John's email and pics from July 7,2008

Well it sounds like everything went really well at the reunion. Everyone inthat picture looks so much older than I remember. But that's good that manypeople went. The garden I saw I was also impressed with. You would thinkmore people down here would do something like that to live better but theydon't. a lot just have fruit trees and yucca plants. I have grown to likeyucca I don't know if dad knows it but it's a root of a plant they eat herein a lot of different ways. Kinda taste like French fries at times. Umm imnot sure if the house we built is standing still because its in anotherarea. But with me this week I have just been training my new companion elderparra the area. Because maybe in a week I will get changed. But if not itscrazy to think at the end of the next change I will have half a year just inmy area. Crazy huh? But mom this week is when I do complete my 6 months mantime has flown by. Whats cool is I complete my 6 months a day before mycompanion does. So that should be pretty fun. Nothing really too big hashappened here, just in the future there might be a problem with peru herethat we were kinda worried about but I don't think anything will happen. UmSpanish is improving a lot. One girl in the ward of our zone leaders(2americans) told me that I have a better accent than them and they are goinhome in two months. So that made me feel a little better. O ya one of myzone leaders wants to know what mike had to do to work for the government,he wants to do the same stuff after the mission. Thanks Dad for thebasketball update I was wondering the other day who won. Hows Graysonbasketball goin to do this year? Are we improving at all? Umm and who isgoing to be president it seems like some people down here know more aboutthat than I do. But ya that's all that's been happening with me. Hopeeverything goes well this week. Love you guys.