Four Months

Letter from Elder Proksch:

Just another day in the life of El Salvador. This week we had the wedding that a lady preformed the ceramony by law, not Priesthood. We held the ceremony in the church and it only took about 5 minutes. That was the actual event time. The rest of the time she was just reading the rights, laws and privilages of each person in the marriage. You know, what belonged to who. I am surpised Vegas isn´t out of business with it only being 20 bucks and 5 minutes. Nothing says, "I love you, honey" like "...till death do you part. Amen." Anyway, she could not be baptized because she has been drinking coffee. That part wasn't good and none of our investigators showed to church so in mission work it was a little tough this week. In the branch things are turning for the better. A lot of the inactives we have been contacting have been showing back up to church, which is good. We are still short some numbers every week to get the new stake center that is badly needed. I have been working with the president on tithing and doing math with him...and filling out forms to send in the tithing info. Glad I paid attention to math in homeschool, Mom! We have been doing some planning for activities too. One of the hardest parts is that most of the members will show up to church but very, very few will come to the activities, so we are trying to encourage some of the more popular members to show up for the fun activities and then establish things like mutual and family home evening. It's starting to work. We just need to now start passing the torch to the members, so when we leave, the program will continue.

This week I would have to say Brother Stewart was right about sleeping inside a tin oven. Man, its so hot plus the countless mosquito bites. It looks like I have a sickness when you look at my arms. I know it sounds like I have a lot of problems but I guess its just the blessings of a mission or blessing of the Lord that makes you just not care about it. It's like it just becomes a fact of life. By the way, pancakes here are actually crepes. The only cereal is Cornflakes, chocolate Rice Krispies and Frosted Flakes, so no wheat bix. They have real peanut butter. That's a super plus! I got my hands on some real sugar cane, straight from the field. We aren´t supposed to drink energy drinks but that sugar cane has got to be the closest thing to one down here that you can get. Crash includedk, but so worth it.

Have a good week!

Love, Alex