AJ's email from 7/2/12

D&C 122:7 ..."know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."  thats the scripture that president king shared with me this week after we had special changes. yes, for my third time in the mission. i would have been happy not having special changes again after the 2 times almost a year ago. but something happened in another sector and someone had to go home early and president felt that elder sauceda was the one that needed to go to that sector and be senior comp now. the assistants called us Wednesday afternoon and shocked us when they said that he would be leaving and that i would get a new comp here in parque subercaseaux. and im not gonna lie, i wasnt expecting it at all after only a week here. but when they called and asked to talk to my companion, i knew something was going on. so thursday afternoon after our capacitacion especial, they took elder sauceda to his new sector and we went to pick up my new comp.

        so now im with elder alcaraz. he is from buenos aires, argentina and has 4 months in the mission. so im gonna have to be more of a teacher with him too to help him learn how to teach and help him progess as a missionary since he is basically just starting the mission really. the only thing for now with him is that im having to get used to how he talks cuz he still has a really strong accent and also talks a little quieter so i dont understand about half of what he says. i feel like i did when i started the mission. so i have to ask 3 or 4 times to repeat something before i understand. its gonna be a rough couple few weeks though cuz i dont really know the sector well since ive only been here for a week before the change and cuz i know  a few of the members but i really dont know their names well still. just a few. but i think that we will be fine and i feel confident in being able to figure out all that stuff quickly.

        Tuesday we did divisions with the zone leaders so i went to santa fe with elder mackie. its kinda funny that i spent the day with him and that he is my zone leader now cuz his twin brother was also my zone leader my first 3 weeks in the mtc. so thats kinda a weird coincidence. we had a good time together although the day seemed to go by pretty slow. and then at night it was fun cuz they live in a pension with 4 so we stayed up talking for a while with everyone. i also figured out from that, that elder morgan and elder martinez are pretty funny and we had a good time.

        Wednesday was a slow day cuz after we got the call for the changes, we basically just spent all day saying bye to a few people and then packing his stuff cuz it had to be all ready to go the next morning before we went to the meeting. but the good thing is that we bought pizza again to kinda celebrate our week and a half together. the other thing from wednesday is that i got a letter from jose and magaly, the lady i baptized in avenida matta. i was so happy to read that and it really just made my day. cuz i had been thinking these last couple weeks about how they are doing and all that. so when i read that they go to church every week still and that their daughter is going to seminary and that they are preparing to go to the temple in november, it made me more than happy. i think the only thing better than having a baptism in the mission, is hearing some time later from then and hearing that they are doing well and are doing the things they should. then thursday morning in the meeting, president king really stressed the importance of our investigators reading the book of mormon. cuz if they dont do that, they wont really gain a testimony and they wont stay very long after getting baptized.

        Friday we had a mission district and zone leader meeting that was like a training to teach us how to be good leaders. it was a lot of fun cuz it was basically all people that i know and since most have a good amount of time in the mission, we have been together in the mission a while and we all just have fun and there was a lot of joking and laughing. but after that meeting and the last couple days we had had before that, we basically just lost 3 days in our sector.

        then pday yesterday was pretty fun too. we started by playing soccer with the other missionaries and about 15 young men from the stake and so we had really good games and it was really competitive. then after that, we went to the little shopping center here in our sector with the hermanas in our district, hna lopez and hna fuentes. we ate together and had a good time talking and im glad that we decided to do it cuz sometimes i feel bad for the hermanas cuz as a zone we always play soccer so it was good to do something with them also.

        basically this was just a long week for me and im glad that we are gonna be able to have somewhat of a normal week this week....hopefully. it would be nice after the last couple weeks. but im doing well with all thats happened. i was gonna send a picture of elder alcaraz and i with this but the computer im using is weird and wont let me put it so ill have to send it next week. i hope that everyone is doing well. have a good week

Fruit Smoothie - single serving

I bought a bunch of strawberries really cheap this year, washed & cut up & then put them in the freezer. Here's what I'm going to do with them:

1/2 cup berries
1 Tbs. orange juice concentrate
1 Tbs. sugar
3/4 cup milk

Put everything in the blender & mix it up until no berry chunks remain. If its too thick, just add extra milk a little at a time.

Home-Made Mashed Potatoes

One of the few recipes that I've come up with on my own -- these are always a hit!

5 lbs potatoes
16oz sour cream
1 stick butter or margarine
salt, pepper & garlic powder to taste

Peel potatoes & cut into small cubes then boil until tender. Put boiled potatoes along with the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl & mix with a hand mixer (or, I just use my kitchen aid mixer). Add salt, pepper & garlic powder to taste.

Round Steak Gravy & Mashed Potatoes

This is my all-time favorite Sunday dinner that my mom would make when we were growing up! Serve over mashed potatoes (I prefer home-made, but even from the box will do).

1 or 2 lbs round steak cut into strips
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can (from the cream of mushroom soup) filled with milk

Put all in the crock pot on high for about 4 hours before heading to church. When you come home, you'll open the door to the most amazing smell!!!

Mexican Bar-B-Que

No mexicans are hurt in the making of this meal

Marinade:
4 to 5 lbs top sirloin roast cut 1/8 inch thick
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tablespoons mustard
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon pepper
Corn Tortillas
Whole green chiles
cheese
and any other toppings you like with mexican food

Put first 7 ingredients in bowl and marinade over night. Butter both sides of tortillas and place on grill. cook until one side is done. Turn and add meat, cheese and green chili. Fold and cook until tortillas are done.

Enjoy with any toppings.

Beef Stroganoff

I love this recipe. It is the best homemade beef stroganoff I have had.

1 lb round steak
2 Tablespoons butter
1 small onion chopped
garlic to taste
2 1/2 cups water
2 beef bullion cubes
1/8 cup ketchup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard
2 Tablespoons flour
1 cup sour cream
Wide Noodles cooked

Place meat, butter onion and garlic into a fry pan cook until meat is browned. Remove meat

Mix:
water, bullion cube, ketchup, salt, mustard. Stir into onion and garlic to make thick gravy. Add browned meat to gravy. Simmer about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes tir in 1 cup sour cream. Serve with noodles or mashed potatoes.

Ro-Tel Hamburgers

I got this off the Ro-Tel can. I thought it looked good so I tried it. It was so delicious we won't make regular hamburgers again. I did add Lawrys seasoned salt though.

1 can Ro-Tel
1 lb hamburger
Lawrys seasoned salt

Mix all together make patties and cook on grill. Eat with all the hamburger fixins. YUM!