Culture Shock

Well im finally back on my mission.... only im about two hours from my house and in the same area code but thats all good. My new companions name is Elder Lee. He is a pretty cool guy a lot like my trainer, being that he is ridiculously tall. Only he's American and not British so I'm still not sure if thats a plus or not. Our trailer we live in is right behind the church and so we are kind of like the custodians as well.

The reservation is a bit of a different mission I must admit. It's even way different from the Albuquerque, New Mexico mission. We get a truck to drive around but pretty much everyone lives about a mile from their neighbors so it is kinda hard to do any proselyting. We do have a lot of in active members.... about 300 to be exact. I guess about 30 years ago there was a placement program for Navajos that were members that they would get their schooling paid for. So a ton of Navajos got baptized and even moved to Utah to do their schooling but came back and most are now inactive so we go around talking with them most the time. It's kinda strange though cause our days can be extremely short around here. One day we were in by 6 and had to stay home cause it was way dark and people kept telling us not to bother Navajos after dark. They say they are going to sleep but a lot were extremely drunk that talk to us after dark.

On Saturday we got to go into Gallup to the flea market and we have a booth set up there were we talk to people that come up to look at the free stuff we are giving away. It was pretty cool to meet some people there who weren't afraid to come up and talk to us and ask us legitimate questions they had. On Sunday we only had sacrament meeting a very short one at that. The heat wasn't working in the building and it was about 40 degrees inside so people didn't want to stay long. It was nice to meet the members who all seemed to be very active and energetic about church... just not a cold church. The "ward" is actually smaller than the branch I was in, in Germany. There were only about 20 members there about 4 less actives and 3 non-members. I am a little sad that we can't just go around like we could in Germany and talk to people since we have to drive an we are only given so many miles a transfer by the mission office. Really limits what all we can do but we still try and get around.

Everyone out here owns a dog. Most people own multiple dogs. I havn't seen a mean dog yet though. They are extremely scared of people, but not of our truck. They play this weird game when we are going down the road they get in front of our truck and just start running like we're chasing them. We are usually going about 30-40 miles an hour and don't slow down for them when they do that. It sounds kinda mean but if we went slow everytime a dog got in front of our car we wouldn't get anywhere. One day one is going to get hit and I'm going to feel bad but until that time all I can think is "Man these dogs are so stupid".

Mom, thanks for sending me my PMG in German and the other one. I wasn't sure where they were and i was wondering so thanks. About your question do I have enough money, I should be fine I pretty much still have that money that you gave me I just used to it by food for the trip over here. I can't really think of anything I want or need.

I had always thought that because I was serving a mission in Switzerland I wouldn't really ever see poverty but out here it is extremely prevelent. Most houses look like forts made out of trash like something you'd see in a zombie movie or something. Most people just have stoves in the middle of their houses that they have to throw coal and fire into and their dogs are always starving. It feels weird to pet a dog out here cause you can usually feel their ribs. It is quite a culture shock but Im glad to be out here and to be able to share the message of Jesus Christ with these people. Many of them are extremely thankful for even just a short message and a prayer. We try to offer as much service as possible but the Navajo's don't like to ask service of us since they think of us as holy men.

Well it's about time for me to go. Good luck to everyone.

Love, Elder Hargett

Mom's Note: We received a copy of Elder Hargett's travel plans to return to Zurich. He will fly from Albuquerque on February 16th and meet up with the new missionaries from the MTC in Atlanta. We are happy he will not be flying totally alone all the way. We are hoping that President Anderson of the ABQ mission will allow us to either take him to the airport or go there and say farwell. I've posted the mailing address for him for letters - packages can go to the same address in Yatahey.