aaaand its monday again

Hola family!

Its been great to hear from you all, Everytime I read your emails Bryce and Anita I think, wow, all around the world the mission work really is the same, drunk, high people saying things they won't remember tomorrow and people who are great and progress and people who don't.

So we have been contacting a lot here, we worked our way up and down two streets yesterday, and as Candelaria is probably not that much bigger than Driggs we don't have that much of the town itself to contact. It gets difficult as there are areas that we aren't supposed to go after dark (its like half of the town and pretty much all of the outlying area) because it is dangerous, so we contact in those areas before dark and other areas after dark (with the theory that if they are there in the day when we talk with them we'll be able to come back the same time another day) not always a great theory, but its what we work with.

We have been struggling with our inactivos, there are a lot of them that live in the mountains and can't afford to come to church, (literally they can't afford the $0.35/person to bring them on the bus) and it is to far to walk for a lot of them, as well as it is a long way to the bus stop for some of the older members up in the mountains. We've made a plan though, the Elder's quarum president and one of our more recent converts are family of many of those that live up in the mountains and they said they'd head up this week and talk to them and if they get enough to say they'll come they can use a truck to go get them and bring them to the church(a couple of the members have trucks and they load the back full to go places like with mutual, they load all the youth in the back of the truck that has a canopy and then they drive to Santa Ana for practice for the cultural event for the temple dedication.)

But we've got some positive investigators, and we work hard everyday to build up the kingdom of god here in Candelaria.

Umm, the other day I say my first Tranchula. We were walking through town and this guy was crouched down with a thin stick in one hand(like a skewer for a bbq) and in the other a little bigger stick that was flat on the end. The one that was flat on the end he gently brought down in front of him and as we passed him I realized he had pinned the back of a tranchula with it and with the other stick he very carefully pushed it through the upper part of the tranchula and then he stood up, with a tranchula skewered on the end of a stick. I don't know what he was gong to do with it.

Querro ver, que mas....

Oh dogs, there are so many dogs here. Lucky for me they are almost all pretty easy going, and we're usually able to walk past them with hardly more than a bark, but every so often they don't like it when we walk past and then they growl and bark like hey this is my street(yes street we walk in the middle of the street and the dogs lay on the street and take exception to you walking on it). But the dogs here are really skinny. Most of the animals are really skinny, you can count their ribs. Also on another note, when I was in the CCM one of the Hnos said, please remember that if you drop something (like food) on the floor it isn't going to just disappear some one will have to clean it up after you. I understand why he would have to say that. Drop a crumb, and if there isn't a cat or dog nearby the ants.. oh the ants will take care of it in short order. The other day -this is kinda gross if you have a weak stomach stop reading- one of the cats threwup in front of our house(like on the sidewalk) but not to fear by the time I saw it it was black with ants, and by the time we came back that night, it was gone. If you don't mind the ants they really will clean up anything. Alright I guess they haven't taken a liking to plastic yet, which is a shame, they would have a wonderful feast (think the canals in Egypt mom and that is what the river near our house looks like behind the log dams they have across the river)

Oh more adventure: the bus: you never know what you'll see on the bus.. a lady with a parrot, a guy with 5(yes 5) chickens live ones with their legs bound together...a box of chicks, a huacab of plants, and then there are the people who make a living by selling fruit on the bus. They get on at one stop and walk from the front to the back (usually once is all they manage with the crowd) and tell you what they are selling, watermelon, melon, cucumber, mango, papaya, etc all cut up and put into plastic baggies. Haven't tried any yet though they look good, maybe oneday when I feel like risking being sick.
I need to go, Love you all
Hna Allen