12 Feb 2001 [ed. note: Nick is still writing the wrong month down.]

Dear Family,

Hey! Shouts out to the my crew in Southtown, Cali; aww, hoobustank? :P

Things are going pretty well out here - Wednesday we had a big zone conference (6 zones) in Valencia - the big deal was that a missionary couple from the Caracas mission who do medical stuff came, so I guess President wanted us all to hear them speak. It was cool. I saw Elder Stanger and Elder Norton, but Elder Painter saw all but one Elder from his group. I always like Zone Conferences, but during this one those of my ward Las Delicias were all anxious because that same night we were planning on putting on a missionary activity for the ward and we couldn't get there late. Well, we left the chapel on time but were hung up in "Los Angeles I-5 6:00 p.m. traffic" because in Ciudad Alianza they were burning, like, everything (the hills, the brush, etc.) So instead of showing up at the chapel right on time at 6:30 we showed up at 7:30, and much to our surprise the activity was going on! So we ran inside and were able to finish up in style. In fact, we had some big time action, too - in the middle of one of the skits, Elder Gleed took out a chunk of a member's eyebrow and brow with the quick swipe of a machete. The blood was quickly stopped and he (David) got 2 stitches.

The other interesting thing that happened this week was today, the autopsy. There's a member in the other ward who is a native but works for the FBI, who was able to give us a "tour" of a few things. We spent the day pretending that we were FBI agents, so it was kind of fun. We met at the [meeting place] at 8:00 a.m. this morning to be picked up by the brother in a big van, who took us first to a police station and then to the morgue, where they do the autopsies. Since there were 8 of us they sent in 4 first and then we followed, about 5 minutes later. When it was our turn, we made our way into a warehouse type room, where we saw about 8 or 9 bodies of victims of accidents or crimes, and 2 doctors, each operating on a body. The first one I saw them operate on was the victim of a hit and run who, after being shot in the head point blank while driving, got in an accident. The other patient was a 6 year old little boy who died, they found out, by choking on a water balloon. It made me feel better thinking that he's headed straight for the celestial kingdom. But anyways, it was quite an experience, seeing them cut the bodies open, etc. The sight didn't really affect me, didn't really gross me out too bad, but apparently the odor got to me after about 7 minutes because all of a sudden I started getting all woozy and tunnel vision like I was donating a lot of blood. I made sure to tell those who were standing around me because I didn't know what was happening, and the next thing I remember, I was dreaming, and then I opened my eyes (without remembering closing them) and saw everybody - sideways? It took me a moment to realize that I had fainted and was laying on the floor in another room. I stood up and made my way to another room with desks just to find the zone leader Elder Shaw with his head in his arms on the table. Apparently I wasn't the only one to handle it bad, but he didn't faint. I was the only one. Wow . . . :P Thanks to my large comp and another Elder, Elder Clark, I didn't hit the ground either. Apparently they caught me in time.

Well, after the morgue they took us to the Police Station again and gave us a tour again, where they fed us and then they took us home. Other than that, everything's going great.

Jennifer tells me that mom's writing her, and it's interesting because ever since the first letter she's said that she immediately found a very special love for her, judging by the way that Mom writes and expresses her personality. She says that she already loves her very much already.

Well, gotta split. I love you all so much! Till next week.

Elder "Faint" Onken