Chicken....

26 But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wilderness not with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent that perhaps we might save some few of their souls.
Alma 26:26

I'm going to start this week with a story. So last night (and this is why I chose the above scripture) a lady came over from our ward with some food and she asked us to pray for her. She said that she had to go confront someone later that night about something this person had done and just needed some Heavenly help. So we said a prayer with her and asked for guidance and then, out of absolute nowhere, my companion says, let's look at Alma 26:26. I don't know about any of you, but I have never really paid attention to this scripture before and neither has my companion...who gave the scripture! The lady texted us later that night and said that that scripture totally changed the evening for her. What a miracle that we were able to have the spirit to whisper that scripture to my companion.

Now onto my week. Luckily we had the car this week which helps so much! You don't really realize how nice transportation is until you have to bike everywhere you go. So we were able to do lots of stuff and move around a lot better and we actually were able to get a couple of investigators.

The other thing about this week was chicken. For some reason, all of my best stories have to do with chicken. So Tuesday night, my companion and I realized that we had absolutely no easy food to make for dinner. All we had were some potatoes and some frozen chicken. So I called upon my Maughan genes and, with some potatoes, some corn flower, salt, pepper, parmasean cheese, and some eggs, made some chicken tenders and French fries. They were so good!

The next story comes Thursday night. I was actually on exchanges with one of the zone leaders and we went to the Bishops house of that ward. They served us jalapeño chicken, spicy rice and jalapeño potatoes. Now I know why Latinos drink so much horchata...it is like milk and honey from paradise when your mouth is on fire! But that wasn't even the best part. If you know me, you know that I'm not a huge fan of chicken with bones in it. I'll eat it, but it's just not my favorite. Well this chicken had all of its fatty, greasy skin still on it and they gave me an entire leg (this thing was massive, like turkey leg massive). Something i learned really fast is to put the fatty skin in a tortilla with lots of potatoes and that's how you choke it down. Good lesson and I'm glad I learned that early on. But THAT'S not even the best part! Luckily, and proudly, I finished the entire chicken leg and put the bone on my plate in triumph. Then I noticed the bishop was EATING THE BONES! Like crunching them and swallowing them... I'd like to say that I did it, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that and neither could my companion so we just took more rice and potatoes. We were invited back so I don't think we offended them.

Well it's been another great week and I'm excited to get out on the bikes again this week and stretch my legs. I've gained 12 pounds since coming on my mission already and it just keeps building and building (muscle; I'm still too skinny for fat). I love you all and know that you're in my thoughts and prayers always.

Remember that God loves you all and wants you to make it!

Elder Arkoudas

P.S. Elder Fong says "hi" and that he's the King...

Oh, and we put up Halloween Decorations that Elder Fong's family sent. We're basically normal neighbors now...