My First Earthquake...It Was Great!

Hola familia!!

Wow tell me about it, what a week it has been for sure! Craziness all around literally, haha. I was so sad I couldn’t call on Tuesday it really made my day worse.  It was my CCM president who made that rule to not be able to call btw. How are you enjoying the snow?? haha.  It's nice and sunny here and every morning we get up to run and we can smell the ocean air which is way nice. That’s great to hear about the project you guys did! It really is so true there is a lot of poverty here and especially in Mexico so I am so grateful for all that we have in this life! How was Brian's b-day!? I wish I could have been there for it.  It sounds like the usual chaos moment in the Woffinden household, haha.  I miss those sometimes. I also am so excited for Conference this week. It really will be so good to be able to hear from the Brethren and to try to apply their teachings in our everyday lives. I pray I get to watch in English cause we might have to in Spanish, and that would not be cool, haha.

View from my early-morning run in Whittier, CA.

Well, here we go. I am currently in an area called Whittier, California.  It is the top of my mission and is a biking part obviously, haha. My bike they gave me is total crap, like literally no brakes and tons of issues so I am using a different elder's bike that he left behind. We are staying in a member's home.  We just have one little room to ourselves and 2 shelves for food.  My companions are Elder H, my trainer, and Elder B (the one from the blog I used to read back home), haha. However, we found out that tomorrow we are moving into a new apartment and Elder B is getting transferred, so it will just be Elder H and I. Well, they both speak fantastic Spanish which is good, but I feel like the world’s biggest idiot because I barely understand anybody here. I won’t lie, it’s hard being with 2 companions because they always leave me in the dust biking, haha. Trust me, I am pedaling my hardest, but they just have biking legs and mine aren't in shape for it yet, so it blows, ha. They both teach well together, but like I don’t feel like I'm learning a whole lot, and its really stressful. I get left out of lessons or just talking all the time, and everybody speaks Spanish, so I just look like a smiling idiot half the time, haha.

My scripture covers from Mexico.

Being back in the states is nice however, because everything is in English! The food is great here.  Well, we have been meeting with some of their investigators.  We honestly have had zero success this whole week. We teach T and J mostly, but it usually just consists of stopping by and saying what’s up at their house and them having to leave, so that’s a bummer. Last night we were visiting T and we got dropped off so we didn't have our bikes and the elders were supposed to come back and pick us up so we didn't have to walk home. But, surely enough, 8:40 comes and we are calling to get a ride, and no answers.  So after like 10 calls we just grabbed our bags and started the 5 mile walk home when we are supposed to be home by 9:00.  Yeah, we got home at 10:00.  But before that, we had dinner at the bishop's house, and he is a chef so it was some of the best chicken I have ever had. It was so good, and to top it off with a huge slice of cheesecake!  Ah, I about died. Then 5 mins. after that we get a call inviting us to a going-away party for some elders, and so of course, that means more cake and ice cream, etc. But, what sucks is we can’t say no to the food, so I ate it.  You know me being a calorie counter. I about died inside as I ate red velvet cake and ice cream, haha.

Okay, now for the big news, yes I experienced my first EARTHQUAKE ever in my life.  Okay, so it was Friday night and we had just gotten home and began to plan for the next day. It was about 9:15 and dead silent, when all of a sudden the loudest bang I have heard came from upstairs in the family room.  It sounded like a jet took off from our house, then the violent shaking knocked us out of our chairs, haha.  My companion LOST his mind and he had this look of pure terror and excitement on his face. He was running in circles screaming, WHHHHAAATTT? haha.  I was scared too, but seeing him was hilarious. It lasted about probably 15 seconds and glass and shelves, etc. were falling over in their house, then there was silence.  We got up and booked it outside to find this lovely drunk couple outside our house just making out and all that stuff, so we we’re like, sweet, and headed back inside, haha. We didn’t plan anything after that because we literally had our minds blown as to what had just happened.   We later had 4 more after shock quakes and 5 small ones the next day. We found out it was a 5.4 quake which is a decent sized quake, and I can now say I have finally been in one, so I’m pumped!  We are praying for more, it’s like we are adrenaline junkies,   haha.   We loved it. California is great though. It is warm, lots of palm trees so just looks exactly like the CCM, so I’m happy about that. However, I am struggling a lot being here mentally and shopping and seeing all the movie posters, and ESPECIALLY MARCH MADNESS games, wow it’s driving me insane.  But I’m doing okay overall, just need to continue to press forward and be positive.

Saying good bye to Elder Marshall and Elder Carr at the CCM.

How is everything at home?? Anything new!? Well, I miss you all so much and am so grateful for all your support! Thanks so much for the packages and letters!  Each one I get makes my day! Have a safe week and enjoy conference.

Love you all!

Elder Woffinden