The locals have told us that "the valley" experienced unusual heat this summer and now colder than normal temperatures. I was concerned for the citrus crops, but the local paper said the crops are still okay. It has started warming up the last two days but I think the gardens were affected by this as they look like they got nipped by a frost. The few papaya trees in our neighborhood sure look sad with their wilted leaves, but maybe all is well with the fruit. I don't have much experience with tropical fruit.

The Institute Choir did well in the Institute's Christmas party. We got to eat good food and enjoy good company and talent, which made all the late practices worth it. Traveling one night to a practice, we had dogs run across the highway in front of us and we unavoidably hit one of them. It put quite a dent in our low front bumper and forced the upper section by the headlight to come loose, so it is going to need to be fixed. We will need to see if we can borrow a car from the mission if we decide to get it fixed now. I know things happen even when one is about the Lord's work, so I'll try not to grumble about the inconvenience of it all.

I took on another piano student this week so we start at 5:30 now. Isabella has been taking lessons from a local teacher that is no longer teaching, so when her mother approached me, I couldn't say no. I just hope there will be someone to keep teaching this young people when we go home. I guess that is why I get frustrated when they don't practice enough during the week so I can move them on to more instruction instead of doing the same lesson over again.

We should be complete with our instruction for the ward leaders by the end of December. The McAllen Stake is having us meet with two wards at a time, which means we have one English and one Spanish speaking ward at the same time. The meeting went well this week and we hope the rest will also go well. We sure appreciate Sister Weger and Sister Guerra that have translated our hand-outs into Spanish, as it really helps to cut down on the translation time in the meeting. We don't like to keep them more than an hour but it doesn't always work out that way.

We only had two Ward Employment Specialists to our monthly meeting. We didn't even have the High Councilmen or Stake Employment Specialists there. We sure try not to get discouraged, but with this new ldsjobs.org site information and how people are to be signed up in order for Church headquaters to see the progress of this area starting in January, it is hard not to wonder how it is all going to work out. I know it wont be like it needs to be before our mission is over, but it would be so nice to see it at least started and that is where the ward leaders are so needed to help make this happen.

We had a good Sabbath Day and felt the spirit as we attended Fast and Testimony meeting. The other meetings were just as inspiring and it is wonderful to worship together. I look forward to the First Presidency broadcast this evening and am grateful I can watch it in the comforts of our little abode.

I hope you and your loved ones are doing well!

With love,
Los Averys