November 24, 2009 Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey everyone!

Hows everybody doing this week? So I wrote a letter to the fam and I just sent it off today. Mom I answered many of your questions that you wanted me to answer but there were a few that I thought you might want right away so I'll answer them now. Q3 It does get pretty cold here. There is no snow yet, but I think they expect some soon. The biggest killer is the wind. There is such a cold wind chill here. And it blows way hard against you. I have been wearing that scarf that you sent me and I pretty much wear those sweaters everyday. Q4 ya my razor is still working. My facial hair is coming in nice haha. I decided I'm not gonna shave when I come home so I can be a grizzly man. Q6 my shower sponge is still good and if I need another I can get one at Walmart Q7 things that I might need....well if I could get some thermals that would be nice. My pants are really thin and don't really keep the cold out. Ummm...I have been using the Perfect Pushups that Elder Cashin has when I work out. They are awesome. But maybe if you wanna send me those for my Christmas gift. Maybe some shoes too because my nice Sunday shoes are getting torn up. And if there is any way you could send talks on cd by like John Bytheway and maybe even a cd player. You could just send one of the old ones that are in my room. But music is also pretty lax here. As long as its uplifting its approved. So we can have lyrics and all. Some missionaries stretch it to normal music, but I might want to stick to church music still. But if its uplifting, send it on over. Ya the Josh Groban cd would probably be good. Also chips are always a plus. So I think that answers the questions that I didn't answer in my letter. And you don't have to send me all that stuff its just ideas. But the thermals are probably the most needed.

Well for Thanksgiving we are going with some members to a buffet. So we are going to pig out there. We got asked by one of our part member families if we want to come over for dinner too. So we might go eat with them before the buffet. I think we will be okay. Don't worry.

Hey tell Glenna Bird I got her letter and I sent her a letter back. Also tell JoAnne I got her letter and she mentioned something about a package. I haven't gotten anything from her yet so I don't know if I just haven't received it yet or if she hasn't sent it out yet. I'm gonna write her today.

How was dinner with Elder Wright? Is he doing okay? I wonder how it would be to serve in slc. I guess he is in a companionship instead of a tripanionship now huh. That's good. Well this week was a little taste of ethnicity for me. I went on exchanges with the zone leaders and they are Spanish speaking. I went with elder Godinez in his area. It was way fun. He's a cool kid and he is actually the only one going home this transfer. But we went around to a lot of his investigators and I just sat and watched because I had no idea what they were saying. At the end I would bear my testimony and he would translate. But it was cool. He is a great missionary. We went and saw one of his investigators who is going to be baptized soon. He had to leave, but we talked to his parents who are both members but haven't come to church in a while. The mother was distraught. I guess her dad lives out of the country and he is dying and she doesn't know if she will be able to see him. But E. Godinez talked to her and she was just bawling the whole time. I asked what happened when we left and he said that she needed to come back to church because when things like this happen you need a reservoir of faith and right now she is dry. Pretty bold huh. Well she agreed and said that she would come back to church and she and her husband are going to take the temple prep classes so they can go to the temple. It was crazy because I could feel the spirit the whole time we were there and I had no idea what was going on. It goes to show that you can feel the Holy Ghost even if you don't know what's happening. But we went to some Mexican store that some members own. They gave us Etoli, I think that's how you spell it. I bet Daniels had it. I thought it was hot chocolate. It tastes like you have tortilla's, beans, and corn all blended into liquid form. It was okay, not the best thing to drink but it warmed us up. So ya that was exchanges.

E Cashin and I realized from our exchange that we need to shorten our visit times with people and make them more frequent throughout the week. That way we can help people keep the commitments they say they will keep. Well the other experience we had was on Sunday. There is this Vietnamese lady who speaks very little English. She has been taught in the past, but she just doesn't understand everything. But a kid in the ward just got back from his mission in Texas speaking Vietnamese. He got all excited when he heard there was a Vietnamese lady in our boundaries. So we went and taught her. Again he pretty much talked to her and elder cashin and I just sat in confusion. But it went really well and she understands things a lot better with him there. So those are the two things that happened this week. Our work here is kinda getting tough. The investigators we have don't really want to do anything to find out the truth. I don't know if they really care. Many have been investigating for years, so we have to approach things a different way so they have a desire to learn and also a desire to do things. Oh hey E Cashin does have good family support so you don't have to worry about him. I guess you could send something small, but I think he'll be good for Christmas. Also I don't think your pictures went through on your email Lynds. It was all weird when I opened it up. Guess I better go. Love you guys and have a great thanksgiving.