December 11, 2006

Glad to hear that Laura Thayn is back. Tell her I said Hi, and then 

give her my mission home address and tell her to write me! In the way 

of sending me things, it's probably best to just send them to the 

mission home, because then they'll always get to me no matter what 

area I'm in. I'll include a list of some things I'd like sent, and 

some things I'd like for Christmas later in this e-mail.

I received the letters from the Wellington 2nd Ward

Primary. I don't really know who most of the kids are, but it really 

raised my spirits. I also got Mandy-bottoms's package of cookies, 

letter, card, and the Marshallese Dictionary (Thanks!). It's been a 

great help for me learning how this language works. It also has 

possibly led me to another book that could also really help me out. 

So, hold out on books, because I got my library card, and will be 

checking some out through an inter-library loan. Christmas music 

would be nice, but mostly I'd like some church music, which I will 

put later in this e-mail along with my Christmas list. As for my 

tamarindo and horchata, I'll probably ask for them when I get to 

Springdale. I can't really use my lime pickle here. :-(

I haven't heard from Elder Jaynes. I know he went to Aurora, Missouri 

with Elder Coleman, who came out with Elder Morrill and is a good 

friend of his, but I have no knowledge of how he's doing. They 

reopened that area with the both of them, and they hadn't had any 

missionaries for a few years, I believe, and now they're busy with 

appointments, as all of their referrals are from the members of the 

ward there. They're too busy to go tracting, which is excellent! I'm 

getting really excited for Springdale. Apparently they have three 

sacrament meetings: English, Spanish, and Marshallese. Elder Morrill 

told me that they've been having about 40 people attend the 

Marshallese sacrament meeting. I've been making flash cards to help 

me memorize words, but I'm still trying to get a load of words so 

that I can start practicing.

That's about it for now. Moving on to my Christmas list:

Creamed honey - if you don't know what I'm talking about, ask David.

CD of Church music - I'd like to have members of our family 

performing hymns and primary songs. I have some requests: Cindy and 

Betsy performing "Baptism" (like they were planning to do at my 

farewell); Dad performing the song he wrote (piano and vocals, also 

if I could get it in the form of sheet music that would be cool), 

with some of the lyrics being: "I want to live in the Father's 

kingdom," or something like that; a performance of "I Feel My 

Savior's Love," I think David and Betsy would be pretty cool together 

on that; Becky performing "He Came for Me" from the Women at the Well 

CD, if she's willing and able; Cindy   performing "This is the 

Christ," taken from a talk by President Faust; also, a piano 

arrangement from Dallas would be cool. I know it's a lot to ask for 

and a lot to do, but I think it'd be something that would not only be 

cool for me, but also be really cool for the family as well. Or, you 

could just send me Mindy Gledhill's "The Sum of All Grace," which is 

a favorite here in the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission, whichever you'd prefer.

I think that's about it. Be sure to get Heather Fausett's address, 

and tell her and Julie McKinnon to send me my packages, I've been 

waiting for nearly two months! Oh, and if she's reading this, a Happy 

Birthday to Susie!

Good luck to you all!