It's been a couple of weeks since I've written. Trace had sent a couple of emails and to our surprise his camera chip that had all his mission pics and a video. Loved it. It was sooo good to see him. He took us on tour of his apartment. It's very humble and we are impressed that he doesn't complain about it. He looked pretty good and sounded happy to be there. We did, however, watch 95% of the video with our heads tilted 90' to the left because he was filming himself with the camera on its side. Ha Ha. It was great anyway. He's adjusting to the food, which is an answer to all our prayers, including his. In fact, he seems to be enjoying the whole experience. At one point Trace reminded us that before he left on his mission we suggested he might want us to pick him up from his mission. At that time he was very against it. Didn't think he'd want to "vacation" in the area he was a missionary. Didn't think he'd want to prolong his stay. Figured he just want to get home and back to "life as usual"... Well, he now says he thinks it'd be cool if we were able to pick him up. Says that Port Isabel is actually and nice little community. We'll see what we can do about picking him up but we'll see about it in another year or so :). Elder C got a new companion 2 weeks ago. Says he's okay but apparently they have a different sense of humor. We're confident that he'll adjust. Trace is working on reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish. He reports that he is slow but getting it done one word at a time. Before long he will only be using his Spanish scriptures. He says his testimony with the "gift of tongues" is growing. Says that his Spanish is improving all the way around but is 10 times better when he is teaching a lesson or sharing his testimony than in regular conversations. He says they really working hard at getting inactive members reactivated. They have between 25-35 active and about 75 inactive. He says as far as new members they are few and far between and this is why this area is considered one of the worse areas to work in. In the past two years they've had only 4 people baptized. But Trace is confident that things will change. They have gained peoples trust and this has made a big difference. They have a goal to baptize 6 people over the next 2 months. We're excited to hear that Trace isn't worried about the reputation of the area. We predict he will have much success in his personal growth as he helps this area grow. On a funny note. Trace does admit that knocking on doors has its challenges. He says the most powerful people in the area are the police and the missionaries. When either travel down the streets all the people scatter :) Here's to changing that.