Saturday, October 24, 2009

I am a graduate of Starfleet Academy; I know many things

Family,
Good to hear from you all yet again, and I think I started this email the same yet again. I forgot to mention this in the last email, dad reminded me, The Cane in the tilted picture. While cleaning out a missionary house we found a cane, and I claimed it. I take it with me just for fun, I also got a brief case so it is pretty classy. When we got to Port Royal we decided I needed the cane, it was a good idea, with wooden floors it made a nice sound every time I put it down. Thanks for sending me contact solution, sorry if it was expensive! Hopefully I can make whatever you sent last till near the end of my mission, I will keep my eyes open for the package. I am glad that my letter to Alex was searched, haha that makes me chuckle.
This week has been good, fairly typical, but I will see what I can get written about it. We got a new assistant, Elder Mcgrath, so he has joined our household. I am excited to get to know him better, he seems like a really cool elder, we have a lot in common. Funny story from Thursday: Elder Brown, Darling and I all went to the bank to pay for a Work Permit for a new missionary coming in. We parked along the side of the road behind another car, their was a whole line of cars in front of us. We paid, took about 20 minutes of line standing, and then walked back out to the car, the only problem was that our car was gone! The security guard told us it was towed, but he didn't know anymore information. Apparently you aren't allowed to park on the curb. Someone new had parked their car where ours had been. Somehow, out of the 10 cars parked on the road, ours was chosen when the road inspector people came by. So we taxied back to the office and got in another car and went and got our car. It was a harmless experience, just time consuming. Haha
This morning the Cheesmans invited us over for breakfast. It was really good! We got waffles, and bacon and juice! The best part, aside from a lot of food, was that they told us their engagement story. It was really funny, they had a ridiculous time. I am very happy that I get to serve around the Cheesmans, they are a wonderful office couple. They are heading back to the states on Monday for their daughters wedding and their youngest sons missionary homecoming. They will be gone a week so the office will be interesting and probably slightly less effective for a week.
One thing about the office is that I am around a lot of dying missionaries (term used to describe a missionary who has very little time left). As such I have gotten a lot of ties as they leave or get close to leaving. I am up to nearly 50 ties, so I have a good assortment for everyday. I get a lot of other free stuff that I frequently just redistribute. Elder Knowlton will be very confused next week when he receives a nice wooden hanger, with his name labeled on it, that I put in his Zones mail box.
We are getting a new senior couple from Vernal, Utah. The Waltons (not sure on spelling, just sound it out), I am curious to know if they know the Rusts. Elder White, also from vernal, thinks that someone related to the Waltons teaches institute or something like that. That is another nice thing about being in the office is that I get to meet everyone as they come and go throughout the week. So that is a lot of fun.
I am nearly done with the book of mormon again (I am in Ether), I will be finished by next week. I love reading that book and I will be excited to start it over again. During our personal studies and companion studies we are still only allowed to read the book of mormon and preach my gospel. Only during lunch or dinner or after nightly planning are we allowed to read whatever other church material we want. It is nice though. There is to much that I want to read and it is nice to have someone just tell me what I am allowed to read. Prevents me from continually jumping from one book to the next.
Hmm-I still have a decent amount of time left and I have written a good amount, to bad I am running out of things to type. Hopefully the ACT went well Laura. One thing I look forward to when I get home is returning to BYU and taking intense Physics or Math tests over in the Testing center. I always find it entertaining to just drain yourself on a nasty test.
That is nice that you got a new couch. We don't have a couch at all, we don't have space for a couch. Our house is just full of beds (we can house 8 missionaries, but we currently only have 4), tables, chairs, geckos, books (speaking of books, I have gained 3 dictionaries since I started my mission, yesterday I gave one to Elder mcgrath so now I only have 2).
I am attaching 2 photos to this email. They are actually the same photo but one has been edited. This was the photo taken by our landlord at the top of a very large hill overlooking Kingston. From left to right: Elder Darling, E. Griffiths, Me, E. Brown. The edited one was first modified by elder Griffiths, then I worked on it a bit, and finally elder darling added some final touches to it. Being unprofessional all we used to edit the photos was Microsoft paint haha. I compressed the pictures a bit so sorry if they lost a bit of quality.
We have been teaching a lot of less actives this week and hopefully we see the fruit of our labor at church on Sunday. If nothing else we have reminded them of the covenants which they made when they were baptized (or in some cases the covenants they made when they went through the temple). Our recent converts are doing really well. Elaine is doing exceptionally well. She is the primary presidency now and is nervous for this Sunday haha. Sister Hylton, back in Negril, is doing very good. I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but she is teaching Gospel Doctrines class now. I think I have said this before but it is amazing to see the changes that take place in these people as they accept the truth, and don't just accept it once but actually go a read the book of mormon daily and keep the covenants which they made.
Well I think I might finish up now. Thanks again for the emails and the contact solution, hopefully it gets to me this week, if not it should arrive by next week. Transfers are coming soon, so that will make the office slightly more hectic than normal. Enjoy the week and enjoy school. Is Halloween this week? I think it is! They don't celebrate it here. Well I love you all and keep you in my prayers. Hopefully I didn't ramble to much! Haha
Love,
Elder B. Kent Talbert

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