John

Well i got a couple stories for this week, yesterday was the most exciting… after the first branch in the morning we went and talked to a member to plan to pick up and investigator. So we were talking outside under a mango tree, and something fell on my shoulder then to the ground. I didnt think much of it but my companion kind of yelled and i looked. It was definitely, a snake! Haha it was hunting a tree frog and they both fell down. The member was freaking out telling us to kill it. Me and my companion just wanted to watch it. It was like 3 feet long and pretty skinny. It looked like a long garden snake, so it didnt look to dangerous, but apparently its one of the most venomous snakes in the area. But the story doesnt end there...while we looked for something to kill it, it got away from us. So once it was gone we got back to talking like normal. My companion was about to lean against the fence and screamed (like a little girl) there it is! It was on the top of the fence sneaking up to bite my companion. It was the first animal i have seen that has come back for vengeance. So at the end of everything we got a huge log and we killed it. And it was an awesome adrenaline rush. Also last week we had zone conference with president maynes. And it was funny when he flew in because the same day a senator running for elections was coming in as well the same day. So we are walking to the airport and there are a million people in the streets, as well in the airport. I think there were at least 5,000 people there. And president maynes gets there and sees all the people and just laughs. We told him it was all for his arrival. But we were stuck there till the senator actually got there and everyone went crazy like it was a celebrity. Stormed the airplane and everything. I got a good laugh out of that. And president did a really good conference this time again. It was really weird though thinking the next one is my last one. This week I will only have a month left. President told me I will still be here probly when I finish. I will be going back to santa cruz like the 16th and have the dinner and interview. So that should be pretty fun. As a zone we are doing pretty well. Our area is kind of going down. The people that were going to get married and baptized are having some problems and the members are not getting animated. There was a problem with some new member kids watching some movies that are against our church and doubted there testimonies. But i think we helped them out some. Last Monday we went as a zone to Tumi Chuckua which is a big lake. I have gone before but the whole zone is new so we went again. And we played a little bit of soccer. And of course the Americans beat the latins again. So we are always making sure that they remember that. The cool thing was at our half time we just went around picking up mangos on the ground for a snack. I forgot to tell dad that. Its mango season and for the past month there has been a ton of mangos everywhere. And all types of mangos. Bolivian, rose, Japanese, grape, papaya, pineapple, all sorts of mangos. I think the best are the Japanese mangos. Had some mango juice that was really good. I filled myself up on it and didn’t eat much lunch. But don’t be jealous dad. It hasn’t rained too much lately but it was cloudy a couple days and then it gets really really hot and goes back to a little cloudy. This morning started out pretty cool, but its already getting hotter. Here in riberalta there isn’t really seasons. The people say seasons like, the rainy season and dry season and maybe a dust season. Nothing else. There is only a time for the south winds to come in like may when it gets cold but for only like 2 days. But im kind of use to getting home really really wet from sweat and filthy from the seats people give us from all the dirt here. Um but there isn’t much else to tell. Sounds like it was a good fireside you had from that guy. There was a saying that president maynes used that is close to what he said. He said ¨good is excellent´s worst enemy¨ just to not settle for being good. But that’s about all that’s been going on. O ya james gosling is going to the mission of an elder in my zone. He said its amazing there and he will have a good time. And that’s cool that bj is going to long beach. That would be an interesting mission as well.Elder Cheesman