My Companion has Dengue Fever!

And now all my stories from the first week in Colonia Atlantida . . . LOL . . . I have a lot of stuff written down, too!

Did Dylan get my letter?

I wanna get some white frames for the Temple and special occasions . . . LOL . . . They are $25 frames here, but they aren’t the best. Can you look on eBay and see if you can find any cooler, nicer and cheaper ones? Or just tell me how much they are?

Is Dylan dating a girl? Grandma told me she took him to a game in Hollister with a girl or something . . .

Has Dylan received his Patriarchial (or however that’s spelled) blessing yet? I mean to tell him . . . If he feels ready, he should get it!

What ever happened to, I think his name was, Miles Curley? Basketball player from Morgan Hill? He was a member, I think . . . He was a real good basketball player, right? Did he serve a mission? I dunno why his name popped in my head!

Could you send me a bunch of pictures? A bunch of me with all my friends, with all the family? I just want to have a lot more with me in the house now . . .

Also, in the next package you send, could you include some CDs? Maybe just some of my choir music. Maybe ask Dylan to burn some CDs of just the slower rand intense songs, not the funny ones or anything, though. And, maybe Stacie can send me a CD of her friend that plays the piano? Just a few ideas . . . I can buy a CD player . . .

Now my stories . . . I’ll try to make ‘em in order . . .

Well, I’ll just start with an update on how I like it here. My Companion is awesome! I love him to death! I didn’t know how I’d like livin’ with a native, but he’s amazing! Super funny! All that good stuff. I like the area a lot, too. It’s way bigger than the Maya so it doesn’t leave me bored and days tend to go by a li’l faster.

This week, we were preparing three girls for baptism. One of them, Rosa Maria, is about 30 years old and can’t read, write, do math or any of that. Needless to say, it was very difficult to teach her about tithing. Good thing she doesn’t have a job or make any money . . . LOL!

I was tellin’ Elder Legua the whole Kara Melander story . . . What happened with her . . . And he gave me a new way to look at it . . . LOL . . . I loved it! I told him the guy she started dating during and after me was the guy she married and has a baby with . . . LOL . . . He told me, though, it’s like losing in the Play-Offs. At least I lost to the team that won the Championship, ‘cause he married her and I was the last to date her. LOL . . . I was busting up!

I didn’t know that the Giants got Brad Penny, so thank you for that update! I hope the Giants are stayin’ in the race! How close are they to Colorado for the Wild Card now? And how far out is Florida? Or did the play-offs already start? If they did . . . That is a real bummer that I’m not home . . .

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the package! I loved it! Of course, I needed muddy buddies and I’m trying to tame myself with them. I started eating ‘em the first day and ate almost half a bag (sad face). I didn’t need a jump rope, though, so I sold it to a friend that needed one. I’m sorry! But thank you! I was hoping there would be a bunch of pictures on my memory card or just printed out or a voice recording or something in the package! The longer I’ve been out, the more I need to know stuff! I know I told you differently before, but I’ve changed my mind . . . LOL . . . Just so ya know . . .

After two days in my area this past week, we had exchanges. Dallas, Dad or Tom can probably explain to you what that is exactly. So, I stayed in my area and I had exchanges with Elder Legua for a day! It was awesome! He’s probably my best friend out here so it was super fun! It was really cool, too, ‘cause we have only been in the field a month and a half and we taught lessons and everything! And here we are just two new gringos! Then, the day after that, I had exchanges with Elder Pratt. This is his last change, so he is about done! He was a cool guy, though, and man, he can really, really, really plan the piano! He has written songs and everything! I love listening to someone who plays so easy like that.

Then, on Saturday, we had three baptisms! I got to do one of them. I baptized Rosa Maria and my Companion baptized Maria Elena and her daughter, Jessica. All three were perfect, though . . . Without any mistakes! It was pretty cool to come into this area and jump into three baptisms! Two are coming up this week from baptismal dates I set while I was in the Maya. Although it was cool to get to be part of the three baptisms here, there weren’t like my first three in the Maya ‘cause I had worked with my first three for SO long. Still really cool, though! Then, on Sunday, Rosa Maria didn’t show up to be confirmed!!!!!! Aaaaah! She gave some stupid reason why she didn’t come and how she is supposed to be confirmed this Sunday. We will have to wait and see, though!

So, I didn’t write you on Monday because we had our Zone Conference on that day. We also had our President Interviews and, of course, nothing happened in mine but I just thought you’d like to know. The Zone Conference was aaight this time. Five guys and I sang a nice li’l song at the Zone Conference, too. It was fun to sing with people that can actually sing again.

My Companion has been really sick, though, and hasn’t really been himself. On Sunday, he couldn’t work, so we lost that day after Church. Then, at Zone Conference, he was doin’ horrible. Hermana Torres couldn’t figure outu what it was, so we got to leave the Conference with President and his wife. Man, riding in a nice car feels like heaven after riding in nothing but horrible busses all the time! They were really good to us, though. We went to their beautiful home . . . b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l! It looks out over everything in the City and the inside is super pretty! When we got there, Hermana Torres just took us to a guest room and told us to rest until she got a doctor appointment for my Companion. So, we laid down and slept on these heavenly, like the best beds ever, beds for like three hours! It was awesome . . . LOL! Then she made us dinner, gave us some cookies and bug spray and sent us to the doctor! LOL! It was awesome! At the doctor’s office, my Companion found that he has Dengue Fever! He’s a soldier for pushing through it for like five days! But now we won’t be doin’ anything for at least a week. I’m still not 100% sure how I feel ‘bout that but, yea, I will be doin’ splits so I can still be getting some work done.

Then today, it’s P-Day! So I’m makin’ my Companion fight through his illness . . . LOL . . . We went to the Maya and got some stuff I left behind and bought a few things from pacas. I got my customized shorts back from Hermana Esperanza. She had worked on them for like five weeks. She didn’t sew them all, but she made the shorts and had the stitching done for her. They were expensive for her, but in American money, they were just $25! They are mostly black with white sides and baby blue stripes. Down one side, it says “Jensen” and down the other it says, “Guatemala” and over one knee it has my number, “14”! They are sweet! Then, in paca, I bought a 5 quet jacket. It’s teal, pink, white and black . . . Super old school . . . Solid purchase . . .

Well, I think that’s all I have for now! I sure love the heck out of all of you! Really though . . . The heck out of . . . I love you!