There is nothing, for as far as the eye can see‏

Hello everyone

So, the title of this email is referring to the area in which I live: because there really is nothing for as far as the eye can see. It's pretty impressive, but I'm loving it out here. For those who don't know, I'm on a bike, serving in the spanish branch. My area isn't too huge, about 1x3 miles, but it's still got a lot in it. Now, I'm not too sure what to say, so I'll start by giving a summary of the days here:

Monday: I got up here around 5, and got to the house (yes, it's a house, not an apartment), unpacked really quickly, and went straight to dinner. The great thing is that all the elders I live with all serve in the same branch, so we all go to the same dinner appointments, and the other elders have a truck. Huskinson and I generally bike to our appointments, but we almost always have a ride home from them, since the days practically over at that time. Anyways, we went to our ward mission leader's house, the Villareals. They're really cool, and they've got lots of farm animals. But, the geese in the back yard are crazy. They want to kill us, so we stay away from them. It was a good dinner. Tacos. Yummm....

Tuesday: Don't recall.

Wednesday: We went to a recent convert's house called Margarita. She's really nice, and the food was fairly good. However, they're having some problems in the family. It's sad, but it's how it is in spanish work. So much drama.

Thursday: I managed to obtain possession of a boot-legged copy of Hop. We aren't planning on watching it, but I may just send it home to get it out of my hands. Also, we went to a meeting with one of our main investigators. Her name is Margarita, also, and she is super solid. While there, she asked a lot of questions, some of them about really deep doctrine. I won't say what was asked, but I'll reassure you all, it was really deep. At that time, she had a sick dog, and it was only 5 months old. She was wondering if we could heal him with the laying on of hands, like she had read in the bible. Naturally, we can't do that with animals, but we said a prayer, and began a fast the next day. Also, she's been threatened with foreclosure, and so we were fasting for that, too.

Friday: District meeting. We had to go to the church that night for correlation, and while there, Margarita was trying to talk to our branch president about obtaining funds to pay for rent. She told us there, though, that that morning, her dog was better, and she believed it was because we had prayed and fasted, and she said she wants to keep coming to the LDS church. We were calm, but inside, I was jumping for joy. It was really cool.

Saturday: We had an easter activity. That was really fun.

Sunday: My first sacrament meeting in the spanish branch. All I recall about the Van Nuys ward was instantly brought back when I was there: the drama, the fact that I understand so little, and the fact that NOBODY can sing except us. It was painful, to say the least. But, it was still pretty good, especially since the bishop of the english ward said he'd spot Margarita money for the rent. Let's just hope that she doesn't become dependant on it.

I'm running out of time, so I gotta go. Talk to you all later.

Elder Shepherd