Another Transfer Ended

Well, we had a good week this last week. Quite a few lessons. It was the last week of the transfer. The news is that I'll be staying in Basin City, and Elder Powell will be going to Ellinsburg. I'm kind of sad to see him go, he's been my favorite companion thus far and I had a ton of fun with him. He's pretty sad to have to leave his greeny area, but he's also excited because his new comp was one of his roommates in the MTC. So tomorrow we'll drive to Kennewick to make the swap. My new comp's name is Elder Bau. He's from Ecuador, and he's half Chinese. Bit of an odd mix, but I'm sure we'll work together good. He's actually the Elder that replaced me down in Hermiston with Sauceda. He's been out one transfer less than Powell, so this will be his 3rd transfer he's starting. I guess my Spanish must need a lot of work since they keep giving me native comps. (That's a joke.)

One thing I forgot to mention in my last letter was that I gave a talk that last Sunday in one of the branches. On Thursday while I was out at leadership training one of the branch presidents called and assigned me a 20 minute talk. No topic, just a talk. So I talked about how God loves us. Touched on the restoration and my experiences with hurricanes. I think I did well enough communicating myself. That night we taught a lesson at the branch presidents house and his wife (who also speaks Spanish) told me how impressed she was that I just rattled right along and was talking nice and fast. So I guess my Spanish is getting better.

Earlier in the week Elder Powell and I were out tracting in a trailer park (as usual) and a bunch of the branch members were out having a party. Music and grilling. So we stopped and visited with them for a while. They were barbecuing oysters, shell and all. So me and Powell had oysters for the first time. They were...interesting. Not bad, but not amazing either. They were covered in lemon and hot sauce and salt, so I couldn't taste much of the actual oyster. I was told not to chew, so I just swallowed it like a pill. We also exchanged a lot of jokes with the members, which was a lot of fun. Some of the ones I told were: Hay dos hombres en un clase de ingles. Uno pregunto el otro "como se dice nariz en ingles?" El otro penso por uno momento y dijo "no se'" And then there's: Que hacen los pes todal dia? nada. And finally: porque los nefitas tienen las ropas mas suave? Porque ellos tienen las planchas. Oh que chistoso. It was a lot of fun.

The baptismal interview went good. It was for this 17 year old named Emanuel that the sisters were teaching. It was really neat because this kid was so ready for baptism. He had a really strong testimony that he shared with me and you could tell that he was really excited to get baptized. He couldn't wait to get his family converted. Real sharp and nice kid.

Last night Elder Powell and I had a pretty eventful evening. Throughout the day each of us was feeling progressively less healthy. Then at dinner with a branch member, Elder Powell excused himself and threw up in the bathroom. Then he came back out and finished dinner. After wards we had a member drive us to a small town to teach a 9 year old boy in a less active family. After the 20 minute drive we arrived and I threw up pretty violently outside. Then we went in and taught the lesson. Then afterwards I threw up again. So we were both feeling pretty crummy. Elder Price (the man we live with) and Elder Powell gave me a blessing, and Sister Price gave me and Powell some meds. We're both feeling better today, but we haven't eaten. But it's not going to stop us from working.

Well I think that is everything of note from the week. Thanks everyone for the letters and support. I love yall and the church is true.