Hello...

Ok, so I have a lot to catch you up on in a very little time. I do not live with the Zone Leaders, I just had my package sent there because it's too dangerous to send it to my apartment because things get stolen a lot.

(Our area covers everything south of Laredo all the way down to Zapata where our only Library is)

So, my companion name is Elder Bradley. He has been out for almost a year (on Friday) and he grew up on a small farm in Missouri. He's taught me a ton already. He's super patient, and legitimately cares about the people and following the Spirit in everything we do. I explained to him about my back problem and how I had to come home, and he does everything he can to make sure that I'm doing ok. He's a super awesome companion! We've already had some super crazy experiences just because of it. Basically all he says is, he doesn't care about numbers, where we go, or what we do as long as we are following the Spirit, and we've had so much success.

For example, we decided to go to El Cenizo (a little city in our area) to find somebody, because we felt like we needed to. Nobody answered, so we walk out of the yard wondering what happened when an 18-year old Mexican guy came up to us, shook our hand and told us he was looking for us. He invited us to his house the next day, and his mom was super excited. All her kids came to listen, and he accepted a baptism day on Oct 6. He says he's been looking for repentence and knew when he saw us.

Next, we were knocking on a door to answer a referral, she wasn't home but we had both felt super good about the referral. Then, we saw a mom smoking outside her apartment waiting for her kids to come home from school. Haha, not the person you'd think be ready for the Gospel. She invites us to sit with her when we start teaching her about how we can help families through the Gospel of Jesus Chirst (faith, repentence, baptism...etc). She was hesitant until we asked her to kneel with us and ask in prayer if it was true. I was literally begging Heavenly Father to answer her prayer. She finished and we waited....we asked how she felt and she said the most content she has ever felt. She didn't want us to leave, and accepted a baptismal date with her 16-year old daughter for the 6th as well. The only problem is the smoking. We are going to their house tonight though.

It has literally been so much fun though. The first week was super hard, but we were patient and are now receiving the blessings from enduring our trial well.  I hope it continues.

The members are super great, and we've been fed a couple times.

I laughed when you said our area is really dangerous. It might be, but I've never felt like it is. WE see TONS of border control though. like 20 cars a day. The border is the river. So we have the border, a prison, and lots of mexicans here.

Yes, we do shop at Wal-mart though. (thank goodness) So you would be able to send me stuff through there (cough cough:)). That'd be super cool if you could. And yes, I did get the package (thank you very much).I can't believe Rachel forgot it. ;)

Ok, this is the best part though. Our apartment is freaking legit. Like, the legitest of the legit. We have normal beds, a fridge, a lot of room, a shower and.....(this is the best part) A WASHER AND DRYER!?!?!?!

We have a freaking Washer mom. it's so sweet. Ha, it's nicer living quarters for shizzle. The apartment I was in in San Martin was a piece of poop compared to this.

Anyway, all is well. My P-Day is on Monday, but it was Labor Day (the day everyone doesn't labor...?) so we couldn't use the Library to email home. I did write one letter to Rachel though. So, that should get there soonish...

Oh, well...I think that's it for now. Love ya bunches!!

Elder Benson

Elder Bradley