Lessons learned from cold showers

mom, thank you so much for your words in this last letter. they were actually very helpful with all that you said. i am very very grateful to have such a wonderful mom who loves and cares for me like you do. your words, although you probably didnt know it, were very inspiring, and i feel are going to help a lot. thanks for working by revelation. also, for christmas, we will plan to talk by webcam over msn messenger i think, i am still working it out, but i think that will be how we do it. i will write next week with more info.
i was pretty sad to hear how little snow you got, but elder wilding's sister in taylorsville sent a pic and it was pretty white! man i really miss the snow right now, because the sun is still just beating on us every day. i was thinking, what would it be like in acapulco in may or june?........ i may have to refuse the change if i go at that time... haha jk. im glad to hear that thanksgiving went well for all of you, but i was also sad that i didnt get anything for thanksgiving dinner. we have a guy in our ward who is from Oregon, and his wife is mexican. he barely speaks spanish, and she speaks the both pretty good. he is an advanced english teacher in a school, so everyone does speak english. we teach him spanish once a week, but the rest is his practicing. he organized a thanksgiving dinner in his school for all the advanced english students, because many have been to the US, and wanted to show their family what it is. he invited us, but there was beer there, so we decided it was best that we weren't in that scene... so we ended up eating pozole that night. its kinda like a corn soup, but its actually really good. the only bad thing is that you get sick of it pretty quick. they eat it every thursday. food is still good, and i still get to try new things once in a while. a lady invited us to eat bistek, steak, with her for this coming wednesday, but the steak here just isnt the same..... especially not how dad does it.
we are still doing well, and healthy. the only bad thing is that we have been out of water for three weeks, so we bathe by buckets of ice cold water in the morning, which probably isnt that good for you either, but we survive. they are doing construction on the street, and on pipes i think, so it doesnt get to us at the top of the mountain.... but at least we get showers. the guy from oregon, shawn, rarely has water in his house, and says he can only bathe himself three times a week.. but luckily just moved houses.
sadly not a lot is happening in the work, but i will try to see more blessings, even the little ones, and give thanks for them. it has been a good experience to suffer a little, because it makes you look for any little thing that comes. we did find some new great investigators, and also on thursday, we went on divisions and i went with Elder Ramon, zone leader and my uncle, elder snyders brother of the mission. elder ramon started his mission in this area, and remebered quite a few of the people he taught that didnt get baptized, so we returned to their houses and got in a few doors, and set some more appointments. that was a good help and a very fun experience. later in the week, we challenged alfredo. he is one of my good friends, who is dating a girl in our ward who is super great. he is pentecostal, and is super strong in his church, and knows a ton about the bible. we are helping him understand that the only way he can know for sure what church has the authority of God is through prayer and trying God on giving him an answer. so please help him by praying for him to receive an answer. he is reading in the book of mormon, on his own time, and also praying and has been to our church maybe 10 times or more. also he attended stake and general conference. please pray for him and manuel to be baptized this week. they both are being prepared, and have a date for this week, but we need miracles.
this last weekend, the ward had a young men-womens temple day, and one of my converts and three from cardenas went and had an incredible time, i will send a few pictures.
im sorry that i dont have a ton of time to write today, but i do love you all and am grateful for your updates and support. thank you and please keep doing your part in the missionary work, and to keep covenants. thanks for your help and love.
elder facer