Happy New Year!

Felis aña nobo!

Happy New Year!  I cannot believe that it is 2012!   Wow, time is really flying.  New Years went great for us here, I mean, we didn't get robbed, so what more could you ask for?  Haha, just kidding it was great!  We were supposed to be in the house at 8:30, so we came in a half our early and then the bishop's wife made us a chicken and all 5 of us who were in the house got to share it.  It was awesome!   I felt kind of bad because we went to the Bishop's house on New Year's Eve to give them a letter that one of the missionaries who was previously serving here left for them, and then his wife invited us in and talked to us about their plans for New Years Eve, but then she asked us how many Elders lived in our house and then she started crying, and she said that she was going to give us the chicken that would normally be for her son, Eddy, but he is on a mission.  So she had a friend bring it to our house after we were home and we got to have chicken, it was a great blessing from the Lord, and it was very nice of her to do that! 

This week was for the most part normal work in the office and in the area, just with New Year's thrown in.  Everything was normal except that we came in a half hour early on New Year's Eve.  When we first got there, we didn't have any water or any electricity, haha, but then luckily we got the electricity back so that we could see.  But, we were all in bed before the clock struck midnight.  I was pretty tired this week.  We've been having some problems in our house with the water, we've trying to get a tinaco (that's like a big tank) put up on top of the roof so that it will hold water and we will have water even when there is no water coming in from the main lines, but we've been having problems with it, every time we open it, it loses the water, haha.  We can't tell where it is getting out, but every time that we leave it open when we leave the house, we come back and it is empty, so we're still trying to find out what's happening there.  But President and his wife have been wonderful, they let us go over to their house and use their shower and wash our clothes there, and now we are getting pretty normal water from the main lines of the house, so we are doing well, just trying to finish up with the tinaco, and then we should be good with everything.

We are kind of starting over with the area.  There haven't been a whole lot of investigators, so we are mostly just doing contacts and asking for references to try to find new people.  We are progressing and doing well, now the next step will just be helping the new people get to church.  But the Lord will help us out as long as we do our best.

I didn't end up having to do a whole lot with end of the year stuff this week in the office, it was for the most part done, I just had to make one deposit to finish out the year.  I've also been working a lot with the senior couples because the Church is trying to get a new payment program set up for their housing.  I have got that for the most part taken care of though, just a couple things and then we should be all set up and switched over.

I am so jealous that you are in Pima today!!  Man, I really miss that place.  I can't wait to visit again.  Dad sent me a picture of the mountain, wow, it looks fantastic, and it looks like the boys took my bed at Grandma's house :).  (Henry sent a picture of Mt. Graham and also a picture of Todd and Scott sleeping on Grandma Joy's couch last night.)

Today we got to go bowling, and it was sweet!  I wasn't very good, the best I got was 100 in one game, not very good, haha, but a way fun experience.  More blessings from the Lord.

Did the Cardinals win and go 8-8? 

Everything is under control here.  I see more and more blessings from the Lord every week.  He has blessed me far more than I ever deserved.  I am so grateful for His infinite love and understanding.  He truly does know every one of us personally and loves us, and He sees something in us, He knows our potential.

Just FYI, we went out on a run today and we didn't get twenty feet before I ran face first into a support line off of a light pole, haha, probably shouldn't tell Mom, because I'm fine, just got a very minor headache, but nothing to keep me from going bowling today for P-Day.  It was dark and I couldn't see it, haha.  But I'm fine.  I'll try to send you a pic of my face, you can see the print of the wire across my face.

I love you all!  Keep up the great work and thanks for being who you are.

Love,

Elder DeSpain