Well my friends, it has happened. I Have Changes. And to be completely honest, Im pretty happy about it. I mean, I love the area and the people here but #1 - A TON of the chill Elders in the zone are leaving too, so I dont wanna feel left behind, and #2 - I have now been here 6 months, and I feel that a change of scenary is in order. So who knows where Im gonna be going (PRAY FOR ATLIXCO), but hopefully all will be well at the end of the day tomorrow.
       In other news I was able to skype my family yesterday for Mother's Day which was absolutely awesome. Hopefully we can all wait another 7 months before we can do it again! So now for my fathers questions for this week. #1) The mornings here are bipolar....like one morning I wake up and the sun is out and its already getting a little uncomfotably hott....but then there are other mornings when it is sooo cold and I get to take a nice cold shower -__- It really depends, but its hardly ever foggy here. #2 + #3) I have now had 7 companions (if we are counting Elder V AND Elder A even though I was only with them for a week) and 3 have been Americans, 1 has been Mexican, 1 has been Dominican, 1 has been Honduran, and 1 has been Peruvian. Soooo I have only had ONE native companion, but Ive had pretty much native speaking companions. #4) And the different jobs that people have here really depend on where you are. There are farmers, combi drivers, bus drivers, taxi drivers, people who own stores, people who sell things door to door, people who have odd jobs, but all of them have very hard hours which makes the work seem hard to me.
The ants ALLLL over my freeking pillow and bed!!
       So this week as always has been pretty boring, but the highlights were interesting! On Friday night i came home and sat down on my bed to take off my shoes. I felt a sharp sting on my back so i was like um, ow....but then there were lots of sharp stingings....and all over my body. So then Im like UMMMM, OOOOWWWWW!!!! And I stand up freeking out, smaking my body, and find that while we had been out working, my bed had become home to a colony of red ants. Yes....red ants. The big kinda that like to eat you. So I have lots of special marks all over my body that they left, and lemme tell you, they are not pleasant. I think one can compare their bites to the sting of a bee. Soooo theres that. Also, I got to go to this little tiny pueblo with Elder B called Tlacoyalco where he did some baptisms. It was pretty crazy, but I got to eat red tortillas for the first time which was cool, however they were to be used in place of silverware since thats apparently the custom there. So it was pretty fun! haha but anyways, it was a pretty good week.
       Well, the spiritual thought this week is short and sweet. I was reading the weekly email that Elder N (my companion from the MTC) sends out and he has come up with a really cool stanza about courage. It goes like this: 

Is courage a thing that can be taught?
I think not, but it can be learned.
Is courage a thing that can be given?
No, but with help from Heaven it can be earned.

So I thought that was really cool and worth mentioning here. I think that we can apply this especially when it comes to sharing the gospel. The missionaries here say that the best way to overcome your fear of approaching a random stranger in the street and sharing the gospel....is to do it. And I couldnt agree more. Courage can't be taught, but you can learn to be courageous by trusting in the Lord, or "earning it with help from heaven." So get out there and share the gospel. Study up, prepare your heart and mind, and then dive right in with trust in God that he will help you!

Lots of Love!!
Elder Josh Hamm