I really enjoyed conference, and all the welfare stuff made me excited about what I'm doing here and what I hope to be involved in my entire life. One of the things I really liked was the story of the guy who gave up his coat to the newborn baby. I was really impressed that giving to the poor and needy is not something we do when it's convenient, but it requires real sacrifice. I've said to myself that I can't just give money to everyone I see on the streets here, because my money will soon run out. But during the talks, I thought of how careless I was with my money, most particularly how I eat out so often and how I want an expensive phone when I get back to the states, and I thought of how I should be less frivolous in that area so that I can dedicate a greater part of my income to the poor. I decided not to buy the phone, and I'm reconsidering my need for a car.
I had a funny and interesting experience. Friday night we had people over for the first time during my stay. We watched a movie, burned popcorn, and made nestle cookies. It was really fun. This Sunday was the second time I had people over, but it wasn't something I had planned for, so I was unprepared for how much of a disaster it was going to be.
I was at church right after this morning's general conference. I was kind of hoping someone would invite me to their house for lunch, but when nobody really seemed to notice, I decided to invite people over to my house. So I invited these girls over, and they were excited. Two of them had been there on Friday, but one hadn't seen the place. It was improvised, so I had no idea how much of a problem I would have.
We got home, and my companion had stayed home to watch conference on the computer instead of watching it at church. We made jokes about how we may show up to find him naked. Turns out we show up and he was naked! Luckily, I warned him to hide in his room before we came in. Then I realized that there was a bunch of trash by the door. The trash people only come by on a certain schedule, so if we're not home when they call, we can't get it to them. There were four bags by the door. I quickly put them into my room.
The next problem was simple laziness. The burnt popcorn was still on the table from Friday. Friday night it was so late we didn't feel like cleaning up, and Saturday I was at church all day, so I didn't really notice the popcorn. It was pretty embarrassing when they noticed it was still there. Next problem is that there's no water except early in the morning and late in the evening. Again, if we're not around when the water is, the dishes don't get washed. It had been a couple of days when we didn't get around to it, so the sink was full.
Cooking without water is a challenge, plus the three girls were from different parts of the world, and I as well, that we all had different techniques of cooking spaghetti. Luckily, my companion keeps a pitcher of water just in case, and we were able to cook the pasta. We used a half empty bottle of water that was on the table from my breakfast to wash our hands, and one of the girls had a bottle of water to drink for the meal. We used mustard and pepper to make the meat, and some pasta sauce for the pasta. Of course, we had just run out of napkins, and we couldn't wash our face with water, so we told a lot of jokes about washing our faces with each other's clothing. All in all, it was a fun experience which just shows a few of the problems we have here in Mexico.
I would suggest not going to see Sucker Punch. It's about a bunch of girls who get put in a mental asylum and are treated like whores. The movie is supposed to be how this girl rises up and conquers her weaknesses, supporting woman independence, but it seemed kind of contradictory when they're shown as sexy half-naked gun wielding every guy's fantasy type of women. It wasn't very uplifting and, from what I hear, the ending was very disappointing and depressing. I didn't see the ending because I left when I felt I had seen enough.
But I did see Shrek 4, which was very happy and uplifting. I especially liked the fat cat (he's one of my favorite characters).
We finished another workshop, and we only have one more class in another. In a week and a half we're done with all our workshops, and in three weeks we'll be back in the states. It's kind of scary, and everyone is acting disappointed. If you ever want a boost in your self-esteem, tell everyone you're going far away, and everyone will just shower you with praises :D.
I had a job interview last Friday for a programming position in BYU. I have a few others set up for when I get into the states. My old boss in the Computer Science department is begging me to come back, so I hope to be able to get 40 hours a week for the first two months.
I love you all,
Diego Tate
On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 7:55 PM, k tate
Haooy conference weekend. Did you get to listen to conference? If so, how? Where? If you heard the talk by Elder Cook, then you heard the story about Miranda and her lost purse. Pretty cool, huh? I'm almost 50 and no one ever has, or most likely, never will, talk about me in general conference.
We're at the start of spring break and I don't see anything out of the ordinary on our radar. Dad has work. Miranda has two days she plans on spending doing drama type stuff. We're very boring. I keep trying of things to do that would make me less boring, but I keep coming up empty.
I heard in a conference talk that we should go to the temple with a question and have the faith to know that we'll recieve an answer. So I went to the temple fasting and asked if I should keep trying to publish traditionally or if I should self publish and I got the definate answer that I should clean my house. That wasn't what I was looking for, but after a few hours of housework I did feel better about my house and myself.
You'll be sad to hear the Tennisons are moving to Utah in a couple of weeks. They'll be missed.
Grandma fell and hurt her knee so she's not getting around much. It must be rough to be old and fragile.
There seemed to be an overriding theme in conference about the welfare program, which made me think that maybe our economic woes aren't nearing an end. I hadn't realized that the church welfare program is the modern day law of consecration.
I'm not sure what else to tell you. We miss you. The house is emptier than ever...I'll have to think of something that you'll find interesting to do so that next week I'll have something to say.
Much love,
Mom
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