July 20 ,2010

hey hey hey!! everything is going great here. we are hopefully gonna have a baptism this week and i'll get to baptize the guy!! i'm pretty excited about that. haha grandma you make me laugh and i love you! well to answer questions: yes, i have to go to every meeting with elder robles but now we don't because the mission president (Pres. Angulo) made some changes. elder robles is now just a sr. comp. we have been doing our p-day stuff in Juarez since we've been here so we pretty much don't do anything in our area on tuesdays. the heat is still horrible and i won't ever get used to that. counting down the days until october here. (still in the 70's but a lot cooler) haha funny story, we were walking past a little store and the radio was on and it was the weather (in english, wierd) and they said its gonna be a cool day today, only 102 degrees. yeah i cried. my spanish is getting better but i'm still far from fluent, or even understandable. ;) j/k i think i'm doing a ton better. and i finally found a scale down here! only took me a month! i weigh 195 and keep loosing weight. (WHOO!!, kinda) we are meeting the new doctor sometime this month so i'm gonna talk to him and see if everything is normal. but yeah thats about all, so i love ya and miss ya!!

Hola Pat! I'm at grandma's this week helping her out after her surgery. She had her hip replaced on July 7th and stayed in Health South (a rehabilitation place) until last Saturday. Now she is at home and I decided to come and spend about a week with her. She is doing pretty good, but still a little slow and sore. We hope with a little more time that she will up and running (well, maybe not running!) How are things there? It sounds like you have been traveling quite a bit! Well..you just have to do what you have to do! Even though you may not be knocking on doors, you are still blessed by being a good companion. I hope you have been feeling better! It's hard to put your all into things when you are feeling lousy. I'm glad you rely on your companion giving you blessings! The power of the priesthood is amazing! So do you go to all the same meetings that Elder Robles does with him being district leader? I guess you two have to stay pretty close together! So is the internet cafe where you go to email us in Juarez or Villa Ahumada? I'm so glad we have email since it seems like writing letters would take FOREVER! Just one of the modern miracles we enjoy!! I'm sure you wished you had a few more there! You sounded real positive in your last email. Are you getting more use to the heat? You'll probably just get used to it and the weather will change! Do you feel like your Spanish is coming along? Do you still work at it (like lessons) or is it just talking and listening now? What is your mission presidents name? Does it look like there will be any changes soon? I'm sure it's all pretty new for him, too! Here is a message from Grandma:Hi, my little Patrick!! I am so sorry I haven't done a better job of keeping in touch with you, and my excuses are not worth expounding on unless laying in a hospital bed for 10 days would bring tears to your eyes and get me off the hook. What you think?? Anyway, how the heck are you? I do think of you often and enjoy your letters as they are passed down from your mom. I am home now and have just had a PT in to help me with some exercises, etc. It's not all that much fun, but as they say, "This too shall pass". I'll bet you've used that phrase a few times in getting through the runs, etc. I truly hope you are getting some of that stuff out of the way so that you can function up to par and show those gringos (is that them or us?? I mean it for them) what you're really made of. You have so much potential, Patrick, and I know it must be very frustrating to you to not be able to do those things you would like to do. Just remember to continue to turn to the Lord and He will bless you and help you get on with "the work". I love you so much and your are in our prayers constantly. I put your name on the prayer roll at the temple almost every week (it stays on for two weeks at a time, but somehow I think if I put it on every week, you will receive twice the blessings.) Take care, my darlin', and I will try to keep up with the writing better. May the good Lord bless you with all your needs. Love , G-ma & G-paSo back to me... I'll end, but know that you are in our prayers, as always and keep up the great work you are doing! By the way, I heard that Michael Yazzie is doing better! So just to let you know. Love you and miss you, but we know you are doing great things and the Lord is blessing you as he is us! Love you lots! Mom