Gabriel's Pockets

Hey everyone! This last week has gone pretty well. We've been pretty busy all day so I might not have much time to write today. We actually just got done helping Hermano Santiago (our branch mission leader) move into his new house. Before that we played basketball with him and our branch president, and we delivered a dryer to one of our investigators.

Catalina and Gabriel (the older couple) are still progressing well. The thing is, we're not sure if Gabriel is really accountable. Sometimes he's with it and sometimes he's not. He's the funniest guy ever though. He lives to collect cans. Every day we see him out and about, cruising the streets at about .00000001 mph to look for cans. It's pretty much a full-time job for him. I guess when he gets enough he goes to turn them in for money. This morning we went over to deliver a dryer that one of our members gave them. He took the opportunity to show us all of the things he carries in his pockets (everything that he likes). He had his wallet of course, but he also proceeded to pull out about ten bags (for collecting cans), his glasses, some random business cards and instructions for things, a full can of Pepsi, some body jewel sticker things that he found, and a spoon (in case anyone invites him into their house to eat). He pulled out a lot of other things that I can't remember and I'm pretty sure he had other things that he didn't show us. Hermano Santiago gave his testimony in sacrament meeting which earned another hallelujah from him, although it wasn't nearly as loud as the one a couple weeks ago. He's a character for sure.

Speaking of sacrament meeting, I had the chance to speak in Spanish for the first time. I spoke about the importance of missionary work, surprise surprise, but it went pretty well. Now, giving a talk in English seems super easy though.

We made some good progress with the Contreras family this week. Reynaldo (the dad) just got his appendix out so we were able to go give him a blessing. We also did some service at their house on Saturday morning and played soccer at a park after. The almost came to church this week but they called at the last minute and said they wouldn't be able to come. We're making some good progress though. I have a feeling they'll be back pretty soon.

I can't remember what else I wanted to say from this week. I'll probably remember something right after I send it but if I do, I guess I'll just add it to next week's e-mail. Have an awesome week everyone!

Elder Olsen

Random fact for this week: Circle K pretty much has a monopoly on gas stations here in Tucson. We checked on a GPS the other day to see how many we have around us. We have exactly 50 in a 6.5 mile radius from our apartment!