Mom just sent me a really good email about the final sprint of my mission. It was really good. It has been kind of hard these last few weeks to keep going at 100 percent in the cold and snow. It is colllld. We have been sitting around negative 6° Celsius. It also has been challenging living with two missionaries that are going home in a week. I hate being with dying missionaries. This last week one of them got the chicken pox! So they have literally just been in the apartment 24/7. Them being there is just like a magnet for us to come and waste time. Ha, I've actually been really scared that I am going to catch the chicken pox too. I don't remember ever having them and everyone tells me that even if I've gotten the shot I can still easily get them... but so far so good. It's been about 4 days. We got about 4 inches of snow the other day and you'd of thought that it was 5 feet. Everything shut down, they threw wayyyy too much salt on the ground, and only like half of the ward made it to church on sunday (which was a whole two days after the snow fell). They just don't really have much to plow it or anything. So many people are falling left and right (including myself during an intense snowball fight on the first night). One lady slipped in the train station and came straight down on her wrist and then let out a blood curdling scream. I felt so bad for her. I think she broke it. On the other side though, there are a lot of people falling and it is just wayyy too funny. On Saturday, all of centre-ville was just an ice rink because they had put down salt, but it was too cold to melt it all to water so it just stayed in a sluchy slippy form all over the paved tile-like pathways.

Pascale was one of those people that made it through the snow to come to church. She drove 20 kilometers to do it too. She is a saint. She lives out in the country where they don't clear the roads at all. She told us on Saturday that she might not be able to make it, but then she once again surprised us in her quiet humble little way. She was in church building chatting it up with the bishop and other members before we even got there. She is kind of claiming us as her children. She bought Elder Godfrey a coat this week because he needed one, and she is trying to buy my new shoes and a butt load of other stuff but I am begging her not to. I made her some cookies this week and when she returned the plate yesterday there were all sorts of chocolates and goodies on it. Earlier in the week she had told us that on Sunday she would have decided for baptism or not. She decided on baptism, but is really concerned that Elder Godfrey or I might not be there (transfers are in a week and a half). We are going to see her this afternoon to talk about it more, but for now we have decided on the 24th of March. It's a little bit far away, but she will be going through radio therapy for her cancer soon and so there wasn't a lot of choice for the date. She one of the biggest blessings of my mission. We love her :)

Okay, I have about run out of time for today :) I love you!

Elder Ben-jammin

Last Week:

Family!

Everything is good. I love Pascale. She took us to the most unrealistically good restaurant (i had ribs and salmon) on Saturday and then she came to church yesterday. We have talked a lot and everything just feels good again. We are going to see her this afternoon :) She is so like... motherly to us, and we love it. After she had told us all the reasons that she had called us again, she put the cherry on top when she was like "and also, you guys are adorable." She is like all I've been thinking about lately. Everyone is pulling for her.

I went to Versailles on exchange again this week. It was with the Portugese assistant. We had a really good time. He finishes his mission in two weeks. I finish mine in not that much time either :/ I probably think about it a little too much. There are days when it seems more exciting that anything else, and other days when I am scared to death of leaving. I love my mission so much. During interviews a couple weeks ago I talked to President Poznanski about extending my mission. I probably will not do it but, I have spent a lot of time thinking about it as a possibility. Besides, I couldn't leave Jordan all alone for an extra 6 weeks :)

Well, it is now about half an hour later than when I just wrote the lest paragraph. I just spent a lot of time looking at BYU stuff online. Wow. I have forgotten everything. I am going to call an adviser or someone this week. I remember that before I left I made a list of classes I knew I wanted to take when I got back. It should be with all the important papers and stuff I left. Could you find that and send it to me somehow? (just a photocopy). Also what should I do for housing and when does that whole rush start? Oh man. That stuff scares me to death.

Well, sorry this is kind of short. I always just want to talk to you in person and tell you about the 6 or so other people we are teaching, but emails just don't always do the trick. So, I'll tell you everything this summer. Well, I am going to work hard this week. I love you.

Ben