October 19, 2009

P-days for Jeff are on Mondays, so that is when he writes to us. Fortunately, he can email so we receive his letters right after he sends them, verses snail mail by pouch which takes up tp two weeks to arrive.

I told him we always look forward to Mondays now, to get his letters:

I never thought that I would look forward to Mondays either..oh well
haha. The 2 hour bus ride..yea, I saw a lot more of the country
side. It´s super pretty! I went away from the city, I was about 20
minutes away from the coast. I really hope that I get to go to the coast,
and in the summer. Divisions are fun..but kinda a hassel too. I
don´t like haveing to sleep over at their pension, but it is fun to be with
other Elders and get to know them. Unless they are annoying haha.
Thats only happened once though, so esta bien. Our Bishop doesn´t have any
counselors because no one is willing to accept the calling. Thats how bad
the lazyiness and non-commitment is here. So, it is very hard for him
because he has to do everything! I bet uncle Pete could syphasize with him
on that, it wouldn´t be easy. So we do what we can to help him out.
We don´t actually do like administrative things really, but we visit the
families that he asks us to and have like meetings with him to discuss whats
going on in the ward and what we can do. So things like that.

I´m trying to do my best to be a good leader, I´ve been reading my patriarchal
blessing a lot. All the less actives are great people and a lot of them
have good testimonies, but they just don´t have the drive to go to church and
keep their covenants. We try to find ways to get them excited about church
and remember how important it is to them.

Thats crazy that this month has been so cold for you. Coldest on record huh? Glad I´m not there to experience that ha. It´s getting pretty hot here, the sun is extra brutal. Changes are coming up here on the 27th, I think one of us will get changed. I don´t want that to happen, but we´ll see.

Chile qualified for the World Cup last weekend so everyone was going crazy about that. Lots and lots of drinking..sad. The U.S. is qualified too. I hope that it comes down to the U.S. and Chile and that we win! That´d be sweet, although people probably wouldn´t like us white people down here very much after that. Oh well ;) Ok, thanks for everything! I love you all and am always praying for you :) hope that you have a great week!

Con muchisimo amor,Elder DeLong

P.S. Still don´t have a baptism, we are waiting on Rosa to get back for her vacation. But from talking on the phone with her her testimony is strong and she still wants to be baptized. And she has stopped drinking tea!