It's a pretty big city. Oh, and Mexico City was huge! I think it's the second largest city in the world or something. Anyways, once we got off the plane in Veracruz, the humidity hit us like a brick wall. I couldn't believe how different it was than Mexico City. Then we had the Mission President and some missionaries meet us and take us to the mission home for dinner. We ate (I can't really remember what), they took us to the mission office and we slept there with all the new missionaries (about 20 or so). That was pretty much the first day and I must admit, I was scared out of my pants!

The next day was meeting our companions and the mission presidency and filling out paperwork. We had small devotional type thing in the chapel next to the mission office and as far as I can remember just had another meal and went to our areas. The taxi drivers here are nuts! Most of the streets are one way, but everyone just drives wherever they can fit their car. Scary! We walked around the area and saw the church building for my area (my area is Cinco de Mayo, like the holiday), and met some of the members. We even played some fútbol (soccer) with some priests there. A lot of fun. :) The mission presidency don't speak much English, but they all seem like awesome people. I didn't get much time to talk with them (or understand them for that matter), but they all seem cool. I love my companion. His name is Elder Moroni Duran and he's super cool and funny. Most of the week we've had a ward missionary of sorts with us as well. His name is Paco Pulido. Both of them have made me feel really at ease and at home here.

My area is pretty poor. You'd be surprised about some of the conditions that some people live in, but they're all generally pretty friendly and fairly happy. I'm excited to work with them. So far all the meals have been delicious except for one. It was a squash of sorts and I'm just not a fan of squash. Other than that it's all been good. I'm pretty used to the heat and humidity already. You basically just have to get used to sweating all the time. :P Like I said, most of my area is pretty poor, but the closer you get to the ocean, the more stores there are and generally the people are just a little bit less poor. Ít's pretty interesting. Every street looks the same to me, but i think I'll get used to it soon enough. There's supermarkets and stuff around if I need anything. It's just a little tricky converting the money so I know how much I'm spending. One US dollar is about the same as twelve pesos.

We've already taught a couple lessons, but I don't understand much therefore I don't contribute much. Elder Duran is pretty patient with me though and tries to include me as much as he can. I'm not supposed to use the dropbox.com thing, but I can send pictures from the computers here now. I just need to remember to back them up and send some to you as well. I'm trying to take lot's of pictures. We'll see how many I can actually send.

Overall, I'm really enjoying Mexico. I admit that I have the occasional bout of homesickness, but it's not a problem. :) I'm excited to be here and excited to get to work. I know I'm here for a reason; all I need to do is forget myself and get to work. I'm trying to do what is required of me at all times. Sorry this e-mail probably isn't as detailed as some of you would like, but I don't have a ton of time right now. Everyone is waiting for me so I gotta end this. Just know that I'm doing fine, having fun, and missing you all. The church is true! I love all of you!

Love,

Elder Sean Horrocks