Sam has been in Patzun for around 3 weeks now. He says it's a town of around 50,000 people (including surrounding villages) up in the mountains. It's the most remote place from the mission home. He lives in a hotel! But he says not to get to "hyped up" about it, because the hotel is not what we're thinking. It's not luxurious at all. There is no hot water and the mornings are a little chilly (60 degrees or so). He has asked that we send him a sweater, as he is FREEZING!
The people in this area speak their own native dialect, as well as Spanish and switch back and forth in front of the them when they don't want to be understood, which can get a little aggravating. His ward has around 200 members and the church has been established there for around 30 years, so most of the people they see on the streets are familiar with the missionaries. He and his companion, an American, are teaching some. One of the biggest problems though, is that hardly anyone is legally married, so baptism is out of the questions until they can solve that problem.
He eats beans and tortillas everyday from the tortilla lady who has a stand in front of their hotel. He gets 5 for one dollar! He says he hasn't had any problems with sickness (yet). He is a pretty adventurous eater, so we'll see how long he can stay away from Code Brown (as he refers to it).
They are teaching two people ( a man and a woman) that look as if they are headed for baptism. Neither one of them have the marriage issue! I hope that works out for them!
We hear from Elder Beckstead on Tuesdays. He can write after his district conference. We'll keep you posted on all the latest and greatest!
Google Patzun, it's really interesting!
