He's Lovin' It

Dear Family,
Thank you so much for your e-mails!!! That's amazing that Jennifer already took her driver's test and has her license! You have to tell her it's not a real license until she can drive the Tercel :) . It's pretty crazy driving here from time to time. This gives a whole new meaning to defensive driving. It's really funny because I notice when I drive here I have the thoughts pass through my head as when I used to drive in Carbon Canyon. It's just crazy trying to watch everywhere at once and with people passing on every side I feel like everyone's in a race. Elder Miles drives most of the time which is fine by me because I don't want to be responsible for any damage to the car. It was kind of funny because another Elder, Elder Lampricht, hit a pole when he was parking the car and he's not allowed to drive anymore. I'm just going to be really careful. It reminds me of Uruguay and how Aunt China was a crazy driver :) . I had actually heard about BYU from Lisa but I hadn't heard about Ohio State. In my last interview with President Lindahl I mentioned how BYU was doing well and he pulled up the BYU stats on his computer because he was a little curious too. Projects in the offices have been pretty nice but we're going to have transfers this Tuesday/Wednesday which means I have to work with that. We're also at the end of the month which means I have to finish the Baptism forms before the deadlines so the mission can count our baptisms in the Area records. Things are just crazy. We also have an elder in the offices, Elder Morgan, who had surgery so he's been living with us and recooperating a bit. He and his companion, Elder Whiteford, are really funny. They talk to us about their area, Uspallata, which is so far out that it doesn't have a stake or district. It technically belongs to the mission. They've had days where they walk for hours in the middle of nowhere to get to an investigators house and then hours and maybe run into a few contacts on the way but there really aren't many people there. They've made up games based on cars that go by like if they see a Chile license plate that's a couple points and then if there's a Venezuela license plate they win the game. They remind me a lot of Julie's sense of humor. Elder Morgan's still here but Elder Whiteford is with Elder Lampricht in Uspallata right now. The Elders are actually going to be replaced by Elder and Hermana Arce, couples missionaries. He's going to be the branch president and he's going to fix up the branch a little because all the members were arguing. Changes in the offices just keep coming too. For example the assistants are basically being stripped of their "perks" like for example they've already lost their car and now they won't be coming into the offices anymore. They might also lose their area and become traveling assistants like the other traveling assistants we have now who go all over the mission and do divisions with other missionary pairs. The assistants used to advise President on Zone Conferences and other decisions but today President told us that Elder Miles, the Mission Secretary, and I will be his counselors in that respect. He said he thought I was like his other secretary which really made me feel helpful to him. You can tell this is hard work for President Lindahl and he said something really interesting today. He said, "I don't want to be the Mission's administrator I want to be the Mission's Minister." He wants to give us more responsibility in the offices so that he can focus more on working in the field with the missionaries and helping them improve their labors. He really loves the missionaries and you can tell he wants the best for them. He's hiring a new mission health specialist so that during any hour of the day or night if someone has a health problem, President can send someone who actually knows what they're doing instead of Elder Pederson, his old Secretary who would just have to call an ambulance. He's also building up a collection of all the best hospitals so he can know where to send the missionaries so they're well taken care of. Also during P-day today, President Lindahl drove Elder Morgan and I to the supermarket since, as he said, "Elder Morgan shouldn't be walking so far until he gets better." He even stayed there with us until we were done shopping so he could drive us back home (I do feel a little bad that even though he only bought deodorant he got stuck in a much slower line and got out about the same time we did). Hermana Lindahl has also given us sweets like brownies, banana bread, and cookies in the offices every so often. She actually had a batch of cookies for someone else that didn't turn out how she wanted them too and we were like "We'll be glad to take them off of your hands" :) . I thought they were great :) . Well I'm out of time but I can't wait to hear from you again soon. I love you all!!! Bye!!!
Love,
Elder Williams