11-15-10 email

This week went by very fast! I dont know where the time goes! I just really like my new area and we are very busy with different things going on! I got sick again though! That's okay though Im feeling a little bit better today! Its kinda funny how your priorities change while you're on a mission! I remember before my mission I really didnt enjoy reading the scriptures all the time and I was dreading having to read them and talk about them all day on my mission but now its the complete opposite! I just cant get enough of them! I get an hour or so to study everyday and thats just not enough time because I have other books I want to read as well! Last week I read The book "Our Heritage" its just about the churches history! Very good book! Then just last night I finished the book "Our Search for Happiness" thats also an amazing book! If you haven't read those books I would strongly suggest it! Especially Our Search For Happiness! Oh also this week I finished reading and studying Doctrine and Covenants! Now Im starting on the Pearl Of great Price! Im pretty excited! So my week-

Monday was my birthday! It was very good I enjoyed the email I got from you and also the emails I got from my family and Friends! The members are really into birthdays here, lots of them made me cakes and what not! One family got me some presents! They werent really big things, just a little plaque thing to put on my desk and a little girl gave me a little stuffed animal and a little boy made me a hat out of paper haha! I have a picture with them I will have to send! They really did alot to help make my Birthday special! Then Monday night we had district meeting and that was pretty good! The only bad thing is we have two sister missionaries in our district and not to be rude but i really dont care much for sister missionaries! They just talk way to much and have such a stuck up attitude! I havent met a sister missionary who wasnt like that yet! haha I guess I just need to be more patient and have more charity!

Tuesday I woke up and felt really sick and was having stomach problems and didnt have much energy at all but the work must go on! We taught some good lessons and picked up some new investigators! Our area is huge so we have to use taxis alot! It was lunch time and we just took a taxi to the pueblo where the family lives that was going to feed us that day and right when we got out of the taxi we got a call saying that we they had some people that wanted to be taught but that we needed to come right then and teach them! So we got another taxi and went to another pueblo and it was three doctors and one was a member and had convinced the other two to listen to our message! It was pretty interesting! Its funny when you teach catholics who know the bible pretty well, and they think that there is nothing new that we can teach them! Then as the lesson progresses and they feel the spirit and they realize that the message that we share is totally different from anything they had ever heard before! Its really awesome to see the change in them in the beginning of the lesson from the end of the lesson!

Wed I felt even worse so I had to go to the doctor, we just went to a general doctor in Etla, he gave me some meds and I really just didnt have the best day, I was getting very impatient with the way things are operated in Mexico! I guess its just frustrating because your use to how things are in the US and here things are just so messed up and backwards, I guess i just need to be more patient! The day didnt end too bad though we taught some good lessons and picked up some new people to teach! We went to a members house and got some referrals and there sons name is Nephi and he was wrestling with a superman dummy thing, and my companion was like I never thought id see Nephi wrestle with superman! haha they all thought that was pretty funny! I did too but they laughed for like 15 min and was just like haha okay... but yeah that was wed!

Thursday we helped a family in our ward move from one house to the house down the street! I dont know why they wanted to move, it was the exact same layout of a house, because they are like town homes! It was good to do some good service! The father of the sister that we were helping move was there and he had just came from mesa az so it was nice to talk to him about back home and stuff! It was funny because he kept talking about how much more he likes the US, he was like yard sales are my favorite thing about the US haha and he talked about Home Town Buffet and he said he owns a filibertos haha, he said when i get home he will give me free food there! Later we went to our luch where we had Dominoes pizza! It tasted very good! I missed it very much! The pizza they make in the local pizza shops are very different, some are basically just a big tortilla with cheese and hot dogs on top haha and some are real bread dough but for some reason they dont put pizza sauce on their pizzas I am not sure why but they dont! The family also made a cake that tasted very good! Later that night we had a meeting with our ward mission leader and while we were waiting my companion told me about how he use to get in fights all the time growing up! I really dont get why but my companion just got picked on alot! He said that he learned self defense and knows how to kill people in 3 different ways with his hands i was just like hmm ya right haha!

Friday I felt really bad and had to go to Oaxaca to see a special doctor for my sickness! He basically said the same thing as the other doctor but he gave me some different types of drugs and they are actually helping now! We slept in the mission offices on Friday night , and president De La Cruz gave me a blessing and I really think thats why I am feeling better!

Saturday morning we woke up and president had a member drive us back to Etla our area! He said he was moving to Utah in the next week he seemed pretty excited! So he drove us home and when we got back we started working and we picked up some new investigators and we went to the bishops house from lunch and we had fish! It was relly weird! My comp and I walked in and we saw our plates! All it was, was a huge fish on our plates! It wasnt cleaned gutted or descaled or anything! It was weird eating a fish while it was staring at you! It didnt taste too bad though! I guess im just kinda use to weird food! Its really funny here people love listening to the oldies! haha we were on a bus and these two rough looking gangsters were jamming out to "Hopelessly Devoted to You" From Greese haha I couldnt help but just laugh! If they only new that the songs they were listening to were lovey dovey songs haha! The beetles are also very popular here too!

Sunday was a good day! At about 920 right as we were about to leave to church which starts at 10 we got a text message from the bishop telling us that we were going to talk during sacrament meeting! haha it went pretty good though! We both talked about missionary work, and everyone seemed to like our talks! We had 7 investigators at church, which is pretty good! We gave like 6 blessings aswell! Alot of people are sick, so we get to give lots of blessings!






te Amo,
Elder stradling