Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 11:41 AM

Hey thank you guys very much for sending that video and the messages. It is really great to hear how everyone is doing over there in California. Happy Valentines Day to you guys too! Here we don`t really celebrate that holiday but that's alright. I still have those Propel packets you sent me from the Valentines Day package which are really good. Thank you thank you.

So Mom all of your flowers are starting to grow ? That is awesome. There have been a few new flowers popping up here and there over here too. Mom you need to let me know the address of Isreal so I can write him while he is in the MTC. I know how cool it is to get mail in the MTC. Let me know as soon as possible if you can, por favor. There is hardly going to be anyone when I get back now. It seems like everyone is out on their missions. That is a good thing of course. A letter from down south got here but I haven`t got it yet to open it up. All it says is Redlands California so I don`t know if it is only from Grandma and Grandpa or more. The most important thing is that it got here. Dad I liked the video that you sent and it was pretty funny also. It is crazy to see how the younger generation is growing but the rest seem to be about the same, haha. Mom and Dad are you still doing your exercises in the morning?

That hike you did (Mt. Diablo) Dad sounds really fun. I can`t wait to hike it once I get back. I am sure it would be an adventure, haha. Dad, the prophet your talking about (I mentioned that his being able to continually go back to the gated community without being stopped is like the story of one of the prophets from the Book of Mormon who went back to a city he was kicked out of without being harmed.) is Samuel the Lamanite. It is funny how his name is because it is in the same order of words as in Spanish, "Samuel el Lamanita". Ya he had to climb a big wall and then jumped off of it. From that one painting of Samuel the Lamanite you would think that he wouldn`t survive the fall, haha. But ya it is nice going and teaching there because the people understand and we don`t have to worry about anyone coming in and stealing our people because no one else is allowed in, haha. We have found a few families working out there so far.

I am having a great time here with Elder Talla. He just got a letter from home saying that his family already knows Hermana Ochs!. He showed me pictures with Hermana Ochs in them. It was really cool.

We are getting a few families ready for baptism so we will see how it goes. We are fasting and doing everything possible to get our goals met.

In my time working I have grown to love the little fritongas on the side of the road. They are people that fry a bunch of food and then sell it in front of their houses. The fried enchiladas are so good. I buy one everyday now. I also tried Oreo cereal the other day while on divisions with another Elder. He convinced me to try it. It is what it sounds like. Oreos in a bowl of milk and you eat it like cereal. I tell you this to let you know my new diet (except the Oreo cereal because it is expensive) Don`t worry though I haven`t gained any weight, haha.

We also have a mysterious thing happen in our house. Every morning we find some kind of grape looking fruit scattered all over the floor and dry yellow substance that I suspect as eggs. They appear in the middle of the night so we don`t know what is doing it. The place is fairly closed in except for the gaps around the ceiling so it can`t be that big. Any suggestions?

This Sunday I got to give a talk in sacrament meeting about Obedience and it was really good. I line I liked was that "if we freely obey him he will freely bless us." So the limit doesn`t exist on either side because there is no end to his blessings and we are not perfect so we can always be more obedient. On another note I finished reading Jesus the Christ this morning and that is a really, really, really awesome book. It strengthen my faith and testimony a thousand times. I highly recommend it to whoever has not had the blessing yet. WOW!! I am pretty pumped about it.

Well I love you all very very much and I will talk to you next week. Big Hearts.

Elder Ochs