HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

First order of business...

*Clears throat

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY! DADDY BIRTHDAY!

I hope you have a great birthday daddy, and that you recognize the great gift and blessing and wisdom and experience. And that there is lots of delicious cake/pie to eat. YAY!

Pobrecita bebe, estas enferma Lanita? Poor thing. I hate strep. I feel like I got in annually for a few years too. I'm glad Jensen is enjoy her acting class, especially when it gets silly and new agey. If you can enjoy things when they're silly and new agey than you're set in the acting biz. Or so I've been told. Have no personal experience, although I would like to scream in horror and pretend to die in some movie someday. Maybe Johnny Depp could bite me in that Dark Shadows project that keeps getting put off for years since I was like 12. Denim's monologue sounds great. Quirky. Perfect for Jensen. Has she had to learn to cry on cue yet?

I think animation is a perfect choice for Jensen. I can't tell you how happy it makes me just to hear that there is a young blonde Mormon girl in Utah who is NOT majoring in elementary education. Animation is good and interesting, and she'll have a ton of fun work opportunities. The world always needs artists. Okay, so maybe there's that whole 'starving artist' cliché, but let's be honest here. Jensen is made happy by artsy stuff. Esto quiere dicer: GO ARTSY JENSEN!

Oh Hook dates. I remember those charming things. It sounds like your class is doing really well. They certainly have an excellent teacher.

Mom, I love it when you describe the food. Last I checked, I'm down to a more respectable 145-150 range. I'm going to try to get healthy again. It's a little rough though. People keep giving us food and it's SO good. Plus, we have a car. I think all the tracting we did this week helped. I LOVE having a companion who likes to tract.

Well... Now I've got to admit that I haven't received the package yet. But! I did guess what it was by way of a number of hints. Also, some people wrote to me about it:) Soo.... THANK YOU! MWAH, MWAH, MWAH! I LOVE it. Or, I'm sure I'll love it one the package actually gets here and I get to see it. It's close to transfers, so they often hold up all the mail at the office until everybody's new addresses are legitimately fixed. So... I may NOT get it until next week if it's still taking this long, but anyway. I LOVE YOU! THANK YOU! GRACIAS! Clearly, I am a genius. What editorial changes? What did you do to my work?

Just kidding, I'm sure I won't mind. I just can't wait to see the thing!

I'm self promoting like crazy. President Hansen said he's going to purchase a copy. And I wrote a notice on the board at district meeting.

“What is this?” *Elder Verhs motions to my note on the chalkboard.

“My parents have secretly published one of my books while I'm been on my mission. And as my comrades, you are all obligated to buy it.” *Me

“Sweet! Do we get a discount?” * Elder Frost

“No. Why would I do that?” * Me

“Because... we're your friends?” *Elder Manship

“No. Wrong. Because you're my friends, you'll buy it and pay full price.” *Me

“What about if we recommend it to people? Then can we get a discount?” *Elder Frost

“...What do you not get about me wanting your money?” *Me

Alright, I know that all sounds horribly miserly and prideful/arrogant/covetess or something. I'm sure it's some kind of sin to joke about wanting lots of money, but I thought it was hilarious and they all said they'd buy one after their missions if they remember or want to.

I'm very excited. I sort of want to take a surprise trip down to the office to pick it up, but we're already kind of shot on miles and it's only the 8th and I'm not supposed to.

This is transfer week, and in spite of the fact that my companion and I are both staying in the same area in the same ward, we've been transplanted into a different zone, along with pretty much all the other Spanish missionaries in the mission. I'm back in Houston zone, where the Spanish Language and big stats reign as King and Queen of the ghettos of Houston. Except I'm in one of the nicest areas of the city still, so I'm not in the ghetto at all. It'll be interesting to see how my Houston Zone experience will be now that I'm way out here in the suburbs. Elder Parker, who definitely does NOT have a secret fanclub of which I am treasurer is my new district leader. His daddy in the mission, Elder McGary was one of my favorite district leaders so far. Elder Parker is hilarious. I think I mentioned him before... remember a story about an Elder with a slightly deformed leg (subtle, you don't notice unless he points out that it curves funny) who used said deformity to alarm us all on Halloween and make us think he'd broken it. I was looking around for the phone to call an ambulance when he got up and ran away giggling with glee while Elder McGary was right on his heels ready to choke him. Funny kid.
He also had one of his friends back home write him a fake Dear John letter that was pretty chistoso. I've been trying to get my hands on a copy for a bit now. It includes a romantic morning/surprise-make-out scene on the Y at BYU and a two week engagement.

Elder Frost is leaving us—but he's just going across the street to Westgreens and Elder Manship's new companion will be Elder Geldmocker; the one who almost died in August but then was fine. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that he'd come back out... then Hermana Thomas left, but she's apparently doing great according to President. She was joking before that she wants me to be her trainer when she comes back into the field.

We worked HARD this week. We tracted a lot and found a number of new investigators. For the first time ever a white person let me into their home (monumental moment in my mission, let me tell you). And I've got to think of something else to say at doorways aside from, “...we're here to share a message about Jesus Christ...” because I've been starting to get a lot of people who just say, “Thanks. Already know him very well actually,” and slam the door. If they really knew him so well you think they'd recognize his messengers on their doorstep, am I right?

My poor companion is sick. She's pretending not to be, but she totally is. She's got a terrible cough and she's exhausted. She's asleep on the couch right now, face sort of half buried in her mini-quad. I might have to pretend to be sick also, just so that she can get some rest.

I'm glad you like the book ideas. Some of them are still in their infancy, but the larger part of these ideas are pretty much fully formed aside from not being written down. That's funny that you say that about the mission show, because that was my idea too... I want it to focus on one meetinghouse and the two/three wards that meet there. At least one of them will be Spanish. The missionaries, because of transfers/going home will be constantly changing. So we'll be bringing in new actors and characters all the time to play the main people, occasionally checking up on what going on with old characters, but for the most part, the consistent characters on the show will be the ward members & the investigators who are left behind while their missionaries come and go.

You see, I diagnosed the main problem of the missionary-movies as being that they're far too focused on the missionaries themselves and their frankly uninteresting life crisis, and not enough on the work—O sea, los miembros e investigadores.

I'm not saying that the show will be totally devoid of missionary drama, I'm just saying it'll pretty much take a back seat to what's actually going on in the field and is relevant to the work, and not so much on hidden demons/girlfriends back home/crisis of faith of the missionaries, although I'll certainly include those elements if a relevancy can be made to the work.

Whatever. You should probably help me with this. Not that it's too terribly important. We all know that Sunkitty and His Friends is and always will be my best work.

I'm seriously so excited to see it. Kind of freaking out every day when the mail comes. My companion is fearing for my sanity. If it doesn't come today, I'm going to call the office and see if it's there, and if it is, I'll make Elder Manship or Conrad or Barlow get it for me since they all have to go up their tomorrow for transfers.

Hey as long as we're secretly publishing each other's literature, how is 'The Rickety Old House' coming along?
SO excited to read that one too.

I'd really better go though, but THANK YOU! Best present ever. I hope my letter made a little bit of sense. I LOVE you. I miss you most dearly. Besito.

Hermana Lillywhite