Elder Jon Pimentel 12/8/2007

When in Frogtown, do as the Frogtownans do. The picures are of the frog that Elder Choua Vang cooked for us. Yes, I did eat some. It smells funny, and the skin is really slippery, but it tastes alright. Kind of a little bit like fish, but with the texture of chicken. Next he says he's going to make baby octapus and snails. What fun.

I haven't received the Christmas package, I think they hold those for us at the office until Christmas so we'll have something to open. I have had a hankerin' for holiday goodies such as fudge, muddy buddies, carmel corn, etc.

Glad to hear you enjoyed balmy Arizona! Up here it's been in the single digits, and we've had some days that have been -9 degrees F. Riding bikes in the snow is a hidden sport. Quite exciting. The snow here is bizaare (sp?). It's like sand. It comes down in tiny, sharp grains, and they don't really stick to each other. They pile up, and the wind blows it away. It doesn't crunch. It really feels like you're walking in sand...or mashed potatoes.

We usually spend about 2 to 3 hours tracting each day, and varying amounts of time OYMing, and a lot of time stopping by people and teaching. We don't have many appointments because Hmong people generally aren't used to the concept of scheduling time and therefor tend to run off to do things on the fly and not be home for the appointment. Stopping by seems to work better.

We are going to have to bump Pa's date back to the 23rd because we still haven't talked to her mom.

Mai Houa still needs to come to church and get legally married to Ze before she can set a date, but she's still as excited about it as ever. Many of the folks here are culturally married, but not legally wed. This can be a problem because much of the time they don't see why it's important to be legally married and don't want to spend the time, effort, and money. Fortunately, Mai Houa and Ze were already planning on getting legally married because if they don't do it soon, Mai Houa will be deported to Laos.

I'm singing a solo in zone conference this Monday, and will be performing in the branch Christmas program and the mission Christmas conference.

I have some more amusing names: Ker Lee, Mee, JuBei Lee (say it fast), Ma Lor (like m'lord, but no 'd'), Tuna, [Teeb] (like Dang), [Xaiv Dua] (like sidewalk, sans 'lk'), Tou Bi (or not to be..), [Xob Laim] (like sal'ight