The Man with the Razor

Hey Everybody!
Thanks for all your support this week! Its been a challenge, but I think in the end it will all pay off!
Mom, I know exactly how those missionaries feel. We had a great investigator in El Parque that went loved hearing us and was so ready to get baptized, but her machoistic husband didnt want any part of it, and it began causing a real problem in their relationship. As much as we wanted to keep coming over and teaching her, we couldnt risk the fragilility of their marriage and so we stopped teaching her. Sometimes the Lord puts us in a position to open doors, even though we may not be there to see them walk through it. But yeah it was really hard, Im not gonna lie.
Today I wanted to share an experience I had yesterday that made a big impression on me. We had a sector slam in El Castillo yesterday. El Castillo is an area in our zone and a sector slam is where all the missionaries go and are set loose in one area, for those who didnt know.. So anyway, we got sent to this area. It is known to be one of the poorer areas in the mission. I didnt know how poor it was because any time I went on divisions there for a day, it was light out.
Growing up in church, every little boy has the misconception that they will go to some unknown country, hacking away jungle brush, strangling snakes with your bare hands, and baptizing people by the thousands. When I first got into the mission, I embarassedly had that vision. I know now differently. However, going into Castillo was one of those experiences that makes you feel like one of "those" missionaries. Everyone was outside. All the kids were playing soccer with a worn down ball, yelling things at us. People congregated around firepits that they lit out in the dirt streets. Okay, technically they are paved, but I dont think anyone from municipal has been over for more than a century. The houses are built by the residents, I suppose. All of the houses look different, because they are all made of an assortment of materials. There are about five billion churches, and all of them have been converted into night clubs, if they only played songs saying how awesome Jesus was. They really dont understand what the spirit is. But thats a different email. Why I am describing this is because while we were there we met the man with the razor. He stopped us in the streets, calling to us in English. This was not uncommon. Almost everyone tried to talk to us in English. But this man was different. He began asking us questions ABOUT english, not just yelling curses. "How do you pronounce apple?" He would ask. We patiently explained the basic principles of English and tried to find out what he really was looking for. But there was one thing that really struck me. At the end of our strange conversation in the streets of El Castillo, he asked us how to say God Bless You. "G- God?" he said in a slow stammering tone, as if he didnt even know what the word was. I honestly dont know what it was in that moment that srtuck me, but somehow the way he said it reminded me of how many people dont even know wbout God or about his plan for us. I guess it helped to strengthen my determination to spread the word God to all those "men with razors". I know that god blesses everyone of us, no matter how badly we abuse the privilage of this life. He is always ready to accept a sincere prayer for repentance and a broken heart. Things are not always as simple as "sorry" or "Ill try not to do it again", but the answer is always the same.
Thanks for everything guys! Mom, dont worry, ill find some wool socks here.
Con Amor,
Elder Westover