Family,

I think that for one knee that was the problem, because it isn't hurting as much, but I think the other knee might be that plus a different problem with the joint. I wear the knee things mom sent me when I jump rope now, so hopefully that is the magic cure (the one that doesn't exist for anything). 

Ben,  Please get really good at swimming so that you can teach me how to do it better. I thought that you quit piano lessons for a while? Ben and Josh, now I have two adventure time things, but they are marceline and ice king which I really wanted BMO, oh well.

Mom, we didn't get our microwave, but they sent us an electric burner, which is good because we could disconnect the gas and close the window. The dumb thing is that one of the two burners already broke, also, it gets really hot all over. Josh says that shoes melting is a lie, because he once tried to melt his shoes in the fire and it didn't work. But allegedly August is the hottest month. 

Dad, I don't think I will get sick of Mexican food, because I really like it. I just get sick of the American food they give me and other stuff, but I like Mexican food a lot. I'll start putting Aaron in my prayers again, (darn pride cycle, but at least he is doing alright) Thanks for working hard to save everything for me. 

We fixed our bicycles (or I bought a new tire and had my tube repaired) and now we ride them. And I thought mine was the crappy one, because it can't change gears (because it is broken) until I found out the irritating way that my companion rides his is because his doesn't have brakes. The worst thing is that he refuses to buckle his helmet, so that isn't a great combination, but I am fine. I want to ride bikes with you guys again when I get home, now that I know how (from college and the mission) more or less decent.

Right now I am happy.

One of my favorite drinks they make is water of cucumber (which is just lemonade with cucumbers instead of lemons and some lime). You guys can make it in the blender if you want.

Allegedly, Mexicali is the drunkest city in the world and has the dirtiest air in the republic, including Mexico City, and is the hottest inhabited part of the world (because the Sahara doesn't have people) but its not that bad yet.

Did I seem older or different or better to you guys in the call?

Cockroaches run so fast. Is it true that they poop out eggs when you crush them? I don't know, but we always clean with bleach after killing one anyways. In my mission, I have seen 4 in our apartment, but never in our food, so we just try to be careful and put our trash in the freezer and stuff like that.

Also, I have a lot more fear of getting ticks here than before when we were camping, I have seen so many more here than I ever did in Colorado, maybe because of all the dogs, but at least I don't have to be scared anymore, like when I was little, of whatever bug was on the trampoline, because I know what they look like now.

I was reading when Ammon and his brother part ways and it said that they had faith that the Lord would bring them together again, and I think that is like the mission and life, because I have a lot of companions that I like and you guys and other people, and there are things that I can do, but ultimately I just have to have faith in the people I love that they will live their lives well, which is hard sometimes. But it is cool when Alma sees them again and he is really happy because they were still his brothers in the Lord.

The people sometimes fish in the canal here and my companion said that they probably only catch "cacadrillos" which is a combination word of cocodrillos (crocodiles). But we met a guy who did catch a fish and it turned out he used to be a traveling clown and has been to Asia and Europe and Africa and Patagonia, but now he is retired from the circus, (he didn't want to talk about religion).

I tried a new fruit that I think is called Mochi or something (which I guess it kind of looks like rice mush dough, but not really). It grows on a tree and looks like a soy bean pod and when it turns red it opens and there is fruit inside that is white and in spheres. It is kind of dry and has a similar flavor to jicama, but dry. It isn't good at all, but it is pretty when it turns red.

It is hot here, and it is going to get a lot hotter, but it doesn't help when people complain about it. The missionaries here fall right into the peoples hands when they say stuff like "The air burnt me!", exaggerating and things like that, because the people here just want to tell us we don't know heat and say stuff like that. Because they love it. Which it is hot, like we opened the windows in the car, and just hot air entered and dried us, but made us hotter, like an oven or something. We might be able to use sombreros in a little while, we don't know still. We have air conditioning but it is in the other room from our bedroom and is really expensive (which can be reimbursed but only to a certain point) so i don't know how much we are going to use it at this point, even though my companion already wants to.

Also, a friend of mine (but not me) wants to know if sitting on a hot bicycle seat really gives you hemorrhoids? I...or rather my friend heard that from his companion. 

Dad, guess what? They use the word otaku in Mexico. (Japanese word)

Also, I was reading in Alma 26:25-26 when it talks about how a lot of the Nephites wanted to destroy the Lamanites because of their sin but Ammon and his brothers went to the desert and converted a lot of them. It is the same here in Mexicali, in the desert, with union libre (no one being married) so I marked those verses in my scriptures with just the note of Mexicali and union libre.

An investigator had a doubt (that the Book of Mormon wasn't true) because she didn't recognize any of the names of the prophets, even after we explained that it was in a different place. But she said she thought maybe those were the false prophets the bible talks about because they had weird names. But really, I would have more doubts if they only had names that were found in the Bible.

I am happy here and the heat doesn't bother me, just the sweat right now. My companion sometimes bugs me, but like I said he always has good intentions and we are being more obedient than I have been with whichever other companion, so all those complaints I wrote in my journal were just to vent. I am still trying to be better like that.

Love you guys, eternal families, don't give me diarrhea, love your faces, telepathic hugs, shut up..... the atonement!

Written May 5, 2014 (Cinco De Mayo)

Family,

Lindsay, love you too. Dad or Mom or someone told me Mackenzie likes to suck on her toes especially her big one, so I know that she is your daughter. Haha

Ben, my companion asked me if I was indie and I told him no, but that my brother was.  Also, the only thing more embarrassing than a family member catching you crying while emailing, is the weeks when my companion does (also don´t worry about the love thing, josh sends me love every week). Kiley doesn´t ever write me anymore, but I don´t have that much time anyways, probably her tampoco. You´re probably right that M will look the same Ben, but I am expecting that she can talk mostly because everyone says she says Mama, and the babies here don´t learn to talk until like 4 years old some of them

Mom, I don´t have a back up phone number, so hopefully things work out. 

Sunscreen is easy to buy, but expensive. I am going to spend a lot of money on sunscreen (which doesn´t even do anything, because I sweat it all off immediately if I am outside in the sun) and water and sugar and salt for homemade gatorade and vaseline, which is helping my lips a lot. The crummy thing is the salt and chafing from the sweat, I can´t imagine how much it sucks to be somewhere humid. But I sweat a bunch after my shower and the real heat hash´t even begun, but even with those aspects, I am alright and actually happy. I might be able to wear a hat or something, but I doubt it. Someone mentioned something like that though. I said 'cenote' in a game where we have to name bodies of water and everyone was incredulous, like, "I think that is a volcano", but that´s okay, because my right quotient went up. We almost never do service, but that´s okay. Sometimes there are planned service projects, but I have never been able to help with one. I think I will have that chance sometimes. This week we moved the sister missionaries, maybe that counts.

I´ll probably get the easter package a week from Tuesday. I won´t use my other account to Skype you because I can´t remember the password. 

Dad, all of the photos from last week were in Tiujauan and all these in Mexicali.

I am feeling a burn de anxiety right now, with the emails and the call and stuff, but I will just sin and use a little more computer time. 

This week:

Kaden in Mexicali

We have a good and big ward, but we have the half with a lot of less actives, but that´s okay, except we have to walk a lot to the food and can´t visit the members except when we eat with them.

Everyone says that my shoes will melt, but I am going to use them anyways, because I don´t want to buy shoes with leather soles. Afterwards, I will ask you guys to send me more shoes if I need them.

My companion is good. He talks a ton and so we always waste a ton of time and he is really forgetful but he reminds me of a little kid in that he always has really good intentions. He tries to help me a lot and is a good person and wants to work (even though we waste a ton of time) so I try not to complain. He tries to clean too, but most people just don´t have the ocd attention that I have. I wash using powder detergent to clean, but I am going to invest in a bottle of clorox to dilute. 

He is trying to lose wieght and always asks about what I eat and exercise, but I do such crappy exercise that it can´t be that. I would really like to spend like an hour exercising, instead of 10 minutes, but oh well. 

Much Irrigated Farm Land

I´m trying really hard to laugh at everything, whenever I feel alone or at all of my insecurities and anxieites, and it´s really hard but when I fail I just try to try again and keep working the next day to be positive and I no longer label myself as a negative person, but rather a positive patient, happy person. Even though everyone always tells me I need to smile more which irritates me more than anything else. Like we were walking and the heat doesn´t even bother me and "why are you sad?" and so I just say that that is the thing that makes me the most sad, but I am doing a lot better at talking to people, so that is good. I felt depressed and wasn´t talking to anyone, but then I started to at the meal, and everyone liked me and it was way better and they complimented my spanish instead of asking if I had just arrived and said I talked unlike a lot of americans. 

When we do practices, my companion plays Dona Maria Apostasia, with her two typical ugly babies, which makes me laugh a ton. He also says if the numbers on our counter tickets on the bus add up to 21 we can exchange them for one kiss, which makes the bus ride a lot funner. The closest we got is me 19 and him 20. Haha

It is really dusty here, but I feel a lot better now that I bought vaseline, because my lips are regular again and my nose isn´t bleeding anymore. I also mixed homemade gatorade powder that I can use a little bit of and carry it with me to add to water. When July begins, we will have some time during the day to study (or if we are bad, sleep) but it will be miserable. The heat doesn´t bother me that much, like I said, just the sweating and the having to think so much about drinking water. 

My New Companion

It turns out that our accents don´t even matter. My companion is pretty american looking and from Caretero and everyone always acts surprised when he says he is Mexican. It is all about appearance. Also, once a sister trashed his spanish and said he needed to study more because she thought he was american. But also he said sabo once with a member, so it is true that he needs to study more. Also, it means that I can do it!

I still stress out a ton, but I feel a lot better when I feel like I am in an anime or a movie (and keep trying to remind myself that I am a relaxed person, now). Which is easy because Mexicali has a lot of interesting scenery, not in a pretty way, but in a bleak lonely way that i really like; like appreciating the mountains in the far background and the sound of our feet while we walk across a once-muddy, rutted field, stepping on the dried twigs and the weedy flowers  that I actually really like and a little bit of trash. (It´s like I am in a post-apocalypse sometimes)

Studying 

When we get back to the house it is like 94 degrees inside, but I don´t mind that much yet. Mostly I just hate the sun because it wrecks my skin.

I am already using more time than I should to write people, but maybe another epoch (is that a word?) in my mission I will do better. 

The Chinese food is famous here (and decent for how cheap it is) and people say that 75% of the population is Chinese and one guy was telling us they all live underground and that is why we never see them and they are isolative and only go to their restaurants to work, which sounded crazy until I realized that it makes perfect sense that Asians would be the only ones smart enough to live underground in this place. (and me, I had that idea)

I will see you guys on Saturday (if the family we are hoping for says yes) but I think so. My companion isn´t even going to call his family because he can´t get ahold of them. If not, don´t worry. I will write you Monday and see you soon. I love you guys a lot and awkward hugs and eternal families and don´t give me diarrhea (because it will kill me here) and love you and don´t worry and love you.

Kaden