things are great here. my companion and i get along great. we like alot of the same music, even though he dosnt understand the words, he runs in the mornings and we work hard together. ill send a picture of us. tell joan to feed the missionaries. how are her girls? they all look bigger in the picture. the house looks like its making progress as well. that is exciting. the work is going well. two of our coolest families that we want to baptise didnt come to church. it was disapointing. but a few other came. and two others we are going to baptise as soon as we can get them married. its realy hard to get people married here. in the states, a bishop can do it, but here, we need a birth certificate that has been printed within the last year, blood tests for all the kidsand a few other things.
one of my converts comes every other week because she has to work. the rest of them come fairly reguarly. hector is still coming. hes got a problem with depression. he told us that he used to cover it up with his alcohole and cigarets and drugs, but with out those things he feels depressed more. we are going to teach him about family history today, so that he has another hobby, and apostles have said that geneology helps us know who we are. so we think that will help him. my spanish is fine, i just cant speak when im even a little nervous, so i need to be very relaxed to be able to comunicate.
i wish i could have heard your talk. you should ask the bishop if you can talk my first week home so that i can hear you. hows sam? and val?
mom you should do an iron man with dan and me. our bishop is great. there was a problem withthe piping for months, and the first week with the new bishop, he gave us the keys we needed and the money to clean the systerna to fix everything. and he realy wants to help us out with alot of things. hes a good guy who want things to hapen.
love you mom. send some pictures of the family. bye
ben

its funny you should mention trees. a few weeks ago we went to the river to fish. (there was more trach then fish) but we took a picture with all of us in a tree. and we have videos of both the sister missionaries falling out of them. they didnt get hurt but the videos are funny. one of the sisters was a championship swimmer. she went to el salvador for a latin american championship. she was a butterflyer. she told me times in meters but that didnt mean much to me and i forgot what they were. she gained 13 kilos since shes been here.
we went to a beach today. we were suposed to meet up with another zone and play socar on the beach, but the other zone bailed out at the last minute. and a few missionaries wanted to fish. a few of us played socar for 5 minutes until some of the elders got tired. i had my heart set on playing socar, but its ok. and it was fun en todos modos. and we saw some kids with a water polo ball. what a temptation. my new companion elder serrano is great. we get along well. hes the district leader. hes from mexico city and is a convert of 5 years. we are pretty similar and we work well together. hes a hard worker and good at planning. we taught the most i ever have before. 41 lessons! we baptised hector yesturday. that guy that couldnt stop smoking forever. it felt so good. hes realy heavy so it was hard to bring him back up out of the water. maybee thats why the recomend that missionaries work out.
maybee a good looking garden will make the house sell faster. who knows.
have you swam recently? im jealous.
we have an erea 70 comingfor a zone confrence soon.
i dont have any advice for your talk sorry. well thats about all the news that i have but

ill try to send pictures next week. this week we dont have much time to write. we have to run off to pick up my new companion. elder mikami left today and my new companion is soposed to be at the station in half an hour. ive heard nothing but good things about him. hes mexican and is a great miossionary i hear. my hair is still short. i cut it with a #4 buzer. its realy hot here and thats the best. ive cut my hair myself a few times. last time, the gaurd fell of the razor and i took a huge chunk out of my hair. today, on of the sisters that the other missionaries baptised, cut our hair for free today. shes studying to get her hair cuttin degree. the shoes that we baught at mens wearhous fell apart about a month an a half ago. the sole started falling off and getting dirt in. im usting my old dock martins. care package express is a good way to send packages. look for it online. alot of missionaries get packages that way.
it was so good to talk to you. it made me emotional also to talk to you. it just made me wish that i could talk a few days off and come visit. ill ask the president about when i can take my sabatical. we visited hector, that guy that backed out of his baptism 2 days ago. he said that he was afraid of falling again because he knew it would be worse to fall after the baptism. we are going to visit him every day untill saturday and we are going to baptise him this time.
well i have to go but i love you mom and dad and the rest of the family. elder lariviere

cinco de mayo isnt realy a big deal at all. its probibly bigger in the states. may 3rd, day of the holy cross, was bigger. there were fire works and stuff. but nothing today on the 5th.
i need to work on being a better people person also. my companion is the best people person i know and im worried for when he leaves, i wont know how to deal with stuff. hes almost deffinatly leaving this nex week. we havnt had alot of succes together, im not realy sure why, because we work hard and hes a great missionary, but thats how it goes. the one lady, fransisca probibly cant get baptised within this next week or two. she and her husband decided that they are going to try to work together and get along. and then thell get married. so it mught be a little while until we can baptise her. theve had relationship problems as long as theve known each other, but the gospel is changing them both. and hecter, an investigator who we droped because he couldnt stop smoking, went to the doctor and the doctor said that hes going to die of heart problems if he doesnt stop smoking. the last we heard, he hadnt smoked in a while and we should baptise him this saturday.
i forgot about the borrowing the car part of the story. a few times people have tried to say that the only reason im mormon is that my parents are. i like being able to say that you are converts and that i choose to follow your exaples, or at least try.
im glad to hear that you are trying to get maine swimming on saturdays. someday, youll have succes.
ill have to write val and see how shes doing.
oh next sunday we can talk! at 3 30 my time. we are going over to the house of some other missionaries that have a phone at their house. i tink that thats 4 30 your time. could you call me at 011 52 322 297 5890 ? well be their waiting. im excited.
life is good. im growing alot in alot of ways. my spanish is pasable as long as im not nervous, then it just falls apart.
how is sterling? i herd that he had back surgury coming up? im going to try to send a picture of two in a different email. love you. cant wait to talk to you. elder lariviere