Happy New Year to you in snowy Gilbert! (It's not really snowy Gilbert, but Henry did tell Jeff that he saw some snow fall while he was at work this past Thursday which is definitely out of the ordinary for the Phoenix area!)

We are doing good here. Chello and Claribel still aren't married. What happened was that Chello had to get a new ID, and that was going to cost him some money, so we were trying to avoid that, but every other option that we tried didn't end up working out. So now, he just has to pick up a new ID and pay for it, and they will hopefully be married this week!

The new baptisms are doing great! Roberto is so awesome, he said that his baptism really made him feel refreshed! And Jose Luis, hopefully he will be a missionary! As well as bring the rest of his family into the Gospel.

Henri and Carmen are doing good too, we were a little worried about them because they hadn't been to Church in a while, but they showed up first this week, even before us! Henri drank some this week which is a bummer, but that's in the past, and now we're in a new year, and it's going to be a great one for him! They will hopefully be getting baptized soon! We're still just waiting on the birth certificates for their children to get them married.

Wow, so Darleen, I haven't heard from her since I left. So you got to meet her "friend", that's great! Keep me posted. (We told Jeff that we went to Pima overnight this past weekend and were able to visit with everyone, including our niece Darleen's friend from UofA Jonathan Frost!)

That's exciting about Kevin and Harmony, I just got the letter from Aunt Roxie telling me that they are engaged and it was in your email also! Wow, I hadn't heard yet, so congratulations! I did get the chance to meet Harmony a couple of times before I left! That´s so awesome!

Well, this week was good, the work is going great! I almost forgot. We did run into a little problem again. Someone needed my watch and the church cell phone we had more than we did. Oh well, we bought a cheap watch on purpose so I guess that worked out well! I know the Lord was really looking out for us again, because we escaped without harm again, it's amazing! Each time this has happened we have always escaped unscathed, and I know it's because The Lord has been looking out for us!

We had some really good revelation this morning while we were studying, it's probably more interesting to us as missionaries, but we were reading D&C 89 and reading the blessings of the Word of Wisdom. It states a lot of blessings that I have always considered to be physical blessings, for example it says that we will run without being weary, and I always thought of that as a physical blessing, but then Elder Clayton talked about all of the people that have kept the Word of Wisdom yet still had handicaps physically, like being in a wheelchair, but then I thought about those that were handicapped physically, but not mentally. That sometimes, there are those who may be handicapped physically that can run through life without being weary in terms of their spiritual well being or they are gifted with an awesome attitude or an awesome personality. Really, it opened my eyes that the Promises of the Lord aren't always fulfilled in the ways that we think. Sometimes we're receiving the blessings we are promised without even knowing it. I know that I have been blessed beyond measure and have been very ungrateful about acknowledging the Lord's Blessings in my life. Just a little thought that we received during our companion study that I thought I'd share.

Keep up the good work and I love you all so much! Thank each and every one of you for the example and great help that you are for me in my life! Thank you so much for all that you have done for me!

Elder DeSpain

I attached a picture of the Park of Independence here. That wall I'm standing in
front of is probably like 500 years old. The Conde, the oldest street in the new world, is right behind it, through the arch in the wall! (The picture is on the blog!)