It looks like I'm just going to have to plan on posting on the blog every two weeks.  I am really having a hard time finding enough time to be able to do it.  We have had some terrible storms in the last few weeks with hundreds of thousands of people losing power. We have been very fortunate that we haven't lost our power, but we did lose the air conditioning and internet at the office for about a week. We don't have to be out in the hot weather too much. Just from the apartment to the car, and from the car to the office, so it doesn't create a big problem for us. We lost the use of our elevator again for about a week and a half. We had to make multiple trips up and down 4 flights of stairs when we bought groceries.  The big cases of bottled water we had to split up and each carry about 6 bottles each time we got back to the apartment.  They finally got the elevator fixed two days ago so we are back in business. 

A week ago from yesterday, we went to a baptism South of Houston. It was about an hour's drive and it was pouring down rain for most of the way there. The person getting baptized was a young man from Egypt. I think I might have mentioned him before. He supports his mother and sister in Egypt besides himself. I helped him get a new job as a security guard where he is earning quite a bit more money, so now he works 12 hours a day instead of 16. It was a very nice baptism and he left directly from his baptism to go to work. Here is a picture of him and me after his baptism.

I still can't pronounce his name correctly. Here is a copy of his baptismal program so you can see why I can't pronounce it.

We have really been enjoying the English Connect class. It takes a long time to prepare each lesson and Velyn has come up with some really creative ideas to help them learn. We have done a Bingo game, two different crossword puzzles where the clues are in Spanish and they have to write the English word in the puzzle. She also made a go fish game with pictures of vocabulary words. We really love those people and feel very fortunate to work in the English Connect program. We had a full class last week so Velyn took another picture, trying to get as many people in there as possible.

The guy on the left with the baseball cap (gorro) is Luis. He is the funniest guy and always has a smile on his face. The lady next to him is Xiomara, his wife. They seem like they are a very happy couple. He was the one that thought the word T-shirt was the same as teacher. It is great to teach people that have such a strong desire to learn and to better their lives. 

We went to several different wards today to make announcements in Priesthood Meeting and Relief Society about the employment center and what resources we have that are available to them. When we first walked into the building, I thought it seemed a little warm. Then it was announced that the Priesthood and Relief Society would meet together in the Relief Society room since it had its own air conditioner. The next ward was really hot in the chapel, and they decided after the main meeting to cancel the others since it was so hot. It reminded me of when I was growing up and we took the horses and wagon into to town for church and didn't have any air conditioning in the summer, except there wasn't the dust to deal with in the chapel like we had in the wagon.

I did want to mention that I got into trouble with the management of the apartments when they caught me arranging all squirrels by their height. They said that they didn't want me critter sizing.

Yesterday was our 5 month mark on our mission. We both can't believe how time is flying by so fast. We are really enjoying this mission experience and have already been rewarded beyond our imagination with the people that we have been able to help and to teach. We have a very comfortable apartment and all the things that we need. We have seen so many people that are struggling just to survive, and are grateful if we can do some small thing that makes their life easier and better. We haven't had a TV since we arrived in Houston, and surprisingly, we don't miss it at all. We have used the time to prepare english lessons, study the scriptures, reading and just spend more time together talking. It is nice not to have that distraction.