Transfers and Snow

Dear Family,

Everything is well in New Jersey and I think that I will start off with the weather report. It snowed yesterday in New Brunswick and it stuck to the ground which was pretty suprising. It was really cold but fortunately we were not out in the cold much because people would let us in. It has been raining on and off for the past week but that still doesn't really stop us as we go out and try to teach people. We just put on a couple layers of clothes on and we are fine. Most people think that we are crazy for riding our bikes in the rain and snow but we don't really mind. More often than not in helps us get into to doors because people feel bad about us standing outside in the rain. I have not gotten sick or anything from being in the cold so we will just keep doing it. The closest I have gotten to being sick was the 30 min I spent in the bathroom a couple days ago. We had eaten at a member's house and she made us enchiladas whic were very good and very spicy. Needless to say the next morning I spent a little bit of time in the bathroom.

I do really love all of the food the members give us and I esspecially love beans. They are a key member of every meal and I really like them. One thing that I also tried which was very good which I was not expecting was cow tongue. A little lady from Nicaragua made it for us and it was really good. It was nice and tender and tasted like a very high quality steak. It was just cut into slices that were shaped as if they came from a loaf of bread. I really enjoyed it.

My companion got transfered and he is now going to be the zone leader of the spanish zone in the south. I am in the north spanish zone so I really dont know when I will be able to see him but that is okay. I really enjoyed being his companion and we had lots of fun together. We worked really hard and did lots of good work together. I really liked him so I hope that my new companion will be just has good. My new companion is from Gremany\Japan and was born in Utah. His name is Elder Johnson and everyone says that he is really a great guy so I am really excited for this upcoming transfer. I will keep everyone updated on how it goes.

As far as we are doing with teaching people things are going really well. We are teaching this man and is family and he says that the Book of Mormon has changed his life. It was really awesome to hear him say that and the only thing that is holding him back from being baptized is that he is not married. That is going to be a long proccess but we are going to work hard to try and get him to that point. We just need to make him realize that he needs to have faith and act. That is one of the main difficulties that we have here with the hispanics is getting them to commit to change their lives. But we will keep at them and try to make sure that they realize that they need to act.

The hispanics are really great people it is just hard some times to get them to commit to somehting concrete. They always say that they will but then more often than not they forget to do somehting or they just don't do it. I really love being in spanish work and I am excited for everything that we can do here in New Brunswick. I feel like I have something of an idea of what I am supposed to do so now I will just try to do it. That is pretty crazy that Bernie is getting married and that you got a TV. I am not really sure which one of those is more shocking but I think that I will have to go with the TV being more unexpected.

I hope everyone is doing well at home annd I will try to get a tape off to everyone this week.

Love,
Elder Haslam

PS Mom, you can send packages to my apartment just send them through USPS(government) so that I do not have to sign for the package.