Rain and Bike Problems

Dear Family,

So to start off it is raining. It has been raining consistently for the past 48 hours. It is the kind of cold rain that, in combination from the freezing wind off the river, chills you to the bone no matter what you wear outside. It doesn't really bother me anymore though. I think it is pretty fun to go outside and to see the people that walk around even though it is really wet. You meet the most interesting people that way. The other day on the train we met a man that said he was Muslim and then asked us how many wifes we had. I told him that I only had 4 but I was looking my number five. The guy was taken aback for a second (I don't think he was expecting that answer) and then he asked me if I was being serious. I told him that I was just messing around, and then he laughed and thought that it was pretty funny. He then went into a long story about how there was no may he would be able to handle that many women. He told us that he had enough problems between his wife and his mother trying to control his life. It was a fun train ride. On another train ride we got into a conversation with a guy about being missionaries. He was pretty funny and told us all about how he wasn't afraid to die anymore because he was a true believer. The best part about it was that just before the train stopped his friend asked him to stop talking about Jesus because it made him feel worse about what they were about to do. He then turned to us and said he was going to do something bad and would appreciate it if we could change the subject. Elder Rhoton and I started laughing when we finally got off the train. We figured that they were going to go buy some drugs. (they got off the train and started walking to North Camden - lots of drugs).

So is other news we have been walking because my bike is out of commission. We were riding at night last week and I didn't see a curb until it was right in front of me. I tried to jump over the curb but I ended up hitting me back rim and denting it pretty badly. I was able to ride home that night but we just walked for the rest of the week. Fortunately today is Pday so I will be able to go get my bike fixed. I need to get the wheel trued and hopefully it will not cost me too much money. It is the beginning of the month so I have plenty of money on my card, the only issue is that I am going to have to be really careful about what I buy so that I will have plenty of food at the end of the month. I shouldn't have any problem and the members are good about feeding us here so I am not worried.

So I guess I should tell you about my companion, Elder Rhoton. I can't remember if I have or not but this won't be very long. He is from Mesa, AZ and is a really cool guy. He likes to work hard so we get along really well. He can also enjoy himself and the truth is that most of the weird conversations we have with people are initiated by him. He likes to walk onto the train and pick out the weirdest person and then talk to them. He has a tendency to pick someone that is on drugs and it actually is really fun. I have a lot of funny stories from people we have talked to because of him. One day we talked to a lady who informed us of two very important things in her life. The first was that she had been smoking weed all day long (which was not hard to figure out by the way that her legs were in the air and she seemed to have a different pull of gravity than anyone else on the train). She also informed us that she couldn't read Spanish because she was a Negro and that God must be with us because we haven't been shot yet. It was another fun train trip.

Well, I need to go. I hope that everyone is doing well.

Love,
Elder Haslam