Hello Family!
Well it sounds like there has been some interesting news about football (Max Hall and Marcus Wheaton). I hope the MRI scan goes well, mom. It sounds like dad had a fun job with service. We g to help on older woman put up some styrofoam ceiling. It was the same lady that we did the wallpaper for. Thanks for the weather report too, Dad. It sounds like it will be cold. It has been foggy, but it has not already snowed. I am kind of excited. Shane, I do not think that I am a capo. It just seems to me that I do all the talk and you do all the action. Just kidding. I know that you and I are both doing a good work. It sounds like your missionaries are doing a lot of switching around. Something interesting here is that for this next transfer, there (from what I heard) will only be 1 change between 2 people in the mission. Everyone else is staying where they in with the same person. There is even an elder in my area who left on the mission 2 transfers before I did and he has been in the same place since. I believe this is his 7th transfer in the same place, and a transfer is 6 weeks. Thank you all for the letters. I did receive them from mom, grandma, and I did get Alisha's letter. We found a place closer to do internet, so I may be able to write home some letters (it is okay to write handwritten letters to friends). Thank you for that next year calender. It will be very convenient, and thank you for the pictures from home.
We got to see General Conference in English, so that was very cool. There were some pretty amazing talks spoken. President Uchtdorf really had some good talks about pride and keeping life simple to focus on the important things. I did enjoy that talk also about the 14 points of what a prophet is and does. There was also many talks about raising kids and protecting them against the evils of the increasingly evil world. There were a lot of good points, and as Gabe said, it really did feel like 10 minutes instead of 10 hours of conference for me too. This month as a cultural activity, we will be going to a bashkurian dance, and next week we will go on the visa trip. I will try to take some pictures.
There were a few key activities that happened this week that helped me realize how much I love the listeners out there. i.e. family. My companion and I decided to drop by a man with a son on a mission. He was not a member, but he showed us pictures of his son. His son was serving in Moscow West. (interestingly enough, I saw some of the people who serve with him are some of the people that were in my MTC group, and we are all of the sudden linked together, even though coming and living in obscure or different places.) The missionary's father had a few beers to drink, and lives with a different family. The son prays for his father every day, I saw in a letter, and I can't imagine how badly he wants his father to change for the better. The father was hardly familiar with why his son was on a mission, and he did not want to here anything about the Gospel. He is working hard on a mission, although he comes from a hard situation. I also learned in conference that the youth really needs a strong support group in order to help them. Thank you mom and dad for being that strong, loving, support that helped me grow into who I am today. I still have a ways to go, and I see how I may have been a hassle in some ways, but I know there is great room for improvement. I love you all. Thanks grandma for the letters and support as well. She is included of course.
Oh. Mom, I don't know if you have already sent the package, but if it is possible, maybe you could buy a CD and send it in the package. It is Handel's Messiah performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. That is the only CD I would want as it is focused on Christ and Christmas, and maybe dad can help you know what it is if you don't know.
Until next week...пока. старейшина ларсон.
