February 24, 2009

Hola familia,

It sounds like you've all been super busy with everything this last week. Matthew, your tennis stories sound like lots of fun. I wish I could be there to watch you play. I haven't even been able to play once since the beginning of my mission. There are some tennis courts around but I have to go buy some tennis rackets and balls. Maybe I'll just wait until summer. Hopefully I'll have a companion that is willing to play with me. Maybe I'll stay with Elder Blomquist all summer. That would be cool.

It's exciting to hear that you've taken up tennis as well Jonathan. I can't wait to play with you when I get home. Granted, I won't be very good. You'll have to be nice to me. What else have you two been up to?

Transfer info: Elder Blomquist and I are both staying!!! That makes me happy because there are lots of people that are getting close to being ready for baptism. Leonar is supposed to have his interview today. But we couldn't find him at all yesterday. And he never answered his phone. Hopefully he's okay. As long as everything still goes okay his baptism is scheduled for this upcoming Saturday at 7:00. Hopefully I'll be able to tell you all about that next week.

This last Sunday we had a fireside by President Belnap. We had two investigators there. It was really awesome because there were lots of recent converts who shared their conversion stories and their testimonies. One of them was Juan Saldana. Who was baptized while I was here, by Elder Anderson and Elder Mortenson. He doesn't speak English that well so Elder Anderson went up with him and translated what he said into English. It was actually really funny. I wish I could've recorded it and sent it home to you. It was an amazing meeting because the spirit was really strong and it gave all of our investigators a strong desire to really find out if this church is true.

Tomasa is one of the ones who was at the fireside. She's been making lots of progress lately. We're hoping to help her take the next step in a couple of weeks. She is the center of her family. As soon as she comes many will follow. I'm super excited for her.

We've played soccer for the last couple of p-day's. It's been a lot of fun. Last time I was the goalie. It was so crazy. I actually did a pretty good job. Diving all over and making miraculous saves. We also got some durag's. You'll see them in some of the pictures that I eventually send home. I'm going to try and get the pictures from everybody in our district and burn them to DVD's. That way you get lots of pictures.

I've fallen in love with peanut butter. I eat it all the time. I guess just because it gives me so much energy. I've just been craving it all the time. We found a funny comic that depicts this exactly. I'll take a picture of it and send it home.

Well, have a wonderful week.

You're happy missionary

Elder Benjamin Arnold