Hola!
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> Its great to hear from everyone! Thanks for the email rachel! Trek sounded like a blast! I probably wont have time to write you an email here so ill send you a letter by tomorrow. Im planning on sending thankyou notes to grandma and grandpa and Aunt Carol today. I had to wait till P-Day to do it cause there just isnt time during the week.
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> Ugh...I have been sick for 2 days. My throat was soar and i had a headache yesterday and then this morning it was a lot worse. Dayquil has been my best friend. Other than that im doing really well. I am very angry at Satan right now though. He is doing everything he possibly can to keep people from getting baptized. The lady that was supposed to be baptized yesterday couldnt because she didnt make it to church. Normally people have to come to church twice before baptism but since she had to work so much she was just going to go once and then get baptized right after church. She has been trying get off work on sunday for 2 months and they finally gave her one sunday off yesterday and the same morning, her daughter was driving to come visit and broke down in Georgia so she had to go help her. AHH! The Lord will provide some way though.
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> Im glad youre doing a little better with Josh, dad. I was having a really hard time about 2 weeks ago but Im doing much better. These 2 talks i read changed my views on a lot of things and really brought me comfort. You should all read them. "The Atonement" by Cleon Skousen, and "Tragedy or Destiny?" by Spencer W. Kimball. The Atonement talk was the best talk i have ever read or heard before. Its not just a normal talk about the atonement, it will blow your mind! Everyone who reads this letter should look up and read those talks. The second one talks about why bad things happen and why theres pain and suffering in the world.
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> Spanish is coming along pretty good. I have the first vision memorized in spanish and taught the Joseph Smith story for the fist time this week. It wasnt very long though. Spanish work is a lot harder. Its almost impossible to get them to church. This week we've been sad about things that are going on in some families. 3 families where their husbands are beating their wives. Luckily one guy got deported. Another lady kicked her husband out and is moving and another we cant do anything about. Its really sad. A lot of them treat their wives almost like slaves and are very dominant. We were teaching this one family and having a good discussion with the mom and when the husband came in it was like everyone else didnt want to share their opinions in front of him and he basically spoke for all of them. Its really hard to work with guys. We brought this family with like 4 little girls a bunch of clothes that someone in the ward gave us to give out. They were all really excited. There is a guy my age named Margarito who lives there that we are also teaching. He only speaks Spanish. He told us how they spent like 3 days in the desert to make it across the border. Most of the people we teach are illegal.
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> Oh I bought some running shoes this week with yours and grandmas money. Thanks! They were 80 bucks but theyre really nice. I havent got the hair cutting thing yet. But thanks in advance! We saw the fireworks when we drove home past the beach on saturday. Thats too bad to hear about justin. I just might write him a letter. Is that address for his apartment there or the jail? Let me know how long he'll have to be there. Hope everyone has an awesome week! Thanks for all your love and support!
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> Aaron,
> Whats up dude? Rafting sounds really fun! I got to see the ocean here. Thanks for the letter and pictures. I hung them up on my wall. Guess what? I have a remote control helicopter! Its really fun and all the other missionaries like to fly it. My last companion gave it to me. Hope you have an awesome week! Love ya!
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> Caleb,
> The parade and fireworks sound really fun! Are you getting really good at basketball? We went to eat pizza one day and Spongebob was on tv there! Mr. Krabs turned the Krusty Krab into a hotel! We had a pizza eating contest and i ate 16 slices of pizza! Have a great week!
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> Love,
> Elder Carty