10-11-10 email

Well I've been here about a month, its been pretty good so far, although I have been sick pretty much this whole time, Im starting to feel alot better! Tuesday we had Zone conference, which was really good! President De La Cruz was there and him and his wife gave some very good training, lots of the time they just talked about the rules and all that fun stuff but they rest they gave us some good training on teaching! Then after the conference I was finally able to go to the doctor! He said I had some weird sickness that I dont know how to say let alone spell! But he said that my intestines are inflamed and i have some parasites, so he gave me some prescriptions that I have to take for the next month, so Ive been taking them for a week and I'm already feeling alot better, he said i had the flu also, prob because we haven't had warm water to shower with in our house, and its been pretty cold here in the nights! So he told president that we needed to buy a gas take for our water heater, so now we have the luxury of warm showers now, its pretty great, I forgot how good it felt to take a warm shower! The doctor also told me not to eat spicy food and or really fatty foods, which i laughed at because, I'm in Mexico and thats almost impossible! But i said okay! So Wednesday for lunch we had prob the spiciest and most fattening food Ive eaten since I have been here, Pig neck with potatoes and chile Verde, which is just blended up Jalapenos and other peppers poured on top of the neck and potatoes, I dont know if you have ever had pig neck, but its basically just tastes like ham with a ton of fat all over it! Besides the fact that it was the exact opposite of what the doctor told me to eat, it actually tasted pretty good, but i sure felt sick after wards, but that's okay! Also wed we found a new family that we are now teaching! they are really a good family and are very interested, but they were unable to come to church on Sunday because of some other thing they had to do!

Also wed we set a date for another family to be married and baptized! They are with out a doubt the most humble people i have met in my whole life! I will send you a picture of there house next week! Its basically just a chicken coop that they are living in! The husband had just been a drunk for the past 5-10 years, is now working to stay sober! They aren't married but they have two little kids one is about 2-3 and the other is about 1 or less! They sleep on a straw matt on their dirt floor! They are always wanting to give us food and buy us drinks and pay for our taxi ride back to our house, I always feel so bad when they feed us, I mean its only rice and a fried egg but its all they have and they have only known us for a week or so and they are just so willing to give to us! They live in a little pueblo called Santiago which is a very poor little town, there aren't any cars except the taxis that come in and out! Everyone just has a house or a donkey that they have pull their carriages, its kinda of odd to see, its like living in the old days! They aren't married so that will be the hardest part, people here don't really get married because it cost money, its only about 50-60 dollars or about 600-700 pesos but to them thats is a lot of money! When me and my companion told them that we will find the money and get them married, they just started to cry and the poor wife just looked so happy! She has been wanting to get married for a long time but hasnt been able to! Just seeing the people here really just makes you think how much we take for granted in the United States! Its really just very humbling to see! We were also able to get them some padding that they can sleep on because they just sleep on a dirt floor and its very cold in the nights, in a hut made of sticks and sheet metal!

So not too much else has happened this week! we have been very busy teaching lessons and everything! We taught 26 lessons this week and found 10 new investigators! we could have anywhere between 2-6 baptisms at the end of this month! It just takes awhile because the rule is that in order to be baptized they have to come to church at least 3 times! So yeah! So it hasnt really rained here for a week or so which is very odd! Its kinda hot during the days but it doesn't really phase me since I'm use to the AZ heat! yesterday I was able to bare my testimony in sacrament meeting as well as bless the sacrament! Pretty much everyone here on fast sunday will bare their testimonies, because there are such few members! Next week my companion and i get to speak in sacrament meeting! haha that will be fun! I still havent decided yet on what I'm going to speak on, but I'm sure it will come to me!

Love Elder Stradling