Briggs Andreasen	8:51 AM (9 hours ago)

So apparently I have been out over 100 days. I didn´t know that until I was told in an email. Here we count by weeks or changes or months, and even then it doesnt mean much. I am about to finish up my 2nd change in the field in a few weeks. crazy how fast it goes. It sounds to me that there is a lot going on at home! Graduations, the division of the mission, and all of the other more normal stuff that seems to fill our days. I still love hearing about everyones lives. It is kind of like a little escape for me. Not that I need an escape, I just really enjoy the short time on Mondays to hear about everyone back home. This was kind of a crazy week. It has rained like crazy. I don't think I have ever seen rain like this before. But the work goes on! And all is well. I have to admit, I was a little homesick this week. My companion Elder Martin goes home in one more change and he is getting ¨baggy¨as we call it here. It kind of rubs off too, so I have been thinking about home a little more than I should. I figure it works both ways though, so I am trying to work super hard and stay super focused so that it might rub off on him. But he makes the decisions as the senior companion in our trio so many times we are subject to his bagginess. Something pretty funny and scary and crazy happened this week. We were walking down a street on the way to dinner, and a drunk man (the son of a member...) was walking toward us. All of a sudden, he just looked at Elder Castillo, and as he approached he pulled his arm back and took a huge swing at him!! Because he was so drunk, he was slow, and Elder Castillo had plenty of time to get out of the way. We then just kind of navigated our way out of that situation, as there was plenty of room to run around him and get out of there. Luckily because we had space, we got out without incident. But believe me, I was ready and willing to put him down had it been necessary. Also this week, President Glazier came and did our morning study and weekly planning with our companionship. That was pretty intense. It was amazing to see that he received the same inspirations for our investigators, even though he has never met them. He was quite satisfied by the way we do things in our companionship, and it was a really neat opportunity to study with him. We also did a pretty funny activity this week. An appointment fell through, and we were near the chapel, so we put out a table with some pamphlets and videos and passalong cards and such and talked to people who passed by. To draw a little more attention, Elder Martin and I sang hymns while Elder Castillo explained to people a little bit about the church and gave them one of the materials. And yes, I did sing harmony. And yes, we sounded awesome. I got my package this week. Not the umbrella yet, but the one with the perfect pushup thingies in there. Thank you Mom (and I assume Dad or Zach as well). The treats are well appreciated. And I don´t know if it is just my weakness, but perfect pushups are hard. Way harder than normal pushups. Elder Martin and I have been doing pushups lately. Tomorrow Elder Martin and Elder Castillo have a meeting, so they´ll pick up my other package if it is there. Right now I don´t need anything else. This week in my Preach My Gospel study, I started underlining all of the promises made to missionaries, and I started circleing every time it uses a form of the word ´apply´. I have also been studying the Book of Mormon in every free moment I get. Studying in Spanish is so awesome, because I have to pay much more attention to the meaning of each word, and I notice a lot of stuff that I have never noticed before. Read the Book of Mormon! I promise you that you will like it. You will. Because it is awesome, and you will feel the Spirit of that book. You will. I don´t have a nifty little quote this week, but here´s something. In I Nefi 8, in the vision of the Tree of Life, Lehi sees that there are innumerable concourses of people, and that many of them are pressing forward to the rod of iron. There are MANY people who are looking for the gospel in their lives. If you are one of those people looking, talk to my family or to the missionaries. They can help you figure it all out. And if you are already walking on the path, help others, because there are many who are looking. Be like Lehi, who when he made it to the tree and had found the perfect happiness that is the Love of God, turned and shouted to his family, and they found the path and were reunited with him. We have some shouting to do. We all know people who we wish had the same happiness we do. Let´s call out to them. Have a great week people!! Pray to know who you can help this week. Then, do all you can to help them. I love you guys. Adios!

P.S. - A few minutes after the picture was taken in the rain, that street was literally a river. Crazy!

Elder Andreasen