This Last Week in Chicago

Okay Bueno,

Hoy en dia es el ultimo dia de preparacion para este traslado. Vamos a tener los traslados el proximo miercoles. Estoy pensando que yo voy a quedarme aqui en Rogers Park, pero de mi companero, no se. No me gusta que no puedo hacer los accentos con esta computadora, entonces voy a hacer la mayoridad de esta carta en ingles.

Well so yesterday was transfer day so everything was nuts and I couldn't write. I did not get transferred and I am still with my same companion, Elder Carroll. We are doing really well. So we decided to go to the zoo (took lots of pictures) and we went with Elders Hancock and Fa'umu. They are in the Wrigleyville area. Basically they cover our exact same area, except in english. We went there and had a really good time. Our bishop, Bishop Rueda, works at the zoo in maintenance. He loves it and says that he has worked there for 9 years. We saw him there while we were there, and he showed us around some of the exhibits and knew a lot about all the animals. It was really fun. I also got to translate for Elders Hancock and Fa'umu because Bishop Rueda doesn't really speak english. Elder Hancock is from our area, he's a really cool Elder, and so is his companion, Elder Fa'umu. Fa'umu is from Tonga, but was born and raised in San Francisco. We enjoyed ourselves a lot there. From there, we went to 5 Guys Burgers for lunch. Well we were only in the restaurant for maybe a half hour, and when we came out, their car had been Towed! So Elder Hancock and I used my transit cards and we took the bus to the tow yard and had to get it out. That expensive little adventure cost Elder Hancock $170! Then we went to a Food 4 Less in Garfield Park. Now, seeing as you don't know much about the city, here's a brief explanation of why that was cool: Garfield park is Ghetto! Elder Carroll when he served there, lived across the street from a whore house and a drug dealer. It is crazy down there, so we went to go see what it was like. Then we went to MP Mall which is in that area, and decided to leave really fast because a lot of scary people looked like they were going to hurt us. It was SO COOL.

So mission news: District changes this transfer were that Hermana Secrist went home after 18 months served honorably. Elder Johnson went down to south side chicago. To replace Hermana Secrist we have a new greenie, Hermana Summers, and to replace Elder Johnson, we have Elder Davidson, who has been out for a year serving in the south side chicago.

My personal mission news: 3 new investigators so far this week, and 1 investigator on baptismal date. We are very excited for all of them. Rafael Cinta, husband of Imelda Medrano, is getting baptized Oct. 11. He fixed that date during an interview with Obispo Rueda. We had to push back Mildred Chavez's date for next week. That should make it easier for us to teach her more.

Other than that, things are going really great for us here, we are always finding little bits of success and God has really provided for us out here. I am really grateful to my Savior for having provided me this opportunity.

I love you guys.

Love,

Elder J.