11-2-13

Hey Mom,

How is everything going? Things are good here. It has actually been a really quiet week. With it being the first of November it’s a pretty big holiday. We even saw some people doing Halloween stuff too so that was funny. Yesterday was Day of the Saints here, or as the Day of the Dead it’s a little better known. Apparently the tradition is to go and visit your dead ancestors and then eat the dreaded fiambre. I don’t know if you guys remember but last year it was the same, it's this really...interesting dish they love here and they only eat it on this one day. Last year it was pretty gross, but this year it honestly wasn’t too bad. We went with some members here in our ward with the other two secretaries also, so that helped. I honestly have never eaten anything similar to fiambre so it’s a little hard to explain it. It’s this cold mixture of beans, meats, cheese, mini corns (like from Big) and broccoli like food items. Then they bathe it in vinegar and you eat it. I was seriously stressing it though this year because I had remembered that last year it wasn’t exactly the best thing I had eaten in my mission. Then they put the plate in front of us and seriously I was getting a not-so-pleasant smell. I thought someone had stepped in dog poo or something, and then I realized that odor was coming from a piece of cheese and a giant sardine head staring at me from my plate. I'll be honest I had to pull a little napkin maneuver to get that sardine head out of there. There was no way I could eat that. But other than that I got the rest down and it wasn’t as painful as I had prepared for.

This week was a little slow though honestly. People here take their holidays very seriously; needless to say we spent a good amount of time just out walking around trying to find anyone to talk to. It’s hard when members aren’t even home and we cant even go around and look for some references. I found out who my replacement is going to be, its Elder Funk. Ha-ha. Poor kid is going to be here in the office forever. He will probably do an amazing job though, he is really really good at what he does now. I don’t think we will have any changes or get a new comp or anything until I am done, since he can train his replacement when I leave since he will still be here in the office anyways. It will be a little crazy with the changes and all though. Not this coming Tuesday the mission will have changes, and then we will have a four-week change, and then that’s it. Can’t believe I am almost done. Its kind of sad and a strange feeling. Everything is really normal and easy now here and I think it will be really bittersweet to have to leave. It’s a mixed emotions kind of thing I guess. I think it is a worldwide thing they are doing though having the changes like this. My friends that I knew in the MTC and stuff said the their missions are doing the exact same thing. 

Something else that was really funny this week that happened. On Monday I had to go and make some deposits at the bank, and my companion was pretty busy so I walked over to the bank with one of the APs and we were there standing in line. Just to explain in this country banks get robbed a lot so they have tons of crazy security. When you walk in you walk past shotgun guards and then through a metal detector and you are not allowed to talk on or use your telephone at all while your there because they think you are setting up robberies outside. So everyone just stands there really awkwardly and silently. We walked in and we had been in line for about fifteen minutes and all the sudden this little old lady with huge grandma sunglasses walks in. Like the grandma glasses that look like giant black goggles. But she walks in, walks through the metal detector and yells, ¨Good morning everyone, how is your day going?!¨, and then she continues on, walks and cuts passed everyone in the line, walks up to the teller who is already helping someone, and steps in front of the person being helped. She digs in her bag, pulls out some money in a bag, throws it over the counter and yells again at the guy telling him to deposit it in her account. Then she turns around, walks back around like she is going to walk out, and she sees the Elder that I was with. She walks right up to him, stops, yells ¨Hey good looking, how are you doing today?¨ and then keeps going and walks out. The Elder turned bright red and was just kind of standing there like...did that just happen? I lost it. I was laughing so hard. I could not hold it in, seriously couldn’t believe this crazy little old lady. Totally owns that bank. That was the highlight of my week though. I love you guys. I miss you all and hope all is well. Have a great week and I'll talk to you next Saturday.

Adam