#LPforLife

Hey Family!

Since yesterday was a holiday, we're writing today.  It felt like it was just a normal day to be honest and we worked pretty much like normal except that we had district meeting.

But Happy Birthday to Ty yesterday!  From the pictures that you sent it looks like you all had a good time and a little Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  I'd kill for that right now!  But hey, I can wait.  :)

As for the whole volleyball situation - who cares if they win or loose?  Someone has to win and someone has to loose in the end right?  Where's Russ at???  haha  But that's great for Brae, I hope he's having fun.

As for your questions:
1.  Are you sending pictures this week?  Yes!  I'm sending them right now!

2.  How was the baptism?  It was awesome!  We ended up having 5 people be baptized at the same time.  You'll see Elder Morin in there with me.  #LPforLife  In his area this couple got married on Friday and baptized on Saturday.  Alicia and Valentine were also baptized!  They're going to be an awesome contribution to the branch here.

3.  Did you get your package yet?  No, but I imagine that when I go to consejo in April it will be there.

4.  Does it rain every day now?  No, not every day but occasionally.  To be honest the weather couldn't be better right now!  It's in the 80's - 90's every day.  Not too hot, not too cold - and at night it gets down around 65-70.

5.  What's your favorite thing about Goya?  Well, it's somewhat modernized!  We live in the center of the city and we have this little place called Vea like a block and a half from our pench.  it's basically like Kohler's and it's nice to be able to eat Fruit Loops every day too!  They're dirt cheap here because nobody here buys them.  :)  We eat them with drinkable yogurt and it's SOOO GOOD!  Plus it's a big bonus to go to church with more than 20 members.  :)

6.  Do you dream in Spanish?  Hmmm . . . that's a great question.  I don't really remember my dreams but I do find myself thinking in Spanish more and more.  And I feel like I'm forgetting words in English.

7.  What are the homes like in Goya?  To be honest, the houses range from shack to literally a house made of wood pallets to a house made of cement.  Do you remember the story of the 3 little pigs?  That's pretty much what we do - tract the houses that they built!  :)  We LOVE it!  The most common house is made purely of cement.  Most of them even have cement or dirt floors.  Every once in a while you will see someone that has tile.  Our pench has all tile floors and everything else is cement.   It's not the Trump Tower, but it works!

8.  How big is your area?  My area isn't really that big.  It's like 20x25 blocks more or less.  Also the block here are a lot smaller than the ones in the states.  Since we live in the centro, we walk about 20 minutes to get to our area and we work most of the time in the furthest parts of our area so we start our day with a solid 30 minute walk.  :)

9.  What do you mostly eat there?  We eat something called Guiso every day.  Literally every single day.  It's made with either rice or noodles with a little bit of meat and oil.  It's not too bad!  It's just kinda bland but it fills us up and helps us have enough energy to get through the day.  Hma Oviedo cooks the best Guiso that I've had so far!  SO GOOD.

Thanks for the thought too.  It was a good one!  I also feel like I have peach in my life. It's a good thing to have and so great to be so young and have my entire life ahead of me.  :)  Like President Gottfredson said before I left "You start all of that tonight . . . "  So I guess I'm already starting my own life.

This week was great!  We had consejo and a zone conference.  I got to help the missionaries realize that we shouldn't just be ovbservers but solucioners!  We need to do more than just watch.  Nothing changes simply by good observations.

The rest of the week we worked hard and had a great time.  It FLEW by and I had lots of inspiration.

Recently I read a talk by Elder Uchtdorf called "Of Things That Matter Most" and I started to think about the things that really are the most important in my life.  The more I started thinking about this, and clearly, I thought about you, Mom and the rest of our family.  But while I was pondering this question came to mind "What does the atonement really mean to me? To Cody?"  So I spent a few days pondering this question and I wrote everything down in a journal that I have.  It was super cool to be able to put my thoughts of the sacrifice of our Savior on paper.  Maybe if you have a few minutes you can take some time to sit and think about what it means to you too.

That's it this week!

Love,
Elder Harris