Week 12!!!

Hii everyone!!! How are all of you? This past week was a blast and it went by pretty fast!

This past week was full of calls and messages home! I feel spoiled!! Last week I got to call home for my Dad’s birthday, then on P-Day, then I sent my older sister Abi a message for her birthday, then I got to call home on Mothers Day, AND I get to call home today because it’s P-Day!

I am so blessed to be able to communicate with my family so much! Right before I entered the MTC (like days before…) the church released a change that allowed missionaries to call home to their families each week on their preparation day!! Talking to my family once a week is so nice, and getting to tell them about my experiences is awesome! I look forward to calling them so much, and after I talk to them I am so motivated!!

Other than all of those fantastic calls, my companion and I had a very hard working week!! We helped move a family into a row home, cleaned the Church, taught an English class, studied for 4 hours each day, and did about 30 hours of finding/tracking!! Needless to say I have been exhausted, and hungry every day haha!!

My companion and I have learned so much Spanish since we have been together, and talking every day with the people has been so helpful! The Spanish language is very easy to learn compared to other languages, but it is still hard to speak and undertand for me.

I often find myself tired and with a headache after speaking Spanish for a long time. There is a lot of thinking that goes into learning a new language. Thinking of a sentence in English, translating it, speaking it in Spanish, and then trying to hear their response is a very taxing proccess haha. I have to take breaks and keep my body well nourished to do this all day for hours.. I am DEFINITELY looking forward to being near fluent by the end of my mission!

There is a change to all U.S. Spanish speaking missions effective tomorrow the 14th, and it is pretty exciting!
In the past, meetings and calls throughout the mission have been in English for all missionaries. Starting tomorrow, however, missionaries that are called to speak Spanish will do ALL of their meetings and calls in the Spanish langage!!

This is both very exciting and also a little intimidating.. I am excited to hear and speak more Spanish, because I will learn the language faster! However, this is also a little intimidating because I may not understand as much haha!! But I will let you know how it goes this week!!

Okay I know a few of you are wondering “Elder Petty are you out of your apartment yet???” Well the answer is no!! Unfortunately we are still in the same apartment with the black mold. The mission office is aware of our issue, and we are still on the list to be moved.

An update of the work this week!! We taught 3 lessons this week to nonmembers, and they all went well! None of our investigators came to church, but thats okay! Thats basically it.. We just go finding every day unless we have a lesson planned!

I hope you all had a fantastic week and a wonderful Mothers Day!! I am learning to have more joy even though there is a lot of struggling involved in missionary work. I am learning and growing so much and I am really seeing my blessings. I have so much support back home! I know that my friends, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and many others send their love and prayers my way every day! I am so humbled when I see the lifestyle people have here. Thank you all so much!

If you would like to see all of my pictures, and read my previous emails, please check out the website my dad made!! ElderPetty.com

Have a fantastic week everyone, I will try to respond to as many emails as I can today!! I love you and miss you all!

-Elder Petty