Hey, guys! Happy happy new year. I finally got mail and have TONS to say!! I hope every thing is going really well for everyone up there in Houston. :). To start off today, I want to talk about the mail I received in general.
However, I still do have a lot off comments about your letters. They were incredibly fun to read.
- dad, you asked about watching DVDs in people's houses. Like 75 percent of the people have a small tv in my area and like half of those people actually have a DVD player. We have used the "Restoration" video four times. It works really well, but a lot of people don't have the equipment. I think it is just b/c my area is so poor. I thought it was funny that you had to use car batteries and extension cords on your mission in the reservations. :)
- I cannot believe that Jake Heaps is leaving and then will only be able to play during his senior year. That's really too bad since there was all the hype about him and everything. He kinda failed. Haha
- Zach, you said that you ate my piece of pie for me at Grandma's house. I wanted to thank you and let you know that I will DEFINITELY eat yours for you while you are on your mission :):).
- One of you asked about wards in our buildings and if they change at the start of te year like in the states. No, my times stayed at 9am. There are two wards in my small building, but they don't change because they are both satisfied with the schedules that they have :)
Anyways, as all of you know, I also received my DearElder package full of just American candy. I ate my two favorites (Twix and Starbursts), but then decided to do something cool with the rest of the candy. Guess what? I took it to investigators and members, just so that they could try it. It went extremely well--much better than if I'd eaten it all for myself. Just to fill you guys in, I will give a short description of every member or investigator that invites us to lunch. Ready?
Lucas y Vicki. They are some of the strongest members in our area and come to church every Sunday. Lucas is first counselor of the bishopric, and Vicki is over our small nursery. We have about 50-60 people attend every week, just to give you a ballpark estimate of the size of our ward. I've heard that ours is one of the biggest in the mission :). Anyways, they are both in their twenties and have a kid names Lorenzo, who is about 3 years old. They are so nice, friendly, and humble. I am currently serving in one of the poorest parts of my mission right now. Just to paint the picture a bit, their house is about 3/4 the size of a standard bedroom, just a little smaller than my room, for example. They have their queen size bed, a small fridge, and a stove, with a tiny electric box that heats their water for their showers. They are amazing people, despite their circumstances. We eat lunch with them every Sunday after church. They sit on the floor in between the bed and the fridge and always let us sit on their mattress cuz they insist and cuz they don't have chairs. Last Sunday, I decided to start this whole candy expedition and brought Sour Patch Kids to their house. There is a ton of candy indigenous to Argentina and people eat candy all the time. However, there is nothing like Sour Patch Kids down here. So I let them all try it ad part of our dessert. There faces were hilarious as they cringed and revealed their surprise. Lucid and Lorenzo, their son, ate them right up :). Lorenzo chomped on it for like two minutes and just made really funny faces as the sour juices squirted out. It was priceless. Alright, I always put too much detail. Gotta move on :).
The Duran (doo-ran) family. Their dad is our Stake President and has served for seven years. They are one of the six strong families in our wards, and they invite us to eat a meal with them almost every week. They live in the best-off part of my area, which is really close to our small apartment complex. They have two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a small living room. Everything is made of cement, and they have church pictures taped on their walls. I love this family of six, and they are absolute soccer fanatics. They actually have a tv that works well ,and they always watch the games. Just over half of the people have a tv. Anyways, since they are a big family, I brought two treats: Butterfinger and Sour Patch Straws. Once again, I showed it to them during dessert, and it was great fun to watch them try these candies which are really rare and weird to them. The Stake President's wife started coughing cuz she got a bunch of sour straw sugar down her throat without knowing. The kids loved the Sour Straws and downed them fast. Once the president started cutting up the Butterfinger, that's when everybody honed in the snack. They licked it a bit and then chewed it. All of them loved it, and there was a scramble to try and get the last bits. One of the kids even licked the wrapper. It was a great experience for me because with such simple means I could make their day :). Plus it was fun to watch!
Alright, I really want to write more but gotta go, like always.
Your missionary,
Elder Jones
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