Hola Familia Como Esta?

Wow crazy week this week, but looks like you guys have had crazier!

This week started out awesome...started.... Tuesday we moved into our new house and its alright... very small and pretty ghetto, just the way i like it hahaha. Also, wednesday was pretty good too... By wednesday we had close to 6 people with baptismal dates, and then thursday hit.... Ugh, we went on divisiones (splits) for the first time, and not more than like 10 minutes in, i had a member with me, and we came to a park where a bunch of kids were playing basketball. One of them shouted to me, "hey, if you beat one of us in one on one, we´ll all listen to you.... hahaha well playing basketball for the lord seems fun until about one minute in when you sprain you ankle extremely bad.... They called an ambulance, and my ankle was seriously black and blue and like 3 times its normal size.... Some ghetto ambulance pulls up, and im in so much pain i cant even speak spanish, and they keep asking questions and i heard them ask for my papers... well of course i didnt have any of my papers i needed, nor phone numbers, so they took me and the member to the hospital where they used google translator on my drivers license to figure out what it all said in english.... after 2 and a half hours of waiting on the hospital bed, i heard the doctor say something about my companion was here, and when he came in the room, he just started laughing... the doctor and him talked for like an eternity, and finally the doctor comes over and wraps up my leg in a cast! I guess i had a second grade sprain and he kept talking about how lucky i was. They didnt charge me anything, but can i say, tracting on crutches mile after mile is extremely hard.... Ill be recovering for the next 20 days, but other than that im doing alright....

Disney Land sounds like fun... too bad its raining there, haha and if you think that Las Vegas is Soddom, you should see all the people always making out on the sidewalks everywhere you go... Magazine stands... not very nice women on street corners if you catch my drift... and poverty like you wouldnt believe...

This week has not only been frustrating with my sprained ankle, but none of our investigators showed up to church so ALL of our baptismal dates but one we had to cancel.... Ugh... Keeping commitments is the hardest thing for these people... Everyone always says the line "Si Dios quiere" FOR EVERY COMMITMENT!!! OF Course Dios Quiere!!! Este es su evangelio!!! Wow i get so frustrated when we show up to get them for church after walking for half an hour to get to their house and they say something along the lines of, " sorry elders, not today, i have a hair appointment"... or "sorry elders, i have to go to work"... No, you dont have a hair appointment, and no you dont have to work because you already told us you quit your job, so whats the problem... Its taken me this long to figure out, but until yesterday i didnt know Jalisco, (the state in mexico im in), is one of the most catholic populated areas, and if someone changes their beliefs, its like they are shunned from the community... Its getting frustrating more and more, and my testimony personally has grown stronger, but its so hard to get these people to want to change their lives for the better...

One of the other missionaries gave me his mp3 player the other day, and it has the Joseph Smith song on it, (the one we danced to for that youth conference), and after reading the history of the church, i cant help but think of how powerful that song is... i listen to it about once a day, and after reading doctrine and covenants too, i just have such a strong testimony of Joseph Smith...

I hope everyone is doing good, and i was going to go get and send off christmas presents today in el centro, pero ill have to wait until this next monday to do so... Well i love you all and keep me in your prayers!

Sale y vale

Elder Smitheram