Hola Peeps...more from the DR & Greetings Peeps...from Rivas!

Elena emailed first and about halfway through her email time Alexis joined in...

So we had a good week. My companion was getting all ready to go. We visited a bunch of the people she wanted to visit yesterday and she got her hair and nails done this morning before she left for the office. Actually I didn't even say goodbye to her because I was with Chessy's friend and Hermana Mcentire at the church playing games with the zone and my new comp was getting her stuff settled with my old comp in the house until her ride came. My old comp said that we would see each other at the church but she didn’t come in. Oh well. She was good and I am excited for the change and a new start. My new comp’s name is Hermana Vera. She has just about the same amount of time Lexxy has in the mission. She also has a sister serving a mission in Uruguay who has been out a year. She is nice and this is her second area. I am looking forward to getting to know her better. (I am in a district of only four too.) She was in the same zone this last transfer as me so I have seen her regularly. She was in a trio with Chessy's friend and my old comp from the CCM. We are hoping to have some baptisms this month and are going to work hard. (Thank goodness that this email automatically saves your email in drafts every few minutes because the power just went out, but they got the generator going, so I can still write.) We ran out of water in our tank this week, so we didn't have running water for a day or so. Luckily it rained quite a bit, so we collected rain water to flush the toilet with until the tank filled up the next day. I decided that I would rather have water than power. My comp said that this was the first time in the house that she had been there when there was problems with the water. So I was glad to hear that. I just finished my email to the president. I have been enjoying avocados this week as well as bananas and a mango too. That stuff is good here. I have been enjoying my food from the package. I am going to look next time I am at the store to see if they have anything like the things you sent and how much they cost. We had Fast Sunday yesterday. (The power went out again, so we have relocated. I am not sure how much time we still have but it is fun to be on at the same time.) I am doing real good. I was able to print your emails this morning before we went to the activity as well as Lexxy’s from last week. I hope Grandpa gets over his infection soon. I also tried arroz con leche this week that Lexxy mentioned. Funny how things are the same. I have tried lemoncillas which sounds like what Lexxy is describing. They were good. I also like chinola juice. All the sisters got the RS book in English and the Spanish ones are coming. I love the song, Hark All Ye Nations. I think I might get to watch General Conference in English with the other missionaries but we will have to work it out since my comp will likely want to watch in Spanish. She is learning English, so we can help each other. I will let you know how it all works out, but I will definitely be thinking of you all watching the same thing. If you could send Elder Uchtdorf’s talk, that would be great. We only saw about 5 or 10 minutes of the broadcast as we were heading home. I am looking forward to reading all of the talks too when we get the Ensigns. I love you peeps so much. -ejc

So, I am still here in Rivas with my same comp which is just fine. It will be interesting to see what happens this next change. She only has one more after this and I don`t think she will change to a new area for her last six weeks, but who knows. So I would guess that either we will be together for 3 changes which isn`t unheard of or I will get changed but whatever. But, they did pull a set of elders out of Rivas so now we are just a district of 4. All four of the elders had been living in the same house so they have to move now to somewhere cheaper. The lady who cooks our dinner and cooked the dinner for the elders who left had a little party for the one since his birthday was Saturday and he was bummed because no one would do anything for it in his new area. So we had a little going away birthday fest and at the little party the zone leaders called to say the other elder was getting transferred too. That doesn`t happen often but sometimes people don`t find out about changes until the night before if they are still figuring a few things out. So, that elder didn’t really get to say goodbye to anyone. But the party was fun. They had a piñata and good food. Enchiladas here are this fried sort of taco deal with rice and meat inside. It was tasty and there was a version of chips and salsa which was good. And arroz con leche. So that was the deal with changes. As for mail, I still haven`t gotten any. We got new zone leaders who are good, but the old ones didn`t tell them there was mail to bring to our meetings on Friday. I should get some hopefully today since one of the zone leaders was here on exchanges and hopefully when they switched back they gave the mail to the district leader, but if not it will be there on Friday. Anyway, I am glad we don`t have too many issues with power and water. In Masatepe we only had water from 5am til noon but it was fine and you just filled up a couple of bottles to have to flush the toilet or wash my legs off at night. Here we have water and power practically all the time. Rivas is the city of mangoes but I haven`t had one here. I ate them in Masatepe though...real tasty! Also have you tried mammones? They are this little grape type deal with a semi hard skin that just breaks when you bite it and then you eat the inside. It has a large seed. It is good, but it stains clothes even though it is fairly colorless. We have good fruit drinks too. I don`t know if I have tried chinola. Oranges are popular right now. But here they are green on the outside and lighter in the inside. As for news here, there are elections in November so that is sort of interesting, but I don`t know anything about the people, but on Saturday there was a big festivity deal with Daniel Ortega in Granada. Just a couple of random questions - was there a recent tsunami in Japan and is there something falling from space in the USA? (A lady mentioned this.) Oh, and how are my D-backs doing? I saw them last night playing the Giants at a guy’s house who is from the DR. Fun Fact... Everyone here practically has two last names. The first is the one they go by and their dad’s name and the second is the last name of their mom. Names don`t change when you get married. So, surprise yesterday... the mission president and family showed up to our branch. The branch president had called in the morning to see if we could give talks about missionary work. Anyway, I was happy to see the mission president and his wife. I really like her. So the first speaker spoke and then I spoke my quickie talk about missionary work and home and visiting teaching and then the lady got up to do the intermediate hymn. Then Hna. Monestel spoke. And that was the meeting. I was slightly confused and not sure what happened about the talks and my comp. The man that announced the program said the hermanas misioneras and was looking at me when he announced the speakers and I figured he said that because he can`t say my name. Anyway, the talk was fine and hopefully my Spanish was alright since the president was there listening. One girl that came on a mini mission for one change, my first change, said my Spanish had improved. So, that was the excitement yesterday. I wasn`t sure if I was even supposed to speak. I am still not sure, but whatever. First talk in Spanish down. You can hear me in 1 year from now when I get home right before Conference! So, cool story of the week... We went contacting and talked to this lady and she had us sit down. She started telling us all her problems and we taught her a little. She asked us as we talked, if the Lord had sent us to her. That was cool. She didn`t come to church yesterday, but hopefully in the future. Anyway, it was good. Random thing... this lady we have visited brought out her atlas of Nicaragua and the world. It was good to see where these cities are and become a little more familiar with where I am and have been. Well, good week. SO, I am glad the D-backs are doing well. A world series would be cool for the 10th anniversary of the other. I can’t believe it is almost Octubre. I am happy and healthy. Hope all goes well with grandpa this week. The gospel is true. Love, Alexis

 

Greetings Peeps!

Greetings peeps! Me and my comp have been shopping most of the day for her to buy the stuff she wants to get before she leaves next week. She hasn´t bought a lot of stuff and I think she still needs to buy an outfit, so we´ll see what she comes up with by the end of the day. :) I am doing good. We had some sandwiches and smoothies for lunch which was good and I´ve just been letting her do her thing most of the day. So on Thursday, which is mail day, I got your package!!!!! It was grand. I LOVED it! Everything was great. You know what I like. The dress is great. I loved it!!!!!!!! I also got the manila envelope with the fun stamps and stuff. I got letters from the MTC from Leah B. and also from you. The letter from you was dated July 11. It had stamps and writing on it from Nicaragua so I have no idea what happened with that but it is funny that it went to Nicaragua. I also got a little package from Grandma H. with a little book in it. We had a good week. Also, we went to the store during the week and I checked my backpack at the front desk while we shopped. Guess what number they gave me to claim my bag? 46!!!!! It made me smile! I was going to try to explain my excitement to my comp but decided it would just seem weird. We´ve been trying to find new people and we´ve had some success with our investigators. One has a baptism date for October, so hopefully October will be more successful. I celebrated my 3 month mark and Lexxy´s 6 month mark with ice cream. We find a reason to have ice cream whenever we can. I figured out who my mission president reminds me of...Hubert...except that he speaks Spanish and is older, but I thought you might find that interesting. This week we saw the sociedad de socorror (spelling?) the RS in action. The RS president brought a new member a bunch of new stuff and pretty much did a makeover in the very humble home this lady lives in. She was very happy and it was great to see the RS in action. I think it was my comp that said that Lexxy and I must have been best friends before this life so we had to come together. I think that that is definitely true. I think all four of us must have been best friends, so Heavenly Father decided that we could spend eternity together. I love you peeps so much and talk about you all of the time! I´ve seen a few things with Millie in the name and I think of your bike. :) Whenever we pass a TV with baseball on I try to look and see if it is my D-backs that are playing. Apparently it is a good time to be a D-backs fan. :) That is great that the Crandall´s are home. That will be Alexis in one year. Craziness! We were visiting this lady that has a salon (there are salons everywhere here and most of the women go there every week. I think of Grandma L. when I see a lady holding a bag to cover their hair to not get wet and ruin their hair). Anyways, this lady has 2 daughters. They are funny and cool. I think of Marni when we are at the salon since it is part of the lady´s house. I will find out next Sunday night what will happen, but my comp thinks I´ll be staying here ‘til Christmas. But who knows? There aren´t a ton of options since we are getting more new sisters too. I think most of the companionships will be training newbies, but we´ll see. Well, I am just about out of time and I think my comp is ready to go. It is always great to hear from all of you. I will be interested to hear about Lexxy and if she is transferred this week. It will be something to look forward to next Monday. I always look forward to email time. Well, I love you peeps soooooo much. Looking forward to dearelders this week on Thursday and then email on Monday. I am doing good. Until next week. ejc

Greetings Peeps! So, I am doing fantastico. We are still waiting to hear about any changes this week. I am 50/50 on my comp having a change and about 90 percent sure I don`t, but who knows I could be totally wrong and I could be in a new place next week. Anyway, life is swell. That was funny about Lenny mentioning 46. I have explained it to my comps but it isn`t nearly as funny to them. I took a picture a couple weeks ago of a kilometer marker 46 in Jinotepe but I haven`t taken any more pictures so I didn`t bring my camera to email time. By the way, this email time is la mejor hora de la semana (best hour of the week). I love hearing from you all. I got your manila envelope with the lovely address labels, a letter from Chessy, and a letter from Sister Arnett. Also thanks for the pictures, I love seeing you and what you are up to. So, I got my shoes resoled for the fabulous price of 100 cordobas which is about $4.50. SO that was swell, the only thing is they are a tad smaller and I have to adjust to them and the way they fit like a new pair of shoes, but they seem to be real good. I did celebrate 6 months with a lovely orange dream bar. So, life is swell here. Last week was Nicaraguan Independence Day on the 14 and 15. I thought it was interesting that twice I heard them read the letter the USA sent congratulating Nicaragua. We are doing well. We have been working with a less active family that has been to the temple and all, but haven`t been to church in I don`t know how long. They have an 8 year old that needs to get baptized. I really like the lady and she is funny. She is also learning English so she likes to practice. We were going to have a little English class with her and another member, but it was rainy on Saturday and we were running late so we will have to do it next week (if I am still here). Anyway, a week ago the wife and kids came to church and this week they all came. Also yesterday, the branch president was talking about going to the temple. They may be going on Christmas Day, so that should be memorable, but he said the trip will be much shorter only 12 hours. I was thinking again how blessed and spoiled we are in our 12 minute ride to the temple. I am so excited for the temple in 12 months! So life is going good here. We had 2 investigators in church. They both came about 10 minutes before it was over, but I was very excited to see some people come in. Oh, I was reading D&C 109:22 this morning. I think that was the scripture Sister Garn read to us at the temple our first time. Anyway, I love you tons. And yes we must have been the best of friends before this life. I am so happy knowing I can be with you all for eternity. I love you so much! The gospel is true and I am happy here as a missionary. Can you believe it has been almost a year since I started my papers? 3 months until Christmas, 4 months after that until Mother’s Day and 5 months after that I will be home. Crazy!!!!!!! Also, you should read ¨Our Search for Happiness¨. It is real good. I really like how Elder Ballard writes. Also, I mentioned in my letter to Sister Arnett today, to take lots of pictures at activity days and make an album for the girls. I really like the one Sister Garn made for us with all the pictures to look back on. Yes, I am well taken care of. This last week or so a couple of times the ladies have cooked dessert for us so that was exciting. You are taking care of the sister missionaries like their families are taking care of other missionaries. It is all a big circle. As for dessert - here it is arroz con leche or rice with milk. It is basically rice pudding which is tasty. I have decided to cook a meal when I get home with all things rice - even the drink. Some of the drinks here have ground up rice in them, and we can have gallopinto and arroz con leche. Also a couple of things that I have decided I want to buy before I leave here - a hammock and a baseball glove (since they make good leather stuff). I will wait about another 10 months so I don`t have to lug the stuff around, but that is what I want to get. For the hammock we will have to figure out or build a little place to hang it from. It was cool yesterday when we taught a lesson sitting in a swing made out of bamboo that someone had hanging on the patio. And, I am glad Chessy is sending you notes too. Chessy said how God knew that she needed us in her life and I know He knew we needed her. That wasn`t a coincidence meeting her our first days in BYUH. Yep, she is perfect for us - I said in my letter to her today that she is our bestest buddy and the person we can truly be our crazy selves around. I am sure she is as happy to get your mail as we are. The letter I got from her on Friday was from July. She is a good letter writer. She said she hopes she has a comp like me. I hope to have one like her and Lenny! The time will go by fast. Yes some days are longer, but really it goes by fast especially when we are busy and productive. That is the key – work, work, work! Thanks for being awesome. My time is just about up. Keep me updated on my D-backs. Love you tons and miss you too, but I am doing fantastico. Love, Alexis

    

Hola from the DR & Nicaragua!

Elena said...

It´s been a good week here, we haven´t had as much success as we would like, but that doesn´t get me down. We had a conference this week with a couple of zones with Elder Cornish and the mission president and his wife. We had pizza too. The leaders in the mission and the trainers had a meeting on Thursday, so I went with my old comp and her comp from Paraguay in their area for part of the day. It was really great talking to my old companion. It is really weird how you get used to being with someone (even someone you don´t know). We ate empanadas and ice cream. It was a good day. It was funny this week, I went up to someone to invite them to church and the guy was like, you don´t have to speak in Spanish, so I invited him to church in English but it was really weird trying to translate everything I usually say back to English. My old comp and I taught the other hermana the plan of salvation first in English and then in Spanish as part of our comp study on Thursday. It wasn´t as easy as I thought it would be to teach in English. I am still trying to learn how to teach and figure out how to say what I want in Spanish but I know it will come with time. We have a great investigator that we hope will continue to progress and hopefully we´ll find some new people too. Sometimes I still get a little freaked out when my comp looks at me during or at the beginning of the lesson and expects me to say something intelligent, but I know I am improving...just slowly. Anyways, things are good here. I will hit 3 months this week and 4 weeks here this week. Craziness! I can´t believe Lexxy has 6 months this week. Everyone says that it goes by fast. It still seems like a long time, but the time does go by fast. I am doing well here and love all of the fabulous mail from my favorite peeps. You are the bestest! Today we went to a park with all of the missionaries that are in the city. (Carl’ & Wendy's son is not in the city so I didn´t see him). After we went to the park, we went to the Chinatown area. We had a sandwich and smoothie for lunch which was good. Then we went shopping at the grocery store. Today at the park the other hermanas were saying that the new president is going to send the sisters home when they have 18 months no matter if it is during a transfer, so that would mean I would come home Dec. 15, which would be good. I´ll keep you posted on what I find out and when it gets closer :) Hopefully I´ll be home for Christmas. Whenever it is will be fantabulous since it will be the most glorious reunion ever. I always get so excited to hear from all of you. Mondays are the bestest. It is really a great boost to hear from all of you. I hope gramps is doing better. This lady that we´ve been visiting, who I have a hard time understanding, told us that is was raining in New York and that we could take a bus to New York. I told my comp that I have a friend in New York that we could go visit.  :) We have a little Dominican washer that everyone has here that spins your clothes around for 15 minutes and then you put it in a different compartment in the same machine that spins out the water. We have to rinse by hand before you put it in the dryer thing and then we hang the clothes up in our extra bedroom to dry or out on the little balcony thing. We sometimes do it on Mondays but I didn´t get mine done because the power was out, so I´ll do it another morning this week. I´ll send a picture some time of the washer. I am becoming a professional at washing my clothes this way. It´s not a big deal, but I am looking forward to a regular washer and dryer back home.  I still can´t believe sometimes that I am actually here wearing the name tag and all. It is going to be an awesome experience to look back on for the rest of my life. I can´t wait to share all of our stories. Well, I probably should go. Love you all tons and tons. Until next week. You peeps are the bestest. Love, ejc

Alexis said...

So I am on the computer now. Good to get your emails. I don`t know how long you have been on Lenny, but it is good to hear from you and by the way the companion staring at you waiting for you to speak still happens to me. But whatever.  That’s the kind of washers they have here. Well not everyone has one, but I know what you are talking about.  So on the 10th I hit one month here in Rivas and Friday is my big 6 month mark (CRAZY!) and Thursday is 3 for Lenny. So I think I will celebrate with an ice cream or something. Anyway, I can`t believe it has been 6 months and that I am actually here. I was thinking about when I left and sometimes I am surprised that I actually sent in my papers to come here, but it was a great decision and I am sure glad I did. The gospel is true. I am happy to have such great peeps supporting me at home and in the DR. So it was weird thinking about 9-11 yesterday. I did have some patriotic music going in my head as we walked around getting people for church, except it is kind of hard to remember words in the English songs and hymns. But I can`t believe it has been 10 years. I was just 12 when that happened. Well, anyway, I am glad to hear gramps is doing alright. SO yesterday, the girl where we eat dinner at (we changed to a different members house for dinner, but still eat lunch at the same house) had her calc homework out. That was weird to see all the symbols I recognized with the Spanish in the problems. Just a random fact - you can buy toasted bread in the grocery store. People don´t have toasters here, so you can buy packaged toasted bread. Well, life is good here. There is just one week left in this change. Don`t know if we will stay or what will happen, but it’s all good. We have had some issues with pastors of our investigators visiting them and inviting them back to their old church, but we will keep working. I imagine it is quite difficult to give up a church with people you know, even if you have a testimony. Change is not easy. But we are working and we had a good ward council yesterday. It makes it so much easier to work together with the members. We all have the same goals of retaining and reactivating these folks so if we work together we can do it. The hard part is that most of the presidencies - branch, RS, elders quorum, YW, YW - aren`t complete so it is difficult for just the president to do all the visits. But hopefully they can fill them up so the work will be easier. We had some people we are working with come to church this week. I am doing well.  So, I will see about getting my shoes resoled today after I am done here. We shall see. I enjoyed all the emailing back and forth. I am guessing next week, we will have an activity since it is the last p-day of the change. At first I liked just having my p-days to myself, but I like seeing all the other missionaries and having fun like last week. I am so happy having you guys supporting me. I am so grateful that I have the best family on planet earth. I am so grateful knowing we can be together forever. And that day will be awesome next year when we are all together again whenever it is. We can have lots of late nights telling real good and crazy stories we just can`t explain on email. Those will definitely be some great times. But yes, sometimes it is a little unreal that I am actually here in Nicaragua speaking Spanish being a missionary. Sometimes I still think and feel that I am new, but I realize I am not. I love you so much. Well, got to go, I hope you have a fantastic week. I love this hour of email time and was glad to be on with Elena too. Have a good week Lenny.  Love you tons. And until next week - Love, Alexis

Greetings from the DR ... Greetings & Photos from Nicaragua

Since there was a fair amount of comments back and forth in the emails today I am combining them into one post...Elena wrote first followed by Alexis.

I hope things are going well for all of you... bummer about Gramps being in the hospital. I hope it all works out. I printed your emails this morning and then me and my comp went to mega centro...basically a great mall. My comp was looking for clothes to wear home and shoes and stuff. I am looking forward to your care package. I did get a package. Muchas gracias. I love the shirt and I wore it yesterday. It was grand. About your shoes question, I might wear the sandals at some point but my comp never does and there is quite a bit of broken glass and stuff in the streets that I am not sure sandals would be great for, but maybe in another area. So this week has been good. We are still looking for more people to teach, but I am enjoying getting to know the members more. There are 2 great ladies in the ward who have been members for a year, got baptized together, went through the temple together a couple of weeks ago and now are in the RS presidency. They are really sweet and I enjoy visiting them. We´ve had a good p-day. The mall was fun and I actually felt kind of like a real person just cruising around the mall. They have Payless shoes and lots of other stores that I don´t know but it was fun. We met up with 2 sisters from Guatemala and ate lunch. We finally got more gas for the stove on Wednesday but I was a little sick of peanut butter sandwiches by that time but oh well. We had Pizza Hut on Thursday for dinner. I´m not sure why we didn´t do that when we didn´t have gas but it was good.  That is so funny that Janine is in Jayne´s ward. I knew she was on a mission in England but what are the chances?  She was our RA in Hale 2. She graduated at the same time as us, I think, and you probably met her at some point. She is nice. We had a good Fast Sunday. The testimony meeting was great. We were hoping that a couple of investigators would be there, but they didn´t show. We still had a few there though. We fasted Saturday dinner and then breakfast, but we did drink water at the end of the day on Saturday because it is rather hot here and a dehydrated missionary is no good. :)  We have met a few less actives, some during our contacting. I think there is probably a lot more out there that we need to find and bring back. One came to church this week. The ward is really great here. So, I never really explained our schedule. We have breakfast and getting ready and a little exercise from 6:30 until 8, an hour of personal study and then 2 hours of comp study...usually only an hour but 2 hours when we are being trained. Then we go out from 11 to 1 and come back for an hour of lunch and then an hour of language study. Then we are out working from 3 until 9. We have planning, dinner and then getting ready for bed at 10:30. I can´t believe it is September!!!! We are halfway through this transfer too. Craziness! Well, my hour is up. I hope you are doing well and that everything works out with Gramps. I talk about my family to anyone who will listen. It has been great emailing you. Give Alexis my best. Hopefully I´ll catch her another time. I am doing real good here just missionarying it up and trying to learn some espanol. Well, gotta go. Love you lots! -ejc

Well, right now I am in Jinotepe. We came for the zone activity today and decided to write here. My comp had a couple months here and she wanted to see if this cyber-cafe had her pictures. She was going to make a cd of them but never got to it, but she emailed some to the workers so we came to see if they had them. I don`t know if they found them or not, but that was the thing that had the most sentimental value of the stuff that got taken on our bus ride...her camera card.  Mom don`t worry. Really Nicaragua is quite safe in comparison to other Central American countries - or at least that is what I hear, so don`t worry. My comp said that was the first time on her mission she had gotten robbed and she is almost finished. She got her itinerary today for her flight home in December, crazy to think how fast that day will come for me. One year!

So we had a baptism this week. That was exciting and good. The 9 year old has really good questions and is fairly mature spiritually. He is great. Now we just have to work more to activate the rest of the family. That was definitely a highlight of the week. Also thanks so much for the mail.  I will try to respond as quick as I can. I wrote some this morning on the bus and will write more on the way home if I can. I loved all the stuff and nice encouragement in the letters. Funny thing - those shirts from Target are made in Nicaragua.  How the world goes round - they make them here, send them there, and you send them back. Funny! Well, good thing this week too. My laundry bag was getting a hole in it so we went looking for a new one last Monday. We couldn`t find one and then I had the brilliant idea to buy some fabric and have the lady that does our laundry sew me one since she has a sewing machine (not electric). We bought the fabric (about $1.50) and I offered to pay her but she said no. Now I have a fabulous new bag. And she put the string from the old one in the new one so it even cinches up. So that was good. Also I got some good use of my boots this week. On Thursday we did some service moving some dirt and rock and I wore my boots with my jeans nicely tucked in. So I will get some use out of the boots, even if it isn`t just for rain! Also, I thought I would tell you how people say Cottam here. Well I think some of them think we are saying our first name so it usually turns into Carmen or Carol. Somehow the double t turns into an r sound. Or they say Co Tam, but whatever. I am sure Tanner gets quite a bit of versions with Thornton since the th sound doesn´t exist and the h is silent in Spanish. Anyway, I saw a Subaru this week with 46 in the license plate which will make Chelsea happy. That is crazy about Sister Rothmund. She was our RA in Hale 2. One of the elders in the zone went to BYU-H and was asking me today who my RA`s were and I could only remember her first name but now I have her last name.

That is funny about the fasting thing. We fast dinner and breakfast too but don`t drink, but yesterday when we did drink some water after we broke our fast we instantly started sweating. I didn`t really notice or think too much about it, but when my comp mentioned it I thought it was interesting. Yeah, we didn`t have much success either with investigators at church. We had 2 but they weren`t people we had gone by for. We spent most of the morning getting the person ready for the confirmation and there on time. Our schedule is 6:30-8 the same as Lenny, then 8-9 personal study, 9-10 comp study, 10-10:30 language study. Then we are out for the day and eat around 12 our lunch and 5 dinner. At least that is the goal for eating, but it varies some days. And same deal as Elena from 9-10:30. I had the 2 hour comp study my first 2 changes too.

Here are some pictures from this week. On Friday we went to the welcome home party for some missionary that came back. I won a game, so the clown guy that was there made me a giraffe balloon. (Thinking of you always.) The others are of the baptism, a snow cone type thing we had today when we were playing softball with the zone, and my comp. It was really fun to play softball and we had a good lunch too. Enjoy the pictures! I am glad you found the recipe for gallopinto mom. You have lots of time to practice before I get home! But anyway, it has been a great day with the softball playing and all. My time is almost up, but I hope all goes well with Gramps. Sorry to hear about it all. Have a fantastic Labor Day and start to September. It’s 6 months next week. CRAZY! I am happy here and am doing well. Thanks for all your support. Have a great week and can’t wait to write again next week! The gospel is true and Las familias son eternas. Yo amo mi familia muchisimo!

 I am having a good time missionarying and españoling it up.

Love, Alexis