December 8

Hola,

 

This week has been pretty good.  As far as the living arangements go, we rent the house of a member who is living in Canada for some time.  We only use the bottom floor because all the rooms in the top are filled with the things of the hermana.  Still, it's one of the bigger houses I've lived in here in the mission, and we live fairly close to a lot of members if we need anything, so all in all it's not a bad situation.  And yes, I have given a talk in church, but only one time.  As far as the weather goes, everyone here says it's cold, but I usually think they're crazy.  One time I saw a family pass by dressed up like they were going to be walking through a blizzard, and I had to fight hard not to laugh.  Still, it is the coldest area I've had in the mission.

I did in fact get a chance to see the Christmas devotional, but in Spanish.  The music was still in English though.  I really enjoyed President Eyring's talk as well.  I really liked how they decorated the conference center too.  I didn't realize that they could move the pulpit.  ¿Or did they bring in a different one?  (Hey, when you've got a ¿ key, you have to use it.)  All in all I was really impressed, though I was surprised they didn't play He is the Gift.  It seemed like a good time to introduce it to me.

As far as cathedrals go, there are quite a lot of them.  One p-day we visited one when I was with Elder Tadeo.  They were selling pamphlets in the back, and I was tempted to buy one that talked about the church, but I decided it wasn't worth it.  They can be very beautiful buildings, but usually we keep our distance.

I love you, and I'm sorry the letter is kind of short today.  I promise I'll try to write a longer one next week.  We didn't have too much time today because we had a zone conference today, and those always last a long time.  It doesn't help when we have to travel half an hour to get there, and half an hour to return.  I'll talk to you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long