(no subject)

Dear Family,

So the time has really been flying by these past couple of weeks. The days don't seem really short in anyway but the weeks seem to be moving buy much faster. It seems like when ever I go to look into my planner for the transfer I am much farther into it that I think that I should be. It think that it is a good thing that things go by fast. It is frusterating sometimes though when I want more time to do something.

But all in all things are going very well. I was pretty sick for the last part of last week. I have a fever wed through friday and then a really stuffy nose on saturday and sun. We really didn't leave the aprtment very much and I slept a ton. But the good news is that I feel back to normal now and everything is going well. I got a lot of rest and that helped me make it through everything.

So because of that this past week has been really slow. We have been able to get as much work done as we would have liked but things have picked up in the past couple days. I would say the main story from the week is a biulding in our area called Northgate One. It is a huge apartment complex that is about 30 stories high. It is definitely the mose ghetto place in our entire area. We avoid the building as much as possible. But we got a referal from someone who lived in there that wanted a DVD. So we ended up going into that building two times, once on Sunday and the second on Tuesday. We walked into the building and the very first thing that happened is that a huge group of about 7 huge black guys started pointing at us and laughing. They were saying that we were the only white people that they had seen in a long time and were asking us what we were doing in that building. We explained alittle bit and then jumped into the elevator to go to our appointment. When we got off on the florr we needed they were two little girls playing in the hall and they asked us if we were the police. They got really scared for some reason but relaxed when we told them that we were just missionaries and that they don't have to worry about anything. I was really suprised to see them in the hall because it was really dirty and smelled terrible. There was a stray cat roaming the hall and the carpet had huge stains in it. Keep in mind that we saw the stray cat on the twentieth floor of this building, it is a very strange place. And it turned out that our appointment was not there. So we jumped in the elevator with 2 black people and a little Mexican. On the way in the elevator on of the black guys started cussing out the mexican and telling him that he wanted a dollar from him. He said that he hated spanish people because they were coming into there country and taking their jobs and their food. The mexican man just kept looking at the floor which seemed to make the black guy more angry. He told him to look up and look at him when he was being talked to. The elevator finally got stopped and we got off. I don't even think that the mexican man could understand a word that the guy was saying.

Elder Rhoton was not happy about it. He got really mad and when we left vented his anger. We really didn't know what to do. We didn't want to tell off the black guy because we were afraid that something would happen to us. And at the same time I felt really bad because we couldn't do anything to help out the hispanic dude. It really made me upset and Elder Rhoton got really angry. It is just stupid because a lot of the time people get treated poorly by others but instead of realising the problem (here the problem being a racism black man that thinks he is better than some one because he spends his welfare check on a nice suit and cigars) they just treat other people poorly as well. So the cycle continues. The thing that reallt bothered me the most about it is that hispanics always complain about the blacks and the blacks always complain about the whites and the hispanics. And instead of trying to fix the problem they add fuel to the fire. I don't think that is what Martin Luther Kings Jr.'s dream was. People still haven't figured it out and I think it is still goin got take sometime.

But fortunately through all of it there is the gospel. That bright ray of hope that moves us on through the hard days and keeps us learning and growing through it all. There was a really good article in the ensign for this month about self-reliance I think it is by Elder Ballard. I am glad that we have inspired leaders that help us make the right choices and point us ion the right direction.

Things are going well here in New Jersey the work rolls on faster and faster. I hope that everything is going well for everyone back home. Tell me how swim season goes and anyother good news.

Love,
Elder Haslam