Week 13: Don't Pet the Dogs in Mexico

WOAH!! what a crazy week haha so many things have happened and it has seemed like forever but has gone by pretty fast!   My companion and I have this saying we always say if something strange or crazy happens...TIM.."this is Mexico."

So last week we cleaned our apartment which took 3 hours because it was disgusting. We bought chlorox and acid to clean so yeah. We used acid on the kitchen sink becuase I wasnt going to use that thing unless we cleaned it with acid. So not thinking about what happens to stainless steel when you put acid on it...we destroyed our sink haha its okay though because it didnt work anyways..

Then we walk a ton!!! my legs and calves and feet always are in pain but im finally getting used to it! Everyday we wake up at 6:30 then get ready until 8 then study until 12 different things and language and stuff! And at 2 we always eat at some peoples house. Sometimes its an investigator and sometimes its members. We share a area with 2 other missionaries because this area is huge!! Thats why there is a lot of walking.

We´re in Monte Alto 2 about 30 mintutes outside of tampico. I love this area and its a lot better than Panuco! the food here is a little more normal i would say! Our apartment is on the edge of our area on a dirt road. But our apartment is pretty nice! So when we walk over to Monte Alto 1 for meals some days we have to cross the highway..jay walk acrross the highway haha its an adrenaline rush for the first 3 times but im used to it now and im a pro at walking in the street.

Before i start going on to the spiritual things i want to tell you some crazy things that has happened...well first i still haven´t eaten fish and i hope i will never. But the food has finally effected me if you know what i mean. I had my first diarreha on wednesday! It wasnt to good. Uuhm and for the past 3 days I´ve been in the Hospital...NAH just kidding.

But friday was a really good day So one of the Elders from Monte Alto 1 was with us in a trio because his comp. is the Zone leader so he had a meeting in Tampico. And they had a cita (appointment) with an investigator and they were planning on inviting her to be baptized. It was there 2nd lesson with them and guess who got chosen to invite her...I DID!  He told me that and i was nervous and didnt really want to do it because i thought i was going to mess it up! But we went to her house and her daughter decided to be in our lesson too..shes 19 and has a 2 year old with her boyfriend.. but my comp and the other elder..elder MIs, he´s a mexican..started teaching the plan of salvation. I say something little about the holy ghost.

Then they go on then at the end of the lesson elder mis nudges my leg and i start explain baptism and asked both of them do you want to follow christ and why and then i told them that Christ was baptized and read the mathew scruipture that talks about it (becuase they didnt really have a good knowledge about the bible) then when i started to say the baptism invitation a plane flew over head and no one could hear anyone!! Just at the moment of spiritualness! but then it passed and i started over and invited them to be baptized and they both said yes!! ah man it was awesome!

After i was happy but i was also down because to be honest my spanish sucked and i could barely understand what they were saying! Its so frusterating when you cant explain things better or explain yourself the way you want to! Spanish is freaking hard right now.

But after we went to my comps and I´s citas (appointments) but no one was at their houses so they all fell through! so we were standing outside this one person house. who was a member but she wasnt there. And they had this dog in their front yard chained to a tree. They had a fence all around and stuff. But the dog kept barking for atention and i would look at it and it would get all happy and wag its tail then i would turn around and it would bark again.

SO we were leaving but I decided to got and pet the dog for a sec. SO i go over and its all happy and stuff. I pet it head for 2 seconds and then BOOM it bites my hand!!! Then of course i try to pull my hand out but it wouldn´t come out the first time so i pull again and my hand comes out.

All my fingers were in its mouth and thats it. I was in shock when it bit me but after oh boy i felt the pain! I havent felt that much pain in awhile! My fingers started bleeding pretty bad and my middle fingers was pretty bad. But this 15 year kid saw the whole thing and took us to his house and we washed my hand and stuff then I called the presidents wife, sister jordan, and she said go to the hospital so we do.

And they said that it was going to be a 2 hour wait to see someone! and that we just had to sit down and wait it out...but i dont know how and why it happened but 2 minutes later a nurse came out and said Elder McNamara. i wasnt supossed to be next but i was!  Which that was a miracle in its self because we told the members here that and they were all surprised and said that shouldnt have happened.

But they cleaned the wounds and gave me a shot for rabies and some antibotics so dont worry!!!! haha im all good and im getting another shot today for rabies then another one next week! its just in case but the dog doesnt have rabies cause we talked to the members later that night. oh and everything was free and the church will pay for it! Im all good.

MY fingers are alright and i can move them! Im going to have a pretty nasty scare on my fingers though haha Then on saturday we taught some lessons and i taught half of it! I felt pretty good about it! I love the members here they are so nice and feed us evertime we come over!

Yesterday at church i got to bless the sacrament and then the bishop wanted me to bare my testimony so i did! My comp. told me that i made a good first impression so thats good! My spanish isnt too well right now. i feel like i sound retarded and i can only understand a little bit of what some people are saying! But i write down all the words that i dont know in a little booklet and study it at night!

I finshed the book of mormon and now im reading it over again and reading the doctrine and covenants.. A scripture i really liked this week was in DC 6:20 i think. The lord says if you are faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments he will encircle you in his arms of love!! Its pretty awesome!

Sounds like all of you are doing well! I miss you all like crazy! I miss america and the real normal food! and I miss English! haha  But mom dont worry you´ll find a job soon enough!  Dad i love you and miss you! Brothers and Julie i love you guys so much!


Love,
David

Email Elder David McNamara at: David.McNamara@myldsmail.net

Week 12: Thankful for What We Have in Mexico

February 19, 2013 (Also Katie's 18th Birthday)

well well well...sorry i didn't write yesterday i was traveling to my new area with my trainer!! haha  his name is Elder G, and he is from Uragay ha or however you spell it.  He doesn´t really know any english so thats cool!

Well first i´l tell you about my last week in a place called Panuco. Its in the state Vera cruz benith Tampico about 2 hours away. So i was in a trio with them and they were cool elders but they didnt like to work. and they didnt get up on time and yeah. So i got there on last monday and unpacked and stuff...i wrote in my journal about it but i didnt know we were going to write our families right now so i didnt bring it cause i didnt fully understand my companion! haha...

but tuesday we walked a ton. Everyday about 20 - 25 miles a day.very tiring (i cant spell anymore) but we went to this family´s house that the mom was baptized but the 2 daughters weren´t. But when we first got to their house i was shocked that someone actually lived there! I thought tampico was bad but this house or "house" was just the shell of a house. It had no front wall of a house and it was just concrete. we go in and the mom meets us and they go get chairs. which they only had 4 or 5. So us three sit down and the mom too. I was so in shock the whole time that people lived here.

And, they start talking and i have no idea whats going on haha i felt retarded. But we start the lesson and i just notice how happy they are and how happy they are to have us over! The 2 daughters are going to get baptized in 3 weeks. Their names are juanita who is 10 and i forgot the other but she was 21. but anyways i bore my testimony and they seemed like they understood or they were just being nice, quien sabe haha but they oldest daughter said the prayer. And i understood the whole thing and i was about to cry! because they were all just so thankful for everything they have! which was nothing! they had 5 chairs some clothes and a plastic table! i honestly dont know how they eat. But in the prayer she also said to help all the other people that are in need. Which we all say in our prayer but the way she said it was so sincere that i was just so humble and was trying not to cry. they are a awesome family!

Then on wednesday while we were walking down the street (which we do all day haha) and there was like 4 12 year old girls that were just staring at me while we walked past them haha so i said buenos dias! and they said it back then once we walked a little further they said "adios guapos!" hahah i was laughing so hard. it was funnny.

Then on thursday..it was a rough day.. but we had to walk for 45 minutes to go teach this one lesson to a family that lived on the out side of town. So we are walking and i say buenos tardes to some people and they start making fun of me! haha cause i said it with a american accent or whatever. But so in the lesson my part was to talk about joseph smith and the first vision and stuff. SO i start talking about him and tell the story, and i start the first vision. half way through the women with a baby ( she probably 20 or so) whips out her boob and starts breast feeding????? what?? hahaha then she switches over after a second...yeah i had to read the rest of the first vision. haha i was just like what the heck?? so that was the first time i said the first vision.

..i dont have that much time left so heres an experience with the food...so this one lady (who turns out to be the relief society president) had us over and made this thing..i dont know what its call..but they cook it inside a corn husk and its just grain or i dont even know what it is with some mush on the side which apparently was beans..so i TRIED to eat it but i couldnt becuase 1) it was disgusting and 2) the table was cleaned with chlorox so the fumes made me feel sick. So i didnt eat it and she asked me what you dont like it! i told her that my stomach didnt feel good! so then she ask if i want coca (coke).  my face lights up and im like oh yeah! Then she says oh i thought you werent feeling good! she was so pissed at me! haha  then on sunday at church she didnt shake my hand..she shook my companions hands but not mine.and she wouldnt look at me! Good thing im not there any more haha

my spanish is coming along slowly. I can understand better. I write more next week! I love you all!

love david

p.s dad i write on mondays and can only read on mondays! and i would perfer emails! I love you.

Email Elder David McNamara at: David.McNamara@myldsmail.net

Mexico LDS Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Week 11: David Arrives in Mexico ...Culture Shock!

Hola Familia!

I'm in mexico wirting this! haha oh yeah.  Im loving it right now its so awesome here!

so I got here on friday night.  Right when i stepped off the plane I started sweating! its so humid here its ridiculous. And then when we went into the ¨"airport", its sooo small but when we walked in there was a army guy with an automatic weapon just hanging out in there.

Then after secrituy check and all that i got to meet the president and his wife. They´re really nice. When i fist met them i was sweating like crazy because i was in a suit and long sleve shirt. Then once everyone got through security we went to the parking lot and the first thing i see is this armored vechicle like a mini tank truck thing with a 50 cal turret on the top of it driving in the parking lot and another truck with 4 guys with thier automatic weapons pointed at different things! its so crazy. Sister Jordan said dont worry about it. just dont look at them and they wont bother you.

Then we went to the mission home and had dinner. It was really really good. It was like a ton! of tortillas with some kind of meat and pinneapple. I had like 8 tacos of that. You just make your own taco with all the different stuff they had there on the table.

Then we took all of our stuff to the secretaries house. I had to go down this really narrow alleyway then up this ladder that was really narrow and steep. I had to carry all my bags up that! It was really hard. SO their apartment was really small and pretty disgusting. Which now i think its pretty clean and I wouldn´,t mind being there.

Anyways the next day we went to the mission office. and got "trained" for 5 hours on different kind of stuff. Just a little about the mission. obedience, and money stuff. Then we went out to eat at this italian mexican place. They had PIZZA it was really good. so i had 9 pieces of pizza. I was starving.

Then after that we (all us new missionaries) went to the stake center thats right by the temple to get our interviews with president. Then after all that we got put with different companioinships. I got put with one of the APs. His name is Elder Stockard. He´s really cool! We went directly teaching!

First we went to go get a member. So we had to walk pretty far to his house. Walking and seeing everything really humbled me! Every street and building are run down and look like crap! I dont mean that in a mean way but its like rebel every where! Trash and streets torn up!

Oh and the traffic here is insane. NO one really follows the rules of the road. Like saturday morining we took a taxi from the secretary house to the mission office. The taxi driver went 60 on a road that should have been 25 it was funny but insane then he ran like 5 stop signs haha it was kinda scary. There aren´t really any cops here because the are all corrupt and work with the drug lords. SO they have speed bumps every once in awhile. to keep the speed down. But in some areas the speed bumps are dug up in spots to you can go through it just right without stopping haha

SO anyways elder stockard and i went to this members house and we get talking to his son....well not really me because i couldn´t understand him fully...So elder stockard told me that he served in Gaudalajara mexico on his mission! So i asked if he knew dallas persinger. and he said yes! The one with the glasses? I was like yes thats my cousin! that was really cool. What are the chances i met a person in tampico mexico that knows my family. hahah that made my day...at that time...

so then he takes us in his"house" if you want to call it a house. to get his dad. I walk in and im amazed at how someone could actually live there. They had 3 rooms i think. The kitchen, which was brick wall that was kinda falling apart and they only had one lightbulb, that was pretty high on one wall. It was dark outside so it was pretty dark inside too. Then they had another room that i couldn´t realy see. Then another room that had a door that was made out of driftwood looking wood. Seeing all that really humbled me even more! I just couldn´t believe people lived in places like that.

SO we go the dad...oh by the way the guys name is Marcos Estaves, the one that knows dallas!...SO we walk for it bit to the mans friends house. And we find him sanding a piece of wood. My comp and the man start talking to him. And then his girlfriend comes out. And after a bit we start with a prayer and start the lesson...outside on the balcony because the live on the top of the building. they didnt want us to go inside so we all were standing up!

so i dont really know whats going on haha i pick up a few words. and caught on a little bit. I heard that they both have met with the missionaries 5 years ago but didnt get baptized because they are both married to other peolpe and they could not get married to each other because to get a divorce here in mexico is really difficult.

Then my comp teaches some things and turns to me and says "now my comp is going to talk about prayer and what it is and how it can help us" that kinda surprised me. but i just started speaking spanish. I said that prayer is a way we can talk to god and that he will and does answer our prayers and i told them that when i pray i feel peace and happy and when im sad i can pray and feel better. and i bore my testimony.

I tried to say all that and more in spanish.  And the man said something but he said it so fast i coulnd´t understand. but after my comp told me that after i bore my testimony the man told us that his son died recently. and that it was really hard on him and he prayed and felt better just like i said. SO that was pretty cool.

And after i bore my testimony i was looking at the women..sounds creepy but it wasn´t. I was thinking about people here in mexico and stuuf. And a thought came to my head while i was looking at her. and it was that she WILL get baptised. Then i felt the spirit so strongly! I just know that she will some day!

Then a little later in the lesson something really funny happened to me haha  so there were crockroaches on the ground and crawling on the walls of the building and stuff. They are pretty big ones too! It didn´t bother me at all until one of the crockroaches jumped onto my shoulder so i tried to brush it off all nonscholauntly (i cant spell as you can see throughout my letter haha) trying not to make a big deal and that i didnt care it landed on my shoulder and i thought i got it off. But NOPE! It crawled up my shirt onto my HEAD!

I didnt notice it was crawling up because i couldn´t really feel it. but the investigator saw it and his face changed and pointed at my head and then i felt it and like freaked out and threw it off my head as fast as i could! and the crockroach flew and landed on the investigators shirt and he freaked out it threw it off his shirt! hahaha we all started laughing. So i ruined the spiritual moment there haha but it was funny.

Then we left and my comp laughed at me! oh by the way he´s white so we talked english to me. Then we taught another family with Marcos this time. It was cool. THere was 10 people living in this other tiny "house" And then i got to bare my testimony and teach a tiny bit about why god gives us trials and how we can grow and prayer and how it can help us again.

And after i did that i felt good but also felt bad because i couldn´t contribute like at all because i didnt know where in the lesson we were and what the family was saying or what has already been said. I have never felt so out of the loop in my entire life! I feel so retarded because i can barely communicate to other people haha but besides that its so awesome here!

Then after the lesson my comp told me again that after i bore my testimony it brought the spirit in the room so strongly and affected the family! I was pretty happy with that. Then we went back home and met up with his real comp...Elder Salazar the other AP. He´s mexican and can´t really speak english. He is the coolest kid though! He´s so funny and helpful! HE wants to learn english so we help each other learn the words we want to learn.  Like tattletale haha he didnt know what is was so i tried to explain it to him in spanish so he could tell me it in spanish and i could tell it to him in englsih.

Then we ate and planned and went to bed! Oh i dont sleep with blankets at all because its so hot and humid that i sweat all the time and there is no need for blankets! And after i take a shower..by the way there is no hot water...i sweat in the shower and when i dry off i sweat and i cant tell if im wet from the water or my sweat!° haha it sucks but im getting used to it kinda.

Then sunday we went to 2 churches. Which in both i couldn´t understand what people were saying or what was going on haha  i could pick up some words but i couldnt put them together fast enough to understand what they were saying.

SO after 7 hours of church we went to eat at a members house at 5. My first real meal in MExcio...scary!.. They had this soup with beans and 3 different kinds of meat which i couldn´t tell what it was. But i had most of it so i was pretty good. And the had flour tortillas, and meat and guacamole and salsa! OH MY GOSH the salsa and guacamole were SOOOO good. I dont really like guacamole but the stuff here is so good. Because its home made the real mexican way! I had like 8 tacos.

Here you made your own tacos and put everything in it you want. And the salsa here is SOOO good too! I wasn´t really spicy either. Oh and everyone here drinks Coca-cola. So i had a lot of that too! because the mission says not to drink the water here unless its bottled. so i drank the coke. Then we taught some more lessons after dinner with different people.

Walking around the streets reminds me of CAll of Duty! haha because everything here is run down..buildings are half destroyed or falling apart or not finished. Trash is all over. People live in house that i would think weren´t liveable. military guys with automatic weapons that you see sometimes. BUt its awesome. Its like an adventure!

We are only allowed to go to people house that are refreals. NO knocking on doors or contacting or stuff like that. and here when you go to a persons house instead of knocking on their door you yell "buenos noches!" to get their attention.

I love it here its so much fun being down here and walking around, trying to speak another language! I love it!!! Its a million times better than the MTC thats for sure. BEing a missionary is awesome haha especially in Mexcio.

If anyone wants to know i still haven´t poop my pants. Ive pooped like 3 times since being here. haha oh and the mail here is slow. It takes about 3 weeks to get a letter from here to the US. Im not happy about that because its going to take forever to get letter from Katie! I can get emails from you guys every week. so ill write a little at the bottom of each email to katie if you could send it to her and take it off before you put it on my blog please.

Well today im going to go with another companionship for a week. then ill get my trainer next monday and it will only be us,. and my trainer wont speak any english so its going to be crazy!

Please write me! I love you all so much :)

Love
david

p.s here´s is my address


Elder David McNamara
Misíon México Tampico
Ave. Ejército Mexicano #501 Local 17
Colonia Lomas del Gallo
Madero, Tamaulipas 89470

Mission President's Email to David's Parents

Elder McNamara arrived Friday evening here in Tampico with 5 other North Americans. He is healthy and happy to be in his mission. He ate a meal of authentic Mexican tacos and spent the night with the elders who work in the office. After training all day Saturday and an interview with the mission president, he was assigned to work with a pair of missionaries in Tampico.

Because the mission will not have transfers until next week, he will be in a "trio" for the week.  Five Mexican missionaries will arrive the following week and Elder McNamara will be assigned to his trainer. His trainer will most likely be a native Spanish-speaking missionary.

You should be receiving emails from your son on Mondays, generally, beginning tomorrow. He would appreciate a note each week just to let him know you are okay and that you are thinking of him.

We are pleased to have your son here. We appreciate your love and support  for him. An FAQ sheet is attached. If you have additional questions or if you ever need to contact the mission, feel free to use this email or the cell phone number below. We also attach a photo taken the day after his arrival.

Presidente Jordan

Misión México Tampico

Week 10 Complete: Last letter from MTC

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Como la van? Estoy muy feliz, Ustedes saben por que? Porque tengo mi VISA!!! Simon!!!   (Editorial translation: "How's it going?  I am very happy, do you all know why?  Because, I have my visa!!  Simon!!"   We don't know who Simon is. Supposedly, it is slang for "yeah!")

OH yeah I went to the consulado de Mexico yesterday. Well I'll tell the story! 

So on tuesday my comp and I were sitting in class and then the travel office calls both of us down and the told us that we were going to the consulate tomorrow (wednesday!) So i was made travel leader..I dont know why haha..but anyways they took us to the frontrunner in provo. 

SO we got to take the train. It was awesome! There was 20 of us missionaries on the train and 10 of us sat on the bottom and 10 others sat up top of the train. It was funny at each stop people got on (of course) but some would see us then turn away real quick and go up top...funny for them there was more up top hahaha.  But then others would see all of us and say "MISSIONARIES, I LOVE YOU!" it was cool. We are like rockstars in utah. 

I talked to a couple people on the train. And the train stopped at DRAPER, SANDY and then Murray! It sucked seeing home again and the familiar mountains im used to seeing. So that put me in a wierd mood. I started missing home seeing all of that. But at the stop in Murrray we had to get off and switch to trax. 

And at the stop this mexican guy came up to 10 of us and spoke spanish to us! None of us understood him! He spoke really fast and his mexican accent was crazy. But he spoke english too perfectly. He asked us for 8 dollars for his medicine. haha then after that he asked about our church. He said that his girlfriend lives in salt lake and he lives in provo and she's a member and he wants to know more about our church.  

Then one of the missionaries pulls out a spanish book of mormon and starts to tell him about it. Then the dude asked where can I get one of these books? Then he gave it too him. Then he gave us his address and phone number and said sent the missionaries over!! IT was so cool!  

I dont know if he was just playing us for money or actually wanted to know. BUt still it was a cool experience. And some other mexicans spoke to us too. I never realized how many there were here in utah! haha  

Then we got on trax to go down town. I talked to some other people too about their life and what they're doing and stuff like that. Before my mission I would never talk to a stranger on the train before but look! now I am. Most of them were RMs but still it was cool.  

We got there and guess what? The consulado de Mexico is right behind the Salt lake Bee's stadium! SO we all walked down the street to it. (20 of us missionaries) Every car that passed waved and others took videos! because who see 20 missionaries on the side walk haha  

then we got there and i dont understand why it takes so long to get a visa! All they do is take a picture, take your fingerprint, then back ground check you, then you have your visa! So easy!  

Then we went back to the train station and while we were waiting. Some guy in a car in the parking lot rolled down his window and took pictures of all of us! It was funny he wanted all of us to wave and stuff. Then we came back here...to prison. hahaha im just kidding.  

It was really fun to leave this place for a couple of hours! I'm so excited to leave this place and go to the real world haha it was actually fun!  

So now I got my visa. so i could possibly leave tomorrow. Which i dont think will happen. So i'll probably leave on monday or tuesday! Im so excited!  

That was pretty much the highlight of my week. The only people left in my district are just me and my comp. We're all by our selves! haha we don;t really exsist in the MTC.  

Yesterday the put 4 more elders in our room! haha we came back from the consulate and there were all these bags! but we kicked them out and now they room next to our room. 

Well anyways, Mom sounds like you had so much fun in Mexico! I'm jealous! And yeah I remember when we went there on a cruise that was so much fun. We like would swim underneath the slide in the "secret" under water tunnel!  

And about what the Taxi driver told you about the Mexican Maffia in Tampcio....yeaaahh. The Mexican guy at the train station asked us where we were going and we said Tampico..his face kinda went down. and said oh...be careful of the drug lords down there...Yeah that kinda scared me. I guess there are some problems in Tampico with the drug cartel and the Maffia. But don't worry everybody. I'll be okay! I heard the drug lords love the missionaries and actually watch out for them! so no need to worry. The lord wouldn't send his missionaries to places where they would be in danger. So its all good!  

Well Im sooooooooooooooooooo excited to leave and go to Tampico! Its going to be fun when I cant understand a single word anybody says! This time next week I'll be in Mexico for sure! Ahhhh yeah!  

I love you all so much ;) 
Love,
Elder Macky

p.s. everyone here calls me MAcky now haha  

PPS: Dad, IM GOING TO MEXICO TOMORROW!!!! I'll call you tongiht in about an hour! I lve yuo dad. Is mom home yet? so i can call her?