Pasco North Stake

Well thank you everyone for the letters they were much appreciated. I guess first off I'll explain the pictures that should be included. One is of this crazy taxidermy armadillo we found on a lady's porch we knocked into. Another is of a vaguely racist sign we found in a Mexican trailer park we knock in. And the third is of a tux companies van we saw at a funeral. Maybe I can get them to cut me a deal...

This has been a pretty good week. We had stake conference where they split the stake. So now I am serving in the Pasco North stake, it doesn't change anything for us, we still serve the same units in the middle of nowhere. Elder's Ellis and Nattress came to speak and oversee the changes. They both did a very good job. Me, Powell and a bunch of other missionaries sang the mission's medley for a special musical number.

I suppose I should correct an error the mission made real quick. I'm not training Elder Powell, they sent out the training letter by mistake instead of the District Leader letter. Me and Elder Powell had a good laugh about that. I teased him a little bit about me needing to retrain him.!

Yesterday we had interviews with President and Sister Greer. Those were awesome, I really love them. Apparently yesterday was Presidents day, so President asked me what day it was. I had no clue, the only holiday that came to my mind was Martin Luther King Jr. day, but I knew that wasn't right because that was last transfer. Finally he exasperatedly explained what day it was. It's true, unless it's Christmas or Thanksgiving, holidays don't really mean anything to missionaries out here. Also what the heck, I never got school off for Presidents' Day!

The work continues to progress. I'm enjoying it a lot better as I am learning the area and people's names. I can't remember who asked, but someone asked who's Spanish was better; mine, or Elder Powell's. Well he's really good, but if I'm going to be honest I'd have to say mine is better. But we both help each other out a lot. We are still doing almost exclusively Spanish work which is fantastic and I am loving it.

We are working trying to get some people ready for baptism. We have two people on date, and they are both pretty promising prospects. They will be baptized one in march, the other in april.

In response to mom's comments on my pictures, yes, I have gained weight. I'm still thin as ever, it all goes to my chin. But I'm still exercising in the mornings. Speaking of exercising, after we finish using the weights and sit ups and what not, we have been playing ping pong for a little bit of "cardio." Elder Powell's pretty good. I haven't beaten him yet, but the games have always been real close, with the exception of one shut out.

The members here are absolutely fantastic. They are constantly offering their help. We have FHE with a different family each monday. So yesterday we were with the Ward Mission Leader (one of them) and his family. We had a nice lesson/discussion. Then afterwards because we had had such a good day lesson wise we stayed and played some games with them. Wacky 6's, it got pretty heated. Speaking of really good lesson numbers, last week we got 20 lessons in all. That's always been the weekly goal for me, but apparently in this area they've never had that many. So that was pretty neat.

Well my time on the computer is almost up so I'll close. But remember the gospel is true. We are working with a family who's oldest daughter has had some struggles. I truly believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be a source of comfort to them in this difficult time. So remember, the church is true. I love you all and appreciate all that you do for me.

P.S. I got the Vday package, thanks mom. Also if you could find the contact info for Kat for me that would be very nice, I haven't heard from her in a long time and I'd like to ask her how BYU is treating her.