2010

Hey family! I am very well, I went to see the doctor this week and he gave me some stuff to start taking and scolded me for not properly medicating myself before now. I already feel a lot better, so I guess he had a point. Aside from ill health this week has been really great. We lost all our top investigators in just the space of a few days, (moving to Mexico/Oaklahoma/dropped up) but we had some success knocking and contacting referrals and now we have a great deal of new people to work with who I'm really excited to teach! Hermanita Christensen is incredible. She's a fearless sister, ready to take on any challenage and we've got a lot of the same taste in everything. She was going off about how much she loves Meryl Streap and 30 Rock and I thought of Jensen.

Oh! That reminds me. Last week, after I was done writing you, Ashley woke up and came out of her bedroom and was humming to herself, "01189998819901197253." Turns out she's a huge fan of the IT Crowd and the Mighty Boosh and all my shows that I left behind so I could serve God. Once again, thought of Jensen. You'd dig these people, they are adorable!

Hermana Christensen had a dream that she taught and converted First lady Laura and President George W. Bush. She said that she some how ran into them here in Houston and gave Laura a Book of Mormon, then a few days later they got back into contact with us and asked to be baptized! Then I had the same dream, except it was Hulk Hogan and his wife (ex-wife?) and I was giving them couple's counseling, but also preparing them for baptism.

I also had a dream that Michelle Obama started insulting the Prophet (it wasn't Monson or Hinckly, I think it might have been Benson) durring a press conference, because of some false accusations that were being put against the relief society being a secret organization to overthrow the government. So, I went to lay the smack-down on the first lady, but then I woke up before things got violent--but man, she made me mad. I don't have anything specific against Michelle Obama really, I seem to remember being annoyed with a couple of stupid comments she made in the past, but I don't really remember what they are now. And I might be mixing her up with Al Gore's wife. It has been a year, after all, since I read a newspaper or watched the news or listened to talk shows etc. I don't know anything about the current situation, so this whole dream came completely out of left-field. Whatever, it made my companion laugh, so that was fun.

Your trip to California sounds wonderful mommy and daddy! So does that mean daddy's all recovered from his pneumonia? Once again, I love the food. It sounds like Meredith has married into a very nice family, and so has Tanner for that matter:) San Clamente sounds dreamy. I've got to admit, I'm slightly devistated that that Sea Cliffs place was sold, remember how determined I was to becoming wealthy and eccentric and buy it myself? My dreams are dashed... Oh well!

Dracula's Castle is still for sale, right?

I'm really looking forward to those two weeks of paradise with you folks. Although, I'm not so much looking forward to the gigantic presipice of nothing that follows those three or so week after I get home from my mission. It's alright though... I think I might take your advice and just figure it out when I get back. I can't really devote a sifficient amount of attention to it now anyway. I just wish I'd put a LITTLE bit of thought into my post-mission plans before I left. Do you know if august-september is too late for me to apply to Graduate school at BYU for the Spring sememster in 2011? I don't really have money or anything, so I might want to get a job and work on that for a bit anyway, but I would like to get on with my studies before too long.

I'm glad that you got the opportunity to visit with family. And various missionaries:) Our mission President was just stressing the importance of asking for refferals from everyone, so we've gotten a few new people to teach as a result of that council.

I'm reading Jesus El Cristo for my language study. I've read it in English which makes reading it in Spanish a lot easier. I doubt I'll finish it before the end of my mission, but I've made a goal to finish before the end of the year. It's the only real new years resolution I bothered to have, since I think I'll actually fulfill it, which will be kind of amazing. Maybe I'll read it while lying on the beach in my swimsuit in august. Probably. I also want to read Crepusculo (Twilight in Spanish) and the Harry Potter series.

Ashley is preparing to get her patriarocal blessing this next Sunday. We're suberbly excited for her. Hopefully God will let her know she's supposed to go on a mission, since us telling her this seems to have little influence. She typically just shakes her head or makes up some excuse like "I'm so NOT sweet and innocent. I can't be a sister missionary!" But she can and she should be. She's got her albedrio though, but hopefully upon reminding her of that she'll go to the Lord in prayer and then make the right choice. She's our source of knowlegde on the outside world. She's told me about two movies: Legion and Daybreakers, neither of which she's seen but that she thinks look interesting/like I would like them. Don't really know what either of these are aside from one of them being about vampires and the other about angels, which is a fun contrast.

Shannon and Christopher got married. The wedding was small and thrown together at the last second, but really quite lovely. It was a nessecary step for Shannon to get baptised this saturday with her mother Debbie and father Tony. (This is the family I met on Thanksgiving who the English Elders are teaching). I thought about Meredith and her wedding which was going on the same weekend and hoped you all were having a really wonderful time.

I'm loving it here, but I do miss you all a lot. I hope everyone is well and happy! MWAH! I love you!

Hermana Lillywhite