First Email From Sarandi del Yi

Dear family,

How are you doing? I’m sorry to hear about Zwieba’s father and grandfather. I pray that they will recover and get better soon. It’s good to hear about Kolton Mitton and that he’s alright and doing much better.

Well family, I’m a real missionary now. There’s so much to tell you. I don’t know if I have the time though. Yes Dad, Sarandi del Yi is a farming community and it’s much like Wellsville. But it’s different too. I now know the true meaning of poverty. A lot of people live in small shack things and most of them have dirt floors. So it’s been kind of interesting to see that. I wash all my laundry by hand and my house is tiny. It would definitely not pass the building inspections in the United States.

I’m so looking forward to getting my debit card; hopefully it will get here soon. I had kind of a bad first few days. My bike is a piece of junk and kept breaking. I have now had to replace my handle bars, my crank and sprocket and my seat. So I have had to use a lot of my monthly funds for this and I can’t get a reimbursement for it. So yes, I’m excited for my card. Thank you so much. I fixed all these things with just my Leatherman that I brought with me. I guess this impressed my companion. Whenever we see someone with a broken down car or a messed up bicycle he tells them that I’m the best mechanic in the world and that I can fix it for free. Ha ha ha

I also found out that on Friday nights we teach English. So now I’m an English teacher too... it’s pretty fun actually. I found out that I’m the only person in this town that is fluent in English. Everyone wants to talk to me cause I’m different I guess. They all call me “el Aleman”, which is “the German” in Spanish. Besides all that, it’s definitely been a humbling experience overall.

You asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I don’t know what I really want. I would like a hymn book in English for my comp, preferably a small one and another SD card. And I’ll think of some other stuff later and write it in a letter when I’ll have more time.

Mom, it’s a good thing you don’t live here, because horses are the big thing here! There are so many animals just roaming around freely; it’s crazy.

Yesterday at church we had 13 investigators go to church with us. It was awesome! Our first baptism is this Saturday and we have families planned to be baptized later this month. We have had a very successful week and it has been awesome.

Well I love you all very much; thank you for everything.

Elder John Sluder