Almost Changes 4/12/10

Hey fam!

First - pictures.

cerro.jpg is my district on top of the big hill we climbed. L > R Sisters Grindstaff (TX), Guerrero (Honduras), Campos (Chile), and Kleinmann (Orem). Elders Polera (Northern US), Thorderson (The Hood), Rosales (Toronto / El Salvador), Williams (Idaho Falls - I think).

utah.jpg is a funny story - a kid I met in the street. Take special note of the shirt he's wearing. Utah pride strikes again! (if you recall the U of U bowl from Florida with Cundick).

We had a kickin week this week. Taught a bunch of lessons, and had some pretty chill interviews with the Pres. We have Nadia - the awesome Primary President's neighbor who wants to get baptized next Saturday. She loves the charlas and her mom is really supportive - and really catholic. But she is willing to let Nadia choose - unlike Romina's mom. We will have a pretty intense charla with Romina's mom this week with the Stake 1st Counselor's wife who sends her daughter to a catholic school. We'll see what happens there, but it is looking pretty grim because Romina is slated to take the communion this week. Bah. We also have a drug addict named Diego - he's a pretty cool guy. He got in a car crash a couple of weeks ago (he was on a motorcycle) and got pretty banged up. We think it scared him and he wants to clean up his act. Then the Libonatti family is introducing friends to the gospel quicker than we can learn their names. The Libonatti fam says hi, by the way. Even though I have explained that we aren't sure yet, they are very excited to meet dad in December. haha

So funny story about Elder Polera. After interviews we were getting ready to head to the Libonatti house. Out of the blue, Elder Polera asked me "A que hora tenemos que estar en la casa de Libonatti?" Just kinda joking around with him, I answered back in Spanish "cinco y media." I could tell that something wasn't registering, so I asked "Alguna otra pregunta para hacer?" He stood there looking at me for about 10 seconds - then got a terrified look on his face as he realized he was speaking Spanish. Hilarious. I told him it is OK - it means Spanish is becoming his native language. "Spanish isn't my native language! It isn't even a language! It's just a tool I use, that's it," he says.

Oh mom, I was in San Carlos the other day for a baptismal interview, and I saw a lady with a sweatshirt from the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - Florida State vs. Tennessee. It said something about Florida State being too good for Tennessee or something like that. I almost stopped her to take a picture, but I decided not to.

We are planning on a fun zone activity tomorrow - the ZLs are going to cook us a breakfast while we have a little fireside with the oldest member in Maldonado (the one who has the most time as a member, that is). Should be pretty cool. Then we'll have our district meeting. Pretty cool, but they are trying to go overboard with it. We'll be eating pancakes, french toast, eggs, caramel apples, torta de fiambre, and who knows what else.

Changes calls are this Sunday! This change has really flown - I guess that means we are working hard. We are pretty sure I'll be leaving.

Ummm I think that's a pretty good email. Hope mom is having some fun in Chicago and that Tina and Emily don't burn down the house! Love you all!