Letter to Fam - 16 Feb 2010

I'm still alive! I'm replying to the letter Mom sent with the pictures from Amellia and Liberty, random, but fun to see! :) And also the letter I got from Dad, April, and Alana. I received Mom's a couple days ago and received the other one today (Thurs. Feb 16, 2010). I can't believe it's been 3 weeks. Well... I kind of can. This first 3 week period was hard, but they it goes by faster, especially these middle 3 weeks. So I'm not too worried. I am learning the language and still thankful for your prayers. I always feel like I'm not learning, but when I look back I see that I am. Elder Nielson is a good companion, he's from Idaho. We got 2 Latino roommates today. It was just us in our rooms for the first 3 weeks. The group of Americans that were here 9 weeks left a couple days ago and all the Latinos. The new Latinos arrived today along with the new group of North Americans. They seem pretty nice, and our district is no longer the "greenie" district. I'm glad to hear the reading and praying is going well. I've never prayed or read more scriptures ever! But I've never felt the Spirit so much either. The Spirit keeps helping us get through the days. We all struggle, we couldn't do this without help from above. I had one of the best Sundays I've ever had in my life, just this last one. I've felt the Spirit so much. I've never felt closer to the Savior ever before. There was sort of an underlying message about the Atonement throughout the entire day. Lessons on obedience and choice and on pride, and we watched a devotional by Elder Holland about the Atonement and it's importance to missionary work, and right after we watched "The Lamb of God" video. I was hit so hard, it was incredible. I felt like I knew the Savior so sell, and He knew me. I've been proseliting twice now, for 2 hours each, it's been interesting, good learning experiences. This last time we were teaching 2 younger teens and we felt like it was going really well, and we really wanted to give them a Book of Mormon, but they had to catch their bus. It was sad, but we learned we need to cut to the chase. Good experience though. This Saturday, we get to proselite for 7 hours! It's gonna be intense, but I'm sure it will be a good learning experience as well. I am short a garment top though, don't know how I left it, I'm doing fine without it, there's still a lot of things left in my luggage I probably won't use till I get in the field. So you can wait to send it. I've seen some envelope packages, but no boxes. I have had a sweet tooth though... Hint! Hint! :) Anyhow. We're only allowed to take pictures every 3 weeks. So I guess if you want to send another card, I'll fill up the one I have and send it back and after you get the pictures you can send it back and we'll just switch between the 2 cards... I think that will work best. Thanks for your stories. They really help. Thanks for the 17 points too, looks interesting. Tell April to not play so much X-box! Can't believe she's already finished with Kung-Fu Panda. Tell Alana I liked her picture. Tell Daniel congrats on Sweethearts, and I hope his play's going well. Still curious about Andra's "Boyfriend" too! And tell Lucky I miss him :) Same with Ariel & Mick. But I'm learning and I have fun most of the time:) ha! ha! It will get better though. I love you ALL SO MUCH! --Elder Michael Hancock