Meeting, Greeting, and Baptism Chain Reaction...

Hello Family!

Time keeps flying by like crazy! August has been the fastest month yet! I can't believe that summer is just about already gone...not that I mind or anything. It's great to feel the temperature cooling. 

Seminary orientation....I hope it was the blast that it has the reputation of being. Who is Mollie's teacher? She never mentioned Seminary to me.  

We have geckos here too...Well, we have a bunch of different types of lizards here and they are everywhere. You constantly see them running across the pavement as you walk. Some of them get pretty big, but luckily we've only had couple of little geckos inside of the apartment. 

I hope you learn to like shopping, because you are taking me on a spree for normal clothes in less than a year and a half! I already can't wait....start saving now ;) 

Wait...I thought dad had a stainless steel fossil like the one you bought me. He showed it to me when we skyped on Mother's day.....Are you talking about my ceramic one? I didn't think he cared for that one too much. OOOOOOOHHHH! Just wait until I get back. Then you'll have me adding to the motorcycle fire. I think I've decided that I really want one when I get back. It may take a little while to actually get one though. Dad and I can take the licensing class together when I get back. You can come too if you want.

A guy here the other day was telling me about the mosquitoes when I said that I was from Texas and was mentioning how they started to spray for them. People are too lazy to do things for themselves. They just want someone else to spray the whole town, so they don't have to take the time and effort to just spray themselves.

The fish actually wasn't too bad. The type of fish was Brancin, which is sea bass. I saw it on a restaurant menu today for 200kn a kilo....so like $35 or something, so it's a pretty popular type here. We are grilling meat on Tuesday. I'm more excited about the meat than I was about the fish. He still keeps mentioning the snails and asking if we would eat them. We keep telling him yes, and he just laughs. I'm not sure how serious he is versus just looking for a reaction. 

Questions:

1.  How are you doing these days?

Pretty good. I'm staying healthy as far as I can tell, so yeah....all right. 

2.  How the heck did you eat those fish?   

Just a little at a time and don't look it in the eyes while you eat it.  

3.  Do you need any clothes items?

I don't think so.....If I did, I'm pretty sure I could get it here, but so far, so good. 

4.  Your shoes are looking hashed…are they still comfortable?-besides the issue with the insoles...

Oh yeah...the shoes are fine. Just the insoles are shot. And they don't even hurt yet, but I figured that since I'm half a planet away, it might be a good idea to fix a potential problem before it becomes a big problem. The shoes just looked dirty because we walk across gravel and dust here and it just sticks. But when I get around to polishing them up, they still look pretty good. The bottoms are getting a little smooth in some parts on my slip-ons, but that just means that I'm actually doing stuff....or walking around at least.

5.  Did you ever get another suit?

Not yet...... 

6.  Are you going to?

Eventually....when the other one completely wears out....I'm just biding my time. 

7.  How is the language coming along?     

UH.....some days are better than others. I gotta get going faster though, because I’m almost 1/3 the way done here, but my language is not 1/3 of the way  there. And yeah, Czech is crazy. They have tons of weird accented letters and it's pretty funky. It's cool though. The word for "hello" in Czech is "Ahoy", so they sound like a bunch of pirates. We were listening to something in Czech the other day and I could understand a little of it, but not too much. It's still pretty different. We had a polish guy at church and he said the prayer in priesthood. That was crazy. Polish sounds like someone took a Slavic language and sprinkled German into it. It was pretty crazy.  

8.  Favorite food to eat?

Eh, it depends on the day. We eat a lot of sandwiches (čajna kobasica is my favorite meat...it's just a salami type sausage) and Top Ramen....some things never change...But it's different here. It comes with soy sauce packets and chili powder and stuff. It's a little bit higher class 

9.  Are you guys actually cooking for your selves?

If we feel like it, but usually not too much because it's just a pain...Especially without a dishwasher. The fewer the dishes the better. 

10.  **Deleted**

11.  question deleted...

Answer deleted......   two can play that game..... 

12.  Have you had an individual interview with the mission pres. yet?  If so…how was it?  You don't mention him much.

Like 4 times. He was just here a week ago Sunday for interviews. They are fine. Pretty much just to see how everyone is doing and if we need help or have any concerns that he can help us with. It was cool. 

13.  Are you questioned out?  :)

Not yet, but one more ought to do it.... 

14.  Did you know your dad is HOT??

yup...that one did it....questioned out now.

I think the expression is "chalked full" but maybe not....Is there really official spelling for slang? I hope you enjoy the wedding. That sounds like it will be a trip.... literally....hahahahaha. If anyone who knows me asks about me, you have my permission to say that I send my greeting their way.....  

So just some news from over here for the week:

On Thursday we met some cool guys: We went to the big bridge that leads to the old town...center, to meet a man there. Well, he wasn't there, but a lady came up to us and asked if we knew Croatian. She said that there were a couple of guys that wanted to talk with us, and she pointed at them. They were guys that sell travel excursion tickets to tourists, so we went over to them and had a conversation for over an hour just answering all sorts of questions that they had. Mostly in English....turns out that they knew pretty good English. They were way cool (their names are R*** and I****) and they said that they had some preconceived notions and prejudices about us, (they thought we were like the Amish in the sense that we ostracize outsiders if they try and enter our "community" and the other guy just knew what he saw on "Big Love" and a little bit of research that he did as a result of curiosity from the show...nasty...) but they were able to resolve them through talking to us. They said that we could stop by and talk again whenever because they are always there. It's always nice when people think you're normal. So just a story where we were able to find people whom wanted to talk in a completely unexpected circumstance. It was pretty crazy. It definitely had a "we've been led" sort of feeling about it. 

So the next big thing, the sisters had a baptism on Sunday! It was for M******, President P's mother. It was pretty awesome. She was so excited and so was he. I asked him how he was feeling after the baptism, and he said that he was ''still shaking." His mom had been pretty hard-core in her religion and this is just such a huge thing for her. I asked President the other day if he would have ever imagined that he would baptize his mother into another faith that wasn't ***** and that afterwards they would be active in that faith. He said, "Nope. Never...never in a million years." It's pretty cool. It all started with a member here, D**** K*****. He's 23 and started learning from the missionaries when he was like 17 or 18. Well, he was never super interested at first, but he ended up going to Dixie state in St. George for college, and he got baptized while he was in America for college. Well, his mom found a copy of the Book of Mormon with his testimony in it, and that was the first she had heard about the church, but she really liked what she read, so she investigated and was baptized a few years ago (her name's S*****) So she told her daughter about it, and B***** was soon baptized. 2 years later, her husband, who is President P  was baptized, his 9 year old daughter was baptized, and now his mother a year later. And his 12-year-old sister is showing some interest now. It's so crazy how it spreads. And now, D*****, the guy that started it all is starting his mission papers. He was pretty dead set against it and everyone has been working to get him to go, and a few weeks ago, he surprised us all by saying that he was considering it, and now it's pretty much a sure thing. Elder M and I are going to start teaching him Mission Prep. We have the manuals and everything (they just got in from Zagreb on Friday). It really just goes to show that nobody is prepared for the gospel alone. There are always people around them, some just need a little more convincing to hop on and join the ride. 

So, this week was pretty good. We were also able to meet with M****, one of our investigators. He's really nice. He's 32 and had a rough past, but entered into a Catholic Zajednica (pretty much a little community that's kind of like a big group home) and he straightened things out. Well, now he's way good. He loves Christ and the Bible, but he feels like the Bible saved him and that the Bible is the foundation for his life. So when we introduced the Book of Mormon, he wasn't too thrilled.  We keep trying to convince him that Christ is his foundation. It's gonna be slow going, but he'll be fine. He asked us why we never use the Bible when we teach, even though we do.  He doesn't really believe us when we say we actually use it, so next time I'm going to show him my quad and prove that we use the bible and cross reference bible verses with Book of Mormon verses. It'll be good. It's just so hard to meet with him...for some reason. He doesn't have a job, so I'm not sure why....hmmmmm...it's a mystery. 

I think that's about it for this week. I hope all of you have a good week....Especially you, Mom! Have fun driving to and from Seminary! And Mollie, have fun at Seminary!  

Love you all a ton!

P.J.

An upcoming baptism and a LOT of walking!!

~Looking "Missionary Sharp!"  This sounds nutty, but it is still kind of surreal to see him dressed as a missionary!~

 ~That is fish and tomatoes he is eating cooked by his Landlord.  All of the landladies/landlords have fed him and his companions.  Testament of the kind and generous Croatian people!!~

Hello to the Family!

Guess what today is? Today is the one year anniversary since i opened my mission call to the Slovenia/Croatia Mission speaking Slovene for a period of 24 months! It's exciting to think that that was a year ago already....even though I'm now in The Adriatic North Mission (fun fact: if you put all of the missions in the world in alphabetical order, mine is first!) speaking Croatian for a period of 25 months. Just a word to the wise....don't trust the call letter :)!!!! This last year went by super fast. It feels like the time I waited to come out was longer than I've been on my mission so far, but I've been on my mission for 7 months, and i waited for only 5.

This last week went by so fast. The time is really starting to pick up. It's crazy. I can't believe that I've been in Zadar for over a month now and that this current transfer is just about half way done. It's just crazy. I cannot wait for summer to end though and to have people's schedules open up and have all of the tourists go home. Sometimes at night I dream about being cold outside....it might happen someday. It's already started cooling off a bit in the mornings. It's cool. Just one more summer to go on my mission!

And I'm not even going to say anything other than this about the nursery story, because that's just nasty.... It's so crazy that B**** is going off to BYU. It seems like I just left yesterday, but I got there over 2 years ago now. 

I can get the Dr. Scholl inserts here, I think. I just wanted to try Ecco...I'm not looking forward to breaking in new insoles...it's probably going to bite a lot. 

As many of the balloons as you could send. I bet that they would love them....maybe at least 5 or 6.  

I liked the picture about giving the guy a wookie better....sigh......

Sorry that you feel ripped off, but i remember seminary always starting on the same week as school, just a couple days behind so you could get a little adjusted first. Was there a three week gap last year?
 
So some exciting news: So we have a family in our branch....Well just the dad and a daughter. The dad was baptized about 4 years ago and the entire family was investigating.   Well, missionaries have been working with them for 4 years now.  Well the sister missionaries met with the mom this last week and had a good lesson with her...really good....and the end result was the mom agreeing to prepare for baptism on September 15 and allowing her 2 kids to prepare for baptism on the same day. This is so huge!  So we have one investigator with a baptismal date....And that's big because I think he will be the only deacon aged deacon in Croatia. It's going to be soooo cool. So we are starting to work more with him and just prepping him. Although he knows all the lesson backwards and forwards....He's the kid in the pictures in the tower...the one with the grey hair. I'm so excited. The kids are so excited too! And the dad was able to go to the Temple for the first time last week. The dad and one daughter both received Patriarchal Blessings,too. It's going to be so cool to see what happens for their family.

So that's our most exciting news for this week.

We keep on finding cool people throughout the week, but it's pretty difficult to get them to the investigator status because that includes meeting with them more than once, and that's just a minor issue right now. But it's all good. We'll get there. We have about 18 potential investigators that are all just waiting for another visit. So it will be way good when people start having time.

I'm doing well and i hope that you guys are as well. It's great out here in Zadar. I hope you're looking forward to visiting here when you come to pick me up. You'll enjoy it. And it will be winter, so there wont be tourists. I better get going. It was great hearing from you and i hope that you have great weeks! Enjoy the last little bit of sleep you'll get for a while!

Love,
P.J.

P.S.: Check out those insoles......

Teaching in Croatian, and the landlord wants to make them some interesting food...

Hello Everyone!  Dore here... This week's post will be another compilation of e-mails that he sent to various family members.  We tend to get a more detailed picture of his life when we read each other's e-mails!  Enjoy....

To his little sister:

Kaj ima? Kako ide? 

Guess what? That whole "One Direction" thing won’t be an issue by the time I get back. No one even knows about them here, and they wont be popular in a year and a half when I get back to America. So I think I'm okay.....

What the heck? Are they doing kickball now instead of softball? That sounds a lot better, but yeah, I would have skipped it too. (Mollie skipped Stake Kickball in order to go with us to Oklahoma for swimming and BBQ.  Plug here for Texas folks....BEST BBQ EVER in Sulphur, Oklahoma...Smokin' Joe's BBQ.  Mmmmmmmm!!!! :) )Barbecue sounds so good right now!  I wish I could go swimming. It would be so much fun. The ocean looks so nice all the time, but I can't go in. I'm getting kind of tan-ish though. I don't really look tan, but it's a lot whiter underneath my sleeves. But it's really bad because my dress shirt sleeves are longer than t-shirt sleeves, so whenever I wear t-shirts, it's a big farmers tan....around my neck because of the collar too.  And that's soo cool about the bald eagle. It's kind of one of my random/weird dreams to see a bald eagle in the wild. It would be so cool. I sound so white trash, but whatever. 

Good luck at the school orientation. Not to be a downer or anything, but those things are always awkward. I never liked them all that much because it means that school's about to start again. And school isn't too bad, but with school comes seminary...and waking up for class at 6 isn't too much fun. I don't even have to wake up before 6 as a missionary (6:30 on the dot), so just be glad that after senior year, you wont ever have to wake up that early again until you have kids. I'm excited to hear about your teachers and classes!

I got the post card sent off. I hope you like it! It's a pretty cool one. Maybe if I ever get time/money....doubtful that I’ll ever get both, I'll start collecting some to bring home. 

I don't think I have too many questions for you. When are you starting drivers ed? That will be weird to have you driving by the time I get home. It seems like it was just a couple of years ago that I started driving. It's weird to think of you as 15 and then think back to when I was 15 because it feels like it was just a little while ago. And for some reason, I still think of you as being 7....I don't know why. It's just the way it happens. Whenever I think about you I just picture an elementary schooler. It's weird that you're going to be starting your second year of high school. How is it having a cell phone? Do you still like it? It seems like you've only had it for a couple of weeks, because it doesn't seem like I've been gone all that long, but it's been over 7 months now (back on Saturday was my 7 month mark). Does it seem like it's been that long? It's even stranger that I have less than a year and a half left...weird. Some times it seems like I'll be here forever, but it's already flying by. Some say the second half is faster, some say slower. I'll find out in January. Guess what? We only have like 4 months until we get to talk on the phone again. Isn't that crazy? It'll be cool fosho! 

I think that's about it....nothing too exciting happened this week. Just the same stuff, just a different week. Our landlord found out that we've never had snails before and now he says that he's going to make us some. I'm scared. Even he says that they don't taste the best, but they are good for your health....wish me luck if he ever actually follows through with his threat!

I love you and hope you have a good week. Good luck with the yearbook pics and orientation!

S ljubavlju,

P.J.

To his Dad:

Hey!

I'm so jealous about the Oklahoma bbq. It sounds so good. I could go for some good beef or pork....just as long as it has bbq sauce. It sounds so good!  

That's cool about the mac. I want one when I go back, but I also want a phone, a motorcycle, and all sorts of stuff. It's going to be expensive. Being here has made me decide that it would be so awesome to have a bike. I really want an Aprillia. They are probably the coolest bikes ever. I see them all the time here and I already liked them before I got here, but now I want one for sure. 

I feel sorry for those guys at the Ford dealership. They didn't know what they were getting themselves into when they sold you that car. Most people have issues affording the car, but you know its trouble when the dealership can't afford you. That's good that it's all getting sorted out though. Let's hope that they get it right this time. 

This last week was pretty good. We were able to meet a few cool people and have lessons with them. No new investigators yet. But once we set up return appts. and go to them, we'll have them on our line ;). Church was a little crazy. Did I tell you that two Sundays ago I blessed the Sacrament for the first time in Croatian? I did it again yesterday. We have 4 priesthood holders in the branch....the branch president, me and Elder M****, and a man named L*******. So L******* usually passes....not sure why he passes and doesn't bless. I think he just likes passing. And then Elder M**** and I bless the sacrament. Well during sacrament, Ž******, the branch president, leaned over to me and Elder M***** and asked if we could talk about our experience and feelings from being in the temple, because it's Croatia temple week this week in Frankfurt, Germany, and members were going. So I got to do an impromptu little 5-7 minute talk about the temple. That was fun.....and the night before, Ž*****asked me to pick a topic for priesthood meeting and then we would just talk about it since it was most likely going to just be the three of us....so I picked a chapter out of the gospel principals book, it was Faith in Jesus Christ. So I didn't read the chapter or anything because I didn't think that I would need to....Well in priesthood we had an American guy from Las Vegas who was here on business, an old German man that barely speaks Croatian and speaks even less English, and L******* (the local member). Well we got into class and it ended up into me having the lesson.....So I got to teach an impromptu priesthood lesson....in Croatian. It was weird because 2 out of the 6 people in there had no idea what was going on, so every once in a while I would pause and summarize in English, but the poor German man was so lost. He would just point to scriptures about faith in his German scriptures and then I would try to explain to him that I already used those scriptures, but it went okay. 

I think other than that, this week has been pretty bland. I threw up last night while walking out to tracting....Well it was like 3 times. Once in the bushes, once in a dumpster, and once in the grass next to the road. And then I threw up once when we got back. It was nasty. I still feel a little off, but it's better now.  

I hope that all is good for you at home and at work. I hope that you have some safe travels. Guess what? Like 4 months until Christmas. I'm already excited. And another thing: I've been out for 2 days over 7 months now. And it's just about been a year since I got and opened my call. It seems like it's rushed past and it's all been a blur. The crazy part is that from August when I got my call, to January when I left, it felt like forever, but that was only 5 months, and so far I’ve been on my mission longer than that. It's so crazy how the perspective of time changes. Another weird part is that I have friends getting home from their missions starting in 4 months and Jake comes home in like 5....that's so strange to me. Soon it will be me....weird!

Well, I best be gettin' going. I still have to e-mail mom!

Love, 

P.J.

To his Mom:

Hey to the whole famn damily! ( I know I used it before, but I still find it funny)

That's so cool about Jesse (his cousin). I didn't know that he was thinking about enlisting. Good luck with the linguistics. Knock on wood, but I think the plan right now is that  Serbo-Croatian/Slovene (if I have to go back) will be the last language I ever learn. It's a pain to learn languages....unless it's Spanish  because then it's easy. I heard a rumor that most Spanish speaking missionaries in Spanish speaking countries are fluent by their year mark....must be freakin' nice ;).  I'll find a way to survive with just Croatian and English. 

That's so cool about Santa Barbara. It's just your favorite because you've never been over here. I'm still of the opinion that California is sorely over-rated.

And about the lady and the dog....We have no idea if she was telling the truth, so for the last week I went to sleep with a loaded rifle, just in case he started foaming and I had to take him out onto the back balcony and finish him "Ole Yeller" style...but luckily he never showed symptoms, so we hope he's okay. We think he is. I also tie him up during full moons now just in case....

The fish nugget....why not eat it if it tasted good? I think you have a fish phobia...speaking of fish: 

Our land lord asked us if we cooked fish and we said no we didn't because we didn't know where to get good ones and how to cook/clean them. So he said that if we bought fish sometime from the Ribarnica (fish market in center), he would show us how to clean them and then he would show us how to cook them on his outdoor grill in the back yard. So I might have to eat fish soon.... Today we went to the Ribarnica to check out what they have and it's like a fish farmers market and they sell all sorts of stuff....huge hunks of tuna, fish that I don't even know what they are, octopuses/octopie (whatever it is), squid, shrimp, and sea centipede things. I don't think I've ever smelled anything so nasty in my life. When you walk through the doors into the hallway that leads to the market area, it smells bad, but when you enter the place, it knocks you off of your feet. Strongest fishy smell of my life. Mom, you would have puked.........But I kind of want to try some stuff....It might be good. I think I'm gonna buy a bunch of shrimp to cook.

 It's  Croatia week or something at the Frankfurt temple, so a bunch of the members are going from the whole country. It's quite the ordeal to go....a whole week stay and a 14 hour bus ride each way. 

That tractor tricycle thing is nasty....but I do miss Wal-Mart. So much good food! They sell cheddar cheese, root beer, Gatorade, and stuff with sugar in it there. I can't wait to open a big bag of Cheetos when I get home. Or maybe a nice sandwich with Colby Jack and not gouda.

Yeah....I’ll get around to the picture. I still have a year and half or so until it gets out dated......Do they have the right mission information on it? Like the Adriatic North Mission with Slovenia, Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia in the outline? Just wondering..... I'll have one for you in next week's email. 

Yeah.....we've had 3 sisters come in since I left, but no elders. I'm still the newest Elder in Croatia, after being here for 5 months. But starting last month, we have quite a few people leaving every two months, so we should be getting more people. I think 3 elders and 2 sisters are coming in the middle of next month. I'm not sure which countries they are going to though. 

About the advice for handling the raw meat....you should save it for someone who can afford to buy meat.....

Sorry to send such a lame email this week, but because of the lesson, I'm out of time. There's more information and stuff that I sent to Dad, Bri, and Mollie. Sorry! Please don't hate me. I uploaded some more pics to Shutterfly, so that should appease your anger ;)....

Gotta go!

Love,

P.J.

P.S. Do you think you could check with Ecco and see if it's possible to buy just the insoles....mine are pretty trashed already in the slip-ons and the lace ups are getting pretty bad too. Just a thought. They are size 48... I guess that just goes to prove that we do too much walking here. I'll send pictures of what they look like next week if I can remember.  

Glow sticks, dog bite, and moonshine....

Hello Family!

So another week has flown by and I officially have less than 18 months left. That's less than one sister missionary mission. Time is flying! Zadar is way hot, but great....okay, so it's like the mid to high 90's but it's so humid and we are either outside or in un-air-conditioned buildings all day going up and down stairs and stuff. I have to peel my shirt off at the end of the night I get so sweaty.....But it's great. I'm excited for winter to say the least....or fall....whenever the tourists leave. But the ones at church can stay. They make it fun. Yesterday we had 36 people at church and only 10 local members. It's crazy during the hymns. Last week it was a mixture of Dutch, German, English, and Croatian. It sounds like a giant mess, but it's pretty cool. 

Good luck with the organ! You can come here. We don't even have a piano. Just a keyboard....not even a plug in pedal. It's pretty different/interesting. That’s crazy about all of the new people. I'm not going to know anybody by the time I get back to the ward. But I won’t be staying for long, so not too big of a deal. 

The trek was fun. And we had another good activity on Saturday. We had a picnic with sandwiches, watermelon, juice, and chips and then afterwards we played Capture the Flag. We had a good turn out. We had the 4 missionaries and 11 other people. We were surprised that that many people came. Luckily we overbought food. The coolest part about the activity was the kids' responses to the glow sticks I gave them. Elder K**** got them for Christmas, and when we were cleaning the apartment in Karlovac, he was going to throw them away, but I took them. I saved them/forgot I had them, until we were planning the activity. So I broke them out and the kids were wearing them before it got dark, and they had never seen them because they don't exist here, so they didn't understand the fact that they glowed. Once it got dark they all started freaking out about how they were cool and glowing and stuff. It was funny. One of them was still wearing it at church the next day.  

I just told Elder M**** about the topless lady afterwards. He thought it was funny. 

I feel the shared excitement for not summer....I'm sorry that I made Mollie cry. I wasn't really offended or hurt or anything. I was just kidding around. I can understand that it's hard to come up with stuff when nothing happens.....well the grass is still green (who am I kidding....it's probably all dead)..... 

That's cool about the new toy. You're getting pretty hip with the new tech and new car. I hope there are some new tech toys laying around for me to take once I get home. 

You're going to Santa Barbara? What for? That's cool. 

That's cool about the cds. I'm looking forward to them.

Questions for this week:

1.  You seem to be doing really well, and I kinda thought you would have some rough times.  Is that true, or are you following general advice which is, "Don't tell your moms what you really experience!"? 

Na....everything has been pretty easy going so far. I've liked my companions, and the only rough parts is being tired and hot....and sometimes sore. But it's been fine besides that. Sometimes things get a little frustrating (flaky people) and stuff, but it's fine. There hasn't been danger so far or anything and I haven't gotten hurt or anything like that. Don't worry. I'm not hiding things from you.  

2.  How are you getting along with your companion?

We get along great. It's fine so far. It's a party in Zadar.  

3.  How is the branch going?

All right. Like I said, we had 10 members at church.

  

4.  What is your favorite thing to eat there?

There's a place called surf and fries in Center where you get a big thing of fries and they have a bunch of different sauces. We've been there a couple of times. But Sandwiches are usually the main thing....or top ramen. It's universal I guess and cheap is cheap.  

5.  Are you having to eat more seafood since you are on the coast?

I haven't had any yet. I had more in Karlovac than here....just the lignje (calamari) on Good Friday and nothing since then.  

6.  Would you vacation there if you weren't on a mission?

Uh...maybe. Dubrovnik, Sibenik, and Split are bigger cities and more touristy (also more expensive) so I might hit those cities first, but I wouldn't mind hanging in Zadar. There are a lot of things to do as tourists that we can't do as missionaries. Pretty much all the stuff at night and everything involving water. They have big island excursion boats that take you to different beaches and stuff and they look like a lot of fun. They also have a lot of different boat tours and we saw people parasailing today. 

7.  Are you eating enough?

Yeah. We have plenty. But we must do more walking here or something, because I'm dropping a little weight....not a problem or anything, but maybe like 7-9 pounds since I got here. My suit jacket is getting to be a little baggy.  

It's okay that you went to Raising Cains. I've had KFC twice now, so we're almost even. I heard that they had good chicken, but I heard that their sweet tea tastes like lake water compared to Chicken E....I’ll take other peoples' word for it because I wouldn't know, and you wouldn't either. 

So funny story, but I don't have time to type it out so it's copied and pasted from Mollie's email: 

A dog bit my companion this last week. Don't worry. It was a little white terrier. A Baka (grandma) was walking around with a leash in her hand and a little dog was running around like crazy. She was trying to put a leash on it, but it wouldn't stop running, and she couldn't bend over far enough to put it on, so she asked Elder Marks if he could do it. So he said yes and took the leash in one hand and grabbed the dog's collar with the other hand. Well, the dog snarled, turned around and bit the arm that was holding the collar. He let go, and said "Hej! The dog bit me!" (he was bleeding a little bit) She looked at him, and said "no...." He repeated himself, but she wouldn't believe him. She just looked at him and said, "Well, can you try again?" We told her no and that we were sorry. We then went to an investigators house for a lesson and he cleaned Elder Marks's arm with some homemade moonshine that he had in the fridge.....we found out from the mission nurse that it was a bad idea, but oh well. We saw the lady with the dog when we left the lesson, and we asked her if the dog had rabies shots, she said yes....and my companion hasn't started foaming yet, so I'll believe her. And don't worry. If he needs a blood transfusion, I'm o negative (universal donor) and we have pen tubes, tape, straws, bags, sewing needles, and rubber bands in the apartment, so we can perform it no problem....we also have soap, so we can be safe. 

I better get going. Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

P.J.