A visit from Richard G. Scott!!

Hola,
This was a very interesting week, Elder Taylor, my comp went home. He was having really bad anxiety I guess and it was just a bunch of stuff adding up. He was only getting like 3 hours of sleep a night and whatnot. I knew he was having problems but I didnt think it was that bad. On Wednesday tho he talked to some high up people here for like 2 and a half hours, while I sat and did nothing. Then that night his dad came and talked to him cus he lives like 10 minutes away. That was one of the biggest problems for him, he was too close to home. So then he talked to some kind of doctor saturday morning and he told him that he needed to go home, basicly as a medical reason to get his head fixed. So he left Thursday and 2 pm. He hopes to be able to come back in about 6 months and hopefully end up in McAllen. I really really hope I see him there in a few months.

Im doing pretty good tho. He asked me, Elder Hansen, Elder Burningham, and Elder Cockrell to give him a blessing before he left. All 3 of them are in the older group and leave in 3 weeks but they are like my best friends. So I gave the blessing and the spirit was so strong it was crazy. Elder Hansen said the blessing was really good. I think Elder Taylor will be back. So now Im in a tripod, or threesome, whatever its called with Elder Navarro and Elder Rudd. They work super hard so its gonna be good for me. I like them a lot and we teach pretty well together so far. Speaking of teaching I can basicly teach the first 4 principles of lesson 1 in Spanish so thats legit. Gift of Tongues is a crazy amazing blessing, especially when you get it from an Apostle of the Lord. Yea, we had an apostle speak to us. So sick. So we are sitting in our Tuesday night devotional, like 5th row cus we know shortcuts haha, anyway we're all noticing all this stupid stuff like how it isnt showing who the speaker is on the slideshow, theres an extra security guard by the door, a lot more old people were there, so we're hyping it up sooooo much, kinda expecting it to be a letdown like a 70 or something hahahah. So Richard G Scott walks it. It was so crazy. I just got the chills as I was typing that. The spirit was so strong. In the middle of his talk he asked, how many of you are learning languages, so like half the place raised their hand, then he said: okay well as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, I give you the gift of tongues. WHAT! It was so cool. Like I felt it hit me. Like a flipping wave. So crazy. I can't even describe it. So needless to say Spanish is going a lot better now.

Another amazing experience I had this week was seeing one of my best friends gain a testimony for the first time. I think I told you about Elder Yergensen last week, anyway he never really had a testimony and he was just here hoping to get one. He was really close to leaving but I kinda helped him stay and told him to start reading the Book of Mormon and whatnot and praying. So hes in his TRC lesson on Thursday night which is like a "real" investigator, and he starts sharing his testimony of family and it totally just hits him. Like this kid is a huge football player who never crys, and he just started balling. After we both finished our lesson he was still all teary eyed and I didnt know what happened yet so he was like, Elder Given come here, and he told me everything that happened, and how he knows the church is true and stuff. It was so cool. Im so proud of him, I love that kid, or Elder haha.

Alright so on a random note, I figured out that I've legitly dunked on 5 people here. Im gonna try and take pictures with a bunch of them hahah. Oh yea and im up to 182, hopefully I can keep increasing, Ive started to slow down, but Elder Taylor did leave me and ton of food so thats good. So I was telling you bout Elder Hansen earlier. He basicly is my best friend here. He is so awesome, hes form Wyoming and is going to Philly spanish speaking. Anyway his companion is a wack job crazy guy who never talks and is just a weirdo. He has endured him pretty well but he flipped out the other day and just like ran out of class and had to be alone cus his comp is a physco. So anyway I talked to him that night and Im gald we can just help each other out when we need to talk. We got a new district this week. The majority of them are way cool kids. They actually hang out with us and stuff, I like them so far.

I said the opening prayer in Sacrament meeting yesterday, in Spanish. I thought it was pretty good but when I got done President Watkins got up and said how good it was and made an example for the younger districts of how if you work hard the Spanish will come. I was stoked.

Oh yea and thanks for telling me about Forever stamps mom. I should have saved those. I didnt understand how they all work until I used my last one and someone told me. I got some more regualr 44 ones tho now. So the whole Coach May thing is no surprise at all. Eddie coming back blew my mind tho! So Russell is still gonna teach another year? So does that mean Eddie is taking Ms. Mais job for this year and then Mays job next year? I was tryin to figure out who would stay if Eddie wouldnt had come. James still might transfer now, prob not tho since Coach May is staying at Los Al and can sign him at some Pac-10 school. Eddie walked in on such a legit job. Tyler you got some good teachers. Work hard in bball and in school. What teachers did you get Cassidy?

So time is totally flying by. This week went some fast. Im lovin it. Could you get my Kyle Poes address in Utah. I wanna write him. Thanks for the package that's coming. I think I told you everything I need. Tyler could you get some sweet Facebook pics for me and print them out off my profile por favor. Crazy that Dylans gone. Next letter I get from him will be straight outtaa Africa. Dad, Im gald you're having great classes so far, and I had already written Tawny before you even told me to haha. And guess what, I've been writing in my journal every night. Oh yea and I had to get a flu shot. They said it was "optional" but I figured Id get it anyway. I paid for it with my card. And Listerine sucks. Elder Taylor gave me his crest mouthwash tho so that will work while im here. Our district went from 11 people a week ago, to 7 today. We lost the 3 hermanas to Guatemala and Elder Taylor. It seems so small in class now. Im reading Jesus the Christ. Its gnarly. Okay totally out of time! BYE!
Love,
Elder Given

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