Dear family,
That's super awesome that Lexi got baptized! I bet the whole ward was just super excited and the Spirit was so strong.
It's good that your tooth is feeling all better mom. I'll try to remember to take care of things before they get too bad. I think that's something that missionaries just have trouble with in general. I know our Mission President's wife has talked about it a couple times, and one of the Assistants to the President had an ingrown toenail a while ago that he ignored for way too long.
I still don't believe you're actually moving. Something is bound to come up and stop it. I don't know what, but until I see the house with my own eyes I'm not going to believe it. It will be awesome for Spence to be right by Ronnie and Nathan and Olivia. It'll be a lot of fun for everyone.
That's cool that Sister Roderick (a friend from BYU) and Sister Webster (a friend from home) are companions in the Philippines. I did hear about the typhoon, but not until Sunday at Church. Man, it did a lot of damage. We'll definitely be praying for all of them, and it sounds like the Lord has a lot of work for the missionaries there to get done.
You asked if I used the sewing skills that you taught me to fix my companion's pants.
They were beyond either of our abilities to fix.
Thankfully, one of the Sister Missionaries volunteered to fix them. The Sisters are the boss. Which reminds me of a rap song some Sister Missionaries recorded called "The Sisters are the Boss." There was a member that wrote it and recorded them. It's awesome.
I think I remember dad's story about when his companion ripped his pants. I feel like he has a lot of stories about people getting hit by cars on his mission. Is that just a common thing in Brazil or what?
We got completely destroyed by mosquitoes the other day. We sat outside for almost an hour for a lesson, and afterward my arm looked like extra-large bubble wrap. I had mosquito bites on top of mosquito bites. We do have bug spray, we just didn't think we'd need it that day.
This week was crazy since there was a three day leadership conference in McAllen. I spent most of the week up in another area in our district. Thankfully they have a car, so it was a nice little break from biking. The biggest thing we're focusing on now from the training is talking to every single person we see. Even if we're in a rush and all we can do is leave a pass along card. When we make plans, we are telling God where we're going to be and when. He'll do His part to lead people to us who are ready to receive the gospel. All we have to do is open our mouths.
We saw this happen last night after church. We told God in prayer who we were going to visit, then set out in the dark. When we got to the house we remembered they were having a Quincenera that night, so we kept biking. We stopped to talk to some people who were heading out, and they randomly pointed us at a house across the street. We went and knocked and ended up finding some former investigators from about 15 years ago. They really loved their missionaries and even still had Books of Mormon, in English and Spanish. It was awesome!
Another thing: We decided to do a district fast yesterday, because that's another thing they taught at the Leadership training was to fast more often. (They tell us to still drink water when we're fasting, so don't worry. Between water and Excedrin I do just fine.) That Sunday, three people showed up to Church who had been a lot in the past either with family or friends. Miracles are everywhere!
Well, I'm all out of time. I did lose the original white deedee at Osh Kosh B'Gosh, but I had two extra ones that eventually filled the whole in my heart. I don't know where either might be, though.
I love you all so much!!! Just keep spreading the gospel every way you can!
~Elder Young
