Happy New Year!

Hola, todos. Como estan?

Anyways, things are going okay for the most part. Christmas just barely passed, and it was fun, for the most part. Except for a small number I saw, I had a lot of fun this last Saturday. Here's essentially what happened this week.
We've had a program called the Living Christmas card going on in our ward, and here's how it worked. We would receive cards from ward members, and deliver them, as well as "Stories of Christmas" DVDs to the neighbors for these members. That has occupied the majority of our last two weeks, and it's been sometimes hard to do. We actually had cards that were well over 3 miles away from us UPHILL. That wouldn't have been fun if we had to bike all the way up there, but, thankfully, the ZLs didn't need to use their car for that time, and se we used it one day, and knocked out a large chunk of the cards. We put about 17 miles on their car, which they probably weren't too happy about, but it helped us out a ton. That occupied us from Tuesday till Friday night, so we didn't get much done in terms of missionary work.
On Saturday, I woke up, and went straight for my small present pile from home. I got some good stuff, including a sweater, two new t-shirts, a home haircut kit (really useful), and a Settlers of Catan expansion (We're allowed to play board games out here on P-Day, for those who don't know). I haven't yet used that expansion, but I plan on using it a lot on and off the mission, so I'm happy with that. Also, I got a picture of a gift I couldn't get sent out here: The Complete Calvin & Hobbes collection, a 3-book set of every Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, for all ten years of its circulation. I'm happy for that, and will enjoy it a lot when I go home. Anyways, we didn't do much missionary work on Christmas, but we got to spend the evening with a family called the Buterbaughs. They are all really good cooks, and they made some awesome food. It was fun, but when I secretly stepped on their scale, I saw that "small" number. (192.8) I have NEVER seen that number in my life. I am incredibly disappointed with myself, and am doing my best right now to lose weight. It's not going to be easy, especially since I hate working out, but I'll have to do it, for the sake of not being overweight.
Also, the call home was awesome. It lasted for about 2 and a half hours. Although the "White Bible" Missionary Handbook says only 30 to 45 minutes, our mission president said we can take "as much time as we need to feel satisfied." So, 2 and a half hours satisfied me. We talked about a ton of different things, I got to talk to everyone at the house, and learned so much about what's been going on. It was so much fun, that I want to call them up right now. But, I can't. I'll get to do it again on Mother's Day, but that's not for another five months. Around then, I'll have been out on my mission for 11 months, almost a year. Isn't it funny how fast time flies? Well, I better not focus on time, or else I'll make myself trunky.
As for Sunday, it was a fairly regular sunday. Not much. Monday, we did service. I personally wasn't too happy that we lost some valuable time on P-Day, but one thing that this transfer has definitely taught me thus far, is that missionary work always has precedence over your personal wants. That's definitely going to help me out. However, on Monday, I was feeling pretty lonely. I wanted to play Settlers of Catan really badly, but no one else did, and we didn't do anything at all. I was feeling pretty down, and feeling almost sorry for myself, because I realized I haven't really connected with the elders in my apartment. I want to, but they're so different from me that it's almost a bit hard. But, I'll keep trying. This week is looking to be better, anyways.
Well, that's about it. I hope all of you are doing well, Les quiero, and take care.

With Love

El Buen Pastor.