Special Stake Conference

Helping to "revocar" the Rios house

Sealing up all the cracks

Hey family, how is everyone!!! First, I'll let you know that I received my slump day card! (Slump Day is when there is only 6 months of the mission left.) Funnily enough, we received it as we got back to the pench last Monday after writing you! We checked the mail before leaving, so it came while I was writing you all telling you I haven't received it still. So I guess it's just been circulating for a while, but either way I have it now and love it. Was that something that you guys did yourself? I imagine in Utah it wouldn't be hard to find a slump day card for missionaries, but the card looks homeade. I haven't received any other packages or letters apart from that.

This week was alright. It was pretty cool because we got to revocar a house, which I believe in English means plastering, although here we're "plastering" on brick with a slightly different type of cement. I'm sending photos now, and will probably take some more photos of the now finished room today or tomorrow, whenever we pass by, because we finished the bedroom, so now it's all sealed off from the outside. I don't know if you can see in the photos, but before there was about a half inch of space in between the bricks, and so cold air, mosquitoes and anything can easily enter the house. Now that's it's all revocared it's sealed good, and they won't have mosquito problems at night, and it just looks a lot better, too. They're also going to paint it after. Of course, first he's going to finish plastering the whole house. It is the Rios family's house, by the way.

It was actually really fun, and I enjoyed making the mix, and plastering, which is actually a more difficult job than you'd think. It's easy enough to learn, but difficult to do well. Everyone there struggled with it except of course the dad (it's his work) who does it very well, but near the end I was getting pretty good at it, and doing it pretty quick and fast.

Afterwards, we ate chicken cooked in their little brick oven, with potatoes, which was good, so I'm sending one photo of the brick oven, which the wife says she's going to use to make bread to sell, which she did before and averaged about 300 pesos a day. So that'll be cool.

This Sunday was really cool. We had a special conference, a stake conference, in San Nicolas, and it was by satellite transmission from Salt Lake City. It was great because President Boyd K. Packer spoke, as well as Elder Anderson!! Elder Zivic also spoke, and the president of the primary. Elder Zivic was the old area president of South America South (our mission area.) It was really cool hearing them, and they had great talks. Elder Zivic started it off speaking in Spanish, being a native. Most of the others just spoke English and there was a translator. After that we listened to Elder Anderson, who also spoke in Spanish, which is cool because I didn't know he spoke Spanish at all. He spoke fairly broken Spanish, and struggled pronouncing many things, and in the words of the Rios kids, "He speaks like Elder Page!!" After that, Boyd K. Packer spoke, and he didn't even attempt any Spanish, so it was smooth. All of the talks were really good, and it was just cool watching it. Us and all the branch members went together in a traffic (a vehicle that is a cross between a car and a bus) to get there, which was packed but really fun, because we played games on the way. Unfortunately the Rios parents stayed behind because they had to revocar the house, but their kids went.

Regarding some more of your questions, the electricity here in Ramallo is very good, it's yet to cut on us. In some areas of the mission, it would cut almost daily, and also any time it rained, but here it's very good. Also, they don't cut the water here like they do in Rosario. Yes, we've got a bucket shower, but at least it's a good bucket.

I don't really need anything special, I've got all the necessities. I would like to have some more mac and cheese mix, and taco mix, though, to have some good food.

We're doing good, but p.s. my camera battery just died, so I can't upload the last photo in the email which I believe is the picture of the brick oven, so I'll send that next week, along with many others.

Thanks again for the support from family and friends. I love you all,

Eric
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