Happy Birthday to Me

20 YEARS OLD..... Man I'm older then dirt now. I´m not even a teenager anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AH!!!!!!! How do you feel parents, now that there is only one teenager left in the house? (Thought I'd throw that one in there.)

Well I'm thinking about going and eating some place special or something good because literally, I live like an hour by bus away from the city so I can´t really carry a cake up there. Maybe I'll just get some of my money and buy some ice cream up there. :) Hopefully things will work out. It's my birthday for goodness sakes!!!!!

Already the super bowl..... Man time is flying by. When I look back at what I've done it's really flown by, but when I look ahead I still lack 18 months so not a huge deal. Still time to get everything done. =P But at least someone besides the Patriots won the super bowl. It's all good. But I miss corn dogs soooooooooooo much!!! I explained to my comp the other day what they were and man I am craving them soooooo bad and you ate them during the super bowl!!!!!!!!!

Well tell Megan that she is going to have to carry the team so that they can win. =P Or tell her that her big brother is going to beat her up when he gets back. Maybe you guys could like video a game and save it so I can see her play. Just an idea..... =D

A translator for grandma & grandpa in Mexico?? (hahaha) Well grandpa better know that translators aren´t cheap, I mean I know a fantastic one that is going to have 2 years of real life experience talking to people - can read really well and loves to talk in Spanish. =P We´ll see if he can afford this guy.. =P But I would love sooooooo much to go to Mexico and see all the differences between my Spanish and theirs there. It's like totally different sometimes. There are words here that only exist here and words that only exist there!!!! THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!!!!!!

AWE!!!! Tell grandma that she is awesome for my birthday money, and someone give her a huge hug from Elder Sutton in El Salvador. =)

1 - Since your area appears to be closer to Guatemala (further north) what is the weather like?

The weather, let me see................. FREEZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Literally it's the coldest part ever!!!! I have to sleep in pants, t shirt, sweatshirt and two covers every night!!! Then when I wake up, oh man, I have to take a shower!!! Okay let's do a comparison right now. It's compared to going out in the middle of winter, turning on your hose and getting under it. How does that sound to you, mom?! Today I splurged and heated up my water which took like an hour of heating up water in a pot and putting it in a jug. (hahahahah) I'll work on sending you some pictures and all that really super soon. I sent some last week and this week but I don´t think you got them.

2 - Did you realize that there is a different volcano outside that city as well? (your dad suggested another field trip - haha - maybe)

Well I don't know about another volcano because as a zone we don´t really do a lot of fun stuff. They are a bunch of party poopers here. But my comp and I are going to do something fun at least.

3 - What is your new companion like?

My comp is called Elder Marin. =) He is from Costa Rica or they call them "ticos" here, and he is super sweet! He has like 23 months in the mission so I'm probably going to kill him. I´m thinking about being in this area for 2 or more changes. (haha) but it's alright that it's only a branch here and super tiny. Like the assistance (membership) of the ward was 44 people yesterday. Then after our church we went to our other area, Jujutla, and had a sacrament meeting over there with our branch president and because one member was having a baby there were like 5 people in that sacrament meeting. =P So if that gives you a little idea what it's like here.

EVERONE here cuts coffee and works all their life. Sometimes it's really sad to see, but I know that what we have will bless them forever. :)

4 - Have you received your card or your birthday box?

I haven´t received anything!!!!!!!!!! I just thought that I fell off the face of the planet and no one wanted to talk to me. I bet they are having problems with the office and getting us our stuff especially with the changes and stuff.. =( I´m going to make some phone calls and all that and see what's going on. If not, then I'll have two birthdays. =P

5 - How is the new ward/branch?

I kind of explained that a little bit. We all get together in a house that the church has rented. But in Apaneca (which is the bigger of the two) there is a plot of land that the church has bought and is just waiting for the assistance (membership) to be around 80 people for 6 months and then they start building on it. Sadly that hasn't ever happened here. I want to see this place grow, and I talked to my comp - we´re going to do it. You´ll see. =) Plus there is no baptismal font so we baptize in rivers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( hahah) I hope I get a baptism. =D

6 - Megan is trying to plan a "sweathearts" day date and needs ideas.... any memorable day dates?

I wasn´t ANY GOOD at doing that back in the states but let me think.... Well you could go to Crystal Hot Springs - if that isn´t too weird. If I was a guy going, I for sure would want to eat something good and go mess around doing something active. Laser tag, paint balling, you could make ice-cream sculptures with boxes of ice-cream. =) Just remember, if it involves food guys are all on board!!!!!!

Well I'll definitely remember about having 3 birthday parties or at least 3 times the fun. =P We might go today to eat at a place that's like KFC... (hahaha) - not many choices here in Ahucahpan. BUT it's my birthday for goodness sakes. I have to do something!!

Okay story of the week. So I got pretty sick actually..... hahaha like I had to go and do some crazy stuff. So one day I was at a members house and they gave us some sandwiches ( I think that's what caused it) but like a few days later I wasn´t feeling good at all!!!!! This was one day before changes, and I was waiting with a different companion and I just had no energy; I didn´t eat for a few days, everything was going downhill. So I called the nurse and finally after like 4 times trying, she answered and I told her what was up and so she told me I needed to get "un examen de heces" or a stool sample!!! So this is the fun part, there was no place to do it in my area so we went exploring for a place and finally found a libratory that would do it for us. Then they asked me if I brought it with me and I said no. They proceeded to tell me that I had to bring it with me and I couldn´t do it there. At this point, I could barely walk a block without being super tired. Finally after finding a bathroom and getting the sample we got the results and that sandwich that I ate actually had amebas in it and I had amebas!!!!!!!!!! HURRAY!!!!!!! That was the reason that I had no hunger and why I was constantly going to the bathroom... I started to take medicine but the problem was they wouldn´t start working for like 3 days!! So I got to my new area sick. My comp was being super nice and helping me and all that. I told him that I hadn't eaten in days and so he made me some rice and eggs. The little we had in our house we proceeded to eat. (bad idea!!!) I went and threw that up.... Side note..... I haven´t thrown up in years!!!! Remember this day in time, Wed. - Feb. 2011. Now just to say I'm hungry again, and still fat as ever. The only problem is the pills I'm taking now turn my pee almost black.... hahhahahahaha That was a surprise the first time I saw it. At first I thought it was just because I wasn´t drinking enough water but that wasn´t it. That's my story of the week.

Love you all. I´m working on that smiling thing. =D

Elder Sutton