PENALTY KICKS...

Okay family, how´s it all going? I enjoyed reading your letters as always! This week was alright, except for Chile lost in penalty kicks. Soooooo disappointing. We were locked in our house, and were just calling members every so often to check the score.  I´ve never seen a whole country just go on pause during a sporting event. It´s unreal. There´s no buses going, no people, everything is closed, and even 95 year old grandmas are cheering for their team. I´ve also never seen people so devastated in their lives. In the house, we were pretty devastated as well. Chile would have played on the 4th of July which would have been cool, but wow the Chileans were just destraught. Oh well, life goes on. Hopefully the US can keep it going.. how sick would that be. Everybody here is giving props to the US for improving, slowly but surely. Anyways N got confirmed on Sunday, and she´s doing really well.  B´s family came to church again. The husband, and the son who aren´t members came as well. There´s also a 22 year old daugher who is, and a 6 year old daughter as well. The daughter just loves when we go over and always wants me to play games with her haha. Anyways they all came to church, including the activity we did on Friday. We did like a Family Night. Anyways Elder R is a pretty cool kid. He´s way nice... like about an hour ago he decided to buy me a red sweater for 10 bucks. My black sweater was really dirty and I wore a grey one like 3 days in a row, and he decided I needed some more variety. Haha he´s a nice kid. . To answer your questions Mom, we have to cook every night if we want to eat. About 4 out of the 7 days, I don´t have any time to eat anything. I go to bed absolutely starving, but I guess I´m just used to it. In our house, we actually do our laundry which is so much nicer, but that´s very rare. Most houses don´t have a washer/dryer. My next area a lady will probably do it. All the elders houses are crappy here. For example, we pay about 150 bucks a month to live in our house. Wanna hear about the sisters apartment? It costs 580 bucks a month.We live 4 elders in a tiny house, and they have 2 sisters in a brand new huge apartment with 2 bathrooms. Case closed. As of right now, we aren´t living in filth. We took advantage of being in the house during the Chile game and did a full on cleaning job. We also didn´t leave after, because there were car alarms and everything like that going off and apparently a dude tried to rob the sisters. Anyways we didn´t leave until things had settled down and cleaned our house. It was nasty. Mold all in the windows, spider webs everywhere, fungus growing in the shower, and stuff like that. But that´s every house here in Chile basically... the houses just get nasty. I´m glad you had a nice birthday, and enjoyed Leatherby´s without me :( I love ice cream. It´s just not the same here. I miss smoothies and milk shakes. Hopefully the Lake Powell trip for Robyn and Brian turns out better than the last. I just can´t picture Dallin being active, I still think of him as the the little kid sitting on the floor and not really talking.  He sounds like a funny and active kid. Well that´s basically all I can think of for this week... thanks for praying for me and for everything you guys do. Keep pushing! I love you guys!
P.S. I also want to wish everyone a HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! My 2nd favorite holiday next to Christmas, and wow that day is just awesome. Being with the whole family, parade, barbecue, fireworks, and homeade ice cream. I´ll be thinking of you guys and I hope you guys all enjoy such a great holiday. Living in a different country has made that holiday mean even more, and has made me so much more thankful for the country we live in and to be an American. It´s such a dope country. I LOVE AMERICA!!! 

Here´s a few pictures. One is of the nicest dog with just a jacked up leg. He lives pretty close to our house. I feel so bad for him, but he doesn´t look like he´s ever in pain. He just limps weird and the leg jiggles every which way. Another is of the apple juice I finally decided to buy. I miss the apple juice that was always at home haha. Another is the bugs/ slugs we find on our shower curtains sometimes and on the walls and on the floor. They come out late at night. Not nearly as big as the ones I found/stepped on in Linares, but still. Another one is me on some hills we always have to walk up. At the end of the days, I´m just exhausted. Another is a puppy I found on the street that I sent home in a box to you guys to be with Bella. She should be there in about 3 more days. Be on the lookout please. Another one is just proof of how rich the area I´m working in really is.