Last tuesday, I flew to San Diego. I wasn't very nervous the whole day, right up until we took pictures with family. Right before I was about to walk through TSA. Then it really hit me that I'll be gone for the next two years, and that is a long time to be doing something strenuously haha. I've heard a lot of people say in their first week or so that they want to go home. But I haven't felt that at all! I think I was well prepared for this by going to a semester at BYU first.
Anyway, there were 12 missionaries on the same flight as me to San Diego. It was good to talk with 11 other people going to the same place for the same purpose, it also got all of us pretty fired up about getting to San Diego haha! All of the other missionaries were grouped together on the plane, but for some reason, I was assigned to a seat away from everyone. So I just had some good conversations with some of the people around me which was cool.
When we got to the airport, I met the mission president and my companions. My companions are awesome (I'm in a trio), and President Gimenez is awesome too, he's a member of the quorum of the seventy too which is really cool.
After landing in the cool 70 degree weather of San Diego, my trio and another trio went to the Mormon Battalion. We then got a "Cali Burrito", basically just a really good burrito every place sells down here. Even though our area was in Imperial, over two hours away, we had to stay in San Diego for the night because we had training the next morning in San Diego. We stayed with the other trio, meaning the first night was basically just a 6-man sleepover.
We got to Imperial the next day, after the training. It's so so hot here. 100 degrees is considered a nice cool day. It's been pretty much constantly in the 105-118 range. Every time we step outside, it's literally the only thing we talk about, it's just so hot haha.
Twice a week, we teach an English class at the church. Obviously the English parts are really easy, and the parts where I have to explain how English works in Spanish is good practice.
We taught a lesson to this one lady named Basilia, she made us some really good tacos. Elder Montague, the district leader who has been out for ten months and speaks really good Spanish, taught most of the lesson because Elder Bullock (he has been out for six weeks) and I have a limited repertoire of Spanish haha.
It's been hard to find people to teach because everyone is out of town for the summer, or they're in Mexicali (just south of the border) with their family, especially on weekends. This makes it hard to invite people to church.
There aren't enough members here for a whole ward, so it's just a branch with about 25-30 people that come to church. The branch president (basically the bishop) has three sons, Danny, Diego, and Dael. Danny is the only one old enough to bless the sacrament each week, so Elder Bullock and I will take turns helping with blessing the sacrament in Spanish. Elder Montague plays the piano for sacrament meeting as well. I've been trying to find some time to brush up on my piano as well so I can help play too!
There's a lot more that's happened, but I don't want to make this one too long. Already one week in and my testimony of the gospel has grown so much. Christ is real, he lives, and there is so much truth and power in the gospel. It's real, it just is. I thought I'd have more FOMO (fear of missing out) in terms of things that I've given up to go on a mission. I thought I'd care more about politics, the NBA finals, and whatever else is going on in the world. But I haven't. I look forward to coming home in two years and being able to enjoy everything, but for now, I feel I'm being blessed with an ability to be focused on this great work. It's so important.
Anyways, hope everyone is doing well!
Bueno!
Elder Pettit
P.S. Wow, lot of pictures. I'm not sure if they come through in order or not. My apologies if they don't haha
1. All 12 of us new missionaries at the airport
2-4. Mormon Battalion tour
5. Meeting my companions
6. Picture of a palm tree in imperial that I took for my sister Allie
7. Meeting President Gimenez
8-11. Sweet pics
12. A picture we took in front of some dog food. Someone gave us the dog food, so we decided to post it in a local Facebook group to see if anyone was in need of it. Someone from Calexico drove up and got it for her friend who is struggling right now, and we put her in contact with the missionaries down there. So that was a cool experience!
