And thus concludes the longest week of Jacob's life

It’s true, it literally felt like a month. Also there is a real problem with having the last name Rivera here because literally everyone (literally everyone) is so confused when I tell them I’m from Utah and that no one in my family speaks Spanish. 

Anyway, I suppose I should start from where I left off. 

The airport. After I got out of view from my family in the security line I realized how nervous I was and my mouth was so dry all I could is like nod and shake my head and stuff to the security workers. Then after I found my gate and I was the first missionary there but then a bunch more started showing up and I got to hang out with my district. 

Then we got on the plane and ended up getting to sit by a window and I also got to sit by a kid in my district which was fun. We had to fill out these immigration forms on the plane too—which was kind of confusing. then finally, we got into view of Mexico City, and let me tell you how huge it is. There is literally buildings as far as the eye can see so that was really cool to see. 

We got to the airport and the airport is kinda weird like in tv shows when they go to Mexico its always tinted yellow and greenish and for some reason the Mexico City airport looks like that color, and it smells like fish I have no idea why. After all our forms and stuff were checked we went to meet our mission president and they kinda rushed us along and we had a 30 second call with our parents to say we arrived. Then they bought us our first meal in Mexico at the airport which was..........Carls jr. 

Then they sent us to go get on a bus to drive to the mission office and the second we stepped outside is when I realized I was not in Utah anymore. The first thing I notice is the cars and how busy the street is and let me tell you what they say about Mexico driving is not a lie literally its insane. Then another thing I noticed is when we were standing on the street corner waiting for our shuttle is that gas per gallon was 20 bucks and I was like holy crap this is the most expensive gas I’ve ever seen and then I realized that they don’t have dollars here and it was actually like 1 dollar per gallon in pesos which is much more reasonable. (it also happened again when I saw a sign later for a 50 dollar burger) also I watched some dude walk past a cop and slip him a note of money all slyly. 

We finally got on our bus and there was no seatbelts in the back and it literally felt like we were being shipped to prison also being in traffic at high speeds in Mexico with no seatbelts when the driver is texting is quite an experience. On the way (the drive was like an hour) the other new elders were talking and I was a little bit but I mostly wanted to look out the window look at the scenery which is a ton of really poor small houses made of cinderblock and literally buildings everywhere. Also a ton of the buildings and houses just have huge piles of junk on them and stuff. Then we got to the mission office and they gave us a filter water bottle and a pillow and a tour, but by that point all of us are a bit on edge and starting to realize we ain't at home anymore so everyone’s kind of gone quiet. 

After the brief intro the other missionaries arrived and we met our companions. My companion is named Elder Ramos and he’s from the Mexican coast. Some state called Nayarit which in the grand scheme of things is not too terribly far. (last night he was telling me some terrifying cartel stories he had experienced there. he also told me a couple ghost stories from his mission that scared me so bad I literally prayed I wouldn't have an experience like that) Elder Ramos is an old man though he turns 23 this month and he only has 5 weeks left on his mission. 

With covid protocol we have to take Uber or taxis everywhere so we got in our taxi and drove off. ON the drive we saw how many freaking dogs there are here. They are literally everywhere. Also we drove past some pretty normal sights too, like a Walmart, KFC, McDonald’s, and Little Caesars. 

We got to our house and our neighborhood is like how you'd picture an old Mexican town. Our house is small and the only floor is concrete. We had to set up all these tables and stuff because there was literally no furniture save a scary looking sink in the corner. We then had to go out and buy lightbulbs for our house and theres a tiny little shop right by our house and it was being run by like a 9 year old girl (her family was also there but she was running the counter). We bought the light bulbs and my companion bought us these cinnamon roll things. we got home and started to wind down and thats when the whole "what in the actual world am I freaking doing here I want to go home right now.” I barely ate anything and then we went to bed. 

The next morning I could barely eat anything so I took like two more bites of my cinnamon roll thing. Then we went to the mission office for orientation and they gave us a bunch of papers and rules and stuff. They also got pizza and that was the first time I felt like I could eat something. Also that night I was feeling so lost and I wanted to start ramming my head on the wall in rapid succession (like someone we know eh?). The rest of the days just kind of morph into one. We do all our studies in the morning and then we walk to the church. 

The walk in the neighborhood to the church is probably just under a mile and thats when you really get the feel for authentic Mexico theres this tortilleria on the corner of the street and theres a ton of small cars and dogs and food stands. There’s also this huge outdoor market that they set up in front of the church sometimes and its super long and they sell literally everything there. food, clothes, old tools or electronics (which I am a bit suspicious of), pets. So yeah literally everything. 

The one thing Im sad about is Ive hardly had any authentic Mexican food. The bit we did have was made for us by members at the church (thats where we spend almost all of our time) on Saturday and Sunday it was so good. the first meal was simple. it was tortillas from one of the tortillerias, pico de gallo, which was just avocado, tomato, lime, and I think cilantro. We also had rice and chicharrones which are so good. Also they made these small onions cooked in oil and salt and it may have been the greatest thing I've ever eaten. The other meal was this chicken in green sauce with tortillas and rice and that was also so good. Here the tortillas are used as kind of spoons. The rest of my meals have been like eggs and cereal and stuff. 

We teach all of our lessons over the phone and let me tell you every. single. Mexican man sounds the exact same on the phone. And also a quick story to tell you how bad my Spanish is. We were on the phone with a guy and he was talking so much and I obviously couldn't understand a word, but in my head I thought oh wow this guy is really interested in the church. I found out after the lesson from my companion the guy was literally just bashing us the whole time. But everyone else here is so accepting of the gospel. We literally got 8 baptism dates this week. I obviously did little work in this effort because all i’m able to do is share my testimony and read a scripture. It is good though because all our lessons are on the phone I can literally read the points I'm supposed to teach straight out of a book. 

We had this awesome lesson this week with a couple named Victor and Marisol and they had previously gone to another church and victor has all these tattoos but they literally accepted every single point of the gospel we gave them and they already have a baptism date and they came to church yesterday. Victor literally has the gift of revelation or something he was telling a story about how he had a dream at his last church where the pastor was gonna die in a week and then one week later the pastor died so that was a pretty crazy story. 

Church yesterday was so much different than at home. There was about 30ish members here and 30ish on zoom. It must've been the primary program or something because literally all of Sacrament meeting other than the very beginning was conducted by kids. They read scriptures and sang songs (some were on zoom) and that was literally Sacrament meeting. The kids were like literally probably 7 and younger. It was crazy to watch. The kids here are really well behaved. at home they'd probably be running crying and throwing up or whatever they do but here the kid who was announcing everything was calm and like a pro and he literally was probably 7 and he could've been younger. 

They're pretty casual about start time here so church started really late (which is not a complaint) the other members are so nice and they understand that my Spanish is awful (but again they literally all ask without fail why is my last name is Rivera if Im not from Mexico which proves Mr. McCleary wrong) other than that we just sat around at the church all day and all of our lessons fell through. 

Today we spent all of our morning cleaning and at Walmart buying stuff and then we were just sitting around at home for an hour. but I got some in depth bible study going which was good. (also Job 41 is the most confusing chapter ever) and also this letter took me over an hour to write and I still probably forgot stuff. I could only get three pictures uploaded for some reason but the first one is me on my first night absolutely shell shocked having no clue what I just got myself into, the second one is just a street by the church and the other one is our house. 

I’ll try to figure out how to add more next week. 

Anyway, bye

Also I cant believe Utes football is starting this week and I have to miss all of it