Letter #13

We're back in Vega, arrived on Saturday, but we'll be starting slowly this week because Elder Marquez was told to rest a little before fully going back to work. Daniel and his mom came to church on Sunday and we talked. Daniel is still in a neck brace and has stitches in his head, but he felt good enough to come to church so that's a positive sign. He told me that Ada is doing really quite well. Rosa is still in enough pain that she doesn't leave bed much, but she's gonna be alright. She had to get surgery on her wrists and stitches in her head too. We didn't talk much about Marcos, but Daniel told me that he'll be fine. I just didn't bother writing a group email last week because I didn't have many of the answers that I felt were necessary. Elder Marquez actually chose to stay in the hospital a few extra days so the assistants and I took turns being there with him throughout the week. That meant that I was on splits with the assistants all week (which was awesome because they're way good missionaries and I learned a lot). I actually liked working in Xalapa quite a bit. Tuesday we had a training in Xalapa for new missionaries and I was already conveniently there so I got to attend. It was super cool and I got to see the guys from the CCM, which was nice. Elder Mardo was excited to see me in one piece (as he had already heard about the accident). One night I went on a split with Elder Gunderson (secretary) and he showed me where to get some good hot dogs after we taught a killer lesson to an elderly woman who had a strong testimony of miracles. She has a surgery coming up so we got to give her a blessing too. The next day I taught a couple more awesome investigators with Elder Kucharek (assistant) and finally got to try the infamous tracting with Elder Sutton (assistant). I don't get why tracting has such a bad reputation because I actually enjoyed it and we made a number of appointments in relatively little time. Maybe it's just more effective in Mexico. President Esquihuas and his wife are actually the best. Hermana Esquihuas gave us some extra garments too. She and I had three dinner dates this week haha (she would pick me up from the hospital and leave President with Elder Marquez for a second so I could eat). The language is coming along well enough I suppose. President told me such. He then proceeded to tell me that that's good because we need good Spanish speakers to be leaders. (I didn't know how to respond to that). I'll be studying a lot this week. 

Love,

-Elder Finlinson