Monday
Today was pretty boring, honestly. For preparation day, we cleaned the house for a bit, went to the Jicarilla Market and bought a couple things, and pretty much played card games the rest of P-day. Nobody showed up to the Family Home Evening thing, so me and Elder Sperry just did some studies together until it was time to go back home.
Tuesday
Today was slow. We walked out to the post office to check the mail (I found a penny there!) and met a bunch of people on the way there and back. I was sweating buckets because of the heat! Later in the afternoon, we did some online proselyting at the church. After that, we turned in for the night.
Wednesday
I went on an exchange today! Me and Elder Sperry left at 10:00am from our place to meet up with the Aztec Elders (I can't remember if it's the 1st or 2nd ward missionaries) and I went with Elder Daffer while Elder Sperry went with Elder Bruning. I was the driver for the exchange because Elder Daffer's card wasn't scanning on the TIWI thing in the truck. We had a great time visiting people and just talking with each other. Elder Daffer is very relatable! I realized on this exchange that it's kind of rare to be a missionary and not stay with another companionship in the same building for the year that I've served. At least, that's the impression I got from the other missionaries in Aztec. They were a fun group to be around.
Thursday
Elder Daffer and I along with the other set of missionaries all went for a jog in the morning to this neat outdoor exercise place. We talked about random stuff while we were there (I had a crazy dream that I talked about in which I was a soldier on a military cruise ship headed for Europe!) and then we ran back. After that, we did some studies and headed out to district meeting, where we would exchange back into our normal companionships. After district meeting, me and Elder Sperry took Elder Bruning to Subway and we got some delicious sandwiches, then we dropped Elder Bruning off back at the church with his companion and headed home. The drive home was two hours, as usual. When we arrived home, it was nearly the end of the day, so we did some studies, had dinner, and turned in for the night.
Friday
We planned for the week all morning, and afterwards we went for a walk to check the mail and hopefully find people to talk to. We went all the way there and nearly back to our house before someone randomly pulled up next to the church and asked if he could cut our hedges for us. He said that was what he did for a living and every time he drove by the church he saw the unkempt hedges and he must have seen them enough times and gotten bugged by it that he finally made the decision to come and talk to us. So we talked to them about coming to sacrament meeting on Sunday and offered them a Book of Mormon (Spoiler alert: they didn't come to church on Sunday)! Later, a member came to our place and asked us for help with his computer, so we went over there and helped him send some files to Russia. He was going there to throw tomahawks with some friends, or something like that. He must be some kind of entertainer or something. After that, we went home and turned in.
Saturday
We caught Daryl home in the afternoon and we talked for a good hour about our testimonies. Daryl is a returned missionary who hasn't been coming to church every week, but he came last week! He has a very strong testimony and he just got elected as one of the tribal council members in Dulce. Later, we went to a little party that a man named Reynard was hosting, and we met a ton of new people there that were super nice and fun to talk to. We ate green chili hot dogs and green chili stew. It was SPICY! We met a large group of people who came to the party in a small bus with the pastor of their church. They were all very friendly and couldn't stop talking about cats and movies. Later in the evening I got a late notice that the current piano player would be gone for sacrament meeting, so I had to practice my songs like crazy for the rest of the day so that I could play the piano tomorrow for sacrament meeting.
Sunday
I played the piano for sacrament meeting today, and it went great! The branch president even told me that my playing was the most perfect it could be. Also, Daryl came to sacrament meeting for the 2nd week in a row! I forgot to mention that when we met with Daryl yesterday he said he was a lazy Lamanite when we talked about coming to church, but I guess he pulled through and came! We had a ton of people at church today, I'd say around 35 or 40 people. Most of them were white old people from places other than Dulce, including the stake president and some branch missionaries that were just called to help the Dulce branch. After church, we set up the flat screen T.V. in the church and watched the tabernacle choir do their who concert thing for Pioneer Day. I fell asleep about halfway through for a bit, but it was a good concert! Sadly, the only people who showed up to watch was the branch president and Ryan, a long-time member whose only ride home was with the branch president. Later in the evening, we went with the branch president to go to the Billie's household and we taught them the sixth temple preparation lesson. Now they just need to spiritually prepare themselves and they will be ready to go to the temple! We turned in for the night after that lesson.
Thanks for everything!
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I don't get sunburned too much, although I got a little burnt the first week I was here. I have been careful and I've been using sunscreen
The only injury I have gotten is the phantom injury you get from eating really spicy green chili peppers. Muy Spicy!
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Okay, so here's how I feel about the area: It's beautiful! There is greenery and mountains all over. However, one of the problems with Dulce is that it's in the middle of nowhere. Also church attendance is lower on average than any area I've been to - even Zuni! My goal is to get more members who aren't attending sacrament meeting to attend sacrament meeting. We need more support in the branch, there just aren't enough people here to attract attention. Also, the building is hiding behind massive hedges that need to be trimmed. More about that in my weekly email.
I think my favorite success in this area is that Daryl has been coming to church. I am really hoping that he attends church a lot more. The plan is to visit him every Saturday and our presence is to be a reminder for him to come to church. It's worked so far! Also, I said it in my weekly email, but I played piano for sacrament meeting! I played these hymns in order from first to last: hymn 58 Come Ye Children of the Lord, hymn 180 Father in Heaven, We Do Believe, hymn 270 I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go, and hymn 163 Lord, Dismiss Us With This Blessing. The branch president really appreciated my piano playing and praised me for it after church was over. He got super excited about it!!
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