Pecos week 19

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

Thanks for the birthday presents! You know I do love cookies and you guessed right on the movie I was hoping for. Saturday afternoon we were waiting around for a little while and no lunch showed up. We made our own lunch and right when we finished eating at 12:40 we got a delivery of some ribs, pulled pork, green beans, macaroni, pudding, and a cake. There was only one thing to do in a situation like that. We had to have a 2nd lunch right there. I was so full. For the first couple hours after lunch while we were walking and biking around I just felt like I was going to burst. Totally worth it. We still have leftovers for lunch today too.

Birthday sweater. Tell grandmas and grandpas thank you for their presents this week. It was a great birthday.

We got fancy this week and broke out the panini press. Every time I have sandwiches on that thing I feel either like a prep or a hipster. But they taste good, so I will continue to make them.

This week we had some great progress with Hayden finally! We were actually able to meet up with him 3 times this week, which helped so much. He has been going through a couple big trials in his life lately, and that has helped to humble him a little bit and help him really want to make a change. We committed him to living the word of wisdom and he gave us his chew to take with us. Then yesterday we committed him to baptism for the 11th of April. He is still yet to come to church. He was going to yesterday, but Satan as usual didn't. His dog got sprayed by a skunk and he spent the whole morning cleaning up the dog and house from that. Hayden needs prayers to come to church!

We also taught Gilberto and Petra the word of wisdom this week. Gilberto drinks coffee and when I asked him to give it up he said, "If I stop drinking coffee every morning I'm going to die!" He committed though. So did Petra to not drink tea. They're 80, so the other things aren't really an issue for them. Unfortunately they split for Mexico this weekend so no church for them either! We did have a couple lessons with members this week which helped them. Ah! They're so close. They just need to get to church.

This week Elder Larkin and I were able to help Cesar build a trampoline, and then afterwards we both did a backflip on it to break it in. Sam has been out of town, but we should be seeing him tonight. Cesar sounds like he is afraid to make a change in his life right now. He told us how he is basically "happy where he is."

All the drainage systems in West Texas cities are non existent. 20 seconds of rain will leave puddles in the road for days.

These first pictures this week are from a skate park we found here in town. We biked around on it for like 5-10 minutes. It was a nice way to relax for a couple minutes and have a little fun.

 This morning we made a stop at DQ for FREE CONE DAY! When we came in they told us the catch though. Apparently you have to make a donation to some children's fund in order to get a cone. Well, we couldn't walk out and look like jerks, so we made a donation equal to the price of a regular cone. I guess it wasn't free after all...

Danny and Jessica were both at church on Sunday. The bad news is that the child support guys are dragging their feet on Danny's divorce, so it appears it will take longer than we originally expected. He got pretty discouraged by that. He was saying how he quit smoking, he quit drinking coffee, he is now reading and praying every day, and yet this divorce is still holding him back? Pray that both him and Jessica will still stay animated and positive about the whole thing. They love the gospel, but they're being put to the test on their patience right now. Yes, dad. I want to see all these people get baptized before I leave Pecos too. That's the dream. We're working hard, and so keep praying hard for us too.

I love you mom! I love you dad! I love you Meagan! I love you Courtney!