Elder VanBuskirk: Worth it to be a Servant of the Lord.

Alex latest email: (I love how every "and" has now been officially replaced with "y". Why not? "Y" is much easier and way cooler.)

Hola family y friends,

This week started off with a interview with the mission president. Usually on Tuesday we go to Tuxtla for a district meeting because Elder Garcia is the district leader. But the night before we got a phone call from the zone leaders saying we have an interview with the president at 8:20am. We said okay. The interview was more like a talk. He asked about my family y told me about how some missionaries come and think they will just learn the language. But they learn 3 months later that you need to work hard y by God’s timing you will know the language. He looked at me y said, “you know that already.” I said, “yes sir, I do.” He said “good.” It was a great interview.

I love it here, how everybody y us says good morning, good evening, good night to everyone. I love it! I love how everybody gives us in their homes traditional food, like milk with oatmeal, or homemade lemonade, or OJ, even homemade pan. It is all so good. Everyday you will hear fireworks go off any time of the day. Its a tradition to do it for everything.

This week we committed 4 to baptism. A mother with three kids. She and two of her sons want to be baptized, the other son is too young. Then I committed someone named Roberto. His family are members, besides him y his brother who is a less active. It took me two tries to commit him because he didn’t understand my Spanish. Yesterday was awesome. We had 5 of our investigators come to church. We were so happy! This week was good. A lot of walking, but it is all worth it to be a servant of the Lord. Love you all y miss you a ton.

‪You know in my patriarchal blessing it says God will help me overcome any obstacle in my path, so right now it is the language. But it also says He will help me overcome it. I know that is true. If I work hard y go by his timing, I will learn it.‬

Well last night we visited a member and she told me “in the little time you’ve been here your Spanish has gotten a lot better because of God y your companion.” I said “thank you very much.” That made me feel good.

‪In our town it is just us and two sister missionaries on the other side. They are really nice.‬

Garcia is 18. His birthday is June 25. He has a brother and sister. He is the oldest. His mom is a teacher y a seminary teacher. He been on his mission for 4 months. He will get transfer in Jan. We get along. He was really shy y his last comp was too, but I made him be more welcome, not so shy.

I've got to go. Thanks for buying the cases. Love you all. I will send couple of more pics. Miss you a ton. I pray for you all the time. I’ve got to do a service project for the member we are living with. Adios family! Miss you all a ton. Thanks for everything mom y family. Tell Sparkey “hi”. Love you all!