Elder Josh Skousen

hey family,

hows everything? anybody shreddin all that pow pow? is there any pow? it hasn´t snowed down here yet but im really hoping it will before christmas... anyways so this week was pretty hard but pretty good. we had my first zone conference on friday and that was good. things are changing in the mission and it should be good. we are alll pretty stoked. but its going to be hard. we are focusing big time on using the members. we used to have to do 35 lessons a week and 10 of them had to be with a member. we downed it to 30 a week but 15 have to be with members. its sooo hard. but we made it this week, barely! we actually had to take a member kid who is 21 and is such a stud. he is working on his mission papers but he has a really bad studder. he cant talk good... (chiste) but seriously hes awesome. i hope he can get his papers in. we brought him with us yesterday and he bore some pretty awesome testimonies, even though it took him a long time to say what he wanted to say.

Also yesterday, my companion and i spoke in sacrament meeting. that was a train wreck and a half... i just put together some notes and stuff and had a pretty good idea of what i was going to do but i got up there and decided it was really hard. I just couldnt even figure out where i was in my talk... speaking of not knowing where i was... the people on the computer next to me are making out and its weird... you´d think theres a better place than a cyber... anyways i totally recorded my talk and i´ll try to send it to you. dont worry nobody knew, i did the same thing i did with my farewell talk. haha but idk if i want you to hear it cuz its awful. but if i can send it, just know that my castellano really isnt as bad as it sounds in the talk. its actually coming along pretty well believe it or not. like i talk to people and stuff...

anyways we had the branch end of the year dinner this week too and that was way good. we had 2 non members come and so we talked to them and passed by them the next day. hope it ends well.

anyways to answer questions,

1. the talk... stunk...

2. I didnt play piano, i was to focused on the talk... which stunk...

3. we´ve passed by the batalla family but nothing much has happened, its hard cuz they live on the edge of the area, so yeah i´ll keep you posted on that.

4. this week was actually really good for church assistence. we had over 50 people in the branch meeting (there´s normally about 35). It was awesome. I think our efforts are paying off some in that aspect. really exciting.

anyways, im glad to here jake had a good birthday and that he finally got to go surfing. sorry we didnt get to do that before i left. also congrats on the good bball game.

congrats on the successful YSA party. sounds like it was awesome, also sounds like nicole killed it singing and stuff. my comp thinks you have a beautiful voice, he´s right.

Also i was just thinking about Jessie, how is he doing? I hope people are visiting him? could you guys give him a message for me? tell him i said hi, i miss him, i love him, and to keep up the good work!

anyways thats pretty much all i have for this week, oh yeah and fyi my next pday is next wednesday, 9 days... and im not sure how much computer time i´ll have so yeah... but im excited to talk to you all for christmas.

also let bit and greg know that im still waiting for my letters.. how are they doing? the house looks beautiful and its good to see jack and his cute collar. I love you all and hope you all remember the real reason of christmas, and it isnt presents. we are still going to try to have some kind of christmas even though there is no snow, presents, or family. we really have to remember the reason for christmas down here.

also just a little spiritual something, i read Jeffrey r holland oct 2009 talk on the bom while prepping for my talk... its so dang good, if any of you havent seen it, or even if you have, put aside 15 minutes of your super busy lives and watch it online. its a lot better to hear than to read it. so yeah, do that.

sorry this letter isnt that cool, but i love you all and have a wonderful week, especially if you go to disneyland, take lots of pictures!!!

Love elder Skoosen? (noone can pronounce my name...)

p.s. life lesson learned this week: when the water doesnt work, neither does the baday... so buy toilet paper just in case...