Received Mon, May 18, 2009

Dear Family,

I’m at a library in pretty ghetto part of Houston, so I’m making sure to type my e-mail in Microsoft word in case the internet messes up on me again. We’re planning on going to Minute Maid Park, where the Astro’s play and take a tour of the place. I think it will be a pretty fun activity.

I’ll start out with the highlight of the week: the Dor’s baptism yesterday! It was a really good baptismal service. The room was packed and the members gave some great talks. I’m not sure if I’ve explained this, but the father works in Miami and he flew in so he could see the baptism. He was really touched at the baptism and had a really good experience. It was a pretty long baptismal service because there were 4 people who got baptized, all 4 of them had to get confirmed because the father had to go back to Miami early Sunday morning, and they had to be welcomed into Young Mens, Young Womens, and Relief Society. The two daughters, Mendy and Pascale, gave their testimonies at the end of the meeting. It was a memorable experience.

The Dors live next to 2 families they are related to. Some of the cousins have been there when we have taught some of the lessons and they love it. One of them gave the closing prayer and he prayed that he could come to church to see the Dors confirmation and baptism. Both of the cousins that were there last week asked if they could get baptized too. Unfortunately the father in one of the families there is trying to become a pastor of his own church, so they got into a big fight because everyone except for him wants to come to our church. Finally the husband told his wife that if they went back to the church again he would divorce her. So we are staying clear of that situation. It is really sad to see that like 10 people are behind held back by 1 man. That’s ok…I know in the future they will have a chance to join the church.

We got our transfer call this morning: no changes. For me and my companion at least. One Elder is getting transferred and one elder is training. This is my companion’s last transfer and he’s always made it a goal to leave an area better than he found it, so were going to be working hard to find more good people to teach. This transfer should be a good one. My mission president will be leaving at the same one. They’re going to leave on June 26.

I got Mom’s “Guiltless Spaghetti” package. I thought it was pretty funny. Pictures are always fun to get too. Whats even funnier is that it seems like everyone here loves to make us spaghetti. For a whole week we ate only spaghetti and pizza. I’ve had some delicious meals recently though. We had porterhouse steaks & shrimp one night. There's a really good steak restaurant around here called Saltgrass and they used the Saltgrass steak spice to season the steaks. That’s probably the best steak I’ve ever had.

I know I’ve asked this question before, but if I was told the answer, I forgot. I’m starting to get bored of my food and I remembered (again) how Dad taught me to make omelets. I was wondering if Dad could remind me of how you do it. All I remember is that you put some eggs in a frying pan, let it sit, put some cheese and ham and whatever stuff you want on one half, then flip the one side on top of the other side. I’m pretty sure that’s how you do it, but I’m not sure if you have to put water in there or something.

Here’s a last couple of random thoughts. Since coming on my mission and especially being in this area with this companion, I’ve started to love the bible a lot more. My companion would read the Bible all the time back at home (ironically he would really read the Book Mormon very much) and he knows so many scriptures from the Bible and all the stories. The people here love the Bible and when they see that you know the Bible, they respect you a lot more. So almost every day in my personal study I’ve been reading the Bible. I found my new favorite scripture in the Bible too. Its Ephesians 6:10-18.

I’ve also learned to appreciate good weather. The weather here is awful. The difference between humid heat and dry heat is that in the humidity the air all around you is whats hot, so even in the shade its burning up. You instantly start sweating. In dry heat it’s the sun that’s hot. In the shade it’s a little cooler and when there's a breeze it feels good. When there's a breeze in humidity it just blows the warm air around. These last 2 days have been really nice weather. My companion got sick for the first time in his life, so yesterday I sat in a chair in the back yard and read general conference talks. The wind was blowing and it was cool…that was good weather. Whenever Nana and Bumpa would come to visit us they use to always say how nice the weather was. I didn’t really understand it because that’s how it was every day…now I definitely know what they're talking about.

Last thing: the name of the guy that got drafted into the NFL is Michael Bennet. He’s actually on the Seattle Seahawks. That’s what I’m told at least.

Ok…that’s all for this week. Sister Randall is going to send off a package with my memory card, and shirt for me today, so that should be coming this week sometime. Have a good week…I love you!!!

Love,
Chase