Week 82 - The New Chapel

Hellooooooooooo!

Well, this week hasn't been too eventful, but it has been a good week! We had exchanges on Wednesday, which went pretty well. I was over in Elder Bank's area for the day, and we were able to go and teach a few people, as well as do some good finding. Elder Banks and I came out together, so it's been interesting. When everyone talkes about how old he is (Mission-wise), I join in and throw in my opinion. And then everyone says, "Hey! But you're the same age as him!" It's been fun.

Wow, sounds like a busy week! And sounds like things are going to get busier still! I'm excited to hear you, Kaytlin, and Kristin playing the piano, trombone, and clarinet! And has Justin heard back from any other schools yet? How are his finals going? How are the preparations for Christmas going? How's Ryan been doing? Is he using his walker?

Thanks for all the Christmas wishes and things! It's weird to think that this is already my last Christmas in the mission...time goes by too fast.

We started at the new chapel this past week. It's VERY new!! It's raised up, so they can't put a baptismal font in it, but everything looks great! I don't even know where to start, but I'll try to take some pictures when we're over there for our district activity. The library has...drum roll...plasma-screen TVs! I've never seen those in any other building! There's a wood-floor gym in the middle, and I've heard that it looks almost exactly like the church buildings in Colombia or Venezuela. I guess we have another taste of the Southern America culture here now, and it's great!

Interviews with President Saylin went well. It was good to just talk to him, especially about studies. I got the chance to talk to him about the Atonement, and as we talked, he's given me some good things to study and think about. Studies have been very cool and very fun - They're the best when I'm really trying to feast on the scriptures, not just 'nibble at the appetizers' like President has talked about sometimes.

I'm trying to think what else has happened, but I think that's the most of it. It's been a good week. I was talking to Elder Lyman about this a little earlier, but it's really cool to be serving among the Lamanites here.

OH! So, this past Tuesday, we had a pretty cool lesson with Walter Cuc. We had studied the Mighty Change of Heart in the scriptures for two days after he asked about it, and then when we went to teach, we just basically had a study session. And his cousin from Guatamala called and took a big part in the study, even saying the closing prayer, all the way from Guatamala! It was really fun, and I learned a lot from it.

Well, that about does it! I'm looking forward to talking to you soon! I hope that finals go well, and that everything slows down a little bit after the holidays!

Con mucho amor,
A infinidad - y mas alla!

Elder Collins