Ser Preparado (6/23/2009)

I entitled my e-mail this week because I am actually prepared this week. I wrote down things that I wanted to tell you in my planner so I can actually tell you and not remember 20 minutes after I leave.

Well this week went well. It was definitely cooler. Friday was cloudy pretty much all day. Then it did an Arizona rain where it poured for about 20 minutes and then stopped. I felt like I was at home. We woke up on Sunday, which happens to be the first day of summer, freezing. It was really cold in the apartment; in fact, according to my alarm clock it was about 55°. It was really windy all day Sunday which made for a somewhat of a nippy day. It says on the blog that it is 57° right now but I don't know if that is accurate. I think it’s about in the mid-60's.

To accompany all of this crazy weather, when the sun is out, so are the mosquitoes. I am covered in mosquito bites. I have about 30 or so. Elder Cavaness has about 60 or so. It is crazy. I have never been around so many mosquitoes.

Right now, everyone is talking about the cherries. There are cherries everywhere. I have never seen so many cherries. Everyone is offering us some. They are pretty tart so you can only have so many. Plus I hear they are a natural laxative. I wouldn't really know but that’s what they tell me.

Last week we did a lot of service. I told you about bucking the 4.5 tons of hay on Monday. Thursday we trimmed some hedges for a lady and then helped a family that is moving out move some things out into their family room so they could put it outside the next day for a yard sale. Friday we put those things outside for the yard sale. Saturday, we went to go help those people move but for other reasons they were unable to get a truck so we helped them trim some shrubs and what not. Then yesterday, that family finally got the truck so we helped them load the truck so they could move to Utah today.

Since Elder Cavaness is the district leader he has to go on exchanges with the other six elders in the district. This means I get to go on exchanges with all of the six elders in the district. It’s not that bad. I don't like staying the night somewhere else, it’s just a pain, but I do like when I get to get out and speak Spanish. I realize that when I have to understand what they are saying because I am the only one that speaks Spanish, I can really do it. I can really communicate with them. I wouldn't say I am fluent because I have a lot of improvement to work on but I am fluent in the sense that I can communicate with whomever over whatever. Also, the English elder and I went to this dinner with this lady from Mexico. She gave us this basic dish with beans and a chicken leg and you just take the tortillas and pick the meat off the chicken and put it with some beans in a tortilla and eat it. I didn't think it was very spicy but the elder I was with was crying he thought it was so hot. Evidently I have grown immune to the spice. She later told me that she had used Serrano peppers.

Well, a little update on the work. Nick received the Aaronic priesthood on Sunday. It was really nice. He is just ready for anything we throw at him. He hasn't questioned anything and is excited about everything. It is amazing. We tracted into this older lady last week. When I say older, I mean older. She later mentioned to us that she is 97 but she can still dress herself and I said well we don't need to get into details but that’s awesome. I taught her the first lesson and it went really well. She can't drive so she is always there for our next appointment. We thought things were going really well but once we started asking her to do things like read The Book of Mormon and go to church, we realized that she doesn’t really gather everything up to well. It would be cool to say I baptized a 97 year old lady though.

There is a girl in the Spanish branch that got her call to the Mesa Arizona Visitor Center Mission. She is way excited and leaves July 29th. On Sunday in the English ward, the branch president of the Spanish branch got up in priesthood and asked if there was anyone in the ward that would like to help pay for her because her mom and dad just work in the fields and can't pay too much and she works but doesn’t have enough. I don't know how much of the money they will get because not too many people in the English ward have a lot of money to spare either. I know she will go but I couldn't imagine being in the situation. It is also weird to think that I will be home before her.....sucker.

On Friday, the Spanish branch had a Father’s Day party. They had food and then we watched a movie called Forever Strong. It is really good and I highly recommend it to anyone. I don't know who made it but there are no cuss words and it is very clean, obviously since we watched it but, it’s about the rugby team in a high school in Utah. It is a true story. It talks about a kid that gets caught drunk driving in Flagstaff, AZ and has to go to a rehab place in Utah. He is really good at rugby so he goes to play for this team in Utah and the coach teaches him things about life and he turns his life around. I can't serve it justice; you just need to watch it.

I have to speak in the Spanish branch this week. They didn't give me a topic though. The transfer calls will be this Saturday. I don't think either of us will go. Elder Cavaness just got here the transfer before I did. But, we will see.

Talk to you all later.