June 21, 2010

Hi Mom! Hi Dad! Hid Marc! Hi Austin! Hi Sean! Hi everybody else who might be reading this!

Thanks for your Dear Elder letter, Dad. I got it just before you left. I can't believe you're already switching out your cars. You'll probably have a Formula 1 Race Car by the time I get back.

Austin's Allstar team went to the state championship? Did they win? Is Austin totally tired of baseball yet? There's no way I could play that much baseball. When is Mom running her half marathon? Where? How is she training for it?

Well, I've only been here a week, but I already love it here. Although it's nothing like what I was expecting when they told me I was going to the Salt Lake City South mission. I'm serving in Kamas, a little rural area beyond Park City. It's actually quite beautiful with the hills and farms and not a single building more than two stories tall. It's one of, if not the furthest area, from the Mission office, which is in Sandy.

I'm serving with two other Elder other elders, Hernandez and Torres, who are both originally from Mexico, but now live in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. They're great! They both have a lot of experience and are teaching me a lot. We are the only missionaries in our area. So, we teach both English and Spanish-speaking investigators. However, we have more Spanish-speaking than English-speaking investigators usually. We are working really hard and teaching a lot of people. I think we taught over 30 lessons with members present this past week. I've already been a part of 3 baptism, athough I don't feel any of them was a result of my efforts since I just got here last week. But I know the little girl who we most recently baptized pretty well.

My Spanish is coming along. My companions always try to involve as much as possible even though I'm brand new, and we're in a trio. I'm very grateful for that. But, ya. We are always crazy busy, racing from one appointment to the next. I don't know what we would do without a car because our schedule is always tight, and everything is really far apart here. We live with a member, and we get fed at a member's house every night. So, that's pretty cool. I got to take advantage of all the comforts while I'm still in the US. Some restaurants around here even let us eat for free because they are owned by a member. I love being a missionary in Utah! Haha! Usually, we barely have time for lunch, so we don't go that often. I still feel like a noob sometimes when I'm teaching and even more so when I'm contacting random people, but I'm learning pretty fast.

I'm not sure exactly what else to write because I still haven't gotten any mail or dear elders anyone may have sent me since I got here. We only pick up mail once a week from the mission office. So, if you did send me something, I should get it tomorrow when we go down there for our district meeting. The mission office is like an hour away. I think that's the worst part about being here. But, other than that, I love it here! Which is so good because I have no idea when I'm going to get my visa.

I love you all! May God continue to bless you.

Brett