WAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I got the letter!

On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 3:50 AM, wrote:
Hola! Elder Hancock!

So, you have a new mission president? Have you met him yet? Is there going to be a gathering of all the missionaries to meet thenew mission president?

I'm really worried you have not received my letter with the camera card in it yet! And even more worried you haven't gotten anything for a couple of weeks. We have been sending letters. Both pouch and with the other address: 1167 Enrique Martinez, Montevideo, Uruguay, C.P. 11.800 I have a package ready to send, make sure I'll be sending it to the right address. I'm going to send it in a box this time and hopefully you will get it. Has your companion been getting letters? He obviously got a birthday package!!!! We did get your letter with the card in it. I will send the card back in the package. It will be in the envelope with the letter and pictures.

So how did you see Spiderman in Uruguay? Wow! He really gets around! Daniel is in New York right now. Actually we pick him up from the airport tomorrow night. He saw Spiderman twice out there in New York. Was it some kind of promotion going on?

We really enjoyed your pictures and movie clips. Good job on the applesauce! I'm so proud! The shake looked like it was going to be good too! What are the things you put in the shakes... I forgot what they are called... some kind of cookie?

You look good in your photos! The fort place looked neat! The blister looked sad! Was that from when you had to take your socks off? Ouch!!!!

Sounds like things are progressing. What a rough week you had with the poor souls who wanted to end their lives. Have you heard from any of them? Are they doing any better. (Well, I guess one of them did die)... It is just sad some people get to the point that they don't want to live anymore. It makes me appreciate my own life, and makes me want to make the most of every minute I have here on earth. We should be grateful for the opportunities and experiences we are given, even if they are hard. We can learn from the experience and grow.

You will be proud of us. We are reading the scriptures every morning. (It is easier now that school is out).

The weather is being wacky again. It has only been in the 50s this week. Cold and wet. Ugh!!!! But all is going well here. We think of you all the time. We have not forgotten our missionary!!!!!! We love you and look forward to your letters and emails. Hopefully, you will start getting the ones we are sending to you!

Oh, by the way, Kirsten Ivins wedding was Thursday. It was nice. She is happy. There was a picture in her slide show of you! It must have been one from Center Stage... she was helping you with stage makeup. :) Fun to see! So, in essence, you were there at her reception too! :)

Have a great week!
Love,
Mom
----------------

Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:29:33 -0300

WAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I got the letter from you with the card tuesday!!!! finally!!! I don´t know why it took so long, So I´m content now! Missionaries really do live on letters! My camera couldn´t read the pics though.... actually! on this computer I´m using right now It read two of them. . . huh. Anyways, ya that´s the right address! Elder Roney has gotten a bunch of letters recently because of his birthday, but he tells me he´s had dry spells without letters, his sister is actually leaving for her mission this Wednesday! for Guatemala! She´ll get back from her mission over a month before I do! Loco!
We haven´t met the new pres yet, he gets here the first of July, we have our last zone conference with Pres Petersen this week, and then the one after will be with the new pres.
It was just some random guy trying to make some money taking photos with SpiderMan, I haven´t seen him since :( But I have attached a couple photos to this email! The first is us having some lunch with a member! Maria! she´s the one in the middle, her friend is on the side! She actually started smoking while we were there! We were just kind of shocked! It´s quite a punch in the gut when converts start reverting back to old ways. But we´ve been talking with her. There´s a picture of me holding a goats head..... ya.... don´t really know how to explain that one... it was just in the middle of the road one day along with some of its hooves and a bag of chicken heads and feet! Exciting!!! Things like this just aren´t that wierd anymore though... Uruguay is just a wierd place! Then we took some pictures on some giant chairs that are out in the front of another mall, it actually used to be a prison that the current president of Uruguay escaped from when he was younger.... ya! I used my debit card for the second time today by the way, I try not to use it, but I decided to get an official Uruguay World Cup jersey before the World Cup is over :) Are you watching by the way! It´s everywhere down here!!! It´s all everyone talks about! Especially when Uruguay plays! We could not get in anywhere and the city was a ghost town when Uruguay played!!! They go crazy for soccer down here!
You´ll have to get Daniel to send me some pics!!! And tell him I saw Spiderman too! ha!
Alfahores! That´s what they´re called. I´ve heard there are some Mexican stores down there, some in Provo, that you can get some and other stuff. Alfahores are so good though!!! Glad you liked the pics! The blister was a pain! it was huge! and I´ve had about 5 others that were basically apendages of the same one... it´s all good now, but it was no fun when I had them.
The one lady that ate the rat poison is fine, we saw here at the member´s house the other day, but I think she has mental problems naturally... so I don´t really know all that was going on, but she´s good now. It is sad though.... we teach that pretty much every day, I think the question we get more than any other, by a long shot, is "Why do bad things happen?" or some form of that question.... it´s actually not the funnest to answer, because we really don´t know all the reasons.... but the people need to just realize they´re not the only ones who suffer... everyone has their problems.
I´m glad to hear the scriptures are going well! make sure you start it with a prayer! that´s one thing I´ve learned, if you ask to find something new before hand, you always do! I´ve never loved studdying the scrips more! I´ve been studdying the Atonement and testimonies recently in my personal study, and I´m actually gonna send you some references in the future with a fun FHE idea... We´ve also been listening to a buch of talks for some of our companion study time! I had an experience with one the other day, we were listening to a talk about teaching with the Spirit and listening to the Spirit.. at one point the speaker said "you know how sometimes you start crying while reading the scriptures...?... that´s the Spirit talking to you." I´ve always known that... but I´ve never really heard it so bluntly and thought about it... especially here in the mission I´ve never been so focussed on trying to feel the Spirit and always wondering on if I´m actually feeling it... but I do get watery eyed quite often while reading the scrips... it just hit me... then he said "Every time that happens you should imediately get on your knees and thank God for that opportunity." I´d never really done that before! I felt something right then so I decided to do what he said almost hesitantly at first, but I knelt down right there in the kitchen and began to pray thanking God for that opportunity.. and imediately I felt the greatest feeling come over me... my head was all warm.. and I just felt good... cried a little more... I just knew God was saying... it is the Spirit, you do feel it... awesome experience... I seem to get a few experiences like that everyonce and awhile out here.. it´s really a great opportunity... it´s stupid sometimes, and it´s not easy! not at all out here! but I´ve never felt closer to God... and that´s probably why... because it´s difficult. Anyways... I also heard in a talk from Elder Bednar, you don´t need to worry about if it´s the Spirit or your own feelings, just be good and do what your supposed to and you´ll know.
Anyways, that´s long enough for now... keep up the reading and everything! Send me more pics :) and keep writin!
Love ya all tons!!! Talk to ya later!