Week 7 birthday

I was excited to hear that dad and Seth had the chance to go out and invite people to church with the missionaries. I am glad that Seth was able to go with one of the elders, who were able to give him some advice about serving a mission. I am excited to hear where Seth is going to be serving even though it is a little while away.  I was glad that joshua wanted to share one of my missionary experiences in primary. Joshua is a great example to me. Glad to hear that Jacob's basketball team is doing so well. 

Alright, everything has been going good here. My birthday was a little different, but still good. I really missed my seven layer chocolate cake, so if you wouldn't mind sending some that would be awesome. Haha! It was a really good day. My birthday was the same day as the ward Christmas party, so it was like my birthday party kind of. Lol It was exciting we didn't have ham or anything instead we had rice,and other things. It was great to be around members and investigators for the night so I wasn't by myself. Then after the party the youth and my companion and the sister missionaries had a cake for me and sang happy birthday in Spanish and English which was super cool of them!

So the members here are super cool and friendly. Every time we go to their casas they feed us a ton of food, so we usually don't eat dinner. 

We have a couple of investigators that are progressing. This week was a little slow. I guess probably because I am new and everything. During the lessons all I really do is bear my testimony, because I really can't communicate that well. I am understanding what they are saying for the most part just hard to respond. We had the chance to go sing in the plaza again and were able to get some contacts that way. Then afterwards we went to a hamburger and hotdog resturant it was nice to eat some American food again.

Today was P-day, so I did my laundry.  You have to rent a washer here to wash your clothes, you have it for a couple of hours. We have to carry it up three flights of stairs and then back down. It is good exercise. After we did our laundry we went on a hike up this mountain close to town. When we reached the top it had a cross on it. The view of the city was super cool. After our hike we went and bought a few groceries like cereal, eggs and milk. Yes I said milk! I am so glad I found milk!

I will hopefully get my packages tomorrow at our Christmas devotional.

Let me tell you a little about my apartment. It is on the fourth floor do we get our exercise. It is a three bedroom. The kitchen and bathroom are small. 

The ward here is pretty big about the size of a normal ward, but not the size of Chico 2nd ward. The people in the ward are super nice! It is just hard to communicate because of the language barrier.

Have a Feliz navidad everyone. I love you all so much! Keep up the great missionary work you will bless many lives and also your own. Thanks for all the love and support and everything else. You guys mean the world to me! Remember the best gift the world has received i Jesus Christ our Savior. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas week. 

With Love, Elder Strong