Week 55

So, I'm here in Turlock now after a short stay in Merced which is sad, but Turlock is awesome so I'm happy. Every letter says that Carter is a pretty chill baby so I'm taking it that he's very well behaved.  My new companion is Elder Tateoli who is Tongan, but from Las Vegas. We get along, but he's struggling pretty bad, I'm not sure if he'll be able to last two years.  He has potential to be good, but he doesn’t really care.  He won't talk in the lessons, he says he doesn't know them, so I have to teach the whole thing, I like teaching but it doesn’t feel good.  I wanted to help him and make him a good teacher, but he told me that he wasn't a little kid and didn't want help.  It will be a new challenge this transfer, but I'm up to it, so it's good.  Promising news is that we did a church tour with a girl called Kristy, who is 19 and the spirit was super strong and she committed to be baptized on August 25^th.  She came to church on Sunday also she's solid and progressing well.  Oh Cinthia, the 16 year old girl we were teaching in Merced got baptized on Saturday so that was exciting.

My new area is Turlock 4^th ward and this area has been struggling and is in pretty bad shape.  They have only baptized two people this year and none in the past four months.  It is an all bike area and we have no car so that is awesome because I've been driving most of my mission.  The only bad thing was that is was over 105 for the past six days so it has been super hot.  The apartment is the nicest one I've had yet and we have a washer and dryer in our apartment so I'm going to save about $30-$40 with not having to pay for laundry and washing the car.  The ward is missionary minded, we get fed dinner every night and quite a few lunches and team-ups, that’s the benefit of being in an English area, but I use my Spanish quite a bit.  I didn't think I could train Chad because I was in a Spanish branch, but now that I'm English area the possibility is still there.  That would be pretty funny if that happened so we will see.

I'm not sure if you remember Elder Bonner who served in our ward like two years ago,  but his family lives in my ward so everywhere I go find someone I know.  Elder Bonner came to our house a few times and I was in a class with him up at school. 

So this upcoming week we have a zone conference on Friday,  haven't had a big meeting  in two months so I'm excited for it.  I played basketball for the first time yesterday and I was didn’t do too bad for not playing for over two months.  I also thought my jump would have decreased, but I got way above the rim, so that was crazy.  Everyone asks why and how I jump so high and my secret is not working out and it’s the truth. 

That’s good to hear that your enjoying the Olympics, its sad to not see it, but Im glad that I wont miss the world cup.  Thanks for all the letters, always excited to get them.  Well better get going, but I love you and miss you.