Mexican Food!

Today we finally went to El Mexicana. Despite being completely manned by Phillipenas, IT WAS REAL!!! It was much better than either of the places in Hong Kong. Muy Autentica. And you could feel it in the price, but I've saved up money, because my companion had none (literally. including personal) at the end of last month, so we ate cheap. And that was worth every penny.

As much as I like the "Levi's" shirt that says "koust of the tinei" and the Winnie the Pooh blanket with Pooh Bear praying the words "Now and ever, We always provide better products and service to our clients. bao ye zhi ban", my new favorite Chinese T-Shirt is, "Get Your Pig on Route 66."

Our Investigators are still good. Not too many new ones lately. Finding gets us lots of numbers, but few new investigators. One Elder put it like this (holding up a paper covered in numbers), "I've talked to everyone on this list several times and none of them would meet with us. Except this one. And she's already baptized." So finding the numbers and then calling them is important, though tiring. Not just to body, but also to mind.

Anyone know what Galangal is? I looked it up in a Chinese dictionary to just ask for it in the street market, but all it said was something about the scientific name for Ginger, so I just put Ginger in the Thai soup I made the other day. But it was delicious. Kind of like Grandma's Thai soup, but with more coconut. I also made ice cream in the freezer. The texture wasn't perfect, but it tasted good. One of the other Elders from Hong Kong in my apartment also really likes cooking, especially baking, and due to circumstances in our area, we are often on splits. Of course there isn't much time to bake most of the time, but we get to bake together sometimes. The other day we were going to bake cookies for an event, so we were looking through a recipe book. He said maybe we should make oatmeal pumpkin cookies. That sounded good to me too, so I agreed. Then he asked, "What is Oatmeal?" I explained it, after which he said, "What is Pumpkin?" It seems he was just guessing, or wanted to learn some more English.

We went to a member's house for dinner. The dad is from Canada, the mom from Macao, but she is very less active. Their daughters, 8 and 10, are both active and don't seem affected by their mother's not going to church. The mom was sick in bed when we got there, but we gave the girls a birthday card we had made for her. It's sad to see a family with a problem the doesn't make sense without an apparent solution.
But what an apartment they live in. It's quite large, and the third floor has a garden, pond, huge outdoor pool, BBQ area and indoor air conditioned play area. Brother Knowler says housing in Macao is quite cheap, and there is almost no tax to the residents. In 2006 Macao matched Las Vega in Gambling revenue. As of July this year, Macao casinos had made three times as much as Vegas. The government taxes the Casinos at 39%, and has more money than they can spend. They end up giving the Macao residents money each year.
Now for the part that really blew me away. There are 36 Casinos in Macao, and 24 of them are owned by one man. I can't even imagine how much money he has.

I've been reading 3rd Nephi recently. I know that it is true. The whole book is true. I also know the church is true and the Prophet is called of God to lead us. Thank you all for everything you do and have done for me. I love you.

-Noah