Long Beach - Straight into Compton

Long Beach - Straight into Compton

So, I have been in the field for almost a whole week now. It seems crazy. My new companion is Elder Oniki. He is from West Jordan. He is pretty cool. We are in Compton. I thought it would be sketchier here, but it isn't too bad, and most of the people are pretty nice to missionaries. It feels really nice to just be able to go around and talk to people, because it has been all I could think about for the last nine weeks. I have been enjoying teaching, we are always working. I always kind of wondered what missionaries do with all their time because it doesn't seem like much is happening from a members point of view. So much time goes into talking to people and meeting with less actives or recent converts.

So it ends up that I have to drive here. My companion lost his driver’s license, so I had to get driving privileges on the first day. About half of the missionaries in our mission drive and the other half bike. They set that up so the people with cars can pick up the bike missionaries to take them to district meetings and things of that nature. It felt really weird to drive after being confined to the same square 1/2 mile for nine weeks. I am not sure how much I like driving here, everyone drives really fast and recklessly; also U turns are legal; that's weird.

We are actually the missionaries over two wards, the YSA here and the Tongan ward. Church yesterday was interesting because everyone was speaking Tongan the whole time and I didn't really understand anything from it. It was like the first day in the MTC all over again. My Companion is learning little bits of Tongan in our language study time.

My Thai seems to becoming along just fine. I was really worried but it seems I can still speak just fine. This morning I taught like a thirty minute lesson to Elder Oniki in Thai, he just nodded for the whole thing. I was surprised I still remembered all the words I wanted to use. Hopefully, I will get lots of time to practice and keep it up.

The weather here is warm enough for my Thailand attire, for the most part. Our house gets really cold because it doesn't have any heat, but I can just wrap up in a blanket when I am there. 

I am really enjoying being out in the field. It seems weird that I will be here for such a short time and that I probably won’t see any of my fellow missionaries here, after I go to Thailand.

I am excited for Christmas on Friday. The Christmas season is a really nice time to talk to people and it seems like a lot more people want to hear more at more this time of year. I really can’t compare to any other time of year but it seems like lots of people are willing to talk, even if it is just for a few seconds, about the real meaning of Christmas.

Well, hope everything is still going well,

Elder Cheney

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