Hola Familia! Como estan? Por el registro, Yo se ano significa anus. I was just feeling lazy and didn't want to switch the keyboard and i forgot that those two words were so similar. So sorry Josh, and I really hope you didn't get that for your birthday.

Mi Semana fue bien y yo aprendi mucho durante esta semana. Yo aprendi mucho sobre espanol y la expiacion y el evangelio, y yo ha aprendido todos las grammatica en espanol! Puedo tener una woo woo! ( the whistles go woo woo....).

So this has been a great week. first of all, A couple items of business. I don't know what to do about a bike. Would it be possible for the parents to maybe contact the mission home and ask if they already have a bike I could buy, or figure out where to get me one? Cause I can't do much here, and I think my mission president will be sad if I'm not prepared with one when I get there. Second item of business, I've been thinking and realizing it might not be a super idea to have a bright red backpack in LA. So, I might need to think about getting a much blander one. Also, for those RM's out there, any tips for keeping ties clean? And once they are not clean, what can you do about it? I had a vicious battle with a grapefruit during breakfast this week, and now one of my ties has grapefruit stains all over it. Es muy triste. Anyway, now on to the exciting part of my email.

Brent said in his letter this week around now I'm in the I hate the MTC phase and pretty soon i will be in the oh heck I don't know spanish or the gospel and what in the world is a book of mormon phase. Thanks to an experience I had after writing last week, I can say i'm a little ahead of schedule. Last week, right after I wrote you, me and elder Harper were walking up to the temple. There was an older lady just laying in the grass, and Elder Harper just happened to say hi. Turns out she's from Honduras, only speaks spanish, lives in California but was in Utah right then and didn't know any people. At least I think that's what it is. It's possible she was speaking chinese. Because she started speaking, and I could not understand. I got a few words, but man it was tough. Luckily, Elder Harper was on the ball. Turns out she has a problem with her leg, and she didn't know many people here, so she came up to the temple to wait for spanish speaking elders so they could give her a blessing. At least that's what I think it was. I felt like a chicken with my head cut off, but Elder Harper was on it, and we got a couple more elders, and then he even gave the blessing in Spanish. Elder Harper is a pretty amazing guy, I got very lucky to have him as a companion. The longer it's been, the more I know he was supposed to be my companion here. I've learned a lot from him, it's incredible that he's even on a mission, and he's one of the strongest people I know. He's had some experiences that make me want to curl up in a ball and hide, but he doesn't. He's awesome. But that was a really cool experience. I'm glad Elder Harper was able to help her, even if I couldn't. On a better note, I've had the opportunity to speak with a lot of natives here, and a few have told me my spanish is really good. So that's reassuring. And, this week, we've completely finished all the grammar in spanish. So now, all I can do is learn more words and master the grammar. It's pretty cool. I can definitely tell how much my spanish is improving. This week at the TRC, there was a noticeable difference between last week. I could understand a lot more, even though our volunteer was from Spain (he lisped so much. I'm so glad I'm not going to Spain). And really now, when I'm teaching, I can say almost anything I want. It might not be great, but I can get my point across. And we had Elder Zivic of the quorum of the seventy speak this week, and my branch president pointed out something interesting. Him and his wife really don't speak very good english. But we could still understand them, and feel the Spirit and understand their message. And it can be the same for us. that was cool. Me and Elder Harpers teaching has gotten a lot better too. We're getting a lot better at teaching in unity. I've had a few cool experiences with that. A couple times, we've been teaching, and a question has just come into my head while Elder Harper is talking, and then a couple seconds later Elder Harper asked the same question. There are few things cooler than knowing that what you're teaching isn't really coming from you. It's an amazing feeling. We had a workshop this week, I don't know how to explain it but we were practicing teaching strangers about the Atonement. And we listened to sound clips of real people who have pretty terrible lives, and then the other person pretended to be that person. It was really good. It helped me realize how much the gospel has to offer people. How much it has to offer people who have lost hope, who want to change their lives but can't by themselves or who can't get over mistakes in the past. And I know that the Atonement has the power to help them in their lives, and I'm getting so excited to go to LA and share this with them. I've learned a lot about the power of the Atonement in my life, and mostly what I've learned recently is that Christ doesn't always take away our problems or our pains. He just gives us strength to bear them. I've had some days here where I've felt worse physically than I ever have. But It didn't matter, and I know I was helped to be happy and do what I needed to do. He says in Matthew, take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. And I really have a testimony of that. I've had some tough problems here, but by looking to the Savior he has made my burdens easy. And I can't wait to share that with the people who need it.

Speaking of sharing, have you guys watched many mormon messages? Some of those are amazing. Just look for them on LDS.org. We get to watch them here, and some of them are truly amazing. They're pretty powerful. My favorites are Watch Your Step and Moments that Matter Most. I'd recommend them. And now for a couple funny things from this week. So during church, one of the branch presidents wives was talking, and she said "out of sound a heaven" I thought you guys would appreciate that. I was laughing. Another thing is, sometimes it's funny to tell the nuevos here wrong words in Spanish. Me gusta su corbatta significa "I like your tie." but if you add a different word, like, mano o algo, the nuevos are really just telling people that they like their hand. But we got yelled at by the zone leaders, so we can't do it anymore. Elder Harper likes to tell people that he likes their eyebrows, because very few people actually know that word. It's hilarious. I feel like more happened this week, especially in the funny department, but I'm running out of time, and I can't think of anything else. But I love you guys, and thanks for all your support and letters. Also, many of you have said sorry if your letter is boring or if I write you too much (mops). Please don't worry about it. I love hearing about and from you guys, and I'm gonna enjoy everything you send me.

Borsh-Happy Birthday! i can't believe you are getting a puppy. I want to hold it right now. You better send me pictures, and you are not allowed to love the new puppy more than Kola. I'm trusting you to take good care of Kola for me, so you can't let me down. I hope you had a great birthday, and I sure love you bud!