We're up to the second floor!

Pop suggested I throw my first weight throw at the National Masters' track & field meet in Boston. I came in 3rd with a 26 foot throw. (There were 4 women in my age group). We threw the 16 pound weight.

if you get this let me know. you said that you havnt been getting my emails and im a little woried because ive been writing faithfully. oh before i forget, my camera stoped working. it wont take pictures. i changed the film, the bateries are charged, it just wont take pictures. ive hit every button that i can find but it wont work. do you have any insights? im thinking about buying a new digital camera from wall mart. what do you think?i need advice. we just had 2 baptisms last saturday. it was realy cool. and we should have 2 more next week. things are going well. but transfurs are next week and i think my companion is going to leave. thats to bad because this area is realy cool and my companionn is cool and the whole zone is cool. we just went to eden, this jungle park place. they filmed preditor there. some movie that i havnt seen, but they have a resturant at the botom and cool waterfalls. we hiked up to the top. it was realy cool but my camera wast working so i dont have any pictures of it. ill try to get some from the other elders.
easter sounds pretty fun. its okay though. i almost forgot that it was easter.
friday, we went to a families house that live in our ward to eat, they have a condo on the 10 floor of a sweet hotel complex that overlooks the bay and it was realy pretty.
how is sam? he hasnt writen me in a while. kaity said that they moved to boise. thats cool. tell dan to write me. i havnt heard from him in a while.
thats cool that the sister that came to my ward sent you an email. she was a realy nice lady and i was at the mtc the same time as her son but we never met.
thats about all the new from here. we are just wondering who is leaving next week, me or my companion.
i got a letter from our house that was signed by some family, whose name i couldnt realy read or regognise. do you know who it was? it was nice though.
love you mom. let me know if you got the last leter or not, and this one too.
elder benjamin lariviere

Hello Brother and Sister Lariviere.
I just wanted to make this Easter a little more special by letting you know we got to spend a wonderful Sacrament meeting with you wonderful son, Elder Lariviere. We are down in Pureta Vallarta on Spring Break and were able to find the Church this morning. Your great Elder looks wonderful and happy! They had several families they were teaching at Church this morning- it was really nice to see.

Our son is serving a mission down in Rosario, Argentina. He has been out 6 months. The most exciting day was when I came home a few Sunday's ago and found an email from a couple from Arizona who had spent the morning with my son. It was neat to know someone actually saw him and I knew he was doing great!

I asked the Elders when the last time they sent a picture home, and the answer was about 6 months!! So......Attached is a picture of the 4 Elders I enjoyed talking to for a while and then the church building they go to (its 2 years old and probably one of the nicest buildings in the area), and then the inside chapel. Thought you'd like to see a few things (my son only sends pictures occassionally- so I understand!!). I think I learned more about the area my son is in from the people from Arizona than from my son!!
In the picture of the Elders-
From left to right- Elder Sanchez (Mexico), (your sweet Elder), Elder Mikami (Utah) and Elder Pierce (Utach) !!

He said to tell you ......Happy Easter!!

Our family wishes you a happy Easter too! (We are from just south of Springfield, MO between Ozark and Branson, MO).

Tricia and Dan Derges

i dont know what happened but all of the missionaries had their emails returned. i hope this gets to you. i tried to send last weeks again. how long has it been since you have received an email from me? i dont want to have to wait for 2 months to find out the news through snail mail!im sorry that we havnt been able to communicate very weel. ive been getting your emails.
you can totaly bee ready for peaks to portland. just swim hard to make up for me not swiming. i dont even realy get wet, i shower out of a bucket. good luck with the shoulder.
this week is the semana santa, so all the calthics (mexico) are going to places where they can worship the virgin of talpa better. so we might not teach very much.
we played socar with the other missionaries at the church today. gringos contra mexicanos. i scored twice and we won. then they wanted to play footbal americano and i played with the mexicanos, and we lost bad. i dont have a clue how to play that game. its a doumb game anyway.
things are going well. we should have 2 baptism this saturday. we have alot of people with baptismal dates. we had 8 until one of them moved to baja california. my spanish is comming. i can teach fairly well but i dont have the vocabulary for much else.
elder sanchez had been telling me about mexican history, the aztecs and such, and how he thinks it lines up with the book of mormon. mexico is so cool.
is there any way you could get me american stamps? there is no way for me to get any here.
i love reading the scriptures as much as i do. i wish i had started studying like this sooner. the topical guide is incredible. do you know how th church put that together? well i hope you get this, but i should run. love you mom. ben