2 weeks worth!

Familia!

 

K' lo K' ! aqui 'toy di'frutando el dia preparacion, tu sabe!

 

Ha Dad, just to let you know, we're not required to memorize section 4 of D&C, so i'm not gonna lie, i haven't even looked at it. I've been studying the book of Mormon, and i think i'll finish it within the next day or two. I love it so much! Before i got here it was really hard for me to get into it.. and to even read for more than 2 days in a row.. but since i got to New York i don't wanna put it down! no lie.. And yes we have district meeting every monday, and then we go out to eat as a zone afterwards! It was weird to think about how i was in New York for 9/11.. but nothing out of the Norm happened here in the Bronx. people had the flags out on their lawn, but that's everywhere in the US. but we're going over to manhattan right after we leave the library so maybe they will still have things up from yesterday, we will see! and since we can see manhattan from our window, last night when we looked out towards the city we could see the light beam that shines in place of where the towers used to be.. our investigators are doing good, our baptism is definitely still on for saturday, Marta is so excited! the rest of them are still having their struggles.. but we're seeing some improvement! but the last 2 days we've found THREE new investigators.. that's more than we've found the whole time that i've been here! it made me so happy! I don't get offended when people say they don't want to hear the message. Lately when they say no i've been quick to reply "are you sure?!" and we've actually taught some lessons at the door because of that. so i'm gonna keep saying it! and don't worry about sending me letters, your emails make me very happy and as long as you keep in contact i'll be fine! so no worries. i'm also happy to hear that you will soon be getting the iphone 5.. you've been talking about it FoReVeR haha its about time you upgrade!

Mom, it's still weird not being able to play basketball.. my companion laughs at me because i swear i can hear a basketball bouncing from 100 yards away.. and when i do i can't help but stare.. he told me it will be easier to not wanna play as the time passes, but it's only getting harder.. haha i guess i can't complain about you sending me both pairs of shoes! its better to have more than to not have enough.. and i also cant complain about candy. I love it. I've eaten so much candy since i've been here. And its funny how you sent me the nachos because i was just telling everyone in my apartment how i would ask you for that whenever you would go to the grocery store! Stalker!!!! haha you WOULD find out where my church is, and how i get there haha but yes, its the two-story brick building with the white fence around it.. its really small, but it's kind of cool! and thank you for the newsletter! i will be writing you a letter soon.. so expect that to come within the next week or so.

 

Time is going by so fast! our first transfer is almost here! i can't believe i've already been away from home for so long. it doesn't feel like i've been gone for that long, but at the same time it feels like i've been a missionary for ever! ha it's hard to explain.. Today we're gong to the city, as in Manhattan. we're gonna go see China-town, maybe little italy, the brookelyn bridge, and maybe times square. but i might ditch the times square to go play basketball at the manhattan church building.. which is also the temple.. how many people can say they've played basketball in the manhattan temple?! i just really want to play basketball.. and i have plenty of time to see times square, it's not going anywhere. at least i hope it doesn't disappear. but today should be a good day! the past couple of days have been awesome, we've taught more people than usual, so hopefully we can keep that up, because that will lead to more investigators! the only problem is that we have a hard time finding people that speak spanish, so most of our lessons are in english, and then we have to hand them over to the english missionaries.. it's kind of lame! i don't speak as much spanish as i did in the mtc.. i need to try and speak more! but i'm proud to tell you that i HaVe received a lot of compliments on my spanish from the people in our ward.. and some random people. they tell me i have a "beautiful accent.. like mexican with spanish.." (as in from spain) so that makes me feel good haha but i have to go, i'm out of time! I love you guys so much, and miss you all very much.. I will keep you in my prayers, i know the Lord is protecting you!

 

Love,

 

Elder ZAZ.

BEFORE THAT

Hola Hola!

 

Mom,

I was planning on trying to send pictures in the email, but i forgot my usb cable and we do our emails in the public library which is kind of far from the apartment so i can't go back.. sorry, next time i will make sure i bring it so you guys can get a sneak peek at what i've seen and done! But no when we go go places on p-day we go as an apartment, so it's me and my companion and the other two missionaries that live with us! today i think we're going to the bronx zoo after we get done here! my companion is going to see the statue of liberty with another elder that is leaving, so i'm gonna be the third wheel in another companionship for the rest of the day. there were some members from puerto rico i was talking to the other day and they told me they also used to have church at a house.. that had huge lizards in it! i guess that's normal over there.. and yes, my foot is completely healed so you can relax now :)

 

Dad,

I DID get to play basketball, finally. and the kids we played against at the park were okay.. like any other people that play at the parks, they thought they were way better than they actually were haha but hey, we didn't tell them they sucked- we just beat them. i was surprised, some of the missionaries in my apartment are actually pretty good! and the park that we played at.. well. the rims are low. that was fun :) and yes, the T-rex skeleton was at the museum! they had TONS of dinosaur bones and things like that, it was unreal.. and intimidating! our ward is named "Olmstead 1st" ward. the english ward is "Olmstead 2nd" ward. This being because the street the church was built on is named olmstead. but our stake is big, we have 11 wards! possibly 12.. i don't even know. i've been told that stake conference is held in two different locations because our stake is so big geographically and demographically.. imagine fitting 12 wards into one building! zone conference was really good, it was nice seeing the other missionaries that are in other areas close by. i got to see Elder Ochoa, my companion at the mtc, and that was cool, he's doing really well! But zone conference wasn't in manhattan, it was in the bronx! it's weird.. new york city is huge. broken down into 5 buroughs, and within each burrough there are different areas/communities. so it's like a city within a city within a city. so zone conference was in kingsbridge, which is in the bronx, but a different area than the one i am serving in, which is called olmstead. We only went to manhattan because we wanted to! we will probably go next week and go see times square, it should be fun! and yes, sadly we don't get fed very much, so i really haven't eaten anything i haven't had before.. it just makes me miss mom's cooking so much more!

 

I'm sure you guys are wondering how the work is going.. well things are slowly getting better, i think. We have a baptism next saturday, i'm so excited! on sunday we had 6 investigators at church. and three of the ones who usually go weren't there. so hopefully this sunday we will have 9 ! i've met some amazing people. everyone has a different background and story, and it's so cool when people open up to us and tell us the things they've been through and have had to overcome up to this point in their lives. That's just something else that makes me that much more grateful for all of the blessings i've had until now. i know i've only been gone a little over a month, but i feel like it's been a lot longer. I think mainly because i've been experiencing things that i never have before. it's helped me realize that i really am blessed.. everyone who has the gospel is blessed. so many people out here don't have it, don't want it, and they don't realize what they're missing! it doesn't bring my spirits down, we keep on moving, but i just wish they would listen for THEIR sake. its kind of sad, really!  but hopefully we can keep on adding to the list of investigators and eventually the list of newly baptized and confirmed members. 

 

SO whats the status with Karla's wedding? when i do i get my wedding announcement!? i wanna be there. so karla, it's your job to make a cut out of me. handle it. cool.  and family, thank you so much for the package, it made me so happy! i'm not craving anything specific, so just keep sending the random stuff :)

OH and mom, is there any way you can send me my old white with black basketball shoes? when we played basketball at the park i played in my running shoes because i didn't wanna ruin my indoor ones.. and i'm afraid i'll break my ankle if i keep playing in my running shoes.. Please and thank you! and mom, i hope you don't mind me using some of the money on my card to buy random things.. like candy.

 

Los extrano mucho! cada ratito pasa algo que me recuerda de lo que veia y decia en la casa.. y todos mis companeros/amigos que tengo aqui saben de ustedes porque siempre les cuento de ustedes. cada noche estan en mis oraciones, yo se que el senor los esta cuidande como me esta cuidando a mi. Recuerden que dios nos da desafios en la vida para ser probados, a fin de que podamos superarlos y crecer mas cerca a el. Los quiero mucho.

 

                                                                                        Love,

                                                                                      Elder Zazueta

NEW LETTER!

Sorry i have to write on one email again to save time!

Mom, thank you so much for the newsletter! i hadn't received any mail yet and when i got your letter it made me so happy! and thank you for the m&m's, they're my favorite! i'm definitely gonna eat them, except i'm gonna save one bag so i can remember and also because they are just plain awesome! and don't worry about my food, we get like 150 dollars a month for groceries, so every P day (wednesday) we go shopping for food! which the first week was a fail, i have no idea what to buy... i ended up eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for saturday and sunday, but it's all good, food is food! at least i'm not starving.. so don't worry about money for food! but i WOULD like some recipes, because as of right now, all i have to my name is some microwavable burritos, pb&j, and quesadillas.. i'm livin it up!

i don't need to buy winter clothes yet, it's actually still pretty warm out here! cloudy, but warm. and humid. i sweat a lot with my backpack! so i'm good for now.

Dad, thank you for your email! it means so much when i see that you guys have taken the time to write me, i just want to know everything! and i feel like email isn't enough because there is so much to say but not enough time to write everything. I actually HAVE had the opportunity to knock doors.. lots, in fact. me and my companion elder fairbourn probably knock 100 doors a day, but the work is slow.. we're lucky if we get 5 people to open the door. we're even luckier if they don't close it within 10 seconds. it seems like those who open it are happy, until they see that it's the missionaries, then they're instantly annoyed and tell us to go away. it's kind of funny, but i don't want to laugh in front of them! We still use an area book and actually have been using it a lot this past week because we've hardly had any appointments, so we're going through the area book and updating it because there are a lot of families that haven't been visited in a long time! even with the area book, we haven't had a lot of success.

Last wednesday night, we had an appointment with a man named Rene, he is such a good investigator! he reads the book of mormon, definitely believes in God, he wants to make a change in his life and is looking for peace... when i found all of this out i was so surprised, it was like an investigator that they gave us at the MTC to make it easier to teach.. he even showed up to church on sunday and said he liked it! so hopefully we can keep moving forward. we also taught Maria and Marta last night. Marta is the mom (probably like 60's in age) and Maria is the daughter (probably in her 30's or 40's) and they both really love the church, and have been taking the discussions for a while! like 9 weeks i think.. so we taught them last night and it went soooo good, the mom commited to baptism! I was so happy, and i'm so excited for her! just thought i'd share the good news.. other than that, the work is really slow, but hey, can't baptize everyone at the same time! better one than none..

we walk a ton. and ride the bus a ton. and ride the train a ton. it's really hard to say what we do the most.. some times we walk to a bus stop that takes us to a train station so we can ride the train to another part of town so we can walk to the area we want to go to.. and i never know where i am, this city is so confusing! but hopefully with time i'll get it down.

alright, story time. before i say anything, mom, don't freak out. everything is okay, i promise :) 

okay sooo, i got here, to the bronx, on wednesday. so we go about our day or whatever and i get introduced to the apartment and everything is fine.. so we go to sleep, and i wake up thursday and my foot was realllllyy itchy, so i didn't know if i got bit by something or if i picked up athletes foot from someone in the apartment or what , but it wasn't too serious, so i didn't mention it to anyone or make a big deal about it. by the end of the night, my foot kind of hurt, and i got a gross blister on the bottom of my toe, but i figured it was only because i walked a lot. so i go to bed and wake up friday and my foot is red, and there are two little dots close to my toes- it kind of looked like i got bit by a snake. but there's no way that happened, so i just assumed that i got bit by the same bug twice. as the day went on, my foot hurt more and more and started to burn kind of. so when we got home, i looked at it and the bite marks had started to turn black, which kind of worried me, and my foot was started to get SUPER red.. i went to bed, woke up at 3, and didn't fall back to sleep till about 4 because the pain in my foot was horrible.. so i finally fall asleep and wake up in the morning, and my foot is throbbing.. its a little swollen, but i still tried to brush it off and not make a big deal out of it because i didn't want to make it seem like i was just complaining.. so we do our morning studies and all that and then eat lunch, and i was playing with some bouncy ball and it fell by my foot- so when i bent down to pick it up, i looked at my foot and it was HUGE! soooo fat, sooo swollen, sooo ugly. so i showed my companion and the other two elders that lived with us and everyone freaked out. we called the zone leaders, then called the mission presidents wife, and then called the mission president and told all of them what happened.. so President morgan told us to go to the hospital. Yup, four days into my mission, and i had to go to the hospital. we had to cancel all of our appointments that day, it was terrible! so we went to the hospital and they told me that it's probably a bug bite, and i probably scratched it too hard and broke skin, and i probably had bacteria on my hands because i live in the bronx, so i got an infection and that's why my foot was so big. but they gave me antibiotics and sent me on my way! i'm still taking them, but my foot is now back to it's normal size and color, i just still have the two spots that look like a snake bite..but i'm in no pain, so it's all good ! 

I just want to let you guys know that everything is going great, i'm happy here, and even though the work is slow, work is work, and we're trying our hardest to spread the word and teach the gospel to others! 

also, mom, dad, and whoever else is reading this email, can you guys send me music? please? stuff that's church appropriate obviously.. but mix it up! and just to let you guys know, we ARE allowed to listen to disney music! please and thank you :) Los quiero mucho, espero que me siguen mandando cartas, es dificil para mi para encontrar tiempo para escribir, pero estoy tratando! los extrano mucho, cuidense!!! 

Love,

Elder Juan Zazueta

Native New Yorker

Hey everyone! Juan has officially arrived in New York! We have some pictures for y'all!

(that may or may not be real)

 arriving.

flying above the city

out on the town with the comp on P-Day

and here's Juan's letter/new address upon arriving!

Mom and Dad

Well, i'm here in New York! let me go through the past couple days for you guys. Last days at the mtc were kinda weird because we knew we were leaving. Most of our district left monday before the sun came out, so by the time we had class, there was four of us instead of ten. it was me and ochoa along with two sisters in our district. as you know we flew to detroit first ( long flight ) and then from detroit we flew to westchester! ( short flight, tiny plane.. ) but once we arrived, President and Sister Morgan were there waiting for us along with the assistants to the president, they were all so nice! they knew us all by name and seemed so excited that we were there. the mission home is about 20-25 minutes from the airport, so we all piled into a few cars/vans and headed that way. Westchester County is SOOO GREEN. there are trees everywhere! and grass. and moss. and whatever else you can think of that is green. The mission home is huge, it has four floors... we all got to choose our bed and we waited for dinner. it was like thanksgiving. Sister morgan made two 20 lb turkeys.. we had a ton of mashed potatoes, and rolls, and vegetables, and salad. it was so good. and for dessert we had cheesecake with strawberries! not strawberry cheesecake.. then i had an inteview with president morgan.. he is so kind and said a lot of good things about me, and that he has high expectations, hopefully i don't let him or anyone else down! so we had our transfer meeting which is where we got to meet our companions. My companion is Elder Fairbourn, from Sandy Utah. He goes home in November! He's really nice, and prior to meeting him everyone said he is a great missionary and very hardworking, so i'm glad for that! i don't think we'll be playing a lot of basketball though :(  he doesn't seem like the athletic type.. everyone else plays ball on p-days, but when i asked him what he does he said he likes to go places.. which is fine, but i'm tryna hoop ya kno wat i mean !!!! haha and now to let you know where i am. Well i am in the FINE city of Bronx, New York. What up tho. we've walked around some and there are people EVERYWHERE. how many white people have i seen here? (aside from my three roomates ) a grand total of like 8. 8 white people. they're all blacks and dominicans. but that ain't no problem, i think it's awesome! this place is so ghetto though, i'm really in the hood, i think i'm finally at home in regards to how i talk..  our apartment isnt too bad. the only bad thing is that our kitchen sink gets no cold water, the floor in our kitchen is peeling, people pee in the elevator, we have a nice collection of cockroaches,  we also have a decent spider exhibit in the top right corner of the bed room- for all those who like to see spiders.. the list goes on.but then i come to find out that we're in the richest part of the bronx but i'm not complaining! there are some really cool things about the apartment.. we live on the 6th floor, which is the top of our building. all the locks are magnetic, and there are a billion pigeons that chill outside our kitchen window. But if i look out of my bedroom window we can see the empire state building and all that good stuff! it's pretty far though, so i can see it, but it's to far to show up in my camera.. haha I'm not lying when i say this, but I really Love this place! i'm so excited to do the work. to learn.. to invite others to come unto christ.. to have a cool dominican accent.. its all good! also, nobody in our mission rides bikes. upstate missionaries drive, and all the missionaries in the city ride the subway or the bus. and walk. a lot. so i guess i won't be getting fat! especially since the members don't feed us.. i just wanted to let you know that i love you and i miss you! and that i'm doing so good :) also, here is my mailing address for the next 3 months! if you could get this to everyone i appreciate it.. if you send mail to the mission home it will probably take a week for me to get it once it gets there, so the sooner this address gets out, the better! gracias, los quiero mucho y los extrano! cuidense por favor!!

Elder Juan Zazueta

2180 Bronx Park East #6E

Bronx, NY 10462

2nd letter

Here's the second email, folks! Dear Elder him and wish him luck, because we really don't want him  to fail his goal. Just read:

"This is my last P-day at the mtc, so i think after this i'll be able to able for a lot longer and have more time to write! plus we figured out a way to stop the timer so we have the full 30 minutes to type instead of using half of it to read :P But i'm just going to write to one that way i don't have to waste time going back and forth between email addresses.. i feel like this way is more efficient! plus i know there are people who want to read the emails so i don't want to leave them out either.

So the mtc has treated me quite well, i can't believe i've already been here 2 and a half weeks, it went by so fast! We teach so much, i'm getting better and better at it! At least i think so.. We do these things called "TRC" appointments where actors come in (we don't know if they're members or not) and they have a situation and we have to teach them! So me and Elder Ochoa, my companion, were assigned to teach Jose Meza, a very wise middle aged man who had a lot to say. We taught him the first lesson and left him the book of mormon, everything seemed to be going great! so we came back for our second visit two days later, but this time he had a friend with him. at first everything seemed to be going good, we were all laughing and joking around so we had a pretty good feeling that we were going to be able to teach both of them pretty easily. WRONG. Once we started teaching it was a battle. Jose's friend, Jorge, had something to say/criticize about EVERYTHING we tried to teach. his comments included "joseph smith was dumb, there's no way he could've translated a book written in an ancient language- Joseph smith was high when he wrote the B.O.M. - you guys have nothing to base your faith on - the book of mormon sounds like a soap opera - why do you believe god loves us if he lets people suffer - Jesus Christ and God and the Holy Spirit are the same person - "

It was ridiculous. that's only half the stuff he threw at us. and we answered everything for him and backed it all up with scripture even, but he still told us that we were crazy and that our faith was nothing. me and elder ochoa were just waiting for somebody to ring the bell so we could start throwin' blows at this dude! haha joke. but seriously, it was so frustrating. but i guess it was good preparation because i know there will be people out there who are going to invite us in just to have an arguement or whatever. so we ended up leaving . then we came back for our third visit a week later and his friend was there again! but we were prepared with scriptures and things because we thought it was going to be the same thing so we knew we had to be ready. So we walked in and sat down and Jorge told us he had to go. i think me and Elder Ochoa both can say that it was a huge relief. So we taught Jose and it went sooo good! he wanted to be baptized! of course, this is all fake, but it was still a really good feeling. haha

 

So here at the mtc they have a bunch of records on the wall of things people did, like highest vertical, most free throws in a row, most 3 pointers in a row, long jump, mile, push ups, etc.. so i wanted to be on this wall soooo bad! but the only thing i think i can beat is the free throws and the long jump. i can't try the freethrows because every court is taken during gym time and i would need a basket all to myself. so i've been trying the standing long jump record. The record is 10'4. what do i jump? 10'4. i cant jump that extra inch, its so frustrating! so in our hallway by our dorm we measured out 10 feet 4 inches and put a piece of tape down so i could practice. and still. my very best jump i'm doing 10'4... blahh so i asked the guy if i could still get my name up there because technically i have the record too since i tied it, but he said no i have to jump 10'5 to get my name up there. it's impossible haha that extra inch is killin' me. just thought i'd let you know that i've failed my first goal on my mission haha it's all
good though.. i'll get over it someday.

 

I'm leaving the mtc on tuesday, the 14th! I report to the travel office at 4 am, then we head to the airport. our first flight is 5 hours from salt lake to Detroit, Michigan. Then we have a two hour wait in the air port. then we fly from detroit to NY which is another two hours.. thats a 7 hour trip! blahhh. but i'm excited, this is the real thing! i'm pretty sure i get to call home from the airport! so mom and dad be expecting a call in the morning! if you guys arent together when i call then i will just call both, no worries! i had to let you guys know so you can be ready. so if you guys get a call from an unknown number on tuesday, ANSWER IT. thanks :)

 

I miss you guys! I wish i could just talk to you because i have plenty of stories and cool things to say to you guys but i can't fit it all into an email with the time limit i have!

You guys are in my thoughts and definitely in my prayers. Los quiero mucho cuidense por favor! Mama y papa, no se preocupen por no mandarme dulces y cartas, estoy bien con que me escriben en mi email! espero que todo va bien con el trabajo y la escuela para mis hermanos! Los extrano mucho, adios!!!"

Doesn't he sound great? We'll be back shortly for some entertainment:)

FIRST WE HEARD!!!

Hola!! Wow, the MTC is crazy! I love it here. It was so hard for me to leave because I was leaving loved ones behind. But once i got here, i was overcome by a sense of peace that i can truly say i've never felt before. the new missionaries wear red dots on their name tags so the first two days i was here i wore the dot and EVERYONE greeted me, it was awesome. The spirit here is different. Wherever i go, the spirit is there. I love it so much. I am in a room with 3 other elders. first is my companion, Elder Ochoa. He was born in LA but he lives Durango,  Mexico. He is going to the same mission as me so we are leaving together! Next is Elder Fernandez, he's from Houston, Lives in Utah and is head to the Mexico, Leon Mission. And finally is Elder Arana, From Florida- headed to the Mexico, Torreon Mission. and the Coolest thing is that todos ya hablamos espanol! Creo que en estos ultimos 3 dias aqui a hablado mas espanol que e hablado en el ultimo ano entero. Pero enserio! Me encanta hablar espanol con mis companeros y los otros misioneros de nuestro distrito. Aun que suene raro, creo que el espanol ya me esta mejorando! Hicimos una regla en nuestro cuarto que el que hable ingles adentro del cuarto tiene que dormir en el piso jaja pero hasta ahorita nadie lo a hecho. Mi cama es muy chiquita, es muy dificil dormirme, pero no nomas porque la cama esta chiquita. Estoy acostumbrado a dormirme a las 2 o 3 de la manana, y aqui nos tenemos que dormir a las 10:30. Y tambien ya soy buen amigode mis companeros del cuarto, asi que is muy facil quedarnos despiertos hablando de la vida.

There's 10 missionaries in my district. 7 elders and 3 sisters. We all came in the same day as advanced spanish speakers, so we are all going to leave the MTC on the same day. And it's awesome because even though we're new, we're assigned to help the other missionaries who have already been here a couple of weeks so they can learn spanish better. Plus, our district is easily the loudest, most animated group here. Siempre nos estamos riendo y hablando y saludando a los otros misioneros y misioneras. Its so fun.

Yesterday we taught a lesson to an "investigator." Aun que nomas ere nuestra maestra, todavia me llegaban los niervos. pero yo y el elder Ochoa tocamos la puerta y hicimos lo mejor que pudiamos. Creo que nos fue bien! It was so hard for me to leave home, but teaching and sharing my testimony and listening to other elders' testimonies... I can say it's already changed my life. and i can honestly say that right now there's nowhere else i'd rather be. The missionaries in my room have had really rough lives. Elder Ochoa (mi compa) lived in durango, and he said it's really dangerous there. he has always been a member, but he used to drink and smoke and go to the club and party and whatever else.. but he told us how his friend was killed and how that opened his eyes and so he went back to the church.. and now he's here to better himself. and his testimony is strong. Elder fernandez used to be in a gang. he has some southside tattoos. his older brother used to be the leader of the "clique" he rolled with. He would also drink and smoke and party and fight. But he told us how one day he had a fun pointed to his head and how he told the guy that if he was going to kill him to just do it already. but the other guy let him go. So elder fernandez realized that he didn't want to live that life anymore, especially because he had a baby brother he needed to take care of. so he returned to the church, so he's here to be the best example he can be to his little brother. Elder arana has had the hardest life. his dad made them live in a shack, move to mexico, to utah, to arizona, back to mexico, to utah. they've lived on a dirt floor. his aunts practiced witchcraft. then his dad left their family when he was 15. 2 years later, his mom left him. so he moved to florida by himself. he hasnt seen his parents in years. yet through all that, his faith never faltered. he has a strong testimony and knows the scriptures very well.

All of that just made me so much more grateful that i have the life that i do. my life was so easy compared to theirs, but they're still here.

well my time is out, so i have to go, but email or write me back!

Los quiero mucho a todos! cuidense mucho,

Love,

Elder Zazueta.

He's doing great, folks!

Outie 5000

With his family

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