Circunvalacion 1 - Week #10

¡Hola Al Mundo Afuera!

¿Cómo están todos? This week has been pretty crazy again for us. Monday morning they jumped another leadership training in on us for this past Thursday and Friday, so de nuevo we, the Office, have been running in circles. This last week has also been a big culminating point for all of my work in the office... it seems as if every project and/or deadline that I work on either came due this week or is due this next week. All sorts of fun!!! Don't get me wrong now, I love this work and I love the office... but sometimes we get hit pretty hard. I think I'm learning a little better in how to deal with all of the stress now.

So Gabe and Ryah went to a concert... and Chipotle!!! That part I'm a little jealous of... But either way it sounds like it was fun. It really does sound like everybody is getting a little more freedom ever since the oldest has left the house for a foreign country! I'm sure after one is gone it is a little easier for the mama hen to let the other chicks out a little bit... LOL.

Just a warning about the package... You might want to consider sending either really soon or not mind it not getting to me for about a month (slow boat suggested)!!! It looks like Correos Chile, the Chilean postal service, is about to go on strike the second week of August for about 15 days, from Arica a Punta Arenas (that's all of Chile). They haven't had a raise for 14 years and are about fed up with it... so that ought to be fun with all of the mail and stuff we do!!! Either way, FedEx will still be shipping in regularly for all of the stuff that comes from Church Headquarters and all that jazz... You've gotta love politics!

Mom: I assure you that we are not going hungry... quite the contrary!!! During the week we actually have to pay for our lunch, una hermana de la iglesia makes it for us (but it is a little expensive). Saturday, o sea P-day, we normally eat in the food court of the mall (American food normally), or cook or something of the sort. And Sundays we eat in a member's home. So needless to say we do not go hungry...

Sounds like everything is going pretty well at home. Hope that the little vacation that you get to take is fun and you can relax a bit!

So I forgot to tell y'all something interesting that I recently learned... the new senior couple here in the mission, the Taylor's from Frisco, TX, know the Holley's!!! Turns out that both Matt and David served missions, which I didn't know, and that the whole fam if doing fairly well.

Also just a shout out to Jared back in what everyone that hasn't ever gone on a mission considers the real world... it isn't the real world, but for all intents and purposes we'll humor the other people and go along with the idea!

So about the proselyting this week. We continue teaching Carlos and he is progressing very well (bastante bien). These last two days he has almost completely eliminated cigarettes from his daily routine [I almost said diet], and is excited to be baptized on the 15th of August. Also we found another investigator that we had previously been teaching, his name is Ricardo. Ricardo has got some pretty big problems with the Word of Wisdom, but we are working in helping him out... unfortunately he is very difficult to find and a little flaky with the visits that we set with him. So that is where we are right now, and we are expecting to baptize, sí o sí, this month!

I really want to see some house pics and family pics. I don't want to have to threaten it again, but... IF Y'ALL DON'T SEND ME PICTURES SOON I'M GONNA HAVE TO PUT UP THE PRE-PROM PICTURES RYAH SENT ME AT MY DESK... IN PUBLIC VIEW!!! (If you don't for some reason remember which ones those were just ask Ryah to show you... If she doesn't remember then she can e-mail me for a memory refresher).

I love you all and hope that all is well! Let me know if anything big changes. Also, how is the ward doing? I don't hear from anyone over there so I never know.

¡Todo mi amor y cariño! ¡Os extraño mucho! ¡Qué estéis súper bien! ¡Besitos a todos!

-- Élder Todd