I dont' know if Mexico has a "Hug a Cactus Day"....but 
it's a pretty terrible idea. 
Heyyyyyyyy.

        So this week Im gonna switch things up and start with my Dads questions! (that was sarcasm if you couldnt tell) 1) When I tell people Im from the US they always ask me which part. Then I tell them Virginia or DC and they say "ahhhh Virginia" as their face changes indicating that they really have absolutely NO idea where the devil Virginia is, but they have been to Arizona one time for a few years and so they want to seem like they do haha 2) Most people DO have microwaves....well most people. There are a few who dont but i would say that the majority of people do. 3) No, people DO NOT eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches here. At all. Its literally hericy. Im serious, its like being in another worldddd. I would say that the equivilent would be tortillas and something like eggs or cheese in the middle. But not like a quesadilla. ITs hard to explain haha but i think thats the closest thing. 4) And no....i dont use sunscreen. Apart from if its pday and i know im gonna be out playing in very strong sunnn for about 4 hours. Its usually not bad though. 

       Really quickly I would like to give a shoutout to a few Elders who have gone home lately. They are doing great....just great....and i know this cause they find it necessary to send me each and every picture of how great their lives are at home!! haha so heres a big shout out to Elder P, Elder M and Elder G. Keep being ridiculous haha


Yahhh this week was awesome though! Its hard to always tell you about my week without feeling like im boring all of you cause i hear about vacations, sports games, and stuff like that but hopefully i dont bore you too much. For Pday we went to this huge indoor basketball court that we NEVER knew was there until now -__- And it was awesome. Its like a legitimate basketball court! It was super fun. Then Tuesday we had interviews with our President. My interview with him was first and it was sooo good. He is seriously sooo in tune with the spirit. He told me after it was one of the most spiritual interviews he has given. It was great. Then Wednesday we had District Meeting and it went really well, and I felt like the missionaries got something out of it. Then we went on interchanges with Elder I the Assistant to the President. For those of you playing along at home, that would make it the 2nd time on my mission that I have been on interchanges with the assistants and Im not even a ZL....soooo clearly I need to repent of something. Thursday I went to Puebla for the leadership training meeting that I always look forward to cause I get to see everyone from the mission. I got to see Elder D, A, M, K, B, and a ton of other guys. It was awesome. Then little ceasars pizza, got to the CAPU, bought a slushy, and then spent 2 hours on an air conditioned bus. Sooo needless to say, it was awesome, although I was definitly missing P. 


And this is my whole zoneee!! Well....for like one more week
 before I almost for sureee have changes -__-

Friday we got to go with the ward mission leader and help his parents out with some service. It was awesome. They have a house up on this hugeee hill and it overlooks the city. Its pretty great. Then we played Basketball that night with some investigators and less actives. Saturday I did a few baptismal interviews and they went well. For one of the investigators, this was the second time I was doing his interview because he hadnt passed the first time becuase he was drinking coffee. Last week when I did the interview he was reaaaalllllyyyyyy bummed out when I told him that he had to wait a week (although not as bummed as I was). It was soo hard for me to tell him that when he was soo ready in all his other categories. I felt super bad, but i knew I had to do it. Then this week I got to interview him again and he was beaming. He told me he had recieved so much strength and blessings from giving up coffee that week and he was grateful that he could now be baptized with nothing holding him back. It was a great moment for us both. He was baptized on Sunday at a lovely service, and then we went to the ward mission leaders house and made brownies while we helped the ZL's prepare for a zone capacitation. So overall it was a great week!


OOOOHHHH! And I got to baptize!! They were my old
investigators and I got to baptize the dad.


Making brownies with the Ward Mission Leader!!

         The spiritual thought for this week comes from something I realized this week during studies. Its quick, but take it for what you will. I was thinking about how hard it is to obey certain things sometimes and how hard it is to stop doing bad things. And I realized that I have always thought that it should be hard...but I should feel good when I decide to obey when its hard, or quit doing something that is wrong.....but thats really not always the case. Its called a "bitter cup" for a reason. It really is bitter. When we are trying to change something in our life, we are going to feel the spirit telling us that what we are doing is right....but Satan is also trying to make us feel bad about what we are doing. So dont quit becuase it doesnt make you feel really good inside.  Its not supposed to be delicious...its our own little suffering. So if you are making hard changes in your life to bring yourself closer to Christ, and you dont feel great like you hoped, just know that its gonna get better, and soon that bitterness will be replaced with lasting sweetness that is desireable above all.

Love,
Elder Josh Hamm