Elliott Ricardo Chinas Pena

Elliott and his family were a reference from another ward.  My second week here in Ensenada we went to visit them and the very next day they showed up at church.  Elliott (9 years old) lives with his mom and one of his sisters.  His other sister lives in another part of Mexico and his dad is Marine, which means that he is off at sea for three months at a time and comes home for about a week.  When we stated visiting Elliott and his family, that was the reason why his mom, Leticia, was always depressed.  All day long she was in the house, her kids at school, husband at work, and with nothing to do.  But as she began to learn about the gospel, you could see a light begin to grow in her eyes. 

Since then they have become a solid family in the ward.  Participating in every activity and eating up all that the gospel has to give them.  Leticia has even shared the gospel with several of her friends.  Now just has to wait until her "husband" gets home so they can get married and she can be baptized.

Elliott

But meanwhile, Elliott was baptized!  Super excited, he told me after his baptism, "my sins were up to here! (pointing to his forehead) and now I don't have any!!!"  He's going to serve a mission some day.... :)

In other news, I have the opportunity each week to go on exchanges with the other sisters working her in Ensenada.  Last Friday I spent the day in the only Hermana area with bikes in Ensenada.  First time in all of my mission to ride a bike... in a skirt.  Stick on a pair of leggings underneath and a Hanna Montana helmet on top and your set to go.  

I felt like I was in a video game.  10 points to hop the speed bump.  15 if you can wave hi to the kids hanging out of the pickup truck passing by. 30 to weave around the dead dog.  50 if you can squeeze between the buses.  What a rush.  Would it be too cheesy if I said I felt so ALIVE!?  Or that's how it felt for the first 10 minutes.  Then I began to realize that I wasn't in such great physical condition as I thought...  With my head held high I can say that I never once crashed, but we might have needed to take a couple breathing breaks.  At the end of the day I rode the bike standing.  I'm fairly certain that the torn up bike seat made a few bruises where the sun don't shine.  The next day I woke up with wobbly legs.  To those of mis amigos who served missiones on bikes, my respects.