Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Bowling & a Tattoo

Everything is going great here! Today was 90 degrees. It's supposed to be in the 70s for the rest of the week. Today we went bowling with our whole Zone. It was pretty fun. We couldn't get away from the TV in the bowling alley, and wouldn't you know the Super Bowl highlights were on. What could we do but watch it. We were all very surprised at the outcome.
This week has been very interesting. On Saturday we went to President Hinckley's funeral (broadcast). I really enjoyed President Monson and President Eyring's talks. It was very sad though, especially the montage at the very end.
Another gun story: We were in our apartment the other night around 9:30 p.m. or so, and four of us were in one of the study rooms talking. All of a sudden, we heard screeching tires and a whole lot of gun shots. A few moments later, we heard a bunch of sirens and stuff. We went outside to see what was happening, but all the commotion was a few blocks down. I guess Texans really love to shoot their guns.
On Saturday we were teaching this guy from Honduras. He called the number on one of the church's pass-along cards and requested that we come over. He was really nice. About half way through the lesson, he was telling us about how he got thrown in jail in Dallas for drunk driving. While he was telling us the story, he started taking off his shirt. I was thinking, "What the heck is he doing?" He then proceeded to show us a tattoo of Jesus that he got while he was in prison. He seemed very interested in the church, though.
We have run into a lot of unusual religions and beliefs here. Most people are Catholic by tradition. Many don't really go to church or anything. There is this one religion, however, that is very noticeable. The people worship something called La Santisima Muerte, or Saint Death. Basically, they worship a grim reaper type statue because they believe that it will bring them certain blessings depending on which one they worship (green for luck, red for love, etc.) Apparently there are different temples for this across the border in Nuevo Laredo, and lots of people have stickers on their cars, bikes or other things like that. It is very different to say the least. Hello to all, and write soon.