The Nebraska of Mexico: The lady with no address

It sounds like it was a good week for Nick and he continues to write about some of the things he notices along with his experiences.

This week was awesome. We talked to so many people, I love it here. Here's some things though...

So, every night, outside our window there's a group of 5 dogs that just go at it and they bark and whimper till like 12 am. Every night.

There's also butterflies the size of your hand, that are brown and look like giant killer moths. We were eating at this lady's house and I just looked up and found a HUGE one right above my head. No fun.

But speaking of lunch with that lady, I went on changes for the day with our zone leader Elder Dalhberg. I went to his area, so we called this lady and were like ¨Donde esta su direcion?¨ her reply ¨No tengo direcion¨. So, we were like, great this lady doesn't want to tell us where she lives. But, it turns out she really didn't have a street name or anything. We met her at a gas station, walked down this dirt road that overlooked the city into these tiny homes and met her son who has a mental disability. He was the coolest kid ever. But, they came out with food, and gave us chicken and all this food, while they only ate fruit. You could tell they didn't have a lot of money, so it was hard not to feel bad. But, at the same time, it was one of those moments that just made you think. It really helped me remember why I was here.

So conference, I had to watch the entire thing in Spanish, so I didn't get anything out of it. Turns out, I really suck at Spanish. But Elder Manglinong and I tried to watch it in English on a computer in the other room, clicked a button and all of a sudden everything went silent. Next thing we know, Spanish people come in and are like ¨Que hace!¨. Yeah we screwed up the internet and it took 30mins to get it back on. The Mexican people were not happy...

Oh so remember when I said root beer doesn't exist here? I was right.

So Elder Manglinong and Sanchez lost their keys. We had to break into their house, which is the 2nd time in the 3 weeks I've been here breaking into someones house. This guy came with us with a big screwdriver, put it in their window, hit it once and it popped right open in 30 seconds. I'd expect nothing less in mexico.

So after we got back from changes with the ZLs I took my Ariel pillow with me.(Sydney took the Little Mermaid sheets but Nick swiped the pillow case with Ariel on it) But, we had one more appointment with this family before the apartment. So, here I am sitting with these two young parents teaching them, while holding my pillow with Ariel on it. I clearly didn't think that one through. (Serves him right for not letting Sydney take the pillow case)

So in Mexico, every time you look for a house it's like playing ¨I spy¨. The house numbers, unlike in America, are not in one designated spot. So it takes like 2 mins to find out where you are, and by that time you've past the house by 2 blocks. Also, no houses have mailboxes.

Tianges. Certain nights all these like merchants come in with tents and take over side roads. It's where you find the cheapest fake stuff. But, there were these ladies that I saw during my day with Elder Dalhberg. They work for the tianges, get up at 4 am everyday and make 300 tamales, every day.

The other day I tried to pet this really cute stray dog in the street. It didn't like that. I've never been more scared in my life.

Mexicans, once every 2 weeks, they water the trees. You know those water cannons they use in riots.... yeah those. I don't know who thought that was a good idea.

Joshua (pronounced ho-sway). One of the coolest guys we've met. Granted, he's addicted to all this alcohol and like sniffing paint and stuff. We tried to go visit this old member, and found him. The other person had moved. But he let us in, gave us water and told us his story. He's really been through a lot, but its awesome to find someone that actually needs our help. The next lesson Elder Cruz and Elder Harland (the other ZL) had with him, he ended up throwing away all his alcohol to quit his addiction. It's gonna be really hard, but I know he can do it.

So there's all these houses here, that are like apartment complexes and they only have one exit and entrance with a huge gate. Its the most frustrating thing in the world. One day I'm going to set the gate on fire so they can see how flawed their logic is... only kidding...

So the other day i was looking at the wall on the back side of our house. On the top is just a bunch of glued down broken bottle pieces. It works i guess..

Hot dogs at the store are like neon pink here and I don't know why.

Taxis. Even if it only seats 4, you can still fit 6, and no one cares.. because its Mexico.

But yeah that's all. The people here are the best, they do so much for us. I feel like I'm getting fat from all the food so I'll have to work on that. I love you guys. Hope all is well. Talk to you soon.