Letter # 6 (Dec. 1, 2008)

It's been a good week. I ate so much for Thanksgiving! I ate breakfast and 3 Thanksgiving dinners. We had prayed the night before and the morning of to give us strength to eat all our food in our appointments to not offend anyone. The first dinner was at 1:30 where we ate at a semi less-active's home. There was a lot of family members there. There were 2 sons that went to war 3 or 4 times each in Iraq and Afghanistan. All they talked about was guns and more guns. I didn't even try to fake like i knew what they were talking about. I just nodded my head and kept my mouth shut. The only guns i know are the ones that hang from my right and left shoulders. PS. I did a personal best (70 push-ups) this morning. Watch out ladies!

Anyway, back to thanksgiving. We went to another dinner appointment at 4. I love this family. They fed us twice before and their children are so cute. Then we went to our 3rd dinner appointment to this non-member couple. We met the guy 3 weeks ago and taught him about the restoration. We then gave him a Book of Mormon. He's Baptist and said that he'll read the Book of Mormon out of interest. He such a good guy. His wife is great as well. She's Korean with a Southern accent. So cool! To our surprise they called us Wednesday night and invited us over to dinner for thanksgiving. By the time we got there we were already stuffed. We felt so bad when we saw the dinner table filled with good ol' southern cooking. That was my first real encounter wiht Southern food down here. It was so good but i was so full. My companion was sweating bullets trying to eat all his food. Andy, the host asked Elder Barker if he had any of the marshmallow treat. Elder Barker said, "Not yet!" I slid the bowl toward him. I couldn't stop laughing. Lisa, the wife kept looking at me as if she wanted to make sure i liked her food and that I ate it all. Andy looked at Elder Barker and asked him if he liked something he just tried because he had a funny uncomfortable face on him. He said, "No, it's good, but I've just been feeling sick today." He then asked if he could be excused from the dinner table. He went to the bathroom. He later told me that he threw up for the 1st time on his mission. I still can't stop laughing. Even right now I'm laughing! I was praying the whole time that I could eat all that was in my plate. I did! Miracles happen all the time! lol.

We taught several people last week outside and in front of their homes. 3 of them said that they will make it to church. To my dissapointment, they didn't. As I partook of the sacrament, I felt down and a little discouraged. We had prayed for people to come to church. But God is a God of miracles. We just happen to be sitting next to a non-member who came to church on his own. We got his info. He seem interested but wants to take it slow. He said that he came last week but he came too early and he had to leave. He said that he's coming next week. Hopefully he comes. His name is Brian.

Well, I love you all. Take care. I'll write next week.
Love, Elder Olaya