5 Feb. 2001 [Ed. note: this letter should be dated March 5, 2001]

Dear Family,

Well how's everything doing for you guys? It's alright out here right now - it's 1:00 p.m. and I'm just finishing up doing chores. I'm usually done by 9:30, 10:00 a.m. and what makes it especially cheap is that we're cutting short our P-Day today for this week because we have some rehearsal for an activity we're putting on for the ward, so I only have 3 hours before we're supposed to be in the chapel. Of course I'm willing to sacrifice some of my P-Day to "further the work," but I don't think some people realize just how precious P-Days are. Personally, I like waking up on time at 6:30, leaving the house at 7:30, getting both the laundry done and shopping done in 1-1/2 hours, then come home well before noon and then just lounge around the house in shorts. It seems that whenever I lounge, the day goes by slower - and thus, a longer P-Day :) But next week we all have a sweet activity planned for the elders in my district, so I'll tell you about that next week.

The beginning of this week marked the end of Carnaval, and our "Samuel the Lamanite" week. It went pretty well, too - many [water balloons] were thrown, but few hit their mark. Well none that is, until I asked for it. Tuesday afternoon we went to visit a member who lives halfway up this one long street, and on the way to her house we had to pass by a gang of 5 or 7 muchachos, each with about 4 waterballoons in hand. So of course we expected them to throw some balloons, and they did, but none hit us. Well, after the short visit with the sister we of course had to pass by those same kids again, who were again going to try and hit us. Well, a short distance past them I saw a balloon explode on the ground to my left, and I turned around and saw 3 more air-borne balloons, none of which hit their mark but nailed the ground, 2 of them bursting but the other just rolled down the street - too good to pass up! So I sprinted for the balloon, and at the same time saw one of the kids running for it too, but he realized that I would get to it first so started running. I grabbed the balloon and threw it at the kid, who dodged away at the last second. He was only like 10, 8 feet away and had a balloon in his hand so I started running at him, hoping to be able to wrestle the balloon away from him but halfway there I suddenly see 3 of his friends emerge from the background, each with balloons in their hands. I knew I was dead, and I was. I got nailed right in the forehaed, the chest, the shoulder - soaked. So I look back to my companion for back-up, you know . . . but there he is, about 20 feet behind me, holding his belly and laughing his head off. Needless to say I made a hasty retreat amidst a hail of water balloons. Wow, thanks comp . . . :P

This past week has been kind of tough, as far as the work is concerned. We spent the week scrambling for charlas and contacts, teaching for the week 19 charlas and making 54 contacts. Short of our rules . . . :( But in the process we did set a baptism date with 2 people this week - Jose Roa and his son, Jose Roa :) Jose (senior) is a mechanic and substitute pastor for his (former) church, the Pentecostal. His son is a good guy of 19 years, and says that if he gets baptized he wants to be a missionary. We found them because one day we were looking around for an address we had received from a contact and we saw a bunch of kids playing around in front of a house, so we walked over and asked them. They were debating a little so one went into the house to ask their father, Jose. Well, he didn't know but came to the window to look at the gringos. We decided to take advantage so we introduced ourselves and asked if we could share a charla with him. He obliged, and we sat outside on the street in the shade of a mango tree and shared the first charla. Being that he is a pastor it took awhile, what with his questions, but we assured him that if he read 3 Nephi 11 and prayed about it, he'd receive an answer. Well, 2 visits later he told us that he knew that the Book of Mormon was the word of God, so we shared the 2d charla and asked him to be baptized the 17th of March, which turns out to be his birthday. We then invited his son, who with a smile agreed. We shared the 3rd charla (the restoration of the gospel) and, despite the presence of his bible-bashing pastor declaring that our church is false, the Spirit was strong (as soon as his friend, the pastor left) and at the end of the charla he said that this had to be the only true church of Jesus Christ.

I love being a missionary! I love reading so often in the Book of Mormon, testifying many times daily of Joseph Smith, constantly praying to my Father in Heaven, feeling the Spirit so strongly so often - how I've been blessed!

I have no doubt that the things that I'm teaching are true, because God told me that they are. And he tells those of whom I teach too, when they pray with sincerity and faith.

Lacking wisdom? Ask of God. (James 1:5)

I love you!

Nick P.S. Who's the ward mission leader?