Meeting w/ the President, Colds and Pictures

Hola,

Well, another week has come and gone.  This week was pretty good, but very busy.  On Tuesday we had interviews with President Crickmore, which always take a ton of time.  (He always puts a time limit, this time it was 10 minutes.  Sister Crickmore sets a timer and knocks when the timer rings.  Then about 10 minutes later the interview ends.)  So, that took up a good part of the day.  And due to a posessed ATM which ate the mission card of Elder Cory, we then had to go to walmart to take out the rent from his new card, which he got in the interview.  And that took up the rest of the day.  The worst part of it was that, even though they said it was, his card wasn't activated.  So we had to go to the offices Thursday in the morning to activate his card, so that we could take out the rent for June.  (Yay. :/)  So that took up a couple more hours.  Then Elder Cory got sick and was in bed all day Saturday.  (We've all gotten a pretty nasty cold now, but it hit him and Elder Tlachi hardest.)  So, we didn't have too much time to work this week.

Still, when we could work, it was a pretty productive week.  We found a couple new investigators that seem pretty interested in the gosple.  We also have a couple that are progressing pretty well.  One in particular is pretty much golden.  Her name is Erika, she's 17 years old, and shes the wife of a less active member.  She understands the lessons very well, she's come to church two times now, and she reads and understands the Book of Mormon.  (She told us that she prays for help understanding, then reads the chapter as many times as she needs to to understand it.  And she's done this since the beginning.  Nobody does that.)  Everything is perfect with her... except that she's moving to the other area in the ward.  (Or to a different ward.  We're still not completely sure.)  So, she'll probably get baptized, but not with us.

That's about it for news from me this week.  It sounds like you had a pretty fun trip to Oregon.  I hope you ate some Mo's for me.  I would love to see a picture of the chart dad made if there is one.  If not, don't worry.  And I'm glad you got a break from cooking for reunions.

That's about it for me.  I got some new shoes today, so that's out of the way for a while.  I love you, and I'll write you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

P.S. I'm pretty sure you know, but since nobody mentioned it in their letter, President Packer died a couple days ago.  I was pretty surprised when I saw the news today.  It's going to be weird seeing a couple new faces in that group, but that's how it goes.

This is Hermana Tomasa.  She doesn’t like to smile in pictures, because she’s missing a tooth, and because Mexicans don’t smile in pictures.  To her side there’s Elder Cowdin, Elder Cory, and Elder Tlachi.  Needless to say, she takes pretty good care of us.

Yeah, this is why I needed new shoes.

Tacos de saudero, the perfect birthday cake

I mean, look at the joy on Elder Cowdins face.

  

This is how the water comes out in the baptismal font here.  Not the prettiest ever, but it serves it’s purpose.

I’ve decided to go instagram on you, and start sending pictures of food every week.  This week I’ve decided to send you one that you might find a bit weird, patitas de pollo, or chicken feet.  This isn’t the first time I’ve eaten them, but it’s the first time I’ve taken a picture.

Decided to include an after picture this time to prove that I do eat what I’m served.  The thing with chicken feet is that they’re pretty much pure cartalage and gelitine.  Needless to say, it’s a bit weird the first time you eat them.  But they’re not bad once you get used to them.

The cold got the better of Elder Tlachi and Elder Cory.

And here we have an interesting phenomenon of missionary work: sleep praying.