No, Napoleon.

"Come in Mother Bird, come in Mother Bird! Mom has pulled a surprise present from the closet!"

Indeed she has, indeed she has. Even the wisest among us couldn't have predicted the far-reaching consequences that that single present had.

Anyhoo, as I'm sure you have all noticed, it's a week later than it was last week. Therefore, the time has rolled around once again for me to write another letter. (Of course, it is not truly a letter, but rather the modern equivalent- the email- as it is called by some).

This week has been another good one. Obviously, general conference happened, and luckily us missionaries are allowed to watch it. (I was concerned after I heard my father say that he could only watch it on his mission if he had someone he was teaching with him). It was great. We did, actually, have at least two people watch some of it, but, like the vast majority of people these days, they viewed it in the comfort of their homes, whereas we missionaries went to the stake center to watch. There were some very good talks. We were texting back and forth with some of the people we're teaching, and at least one of them seems to have been touched by what they heard, which is great. I was somewhat disappointed that we couldn't take a coffee break between sessions, but whatever. It was a great conference.

Other news, my companion and I did start teaching a new person this week. We had actually taught him one time before, but he was still technically someone who the sisters were teaching at that point. They transferred him to us, however, because he lives in our area. (We actually get a fair number of referral's from the Sisters, because they spend a lot of time working in the visitors center and therefore meet a lot of interested people who go through). This new person is one of the nicest individuals I've ever met. Unfortunately, we get the vibe that he likes us coming over more for the social aspect of it, and is not super interested, but I can visualize this guy being a stake president. He watched conference (he was the one who said that it was inspiring), so we'll see if he wants to learn more after that. 

We had another lesson with May this week. For the few lessons preceding this last one it had seemed like she was not super "into" it; she had been kind of drifting off mentally when we were teaching and didn't seem like she really wanted to learn. So, my companion and I decided that we would simply read the Book of Mormon with her this time around, and stop periodically to discuss and help her understand what's going on. We started from 1 Nephi 1, and read the whole chapter. It went great! She still wasn't super invested, but she was more participatory and actually seemed like she had some interest in what we were saying. It was a great lesson, and she agreed to start reading the Book of Mormon from where we left off. Wonderful.

Last night, as is usual on weekends, we went to a member dinner with Zone Leaders. (In case this wasn't clear, we always go with them because our members never have us over for dinner, so the members of the English ward are gracious enough to feed four missionaries instead of two). I probably shouldn't say this, but the family we ate with is probably my favorite one that we ever go to. They're super nice, they always make a ton of food, and it's always really good. They also have a son who is on a mission, so they seem to understand the ins and outs of being a missionary. They have us over once a month or so, so this was my third time going there, and it was definitely not a disappointment. 

They made some pizza this time around, and it was the best that I've had on my mission. It was kind of funny, because they brought them out one at a time, so this is how my thoughts were going:

"That's a pretty big pizza. We'll all be able to have some."

"Oh, good, they have two. We'll all be able to eat our fill."

(Surprised) "Oh, good, they have three. Now everyone will really get enough, including us and their large family."

(Still surprised, and now mildly astonished) "Oh, good! They have four! I don't know if that one is going to be finished."

(Exasperated) "Oh good! They have five! Now we're really going to have to cram with how they're spurring us on!"

And then they brought out the desserts. Suffice to say, they had leftovers. Rest assured that nobody walked away hungry from that meal.

Really, other than those developments, this week was pretty standard. A lot of finding, a lot of rejection. Nothing super crazy happened. (Except in English class on Saturday we were learning the word "beach" and one of the student's is looking everything up on google translate, so she puts something in, looks up from her phone, and then loudly announces to the class what popped up. "Nude Beach!" She proceeded to yell this every few seconds for the next several minutes). Well, now that you know that, I suppose you've had your fill of reading my rambling for a week or so. 

"Farewell my friends! I go on to a better place!"

-Ben "Missionary" Rivera

P.S. The reason for that nickname is there's this one member of the English ward who, every time he sees me, he says: "What's up, missionary?"

P.P.P.S. "Was he mad that they were who they thought they were, or was he mad that other people thought that they didn't think that they were who they thought they were?"

P.P.P.P.S. "Playoffs?"