3-13-12

Dear Mom,

So I am sure you are dying to know where my new area is and all of that info, so I will go ahead and start off with that. My new area is called El Palmar in the Zone Santa Lucia, and it is in the coast so it is EXTREMELY hot. I have already lost about 5 pounds, I weigh 140 pounds again. The temperature on average is 40 degrees celsius, I dont have a way to convert it so Im not sure how hot it is in Fahrenheit, but I know that it is alot hotter than I like haha. My new companion is named Elder T, he is actually from Guatemala, a place called huehuetenango, its in a different mission here, but its kind of interesting that he is serving here in his own country. He is actually on his last change right now, so I am going to be his last companion before he goes home, hes got 5 weeks left now, but you wouldnt know it by the way he works, hes great, we work hard and we have several baptisms coming up already. Also, I was interviewed by President Brough, that was pretty cool haha, I am the new Retention Secretary for the Zone, basically its my job to annoy the other missionaries and make sure they are helping the converts to continue progressing and actually coming to church. I am really glad that the President trusts me enough to let me do it, it truly meant alot. And its helped me to think about the mission in A different way which is pretty cool, gives me new ideas for study and whatnot.

Our house is actually pretty nice, kind of strange though, its not exactly completely closed off, in the fact that because its so hot here they leave little holes and stuff through walls so that it doesnt get way too hot in the house, going to sleep is so strange, I sweat so much, which is weird for me because I usually dont sweat, but Im just trying to take the good perspective and look forward to knocking off all of my extra fat that I picked up after leaving wrestling. Another thing, I take cold showers here, it is way too hot to take a warm Shower, I would die, the cold water feels so much better.

Does President Brough have a theme... definitly, its baptisms. we had a goal of baptizing 204 people in the month of January, which we did, then this month we have a goal of 125, and then in April and May it is a goal of 204 baptisms both months back to back. It kind of seems crazy in the beginning, but its actually working, its really cool, we are accomplishing it. Another theme is probably opening our mouths, we are supposed to talk to at least 25 new people every day, like contact them, that actually helps a ton too. I dont know, he seems to be really well balanced in all of his plans for the mission, hes definitly changing it.

I dont always print out the emails that you send, but it might be kind of nice if you sent them on Dear Elder as well, so that I would get them later, sometimes I enjoy reading over letters at night before I go to bed.

I am glad to hear that molly was able to make use of my magic kit, haha, thats great that she is working on all that stuff. She is probably alot better at tricks than I am, I enjoyed it, but I was never devoted to it, I just like picking up alot of small hobbies and never seem to really finish.

As far as this past week, well, not too much to say, I had to give a talk on sunday though, haha, talk about welcome to the Branch. It was actually kind of interesting, because I had written a talk to give, but when I got up to speak I just kind of felt like I shouldnt read off of it, and I just spoke, still on the same subject, Testimonies, but I changed alot of what I had planned up there. I had never actually done that before and It was really cool to have the words coming into my mouth, It wasnt a perfect talk, but I definitly felt the blessing of opening your mouth and then having it filled. Cool way to gain a testimony of that principle.

But in other news, not too much has happened, we have just been busy working hard in the heat, at night its a little better because the suns down, but the heat is still there, I dont really understand how a place can be so hot. Its ridiculous. I miss the mountains haha.

Anyways, I think I got all your questions answered, if not please let me know, I hope you all know that I love and miss you a ton, keep reading the scriptures and praying as a family, do everything to have the spirit with you and everything will turn out all right, I love you!

Love,
Christopher