October 1

Família,

   Everything is just so awesome here. I'm not sure that I deserve to be this happy! (Strangely, it turns out that you can be happy without electricity... or water... or money... or a clean house) But seriously, this week has been awesome. We've got 2 people set up to be baptized on the 6 of October. S N and I are finally being baptized. We are very very excited for them. I hope I can get you all some pics, but everytime I try to send any, I get a return email saying that your domain didn't accept it because it was too large. So, I may have to send pics one at a time... Oh well!
   So things, like I said, rock! We've been doing a lot of work, having a lot of fun, and I think our house is slowly getting better. Today for Pday, we went to a praça called the Bem-fica art fair. I got some AWESOME stuff there. Finally some legit African souvineers. What did I get? Well, I'll just surprise you all when I come home. ;) But I had a lot of fun bartering the people down from the ''white'' price to the ''fair'' price. I think I got some good deals.
   But other than that, I don't have much to report on. We've taught lessons, met a ton of new people and are just working with them all. Elder Hyde is almost done training, just 4 weeks left! Wow! That time sure went by fast. Time is crazy here. It's like each day is forever, but when you wake up the next day, the month is done! For example, when we talk at Christmas, I'll be at nearly a year! WHAT!?! That is crazy to me.
   But enough about me, tell me about you all: I like the laundry make-up routine. It made me laugh. Also, mice? There's not much to do but poison EVERYTHING under there. We had a mice problem at my last house, and it was because we had a rat the size of a beaver leading the army. We left before the next Elders finally killed who we called ''Big Ben''. But that's how we took care of that.
   Thanks to Luxana! I always love her pictures!
   Where's Owen? I like never hear from ya more bro! What's up at school? Is sandcreek doing well in Futbol Americano? Who's the latest shammy? Write me bro!
   Since when did Chris start doing law enforcement which involves macing? That through me off this week!
   Weston, I don't have anything for ya this week, but when I do, I promise that I'll let ya know. ;)
   I love you all lots, and I hope that everything is going well. It looks like 1 or 2 pics will attach and send to ya, so I'll get a bunch from last week off to y'all. I love you, miss you, pray for you, and I'll see you in like 15 months or something like that. Love,

Elder Alex Hobbs

 2521: People work super hard here. This is a wheelbarrow type cart, that you see EVERYWHERE! They usually carry water or gasoline jugs.

 2519: A nice view of the ocean with some jammed up traffic on the left.

 2522: There is dust everywhere here, so the government hires companies to sweep it up. Dust workers are a very common sight here. You'll see em dressed up in big green suits, or sometimes just in jeans and a face mask, but it's all day, every day: sweep!

 2523: This is a bridge at a praça. The picture was taken in the morning from inside a car, and does not do justice for how crowded these praças are. I swear, sometimes I think that when you walk through one of these in the middle of the day, I think, hmm. Weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth! But the people in them are nice. Lot's of old ladies selling their goods on the street. It's kind of like WAL MART threw up.

 2449: Our water tank. Everything is ran by our own pump. We get water from the city to our tank about 3 times a week! If electricity fails, we have to bucket water out from the tank to take showers!

 2448: The sewage river on our street and in front of our house!! YEA!!

 2507: This is a ''taxi''. We ride these puppies everywhere. 100 kw for a route. The cobrador (collector) yells out the name of a praça from the window, you wave him down, and they stop for ya! But you always need to make sure (if in a sketchy area) that the ride is 100kw, not 200! They will try to gyp you of money if you're white!

 2509: A bridge next to the airport. There's traffic, Kinaxixe, noise, and... wait. What's that? THAT'S THE GOOD OLD COLONAL SANDERS WATCHIN OVER ANOGOLA!!! AMERICA!!!

 2491: The road by our house

 2504: Here in Luanda, the streets are lined with random little shops that sell random things. You can find clothing stores, make up, photoshops (all chinese ran), etc etc.