Oh, this aint just any toilet!...

It just so happens to be the toilet that Derek parked his blue Van's (shoes) by at our house the night before he left for the MTC! I sent this picture to him today, as you can see they are still on the bathroom floor! Ha ha! Still brings me comfort to have them there (weird, I know). I'm just including a small portion of Derek's e-mail today. He continues to do well and is in good spirits. I asked him about his kitchen appliances as Blythe is sending him food. I also asked him about the swine flu that is taking center stage in the news right now...
He writes: i am glad you got my letter and it made it all the way from mexico. i am doing good, my new companion and i get along well. you are too funny, that's awesome that my shoes are still on the bathroom floor, ha ha! and, no i am not that skinny i am healthy skinny. we only have a little two top grill thing not a stove so i dont know but the church has one so ya ya brownie mix would be good... i haven't heard anything about that flu thing but i will be careful and see if it is down here, don't know though... i will always continue to pray for you guys and love you so much and am so thankful i have a home in the united states ha ha! but i am good and working hard this week, have a lot to do to help re-organize the area and get more investigators and all so i am working hard and walking a lot and doing well. learning more and more everyday esp. with another one that is (can speak) english and can explain things to me. i love you guys so much and maybe send peanut butter, like a little bottle of creamy... love you tons and tons take care till next week.....LOVE your dearest Elder, Elder Reid
We also received our first handwritten letter which he finished up around Conference weekend -- he writes in bits and pieces when he has time. Took a mere three weeks to get to us. It was quite a long one and we laughed, and cried (happy tears). His first trainer, who is now finished with his mission, was getting quite girl crazy. He says “The milk we get is boxed milk, it can sit up to a year on the shelf. But it’s like Leche (milk) light and it has (a picture of) a girl on it in work out clothes and so the word for like a hot fit girl is “pina” – so the missionaries call it our “Pina Milk” ha ha!" He also talks about how much he walks (between Portrillos and Tanques)and how dirty he gets on all the dirt roads – black pants and this dirt just don’t mix. One of his longest walks between towns he wrote "we walk walk walk walk, and no ride in site. Walk walk walk some more, no ride- wait! Car is coming, oh! Nope, wrong direction, walk walk walk some more. Then when we are about 200 yards away from our destination, we see a watering truck that waters down the dirt roads and my companion yells "Go! Go!" and we ran and jumped on the truck like we were in a movie and hitching a ride on a train! Ha ha!"

His spelling gets worse and worse as his Spanish progresses, so I have been tweaking his writing a tad so it makes sense to you all. Plus he throws in Spanish words a lot. He also talked about a family they were teaching. As they were teaching the mom who was nursing "she just drops it out and starts feeding her baby right in front of us -- awkward! How do you ask questions after that?! That’s pretty much the norm around here tho" (belly laughs) Oh, I love it! Made our whole weekend!

The chatter I get from the MM’s – the swine thing is being carefully watched by the Presidency of our church (no doubt). Derek is in a small po-dunkish town right now, because of that I’m not surprised he was unaware of it. However, some of the missionaries in other areas have been asked to stay inside for a week, or to not pass money and/or to wear masks. Keep praying for these missionaries and let’s all hope this flu thing passes soon. TTFN