Mayonesa!!!

 

Monday, February 18, 2013

 

Mother!

I was pretty happy to get your email here today! I am sitting in some run-down little place on a computer that is as old as I am! It seriously is the definition of a dinosaur. This place is really ghetto, and the computer has probably every virus known to man. I don´t dare try to plug my camera in here because I am afraid it will get a virus too.

To answer some of your questions: We do not have a computer in our log cabin. We do have a phone, well, Elder Brindley has a phone. He is the district leader, so he keeps track of some other companionship’s in the district. He and I get along pretty well. He is a very nice guy, like super nice. But he is a little bit socially awkward. Like, I can tell that he really gets uptight talking to people. He gets super uncomfortable when we are eating lunch with the members. He is just.. a little awkward. So, we are the king of awkward moments here in Llanquihue. I don´t have the conversational Spanish to save us from these awkward moments. So I kind of sit there and smile. It is actually kind of funny to me. Also, the only thing that really bothers me about him is the way that he chews his food. But the way everyone chews their food, bothers me. But on average, I think that he chews each bit of food 28 times before he swallows it. This is including soup! Who chews their soup like that?! It contributes to the awkward moments because someone speaks to us and he holds up his finger as if to say, ¨"Just a second while I finish chewing this.¨ when in reality it means, "you might as well sit there for a few minutes, because I need to chew my jello 26 more times before I swallow it." Haha. It adds to the awkward moments for sure. He is nice, though. He is from Minnesota.

I told you about Mamita. She is a member and we go over to her house almost every day for lunch. She is super nice. She makes.... food. Is it good? Sometimes. The problem with the food here is that they eat a lot of stuff that I don´t like. Like Mayonesa (Mayonnaise). They put that on almost everything that they make here. They put it on their potatoes, rice, meat, salad, and everything else. They also eat a lot of guacamole, which I don´t like. They also eat tomatoes on everything, which I don´t really like either. Also, they eat hardboiled eggs... which I really don´t like. But, I eat all of it. It is good that mamita (her name is Rosa) is not in the room when we are eating usually, because I pretty much gag on it all. But in time, I will learn to like it all. Oh!? Were you asking what a mamita is? Mamita literally means "little mama¨". That is what she is. Also, I will inform you, that I have yet to eat a meal without the Chilean national condiment. Hair!! There is ALWAYS hair in the food; without fail, every single time. It is... gross. haha.

Well, I bought a new umbrella today for like 10 dollars. It is a little bit chanta (cheap), so we will see if it lasts. They say it is summer in Chile? What a lie! Maybe in the North! Here we wake up in the cabin and it is 48 degrees! It is freaking cold here! It is about 60 during the day, but our cabin is always cold. We don´t have central heating or anything, so we have to light fires. Here is the catch with the fires: we aren´t allowed to use mission funded firewood to light fires until May 1st. So it is going to be cold here for a while. I sleep with a sweater and a hat on.

Feet problems: Everyone here has problems with their feet. Me? I am no exception to this rule. I have huge blisters still. I have some kind of foot fungus that is pretty common for missionaries to get, and I have an ingrown toe nail that is also very common for missionaries to get. It is all okay, though. I will continue to endure. I am tough... sort of.

Yeah... I would explain to you what Chile is like... but I can´t. People here are… interesting. We always get followed by drunken people. They try to share their alcohol with us... or something like that. Old women try to kiss us in the street. (Don’t worry, Makayla, I have perfected the side step.) Haha. They also shout some pretty interesting things at us like, "Hey Sexy!” which is uncomfortable. I am easily the tallest person here in Llanquihue; I can´t even stand up straight in the houses of some of the members.

Well, I gotta wrap this up here. If you want to send me a package, you can send it to the address i gave you. It takes three weeks to get here. Don´t put beef jerky or raisins or anything in it, because they will open it before I ever see it. If you wanted to send me anything, I would request the thermals that I sent home in a package. I didn´t think it would be that cold here right now. I would also suggest maybe a small back pack and a sweat shirt? I would say put money on my card... but the city I am in is not big enough, so they don´t take cards most of the places here. You don´t have to send a package, though. I am doing just fine here.

Also, keep strong, Mamma. Life is tough sometimes. You are a strong lady. Occupy your time with good things. Read some good books. Just keep busy, that is the key to not getting depressed.

Love, Elder Warren

 

 

A Missionary Blister :-((

McKay's Log Cabin in Llanquihue, Chile

Naci en Llanquihue

 

Monday, February 11, 2013 

 

Hello!

Well, there wasn´t an email to read from you today. Maybe you were busy or something. No hay nadie que sepa. (nobody knows.). You can send me emails, you know! Don’t send dear elders anymore, because I won’t see them for three weeks. My pday is Monday, so it would be best if you sent emails before Monday. Sunday would probably be a good day. You can email me more than once, as well. I will just read them all at once. Also, anyone can email me. Tell Makayla that. She can email me, I just can’t email her directly back. But I can respond in my email to you!

Well... I am definitely NOT in America anymore. Imagine the most ghetto place you have visited in your life... and it is probably nicer than where I live. I live in a city called Llanquihue (pronounced yawn-key-way). I live in a log cabin with mi compañero, Elder Brindley. I always dreamed of being a mountain man, and my wildest dreams have come true. Why? Because I live in a log cabin and chop firewood every day. It is pretty legit.

Things are… "going" here. The work is a little slow. We don´t have a ton of investigators. We walk probably 10 miles a day. We live at the top of the city, and it is like a 45 minute walk down to the bottom of the city where we have most of our lessons. Do I have huge blisters from all of this walking? You better believe it. Have I already broken out the anti-fungal cream because my feet are always wet? Most definitely. Have I already gotten sunburned because it was sunny the first few days? Yes and my face is peeling. Have I been soaked head to toe in the rain? Yep. I have, multiple times. I need to buy a new umbrella. The little one I have is already not making the cut. Do I already have scoliosis from carrying all of my books in a shoulder bag? Probably. A shoulder bag wasn´t the best idea. Have I already had my books and scripture’s soaked from being out in the rain with my shoulder bag? Yes, more than once. This whole being wet all the time is going to take some getting used to.

There are wild dogs everywhere in the streets here. Literally, everywhere. They roam in packs and they hate us. They absolutely hate everything about us. Have I been chased by a dog here? Yes. I have; several times every day. What do I do about it? I hit them with my umbrella or throw a rock at them. My companion says that he has been bitten a few times by the dogs. When I get home, I probably will give Hazel the cold shoulder for all of the poor experiences with her kind.

The Spanish is actually going a little better than I thought it would. People speak really fast, but most of the time I can catch the main theme of what they are saying. My companion tells everyone that I am fresh from the US, and they say "oh, el no entiende nada." That kind of gets old. I usually tell them that I can understand them and then they feel really bad because I understood that they were talking about me. I had to get up and introduce myself in Sacrament meeting yesterday. I receive a lot of compliments about my lack of an accent. The members don´t believe me when I tell them I got to Chile 5 days ago because they can´t tell when I speak Spanish. I don´t have a gringo accent like most gringo missionaries do. They say that they can understand me really well because I sound like a Latino when I speak Spanish. That was my goal when I decided to read El Libro de Mormon en voz alta. My companion decided that he would try it because he has been here for a year and a half and he has a really bad gringo accent. I don´t think he likes it that people compliment me on my lack of an accent all the time.

It was really nice to be able to talk to you ladies on the phone the other day. That seems like forever ago, but it was only one week. Talking to you at first was a little weird. Using a phone was weird. After you went to your appointment, I probably talked to Makayla for over an hour. That only killed a small portion of our massive layover, but I definitely enjoyed that.

Well, I guess I will tell you about the food here. I don´t think that I am going to get fat. We eat breakfast on our own at the cabin. I usually have Life cereal with warm milk. Why warm milk? Because apparently milk doesn´t need to be refrigerated here... which is weird. For Almuerzo, we go to our mamítas house. She makes us food Tuesday-Friday. On Saturday we eat with a member and the same on Sunday. The members do our laundry for us.. which is kind of nice. We wouldn´t have time to do it ourselves, and there really isn´t a laundry mat close to here. We eat a lot of rice and such. I have had a few completos. We don´t eat a ton, and we walk a ton. So.. I don´t believe weight gain will be an issue.

Did you get the letter from me from the mission president? With the address?

Casilla 7-0
Osorno Los Lagos, Chile

Tell Makayla she can send letters there.

I got to go now, so I will wrap this up by telling you I am doing just fine!

Love, Elder Warren

ps. tell Kathryn Maddix that is a picture of the super bowl party we had with her food!

Three days left!!!

Friday,  February 01, 2013

Hey mom!

I haven't heard from you this week! I hope everything is going well. I got a package in the mail yesterday, but I can't pick it up until 11:00 today. I have a feeling that it might be from you.. but I don't really know. I guess that I will find out.

Did Makayla give you my flight plans? I hope she did... because I can't really remember them off of the top of my head right now. I know that I leave the MTC at four in the morning on Monday. We fly to Los Angeles. We have a five hour layover in Los Angeles!!! How crazy is that. I think that I am there between 8-1:30, so I will be calling sometime in that time frame. So... keep your phone close by and make sure that Makayla is right there the whole time. Deal? I already bought my phone card. Guess how many minutes? 500! I doubt I will be able to talk the entire time, but I should be able to talk to you lovely ladies for a while. :) After Los Angeles, we fly for 14 hours to Santiago. In Santiago we have a three hour layover, and then we fly to Osorno. So it will be like... 26+ hours of travel. I will be the bearded wonder when I meet my mission president, because I won't have a chance to shave the whole time I am traveling! haha.

I finally met the Osornites!!! Haha. That is what all the other missionaries going to my mission call themselves. I knew that there were seven of them here somewhere, and I finally met all of them on Wednesday! We will all be traveling together. They all seem like really nice guys! They were all pretty friendly. They kind of acted like I was the long lost sheep, haha. They knew from day one that I was there somewhere in the MTC, and they always wondered who I was. It will be good to travel with them. Well, hopefully. They all know eachother really well because they have pretty much spent every hour of every day together for the last nine weeks. They are all in the same district, and they all live in the same dorm. So it will be a challenge for me because I will still be kind of like the outsider. That is okay, though, because I will just win them over with my smile (Haha... I have been wearing my retainer every day! Who would have ever guessed that would happen??).

This week has been a good one, and it has really flown by! We have been just as busy as ever! Our classes haven't been as productive because everyone is just anxious to leave! My Spanish teacher sent me a package this week! It was full of some pretty awesome cookies! How nice is that?! Also, I live on the same floor as a kid from my Spanish class in high school! Elder David Stoker! He just got here on Wednesday. He is going to Argentina. It was cool to see him. I love seeing all of the kids from school here! There are a bunch of them. I see Tyler Belliston around sometimes. I talked to him yesterday, and he is leaving for Iowa on Tuesday. He just barely got here! Lucky guy! Oh!! Dave Clarke sent me a letter! I read it last night! What a stud of a guy. Peru will be lucky to have that kid and his winning smile!

Well... I have a confession to make. I broke a rule here at the MTC. Wanna know what it was? Well, the rule is that you aren't allowed to dunk the basketball during gym. I got so excited on Wednesday because it was my last gym day that I dunked the basketball!! Haha. And let me tell you, it was a dunk to remember! I threw it down like I was playing in the all-star game! It was actually pretty funny, and news traveled around our Zone like wild fire. I have random Elders coming up and calling me Elder Duncan! I didn't get in trouble or anything for dunking it. The gym supervisor was pretty impressed, actually. He just told me that I shouldn't do it again. I explained to him that I wouldn't, because I didn't have gym again before I left the MTC. He was really nice and he actually thought it was pretty funny.

I got all of my stuff handed over to Wendy Jones yesterday! Hopefully my bags will be light enough now. I think they should be fine. She told me that Nate gave his farewell. Did you go? I heard from her and from Makayla that it was pretty awesome! I am so bummed that I am missing him here at the MTC by only two days! It would have been awesome to see him! Nick is finally gone and in Tahiti!! I saw him a million times right before he left. He came and found my classroom and we took pictures. I didn't have my camera, so you need to ask his mom to send you the pictures of us when she gets them. We hugged each other and I told him that he better be with you at the airport when you come to pick me up in two years! He said he would make sure that you took him with you!

Well, I am almost out of time... so I gotta type quick. This week has been really weird. It is the strangest feeling thinking that you are spending your last few days in the US. I have been a little nervous all week. I have been nervous about the flight. I have been nervous about my spanish. I have been questioning whether I know enough to be a good missionary. I have been nervous about meeting my trainer. I have been nervous about that a lot, actually. I hope he is a good one! I have been wondering about if I will be a good missionary or not. Bottom line... I have been a little stressed this week about all of this. But I went to the temple this morning. There is this huge painting of Christ in the temple that I was sitting there looking at. While I was looking at it, my anxiety just melted away. The thought came into my head, "Don't worry, McKay. Just have faith in me." I was overwhelmed with just a fantastic feeling of peace. I looked at the picture and I remembered who I represent. I represent Jesus Christ. I have been called to do His work, and He is going to take care of me. I am not nervous anymore to head down to Chile. I am pumped! I am gonna go down there to invite everyone to come unto Christ and to slay sin!! I can't wait!

I love you, Momma! I will talk to you on Monday!

Love,
Elder Warren

 

 

Superbowl Party at the MTC!!!???

Perseverar Hasta el Fin (Enduring to the End)

Friday, January 25, 2013

 

Hey Mom!

Well, I have 10 days left here in America! Is that crazy, or what? I don't really know what to think... like I have no idea what to expect down there in Chile. The only thing I really know is that pretty much all of our teachers that went to South America said that at one point they lost control of their bowels and "messed" themselves. How gross is that! All of them without fail had this experience. I sure as heck hope that it never happens to me! Most of the teachers say it is because of the water down there. In most countries in South America, missionaries have to only drink bottled water or the have to purify the water. They gave all of the South American missionaries a water purification system. It is this nifty little bottle that purifies any water except for ocean water. They even say that it can purify a mud puddle! The good news about all of this is that in Chile it is a little more civilized and you are allowed to drink the tap water!

I saw Elder Kimball just minutes after he was dropped off! I didn't see his family, though. I saw him headed up toward the building to get checked in. That is one of the perks of being a host missionary, you pretty much get to see all of the new missionaries. I have seen a couple other people that I know. I saw Lindsey Bills here! I think that she is going to Florida. Being a host missionary is sweet! I was helping out with the international missionaries on Wednesday, which was cool. I was helping this Elder from the Philippines. He spoke pretty good English. He said that his plane ride here was like 24 hours or something. It is his first time being in America and he is going to San Diego on his mission. He said that my English was hard to understand because I talk fast. He asked me what language I was learning and I told him Spanish. So he started trying to talk to me in Spanish!! It was funny because he doesn't really know any Spanish at all. He kept saying "Hola, Elder! Bien Burritos!" I couldn't help but laugh! I let him think that he was speaking correct Spanish. I gave him a tour of the MTC and introduced him to his teacher and his companion.

This next week is going to fly by, I already know it. Monday is a normal day. Tuesday is the day that we have service in the morning and the MTC devotional at night with a general authority. Wednesday we are hosting again. Thursday we are having in-field orientation. Friday will be P-day, and Saturday we pack and such. I should be getting my travel plans in the mail sometime today. I will tell Makayla what they are in her letter, and I am sure she will tell you. Everybody is making predictions about how many flights it will take me to get down there to Antarctica! Haha. My guess is three, but I honestly have no idea. I know that there are at least 7 other missionaries going to Osorno the same day as me. Have I met any of them? No! I still haven't met any of them. I only know because they have a list of us in the travel office. All of them are in the beginner Spanish class. I will be the only one from an Intermediate class, which means I better study up on " I can't find my luggage!" and other phrases like that. Haha.

I titled my email "Perseverar Hasta el Fin" because we are kind of enduring mode here at the MTC. People are sure having a hard time focusing in my district. Everybody is excited and nervous about leaving, so it is hard to focus and study. Also, it doesn't help that we have zero consistency in class as far as the teachers go. Remember how I told you that we had had a ton of teachers? Well, it was supposed to be fixed when we got the sweet new teacher, Hermano Thompson. Well, we only had him three times and he has been in the hospital since. He got really sick with something, and he has taken off the whole next month of work... so we won't see him again. So we only have one real teacher, and then we have had a sub for all of our other classes. I told you that most districts only ever have two teachers and maybe a sub like once or twice while we are here. We have had 24 different teachers. That has turned into a challenge, because instead of having progressing investigators, we basically teach the first lesson over and over again to the new subs. I could pretty much recite the entire first lesson in my sleep. Speaking of sleep, my thoughts switch to Spanish when I am falling asleep. It is super weird. Sometimes when I am praying at night and I am kind of falling asleep (I know.. i shouldn't be falling asleep during my prayers, but it happens!) my thought subconsciously switch into Spanish. It is the same when I am lying in bed and falling asleep.

I got two packages from Makayla last Saturday, full of all kinds of candy! Everybody I live with jumped all over that and the candy was gone by Sunday night! haha. Her parents put a letter in the package, too, and that was really nice! They are really nice people! Makayla also sent me some pictures in the packages. I have a few pictures of me and her, and a sweet picture of the mullet!

I am sorry to hear that you are having all kinds of problems with your body. Mom, you aren't allowed to fall apart while I am gone! Okay? No falling apart physically. Mind over matter, right? If only it were that easy. Hopefully they can get you all fixed up. Just approach everything with a positive attitude, okay? You are a strong lady, even if you kind of are turning into an old lady ;). I will keep you in my prayers, alright?

I am glad you are keeping in touch with Nick’s mom and Nate’s mom! Keep that up! To answer your question: Nick is actually still here at the MTC. He leaves Monday! You will be in charge of getting the updates from his mom and sending them to me. Same with Nate!

I gotta run!

Love,

Elder Warren

Elder Warren, Hermana Clay, Elder Taylor

 

Elder Holland Fireside!!

 

 

Friday, January 18, 2013
 

Hey mom!
 

How is everything going? I hope that all is well. I hope that you had a good week! I look forward to reading your letter at somepoint. If it is a Dear Elder, those are delivered on the same day if they are written before noon. Also, they aren't delivered on Saturdays. So if you write it this afternoon, I won't see it until Monday. I think once I get to Chile, though, it is probably just going to be easier for you to write normal emails to me. I don't mind spending computer time reading the letters. It only takes me like three minutes to read it.

Well, I guess I will just tell you about how awesome this week has been. Reason number one? Elder Holland came and spoke to us on Tuesday night. The MTC tries to keep it a secret by not telling us who is coming, but we always know something is up when they have security checking our back packs and stuff. So we were all sitting in the missionary "conference center" (it is actually just the gym, but there are lots of bleachers in there), and we saw Elder Holland walk in and we all stood up out of respect. It was probably the coolest experience ever. He walked in the room and the spirit just flooded the place! It was awesome! It was such a powerful experience being there and hearing Elder Holland talk about missionary work! He pretty much told us what we need to do in order to be great missionaries. He is such a fantastic speaker and I have always enjoyed his talks, but this one hit me at a whole new level. I left that meeting feeling more pumped up and enthusiastic about being a missionary than I have ever been. I am so excited to start really teaching people! I am motivated to make sure that I become the missionary that Elder Holland described to us.

On Wednesday I got to be a host missionary! It was actually pretty cool how that works out. We didn't really see the whole effect of the missionary drop off because we were a little late. Basically, they just got a ton of missionaries to wait by the curb along side the hill and help the missionaries get all settled in. There were like... 25 different stations, so there were cars just lined up. They say on average that over 100 cars come through every 15 minutes! Guess who I saw very first drive up and be dropped off? Tyler Belliston! I didn't get to be his host, but I definitley got to be the first one to welcome him to the MTC! It was pretty sweet. Here is an interesting fact for you: The day I was dropped off at the MTC, there were only 230 that came in. Guess how many SISTER missionaries came in on Wednesday? Like 260!! The flood has begun. There were exactly 666 missionaries that came in on Wednesday. I pretty much just carried suitcases for the sisters all day, although I did get to host an Elder who is going to Hawaii. It is kind of weird that I was hosting someone who is going to be leaving the MTC before I do. Speaking of leaving... I believe I only have 17 more days here at the MTC. Is that crazy or what? I can't even believe how quickly time flies here! I feel like I was sitting here yesterday writing my email to you, but that was a whole week ago! I am a little nervous about leaving for Chile, though. I am excited, but I don't fully know what to expect.  I think it might hit me at that point that I am really doing missionary work. Here at the MTC, a lot of missionaries don't really feel like they are on their missions yet. I kind of feel the same way. I feel like I am just preparing for the real deal, which is true. I like it here, though. A lot of missionaries complain about how much they hate it here, but I think that it is a great place! I love what we do here, but it just doesn't quite feel like missionary work yet.

Here is some other news about this week: I finally saw Tatum here! I saw her on Wednesday. It is kind of weird that I have been here for like 7 weeks and I have only seen her once. It was kind of cool to see a friend from the outside world who is not a missionary. I also got a letter from Kathryn Maddix this week. Will you tell her that I got it? I wish I had time to write back today, but I just don't see it happening. P-days are more busy than regular days, in my opinion. We have a ton of stuff to do, including cleaning our room and our classroom. The other missionaries don't help us with cleaning, so Elder Taylor and I do it all. The only reason we do it is because it is a rule... and we just follow all of the rules (which is what elder holland said was part of the equation for being a good missionary). Nick's mom sent me a package this week! She sent me some cookies that Hunter made! I shared them with all of the other missionaries in my district. I need to send you her email address, because she said she would like to receive updates. Maybe I will remember next week to send that in the email. Her email address is on a piece of paper back in my room. I got a few other letters this week as well! Makayla always hooks me up with letters! :) I think I have received like... five from her this week, which is so awesome! She sends me index cards with inspirational quotes on them! How sweet is that!? I think she is going to send me a picture of my mullet so that I can prove to my fellow missionaries that I had the coolest mullet the world has ever seen! Speaking of pictures, will you send me a picture of Hazel? Someone told me that Cavelier King Charles Spaniels are ugly, and I was ready to fight them!! Haha. I need proof that they are adorable!

Well, I am out of time.. again. This is probably the fastest half hour of the week. I forgot to tell you that I wrote Jordan a letter last week. Hopefully he gets it! I also got a letter from Adrienne. Tell her that I am going to work on responding to that one either this week or next week. I hope these people understand that things are super busy here. :/ Well, I gotta go!

Love, Elder Warren.

We have broken the record!!

January 11, 2013

Hey mama!

I like getting your "emails." I always read it on the computer and then get a hard copy in the mail after lunch. If you write your letters on Wednesday nights, I will get them on Thursday and then I won't have to spend time during email time reading them. That way I can write more in my emails. Just a thought!

Things here have settled down after the plague. We finally have some consistent teachers. Typically, a district will have two teachers for the entire nine weeks. One will come in the morning, and the other will come at night. Our district? We had 17 different teachers in the first four weeks. We have broken the record! It has actually been a little bit stressful. There is no consistency in our class sessions at all. We pretty much would have a different teacher every day and none of them would follow the schedule. They finally got it figured out, though. We have a really cool teacher. His name is Hermano Thompson. I think I have learned more from him in the four days that we have had him than I have in the previous four weeks! He seriously doesn't not speak a word of English to us... ever. All of our other teachers would just speak English the whole time. Hermano Thompson is legit though. I can understand what is being said so much better than I could before. You can tell that he really cares about us. He took the time to meet one on one with all nine of us. So in my meeting with him, we prayed together. We prayed that he would be able to meet the needs that I have and help me reach my full potential as a missionary. He is so invested in what he does, and it is so cool. He is from Hawaii and he speaks like 5 different languages. It is funny, because he is this white guy who is technically an American that can't speak English very well.

I like hearing about what is going on with your grandma lifestyle. I feel like I don't have a ton to write about because we do pretty much the exact same thing every single day. I don't know, maybe you find what I do interesting. Hey, ask Brett if he has some nephews here in the MTC. I feel like I have seen one or two of his relatives wandering around here! Also inform Brett that my companion, Elder Taylor, is an avid cyclist and he has done a ton of 100 mile bike races. We are still going strong on being healthy. The weight keeps falling off! Would you have guessed that I would have already lost 17 pounds? Yeah, me neither. Although, we have designated P-day as candy day. We can get candy for super cheap in the book store.

We went to the temple again today, and I wore my boots for the first time! There is a lot of snow on the ground, and they got the job done. I feel like el Jefe when I wear the boots. (I feel like the boss). Haha. Actually, a lot of missionaries wear boots around here. It is kind of a weird thought that I will only be going to the temple three more times in the next two years! I will miss going, but who knows, maybe when I am done down in Osorno they will be ready for a temple. ;)

I am glad to hear that Makayla and Lacey stopped by! They are both super nice, huh? I am glad that you got the whole blog thing figured out. Nick's mom sent me a letter and asked if I had a blog or if you sent out my emails to people. They gave me the email address, but I don't have it with me. I will write them a letter and give them your email and cell phone number so that you both can stay updated about what is going on with me and with nick. Also, get in touch with Nate's mom at some point as well. You mothers gotta keep each other updated! I think Nate is coming right at the very end of my stay here. Nick leaves on the 31st of this month, and I leave on the 4th of February. I hope I get to see Nate, but I think he reports on the 6th. :/ He has been sending me dear elders and he told me that Carter is working on his papers! How great is that! I seriously have the coolest friends around. All of us are going to do great things.

I need to write Jordan a letter. I have such little time to write letters on P-day, though! So many Elders here don't really follow the letter writing rule and they write letters during the week. I easily could break this rule, but I refuse. Wanna know why? Obedience brings blessing, exact obedience brings miracles. That is kind of one of my motto's here on the mission. I read the white handbook everyday to refresh myself on the rules. I do this because if I am going to do the Lord's work, I need to do it His way. The rules are in place for a reason. Each of them are extremely important.

The thing that I have been working on this week is charity. I need to make a concentrated effort on this because we all know that I am one of the most judgmental people on the planet. It is super easy to judge people who are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. I pray each night to feel a Christlike love for everyone. I have gotten a lot better about it, actually. I really have started to see the good in all of the missionaries that I work with. I pray to see a portion of the potential that Heavenly Father sees in them. It is amazing how your perspective changes when you stop thinking about people as just ordinary and annoying people, and you start to think of them as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and as Celestial beings. I still haven't mastered it, but I am making progress.

Well, I am out of time. I have to go get my haircut and my head vacuumed!

Love, Elder Warren

P.S. As far as our Spanish goes? Our teacher says that all of us know more now than he did for his first two transfers in the field. I don't know if I believe him, but it is reassuring to hear that we know more than we think we know!