I'm doin' my best to become a better man and make you proud!

July 14, 2009

I’m excited that you guys almost have my package! It has a whole lot of talking, so I hope you enjoy it. It should answer a lot of your questions but I have an hour on here today so I’ll try to answer everything!

The normal daily routine is pretty simple. Breakfast, class, lunch, study, class, dinner . . . That’s our real basic routine. And then, depending on the day, sometimes we go visit the Temple just to practice talking to people around there. Then on Tuesdays we normally get to go through the Temple. Since it was closed last week and today is kinda funky with people leaving and coming in, we don’t get to go through today either. So it’ll be two straight weeks without the Temple which is kinda a bummer but it’s all good! This morning, five North Americans and all the Latinos left for their missions, so it was actually a pretty sad morning. It’s really empty here for now. I’m excited to get the new people in, but I’d rather just have all the same people here of course. We got McDonald’s as part of our special day for breakfast today and we get Wendy’s for lunch. Yesssss! Among many other things, I guess those are a couple things we are going to go do today.

On Sunday I was super sick so I wasn’t able to go do anything. I guess it was just like a 24 hour stomach virus. Sister Christianson is a nurse so she gave me some pills and stuff and even though I’m not 100 percent, I’m doin pretty good for sure.

Ummmm . . . The weather here is actually pretty similar to home. Except that you can count on a shower almost everyday this time of year. And once about every three weeks you get a crazy rain storm. Oh and we get thunder and lightning almost every day, so it’s really cool. The thunder here just booms . . . It’s awesome. The three weeks here have gone by soooooo much faster than they did in Utah, so I’m for sure happy about that.

This past week, I think Thursday, but I can’t remember exactly, we went on splits! So I was actually on my Mission for a day in the Central Mission. I was with Elder Lopez and he’s been out for 17 months. It was crazy . . . You can’t even imagine how some people live here! We went to like the worst of the worst area. You can’t even be out there past 6:00 pm because of all the robbing and shooting that goes on every night. We talked to one mom whose son was shot and killed just three weeks ago! Anyway, you’ll know more about all that when I send home this other tape...

My companion is good. My other 4 roommates just left and I really like them all a lot, a lot so I had them wake me up at 3:00 am to say good-bye. It was kinda sad but I’m good, playa.

I have not got any of your regular mail though. Maybe I’ll get it after this computer session. I’ll go to talk to President after this.

As far as being an Assistant, I don’t really have to do too much. I need to go check up on a lot of things all the time but I don’t have to do so much. It’s nice, but a few more duties wouldn’t hurt. I think I’m beginning to be a better leader, but who knows! I read my Patriarchial Blessing again today, and it says a lot about me and leadership so don’t be surprised if I’m a General Authority later in life!

I do not need anything from home but thank you for asking! I’m doing pretty good, time is goin’ by faster so things are getting’ much eaiser! And Spanish is still comin’ along. I need to re-focus myself on a good Spanish language plan to practice but it’s still comin’ along just fine. Thank you for the payers!

Dad sent me all the stats on Griffin! I was super excited! He should be such a stud! If Jordan comes along too, that could be such a fun front line! And Gordon too! I’m really excited. Tell Dallas he better draft Griffin and Gordon for me at almost all costs this next year for Fantasy Basketball. And how ‘bout Curry puttin’ up his points too? Very nice. And Marcus Williams . . . 17 assists last game! How crazy is that!?! How did the Warriors never use him? That was dumb. Looks like Randolph did good too though, so that exciting. He could be a real stud, Dad. And, Mom, your Lakers . . . Morrison led your team in scoring! Whoop, whoop! Haha.

How are my babies? And that’s pretty cool, the stories ‘bout Ashley getting a new job and Dylan getting to go to EFY. Does Dylan get to be at EFY with Stacie? Is she going to be a Counselor that week? How is Dylan? I need to hear from him and Dallas!

Thank you, Dad, for those sports updates! They make me so happy, especially to stay up on my Clippers. I wear my shirt once or twice a week so they’ve gotta be gettin’ good for me!

And I never got to thank Tom for his dear elder! I loved it, bro! Haha . . . It made me laugh. Hopefully I get some dear elders a li’l later today but we will just have to wait and see.

Do you think you could send me McKay’s e-mail address though? And next time you send an e-mail, could you send a few pictures of all my friends? All of us kinda just wanna show our friends off so por favor! And make sure you’re still showin’ Aaliyah me everyday and havin’ her tell stories of me! We watched the Joseph Smith movie again and there are a few parts where I just about cry every time ‘cause I love Joseph. But I also almost cry at the beginning too because baby Joseph is crying and his Dad and brothers are caring for him. And I want to be able to do that with my baby Aaliyah! Ahhhh . . . But I’m doin’ good!

Anyway, this was very, very long, so I hope you guys enjoy it! Oh and Dallas needs to hit me with a Fantasy update. I know that he doesn’t like to write me and get sad but I wanna hear from him again asap!

Love and miss you all! I'm doin’ my best to become a better man and make you proud!