Up Hills and Down Hills

  

   The one word to describe this last week would have to be- Wow!  There have been so many let downs, but so many miracles this week as well.  To start off, I will talk about leaving the CCM.  Our last Sunday there, we said goodbye to the Hermanas in our district and the next day we had class so it was weird without them.  For our last night, we all decided to stay up until our flights,  except for Elder Davey who stayed an extra day in the CCM.  I said goodbye at around ten and then he went to bed.  Everyone in my district gradually went to take a nap until their flights and it was weird saying goodbye.  The weirdest part was leaving my casa.  Let me describe the scene... I am in a suit with all my possessions in the middle of an un-lit road with only the stars as light, companionless.  That was the weirdest part and I spent the next day completely companionless.  It was so strange. I got to reception to wait for the other person who was coming with me to the airport, but they never showed up.  One of the workers brought me to find them.  We weren't sure if they were male or female, so we couldn't enter their assigned house.  We decided to knock on the door and window, but we got no response. We decided to check the house, so we went in and found a house full of Hermanas.  That was super awkward.  Anyways I got to the airport, passed security, and went to look for my flight and realized I didn't have a gate assignment on my ticket.  I ran around the airport looking for help, with five minutes before boarding and with a destroyed toe.  My toe was a terribly painful experience, I had cut too deep in my toe and some of the skin under the toenail was super agitated. I had received a blessing for it, but it wasn't healing quite yet.  It was very painful to put pressure on it.  So In the airport now, ten minutes past boarding time, limping around, I finally find a lady who tells me the gate I am supposed to be at is on the other side of the airport, like a half-mile away (Mexico city airport is HUGE).  I speed limp over there, probably as fast as an old lady with a walker, and make it to my flight.  My flights were sleepful and sadly uneventful.  I get off the plane and immediately get a confirmation that this is Nevada.  The first thing I see is a slot machine.  The second is my mission president.  He is super cool.  We got to the mission office and had a lot of training there about every aspect of the mission, it was still weird not to have a companion. We finished at around 7p and went to meet our companions.  The meeting of our trainers was cool and each trainer meets their trainee in a different way. For example, my trainer was announced and a random Elder ran though the crowd and jumped into my arms yelling, "I'm your mission Dad!"  One of the things we do in the mission is have a mission lineage, so out here I have my mission dad, grandpa, great grandpa, and so on.  It turns out that I have`an aunt and grandma as well. Anyway, my mission Dad or trainer is Elder Franco. He is super cool and really good at Spanish.  We get a truck out here which is super cool.  My first area is Stead, which is just north of Reno. 
   Our first day was awesome, we had 7 lessons and so many miracles.  Thursday we had weekly planning and our weekly service with a catholic church giving out food to the less fortunate.   Friday we had training and we learned the parable of the bike from president Chestnut.  He told us in biking there are uphills and downhills and you have to work really hard just to get to the top with uphills and with downhills you just go down, taking a break and feeling the wind in your face.  The same is with life and missionary work.  There are going to be days that are unfruitful and hard to bear that will make you feel down and sad, but if you are giving it your all for the right reasons you will feel success.  We have felt this the last two days.  Saturday we had no success, shut down everywhere.  We asked for referrals at one house and she said no one wants to talk with us.  We came back that day exhausted and downtrodden. Sunday was the downhill.  We found so much success, miracles and blessings that day it was awesome. We committed everyone we taught to pray on what we had taught them and I think they will and they will gain a testimony because of it.  I am so grateful to be out here in Reno.  It is awesome out here and I know this is the mission for me.  I look forward to another week of service!