"Zone Mariscal, in an area called Peronia" 4/13/2011

Hello family!

Hey guess what! I got transfered and recieved a new companion again. Right now I am in the Zone Mariscal, in an area called Peronia. My companion´s name is Elder Lopez and he is from guatemala. Elder lopez has 21 months in the mission which means that I will probably be his last companion. I also have a very strong feeling that after he leaves they will make me start training. I like my area alot. When I first heard that I was going to Peronia I got really excited because it sounded like the name of a futuristic city form mars. But it turns out that its not. The zone Mariscal is most dangerous zone in the mission, and peronia is among the most dangerous areas in the zone. Its a huge shift coming from the nice safe mountain area where I was before. Here in the city people dont respond when you say hi or good morning. Im not to worried about anything bad happening though, because I know that the Lord is on my side. Besides, my companion said that in the passed 3 months they have only been mugged twice. We live in a really safe neighborhood that has only one entrance and is guarded by 3 guys with shotguns. At night time we almost always hear gunshots, but they usually sound like they are really far away. Another interesting thing about my area is that it happens to be placed right on the side of a very large hill. And so the streets are not flat at all, infact the streets are just really big stairs. I have a picture of them but I forgot my camera back at the house. I also am a little bit more cautious about bringing my camera with me while I am proselyting.

The day after I arrived in peronia, the land lord of our house arrived the house to do a little inspection. She is originally from guatemala but is living in the united states right now, so she doesnt usually come down to check up on her house alot. Ok, so when I first got to my house, the first thought that popped into my head was ¨wow, this is a really dirty house.¨ Apparently the missionaries have been living there for 4 years, so you could imagine all the crud that missionaries have left behind and how messy it was. And lucky me that I just happened to be the Elder that had to recieve the full wrath of the this very sparky middle aged women. The land lord arrived, at like 9 in the morning while we were studying and she told us that she wanted to look at her house and that she had recieved permission from President Baldwin. So we told her it was all good, the only thing was that we had to wait outside because we cant be inside a house with a women without a man present. So we went outside and she went in, and not very long after we heard her reaction. Needless to say she yelled at us alot, and she also yelled at president baldwin. And as a result president baldwin told us that we have one month to find a new house to live in. Darn, the day after I unpacked all of my stuff I learn that I have to pack it all up again. Its ok I guess.

We have a very small pool of investigadors in this area, we probably only have about 5. And last change they only found 8 new investigadors. Those stats are not very good at all. Me and my companion are going to work really hard to get this ward up and running even more. This ward is really awesome, our bishop is really good as well. What we have been doing is walking around getting to know all 200 less active members and contacting there neighboors. We have found alot of people who are now dead, gone, or who are now catholic. So our bishop is really happy that we are helpinng him pruify the ward list. Huhhhhh, well, everything is all good here in Peronia, my legs are tired from climbing up and down stairs all day but other than that I am fine. I love you guys and I cant wait to hear from you next week.

Love Elder West