I’m still in Camden

A missionary from Wetumpka, I know where that is. If he says he’s from a small town it could very well be a VERY small town haha. I’m happy to hear that. There’s a kid here named J.P., he’s going to Brazil here in the next little bit so that’s super cool. He’s super excited, little does he know with all the excitement comes about twice as much disappointment ;). This week was a good week, but it was a really hard week... again. I’ve had to go to bed at about 9:40 to get the sleep I need or I’m just tired and grumpy, and you can’t be a missionary and grumpy... it just doesn’t work. But we’re moving along. At the start of the week we got rained in/had p-day. Also it’s been raining cats and dogs down here let me tell ya. I took a few videos of it to send y'all, the lightening blew up a power box down the road and all of Camden had no power for about 5-7 hours. So it’s been hard to get out and do anything when it’s like that but we just stay in the stores and talk with everyone or eat something for lunch/dinner. 

I was just wondering if I could get something from y'all mom and dad. There’s an action bible that’s super cool, it’s like black cover with some pictures and looks like a comic book. It’s super great and I was just wondering if I could get one. They’re super nice and I just found out that I’m going to be in Camden for another 6 weeks so I was just hoping you could send one right here. I and Elder Anderson are staying together for another 6 weeks. We’re starting to work a little bit better together. We’re like super similar, but like deep down were like 70% different. It’s really strange. Like we get along good but when it comes down to like things that bug each other and like, making changes to what we normally do is really hard. 

Elder Anderson started in the drug capital of Alabama so he’s worked a lot with the black ghetto, and projects, and is kind of turned off with working with them. One of the reasons is that when you’re talking with people, they don’t really understand you or really listen. They just kind of let you in, let you talk, and then have you leave, so no one really goes anywhere. Black people like I don’t think ever feel awkward, so sometimes you ask them a question and they don’t want to answer. For example, “Hey we’re Christian missionaries, could we share a quick message about our savior?” And they just look at the ground and won’t say anything, and they can do this as long as they need to. (Trust me) so you kind of have to play it out as it happens. 

Yesterday, we were out store contacting and I had recognized this girl we had met a few days ago named L. And she was just sitting in the front seat of a car. so we were like "HEY What’s up!' and she was like "not much", so we went on to ask her if there was a good time this week we could stop by, and she kind of shrugs and says "you’re going to ask the people I live with and rolls down the back window. and these windows are BLACK, just so ya know, SUPER TINTED, and THERE’S LIKE 10 PEOPLE in this car, all just kind of look up at me and then down to the floor of the car or out the other window. So I’m just like "HEY......... .. . Could we stop by sometime this week? And NO ONE SAYS ANYTHING. They all just sit there and look away from me and kind of start laughing at each other. IT WAS THE WORST. I didn’t want to stand there super weird like so after a minute or so, I was just like “alright then well stop by sometime next week alright?” And no one says anything..... 

It’s the worst haha. And super scary, because you don’t know what all everyone is thinking because no one will look over at you or anything. So that’s one thing that happened, and kind of why we haven’t really gone to the black part of town, but like 80% of the town is black so we have to go in.... we’ll see what all goes on this transfer, but if we don’t, it’s going to be a LONG 6 weeks. But today was really fun also, this morning we go down to the nursing home to sing with the old lady's and such. Today the nurse that plays the piano and the one that sings didn’t show up because of the rain. So me and Elder Anderson tried to run it. But we don’t play the piano at all, and all the hymns are the Baptist hymns, so we more of less just yelled out random hymns and then tried to sing really really off key and such. It was great haha. But all the old lady's loved it so it was a lot of fun. 

The last few weeks I’ve been getting really into my studies and have really grown to love my studies. I’ve been reading all about Mosiah in the Book of Mormon and I’m in Mathew in the Bible. They’re just sooooo good. Most of the time they’re talking about, just like be a good person love everyone, serve everyone. It’s just been really good to read about and like just strengthen my testimony of what we’re doing is the right thing and that it’s all going to work out. I’ve really been trying to understand the Book of Mormon as best as I can and so I can teach it super well. But it’s just been really good to read them. Jesus is just the best person ever, like he’s just so good to read about. He’s amazing I’m so happy we get to read about him. I just wish we had more. I wish I could talk with him face to face, feel him. Be with him, and learn from him. It’s no wonder everyone down here loves him. You just got to read the New Testament and I don’t know why anyone would not want to believe in him. He’s just so good, he’s our savoir and we know it. I know it. He’s God’s son sent to show us the way and be our guide. hmmmmmm just makes me smile thinking about him. 

But anyway, I’ll get off my soap box. I’m in Camden for the next few weeks. Still with Elder Anderson, he’s the best, and I’m still alive for the most part. 

LOVE YOU GUYS LOTS 

Elder Aldana

P.S. I totally forgot about Friday when we were in Selma. But Friday we were in Selma for a district meeting and after it we were thinking about having our last district B.B.Q. but no one had any money, so we decided to just play some street ball with the black kids, it was SOOO MUCH FUN. We haven’t been able to play anything down here, just because there’s no one down here, but up there we started playing and about 40 minutes latter there’s was about 20 of us playing. It’s crazy. But that’s the most of it. Selma is not super racist, there’s just no white people.