Baton Rouge

March 7, 2011

Last P-time I played basketball for like 4 hours. It was the best thing ever. I was in Walgreens the other day and I tested my blood pressure and I had high systolic blood pressure. What does that mean? In your letter you said you thought that everyone is nice here and you wondered why I ran into these crazy people? Well, now that I have been here 3 months yesterday, I have found that everyone is either extremely nice or very anti. I was in a lesson with some guy the other day and he seemed like he had no brain. I was trying to figure out why, when another guy knocked on the door and introduced himself as the "candyman." He came in with homemade candies for sale for 30 dollars for a tiny little piece. That explained why he had no brain. Its sad, they have an anti mormon section on the radio here. One church, called ***, is the worst. I think the preacher just tells the people how terrible mormons are every sunday. And the sad thing is, the people that go there listen, regardless of how ridiculous the things he says are!

So there is a couple that served in Brazil that live next door? What part? How long do they plan to be there? That'll be fun if they are still there when I get back. Where did that other odd couple go? They were only there for like 2 seconds. Anyways, the place where the guy I baptized lives is called ZION CITY. Although there aren't as many murders as there is on Marque Ann street, this place is probably the most ghetto I have seen. Most of the houses you can see through the crumbling walls. Lots of them are half way burned down. Its sad. But, we are gonna tracat through there cuz thats where are the humble people are! Its funny, we go to the rich neighborhoods and its all catholic white people who say no right off the bat.

I was kind of sad yesterday because the pen that Dad gave me the night before I left broke. I am gonna attempt to fix it today, but I don't know if it is fixable. But yea you are right, the weather has been crazy. It has been cold then really hot in the same day. There are huge mosquito-type bugs that are EVERYWHERE. I hate them, they just fly into your face. My reflexes are gettin better for sure though as a result of them. I can dodge most of em now.

There are big ditches lining every street here, and when I first got here I thought it was so weird. Now I know that if they weren't there, the whole city would flood! It rains for a day and it seriously dumps rain and they are completely full. They make it really scary to drive because the roads are small and poorly built. I am just waiting to see a little car upside down in one of these ditches.

Nothin too exciting happened this week. We ate at a place called Randy Montabanos and it was way good! We had CRAWFISH. It was really spicy, and not very filling. I struggled to eat it but as I looked around at people it seemed like they were professional! By the time I had eaten one they had a pile of ten! I also had some crawfish etoufee. It was pretty good, probably my favorite southern dish so far. (I am gonna get shrimp next time instead of crawfish though-I don't see what all the hype is about)

Marti-gras is tomorrow. I don't know if we even awknowledge it as missionaries, but it will be fun to see what its like. Baton Rouge isn't really big into it (as far as Louisianians go-everyone is) but the main place for Marti gras is in New orleans, obviously. Umm, thats really all I have for ya this week.

I love you and miss you.

Love Alex