HOW I OVERDRAFTED MY ACCOUNT AND PROPOSED TO A GIRL--HAHA.

WOW long week! Crazy this life is... ha, ok, first, the money situation: I have recently been introduced to the amazing store Levens, owned by the nicest guy on the planet. They sell ties there. Over the last 17 months, I have been told I have extremely "lame ties." The man at Levens demands that we buy ties for only 5 dollars (usually $40) so I've indulged and bought like 4, so now I have "nice ties." Uh-huh. The $14.35 overdraft is explained by my new companion. Story follows:

SO like I said, I'm still in a trio with Mr. Trunky, who spends all his time talking about getting married to the girl in Venezuela who he's never met, and now I'm training a brand new Elder, Elder Sigal (basically pronounced seagull, heh). HE is from ARGENTINA, BUENOS AIRES, like the southern tip of South America. No joke, he's never been the the US before. I've had like 5 hispanic companions, but all had lived here before the mission. Its intense, he's as white as I am, but I cant understand the accent a lot! BUT the $14.35 is from MATE, which is the traditional drink of Argentina, they drink it like 5 times a day. It was the first thing we did on the way back from Ogden - it involves the Mate itself, a small gourd usually which serves as a cup, or it could be a ceramic one, but the gourd gives better flavor. $6.50. Then the Bombisha - a small metal straw like thingamajig, which has a filter on the bottom. Everyone shares the bombisha and passes it around. I'm not sick yet. $6.50. THEN the yerba mate, which means mate herbs. A pack that contains what appears to be lawn clippings, with small twigs and such. $2.50. Then the sugar, because yerba mate is pretty bitter tasting. We got mint flavored though, and orange. You put the yerba in the mate (gourd cup) with the sugar and fill it with boiling water. Then you sip in gingerly with the bombisha straw until its drained, then fill it with water again and pass it to the next person. Interesting. bitter, yet good. Expensive. Sorry.

Jeffrey the Lifegaurd. Is it fun to yell at people? Had to dive in yet? Declare when adult swim is on? I bet the obesity situation at the pool could be shocking... so glad I'm on a mission... and a ukelele!!! YES, PLEASE let me use it and take it to college, heh, good luck learning, I've heard its pretty easy. The coolest song thats mission approved has lyrics that go "I wanna be Samuel the Lamanite, I want to be Benjamin the Wise, I wanna be like Abinidi..." look it up, sounds awesome.

I'm good on shirts, its occured to me I'll be going home, so whatever. The card will be appreciated, tahnks! I've got a lot to show you all, its been since like November, right? Should be fun! Dont worry about the birthday, sounds like this package will be exciting enough to last months. Haha. I've also got birthday plans with the family getting baptized this Saturday, they all have Septemberr birthdays. funny, I spent my LAST birthday with their cousins...

I'm glad Grandma can write me now! Ha, of course I'll see them in less than 7 months, I havent doubted that once. So glad she's optimistic about it!

Cool happenings: Sunday, in Sacrament Meeting, Elder Cherrington of the Seventy came. He's cool, lives in Logan, I've seen him a few times. He testified of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. SO cool because he remembered the familia Lambaren had their baptism announced at the beginning of the meeting. He addressed them directly from the pulpit, and testified as a witness of Jesus Christ that this was right, that by being baptized they would be forgiven of their sins, and if they were faithful this baptism would open the doors of eternal happiness to their family. Norma (the mom) was captivated, she understands perfectly in English and Spanish. She was just beaming, just happy. She has been through hell with this divorce and her kids going crazy from all the extremely hard circumstances, but she had peace. And from the moment Elder Cherrington said "the Lambaren family" I felt one of the most intense and sacred outpourings of the Spirit just overwhelm me. I've only felt the Spirit so intensely that I've cried like 5 times, and this was one of them. I specifically felt the Savior's approval and gratitude for their conversion and for our efforts in helping them in what we could. It was incredible. My companions felt it too, and we told Norma yesterday, and she said she had felt the same thing, and could not ask for a greater confirmation from Heavenly Father that she was doing the right thing. Amazing. I've wondered sometimes if it was for the better, if we're doing it all right, etc. I'm glad for the direct assurance. Norma was so excited and stayed at church for sunday school and relief society/primary meetings, its the only place I think she could get her kids quiet for an hour ha) Very cool, in all aspects.

Well thats really all I've got for this week. I know the Church is true and we are cleansed by the Savior through his Atonement. It comes through true repentance and faithfully continuosly and humbly seeking His help and mercy and enabling power. That's the gospel. Easy.

Love you all, enjoy NC! be careful! Elder Thelin

PS thank you to ANYONE who has contributed to this mission in any way. The money is a sacrifice, and I am grateful for the generosity. I know its made possible a lot of changes in other people's lives, so thank you!

Psps I want to hear about Barbie and Lord Zerg.
Pspspspsps anyone know the addresses of Kimmy and Kayla yet? thanks

Chris had a few more minutes so he added some extra--this is the proposal part:

Hey other cool experience! So we were invited to participate in the Pioneer Day Parade here in Logan! (July 24, the day commemorating the arrival of the Mormon Pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley) Intense stuff, not as big as the Ogden parade one last year but the same cheering and everything for the missionaries (we're really mascots here). So funny, this guy (not a missionary) came up dressed in shirt and tie and everything and asked if he could walk with us. As we were marching and giving high fives to kids and singing "Called to Serve", he asked for a pass-along card about eternal families (a little card that missionaries pass out with information about the church) - and he then unfolded a brilliant plan to propose to his girlfriend. So, when we got to Center Street, he told the whole zone to start drifting to the side of the street (ha first we went to the wrong girl, held up the whole parade) and we surrounded this girl and then he came out from the middle of the group knelt down with a ring and handed her the pass-along card. "Eternal families are really important to me - do you want to be part of mine?" And of course she started crying and kissing and stuff so we ran back to the parade singing "Families Can Be Together Forever". Being a missionary has a lot of weird experiences...

Oh yeah also we shattered the record for Logan and maybe for the mission with 35 baptisms as a zone in July. Before the record in Logan was 21 in one month. Intense. I know numbers aren't the most important thing, but seeing some sweet ones is pretty awesome.