Chikungunya

Hey Everyone,

So I got my new comp this past week. His name is Elder Smith. He is from New Mexico. He came from a different part of the coast so he already knows how fun the heat is. He is a great guy, the only problem is that he is pretty new in the mission (5 months) so he doesn't know Spanish all that well. I’m helping little by little to help him improve. I was also able to present my new Companion to all of the members to establish a good impression. I think they like him a lot. We had a lot of success this week with the people we are teaching. Our biggest problem is having people welcome them on Sunday and have members there at the meetings to begin with. We are trying to help them understand the importance of this day but we are having no luck. 

We also had a district contacting activity this week to really push finding new investigators. We were really concerned if it was going to work because, before the whole district showed up to start, the Jehovah´s witnesses showed up and started contacting the exact same area that we had planed to contact.We decide to go forward with the plans anyway and it worked out to our advantage. Since every one was annoyed about their Jehovah´s witnesses, the only people that let us in were the people who were ready to hear the gospel so it worked out well.

Other news is that I'm not district leader any more. They changed it to another Elder. I was super sad about it when they first told me, but then I realized that I would have a lot more time for my area this last transfer so that will be nice. My District told me they thought I was the best leader they ever had though so that was even better. They said I focused on them and their needs more then just numbers and being efficient. So that made me feel better.

Although not everything is good news this week. On Sunday I was diagnosed by Dr. Pastrana that I have chikungunya. I had a really high fever, headache, diarrhea, joint pain, muscle pain, fatigue, and nausea. I feel a lot better today but yesterday I could barely get out of bed. My plan is to take it easy today so that I will be able to work tomorrow. Although I came to know how our investigators feel when they say they couldn't do any thing because they had chikungunya. It's a common sickness and since I did not have a really bad case and have good medical care I should not have any lingering problems. Tell Mom not to freak out. It will be ok. I had my comp give me a blessing so I know everything will be ok.

So this week is my birthday and I have no plans yet but if everyone wants to send me a nice email they are welcome to.

Toodles,

Alec

P.S. No pictures this week cause I’m a sicko but I will do better for my birthday report next week.