Just one year, that's all (email dated 7/28/2009)

Hello from the Enchanted Island of Puerto Rico! I hope all is going well back home in the Beehive State of Utah. This past week was another transfer meeting and yes i did receive a new companion... He's another foreigner but not a native Spanish speaker. His native tongue is Dutch and he's from South America.Yeah your probably asking yourself where in the world could that be...The answer is Suriname which is located above Brazil and in the middle of French Giana and Giana. His name is Elder Roseval and has about 6 months on the mission and is still pretty green with the language and all but he's work ethic makes up for it all! We've been having a great time together here in Toa Baja our first week together. So this transfer we're starting to do work outs again in the morning because my companion now is willing to get up at six and go hit the streets with a nice little jog. Elder Parodi wasn't all for running but I'm not going to have problem with getting Elder Roseval up to go excursive because I'm pretty sure that excursive is his middle name. He was a trainer back when he was at home i guess and it shows because this guy is chiseled like a rock. Its pretty fun because now i have my own personal trainer basically. Oh yeah and in case you were worried that we couldn't communicate he speaks English too other than his Dutch. He actually was in one of the resent Liahona's (Ensigns) on one of the specials on the Mission work over there in Suriname. He's fun guy and i think we'll have a good time together.

Now was for the work goes all is well also and we're working hard to get some new blood to teach. We found a lady who was taught by the missionaries a year ago but she ended up moving to the states and things just didn't work out with the Elders i guess. But when we past by she was more than happy to see us and invited us right in to teach her. She's really interested and concerned about her well being which is great because she really is sincerely interested and keeps her commitments. Other than that we had a good lesson with Carlos Lopez this week also and he is willing to get back on track and work to be baptized! We have a way's to go and a lot of work to do with him on helping him gain a testimony of Joseph Smith and all but he wants to do what is right and feels good with us. He calls me part of his family now after all we've been through together which is really humbling to say the least. Also our baptism we had last Saturday is staying active which is great and she just keeps being an example for all to follow. So there's no complaints here from the mission field and all keeps on moving forward!

Until next time much Love and keep your head up and Testimony growing.
Love,
Elder Lopez

PS: I almost forgot to tell you the other thing that happened this week that is something important i guess you could say but not really. Well this sunday i was doing my district leader duties and taking in all the numbers from the members of my district and it was a little late and we were riding our bikes home. So there i am riding my bike talking on the phone and trying to put the numbers down at the same time as i start to go down a little hill... Yeah i know what your thinking, to much things to do and ride a bike at the same time right?... Well anyway i thought i was doing a great job of it all and i was going just fine up until there was a little speed bump as i was going down the hill... Yup i hit that little mound of cement and my one finger tapped the front brake and there went elder Lopez over the handle bares... No worries though i wasn't going all that fast and i left with no major injuries just scraps. The thing to note though is that I've been on my mission for almost year and then 4 days before i hit my year mark i have to go down on my bike for the 1st time ever. Yeah pretty sad right? i was hoping to go my whole mission with out one crash but i cant even make a year... ha i guess that's just the way the ball roles some times. Well until next week!
Love,
Elder Lopez