Testigos and Outer Space

10/28/13

Ok well this week was good.  Usually my companion and I have some stupid petty argument but this week was all good and pretty dang fun.  I think it’s because we are starting to be able to talk more and also we are starting to have a little bit of fun on the bikes.  Don’t worry, ma, I’m not going crazy.  Also we had 4 baptisms this week, woo!  The family with the mom and 2 sons Fernanda, Bruno, and Santiago that remind me a bunch of Johnny boy and I, and then a man named Albert.

Alright so on Tuesday we had the normal business.  We went to the reunion of the District and learned some missionary stuff.  After that we went to the Familia Sajamas and ate some lunch. There is a food here, called milanesa (not sure how you write it), that is breaded chicken, steak, or fish that is deep fried.  It is super good but we have it a lot.  This is the first time this week.  After lunch we biked for 20 minutes from Parque Americana to the Yaya to our next lesson.  When we got there our investigator didn’t answer the door because it was siesta and she was probably sleeping so we just made our way back to our next lesson where we were in the first place haha. At least I’m getting some good exercise, right?  We went and taught one of our investigators named Albert who is getting baptized this week.  After that we just we and taught some more lessons and then went home for the night.  

On Wednesday we left the pension early because we had a lesson.  So we started biking and on our way I saw 2 things that I thought were super funny.  The first was there was a school with probably 200 kids flying kites.  It looked sweet with all of the kites just hanging out up there.  Haha I was thinking of you pops and your beloved ninja turtle kite.  The second was there was a group of 10 year old kids that ran up to a house, in broad daylight, and rang the doorbell and booked it off.  Haha those little doorbell ditchin rascals.  After our lesson we went to the Guarachis and had some Peruvian food for lunch.  They always make the most interesting things.  I will try and get some pictures and some recipes from them.  Anyways after that we went to Fernanda, Bruno, and Santiago.  We talked to them for a while, and then after our lesson we helped them pick some lemons off of their neighbors lemon tree haha.  After that we went looking for some less active members.  We weren’t having too much luck but we finally found an old grandma and her son who had some mental problems.  We walked in and I asked them if I should shut the door, which I immediately regretted, especially when my comp glared at me haha.... my bad... But they were super nice and not dangerous at all so in the end it was a good thing.  After that we went to another menos activos house and talked to her and her daughter.  They made us More or Less things that were like scones.  The first one that I had made me feel a little sick so I didn’t eat another... until they kept asking me if I wanted another.  So I ate that one trying to give some of it to the dog.  And then when I finished that one they asked me if I wanted another one with Dulce de Leche.  I said no I’m fine but they gave me it anyway haha...  We were heading out the door though so I took one bite and started biking off.  As soon as I was out of sight I threw that bad boy into outer space.  

The next day was Thursday.  I can’t remember what we were doing but we had to bring something to the church.  When we got there my companion needed to use the bathroom so I went and started to play some piano.  After I had learned 2 songs (on the right hand of course...) I realized that we had been there for a while.  I went and checked the time and we had been there for almost 45 minutes!  We had missed one of our appts. And I was so dang pissed cause it was the couple that is like Katy and Dan.  So I went and told my comp who was looking at some church stuff on the computer and he told me that it was too late and that we weren’t going out to tract because it was too late and we were going to lunch in 30 minutes.  I told him that he is wasting his time and mine watching videos that we have both seen multiple times and that we need to go work a bit before lunch. So we went out to work.  Woo! I’m learning how to stand up for myself haha.  I was stoked about this but bummed that we missed the leccion.  

Anyways the day after that was pretty normal.  We went to lunch and had Milanese.  This is the second time. We went to a recent convert and taught, after that to albert’s to teach him a little bit more before his baptism and then after that to Fernanda, Bruno, and Santiagos to teach them a little bit more before their baptism too.  

The next day was Friday.  We went to an early morning leccion again and the girl had been reading so much.  We told her to read 1 chapter but she read the testimonies, and a couple of chapters. (Remember this, it is important for later...) It makes our job so dang much easier to teach if they do their homework.  After that we went and had some real good lunch (Milanesa for the 3rd time) and then we went back to the church to do intercambios for the day.  I was going to a different Area with the Zone Leader Elder Prestwich while the 4 of our investigators were being interviewed for baptism and until the next day after lunch.  Elder Prestwich is a baller and I have done an intercambio with him before.  He is the one who reminded me about Affirmations.  I feel like he is an old wise man so I was just trying to soak up all of the wise words that were spilling out of his mouth.  We went to Alejandro Korn and went to go get their bikes that were being fixed.  He had his bike and I had his companions.  Unfortunately his companion is 6 foot 7" and his seat went up about my bellybutton but according to the bro-code I cant change the seat height or position so I just kept it where it was and I was biking the whole time on my tiptoes ha-ha. Elder Prestwich is super energetic so it was fun to see him on the bike jumping over stuff and doing all of these sweet tricks the whole time.  We went to a house that had this apple juice container out front.  He told me that the family makes super good apple juice and that after our lesson we could ask for some.  After our lesson he told me to drink some of the apple juice.  As I walked up to it he started laughing and told me that it wasn’t apple juice but pee samples and that I probably shouldn’t touch it.  I wasn’t going to drink it, I knew that something was up, but I just find it strange that they leave their pee samples outside for everyone to see. Haha anyways after that we went to a menos activos house that looked like a castle.  It was so awesome.  Usually people spend their money on their items in their house and not their house so they have a huge plasma and surround sound but water is dripping through the roof.  But this was the opposite.  Super modest inside but the house was way awesome.  After we talked to them we went to a couple’s house named Marcel y Janina.  They were super super friendly and right off the bat were giving me Rice pudding.  I love it here.  It always reminds me of the Merkley Family party rice pudding and for some reason the Argentines love it too.  Anyways they gave me that and then some fresh bread that they baked and then they taught me how to make it.  They showed me their garden and everything that they planted in it.  They told me that there are a bunch of blackberries here but most of the people hate them and don’t even bother picking them! haha what a waste! I am hoping that I get transferred to an area with blackberry bushes growing on the side of the road sometime in my mission.  Anyways we started to teach them a lesson and they were asking all of these super super deep questions.  It wasn’t until after that I found out that they weren’t baptized because she was married and didn’t get divorced and now they are looking for the guy to make the divorce official so they could get baptized.  Holy so chaotic...  After that we went back to her mom’s house (the castle) and they gave me a sandwich.  I started to eat it and after the second bite they all started to laugh.  When I asked what was so funny they told me that it was cow tongue...  Haha gosh dang those sneaky Argentines sneaking different meats in my meal when I’m not paying attention.  It was actually pretty dang good though so I’m not complaining. 

Haha anyways.  In Korn here are some interesting things that happened to me:

I watched a guy on a horse race a car on the street.

I had a bug fly straight in my mouth while I was biking

And I saw a way sweet flying Pegasus hood ornament

The next day we went and taught some more lessons in Korn.  At lunch we went and had Milanesa with eggs (4th time) and then we booked it back to Guernica.  When I got to Guernica, my companion and I booked it to the church because we had classes of English with Fernanda.  We had 8 people show up and he spent an hour and a half trying to teach them basic English.  It turned out pretty well, especially because Fernanda was studying to be an English teacher.  (Thanks again Megs for your help.)  After our classes of English we had our baptisms!

We had close to 70 people show up for the baptism, which is more than we usually have in sacrament. The only problem was that they all wanted pictures with the people being baptized so it took forever to actually baptize them haha. The first baptism that I did was super easy.  Santiago was a little kid, super light and easy.  The second was a bit harder.  I baptized Albert who was about my height and weight.  I put him under the water and then I lost my footing.  So I was trying to lift him but I only had one foot planted and I almost completely slipped and fell in but I got him up just in time.  He was super super happy and started to cry I didn’t know what to do so I just sat there and patted him on the back for a little.  After I found out that I almost killed the guy because his head was an inch away from the wall and a couple people thought he drilled his head and that is why he was crying haha. But I didn’t so... don’t worry. It was a mad house trying to change with only 2 stalls to change in the men’s and 6 people who needed to change. But things turned out well.  After that they were having a party at Fernanda’s house and they invited us but we figured that we better not.  So we just went home and made some Merkley family sloppy joes.  

On Sunday we had a normal day.  We went to church.  I taught the lesson in 2nd class and then we went to priesthood and to lunch.  After lunch we taught a couple of lessons.  In one of these lessons we were talking about the girl who had been reading a lot.  I told the member that we were teaching how much progress her friend was making and how she had been reading the "3 testigos" (3 testimonies) what I really said was "3 testiculos" (3 testicles).  Ya... things got real awkward after that. Haha gosh dang you Spanish and all of your same sounding words. After that to the Guaratchis and talked to them about getting married and now they are seriously considering it, with us as the people who pronounce them man and wife haha.  That would be so sweet if I could do it.  Anyways they gave us some hot chocolate and then we went home for the night.  

Haha if you count how many times I had milanesa this week I think that I had it 4 or 5 times for lunch this week out of the 7 days.  I’m not sure why but this week everybody decided to make it for lunch.

Thanks for everything. This is about it for the week.  I love you guys, I hope that everything is going well.

ANDY

My Testimony Has Learned Spanish Along With the Rest of Me!

Most of Coleman's letter is responding to these questions that I asked him and also responds to Leena telling a boy in her class that she loves him and he said he loves her:

So, how is the fruit launching going?  And the “challenges”?  I hope you had a good week and learned a lot.  Here are a few questions to answer:

*What were you doing at 2:00 yesterday?

*How are your “conversions” going with your fake investigators?

*How is your companion?

*Any diarrhea this week?

*Did you see Megan before she left?

*What is the best spiritual moment of the week?

*What is the funniest thing you did?

*Who have you learned the most from?

*Best email/story from one of your friends?

*Best surprise?

*How has your testimony grown?

*Are you excited for Texas?

*How is your Spanish coming?

Haha, the time has flown, and also not flown at all. It crawls but flies, its redonk. I did get that package so thank you so much!! Haha, we are stoked for our Halloween party on Sunday, its gonna get real weird here. That is a pretty crazy story haha, the package did somehow get here safe and sound though, which is sweet.

Haha, Leena's Boify needs ta back off haha at least for 2 years until I can give him an interview. Haha, too bad about D's game, those are the worst. Sounds like everyone was doing their own little thing at home haha, as usual.

Haha, of course you told the Missionaries my life story, just like everyone you meet haha. The fruit launching is really good, it gets some fun into the boring days. No more challenges, one of our teacher's got mad at us, so those stopped.

2pm yesterday was real weird. more about that later. Why specifically then haha?

The "investigators" are going good, I am kinda sick of teaching fake ones, I just want to talk to real people.

My comp is the same haha, no differences this week.

No diarrhea, just average. Everyday I eat special K with a sliced up banana, and some yogurt for breakfast, so I guess that keeps me regular or something.

I did see Megan, I talked to her for a little while before she left so that was good, I have some pictures.

We do this cool thing where everyone writes down a question they have and then we randomly open up the BoM randomly and read like 10 verses and everyone's question is answered.

I can't really remember what was the funniest, my district gets real weird sometimes and we all have fun all the days, so maybe everything.. (sorry for the cop out, but you can't do anything about it haha).

My teachers are really great, and they teach me a lot, but I love to talk to the Native Latinos and so we can learn how to talk like a normal person instead of a missionary robot.

Probably the best thing I have received in email was this quote about football, "So if you forgot the football rules, here they are: Basically, there's three grabbers, three taggers, five twig runners, and a player at Whackbat. Center tagger lights a pine cone and chucks it over the basket and the whack-batter tries to hit the cedar stick off the cross rock. Then the twig runners dash back and forth until the pine cone burns out and the umpire calls hotbox. Finally, you count up however many score-downs it adds up to and divide that by nine." Hahaha, I died when I got that. 

There is a great group email going, but not a ton of stories haha, just little jokes and that kind of mischief.

My testimony has learned Spanish along with the rest of me, and I dont know how to give it or pray in English anymore it is weird.

Um Am I excited for TEXAS?!? Do you have to ask?? HAha, yes, I decided the first thing I am going to do  is eat all the crappy fast food I can find in the airport.

Spanish is awesome, I can understand a ton. On the way to the temple I sat next to a native and talked to him the whole way, it was way chill.

I have to get back on the email Sunday and Monday, so you'll hear from me then.

Love ya'll,

Cole

 Last Photo Op with Cousin Megan!!

 The Elder in the middle has emailed Eliza!!  Cole showed him her picture and he is a teacher at the CCM!

Our teacher made the rules for the computers, so I am on the posters in every lab forever, its pretty cool.

"One of the guys in my district is way good at drawing, so I snuck the caption in there haha." Rough Translation: Do not erase, Jesus is watching!

 These are some of the ballin natives i love to talk to.

Cole's friend from Brighton, Makenzie Maxfied.

Follow up email to questions about his week:

Friday- So my class in the morning was pretty yucky, but then the Afternoon was way awesome. There were like 100,000,000 fireworks that went off at 5 am so I was way tired all day.

Saturday- More Fireworks at 5, it sounds like world war three, supes hard to stay awake all day.

Sunday- More fireworks, I said goodbye to Megan.

Monday- Nothing Happened. Haha, like literally nothing.

Tuesday- Today was super frustrating. Let the story begin... So our district has a goal to only speak Spanish all day, no English words. there are 10 people, 8 elders who all live in the same house, and 2 hermanas. All the dudes have done 100% Spanish like 6 times, but the hermanas wouldn't do it. It was so frustrating, so when they didn't do it, we all walked out the door and were kinda yelling about it (we are competitive haha don't judge) and they could hear, so everyone was pretty mad at each other and there was a lot of contention. I also sat next to Makenzie Maxfield at the devotional.

Wednesday- Our teacher that we set the goal with made us talk about how we were all pissed at each other, so that took like 4 hours and pretty much everyone was crying and sniffling and whatnot. It was weird.

Thursday- AKA today, I went to the temple, talked to a native on the bus the whole way. It was sweet to go to the temple because I could understand almost everything in Spanish they were saying.

Mother's Day

10/21/13 

Hey there everyone. 

Last Monday we didn’t really do too much my comp had hurt his leg a couple weeks back so when the other Elders went to go do stuff we just sat in the pension.  So he studied the alphabet while I wrote in my journal and some letters and whatnot.  Later we were getting a bit hungry so he called around and we mooched lunch off of some members.  I was freakin starving when we got there so I was stoked to see that they had way good meat and some mashed potatoes for us.  After that we went to the places with computers but all of them were closed cause it was a holiday so we strolled around looking for a place to write some letters and ended up in the church writing emails.  After that we went to an investigator’s house for a night at home where we played a game and related a lesson to it.  It was real great.

On Tuesday we didn’t really do too much, a lot of our lessons dropped us and were busy and whatnot so we were looking for something good to do.  We did have a lesson that day with a couple that reminds me a bunch of Dan and Katy.  They love the outdoors and have a couple of dogs and a bunch of birds and they built their own house.  While I was there Maxi (the Guy) caught, with his bare hands, a snake, a frog, and 2, count em, 2 flies with his bare hands!  Haha I didn’t think that it was possible!  Haha it was so crazy.  I felt like I was watching a magic show the whole time.  I had my jaw dropped the whole time, gaping in amazement as he caught all of this stuff and then let me touch it.  After that we went and taught a lesson to a guy who had drug problems and a bit of schizophrenia.  It is super interesting but he is trying to do his best to overcome his problems.  After that we went to a super good investigator who is living with a family.  This family had one of their kids pass away last week from an accident in the house so everybody is pretty shaken up.  We taught them a little bit and tried to give them a bit of comfort.  After that they asked us if we could give them a blessing of health because they were worried for the kids who were there during the accident.  My companion blessed the house and 2 people and then I got to bless 2 of the kids.  I was a little shaky but I think I did half decent and I hope it helped them.

The next day we did our usual Wednesday schedule.  Study, fruit and veggie market, and then to a danky lunch with the Guarachis.  They are super super generous and were giving us all of these Peruvian candies and then we had a good lunch with them.  In our pension we have a map.  And on this map there is an area that looks like a bomb of red went off.  The red is menos activos (less actives.)  So our bishop asked us to go there for the day and see who we can try and bring back to church.  We went and clapped at a bunch of houses but not too many were there.  We were biking down a street and a random guy called out to us Elders ‘come in come in.’ I was all for it and started to head in but my companion scolded me and told me that we have no clue who this guy is or what he wants or if he is crazy.... which he was a tiny bit.  We chatted with him for a bit and he had us for juice and cookies and then we were on our merry way.  This week was mother’s day so the mothers were having an activity at the church.  And where there is an activity with all mothers, there is an activity with food.  Haha jk we went to go talk to the friends and family of the mothers who weren’t members... and for the food.  But that was a super successful night.  We had a bunch of investigators show up and were making friends with the members and all that good stuff.  

The next day was great.  We went and taught that family that had the accident in their house and the dad had been reading about the after life and he told us that he was happy to know where his son was.  We taught a super danky lesson and then we went and taught the friend.  The mom of that family was sick too so we gave another blessing to her for health.  Then after that we went to our investigators house, the Guaratchis because it was the dads (Victor) birthday.  We went and helped them set up the things for dinner and had chicken and cow heart shiskabobs again.  So dang good.  They were slow roasted over coals with potatoes.  I’m gonna learn how to make it for when I get home.  But he ate and relaxed and bought him a hat for his birthday.  I’m a fan of the Jazz, and being a fan of the Jazz, I hate the Lakers.  When we were buying the hat my companion bought a Lakers hat and we couldn’t return it so I had to give one of my investigators a hat with a team that I despise on it.  But as long as he doesn’t know the significance of it I guess it’s alright. 

On Friday we planned and had a lesson with Fernanda, Bruno, and Santiago (the family that reminds me of John and I) and then after that I’m not really to sure what we did, sorry everyone.  I’m pretty sure we went to the church to get stuff ready for mothers day but don’t quote me on that.

On Saturday we woke up and studied.  We realized that our presents for the mothers weren’t ready so we made them cookies as fast as possible.  Ma, thanks for training me for years cause I made those bad boys in 10 minutes flat.  They turned out super good so I was stoked and then we printed out pictures of the 2 of us that said Feliz dia de Madre on them and gave them to a select few of the mothers in our ward.  We went to Maxi and Macarenas and taught them a lesson about why we are here on the earth.  After that we had lunch and then we went on to Santiago the guy with mental challenges.  After that it was 6 and there was nothing for us to do.  Everybody was gone. And the people that were there didn’t have time.  So we went to the bishop’s house and had a meeting with him.  And things went well.  I haven’t seen his wife for over a month and a half because she just had a baby but when we were talking I could understand a good chunk so I was super stoked and she even commented on how much more I can understand, woo!  

Sunday was Mother’s Day here in Argentina.  We went and did the usual badness in church and then during the 3rd section we went and helped prepare 25 pizzas for the mothers and the families.  We ran out of supplies so we had to go lean but it turned out well and people didn’t eat all of the pizzas so we ended up with 5 pizzas.  After that my companion didn’t want to go out because he was worried that there would be churros in the street because on holidays people get all drunk and riled up. So he wanted to go back to the pension and study but it was 4 so I told him I had some addresses and let’s go knocking.  So we went out and we met a bunch of the people and saw a bunch of the drunken people hanging out. My companion hates doing this but I love it so I had a good day.  When we were trying to contact there are super super stong Catholics and they always say no no no and are pretty crazy about the whole thing.  Anyways we were trying to get directions to a house and she just kept interrupting me.  As she was walking away into the sunset on the dusty road she said "Chau Papi" to me.  Haha I don’t know why I think that this is so funny.  I just never thought that I would see a 90 year old call me Papi.  It is making me chuckle right now as I sit here writing this email.

I found out this week that Argentina has a day for everything.  They love just taking the day off and making it impossible to do anything.  For example, I found out this week that they have a day for your dog and cat.  This isn’t the same day. This is 2 different holidays.  Haha crazy Argentines.  

Some good news for this week is that we got bikes again!  I’m stoked because it is a bit more exercise for us but sometimes it is so hot and I feel like the witch in the wizard of oz but instead of water it is boiling lava on my skin.  

Speaking of bikes this week when we were stopping at an investigators house I was trying to get off my bike, but the ground here is dirt and not even.  There was a huge chunk of dirt just completely missing, and when I say a huge chunk I mean a foot wide and a foot deep just completely gone, and next to this missing chunk of ground is a cactus like plant. I somehow planted my foot perfectly in this hole and fell straight into the cacti plant.  I got some pretty good battle scars.  But who cares?  Chicks dig scars, right?  They will just have to wait another two years to see them...

Anyways this is all of me for this week.  I love you guys and I hope everything is going well.

Love,

Andy

Tacos, Fresh Peanut Butter, and Intestines

10/14/13 

We had the loudest thunder this week.  It would strike and rumble for 5 seconds and then happen again and just pouring rain the whole time. 

This week was pretty good.  A couple of rough patches but all is good now. This week we got a new Elder in the Pension.  He has been out for almost 20 months but he is new to our pension.  I am getting used to being the tallest person here but with him around it is the exact opposite.  I think he is about 6 foot 10 in.  He is so dang tall, but super nice and positive.  

On Monday we didn’t really do anything.  It was PDay and my comp slept all day.  

On Wednesday we went and ate lunch with the Familia Guaratchi (haha I found out this week that the Huaratchi family is actually spelled with a G... Not an H...  My bad...)  We ate this Peruvian food—way good but the meat was different.  I found out after that it was because it was the utter of a cow.  But too late now to be grossed out since I already ate it.  After that we went and taught a family with a single mom and 2 boys that are exactly like Johnny boy and I were, only better behaved and speak Spanish.  The older one is taller and a twig and loves doodling and soccer and the other is shorter, a bit bigger, and is starting to swim.  Anyways, we had our first lesson with them and it was so dang good.  She went to General Conference even though she isn’t Mormon and she loved it and wanted to hear more.  We taught the lesson and I invited her to be baptized and she accepted!  We ended up teaching for 3 1/2 hours—that is like watching all of King Kong but instead of watching a giant monkey fight dinosaurs you are talking about the church the whole time. But it flew by so I guess that’s a good thing, right?  We missed all of our other appointments so then we went to look for a reference.  The clouds were dark black as far as the eye could see so we were trying to hurry.  We got a little bit lost and we had to ask for directions from these 2 churros.  I thanked them for their help and then they said, "Hey my sister and mom are inside and are Mormon.  Do you want to talk to them?"   So we went into their house and started talking to their sister.  They both told us that they were not interested and we were never going to change their minds.  And then, the rain started dumping.  It was so much rain it’s ridiculous.  The thunder was for seconds and the rain was trickling in through the tin roof.  It was pretty relaxing to listen to the rain hitting the roof though.  In this house were 3 little kids, 2 people who don’t like Mormons, 2 hoodlums, and 2 Mormons.  How much do we have in common?  Not much. So I started to talk about the 2 things that all Argentines love—food and soccer.  It just so happens that I love those too! So it was pretty easy to have a conversation and they all started warming up.  They bought us some bread at a store next door and made us some mate in the little tea bags.  But we chatted it up and then they told us that they were playing soccer on Monday for one of their birthdays and that they are eating asado too and they wanted us to come.  Woo!  What’s not to like about that?  After that we got a taxi and went home.

On Thursday we did the normal routine, wake up, exercise, bathroom, shower, shave, study for 3 hours, and then go to a member’s house to talk a bit and have lunch.  After lunch we had a lesson at 2:30 and then all of our other lessons dropped us.  So we went to a member’s house and just sat there.  I was kinda bugged because my comp was just talking to them because we only have so much time so I just pulled out my list and started studying.  We got a reference (Laura and Santiago) from the family and we went and visited them and it turned out pretty good.  Santiago is the son and has some drug problems and also has a bit of schizophrenia so they asked us if we could help.  We gave a lesson (and by we I mean my comp) and then after that they told us how much hope they have now.  Man it makes me so happy when people tell me things like that.  

The next day I was on splits with Elder Stowell (Cam Stowell from little league football.)  We went to lunch and to go meet up with our normal comps but there was all sorts of confusion and I accidentally called one of our investigators and I couldn’t understand them and so I asked them if our appointment was at 5:30 and then they said something and I couldn’t understand them and then they said something else and then I didn’t understand that and then they said something like "we can try for 5:30, it is more difficult for us but if you can’t at any other time..."  So I didn’t know what to do or how to respond to that because I guess I wrote it in my planner wrong so it was just all chaos trying to get them to understand what I was saying, but in the end we got it all figured out.  After that we went and taught the Fernanda, Bruno, and Santiago (the duplicates of john and I) and things were great there again.  And then we went to the Guarachi Familias house and they fed us dinner.  They gave us shiskabobs of chicken and beef.  And then they gave me another kind of meat and when I started eating it they all started to laugh.  The first beef was cow heart and the second was intestines.  Haha man after my mission I’m going to have eaten every possible part of a cow.  The heart was actually pretty dang good though.  Also they gave us presents that night.  They knew that I loved honey so they bought a huge thing of honey and just gave it to me.  Man I love the people here. 

On Saturday we went to a member’s house and made tacos.  My companion is kinda bossy sometimes and so he was saying stuff like "What are you doing?" "You’re doing that wrong” and all that, but guess who ate 5 tacos?  My companion.  The family told me that they loved it and they want me to cook again, woo!  After that there was a Stake activity so we went to that.  They wanted us and the members to go out and do street contacting and see how easy it is to share the gospel.  I did this before but this time there was a catch—I had to be in charge of a group of 14-17 year old kids.  The other catch was my companion wasn’t with me.  Haha it was like a zoo.  They were so stoked about it, they were just bookin it with pamphlets from store to store, person to person.  I couldn’t control them at all.  I felt like I was in one of Asher’s baseball games again.  But in the end it turned out pretty good.  We got 2 references and handed out 1 book of Mormon and 60 more people received pamphlets haha.  

Sunday was Fast Sunday.  The familia Guarachi invited one of their nonmember friends named Henry who is Columbian and he had this sweet bag.  I told him that I liked his bag and then we went into the meeting.  Church was good.  I bore my testimony, probably didn’t make sense but I give it an A for effort, right?  After church we went to lunch and taught a lesson and after that we went to the Guaratchis.  Henry was there and the first thing he did was hand the bag to me, the one he had at church, and said "Here, this bag is for you..."  haha So dang nice.  Literally the second time that I have ever seen him and he gave me his backpack.  We taught him a super long lesson and then we went to the bishops and then home. 

Today, we just relaxed, went to a member’s house and had some asado.  I was so dang hungry so this was the perfect thing to end on.

In other news I don’t know why but I wanted to have a little PB&J here but there is no Peanut butter to be found so we went to the store and bought some peanuts and made some fresh Peanut Butter. It isn’t that good but it will have to do for now.  

Oh also about my companion.  He is from Chiclayu Peru and is a 3 year convert to the church.  He is 25 and was an electrician before the mission.  He has been dating a girl who is also a convert for the past 8 years and I’m pretty sure they have a house already.  

Crazy story for the week:

I saw a record breaking 4 normal sized people on 1 motorcycle!  Man I still cannot believe it.  They were so scrunched on there, it is ridiculous.  

We are having classes of English in a week and I have no clue how to teach or what the heck we are gonna do or who is gonna show up.  So if you have any tips for teaching English, let me know. 

Good luck out there.  I hope all is well.  I love you guys.

Love-Andy