Dear Muggles:

Happy fourth of July! Hermana Warner and I bought stuff to make special oatmeal pancakes for a special patriotic breakfast and then we realized it was fast sunday! haha. so we saved it for Monday morning and then we had to satisfy ourselves with singing a patriotic hymn. Actually, the more correct way of saying that would be to say that I made hermana Warner sing a patriotic hymn with me and halfway through we both lost it and couldn't stop laughing. There's just something funny about two white girls in the middle of a sea of hispanic Texans, sitting alone in their apartment and trying to seriously sing a song about their country at eight in the morning. Feliz dia de independencia. But It was cool to hear our ward bear testimony about the religious freedom they have found here. I hope ya'll had a great celebration. haha. Lions club breakfast? and CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR RUN! I es a so proud of my cute little family. We're just a happy little plaid family. And we're runners. that's the thing. Sarah, you DON'T hate running..."yes i DOOOOO." next up: climb Anapurna.

As for me and my beloved companion: we've been having quite the week. Most importantly, we set a baptismal date with Claudia and her daughter Mariana! They will be baptized the seventeenth of July! We're so excited for them. We called President afterwards to let him know and he and sister Moldenhauer said they want to come to the baptism because they met her at stake conference. That was the best phonecall I've EVER made. (aside from calling you guys ;) ) So far everything is just going so well with them that it scares me, so keep us all in your prayers.

Secondly, we've been on hurricane watch all week. Come on mom, you're supposed to be watching the weather and stressing about your sweet daughter all alone down here in Texas! Hurricane Alex was our first hurricane of the season and luckily for us it hit just south of us in Monterrey Mexico, so all we really saw was a lot of water, but I am telling you - we saw A LOT of water! The elders went out and took pictures and they were standing in it up to their knees in the middle of the street! As we were driving, the streets were flooding and I kept telling Hermana Warner that I just knew I was going to ruin the Lord's car! But we managed to avoid the worst of it and tried to be smart about where we parked and our car (which we have officially named Dover since there is a Dover street in our area and whenever we pass it we say "come on Dover!") is still running nicely. We had a couple close calls though. One time we were driving through part of the street and I looked over at the huge truck next to us and the water was up to the top of their tires! I dont' know how we made it out without getting stuck. The weirdest part about all of this is how hot it is. I'm used to rain bringing a chill but here it just brings heavier heat!

So we had our "baptism by water" all week long and then on Monday came our "baptism by fire." Except the fire part already happened a month ago: let me explain: Our elders have been teaching a man whose house burned down a month ago and he has been waiting for insurance to come and photograph so that he can clean the mess up. Yes. It took them one FULL month to come and photograph! So yesterday we went as a service project to help them clean up. Let me tell you. that was the NASTIEST MESS I've ever been in! Think of this: one month of food sitting in a refrigerator in this terrible heat. One month of mold and rain and cockroaches and ash EVERYWHERE. The smell coming from that fridge still hasn't left my nostrils. I almost lost it when they finally took it outside and started spraying it down with a hose - food and everything - just to make it stomach-able enough to clean out. When they moved it, there were HUNDREDS of cockroaches that had been underneath it. We were literally shoveling burned remains of everything they owned into garbage bags and hauling it outside to the trash. clothes, pictures, toys, dishes... you name it. Then, we went for the walls with axes. With every swing, two or three of the giant type of cockroaches would come squirming out of the wall. Hermana Warner and I were covered in dust and sweating through every layer and then some and hauling that trash around like the Hermanos that were there with us. Mexicans can clean out a house in two hours flat! They were awesome. But the Bishop was laughing at me and said "what hermana, you're not scared of cockroaches are you?" Then one of the younger guys punched a whole in wall, grabbed one out and threw it at us! We definitely earned our P-day this week. But I think there should be a special place reserved in the celestial kingdom for the brother that was cleaning out that fridge. We have a hurricane preparedness checklist hanging on our wall and one of the things it says to do is clean out the fridge and prop open the doors and unplug the fridge in case of an evacuation. I have been wondering WHY we would have to prop the doors open. now I know. gross. gross gross! i can't even think of it it makes me sick still. We were wearing masks and we still had ash all over the place. The hermanos were laughing at us because we looked like we had mustaches! The shower afterwards felt AWESOME. but anyways, you get the picture.

Other than that, we're just grateful for our nice little apartment! Hermana Warner and I have way too much fun together. The other day she was sitting on the couch and wondering out loud about a "special friend" of hers that hasn't written since she's been out here and she wondered what he was doing right then. Seeing as it was a Saturday night I said, as i was walking past her and into the bedroom, "well let's see...it's ten o clock on a saturday night... he's probably out on a date with some hot chick." hahah! she came running after me and tackled me on my bed! She said I was so MEAN! but we were both laughing pretty hard. She's hilarious.

So that's all folks! Hope you had a good holiday. "Are you on holiday Ginger?" "no patsy, i'm in solitary confinement!" name THAT movie! I love ya'll like a cockroach loves nasty refrigerator slime! Hope to hear from everyone soon. Thanks for all your support!

Love Becca