26 Junio 2001

Dear Family,

Well, right now it's 6:32 am Tuesday morning and I'm already fully dressed and writing to you. I wasn't able to write yesterday because we went to Colonia Tovar again (3X) which always takes the entire day, so now I have half an hour to write all my letters. So, I'll just write this one.

This week's been really different (Mom already knows, apparently) but first let me respond to letters. Interviews with President are always great. We have interviews tomorrow, too. The baptism of the flia Pernia went well, too. Except for the fact that hardly anyone showed up and when I went to go baptize the Dad (he's a huge guy) I slipped and fell in! Well, enough of that story. The Coffee Bean? What's that? I assume they serve coffee there . . . does Chelsea serve coffee there? DRUG DEALER! :P By the sound of it, the Elders in the Agoura Ward sure spend a lot of time at our place. Tell those that are there when I get back that I want to do splits with them. I hope that these Elders have asked you for REFERENCES and that you're preparing a family! The thumb is better, all healed up. Didn't even get infected (thank you, BSA) but there's definitely a divit in my thumb. Can't wait for the 1st Ressurrection! And the back fungus wasn't even a fungus, just scaly skin. We know because Elder Hughes went to the hospital to go check it out and she said that it wasn't. But mine's been gone for a long time now. My face? Actually, not doing too bad at all, at the present moment. I do go through waves of good face/bad face, as usual. But I really do have a bad mustache stain! As for weight, I've stayed just the same. I'm sure I'm losing muscle and compensating in gaining lots of fat! I've got a roll that's finished right now (film) and I'll send it off next week. Same height, too. I think, I dunno! The President didn't transfer me because he knew about my trip that I was going to do last week and he wanted to keep me close to Valencia. The most recent letter received - this one is dated the 8th of June. The chicha challenge - this will explain the lovely picture of Elder Painter. You see, me and Elders Hughes and Painter promised one day that if we didn't have the 5th charla memorized by that night (we had been on this charla forever), we would have to down 2 liters of chicha, a rice based sweet drink they have here. So come nighttime none of us had it memorized. So Elder Painter made up a batch of chica and proceeded to drink it. After 1/2 liter the pain is so unpleasant one can only hope to throw up. I was especially in bad shape when it was my turn - it was probably 80 degrees that night and while the other Elders were watching I had a blanket around me and was freezing. I've never felt so bad, plus my body would not throw up! I ended up drinking 2-1/2 liters just to make myself expel it - more than Elder Hughes, Elder Painter, and even Elder Christopher (who did it for fun) drank. But it was amazing - after having puked up all the chica I felt fantastic! It was so weird. And not just because I felt sick beforehand. I really felt good! So that pic is of Elder Painter doing the chicha challenge. In fact, the Elders in the apartment were so impressed with my chicha capacity that they thought that I could do the milk "Gallon Challenge!" Ask anyone from UT what it is (I just learned about it, too). Quite flattering, to tell you the truth. I really like being in an area for this long. After a while you really get attached. Elder Hughes . . . let me explain him (if possible). He's from Mission Viejo and studied at BYU. He's nuts . . . the ward called him "El Loco," so any letters received by him take no heed :P It was his idea, the chicha challenge. What am I eating these days? Just what the members give us - always (1) rice and chicken or (2) pasta with cheese and meat. ALWAYS. And as for what I buy myself - hot dogs (chicken), buns, ketchup, sweet pickles (there is no pickle relish), mayo, and onions. That's it. The Elders all think I must have a stomach shaped like a hot dog. I average about 2 hot dogs a day. You can send me candy bars and no bake pie mix. And maybe one of those space pens, too. Really handy :) The didj is great. The beeswax too is working great. Billy is still coming to church, and after getting him a B of M in papiomentu and french we're finally able to get him a haitian B of M, thanks to the Elders on Curacao. We're not able to progress with him because he doesn't understand the B of M yet.

Well, I"m already way past my time limit so I"m ending here. Hope you can read the letter! Next week I'll talk about Curacao. It was rad.

Love,

Elder Onken