Gracias from distrito Rivas!

(Here are some pics when I shared my food at the district meeting. Gracias!)

Yep, just like Elena, I can sleep anywhere too.  I think there has only been one night where I had trouble but I sleep like a rock. So that was so fantastic to hear your voices yesterday. I can’t believe it had been 7 months.  So 4 months will seem quick until the next call. You are the bestest and like Elena said it felt like nothing had changed even though it had been so long. We will just pick right back up where we left off 18 months before. That was super funny about David Archuleta. The girl at the house was listening to “Imagine” by him right before you called and mentioned his mission call. She wants to know where he is going so when you find out let me know.  Her mom also said that if you ever you come to visit she will take us to San Juan de Sur and show us around. I have had fun telling everyone about  

talking to you and I am just so happy. That was a definite boost. I want everyone to have what we`ve got in our family - the gospel. Also I gave the lunch lady the tiny Christmas tree and bell today and she was thrilled. She said she is going to buy a plastic bag to put it in so that it doesn´t get dirty. She is another person I want you to meet and her husband says things that remind me of dad too. Anyway, yesterday I put on the other nametag that I had, since I think this is about exactly halfway. We had a good Christmas party with the mission. We had some messages from the whole family of the mission president, presentations from the zones, a little celebrating for the president’s 20th anniversary, and then lunch. The tables were set all nice and the food was good. Then we changed into p-day clothes and played some games and ended with a water balloon fight. They gave

us a polo shirt, a temple recommend holder with a picture of the island Ometepe, and a card with all the pictures of the missionaries in the mission (which I will send to you) and a card from the first presidency. It was sweet. I wrote lots of letters this morning and was going to mail them today, but the post office is closed. Anyway, I am happy here and I am doing fantastic. One of the first days here my comp said, "I knew it was poor here but not this poor". But really it is poor but it’s just a different way of life and now I am used to it and really don’t think anything of the wood or plastic houses and dirt floors. It’s just the norm and there are nicer areas than others with more regular houses like where we live. I am glad to hear all is well in Canada. It was just so great talking to all of you yesterday. I don’t know about Elena’s Spanish. There is a really slang Spanish here but we don’t use it.  We cut off the s´s too, so it will be funny to compare it when we are home.  I had a great Christmas - different but good and memorable. I will try and take a picture of our lunch lady with her Christmas tree. She was happy and whenever we come back that tree will be in her house all year round and you will see it. Well, thanks for the new socks too. The lady that washes the clothes was noting the holes I have in my old ones. They are fine, but getting worn. So I told her today about my new ones. Anyway, my time is up but I love you tons and will write again next week. Have a Happy New Year and I can’t believe it will be 2012. Well, the gospel is true. I love you, alc

Hola Peeps!

It was grand talking to you all yesterday. Waiting for your call, I was like a kid on Christmas morning...oh wait it was Christmas! J I have never been more excited for a phone call. It was grand and went by way too fast. I’m just enjoying p-day. We relaxed in the morning and printed our emails and then met up with the other hermanas in our zone and 2 other hermanas and got empanadas and juice...my favorite chinola juice. I don't think there is an equivalent in the US but you can look it up if you want. We had a good rest of Christmas Day. My comp skyped her family and then we rested for a little while and then went to the ward mission leader's house for dinner. I was really stuffed. I am kind of glad we cook our own food because it is just easier, although I know being a polite human garbage disposal like Alexis is, is a good skill to have. J  It was soooooo good hearing your voices and before we know it, it will be Mother's Day. Good times. I hope you are all enjoying yourselves. I cranked out some letters yesterday while my comp was skyping so that was fun.

Thank you sooooo much for all of the mail. I have the best family ever and ward family too.  Well, what can I tell you that I didn't tell you yesterday?  It was soooo good hearing your voices. I am still laughing hard about things Dad was saying. Funny stuff.  My comp thought it was funny too. I also thought it was funny that Lexxy thinks things like that too.  Thanks Dad. JIt was great talking with you and it was like nothing had changed and that it hadn't been months since we had talked. I know eventually things will change like getting married eventually, but when I get home I just want it to be the good old times with the four of us for a while and just like it was before I left. Can't wait ‘til next year. So things are good here. It is great having the power back on. The ward mission leader temporarily fixed it earlier in the week but we were still having issues and my comp went outside and started playing with the wires and then fortunately the power truck drove by and stopped and fixed it when they saw her messing with it. So we've had power and that is grand. Yippee!  It’s nice not having to shower (bucket bathe) by flashlight, although it was entertaining. When I get home I’ll just need a bucket, cup, and flashlight to take a shower. J  I’ve kind of forgotten what it is like to take a shower with hot water.  It has been quite cool here lately which means our water has been quite cool too, but at least we have water.  I saw the window that Hermana Mcentire climbed out to get on their roof during the bird issues and it was quite a little stretch to get from the window to the roof.  Crazy! There wasn't as much partying last night as there was on the 24th. They had lots of loud music playing which kept my comp up, but not me. I think that is a skill I learned in marching band, being able to sleep anywhere, on a bus or whatever. I usually sleep like a rock. We had the ward Christmas party this week which was fun. I love you sooooo much. I hope Lexxy's training is going well. I loved her mini gym story and can't wait to compare Spanish in a year. Good times ahead. Thanks for the great Christmas!  Love you to the 46th power. Ejc

P.S. Here are some photos from the zone Christmas party, the temple, more pictures from Christmas, and my sweet tan lines. Enjoy!

Happy Christmas Eve, zona oriental... That’s my zone.

Hi peeps! Rivas week 19

Well, I am a little short on time, but I have about 30 minutes. I was reading all of the emails you sent which are fantastic. I can´t wait to talk to you on Sunday.  So I am still in Rivas. My comp is Hermana Camposano from Argentina, Buenas Aires. She is 26 and the first missionary in her family. They are members but she and her sister are the most active. From what I can tell the culture here is very different for her and I have realized how much I have progressed with the life here. I can eat just about anything and I enjoy my rice and beans at every meal but she isn´t a fan. She´ll be over that in a few months. She is cool and we are learning together. So the training is for 12 weeks so that means I will be in Rivas until March. Crazy, but it is all good and hopefully we will have some baptisms soon. Congrats on yours Lenny.  We are doing well.  I got some dearelders at the change meeting but no packages. Don´t worry.  The best part of Christmas will be talking to you!  I am sure I will have some on Wednesday when we have the big Christmas party in Managua. We are all waiting for some. One of the elders said he was waiting for his mini gym. I thought he was just kidding but really his mom sent those perfect pushups things on TV and a bar to do pull ups. That was funny when we realized he was serious. Anyway, I am sure there will be some. I am enjoying the 12 days of Christmas and I was so happy with the nail files today. You are the bestest.  

Hermana Cottam

 Hermana Camposano

So I sent a few pics...
We had to send them to an elder to make a slideshow so I just sent it to you too.  I am doing well. I am in Jinotepe right now. We are staying here tonight and tomorrow because it didn´t make sense to come for the activity today, go back, and come back tomorrow so we can take the bus with the zone on Wednesday morning. So we are hanging out with the hermanas here. Anyway, I am super excited for your call on Sunday but really, like Elena said, I am content here and can’t believe it is already Christmas. The mission president and his wife are celebrating their 20th anniversary this week. At the change meeting Hermana Monestel told about her dad with Alzheimer’s and it made me see them more as just one of us with lots of the same things going on in their lives. I really liked when they told more about themselves. She is the only member and has left her family behind these 3 years. They are halfway and just sent the first sister home that got here after them. President was telling about their kids and I thought it was the same way you talk about us and I liked that. Anyway, the activity will be super fun this week and I am excited. The elders said, "2 p-days this week".  I love you tons and know I am where I need to be.  Well, I am off.  I can´t wait until Sunday. I love you tons. Thanks for being the bestest. I am doing well and hope you have a great week. Love, alc

Week 19 in Mendoza... Merry Christmas!

Hi peeps.  Just got back to our area after a lovely Christmas party with the entire mission. The calling situation sounds great.  I am soooooo excited to talk to you.  I got a lovely package from you today and a little one from the Allens and Sheron Bradshaw and letters and dearelders from quite a few people the last week or so. Gotta love mail! I am enjoying the 12 days of Christmas. You are the bestest. Glad your hives are better. Hna Mcentire is still having issues with her stomach and today we think she has got some hives going, probably stress related as her comp is going home. She´s had a rough go of it with the dead bird, stomach pains, and rashes & hives. She will be in a trio. But it will be a fun zone.  No changes for me this time.  

Hermana Ball at the Santo Domingo Temple

Lucy's baptism

Here are some pics Hna Ball sent last week since my camera battery was dead. Crazy that I have been here for 18 weeks. We are still without power at our house but the elders have called the company a bazillion times and the elders are going to come out this week to try and figure it out. But we are doing fine and the longer we go without power, the better the story will be when I'm telling people about it after the mission. :) Don´t worry. We have an extension cord so we have light at night from our neighbor´s house and we might move the fridge to hook it up there since who knows when it will get fixed.  I got a package last week, which was great. I can´t wait ‘til our first FHE when we are all home, together again. Good times. Hna Mcentire came for the morning to work with us while Hna Bradley went to a meeting for those going home. It was fun to spend time with her and I thought there was a small chance we would be in a trio with her this transfer since there aren´t any new sisters coming, but she will be in a trio with some other cool sisters. There aren´t as many changes with the hermanas as we were expecting. We had a great time at the Christmas party. They had a talent show including one elder playing "Hallelujah" on his guitar and singing. I can´t wait to play that on my uke in a year. They acted out a little nativity and my comp played Mary and I have been teasing her about her Broadway debut for a while. We ate lots of good food and they had a DVD about the mission with pictures and songs. I got to see the McDermids too which was fun.  They asked about Lexxy and said they got your letter.  That was nice of you to send Christmas cards to all of my favorite peeps. We said goodbye to Hna Bradley which was sad.  I am going to miss that girl. She was one of my favorite sisters and it was fun being in her zone the whole time I have been here and being her companion for a day. She said she would post pictures on her blog of us so you can check for that.  Next year that will be me.  I know I will be soooooooo excited to give you the biggest hug ever, but I can already tell I will be a little sad to know that this time will be up.  The DVD presentation they did today with pictures of the Savior and pictures of missionaries and baptisms really reminded me why I am here.  This really is a sacred time to serve the Lord.  I just needed to remember that and buckle down for the next year and be the best missionary I can. We have a great family we are teaching and that came to church this week. Hopefully we will make some progress with them. They are interested and are supposed to come to the ward Christmas dinner tomorrow night with us.  Food of the week...plantains.  I cooked them on Saturday and Sunday with eggs and ketchup and avocados. Yep with ketchup.  Mmmmm. Gotta eat like a Dominican. I just boiled them and I will try frying them sometime too. They are like potatoes so ketchup goes well. Mmmm. You´ll have to see if you can buy them at Food City, which will be my favorite store to shop at when I get home.  :)   There was a boatload of packages that came in the office today.  I haven’t opened the package yet since we were hurrying to get to the internet.  I have the best family ever and the best Ward family too with all of the Christmas mail. I love you a million.  I am looking forward to the best 40 minutes ever on Sunday.  Can´t wait to hear your voices, my favorite peeps.  Love you lots. ejc

6 months!

Greetings my favorite peeps. We had a good time at the temple today and then went with my favorite Hermanas, Chessy´s friend Hna Bradley and Hna Mcentire to Pizza Hut and got frozen yogurt and then rode the bus home. Twas a good day. We kind of had two p-days this week as we had to go to the office on Monday for a practice for the Christmas party next week.  Hna Ball hasn´t been feeling well the last few days so we had to take it easy, which I didn´t mind. The other hermanas have some colds and coughs, but I am doing good. I printed off all of your emails a little earlier and it is great to hear from you. I will plan on the Christmas call in the early evening but I think whenever works for Lexxy will be fine.  Love you peeps so much and I am enjoying the 12 days of Christmas. Can you believe I graduated from BYU-Hawaii two years ago? J Things are good here.  It has been a while since I have written but I am doing good. I enjoyed the temple this morning and I put Irene´s name in there, so people all over the world are thinking and praying for her. It was a little rough doing the end in Spanish but I managed and I was remembering how overwhelmed I was on my first p-day at the temple three months ago and just how much at peace I am right now. I also read the scripture Irene shared with us in D&C 109:22 in Spanish while I was there. What great blessings are in the temple and I can´t wait to go with you all in a year. So we had our baptism on Thursday which was great. It is really awesome to think about the changes people make when they become members of the church and the impact it will have on their family. She lives right below us and it is great having a friend right by us to help us with whatever. For example, last week the power went out on Thursday all over the neighborhood which is normal, but when we got home after the baptism our neighbors had power and we did not. I called the office and they are working on fixing the problem, but we have almost been a week without power. Luckily it isn´t too hot right now and we didn´t have a ton of food in the fridge that we couldn´t salvage and eat. I know the office is working on it and hopefully it will be on when we get home today. The people below us hooked up an extension cord so we can have some light at night and I also used it to wash my clothes the other day. So lesson of the week is that power isn´t an absolute necessity. Good times. J There is a line in my patriarchal blessing that says that I won´t want for the necessities of life, so right now power must not be a necessity. But we did get to deep clean the fridge this week since it was all defrosted. When Hna Ball was talking to the district leader about the power, she said, somos pioneras, which means we are pioneers. I about died laughing. Lexxy´s stories about the baptism font were funny especially since I got my foot all wet when I didn´t see how high the water was. Ooops. I also had to get in the font to try to stop the water from leaking until someone from the bishopric got there to fix it. Funny stuff. We went on exchanges last week with the sisters in our zone. Hna Bradley came with me and Hna Ball went with Hna Mcentire. It was real fun and I learned a lot. It was nice being with an experienced missionary although I did start to fall into my old ways of not feeling the necessity to talk to the people when there is somebody else there who can. It is awesome that Lexxy is going to train. She will be awesome. You just do the best you can and not worry about the rest. So I´ll have 6 months tomorrow (Yipee!) and Lexxy 9 months on Friday. Awesome. I have one year to make it count and learn what I need to learn. It just seems like yesterday that I was at the MTC saying to Hna Mcentire that we would be a third of the way at Christmas. I told her that again today. The time really does go by fast and I am pretty content with life right now even though I would love to be with you all. I am really looking forward to this time of year next year. I am glad you are getting my mail. That must have been the letter I wrote during the exchanges with Hna Bradley if I remember right. That was really a great time and I told her that I had read her blog before the mission and that it was kind of weird and fun to be walking the streets of the DR with her. It will be interesting to see what happens with changes next week. We don´t think we will be having any changes, but we have heard there will be a trio somewhere which I wouldn´t mind if it was with Hna Mcentire since Hna Bradley is going home next week. But we will find out on Sunday night. I am sad that she is going home next week since I was just finally getting to know her and the four of us were spending more time together. It is kind of the same feeling I had when I was getting ready to leave in June and felt like I was just starting to get to know some of the people in 70th ward. The people are great here and get offended when we tell them we can´t eat with them, so we will see how it works for Christmas. It has been great emailing and I am looking forward to next week emailing and then Christmas!!!!!!!! I love you all so much and I am doing fantastico.  Feliz Navidad.  Love you to the 46th power.  Elena

Greetings peeps!

Here are some photos of my companion and district. So, I had my trainer meeting on Tuesday and there are 6 or 7 trainers of sisters and another 5 or so elders. I have heard that only one of the newbie hermanas is latina. I know that latina, since she is from the other branch here in Rivas. I still don´t know if I will be here or in a new spot to train. I should find out later today. The president said something like ´you should grow Rivas´ as I left the meeting but who knows?  So, I still am not sure about how the Christmas call will work because I don´t know if I will be here or somewhere new. If I am here, a member who has a regular home phone said you could call me there, so that I think would be the easiest. But if I am somewhere new I don´t know if I will have found a member to dothe same. So I would need to call you. It will all work out. I love you and can´t wait to talk to you. Then the next call in May will be the halfway point between now and when I come home. So, we went to San Jorge today since my comp and one of the elders hadn't been there. He said we went to Saint George.  Anyway, it's where you take the boats to the island across the lake.  But we just took some pictures since we can't go to the lake. Then we went to the Nicaragua version of KFC and had some fried chicken.  It was good and we had ice cream too. Anyway, we had a good week. The elders had 3 baptisms in their branch on Saturday so that was exciting even though it wasn´t our baptisms. I played the piano at the baptism. They baptized a family and a man to complete a family. His wife has been a member for about a year. Also, after the baptism we needed to unplug the font but someone had shut the door from the hallway that is closest to the drain and it was locked so we tried to reach with a broom from the women´s bathroom side but it didn´t work. My comp said let me try and I mentioned to her that the second step had water on it but she didn´t hear me and stepped down and got her foot soaked. Anyway, she ended up putting a couple chairs in the water and crossed to the other side to open the door and then I got elected to reach down in the water to unplug the drain since I have the longest arms. Anyway, it was pretty funny but we got it out and I said that that would probably be the only time I would actually be in a font on my mission. We sang Away in a Manger for the musical number at the baptism with the elders and I will always think of Grandpa Mullen. We had 3 investigators in church yesterday - 2 of which we didn´t know before hand so that was a good surprise. We brought a lady and her son. It took some convincing by my companion but her little boy wanted to go so they came. Hopefully we will get to visit with her husband sometime soon. We actually contacted him first but he wasn´t home when we went to the appointment. But hopefully we can get them both to church soon. As for mail this week, we didn´t get any, but I should have some on Wednesday.

Anyway, I am doing great and just want to know if I am going or staying, so hopefully we will find out soon. I know the gospel is true and I love you 3 sooooooooooooooooooooo much. You are the bestest and I am excited to start my 12 days of Christmas stuff this week. I liked seeing in Lenny’s pics how a lot of stuff is the same - tables, Christmas tree, chapels....etc. So, a couple funny things... I learned the word for hot glue gun yesterday when the daughter at dinner got hers out - pistola silacon (I think) and I thought Velvalee would be proud. :) Anyway, the daughter at dinner is studying tourism and picked the Grand Canyon to do her project that had to be a natural touristic place so if I stay here maybe you could send me a picture when I was actually there. Also I read about Santo Domingo in the green Spanish book. Sounds like a cool place Lenny. And funny thing yesterday... A drunk man that we contacted asked me if I was single and my comp told him that I was married and he said if I wasn´t married I could marry him so I could get my residency here. He was 60 but first said he was 28 and then changed to 28 times 2 and then he said 60. Anyway, I was laughing pretty hard. Some other guy yesterday passed by and asked if my comp was single. I think that stuff is semi-entertaining. Anyway, I am excited for my mail whenever it comes. I hope you enjoy the pictures and I can´t wait to hear from Lenny next week. And who knows where I will be? I am doing great and I love you tons. Thanks for being the best parents ever. We will firm up the call plans next week when I am more sure of it all.  I hope you had a great week. Thanks for all the updates and give Irene my best.  I love you sooooo much.

Love, Alexis   

Greetings peeps with some big news!

We are headed off to Jinotepe after this because we are going to Managua tomorrow to have some training because I WILL BE TRAINING NEXT CHANGE. So it is a meeting with the people who are training now and will be next week.  My old comp goes home next week, but the one now doesn´t so I will only be with her this one change. I am not sure if I will stay here in Rivas or will be opening an area to train, but we will see. Anyway, it is cool to start someone off and have a little more control of what goes on, but then comes the responsibility, so whatever. It will be fun. So not sure about where I will be for Christmas and the instructions I have are that it is a 30-40 minute call and I can call from a phone place or give you the number of a member and you can call. I think that will be easier especially if I am here and know lots of members. So basically we just need to choose a time and then I will just work around being at the right place at the right time. Anyway, as far as mail I got a bunch of letters last week from Kelsey, Grandma Olive, Chessy, mom, a sister I was with in the MTC, and Lenny, and DearElders from Gehrings, mom, dad and Joyce. So, hopefully I will see some of your packages this week, but I know it will all get here. Also hopefully we will get the conference Ensign soon. The branch here got them yesterday but the other branch had a bunch mixed up with English ones. So last night at dinner I read Elder Holland’s talk since they got an English one and it was fantastic. These couples need to get on missions. Tell that to the 30th ward peeps por favor.  And for a funny thing. The adult diapers here are called plenitud which means fullness which I think just is wrong for a diaper but I think they were going after the fullness of life. I thought dad might appreciate that.:)  So we have had a good week. We still have trouble getting people to church but we´ll keep trying. We had 2 people there but we shall see. I got to see the Christmas devotional last night. I watched in Spanish, but it was real fantastic and I loved the English music. We could only go if we had an investigator so we searched for some people and I called one of the investigators who comes to stuff to invite him. He said he would and when we got there he was there so that was mighty fine since I really wanted to go. We met a member this week from Houston. Actually she is from here but has lived there for like 25 years and was visiting for Christmas. She called us out from the street when we were walking with the elders and invited us to a party she was doing for the kids of the neighborhood. We said we couldn´t come until later. We showed up and it was over but she gave us some cake and drinks and we talked to her with her husband. They want so bad to be citizens of the USA but have a hard time with the English part of the test. Well, I am enjoying the lights going up and trees. I think when I have my own house I will put up blue lights and Lenny can put up red ones. So, today I learned the word for patent leather – charol (that’s for Elena) and I enjoyed these little pastries for breakfast which remind me of eating pie crust, so that was good. Anyway, the work is going along here. We are working with a few families and need to find some new ones too that will progress faster. We need to work more with the members because that is key and makes it easier. Yesterday one of our recent converts came that didn´t come last month so that was good. I am enjoying myself here and I really want you to come some day and see my life here. Sometimes I think back to when I first came and how now there are so many things that don´t faze me at all - like filling up buckets in the shower just in case there is no water, or dogs and horses in the street. Now it is just part of life and I can’t believe sometimes I am actually living this little life in Nicaragua. But I know I am where I need to be. I love you so much and can´t wait until I talk to you so soon and then the next Christmas party fest. And just so you know we have a Christmas activity on either the 20 or 21 with other zones so that should be fun. I know they will try to make it as special as they can. They just turned on Christmas music here in the internet place. But this Christmas will be great and real different but like Pres. Uchtdorf said that not everything has to be perfect to have a great Christmas. Elena, that was a crazy story about the birds and climbing out the window. Also if you could tell Marni to start learning how to make pupusas I would appreciate it. And maybe she can take you to the El Salvador restaurant she went to. Mom if you could make gallo pinto I would love it. Well, I love you all tons and am off until next week. Have a fantastic week! The gospel is true. Las familias son eternas. I love you.  Love, alc

More from the DR missionary!

Just emailing again from the mall this week. We are with the other hermanas...Chessy´s friend and Hermana Mcentire.  I got a lovely load of mail this week. I got the fabulous pillowcase packet. We both loved them. I also got your plan of salvation package which is great. It is fun knowing that you made it for me. :)  I got Grandma Harvey´s package too. I thought I remember you telling me not to open it, so I promise to save it for Christmas. I also got letters which were great. We had a fun activity with a couple of zones playing softball today. We are going to the temple next week, so I should be emailing on Wednesday according to what I have heard. So it’s been a good week. We are getting ready for our baptism on Thursday. She lives right below us. Anyways, things are going well for that and the ward seems to be taking care of things. We had a great stake conference yesterday. The mission president and his wife were there and the temple president and his wife and of course all of the missionaries in our zone. It was good seeing them all and it was fun to sing in the choir. We also had a stake primary activity last night getting ready for Christmas. The lady getting baptized this week came with us and it was outside and the kids sang and stuff. It was fun and we got cookies and hot chocolate. It was actually a little chilly last night with the wind. Then the people stayed for the Christmas Devotional but we left since it wasn´t starting ‘til 9. The members are really great here and I like being at the stake center because it is close for all of the activities. I would kind of like to come back here for the end of my mission when I can get to know the members more because they are really great. It has been a little cool at night here and I haven´t needed my fan as much during the night or I get out my blanket. My new favorite food of the week: tomatoes...fried tomatoes to go with my eggs. :) I´ve had that a few nights this week. Sometimes I do toast with eggs and tomatoes and sometimes I do egg burritos. I bought some lovely fruit loops with marshmallows this week which I have been enjoying even though the box was like $7. Cereal is expensive, but worth it. Sometimes I make a pb & j club for breakfast... 3 pieces of bread and pb and guava jelly... mmmmm. One elder said today that he ate 11 jars of pb his first couple of transfers. :) Funny! We had pizza here at the mall and we are going to get frozen yogurt for dessert after we are done here. mmmm. So I am thinking that I will start telling guys that we talk to in the street that I have a boyfriend back home, because a couple have called us using the number on the pass along cards or pamphlets we´ve handed out. I think maybe I will just use the picture from the MTC and tell people that T & T are my boyfriends back home. :) Just kidding but it would be funny. On Christmas I want to try to talk to the 3 of you. I heard we get about 45 minutes and I imagine having you conference call would be best, but I will keep you posted. As I have been studying this week, especially the conference talks, I am starting to understand a little more about how much love Heavenly Father has for me. I think about how much you love me and try to imagine that Heavenly Father has that kind of love but infinitively more since He is all knowing and all loving. It really is incomprehensible, but he really is our father. I love you all so much. Thanks for all of the support. Can´t wait to hear your voices in less than 3 weeks and then come home to a crazy Christmas house next year. Twill be the best ever. So the other hermanas in our zone...Chessy´s friend and Hermana Mcentire have had some rashes for the last couple of weeks and have gone to the doctor to figure it out, but couldn´t figure out what was going on. Anyways yesterday they told us of their fun stuff going on at their house. They said that their water had been smelling weird for a couple of weeks, and on Saturday, Hermana Mcentire decided to climb on the roof to check out the tank. They live on the 4th floor in an apartment complex, but one of their neighbors had a window they could climb out and make their way to the roof. So Hermana Mcentire climbed out on the roof and then found the tank. She looked into the tank and found a dead bird. grooooossssss. The cap for the tank had come off or something. They said they were pretty hysterical about the whole thing. Anyways, somebody came and cleaned out the tank and they washed all of their clothes and sheets and plates that had all been washed in the dead bird water. The funny part of the story was seeing the president´s wife´s face yesterday when they told her that they had climbed out of the window on the 4th floor to check it out. Now they are doing fine and hopefully the rashes will go away. We were supposed to go on exchanges with them last week, but it got moved ‘til this week, which I am really glad about now. That was a tender mercy for me anyway. But they are fine and it is kind of funny now. I am sure this will be funny for them as time goes on. I enjoyed Sister Garn´s email and hope things go well for her. I love you all so much and can´t wait to talk on Christmas. :) Thanks for all of the mail. I love you so much. ejc