Just Another Week in Zion

Well this last week has been pretty good. We were able to hit the desired 20 lessons again. We didn't think we were going to make it, but then due to a miraculous Saturday we only had to get 3 on Sunday to reach 20. The work is progressing, we have a few people on date for baptism and are trying to get more.

One of the awesome moments this week is that on last Pday we found an awesome 90% off deal at the Van Housen in Pasco, so I saved $80 on some awesome argyle sweater vests. It seems like I always have the best luck at finding sales.

The past few days it got really cold and the wind kicked up super strong. Maybe it was all the dust in the air but for 2 or 3 days last week my allergies were absolutely terrible. I could hardly even function, but I bought some meds at a gas station and those helped a bit. It's funny, when I got my call I didn't think I would be seeing and experiencing sand storms in lush green Washington. They probably don't compare to the ones that Eric has seen over there, but they're still pretty big. They're just like you see in the movies there's just a wall of brown and then the car in front of you disappears and then you can't see anything too well. What fun adventures, I like to pretend that I'm on Tatooine.

We had a really fun lesson with this RCLA family (recent convert/less active). I taught them a 10 commandment lesson I learned in the MTC where there's a sign for each of the commandments you make with your hands and it helps you remember the order and whatnot. It was a ton of fun, everyone was laughing and yelling (yelling isn't bad with Mexicans, they're very loud people). One of the daughters' non member boyfriend was there and he enjoyed it. It was good because it showed him Mormons can be fun too, which was good.

The other day I dreamed in Spanish. That's the second time that's happened to me. I always love it, you wake up feeling so accomplished.

We're teaching these 3 kids from a family that are way cool. We tried to get them on date for baptism Sunday night, and they would have done it except that their mom talked to them earlier and taught them the "wicked traditions of their fathers." That is to say Mexicans don't commit on the excuse that something this big is not "un juego." It's just a way to keep from getting too committed. But I know the kids will get baptized with a little more time.

Last night I was on exchange with the Zone Leaders, one of them went to basin city with Elder Powell, and then I came to Pasco with the other, there's actually four of them. The 2 ZL's, a 3rd comp, and an Elder temporarily stateside for health issues. So all four of us worked last night. It was different but way cool, at each lesson it's just "ok, you and me for this one." So I got to teach with 3 different elders last night which was way cool. They're all way cool guys.

Yesterday's district meeting went a lot better than my first 2 weeks ago. I still feel like it was a little rough but then again maybe I'm just being overly hard on myself.

The work continues to progress. I love my comp Elder Powell, we get along real well. The members we live with are cool. There's tiny rat dogs EVERYWHERE. We have all the free eggs we can eat. Pretty soon we're going to be tagging and branding cattle. And the church is true. Thanks for everything and I love yall.