Elder Parker Albertson- California Santa Rosa Mission: August 4, 2014

Hola Familia/ Amigos

Gosh dang! I know I say something along these lines every week to
start my email but seriously! Where is my time going on the mission? I
feel like I was just sitting here like a day ago emailing about how
crazy the wedding of Veronica and Javier went and how her Baptism was!

Now I'm doing the same thing!

Nothing really happened too exciting this week! However I ate some
crazy food! Ha ha I'm not too big of a fan of it either. It was super
slimy! I ate stinking Lengua (Tongue) and Labios (Lips) as well
as Chate (Cheek) in some tacos! Oh my goodness it even still had the
skin on the Labios! It was so disgusting! However I will tell you all
that it had a really good flavor, but the way it looked and
the way it felt in my mouth was super nasty! I basically had the
Lengua of a cow in my mouth. It was so slimy and chewy! Eww! Ha ha but
I was a man and ate it all, I even ate extra so that the family wasn't
offended. But I probably won't ever be able to do it again!

Monday we had a great day! P-Day we had a lot of fun playing
basketball! As well as Hermano Escamilla came into town and took Elder
Delgado, Elder Wright, Elder Carrillo and I out to lunch on our P-day!
Such a blessing to be able to be close with all those members that are
in Santa Rosa, and continue to have those relationships! He is such a
great guy, and is willing to do anything for us! I'm sure you all have
seen the photo he posted on Facebook of us!

However, Monday night did not go the greatest! We didn't have any
lessons, everyone seemed to not be home, and we walked a lot, and the
streets were completely empty! However everyone else in the District
had a killer night! It was weird, but it's okay, sometimes we have
days like that! Right?

Tuesday we had a wonderful district meeting! It’s amazing how much you
learn when you’re the one teaching the lessons for the meeting. You

might think it would be the other way around and that you wouldn't

learn as much, because you’re the one teaching! I have really

noticed how it's been such a blessing to be a district leader and learn

through all the experiences it gives you!

We also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Foster and
Elder Ford! They are both great elders! Poor Elder Foster had to ride
his bike all the way to Benicia with Elder Delgado while I went with
Elder Ford to his area! We had a great time, and it truly is a great
experience to be able to learn from all the other Elders in your
district as well!

Wednesday we had a great day and we were able to teach a ton of
lessons after we got back together after exchanges! We were able to
teach Maria and Javier who are progressing slowly but not too quickly!
I hope they will be able to change and something will happen with
them, so that they can truly become converted and have that desire to
come to church! We also had a great quick short lesson with Veronica
about her baptism and how she feels and everything. They are doing
great, now we are slowly working on Javier her husband!

Our lesson with Mario Wednesday night got a little crazy! For some
reason he convinced me that I should eat a Habanero! So sure enough I
ate a Habanero that night, and the next day wasn't that fun either! If
you know what I mean! However I can officially say that I have eaten a
Habanero and did it quite successfully without any tears, and without
spitting it out! I didn't even have any water! I did drink a Gatorade
afterwards though! Ha ha it was so dang Hot!

Thursday we had another great day! We had a wonderful time teaching
another great day full of lessons! It’s crazy how well Elder Delgado and
I do teaching together! We have completely been able to figure each
other out, and we know exactly when we are going to stop and change directions

or where we are going with each lesson! Things were great!

Friday we had a wonderful day of weekly planning! We figured out how
well we can be able to plan and actually sync my plans on my calendar
app with Elder Delgado's so it makes things super fast! We bought
some chips and salsa though to eat before we weekly planned so we
could snack on it while we went!

Friday night was a pretty interesting night! We had a crazy old man
tell us he needed us to call the police and get medical help! So we did so!
His name was Mr. Payne and he was super drunk and high, but when the
paramedics showed up, they were like Aww, no worries Elders we already
know Mr. Payne he is a frequent person we are picking up! Ha ha I'll
send a video home of him! Its super funny!

Saturday we had a pretty good day! Things were pretty interesting as
well planned for a Zone Activity and we gave out free Hot dogs as well
as free church tours! And they all picked me to stand out on the
corner and hold a dang sign! So I decided to get crazy with it and I
walked in the middle of traffic, running around, and yelling FREE HOT
DOGS, FREE CHURCH TOURS! Ha ha it was a lot of fun!

Hope you all had a great week! Things are wonderful here! Thank you
all so much for your support, prayers, and Love! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Albertson

All of us with Hermano Escamilla! At Panda Express!