This week has a lot of stories. First off, we were eating dinner with a member and his friend who is not a member and the food was actually really good. It was rice and chicken and beef. The usual. We seriously have rice and chicken/beef every day. Sometimes it is super good, and other times, not so much. Anyways, we were eating and the nonmember (I don't remember his name to be honest) he was eating this little green things that looked like peas. He asked me if I wanted to try one. I asked him what they were and he said they were just little vegetable things that they grow in their garden. This guy was eating them by the handful so I thought they might be pretty good so I said I would try one. I thought they were trying to trick me and that is was really hot or something but they assured me that "no es picante" (it isn't hot). So I believed them and ate one. They lied. I felt like someone lit my mouth on fire and everyone was just laughing at me. They handed me a bowl of sugar and told me that it helps cool it down. So I took a big spoon-full and quickly found out that it wasn't sugar... it was salt. I was glad I could provide some entertainment for everybody that night. Apparently, in their opinion at least, those little green peppers were hotter than a habenero. My mouth and throat burned for about an hour, but I survived and it was a good time.

A mission has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. I guess I thought that since I was dedicating my life to the Lord for 2 years that he would take care of me and nothing bad would happen. Well, as I have been out I have really been humbled and come to know that that is not always how it works. I learned that not only in a mission, but in life that when we are being obedient to the commandments and are serving God with out whole heart, might, mind, and strength, that we can have confidence that anything else that happens is for our benefit. That doesn't mean trials won't come, but that when they do come, we can know how to handle it. Trials are an opportunity to improve our relationship with the savior, and to learn how to find joy in any circumstance. When Nephi and his family left Jerusalem they faced many trials. While Laman and Lemuel continued to murmur and complain, Nephi used those trials as an opportunity to strengthen his relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They all had the same trials, but it was their attitudes that made the difference in the end.

This was a pretty hard week for my companion and I. We had an investigator that was planning on being baptized this week but she doesn't really want to anymore. We had been having a hard time finding people to teach. On Saturday we ended up walking through this Mexican mall (thats where most of the spanish speaking people are) and we ended up wandering through a Ross store. We found a guy named Miguel and started to talk to him about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. He was really interested and invited us over the next day to teach him more. So we went to his house yesterday and his friend Pedro lives with him and wanted to listen to the lesson too. We taught them both about the Restoration and invited them to be baptized and the both accepted. We got them to pray with us and they committed to reading 2 Nephi chapter 31 and said they would pray about it. Afterwards, invited us to come back tomorrow to teach them more. Even though we had a hard week, the Lord blessed us as we continued to look for people to teach with a good attitude and now we have two more investigators. In Mosiah 24:13-15 it says: "Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage... And I will also ease the burdens which are upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs... This will I do that ye may know that I, the Lord God do visit my people in their afflictions." I know that our Father in Heaven is aware of each of us in our trials, and if we "submit cheerfully and with patience to the will of the Lord" (verse 15) we will be blessed and our burdens will be made light. We can't always control the circumstances or the trial, but we can control our attitude. As we show gratitude for all of our blessings, we will realize just how much we have been blessed with, and how much we have to be happy about. I love this work and I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love you all, have a great week!

Elder May