Hi everybody!

First of all: Happy Birthday Sarah! I hope it was totally awesome and you are enjoying all your Dr Who and Beatles stuff. I´m glad your letter arrived in time.

I´m glad you finally got the package! Sorry it´s so late, I really tried to send it so it would arrive in time, but oh well. I´m really happy that everybody liked their presents! And my dorky letter :)

I guess that amount of cold and snow is pretty normal isn´t it? It´s definitely not that cold here, but it is a lot more humid here so that makes it feel colder. We don´t get snow though. Haha, I can´t believe you grilled steaks out on deck in the snow! That´s awesome! Sounds like it was a good birthday :)

Thank you for telling me about the Killpacks I definitely will keep them in my prayers. I know that is a very unexpected trial for them. Let Paul know that my love and prayers go out to him and his family. He has always been such an example for me, I know that with trust in the Lord everything will turn out OK.

So this week has been somewhat of a challenge. Actually it´s been pretty good until last night. I´ve been really focusing on humility and patience, studying about them and trying to develop them as attributes. I´ve started memorizing a scripture everyday and they have all been about these two themes. That being said I´m not perfect. Last night was not fun. My companion and I lost our patience with each other. It was my fault really, but we both had been letting stuff build up instead of talking about it. Mostly we just kind of drive each other nuts, often because of difference in culture. But we finally had a discussion last night and hopefully things will improve. It was just made worse by the fact that all week I´ve been trying really hard to be patient and then I failed. But sometimes we learn lessons the hard way. I learned that I am the type of person who let´s things build up instead of dealing with them early on and that I need to change that. So another self-improvement goal to work on. You all aren´t even going to recognize me when I get home :)

On the other hand the work is starting to pick up. Ambar came to church for the first time this Sunday, so we actually have one progressing investigator! I was super happy Sunday. We also got a lesson with Tatiana, finally! She is really great. We taught the Plan of Salvation and at the end she basically repeated back to us what it is and why the Atonement is important, so understanding doesn´t seem to be a problem. We also set a schedule with her for when to meet, so hopefully that will help, and she can start progressing as well. Other than that we are in the street a pretty good amount. The plus side is I really feel like my contacts are improving and I´m beginning to enjoy contacting. Also, everyone says this area is really hard to contact, so in other areas I should see even more success since I´ve been forced to work so hard on my contacts. I honestly count it as a blessing to have started here. I´ve learned to really focus on the people (by virtue of not having very many) and to be grateful for every one.

Well, that´s my report for the week. Onward and upward, like always. Keep praying, keep writing. I love you guys!

Elder Cousins