There are two weird churches here in Modesto: the House and Shelter Cove. The House is this huge compound with a gym, daycare, sports fields, and all sorts of memberships you can buy. The other day at Sonic, six of us missionaries were sitting around a table when a white guy with his shirt off and lots of tattoos (VERY common here in Modesto) came up and asked for a few dollars. Before we could say anything he said, "I'm getting out of here, that crazy lady is coming." Sure enough, here she comes! "I'm black and I'm Mormon! OOPS! They told me I couldn't! OOPS!" she says as she bounces in a circle around the table, eyes blazing, "They all got the disease because they didn't wipe their ears! OOPS! They got it through the telephones! OOPS!" Then a lady from Sonic came out and chased her off. All I could think of was "Welcome to Modesto!" A large majority of the population is hispanic or black, and the rest is white-trash. Turns out, Modesto is the single largest producer of almonds in the world! Almond trees are everywhere. And if you check the label on produce, odds are that it says Modesto. Everyone here drives cars nicer than their homes. I thought I saw a lot of tattoos until I came to Modesto. Because my companion Elder Shepard has a hurt leg, we get to drive a car! It's pretty nice not having to bike everywhere, even if it's harder to street contact. We cover two wards! The 8th and 10th. We have a cell phone for each. Unfortunately, we are both new to the area so it has been extremely hard getting to know everyone and trying to get started on the work. Well there's a bit about Modesto! Ultimately, the people are awesome and the missionaries here are super loving. Like, we say 'love ya' on the phone all the time and I have never hugged so many people of the same gender. Kinda weird. Shoot me some questions if you have any!
-Elder Hawkes
No comments:
Post a Comment