Week 52 - 1 Year!

Pretty slow week compared to last week, but it still had its moments.

So probably the highlight of my week happened on Monday when I ate lunch. So I’ve been craving Mexican food like a pregnant lady craves weird stuff.  So we went to lunch at a food court type place, and they had Mexican food. So obviously that’s what I got.  I got 2 beef burritos and a huge bowl of nachos.  Not nearly worth the money, and not nearly as good as Taco Bell even, but so worth it to eat. I miss Mexican food a lot. I even had a Mexican companion but we never cooked Mexican food.  How sad is that?  Anyway, after a fantastic start to the week with that scrumptious meal, not much else happened Monday.

Tuesday I had to do a division with the district leader and his kid.  But first we had to have district meeting and the zone leaders ended up showing up way late but of course we had to wait for them and then our practices went long so we didn’t end up starting the division until like 12:30.  I went with the new guy, Elder Tauilili from Utah.  He has been out almost 2 changes now (Note:  changes are every 6 weeks).  We went to lunch and then back to the house for language study and then into the street.  We did some contacting and visited some less active families before meeting up with their ward mission leader to do a visit.  It turned into this guy talking for an hour and a half and saying how we don’t need to learn everything at once but he touched on every subject of the lessons you could imagine and didn’t let us get in a single word edge wise.  So that was something.  Then while we were waiting to go visit another investigator, Elder Stopper and the district leader rolled up as it was time to change back.  So I ended my division a little early, and by 8 o’clock I was back with my companion. One of the nicest, easiest divisions I have ever done.  We grabbed some food and then went home.

Unfortunately I got a little sick later that night, nothing stomach related, but I had a terrible sore throat and sinus pain again.  I have it at least once a month, if not more, ever since I got really sick last summer. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if I still had my tonsils. It just sucks more than anything -- nothing too serious.

Wednesday we had lunch with the Bishop and my comp was ecstatic.  So ever since I got here, he has been going on and on about this Ecuadorian dish, Patacones.  And on Wednesday, he finally got the chance to make them. The issue was he needed platanos (Note:  a type of banana) and he couldn’t find them here, but there is a member from Peru and he grows them and they were finally ready so he gave some to my comp and we ate with the bishop.  What you do is peel them like a banana and then cut them into slices and fry them a little bit and then dunk them in salt water and finish frying them.  It’s kinda like an Ecuadorian french fry I guess.  It was pretty good.  Although I’ll stick with my potatoes.  

Later that night we had a quite unusual ward mission meeting as we got locked out of the church and nobody could find the keys so we sat outside on these fire hydrant looking things and talked and cut up paper to use as invitations to our movie night on Friday.  Recently our ward mission leader has decided that to get more members involved and coming to church and to reactivate less-actives, we need to do activities.  So its soccer on Wednesday nights, movie night on Fridays, and English class on Saturdays.  Unfortunately, they didn’t go so hot this week. For the first time since I’ve been here, soccer didn’t have a lot of people and ended early.  Movie night only one family came, and English class was planned for the same hour as the huge soccer game, so that was poorly attended as well.  We are hoping for more success next week.

That about wraps up this week. This upcoming week I hit my year mark, and my trainer goes home.  So that is a little weird. I’m getting old in the mission, even if I don’t feel it yet.  

We also have interviews this week, so it’s gonna be quite something.  I’m sure I’ll have some things to write next week.

Well, I love all you guys and hope that you have a great week.

Take care,

Elder Frost

Week 51

Pretty crazy week actually. So hopefully I’m not forgetting anything.

It started out on Monday when I had to go into Asuncion for an interview. And I am proud to say it will be the last interview for me. So it’s not really a secret I had stuff to take care of before the mission, and I thought I was all good but after reading Miracle of Forgiveness I felt bad so I went in and talked with my mission president about some stuff and last Monday was my final interview.  I now officially have a clean slate. Sidenote:  Miracle of Forgiveness is a great book, but I hate how it makes me feel and I vow to never read it again, well… at least for the foreseeable future.

Now on to the week.  So after a wonderful p-day -- well an average p-day but I was feeling high after my interview -- I‘m on my last bus ride home and I get pick pocketed. So that was a downer. I feel like I’m pretty aware of my surroundings so it did come as a bit of a shock that it happened but there was also nothing I could have done as it happened on a bus that was far beyond packed. I couldn’t even breathe without chest bumping somebody. Anyway, on this bus I got pick pocketed or rather they opened up one of the pockets on my backpack and took what was inside. And, yes, unfortunately they happened to pick the only pocket with anything of value. They got my camera. So that sucked. Luckily, I have sent most of my pictures to my dad so those are saved. Sadly my videos of karaoking are forever lost, so you guys will unfortunately not get to see me dancing to “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus.  Sorry about that. 

Anyway, after that sucky news, we get home and get a call saying that tomorrow, Tuesday, the Hermanas are coming to live in the other house in our area and are splitting our area.  This after just earlier on Monday we were told we had til changes in February to get the house ready and everything. Well that plan got changed rather fast. So we scrambled and got ready and headed out to meet them at the church. So then we go and help them set up their house as everything was in pieces all over the house and nothing was organized. We finally got them all settled in, more or less, and then we went to lunch.  So we spent most of this week showing the Hermanas the area and introducing them to the members.  Well, we quickly became replaceable as everyone was super excited the Hermanas were here and everyone wanted to do stuff with them. Ha ha. 

Also, some people were worried about their safety, but that won’t be an issue. As soon as they came, I became the third toughest person in Anahi. One of the Hermanas played rugby for BYU and the other has fought Muy Tai. So, ya, no worries there.

Then we finally did the girls’ birthday brownies, and they turned out great so that was awesome. I didn’t wanna disappoint.

Also, our clothes lady is back, which is awesome as I don’t have to wash my own clothes anymore and that is going to be a huge blessing. Unfortunately, she was also robbed while she was away. So we gave her our fan that we weren’t using anymore to try and help a little.

The highlight of the week though was on Sunday night we were visiting a less active member and he was watching the American football games.  So I got to watch part of both games.  So legit. It should be a great Superbowl. So good for you guys, sucky for me.  Anyway, I‘m sure I‘m forgetting stuff, but mostly I got pickpocketed and the Hermanas wrapped up a crazy week. But the people are excited and want to do visits and help us, so that will be a plus for the rest of this change.

Love you guys and take care,

 

Elder Frost

 

Week 50

So this week was actually a pretty good one. It was also by far the best week I have had - mission wise and success wise - with Elder Stopper.

But first, this week, like all weeks, began with p-day.  This p-day, in a slight change of pace, we played basketball instead of soccer. It also had to be quite the sight to see 10 missionaries jumping the fence as we couldn’t get the gate open.  Anyway, we finally did play, and it was the same old game from Frost.  I can drive on anybody and still can’t finish at the rim.  So sad.  My only points came from jump shots and my dirty Chris Paul or the floater in the lane after a crossover. I sadly let my country down as my team lost to a team of only Latins.  My man scored the winning points.  But to be fair, he did throw it over his shoulder, no look, with his back to the basket.  No idea how it dropped, but such is life.  Anyway, after that just did a normal p-day.

We went as a big group to Pizza Hut and ate their buffet.  It cost 22 mil or roughly 4 bucks for all you can eat. They definitely lose money when we roll in. 

Also this week, I had to do my own laundry as our laundry lady still hasn’t come back from her Christmas trip.  I was out of clothes.  I will never have a problem doing laundry in the States again.  I miss my machines!  So after sweating and slaving away to clean my shirts, which were really dirty, I hung them up to dry.  And 15 minutes later it starts to rain.  I had a good laugh, but I can’t wait for the States again. Ha ha. 

We also played a lot of soccer this week, and for the first time in forever I played really well.  I’m finally getting used to playing with the ball in my feet and in tight areas.  The skills I’ve learned here, I woulda killed for in high school.  It woulda made me such a better player.  But oh well.  There’s always rec leagues and intramurals.

Then Thursday, we had a zone meeting. I don’t know if I have talked about my extreme dislike for zone meetings before, but if I didn’t, I really dislike them. I think they are pointless and a waste of my time.  All it is is leaders telling us to do stuff we already know.  Then they do not give us any solutions or ideas on how to do it better.  Well, this last week’s district meeting took the cake.  I went from thinking it was pointless to,”Tthis is the stupidest meeting I have ever been a part of.”  The president and the APs literally live in a whole different world if they think their ideas are good or going to do anything.  So stupid.  I literally felt dumber after sitting there. 

On the bright side, some of my mission buddies got transferred into my zone.  So seeing them again was cool. After the meeting, we went to McDonalds for lunch.  I got a double with bacon and a McFlurry. So worth it! 

The next day, me and my companion were passing the church and stumbled upon a fight.  The 2 dumbest members I have ever met, nobody likes them, invited some of their friends to play soccer at the church.  And of course, they started a fight.  So dumb.  So for the first time in my life I was separating a fight started by soccer, instead of instigating it.  Not gonna lie.  I prefer the other side.  Ha ha.  Breaking up fights is no fun. 

After that we continued our walk to the Sasanumas.  They are the Japanese family in our ward.  They were all together for a party.  So that was cool!  They are some of my favorite members in the ward.  Also, the mission is renting a house next to theirs for the new missionaries that are coming in February.  So we took care of that as well.  The next morning we got a call from the mission office telling us that the mission wanted to move the furniture and stuff into the other house.  So off we went.  It went fine and pretty fast actually.  They got all new stuff, which we were jealous about, and we may steal some of their appliances and replace them with ours - ha ha.

Also, I tried making brownies for this girl’s birthday, except our oven is terrible.  And she wanted to learn how, so I bought all the stuff.  We were gonna cook it there at the restaurant her mom owns.  Well, we get there and they don’t have gas.  So we wait, and wait, and wait, and they finally say that the gas isn’t coming.  So that was a fun night.  Ha ha.  But it was good to just chat and hang out for a bit.

Also Sunday I had a talk about the mission work.  Basically, I implored the members to do their part as we need their help.  Apparently it came across harsher than I wanted, as everyone commented about it.  But they all did say it was good, and they were gonna help more.  So hopefully that happens.  Not much else happened this week.  We did have our first investigator in church, but I’m not going to talk about that until next week because I don’t want to jinx it.

Love you guys and take care,

 

Elder Frost

Week 49

So I had an interesting week. Mainly cuz it was my birthday and then New Years and well… the holiday season is just weird in a foreign country. So I’ll start with my birthday as it was Monday.

So the original plan was to eat someplace and then go bowling.  Well, come to find out bowling is expensive!  So we decided to just eat some place nice. Well the nicest place we could think of is TGIFridays. Ya ha ha. But hey it was really good. So it was Elder Anderson, Elder Bailon, Elder Mejia, Elder Anderl, and myself. It was a really good time just laughing and hanging out with your buddies and eating some good food. Elder Anderson bought me some wings as a birthday present. Well if you can call them wings they were the saddest little things I’ve ever seen.  Definitely not bdubs (buffalo wild wings). Then I ordered a fat steak in Jack Daniels sauce. SO good.  I’ve missed steak. Texas roadhouse…. I’m coming. 1 more year!

Anyway and then Elder Anderson and Elder Anderl told the waitress we were there for my birthday like 10 times and they didn’t do anything… so I ordered dessert.  I got these 2 giant ice cream Oreo sandwiches.  So good!  Now I’m full and have spent way more than I should have.  But now, the waitresses decide to come for my birthday.  They made me stand up, dance and sing.  It was funny.  Then they gave me ice cream and a brownie.  That was still good, but I was so full.  

I finally rolled my way out the door and we got on a bus and went to the cyber.  Then we just hung out at Elder Andersons house to end the night.  It was about as good of a birthday as you can have in the mission. I got lucky my birthday fell on a p-day and the day we got money.  Well lucky in the short term.  I’m feeling pretty broke right now actually. Ha ha.  But so worth it.

The next day we had to go to the office for an interview.  So that day went pretty quick.  It was also New Year’s Eve, so we partied that night.  But a couple other things first. I ate gummy bears and donuts for lunch.  Who said you couldn’t eat junk food for every meal when you were a kid.  Then we saw a girl get robbed on the bus ride home. 

So instead of homeless people begging for money like in the states, in Paraguay you have people who get on buses and try to sell stuff, or just ask for money and give you a piece of paper explaining why you should give them money.  Well one of these guys did and he looked sketchy.  In the end, as soon as the bus stopped he grabbed a cell phone out of a girl’s hand and ran off the bus.  Elder Stopper and I both almost jumped off, but our door was closed and I don’t know if beating up a thief is the most missionary thing to do. Ha ha.  But we thought about it.

Then we went back and bought supplies for the New Year’s Eve party.  We just did a BBQ and watched fireworks with our neighbors and landlord.  Anyway, it’s was just Christian, a recently returned missionary and his sister.  It was a lot of fun!  Good food and some laughs.  It honestly wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.

The next day the world was literally a ghost town.  Not even the dogs that normally attack us were in the street. Nothing was moving at all.  We went to lunch at the bishop’s, and they were just waking up.  So while we were waiting for them to cook something I saw part of the rose parade on the TV - just keeping tradition alive.  In our house tradition (which was started by my grandparents) is, we get up, eat donuts and watch the rose parade on the 1^st.  It was pretty cool to watch it thousands of miles away. I had to explain the parade to the Bishop’s family and I apparently didn’t do a good job.  Because they weren’t as impressed as I thought they’d be.  Who knew it was broadcast in Paraguay? 

Anyway, later that day we played soccer with our ward for the holiday and it was a good time.  Then we had some pretty slow days.  But we had some good visits visited some of our favorite less actives and some new less actives as well.  We planned a movie night, to hopefully excite them and get more people in church.  Unfortunately, the attendance is barely touching 30 after 60 something for months.

Also, we got stuck babysitting a youth.  We were visiting his aunt, who he lives with, and then she had to go to work.  Well the kid has had some problems with bullies and she didn’t wanna leave him alone.  So, we watched him til his cousins showed up.  We watched the Simpsons, ate sandwiches and drank pop.  This kid and his cousins are crazy.  They started punching me, and tackled my comp, but it was good ole fashioned rough housing.  It was fun!

The only other big story of the week was our fighting the biggest butterfly I’ve ever seen! Ha ha.  So there is a big black butterfly that lives down here, and if it lands on you, it pees on you, and somehow lays eggs inside of you, and well it’s just nasty.  We thought it was one of those.  So naturally, we didn’t wanna get hit.  So Elder Stopper threw his shoe at it, and hit it like 5 times.  But it didn’t die.  So, finally I maned up, and smashed it with my flip flop.  But even then, it didn’t die until I knocked it on the ground and stepped on it.  It was crazy. Literally, like a 30 minute battle.  But the superior species won. Ha ha.

Well that’s about all I’ve got for this week. I’m feeling much better and smiling and laughing again so stop worrying if you were. 

I love you guys and take care of yourself. 

 

Elder Frost

 

Week 48

Well, it was quite a week.  And, if I’m going to be completely honest, a very trunky one. Or in non-missionary terms… a week of thinking about home. For that reason it was a great week, but also very hard.

I’ll start with Monday. So on Monday soccer once again fell through, so we just made plans with Elder Anderson again. Of course I’m not going to complain about that. All we really did was go to lunch and then cybered. We ate lunch at a Quiznos, which although not the same as the States, it was really good.  Probably the best thing about it was the lack of oil and fat. I’ve eaten ridiculously unhealthy for the last year, and it was nice to not have to for at least one meal.

Then we went to the cyber to figure out the Skype situation with our families. So I got it all figured out with my family, but my sister was home so I decided to do a practice run with her. Good thing too, as I found out that the computer’s microphone didn’t work so she couldn’t hear me. But like a great sister, she sat there and looked at me for awhile as I tried to fix it. In the end it was unfixable, but Elder Anderson passed me his personal microphone and webcam so I could talk with my sister for a little bit. It was awesome!  We talked about a lot. A lot of pointless stuff but some real stuff too. Probably the most important thing we talked about was her upcoming college decision. It was really cool to be able to talk with her and help her think about things she hadn’t and to understand what she was thinking. On Skype it is way easier than over emails. I feel like I was able to help her a lot, especially considering that I’ve already gone to college for 2 years. So we talked for a bit and then I gave the stuff back to him and headed out with Elder Stopper to an FHE.

Well, a visit we thought we had. We showed up, and they thought it was nice of us and wanted to take a Christmas picture with us. All good, but what was apparently lost in translation was that we wanted to do a visit as well. They had plans, so we did the picture and then headed out.

So the next morning was my actual Skype time with my family and, oh man, was it awesome and well worth the wait and anticipation that I had building up to it. I’ve discussed this a couple times with my dad and maybe in the blog before but I’m still not sure if I’d rather just have a phone call. It is awesome to see everybody’s faces and your house and the snow.  I miss snow -- how weird is that?  Anyway, but it is sooo hard to leave. I am gonna say it is worth the pain though. The Skype calls are by far my favorite days of the year. I took my family for granted a lot before the mission and now that I’m a little wiser I love my family so much more. I can’t wait to be home with them again. Again, we basically talked about nothing and everything. It’s weird how you can’t remember what happened in the call and you always feel like there is something you wanted to say but didn’t but you still feel amazing after.  I hope my family feels the same way; I think they do.

So after that, we went home and showered and took care of some other stuff and then got ready to go to the bishop’s house for a Christmas Eve dinner.

Paraguayan Christmas is different than the States. First of all, Christmas Eve is celebrated far more than actual Christmas day. And the big difference for me was the fireworks.  Everyone has fireworks and sets them off all day and night.  Big ones, small ones, quiet ones, loud ones.  But mostly loud ones.  Like really loud ones!  Also, people shoot guns up in the air.  It’s crazy. I couldn’t imagine being out when the actual partying happens. We were in bed and asleep way before the partying actually started in Paraguay.

Anyway, we went to the bishop’s house for a dinner since they invited us. It was a good meal. Just fun to be with a family around Christmas more than anything. The next day was Christmas. 

Although, to be honest, it didn’t feel like Christmas at all and was probably the worst Christmas I can remember in my life. I just was really homesick and missed my family, and it was really hot and, I don’t know -- it was just rough. I will never have a Christmas without my family again if I can help it. I opened my presents from my grandma and parents, and that was really cool.  I didn’t expect to open anything.  I also got a lot of stuff I really appreciate and am excited about. That part was far more than anything I ever expected in the mission.

 

After that we went and played soccer with the members in the chapel, and that was a lot of fun.  We had a lot of less-actives there, and we used that to meet a lot of them.  Hopefully that will lay some groundwork for future visits. I also had quite the little sequence of events in one game, as I scored an own goal off my butt only to score the equalizer as the buzzer sounded.  Then I scored in the penalty shootout as the last shooter before my team finally won.  It was crazy!  I was glad I could make up for the own goal though. Ha ha.

After that, we showered and then visited some families. In all honesty, the day wasn’t that bad.  It was just that I couldn’t not think of home. So ya, for that it sucked. The next day we did a Christmas BBQ with some other elders. That was a lot of fun! We borrowed a grill, and my companion grilled some bomb pork and made some Ecuadorian side dishes and we ate and laughed and had a really good day. It’s one of those days that I will never forget from the mission.

The next day we had a homecoming for a guy in our ward -- talk about homesickness. It was good to see that missionaries do eventually come home though. It was also really cool to see and hear his experiences and how people received him. I had to bear my testimony at that, and I basically just told him I’m jealous, but to not forget what he learned on his mission and that if he’s trying to get better every day then he is doing the right thing. That’s something I’ve learned out here is that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, and that nobody's perfect but if we are trying to get there we are on the right track.

Then we got our changes news, and I’m going to be with Elder Stopper for another 6 weeks. SO for those of you who know about my last change with him and for those of you who don’t, please pray for me.  That was not exactly the news I wanted to get.  But the Lord must have a reason, so I’m gonna do my best and do what I can.

Today is my birthday. SO hopefully y’all remembered and said so. If not, it’s all good.  I accept happy late birthdays as well. Ha ha.  I love you guys and can’t wait to see you.

 

Take care of yourselves and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Be safe.

 

Elder Frost

 

Week 47

 

Elder Stopper & Elder Frost

 

 

So not gonna lie, I’m a little distracted this week.  Tomorrow I’m Skyping with my family.  That may… or may not have been on my mind all week. Luckily for me we had a lot of stuff happen this week so it wasn’t too distracting.

It started off with the best p-day I’ve had in months. So we tried to play soccer.  I mean we called everybody to come and play – but it was a no go. So we decided to meet up with Elder Anderson and his companion Elder Bailon and Elder Anderl and Elder Meija (his comp) and go hang out in Luque.  The plan was to go eat, then go to a soccer museum. Well some of that happened… some of it didn’t. First Elder Anderl never made it.  He was really lazy and late so he didn’t show up. Ha ha. Then we find out the soccer museum is closed on Mondays so that fell through too.  But we met up with Anderson and it was way good to hang out with him again - even if we just rode buses, ate went to the cyber, and talked.

So we decided there was nothing in Luque so we jumped on a bus and went to McDonalds.  Not great and not like the states.  But chicken nuggets and a McFlurry always hit the spot! Ha ha. Oh, and I got a free Christmas cup for my purchase.  That was tight.  They say the best things in life are free! Ha ha.

Then we just kinda kicked it before decided to go get pizza for dinner. Not bad for 5 bucks - we got a slice of pizza and for the first time in my mission a refillable drink.  So nice! Then we went our ways.  But all-in-all a good day.  Elder Anderson is my boy, and it was a lot of fun to kick it again.

Then nothing really happened Tuesday, but Wednesday was the Christmas dinner for the ward.

That was definitely an experience.  It is nothing like prepping for something in the states. The bishop basically had to do everything and we helped a little.  We ate sandwiches and drank pop while we waited for the stuff to get there.  Then helped set up tables and chairs and a karaoke activity.   Then we filled some giant barrels with water to cool the pop down and helped the bishop get grills and some other items that he needed.  Then we went home and showered and went back.  It was pretty fun.  There was a little program with some little girls dancing, some Christmas carols sang, and then two skit things - one religious one about Nephi breaking his bow and the other was a funny one.  Then we got to eat.  We ate chicken and some salad and rice and stuff not what we would have in the states, but good.  It was a really cool night as some investigators came and participated in the skits and a lot of menos activos (Less Active) came too!  So that was a good chance to talk with them.

 

Then Thursday, we planned a service project in the morning to paint our landlords house.  Well, we show up at 8:00 and he’s still asleep.  So we came back at 10:00 and ended up leaving at 8 o’clock that night.  Long story short, we canceled painting outside and only painted one room.  But the real problem was they wanted to paint a white wall over a pink one.  And…they put water in the paint to make more of it. Ya, it didn’t work.  So we spent almost all afternoon doing that.  We did get one wall painted green though, so it wasn’t a complete failure. Also it was funny to hear American music on their radio station.

 

Then Friday was our Christmas choir thing.  In true Paraguayan fashion, it did start an hour late but besides that, it went really well. They took my music back, so I’m a liar since I told you that I would tell you this week what songs we sang.  I still don’t know what songs I sang but they were Christmasy.  Ha ha.  I hope that’s a good enough answer. It was fun.  But you know I’m not much of a choir guy. This is about all I can write as I gotta go.  But all-in-all it, was a good week and I’m super excited to Skype.

 

 

 

Love you guys and I’ll see you in a year or on Skype tomorrow.

Take care.

 

Elder Frost

 

Week 46

 

So first of all, sorry about the blog last week. It was hot and the cyber sucked so I just kinda didn’t have it in me to write anything.  And even if I did… I couldn’t have, because of the aforementioned fact that the cyber sucked. I thought about getting in my time machine and grabbing my dial up computer from 2nd grade - that woulda been faster.

But luckily for you guys this week was much better.  It started off Tuesday night with a delicious BBQ. We had talked about doing a BBQ with the bishop and his family the week before and made it a time and place that his kids could bring their friends as well and we could teach a little lesson. So Tuesday we made a run to the store and bought some pork. The bishop and his wife provided some sides and a drink. The bishop’s wife did this rub or seasoning with an orange and it was way good. It was a very good night and one investigator did come so we were able to talk with him and hopefully start something there.

Wednesday didn’t feature much of anything exciting as Tuesday, but it still had its moments. Mostly in the morning we helped a less active family out with some service. I got to put to use my ability with a shovel.  A shout out to the Pearson’s for that one.  Although, sadly my muscles have deteriorated so bad that I can no longer rotate it. We had to shovel dirt into a wheelbarrow and put it in their yard as the rain had basically put a pond where their yard used to be. No problem.  Except for its really hot out here and my comp isn’t exactly used to doing physical labor.  So it turned into me doing all the shoveling and him pushing the wheelbarrow. By the end of the day I was dead.  My back hurt and my arms and shoulders hurt as I pushed the wheel barrow at the end as well. All-in-all, a sad day for the state of my body.

The next day we were supposed to do a division, but my comp was sick.  So that got canceled.  I found out later that my companion being “sick” meant - holy crap my body hurts from working yesterday.  But oh well, I’m not gonna lose sleep over canceling a division.  I hate those things.

That next night we had a sick FHE planned again at the bishops house with some of his son’s friends.  It’s pretty cool being able to use members like this.  It is definitely a blessing.  So Elder Stopper had a movie he wanted to show, ironically it turned out to be about an American football coach who was having a really hard time in life but put his trust and faith in the lord and he received blessings. It was a chance for me to teach about American football but also and probably more importantly showed a story of how to put faith in action. So we talked about that with the 2 kids and they both seemed to enjoy it and we planned more visits with them. One of them has expressed interest in being baptized before, so hopefully Elder Stopper and I can push him over the edge.  

But of course any family home evening is not complete without some food so we did another BBQ.  This time, my comp also made something out of lentels - which was surprisingly good and more marinated pork.  I’m gonna get fat eating here.  Luckily, I sweat it all out, as it is way hot here. It was a very good night though and I’m looking at it as a definite positive in the week.  I’m trying to be more positive. Ha ha.

Then Friday night, we had our ward activity night, Since there was no power on Wednesday night. So we played soccer like usual. I played a great first 5 minutes with a goal and an assist. After that I played the worst game I have played in years. I actually walked off the court I was playing so bad. My touch really has gotten terrible. I’m gonna start practicing though.  I love playing! I really have missed it since high school ended. I understand now why professional athletes retire and then un-retire.  Although I will never forgive Michael Jordan for those years as a wizard. Just wrong!

Then we had a good hard work day Saturday.  We took the bishop’s son around with us on visits.  It was really cool to do work with someone prepping for a mission.  It’s something I should have done.  Although to be honest…I wouldn’t have. Ha ha.  

We also ran around Saturday telling people to come to church on Sunday so they could get the details about the ward Christmas dinner this week.  which I am really looking forward to.  I mean its free food!  It should also be a good night as they want to do a karaoke night and a dance as well.  So that should make it better and different than every other Christmas dinner where you eat and then leave.

We also unfortunately had another singing practice Sunday after church.  Apparently it is for this service choir thing.  We are singing this Friday in a plaza in the middle of town.  Yup, sounds like me, right!  Ha ha.  We are singing 4 songs.  I don’t know the names in English, though.  So, I’ll get on that for next week. I’m slowly but surely going to be able to tell you guys what songs we are singing.  Anyway that should be well…exciting isn’t the right word, but neither is fun.  But it’s something.

Also next week is Christmas.  So that’s freaking awesome!  I get to Skype with my family.  And…ya that’s basically all I can think about right now.  Not gonna lie! Ha ha. It’s been a long time since Mother’s day.

I also put up my Christmas decorations and am sending some pictures so hopefully you guys get an idea of what it’s like. Sadly I couldn’t think of a way to email 115 degrees and humid and smelly mission clothes to you guys but you’ll probably thank me for that.  

I just like I want to thank my Grandma and Grandpa Hadley for sending me some Christmas ornaments that smell nice.  Like Elder Anderson said today, I can’t wait to have a women’s touch in my life again and things can look and smell better.  Ha ha.   

Love you guys.  I wish you all luck if your still taking finals.  I am not sure if I’m jealous of you or not.  Also enjoy your Christmas break - if your already done.

Be safe and take care.

 

Elder Frost