Jan. 30, 2013

Fam! Hi!

I am doing great! How are all of you? Wishing you were back in Hawaii? I´m pretty jealous now that I´ve seen it. That cove looks incredible! And so warm. . . Thanks for all the pictures, they are awesome! I wish I could of come with you guys. Two winters from now we´ll have to go again (tell the girls to start saving up).

I don´t need anything for now, that last package was great! Thanks so much for the music, it really helps me relax at the end of the day. Just the other day we got home after a pretty long and kinda crappy day (it happens) and I turned on the music and on came Lord of the Rings to make happy again. Also the peppermint patties and the chocolates were delicious and my companion had a good time trying different flavors of Jelly Bellys.

"You will keep me safe, and you will keep me close and rain will make the flowers grow. . ." Is that the one? I love the music from Les Mis! Some of it is pretty sad though. I don´t blame you for breaking down on the side of the road, haha! None of your co-workers saw you at least? 

Zach Kandare doesn´t sound familiar. I´m glad he´s going on a mission though. Sounds like he´s going to the same mission as several of the guys in my MTC district. They were always talking about how it´s the farthest southern point before Antarctica. And that there are penguins. Speaking of the MTC, the rest of group has finally got their visas and are here in Spain. And guess who is living in our piso as a companion of Elder Fisher and Elder Levorson? Elder Pugh, my companion from the MTC! Crazy, no? It´s really cool to see him again. He spent the past five months serving in Los Angeles, and he said it got pretty crazy sometimes. He´s excited to be here and learn the ropes. It´s the same story with all the others who have come. Elder Taylor from my district was also in LA and Hermana Judy, who I knew in the MTC, was in the Ogden mission, and she actually served in Logan most of the time, which is pretty cool.

Things are pretty good here. We have a lot more investigators than I ever had before this transfer through our own efforts and hard work. I´ve learned how to really work hard at contacting and finding, which will really help throughout my mission. The problem, unfortunately, is still the same, which is that they don't progress. We still have trouble getting them to read or come to church. It´s a little difficult. I feel like I need to learn how to help people see why what we teach is important and how keeping commitments will bless them. It´s hard because we promise lots of blessings, but they´ll never see them if they don´t do it. I don´t know. I need to understand our investigators better and help them understand us better. I´ve been focused on that the last few days. But it feels good to have investigators and citas most of the day.

So transfers are Monday. If I move (which I probably will) you will just hear from me next Wednesday from my new area. I´m pretty excited for transfers because I´m pretty sure I´m leaving. But if not I´m OK with one more here as well. I guess we´ll see.

OK I have to run, but thank you for writing me and thinking of me. Sorry I didn´t get to respond to everything. I hope everyone is doing well! I pray for you all the time and I love you so much! Take care!

Elder Cousins

PS Endemic is the word, thank you. And I bet those finches are endemic.