P-Day, P-Day, let's hear it for P-Day!‏

June 20, 2011

Ooookay!

This week was pretty fantastic. As it turns out, we didn't actually have our mission conference for some reason or other, but we got to be interviewed by our mission pres., so that was a good experience. He's a great president, I'll miss him. He had a pretty interesting prophecy* for me though^^ At the end of the interview, he asked me how my Spanish was coming, to which I replied that it was coming pretty well. So he said, ''good, because your next companion is going to be Mexican.'' I asked him if he already knew who it was going to be or something (and was a little thrown off, because he won't even be here for my next transfer), and he said, ''no, I just know he'll be Mexican.'' And I said, ''Profecia?'' to which he said simply ''yes.'' Haha pretty interesting, but I guess I'm excited for that, my Spanish will definitely shoot up with a Mexican comp. Already with just a 48 hour split with my district leader, Elder Camacho, I could tell a huge difference in how quickly my Spanish improved. It's frustrating sometimes when I don't know a word or two, or how to form a sentence, but it is pretty rewarding when I start to let the Spanish flow without thinking about it.

But anyway, after the interview, I checked in the office and... Got my package! Wooohooo! So thank you soooo much family for that. Thanks mom and dad! Thanks Braden and Jordan for sharing and the notes! Thanks Gma for the taffy! Thanks for anyone who's idea was the Gardettos!!! Mmmmm, Gardettos... I have been enjoying that package very much, and so have some kids that we teach, my companion, our district, etc. We don't have a toaster for the poptarts, but they are really good frozen too, and just on the go as well, especially for those days that we don't even have time to grab a bowl of cereal. So thank you all mucho!

I also got some dearelders, you know who you are that have been sending them, I'm very grateful for it, and the other Elders in the office are very jealous that I ''still get dear elders!?'' but they say that after a few months I'll stop getting them. Let's prove them wrong, eh?

Let's see, what more, what more... Oh, I had some interesting food this last week. We ate at the bishop's house, and we had chicken. Like, all of the chicken. Chicken stomach, chicken heart, chicken liver, the only thing we didn't eat was the head and the feet, which yes, they also eat over here. Haha but yeah. The heart I'd had before at Toucano's, only it looked a little more... Real... Here^^ The liver was like if you ground up the nastiest meat of the chicken into a sort of paste with the consistency of mashed potatoes, compressed it into a little patty thing, and put some sauce on it. Yeah, I didn't like it much. Haha and the stomach, well... It was interesting. Kinda like the heart. A little chewy, and when it's in your mouth, it just feels like it absolutely shouldn't be in your mouth, but that's alright^^

Now that I've made you all throw up, I want to assure you that there is still PLENTY of absolutely delicious food here, and you should still be jealous. Like today, we had churros again, with lechera inside. Sooo good. Hey Adam, remember 'last chance for chuuuurrrrrooooos!''? I think of that every time I eat them. Haha

What else, what else... We're giving another talk in church this next Sunday. My companion and I are hitting a dry patch of teaching lately too. Like, we set up appointments and nobody is home. Which is a problem with such a huge area because we take about 20 minutes to walk from appointment to appointment. So let's say we have one appointment at 1 in Chiveria (this colony... er... neighborhood I guess is the English equivalent?), and then another at 2 o' clock in Nuevas Esperanzas (otra colonia). So, we head at to the 1 o' clock at around 12:40, get there on time, they aren't there, and then it takes us 20 more minutes to get to the other appointment. So that missed appointment just took roughly 40 or 45 minutes of our time. Now, of course we have back up plans of other people close by, but those don't add up well usually, and yes, we contact people on the way there and back, so it really isn't a waste of time... But there's only so much contacting can do without actually teaching the people.

But I think we're going to put into effect (affect? no recuerdo...) some of the 'finding people' ideas in Preach My Gospel this week, so no worries, I'm sure we'll get out of the dry patch pretty quick, as long as we're doing what we should be.

Other than that, the mission goes well! I'm glad to hear about the home life too, the trip with Uncle Chris sounds fun, dad. The wedding sounds great, tell them congrats if you haven't for me already! I still miss my nephews and niece (soon to be nieces eh? My prophecy was correct^^), hug them for me. It sounds pretty nice though down there, all wet and everything. Pretty sweet. I haven't been out in the rain once here. Kinda funny story about that actually.

One day it was raining kind of hard a week or two ago, and we were just about to leave, and I asked my companion what to do about my books in the bag, asking if they'd get wet. He shrugged and told me not to worry about it, but I was persistent, because I really didn't want to ruin my books, but he just said he didn't know what to do, so we just walked out. On our way out the door, as we were walking under this overhanging roof thing between our house and the other house next to ours, the rain was still going pretty hard, so I was stressing, but... The second we walked out it went from hard rain to a tiny drizzle, and then after a couple minutes down to nothing but cloudy and fresh feeling. That's when my comp. told me that he didn't know what to do about books in the rain because every time it'd been raining for him, it'd stopped when he walked outside. Pretty cool, in my opinion!

Anyway though, on to pictures, hopefully I haven't forgotten anything or anyone... Hope you're all doing fantastically! If any siblings want to send me your email address, I'm pretty sure I can email siblings as well, so yeah**! Oh and if you have any requests as far as pictures or stories go, let me know. 

1. Oohhhh yeah, cereal Americano.

2. Ahhh, Mexico!

3. Two kids that we baptized this month! Very very cool. The older one is 18, so he'll most likely leave on a mission before I come home to Utah!

4. Some ribs with rice (and tortillas, of course^^), soooo good.

5. ''Get that corn outta my face!'' Elote (I think that's how it's spelled), just like in Nacho Libre. Corn, mayo, lime, chile, mmm. Pretty good stuff.

It looks like that's all that'll fit in this email... Huh. I'll send some more in a seperate one then!

p.s. Mom, I did get your package of lemon bars and cookies in the MTC, remember? I thanked you for it. Check my emails^^ Mmm, lemon bars.

Next up we have...

1. The racecar I was surprised to find in my cereal bowl! Don't think I'm childish for putting the stickers on it, I only did it to make it go faster. Fire. Duh!
2. My hair is really getting bleached blonde again. I didn't put gel in my hair that day, so you could really see the blonde.
3. Popcorn that our bishop made for a talent show activity we did in the stake. Tastes almost just like dad's greasy popcorn. Mmm, super good.
4. Train coming! Oooh, danger! Close your eyes, mom!^^
5. My comp. got homesick and wanted to hop the train outta here. Hahaha, and that is a joke, Gma O. and D. No worries^^

Well, that's everything. I love you all a ton! Thank you all for your love and prayers and everything. See you all soon!

Elder DeFreese