This week

I'm glad you all got home safely and had a fun trip to Canada.  I can't believe you met a grizzly bear on your hike.  Actually, with your luck that doesn't surprise me at all.

Quote of the week:

Elder V: ''How do you say 'tijeras' in English?''

Elder Dorrough: '' 'Scissors.' ''

Elder V: ''Oh, ¿como Little Ceaser's?''

We both died laughing. It's so funny that many Latinos absolutely do not hear the difference between 'business' and 'bees knees.' To them it all sounds like the Spanish ''i''.  Most Gringos have similar problems with Spanish, though.

All is well in Xalapa. Both M and J have their baptismal services this Sunday, I'm having a blast with Elder V, the members are so awesome, and Elder V is teaching me how to play football. I also went and bought a France ball at a super discount price because this kid loves football so much that we need a ball in the house and to take to play, because sometimes everybody gets together to play and then somebody asks, ''Wait, where's the ball?'' and then we have to pick something else to do.

Today we played football in a lava crater! On Macuiltepetl hill there's a rather large crater upon which the city parks department has put a synthetic football field. We played all morning and got some very good excercise. Elder V still isn't used to the altitude here so his lungs are adapting to hours of play. On another note, I'm actually getting really good at football. It's actually come to the point that when captains pick teams I'm the first guy chosen! Isn't that something? I'm not a super master at juggling or ball control or anything but I'm fast, I don't get tired, and I kick with my left foot. Well, with both feet, but I'm better with the left foot. In today's game I scored 4 goals! When I get home I'm definitely going to want to play football with the guys. Wait, we say soccer in the states, don't we?

I got a super sweet hair cut. This time I walked in with a picture and said, ''cut my hair exactly like this.'' In Elder V's World Cup Sticker Album I spotted an Italian player who is possibly my long lost older brother (because we look similar), Ignazio Abate. His haircut is stylish and European and also allows me to control my cowlick because it's with the 1 all around.

8 months... in 5 days I will be 66.7 percent of the way there. I'm pretty sure my return date is going to be 29 April. Nobody has told me but that's just my best calculation. It's also crazy thinking that my next area could be my last.

Also, one night this past week I remembered the day the Brazil ball went down the cliff and I felt so bad about it. It sounds silly, but my heart started to pound and I couldn't sleep for an hour remembering the sad sight of the ball bouncing just over the fence and into the land of unrecoverable...  And then that part about losing the second one also made me feel even worse... even though that was so long ago it still made me feel sad.

Dad says everything has grown a ton in the backyard.  I can’t wait to see it when I get home.

Until next week!  I love you.

 

Spanglish name for a ''cocina económica'' where we eat lunch most days. The only English most people here know here is from movies. Hence why such a random English word as twilight is easily recognized by the Mexican population.