Week 70

     Hey Mom! That's super exciting to hear that you guys are closing on the house! You may be almost completely moved in by the time I come home! Haha just teasing. I hope you guys like the new house as much as you've talked about. Also that Nate can learn to love it haha. I sent an email to the Stalkers, that's super weird that they are moving after Aaron got tenure! I'm sure they prayed and fasted about it a ton. I wish they'd move down here and teach the people how to be leaders.

     With the camera, yeah I have a nikon coolpix, it's not like the worst camera ever, just that unless you hold it super still the picture is blurry. I don't really know any good cameras, I can't really look it up haha I'll ask some missionaries about theirs and tell you about em. 

    It was so hot the other day, we did a blitz in the sister's area. A blitz is where all the missionaries in the zone work in one area for a few hours. So they make plans for each companionship and we help em out a little bit. It was pretty hot that day and Gonzalez and I had to bike pretty far to get to the area in which we were working. And we were sweating a ton! haha and I told you about how much Gonzo sweats, a lottttt. So we knocked on this door and a women opened and the first thing she said was, "Oh wow, you guys are really sweaty." With this kind of disgusted look on her face, needless to say it was a wealthier part of town. So she had her daughter grab like 4 water bottles and gave them to us. We just laughed and were like, "well yeah we're biking around in the hot sun" And so we talked with her and started teaching the restoration a little and everything and when Gonzalez was talking about the BOM she just cut him off and asked if he'd like a towel or something, and then went and got him one. It was so funny, I dont think she listened to him at all, probably just in her mind was like, "oh my gosh he is so sweaty".  Then we went back to our apartment and for some reason I decided to switch my scriptures that I study with with a few copies of the BOM in spanish and english. I took em out and found them super ruined!! I sweat through my backpack and about an inch into the BOM and it has terrible water damage now and the edges are all gray! Haha it was so gross. So I got a new one and wrapped it in a towel. 

     The mission is so fun, idk why but it is kind of fun to suffer sometimes. Whenever it is scorching hot and we are just sweating through our clothes, it's just funny, cause there is nothing else you can do about it. Or when you're biking and we get a flash flood, you just get super soaked, and it's fun. I think it's to help us learn that we can have a good attitude in any situation. And it's true, happiness is a choice, just make the decision. 

     I love you guys a ton, thanks for emailing me, take care. ;)

10 minute break 

Socks

Week 69

      Haha that's awesome, Elliot seems like such a diva and she's only three! Nathan is going to have such a fun time when she is older! So it's almost in Northern Maine? Oh no, haha, that means we are crazy weird inbred lumberjacks right? I remember you and dad talking trash about Northern Maine and now look! Haha, that's pretty funny. Nate emailed me! He asked me some questions and it was actually pretty fun to answer them, here I'll put em in here too.

     Our area is doing pretty well, the only thing is kind of a normal thing, people are lazy. Not lots of people want to work for things, it's hard to get them to understand the Gospel. Especially the concept of authority! I like using the story of like, Imagine you're driving in your car and you hear sirens behind you and you look behind you and the ice cream truck has a light on the top and he's trying to pull you over, would you pull over? No, right? Because he doesn't have the "authority" to do so. Now imagine the same situation but with a cop, then you would pull over. It's the same with the authority of God in ordinances like baptism, we have to have the authority in order to perform them. But people never understand, who knows..

    My studies are going really well, I am trying to get to know the scriptures more, recently I've noticed more how I like when good teachers quote, or share scriptures often to give authority and power to their teachings, so I'm trying to memorize, or at least know the scriptures well enough, so that I can share more scriptures in lessons. Before I would share more scripture stories and relate it to their lives, which I still like, but little doctrinal scriptures are cool too. I don't know if that really even makes sense.. But yeah. And then I'm reading the book mom sent me called "The Inevitable Apostacy" It's super cool and I'm learning a lot about why Christ's church was lost, it's super interesting.

     Grossest food is menudo. It's nasty, it is the intestines of a cow. It's pretty hard to clean out and often times makes you feel like you're eating poop. And it's really chewy and hard to swallow, like you can't bite through it with your teeth, once I almost choked and died lol. But I just eat it with lots of chile and tortillas and fight through it.

   Super good to hear from you guys even though we just talked. I got a haircut today, my hair went all the way down to the end of my nose! And my nose is like 3ft long so, haha just kidding. Now it's a lot shorter but someone just told me it looks the same, so that's... good? It didn't look that long but it was, here's a pic of me being cool. Then idk if you can tell how much Gonzalez sweats but oh man, it's so funny. Then, I sweat through my backpack the other day, it was only like 103 though, people say it gets like 115, so that'll be fun. 

       Glad to hear you guys are doing well! I love you a ton, have a great week!

Week 68

    It was great talking with you guys too! It was good to actually talk with you guys, it reminds me of when we used to just sit in your guys' room and talk before bed, that was cool. Well not much has happened since yesterday as you could imagine haha. 

    Well so remember that I talked about how the ward had a mother's day dinner on Friday? And the little kids did the whip/nene dance? So they gave us all the leftover food from it, and so I'm not buying food this week, the members here give us a ton of food! It's awesome. You know that nene in spanish means like toddler? So I think that song is super funny cause I just think of little kids dancing, and it is kind of how they dance sometimes. 

       Everything is going pretty well, it's feeling a little weird now that our mission president is almost finished his mission. Pres Holland when he was here told us to start praying for the new mission president and his wife. Apparently they get kind of nervous before coming out? Who knew, right? I'm sure they'll be great, he is only like 37 so he must be a fireball. I'm looking forward to meeting him, also he is from Honduras, so he probably has awesome spanish.

      Well that's all I can think of for now, thanks again for speaking with me yesterday! Have a great week, I love you!

Week 67

   Haha yeah the other day we went out with Hermano Gutman to visit some people. Unfortunately, nobody answered the door! We tried visiting like 15 people, but nobody was home, and it was like 5pm. Idk, it was strange. But it was fun, he's a great guy, their family feeds the missionaries in the branch on Sundays. And yeah, Elder Gonzalez sweats more than anyone I've ever met! It's so funny. Like at least twice a day we'll be talking with someone in the doorway and they'll get this suprized look on their face and say, "Oh wow, do you guys need some water?". And I think it is the funniest thing. He has like beads of sweat on his face after like 10mins of being outside. It's useful I guess, we get in more houses because of it. 

    The work is pretty interesting here, lots of people lately have.. not like rejected us, but they just say they're not interested. Like a lot more than usual, so the other day we figured we'd try a different approach, we sang some hymns to people. So we'd walk up to them if they were outside or if it was a referral we'd contact it and ask them how their day is going and everything and ask if we could sing them a song. Even then, lots of people said no! I would reply, "just a quick song, it'll only take like a minute?" And they'd tell us that they already have a church and they don't want to hear anything about other beliefs. It was really strange! Some people liked it of course and a few invited us back, it was just really strange that someone would reject a little song. But I guess it helps us to know that they're not prepared to hear the gospel. Haha it is super interesting, we had a bunch of kids following us around when we were singing to people though, they were nice :P. 

    Laredo is pretty different, the weather is a lot dryer, and hotter. What a blessing that I'm here in the Summer. We have some awesome investigators, it's just really hard to keep in contact. I don't really know why people have phones down here or why they're always on them because they never answer their phone! It's crazy. Laredo is really great though, I am having lots of fun and growing a lot. Even though I feel that we haven't had lots of time for spanish studies, my spanish has improved, maybe not grammatically, but I can speak better. 

    The thing we're working on right now is having more animo in our zone. I don't know why or what it is but we just dont seem to have a lot of energy. I'm trying to help, I feel that I naturally have lots of energy. Who knows, I guess I'm just getting more accustomed to how things are here. 

    I've been thinking more and more about getting a new suit, Idk why but I really want to get a new suit. "Duncan we told you have to use the one we bought for you before your mission because it was expensive!" Yeah I know, and there's nothing wrong with the one I have, I just want a different color. Tons of missionaries find really cheap suits here that are really nice. One of the assistants has an awesome one that is like almost a denim color, and its an express and he got it all for like 175. But then thats just me liking to buy expensive stuff, you know how I am haha. 

     We were thinking of doing the mother's day call around 6 or 7 that night. So probably just plan on that night, I'm not sure if they'll let us shoot you a quick email the day before to make sure or anything, but let me know if that works for you. 

      I hope you guys have a great week and I'll see you soon! I love you!

Week 66

  Hey mom! Yeah the Gutman's are great. They had all the missionaries in the branch come over and also the zone leaders. We have 3 sets of missionaries in the branch! It's crazy! It's a small branch, not many people attend, I think we had like 40ish this week. And then we all attend the YSA branch afterwards as well, it's not mandatory, but we can if we want / have an investigator. Laredo is struggling quite a lot with members of the church. We have plenty of less active families though. We are trying to work on it. I like to just talk to people about where they are in life at the moment and help them realize what could change, it seems not a lot of missionaries do that here.

    Guess what, ELDER HOLLAND CAME TO OUR MISSION YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!! It was soooo cooolll!! He is hilarious. Like honestly I laughed so hard for like the first 10 minutes he spoke. I think it was because we were all so nervous, and when he said anything remotely funny, we all died. Guess what, I'm for sure worthy, haha he shook everyones hand when we walked in and had us say our name and where we're from, and he said that when he does so, he looks into our eyes and can see if we are worthy to be out. He said that is how they do interviews as apostles. It was terrifying haha, I kept thinking to myself, "Is there anything I need to repent of?" 

    He was very impressed with our mission, he said that most of the missions he visits he has to talk about obedience and the basics but he talked with us about the spirit and the importance of it and how we can better use it. It was crazy how incredibly strong the spirit was in that room, full of missionaries, a former mission president and his wife, our current mission president and his wife, a General Seventy and a member of the twelve. Lindsey Robins also came and spoke. 

      It was mind blowing, not that they gave us the key to life or anything, he just had such animo about the gospel and how important missions are. I love that man, he is awesome. 

      My new companion is Elder Gonzalez, he is on his 5th transfer. But no, he is not a native spanish speaker. His mom is Peruvian so he understands pretty much everything but not a perfect speaker. He does have good spanish for how old he is in the mission. He is super cool, I was worried that I was going to get a weird companion but I didnt, he did though.

    Laredo is pretty hot, but all of Southern Texas is, apparently it gets up towards 115 or so sometimes, should be an interesting summer. I'll drink plenty of water, cant be turning into Samson, getting dehydrated and almost dying in the battlefield.

    I love you a ton and hope you guys continue to have fun and keep busy, you're good at staying busy :). I will talk with you guys soon for mothers day!

Week 65

Hey Mom!

       Yeah so we got transfers today! Guess what!?! I'm leaving :(((( It's super sad, I have such a good relationship with the members here and I am going to miss so much this transfer. First off, we are having a branch party next week, for the 1 year anniversary of the branch, then Cyndi's little sister is going to have her Quincinera. Not sure if you guys know what that is, it's basically a huge party that mexicans throw for their daughters when they turn 15. Apparently her family put in like $20,000 into the party. Then we are going to skype home for mother's day this transfer! Wooo! I just really wanted to meet Elder Tomasi's family. Then I am going to miss tie digging on Mondays and basketball with the two zones on Saturday. 

       But I guess that's what the Lord wants for me, I am sure that the next area will be just as exciting. I think he knew that I'd miss getting new ties so he blessed us today with a ton. We got 42 ties for free, then we got about 200lbs for $10. Which we had to beg the lady to let us pay her just a little bit for them. It was pretty dope. We sorted through all of them and here is a picture of them when we started choosing who got which tie.

       The area is doing pretty well, we have a few families we are working with, everytime we talk with them it seems they have another problem with a commandment that we have yet to bring up, they'll offer us tea, and then introduce us to their children and their girlfriend. Then offer to have us over for dinner Sunday night. Super sweet people, it's just amazing the difference the Gospel makes in people's lives.

        The other Elders have an investigator who's name is Maria, like almost all women here. Anyway she is like 79 and has dementia. They were teaching her and she'd progress really well, accept the BOM and Joseph Smith but then doesn't understand the authority to baptize. So we'd explain it and she'd understand and then accept to be baptized, only to forget that lesson the next day. It became a problem when she started becoming irritated that we kept "bothering" her about it, even though in the end, it turned out being what she wanted. So they had to drop her as an investigator, because she just can't progress with her mind not being in the right state.

     Even though I'm sad and a little nervous like always to go to a new area, I'm excited to see what else there is for me to learn elsewhere. Thanks so much for your continued support and I hope you guys have a great week! I love you! 

Week 64

Hi Mom!

   This week has been pretty good. Lots of thinking and correction. Recently the mission hasn't been doing super well like I've said in the past emails. So the question all our leaders have been asking us is, "Why do you do the things you do?" So almost every time I do anything I'm basically doing it selfishly. It has been super eye opening, to see that here we are on a mission to serve the Lord and forget ourselves in the work and almost everything we do sometimes is for ourselves. It is super hard to make sure that you are focusing on other people and not yourself. It's like a constant battle in my mind, "why am I doing this?", "is it really for someone else or am I just justifying?". Also doing things in the correct priority. There is always a good, better and best situation and lots of times I want to do something good, but it's not the best thing that I could be doing.

      Elder Tomasi and I are doing really well, he is a super pure missionary and has a great heart. Something that I've noticed a lot in myself is how easy it is to talk about others. We have lots of.. different people down here and they do.. strange things. So it is fun to talk about the things that we have experienced in our missions and the interesting people we've met, but it often leads to joking and teasing. So I need to be more careful about what I say and from the start, what I think. Every action starts in the mind.

      Transfers are this upcoming week. Super fast! I think that transfers are only becoming shorter and shorter. I am expecting someone to leave because Elder Tomasi has only ever stayed with a companion for more than one transfer once. So the odds are that at least one of us will leave.

     I spoke with an older couple the other day at a baptism that the ward had, and they were from Guatemala. So I told them that I had a companion from Guatemala, Elder Juarez. I couldn't remember exactly where in Guatemala he is from though. It was pretty cool, and then she asked me where I learned to speak spanish, and I said here. And she said wow, and you speak so fast! I did a little celebration dance in my mind and thanked her. it was nice to hear, especially because it has been something I've been thinking about. Lots of missionaries here never really learn to speak fluent spanish, and people don't really like it when we speak poorly. It is interesting the amount of respect is lost when you can't communicate very well. 

    We had a really cool experience, we recieved a referral from the other elders that serve in the spanish ward, and so we went to go find it and the address was wrong. So we asked them for directions and what the house looked like and it didn't really make sense and so we just decided to knock the door we thought it'd be. Turned out to be the wrong door but we talked to a guy and he was really cool. He said he had been going through a hard time and he'd love to come to church with us the next day.(it being Saturday) So we gave him directions and when it started and he said he'd be there. Now I'm not sure about other missions, but lots of people say, "Oh yeah I'll be there for sure, you've got my word." and then they never show up. So I didn't really think much of it. Then yesterday in church, in sacrament meeting, none of our investigators had shown up that said they would, so we were kind of disappointed. Then my companion went with another missionary to go find something and another Elder and I were out in the foyer. Then while we were sitting out there, our investigator that we'd talked with at his door the previous day walked in with his daughter! He apologized for being late and promised he'd be on time the next week. So we took his daughter to her class and we went to Gospel Principles. We learned about the Atonement, perfect for a man with a repentant heart. He participated a lot and added to the lesson and read several pages from the book. Then in Priesthood we talked about Receiving Revelation through Modern Day Prophets. Which we explained, he accepted, and again participated a lot. It was mind blowing. He was completely comfortable and he knew nobody, and he had lots of people come up and introduce themselves after both classes. It was super great. I can see him in the baptismal font. I can just feel his joy that day when he comes closer to his Saviour. 

      Then today I needed a haircut and we were told about a place where college students get to practice cutting hair and they dont charge more than a few dollars. So I went with another elder and we got our hair cut. My barber had only cut hair for a few months and was pretty nervous about giving me a taper. It took about an hour and a half and the sides of my head are very short, like a 1 and the top is just as long, I look a little like a gangster. but it'll grow back. It was a good learning experience for both of us, will I go back? I'm not too sure..

     Thanks for keeping me updated with everything with the house and everybody. Glad you're all doing well. I love you muchisimo y ojala que tenga un buen dia! 

Week 63

   Hey mom! This week was really great. Mostly because of General Conference. This one was probably my favorite, but I think we all say that ever year, but for what it's worth, this one was my favorite. I really liked Kevin R Duncan's talk about Forgiveness, I forgot to bring my notes on it to the college but, it really got me. I get jacked by the spirit about 1 min into the talk. "Jacked" means like corrected or scolded, its just something that the missionaries say here. Anyway, it started and I thought to myself, "wow I know lots of people that this talk could help because they never forgive anybody." And then the spirit reminded me of my own imperfections and how wrong that thought was. I kind of just laughed to myself and thought, "Got me!". Pretty humbling for us all.

   I loved Elder Ballard's talk probably most of all, it really hit me of how important it is to have great communication in the family. It is easy to see, especially down here in the Valley, how horrible the world is at family unity. And also important to note how unity is used everyday in missionary work between companions and the Holy Spirit. It got me a little trunky and gave me a feeling of inadequacy but that's something I can work on and think about as we work harder to serve the people here. I've never had a problem with a companion but sometimes I feel that we are not best friends.

   I am still waiting for the conference when they announce the temple in Edinburg, Texas. The church already has land for it, but we lack the Melquisedec priesthood holders. I'm not sure how you spell that in English but that is what it is in Spanish haha. I noticed how much emphasis was put on the importance of temple assistance as well. How there we make covenants that will help to give us the tools needed in this life and especially the life after. I feel a little strange because I was only able to attend the temple once, while most of the missionaries were able to attend multiple times while in the MTC but the CCM was under refurbishing while I was there. So it's hard for me to remember exactly what happened, which again, shows me the importance of regular attendance. I just realized that I said assistance, I don't think that makes sense in English, the verb to attend in spanish is asistir. Anyway, super cool that we have 150 temples around the globe.

    Glad to hear that everyone is doing well and that you haven't lost hope for finding your dream house. Don't worry, you'll end up moving 8 times afterwards anwyays. haha, just kidding. I love you a ton, thanks for keeping in touch! have a great week!

Week 62

    Happy Easter! Hope your Easter was super fun! 

   Mine was pretty cool. We had some investigators in church and there was a fast and testimony meeting. Nobody said anything crazy or apostate! What an Easter blessing that is! Then we went to a members house and waited for food for an hour but then we ate and the food was really good and then we had like kind of an Easter egg hunt? So down here they do Easter egg hunts a little bit differently. They crack open eggs on the very end, dump out all the stuff inside, and put confetti and flour and whatever they want inside and then put tissue paper over the hole and then they smash them on each other. They're called cascarones. It's super fun. So everyone runs around and collects as many eggs as they can in their basket and when all of them are gathered, we go to war. It's pretty messy but it's super fun, but takes lots of preparation. Then we went to another member's house, Cyndi's and ate again and had a water fight with the kids while the neighbors played questionable music. There were like 12 missionaries there, we probably looked like weirdos to everyone else in her apartment complex.

    Elder Tomasi and I are doing really well, we sing to lots of people with his Ukelele. I don't really mind it, I wish I was a better singer but it brings the spirit really strong into the home wherever we are so I like it. I feel that I am learning a lot from this transfer but I don't really know how to explain it. I feel that God definitively put me in this area so that I could be more patient with people and also to love them more. Almost everybody that we talk with and some of the members say strange things and I always want to just correct them and tell them they are wrong but then Elder Tomasi asks them questions about what they think and figures out why they do certain things so that he can really help them. It's a great opportunity.

    Our mission as a whole is doing very poorly, the last two months we haven't even gotten close to our mission goal. This month we hit 30/85 baptisms. That is awful, probably the worst that we've done on my whole mission. I don't know why we are doing so bad, we have good missionaries and leaders but I don't think that our hearts are in the work. As a mission we are working on our love for the people and teaching quality because apparently it is a large problem. 

   Not much other than that, we found some new ties this morning but I don't think you really care about that haha. Have a great week! I hope you're as excited for General Conference as I am! I love you!

Week 61

       Hey Mom! This week was really good. Lots of fun and changes. Today especially was a little weird. We had a zone conference on Tuesday, we are putting a huge emphasis on member work, in fact we are pretty much starting to do only member work. Our zone leaders told us that we are no longer able to knock on doors unless they were a referral from a member. So referrals from nonmembers and tracting and talking to people in the street, stuff like that, we are not to do that this week. They said that they want to make it a permanent change. So that's pretty different, on Sunday we filled as much of our schedule as we could with member visits. 

       Also, this Sunday we had a baptism! Cassandra was finally baptized! She turned 18 on Wednesday, and she was baptized. It was pretty cool, there was also another young man baptized, his family just got reactivated in the church and he had turned 8 a little while ago so he was baptized. We had a ton of the branch there supporting them and it was really great, and the young women sang for the opening song. And I spoke on the Holy Ghost, which felt like a sacrament talk because of all the people came to watch. Then when it was time to do the ordinance, we opened the doors and the font had drained almost completely. Super awkward and bad for everyone. So we filled the font for another 15mins while everyone sang songs and waited, the longest 15mins of our lives. Someone just didn't plug the font correctly I guess. But it happened! She will be confirmed next week and receive the Holy Ghost!

     Today was a weird day, last week at the conference my companion was talking with Sis Maluenda and she told us that we'd be going out to eat with them next monday. Then today was that Monday. So they told us to meet them at the mall, I just figured that they were wanted to meet us there because it was somewhere big we'd recognize and then we'd go from there. Nope we went into the mall, they walked us into JCPenny and they told my bought my companion a suit and a few pairs of pants, shirts and belts. So nice of them. It was super weird, we were just expecting food.  Which was pretty convenient because today he ripped his pants tying his shoes. 

     Lots of things to learn, I am currently working on trying to have more love for people. There are many times where I just kind of say whatever is on my mind, and I'm very blunt with people, lots of times to a fault. So I'm trying to be more considerate of the words I say and the way I handle situations. Because they won't change at all or listen to you if they don't feel like you love them. I'm not super bad at it, just sometimes, always room for improvement. Also I'm trying to work on my integrity, as in when my thoughts, actions and words are saying the same thing. That I guess is how to measure it. Sometimes I'll think one thing and say another or I'll say to do something and then not do it. If there will every be a time to learn and grow, it's the mission. I'm realizing more and more how much things in the mission relate to things in real life. I can't go my whole life offending people in work, family, friends. It may be funny sometimes but for the most part, it just hurts.

      I would send pictures of the baptism but I didn't get them from Elder Anderson yet, next week. I'll try sending more pictures, those are more interesting anyways.

   Thanks so much for emailing me, I hope everything goes well with the house and the weather. Tell Nathan I'm happy for him and proud of him. I love you! Have a great week!

Week 60

     Hey Mom! Glad to know that everyone is doing well in church and the diet isn't killing you guys. I don't even know most of what that house stuff means, I don't like how leach field sounds.

    This week was pretty cool, I got my new companion on Tuesday, Elder Tomasi, he is super cool. He has a really great attitude about everything, and he is really loving to other people. I have already learned a lot from him about being patient with people and genuinely caring about others, now if I can only apply it more haha.  

    We had a pretty successful week, we found 19 investigators, I don't really understand how but we did. The standard for the mission a week is 7 per companionship and we found almost 3 times that many haha. We found a few families. It was cool to see all these people willing to learn about the Gospel. It really is a different work here, people are so willing to say yes with their mouth but not with their actions, so that is what we are working on now. Our mission is doing pretty bad lately, we have a mission goal of baptizing 85 converts this month as a mission and we are currently at 14 for the month, and this last sunday we only baptized 1 person. So we are having emergency meetings with our leadership to see what is going on. Pretty crazy stuff, the mission hasn't been in this kind of funk before.

   Tomasi and I have made plans to help people be more committed to coming to church and acting. We are trying the 3 way commitment, make the investigators commit to the missionaries, a member and then pray and promise God they'll do it. I have never really tried it in my mission and I'm excited to see how successful it is. We had a meeting with our district to try and figure out some things we need to change and that is one of them, also we are working on having more communication with people. It seems that lots of times it is easy to find investigators, but then they kind of.. disappear. So we are going to try to have more contact with them. 

   I am interested to hear that the missionaries there are doing the "set a date" also. We have recently started doing it also, the members are pretty excited about it. The thing is, lots of members think that people have to be perfect to suggest them to the missionaries, but in reality the perfect people rarely progress because they aren't humble enough. 

    The other day I had an interesting experience. We knocked a door of a newly found investigator and his son opened the door, we hadn't met him before though. He only spoke spanish, and he spoke super super fast, the fasted I've heard someone speak. I felt like I had the gift of tongues for real because we just talked with him about how he was doing who he was and everything. He had "Polly <3" written on his arm in pen and I asked him who it was and he said it was a girl that was over from the night before, and said he had been to a party and his parents were out of town so he was crashing at his place. I laughed and then proceeded to explain what missionaries do, not expecting him to be very keen on the idea. And he actually invited us in. We went in the house and sat down on the couch with him and talked to him about his life, he told me he has been having some dark dreams and asked me what they mean. I told him that as we surround our selves with unclean things, we invite darkness into our lives completely and explained how to correct it and changes he needs to make. He was almost crying and told us he isn't truly happy and wants to change but it's just hard. We testified of the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and I truly saw a change in him. He is leaving for Mexico and then Houston, but we gave him the number to get in touch with missionaries, I hope and pray they find him and help him to change his life. It is amazing what can happen when you love people and don't judge them for their mistakes. I know that this is the only true church on this Earth and only through the power of the priesthood of God we can truly change our hearts. I am so grateful for the sacrifice of my Savior, Jesus Christ and I know he is the one leading and guiding this work, and the church as a whole.

      Thanks so much for emailing me, I love you so much, have a great week!

Week 58

   Hey Mom! This week was pretty interesting, probably the craziest thing was the deal with our neighbor's cats. So we have this neighbor and she is crazy about her cats, she has like at least 10 of them that live outside our apartments. So the other day we came from morning soccer and noticed that one of her cats had been hit by a car in the road. It was the worst placement ever, like you walk out the door and at the end of the pathway it was just destroyed all over the road, super gross.

     Then the next day we went to a zone meeting we had in the morning, and then we came back and our neighbor was sitting outside her front door. So we greeted her and asked how she was doing, she started to cry again and told us not very good because one of her cats had been hit by a car. We thought she was talking about the one yesterday at first until she told us that it was still alive. Turns out, another cat got hit by a car, but didn't die. She was sitting next to it and just watching it and crying. We had refreshments in our zone meeting that we took home of rice crispy treats and brownies, so we gave her some and she thanked us. So we went in our apartment and then watched the series of events following. 

   She called the Animal Control and Police, the cops showed up first and told her that she shouldn't have all these cats, and really just didn't help the problem. Then after about 20mins of talking with him the Animal Control showed up, and asked about what happened and all, and then the other neighbor came out and complained about all the cats and told them to get rid of all of them! And they just told her to go away. So the Animal Control guys talked about how it's okay that she has the cats as long as any neighbor didn't have a problem with it or didn't make a complaint. But if a neighbor makes a complaint then Animal Control is going to set up traps for the cats, and she will be arrested if she tampers with them. Crazy right? Ok, and then after that, the animal control people left and a guy came with like a little bag of stuff, then he put on latex gloves and so did the cat lady. Then he took out the syringe and filled it, and with the help of the owner, picked it up while it flailed around and injected the cat, then sat it down and held it down until it stopped. She was crying the whole time and we were awed by how sad it was. I watched a CAT MURDER. That's the cat story that happened this week, hope you thought it was interesting.

    Yesterday was super awkward, we only had a few hours to actually work in our area, and 3 out of the like 5 visits we made, we went and knocked the door and waited like 30 secs and then the people pulled up to their house in their car. It's so uncomfortable when that happens haha. We just laugh because there isn't much else you can do. 

    Then today we went to the zoo, it was pretty cool. The animals were pretty old and they didn't even have elephants! But aside from that it was fun. The Flores family, our branch president took us down, cause it's in Brownsville.

    Everything is going pretty well, I'm doing great. It's scary realizing that I'm about to start my 10th transfer, 10/16. That's pretty far. Elder Anderson and I are doing pretty well. We're working really hard and having really great lessons all the time. And we're super obedient. Even so, we aren't really seeing the kind of success that we kind of expect from our hard work. It kind of kills the fire when you have a great Saturday and then nobody shows up to church the next day, or people seem like they have great desires but still don't keep commitments. Lots of prayer trying to figure out what we are doing wrong or what we are supposed to be learning from this. But we're not letting it get us down, everything happens for a reason, just kind of frustrating not knowing the reason, you know?

    We have an investigator that is going to be getting baptized but has to wait till she turns 18, on March 16, so this month she'll be baptized. Then we have a few families that we are teaching and they have great desires and seem to understand everything during lessons, but then fail to come to church, so their baptismal date gets pushed back. Finding prepared people is kind of tricky sometimes. Lots to learn and improve. 

    Thanks for all the prayers and support, I love you! Have a great week!

Week 59

    Hey mom! Yeah this was a really great Transfer! We just listened to the transfer call in the library and Elder Anderson is getting transferred, and I am staying. He will be in the zone though so it's not too bad. My new comp will be Elder Tomasi. He is a Polynesian about my height but about 300lbs. And he's super athletic. He was in the national rugby team I think. He moves super fast for how big he is. Have a good laugh at that. He was in my last zone so I know him a little bit. I'm pretty sad that Anderson and I are getting split up though, he was a great comp and I learned a lot from him. I'm sure I'll learn just as much.

    The work is going pretty well, we've started to center our teachings more on being missionaries. Hopefully within the next little while our members will start to do most of the finding. This area is pretty weird, we don't have a car, but we use another area's car 3 times a week. I guess we're sharing it, because it's like a 40min bike ride into our area. Hopefully something will change so we can have a car.

   At night we have been playing horse, we have this little basketball hoop and nerf ball that we play with, it's fun, makes it not boring at night. It's going to be weird getting a new comp, i have to teach him the area, and I barely know it. It'll be interesting for sure. That's all that's on my mind right now, haha. Carlos, our member that is always with us is gone for a little while, he is taking a little vacation so we are missing him and didn't go dig for ties today. But that's okay, it'll be a good day anyway, we're going to go play bball after this. I love balling with missionaries, it makes me feel like I'm actually good at it. Even though I'm not haha. I need to start doing more workouts for my legs, I can't really dunk anymore. I used to be able to get it with 2 hands every once in a while, but now I can't :(. 

       There has been a lot of "trunky" talk lately and it's super weird. I have about 10 months left, so does my comp right now and his girlfriend is getting home in the next few days so he's kind of worried inside but tries not to talk about it. I have kind of been trying to relate things in the mission to things back home, and wow life is going to be so busy! I don't know how I had so much free time before. That's okay though, I've always been the go, go, go type of person. 

     Well that's all I can think of this week, thanks for writing me! And yes the shirts are great! Thanks so much! Guess what, I wore the first one today, and I cut myself shaving a little and I got blood on the collar, yay me... and yay for dull razors. That's okay, I'm probably going to buy a bleach pen so it'll come out. Oh dad sent me pictures of the new house that you guys are going to get, haha more wallpaper? The memories... I hope you guys like it, looks super cozy. I love you mom! Have a great week!

Week 57

    Hey Mom! This week was really great! Lots of fun stuff happened. So we had a great Saturday, a pretty well known seventy came to the mission. So Friday night we were told that all the mission had to meet at a stake building. So we got up a little earlier on Saturday and went and learned from Elder Corbridge of the Seventy. I think that he knows more about the scriptures than the scriptures know about themselves. He read some verses that everyone has read before and then explained them differently than I'd ever think and it blew my mind. He skipped a lot of what he had prepared too. He was only given like 2 hours, he maybe got through like a third of what he prepared the night before. He had a few quotes that I thought were really cool. He said that there was a point in his life where he was super busy and overwhelmed, with work, callings and family and was just on overdrive all the time. And he would pray about it and ask the Lord, "When will I ever be in control of my life?" which I could relate to, and I think we all have had those moments. He said that the next day he had the same thought, then he heard a voice that said, "You will never be in control, I am." Which then humbled him to remember who is really in charge. I really like that, because I had thought that actually multiple times this week, when will I be in control of my mission, but then I have to remember whose work this really is. Trust in the Lord is a difficult but severely important concept to grasp. He also talked about losing yourself, Matt 16:25, and said, "Selflessness is in your greatest self interest. I have about 2 pages of notes, that will be my personal study for the next few weeks haha.

     Then later that day we went by a bunch of our investigators to make sure they are going to come to church. We call Saturday our pregame day and Sunday game day haha. So we had about 9 people "give us their word" they were going to come to church, probably more comforting than it really is. And then we have an investigator who is ready to be baptized, but she's only 17 and we need to get parental permission and her mom really hates us. The mom is a little special needs and gets really riled up just by seeing us. So... we went to her house, and literally within the second that she saw us she was freaking out. Probably the maddest anyone has been at me in my mission. It was pretty confusing really. So I apologized and told her that her daughter is doing great and she thanked me, and then continued to be mad haha. So we left and she threatened to call the cops. Exciting huh? Turns out she just hates men, so we are going to send some women from the ward to calm her down. 

    Then the next day we had... 0 investigators in church. Which really just makes you feel great inside :/. We were supposed to have like 10 investigators haha, and they seemed super solid, I can't wait to hear their excuses! And then we have this member who gave a talk in sacrament meeting, very interesting. I'm not sure what book of scripture he has been reading, but I have not yet come across it. He is an elderly man who is a temple worker, and likes to make it known. He talked about in his talk about how he sneaks around and explores the temple, how he locks himself in his room all day and talks with angels, and about how Christ came to Chapa, Mexico or something like that. Pretty interesting and I kind of understood why we didn't have investigators in church, the big guy upstairs knows best.

   Also today, our Branch President took us to the bodegas to go tie digging and one of the bodegas gave us ties for free, quite a few of them too.. We have to look through em still but I have high hopes.

      Pretty exciting week, I got the shirts you sent me today, thanks so much! I love you mom! Have a great week!

Week 56

   Querido mami, esta semana fue muy bien. There was actually some cool different things this week. How exciting right? To start off we had what is called "3 day" which is when all of the leaders have trainings in McAllen for 3 days, so during the day they have to be in a meeting and then around 6oclock they come back to work. And since there are some parts of the mission that travel like 3 hours to be in McAllen, they just stay with the missionaries in the area. And we had an extra missionary, his name was elder Powell, he came down from Sinton. So we had a trio at night time and it was pretty fun. It just made us super pumped to work, and we found like 12 new investigators in 3 days. Which is quite a few, usually you find like 1 a day. Which compared to other missions I think is a lot anyways. But he had a super good attitude about everything and I learned a lot from him.

   I never really realized how great this mission is, it is like the 2nd most baptizing mission in the USA. And we have been told that we have one of the best mission presidents, and that we are one of the most obedient missions. That's pretty nice. I guess God new that I needed to be put in a place that is super obedient and successful so that I wouldn't do crazy stuff and lay around. 

   Also there was a funeral for a relative of a member. It wasn't a LDS funeral and it was really weird. I have never been to a funeral before. Nobody really wore black or anything. But we were there because they wanted us to be like the funeral choir, we had 12 missionaries. We sang a few songs, Oh my Father, which I realized I do not know the tune to at all, neither did most of the other missionaries haha, we sounded super bad. I felt really sad, but they didn't tell us before hand so we could practice and they didn't let us pick the hymn. Then we sang I stand all amazed, in spanish, so I think its like " asombra me da" or something. And we knew that song so we sounded good and then last but not least, but definitely the most sad, God be with you till be meet again. Lots of people cried, and I felt bad for singing the song. Then a member gave a talk on the Plan of Salvation, which was pretty nice, but he went pretty in depth and there weren't many members there so I think everyone else was probably like uhh what? 

      Then on Sunday, the missionaries gave talks. It was pretty cool to speak in English again. It seemed super easy, I spoke about conversion. It was a pretty big topic so I just covered the basics and told everyone to just do the basics with a good attitude and it'll happen. I think that is pretty worldwide, people just don't do the basics. But it went well, and it was one of the only talks where I was comfortable.

     Pretty cool, I hope you guys get the house of your dreams :) Think this will be the last one before you guys get super old and can't move? Or do you still have a few left in you? haha just teasing. My companion has really bad knees and back from football and so I kind of feel like I'm with an old man sometimes. Thanks for keeping me updated, I'll keep praying for you all, I love you and of course Happy Valentines day!

Week 55

   Hey mom! I won't get a calling in this branch, the branch is pretty strong, we have about 100 members pretty regularly. We lack about 4 Melchizedek Priesthood holders and more tithes to become a ward. The branch is really strong though, and we have some great members, one that likes to help us out a lot, although his phone only works if he has wifi so it's super frustrating trying to get ahold of him. Melchizedek priesthood is a struggle valley wide and I imagine world wide. Men are always hard heads. Especially down here, they are "machismo" which I think just translates to macho, like they think that they know everything and accepting a new point of view would be looked at as a weakness. Also they get mad at us for talking with their wives/girlfriends. It's great.

    This week all the missionaries are going to speak in sacrament meeting, I will be speaking on true conversion. I'm pretty excited because it's one of those things I didn't really learn about until I was on my mission, the difference between a testimony and be converted to a principle. There are so many things that are super basic but I didn't learn until my mission. It's super weird to think about. I didn't know what the 10 commandments were, like I knew, but I could tell you all of them. Little stuff like that. 

    This area is pretty great, it still touches the border so we still get to speak spanish with people, but we really don't have any ghetto parts of our area where I would feel uncomfortable. And like always, the people here all have a religious background, I have met like 2 people who didn't already believe in Jesus Christ. 

   Unfortunately the area isn't a car area, we actually are not a complete bike area though. We share a car with another area, we get it 3 days a week, Mon, Wed, and Sat. That's pretty nice, it's a ford focus, like 2013 I think. The only thing that's bad about it is that the computer system in it is super confusing and isn't like user friendly, it takes forever to listen to the hymnyou want to on your USB. But aparte de eso, todo esta bien. 

   We had one of the best Saturdays that I've had in my mission, preparing investigators for church the next day. We visited everybody and they were all going to come to church and we were excited. We taught the Restoration to a young family and it was probably the best Restoration lesson I've had so far in my mission. Of course in english haha. Everything made sense, they completely understood it, it helped them to realize that there is only one true church, and were willing to pray and investigate to find it. To top it off they fed us pizza before hand. And then... they didn't come to church because their kids got sick. And nobody else came to church either, who knows why. But we had a miracle investigator come to church, one of our young women, invited a friend and he came, so there was a tender mercy. Why would I ever expect a completely fulfilling Sunday as a missionary? Haha but that is ok, because.. DAVID ARCHULETA CAME TO OUR CHURCH! I know right? Super weird, he knows one of the families here and came to visit the other ward. Guess what else, half of our young women skipped class and went to the other ward's sacrament meeting to be in the same room as him haha. We got to say hi to him afterwards, he is super short! I remember he came to the CCM about a year ago when we were there and I saw him down the hallway with a bunch of people, but up close, it's a different level. I think he's like 5'5 or something. And our mission president came to visit that ward also, but who cares about that.. haha just kidding I was more excited about seeing him that David honestly. 

    I don't really think that I need anything.. I tried on one of the shirts you sent me haha. They are classic fits so they're super baggy and the collar doesn't have enough space for a knot for a tie. The points go like straight down, not to the side like a normal tie. I don't know if that makes sense. But yeah.. I probably will never wear them haha. I'll probably just buy things if I need them, so I can try them on first, it just sucks because I just love spending all the money on my card. 

    I had a crazy dream last night also. I dreamed that I finished my mission. It was super dumb, I like was home, not doing anything, I remember I just played games on my phone. I woke up and was like what the heck was I doing? And so that kind of scared me, first that my sub conscience is trunky, and that I'm going to do nothing with my life after the mission. So that got me thinking a little bit, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life after the mission. Yikes, all the other missionaries have like schools they have scholarships for and all this stuff. It worries me a little bit but I just forget about it. I guess we'll see what happens.

    We got a member last week to take us tie digging, just like old times haha. So I got some cool new ties. Honestly it makes me so happy when we go tie digging and I don't know why, after the mission ties will mean just about nothing to me. But that's ok, its fun right now haha.

    Thanks for keeping me updated, have a great week! Love you!

Week 54

   Hey mom, good to see that you guys went to the beach, looks cold. I heard you guys got super lost looking for houses ,haha.

   I know less and less of what to write in these letters haha. Even though everything is new right now. 

   My new area is pretty cool, it is in English, but I've learned that it doesn't really affect my Spanish very much, it just depends on my studies and on my focus speaking it in meetings and with my companion. So I'm not too worried about that, we still talk to people on the street in spanish plenty. 

    Like my last area, there are lots of dogs. I've realized that most dogs just run up to me barking, staying just far enough away that I can't kick them. Which is pretty annoying because I don't know if they're going to try to bite me or not so I can't just not worry about it.

     The branch that I'm in is super cool. The members are really nice, we have a member that is with the missionaries every day, he drives us everywhere. He is a convert of about 1 year and he is 25 and his name is Carlos. He is great, I love him, he is filling out his own mission papers.

      Elder Anderson is my new companion, he is super cool, we actually came into the mission together. I didn't know him in the MTC because he served a little bit in Mexico and then went home and came back out, so he didn't re-enter the MTC. We actually spendtour first day in the mission together. We were dropped off by our trainers in a random neighborhood and told to knock doors for 3 hours. My trainer btw, Elder Rosero is now my zone leader and is sitting next to me, he says hi :) 

    It's strange being in an english speaking area again, teaching in English is so easy, because I can express myself however I want, sometimes. Sometimes there are words that I think explain stuff more in spanish but people speak both here so that's ok. 

      I'm excited for this area, I feel like we are going to accomplish a lot. Only time will tell. Thanks for keeping me updated, I love you, have a great week!

Week 53

     Hey mom! I thought it was cold enough to wear a sweater yesterday, so I wore it out of the apartment, but turns out it wasn't. It was super hot in a sweater, so that's about how cold it is here. No sign of snow yet either.

    This week has been pretty good. Not much has happened out of the ordinary, like usual. Transfers are tomorrow, so either I or Elder Juarez will be transferred. I can't stay with my son for 3 transfers, I think I've only heard of that once. But that's ok, it's been a ton of fun these last two transfers. 

    The other night we went over to Alberto and Anahi's house and told them we will be most likely transferred. And Alberto was almost crying, they want us to come back after our missions and baptize their son, who is 4 right now. He said it has to be us two. Haha it was super nice, made us feel wanted. We ran out of money extra early this month because at the beginning of the month, we decided to buy nerf guns for the FHE's that we have sometimes at the church. We set up Dixie cups and let the little kids shoot them down so they aren't running around everywhere. It was probably not the best idea, but not much we can do about it now. So we have like no food in our apartment, and then I accidentally said that we have no food to one of our members and she gave us a ton of food. The Lord will provide haha.

    I got another flat tire yesterday, I think I've gotten like 6 or 7 in the last few months, super bad luck. Elder Juarez found these little green strips of plastic that line the inside of the treading and so he doesn't get flat tires, I don't know why but I didn't believe it would work so I didn't buy any, but I'll try it now.

    Lately we have had tons of meetings as a zone so that means we have to drive down to the next town, about 45mins away. There are 3 companionships here, we have bikes and the other two have trucks, so we'd usually just get a ride with one of them. But one companionship got their truck taken away for doing donuts and the other one doesnt have any miles left (they only give us so many miles per month). So we have been begging our members to drive us down. And I feel bad asking them for rides, but we have to. It's been like the same 3 people too. But the are the only ones with cars that have a little bit of free time off of work. But somehow I think it has helped our relationship with the members, I think it makes them feel good to serve the missionaries. And I mean, they'll be blessed for it, so I guess I shouldn't feel too bad. 

    But yeah, I'll let you know next week what happened with transfers and everything, eek! Thanks for keeping me updated, I love you! Stay warm!

Week 52

   Hey Mom! This week has been really good. Sounds super weird that you guys are in Maine, talking about snow, it was pretty hot yesterday. Dad doesn't sound like he really loves the wood stove you guys have but it's better than nothing I guess.

    Not really a ton has happened in the past week, Elder Juarez and I are finding a lot more investigators, I think we are working with some 15 people right now or something. The only problem is it's super hard to get in touch with them. They are always gone and it's a small town so people like to leave to go have fun or shop in other towns for the weekends. But it keeps us on our toes I guess. The branch is doing a lot better, we almost filled the parking lot yesterday in church, given it's a small parking lot. But that is improvement. It depends on the weather here a lot, if it's cold in the morning, people don't get out of bed, and when we ask why they didn't go to church, they say, "well it was cold this morning." It's kind of ridiculous but I can't say that I haven't stayed home for silly reasons in the past. 

      Elder Juarez and I are trying to have more love for the people. It is hard to just have a love for everyone. Our zone leaders asked us if we really love people, and we were like yeah, and then he asked if we would die for our members, our investigators or just some random guy on the street, just because we knew how much he means to God. I definitely am not where I need to be when it comes to having charity. There are a few scriptures that I really like,

             1 Cor 13: 1-3

 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as‍ sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,‍ and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
       I can be a really "great" missionary, and know what to say and how to help people, what their needs are, but if I don't really love them, it is not going to help either of us. We are trying to look more for the potential in people, praying for the gift of charity and doing more service. I thought going on a mission was enough to show my love, but it really means nothing. We talked about how important it will be for our future with our wives (don't worry, just 1 each) and for being able to serve in the church.
     The mission is a great opportunity to learn, you can never feel adequate with where you are, there is always room for improvement, that's part of what I love about the Gospel.
         Thanks for emailing me! I love you, have a great week, stay warm!

Week 51

Hey Mom!

 Not a whole lot has happened lately. We had interviews with President Maluenda the other day, Tuesday. It went pretty well, received revelation on some things that we can change or include in our area and in our companionship. 

     We had a pretty good week. Thank goodness too. None of our investigators were really progressing so we dropped a lot of people and so we didn't have much to work with, so we went door contacting, my least favorite thing to do. It's not that I don't like talking with people at the door or it's too awkward. Just that it is usually pretty unsuccessful. However, we found 8 new investigators in one day. It was pretty cool, it was like everybody that we talked to just wanted to learn about the Gospel. One of them let us in their house without us even asking and gave us cookies and muffins. In the same little cookie containers that Grammie used to use. It was really great.

    Then we got up earlier than normal on Sunday to go wake everyone up and it was super cold. So we went by everyones house and only one person answered the door and she was mad at us for waking them up and nobody came to church. It was the first week that we've been here without anybody in church. Which was kind of discouraging but that's ok we can deal with it. we just have to work harder this week.

    We went over to a less actives house and she loves my companion because he's from Guatemala and she is from Honduras, so their neighboring countries and have lots of culture in common. She always feeds us a lot and the other day she gave us fireworks and we lit them off in her back yard, it was really fun, I don't know how the neighbors felt about it but it was nice because we didn't on New Year's Eve. 

    Glad to know everyone is doing really well, hope you guys continue to love Maine! Stay warm, I love you!

Week 50

     Hey mom! Glad to hear everyone is doing so well and you are actually kind of happy about the snow. I miss snow, it has gotten pretty cold here the last couple days, sweater weather. It has rained a few days also and biking in the rain is freezing. I love knocking on peoples doors soaking wet.

    New Years was pretty interesting. So we had a zone meeting, then after the zone meeting we watched a movie. Every year on New Years President picks a movie that the mission can watch. Last year they watched Frozen, and then this year we watched The Polar Express. I'm not a big fan of Polar Express so I was a little disappointed, but it was fun taking it easy for a little while with some friends. The rule in the mission is we have to be home by 6 oclock if we dont watch the movie and if we do we have to be home by 8. The movie started at 6, and we had an hour drive home so we had to leave in the middle of the movie, so we didn't even get to watch the whole thing haha. Oh well, we had a tie trade before that and that's the reason I really wanted to go anyways.

     Things are going well in this area, the branch is really changing, there isn't as much hatred as before. We are planning different activities and things so that we can build more unity. It's super weird as a missionary. We see so many people that just have bad relationships just because of silly little things they do, like not trusting each other, little lies, or just a lack of communication. Half of the time I feel like we do couples therapy. Which isn't what we should be doing, we shouldn't get into people's lives or relationships at all. The Gospel will change their behavior anyways, but it is just super weird. 

     Thanks for everything! I love you and miss you! Have a great week!

Week 49

     Hey mom! Glad you guys are liking the new area! Sounds really nice! You guys have a wood stove? Yay! Sounds like a good place for everyone! I hope you don't lose anything in the move!

    Things here are going pretty well, Alberto and Anahi were just confirmed yesterday and received he Holy Ghost. it was really nice, I think they'll do really well here, they just need to get callings now.

     My companion and I continue to get along well, I feel that my spanish is really improving, I have a huge stack of notecards for vocabulary and he can understand everything I say in Spanish even though it's not perfect, so he can tell me how to say it correctly.

    Our branch is looking to make lots of changes. We have talked wth all our auxilaries and obtained their visions for the branch and made some plans of things we can do and I think things will start to change. Some of our leaders dont really have visions so they had to kind of help them make some but that's ok. We are going to have more FHE with different families, trying to combine them if possible. I guess we're just trying to work on the unity in the branch. It's exciting for me, I know probably not for you guys haha. 

    Well not much to write, we just talked the other day so, I hope you have  a great week and don't get snowed in! I love you!