Agency- La Fama- Week 4

Dear Family,
Since when is Lily going to play the piano? And who is B getting married too? And did you know that Joseph B. Wirthlin is in my priesthood line of authority? And Dad's, too. That is something that is really cool that I had the church send me a few weeks ago. Also, I have that scripture in my agenda where the Lord answers Joseph Smith, or José Smit as he is called here, in Liberty Jail. I really like the part right where He says that his friends and family will be waiting to receive him and that if he endures it well he will be exalted on high, right before the planch (?) where He tells him he is not yet as Job. Speaking of planches (?) are the talks in church in America where the people just go out and tell everybody that they are sinners and use all the mean hard scriptures. This is a planch (?) here, and it seems to happen a lot, and I always wonder if it just happens more here, or if we are really used to it, and we don't really find it abnormal.
For your questions, we only eat once a day still; the restaurants are all really expensive, so only if we are doing something special. I am used to the money. I think the exchange rate is like 11 pesos to the dollar or something, but everything is so different, it doesn't really help to try to compare. Like you can buy some cookies for 8 pesos, and you aren't going to buy anything for 80 cents in America, if i remember correctly. So it is just totally different now, but every once in a while, you see that something costs 40 pesos or something, and you forget that its pesos, and you think that is is super expensive. But 40 pesos is still more than a poor little missionary wants to spend on things. I honestly don't know how much we pay for rent. I honestly feel the same amount of safeness now as before (as in Real de Palmas). We don't see a lot of cartel stuff, and I think that everything has calmed down for the most part.
That is basically it. Everything is good here, and I hope that everything is good there too. But I want to tell you about a little girl we are teaching. She lives on the Calle Chimalpopoca, kind of. (There aren't really streets anymore at that point, but it is there, where it stops being a street and is all dirt, and the houses are cinder blocks with dirt floor and sheet metal roofs. Everybody there is poor, and when you ask them questions all they say is no sé (I don't know). What are your dreams? no sé. Do you believe in God? no sé, Can you guys come to church this Sunday? no sé. ) This girl is always sad. She has a really sad life. She is super poor, and her family consists of her mom, a guy they live with, who is abusive and alcoholic and believes in the Santa Muerta (Saint Death), a brother 14, who doesn't do anything, but wants to join the army someday, two sisters 13 and 14. The 14 year old is pregnant, and I wouldn't be surprised if the other followed soon, and this girl is 12. She goes to church every once in a while, and we visited her family the other day. She never really talks. and she will hardly look at you. She just sits with her head down and is sad. Something that we shared with them is that they have agency. They can chose and make decisions. They are children of God and can change things in their lives. But they all just sit there and look sad. I know I probably just bummed you out a ton, but these people out here that live on this street are really sad. They are all miserable, and they will all remain miserable, because they'll never change. You can tell them that they can change and how they can change, but at the end of the day the decision is theirs, and they have the power. The power to be happy or the power to stay miserable, and they are going to stay miserable. I can't imagine the hardships that they go through everyday, and it really makes me appreciate all the blessings I have, but I think it is also really important to remember agency. If I remember right, it says somewhere that agency is the greatest gift God has given us. And I think that's true. I know it for sure, for the stuff I saw in Chimalpopoca this week. So remember your agency and the power that God has given you.
That is all I've got for this week. I love all of you and look forward to hearing about school and driving tests and all that stuff, even though I will probably have to wait 2 weeks. Never mind, I go to the temple next Wednesday, so you can tell me all about those cool things. I love you, and will talk to you Wednesday. BYE!!!
Love, Elder Parkes

Just so you have some pictures, here are the pictures we took as a zone in the Grutas de Garcia. I love you all, and hope that you are all good. Espero que estén bien. (Its more impressive in Spanish, because I used the subjunctive!)