Week 12 (Forever -C.B....)

Hey! well, I went to the Temple in Mesa today. It was really nice. It's interesting how being away from it makes you wanna go so badly. I really enjoyed it. My District wanted to go way early so as to not waste their "P-day" time. They seem to be a lil self-entitled when it comes to p-days, so they're very picky about what they do. I wouldn't have minded going at 9:00 with the rest of our Zone, but that's ok. I guess I'll have more time to write letters. I've been slacking on that the past couple of weeks as I've tried to get used to the whole routine of things. I kind of get caught up playing sports and such. Today I will do it though, because I really want to. The weather is crazy. Last night, it was about 70 degrees until 8:00. It's already hitting the 80's. It will be interesting to see where I get sent during the summer time. If I go up by Snowflake in Show Low, then it will be a nice summer. That is in what they call the White Mountains. If I'm in the valley though, it will be a hot summer. Either way, it's all good. Since my companion is a District Leader I've been on 3 exchanges in the past two weeks and I should be going on one more tomorrow. It's kinda crazy packin up so much. I feel like a nomad. Hehe, it's also crazy because I've been doing a lot of english work because I go to their areas. It's interesting to see the difference in the way people revceive you. The white people are more honest with their disinterest and more frequent as well, but sometimes that's better because with the hispanics, they'll be gracious but not interested and they won't tell you. I'm still working on trying to read them and whether they're just being nice or not. Some of it is the language, but a lot of it is the Spirit. You just have to go with your feeling. Hehe, I was reading an e-mail from Elder Faulk that my Dad sent to me, and his weekly reports are crazy! If we were that busy it would be amazing. The work is a little different here for the Spanish Elders because the people are spread out in different neighborhoods among predominantly white neighborhoods. Atleast in this area, there aren't too many places where you can go and know that you'll find spanish speakers. I believe that Elder Brereton went to Colorado this week. It will be interesting to see what the Spanish work is like over there. Depending on how close he is to the big city will probably determine how concentrated the groups of hispanic residents will be. I've ridden my bike on a number of the exchanges that I've gone on and I like it. It's nice to have the wind in my face. I enjoy sundays because I get a good full-dose of spanish. Since there are a lot of bilingual families it is hard to engulf myself in the language. My companion and I have made a goal, (now that Elder Johnston is gone) to speak a lot more spanish. It is going to be necessary if I am to pick it up fast enough. Next week Elder L. Tom Perry is coming to speak to us, so that will be great. This work is very exciting and rewarding. I feel myself changing each day. One quick story that I've been forgetting to tell. It was my first day here and we went to this house where the wife was a member but her husband wasn't. They had two kids. We were talking to the husband about different questions that he had, and they had me try and answer a lot of his questions. Eventually it got to the point where we were talking about baptism and my companion leans in and says, "Commit him to be baptized." That scared everything out of me, but I was like, ok. So I did. It turns out that he was the Elder's Quorum President and had been a member of the Church for about 15 years. hehe, they made me feel ridiculous and I know that I will never do that to someone new that I get. Haha, o well. It was very strange because his boys were named Helaman and Moroni (people from the Book of Mormon) so I guess I should have guessed. Ok, well I have to go! Take care!

-Elder LaPorte =)