You've Got Questions, I've Got Answers

So today I got an email from Mom asking me a few questions, which I'll answer and talk a little bit about the week through it.

Is Carbondale part of your zone?

Yes it is, we actually have our district leader Elder Erni over there who is one of the better spanish missionaries and will probably replace me in a few transfers as a spanish zone leader. I was able to go on exchanges with the Elders there this last week, and had a really good time helping them and teaching some people that I used to work with! It was a little bit wierd being back in the area as a missionary, but we got several more people for the teaching pool from my visit. It was really neat because the Lord really set up the day for us and we just happened to run into 3 families that I'd known before that we'd never taught but it worked out so they'll be taking the lessons now! I was really excited about it, I felt like I was able to contribute to their work because of my experience there.

What cities does your zone cover?

The zone covers basically the whole northwestern quarter of Colorado, it's the biggest zone in the mission and most of it is just out in the middle of nowhere.The major cities we cover are all really small, we've got Eagle on the east (close to Vail), then Glenwood to Aspen, then Rifle and Parachute to the west, and up north we cover from Meeker to Craig to Rangely, and even cover small Baggs Wyoming which only has a couple hundred people in it! It makes you wonder about overpopulation when you go on exchanges with the Meeker Elders and see a total of 5 houses on a 40 mile drive on county roads. :) There's almost nothing in most of the zone, all of the missionaries have cars becuase things are so spread out and we drive more than anyone else in the mission. I love it though, because it's so beautiful, it's the middle of the Rocky mountains and it's amazing no matter where you drive in the zone.

Is your companion a Spanish elder too or not?

Elder Hill is an English missionary, from the Central Valley of California. He's really patient though and endures the lessons that I teach to our spanish investigators, we also are going from Parachute to New Castle (about 60 miles apart along I-70) teaching the spanish people because I'm the only spanish missionary in the area. It's pretty cool for me, we've got some good people progressing, but I feel bad for my companion who has to do a lot of listening.

Are you able to speak Spanish at all?

I don't speak spanish too much, but in the 3-4 lessons I teach in spanish each week I get a pretty good concentrated dose, I was worried a little that it would affect my spanish to have to serve in an english area, but fortunately the Lord's prepared me and is blessing me, I'm still just as fluent when I need to use it.

Do you study the language in the morning?

I'm teaching Elder Hill spanish in the mornings for Language Study, when we get the chance. Our things we have to do as zone leaders often get in the way, but it's alright because speaking is really the best study for me at this point.


I love you all.

Love,
Elder Damon Janis