February 5, 2007
Theoretically I should be getting a lot of mail
from people, since a lot of people, since a lot of people have been asking for my address.
I haven't really heard from anybody for sometime, though (except my
parents and Cindy, whom I will publicly thank). Send me mail, people!
If you write me, I'll have to write you. Remember, I don't really
have your address, but you can get mine!
So, apparently people are reading the blog. Cool. Thanks for those of
you who read it. For those of you who don't, I have nothing to say to
you, since you won't be reading it anyway.... ;-)
An extended Trailblazer? Boy, what am I going to come home to? Lately
I've really been missing my guitar, the J-45. I was able to hear it
on the CD of the Bradshaw Family Christmas Party Talent Show, and it
sounds so great, even through the crappy speakers I have! That will
probably be the first thing that I will do when I get home: whip out
my guitar, and play all night! If I remember any songs.
For some reason I keep getting the thought that things are going to
be like this for a long time, rather than just two years. I've
already been out 3 months, which is 1/8th of my mission. I suppose
it's because going home doesn't seem like much of a reality at this
point, and then I miss taking naps on Sundays, playing my guitar,
hanging out with friends, going to school, and I want to go home and
do those things. So I have to keep reminding myself that 2 years is
short, so I better get everything I can out of every moment, and that
at some point I will go home, and things will be very odd when I do.
So, Mom, does Steve still talk to you, or did he ask you to leave him
alone? Apparently he didn't say anything about your kids, so maybe
when I get back, if I move up to Logan, I'll visit him. Ha ha!
So, Elder Morrill is home. My new companion is Elder Erickson, from
Pleasant View, Utah. We get along a lot better than Elder Morrill and
I did. Elder Erickson is a pretty laid back guy (at least, laid back
in the Bradshaw sense). He loves duct tape (even made a pair of duct
tape sandals), and has a cool sense of sarcasm that I really enjoy.
That's not to say that Elder Morrill and I didn't get along, I just
didn't feel like I could quite be myself around him. And Elder
Erickson just came from Springdale. He says the Marshallese people
are really laid back, but don't come to church a lot (they like to
gather in big family groups, so they usually go to another church).
Most of them know a bit of English, but just enough to go shopping at
Wal-Mart.
Off the subject, but it appears that Bentonville is where Wal-Mart
started. So Walmart is pretty huge out here.
Things are going okay in this area. We have a bunch of people to get
a hold of, as the past two weeks were not all that productive, first
with Elder Morrill's bike accident, and then on Tuesday we had snow
(finally!), which closed everything down on Tuesday afternoon, night,
and Wednesday. So no one really wanted to talk, and we couldn't
really drive. They don't really have anything in the way of snow
plows, and for some reason, they put sand on the roads instead of
salt, so the snow control is pretty bad around here. Elder Erickson
wants to work, so it looks like we'll really be picking up the ball
around here. He's teaching me more about the Area Book (which has
Teaching Records for investigators and recent converts, Progress
Reports, and lists of potential investigators), which Elder Morrill
said he never was really good at just before he left, so I'm really
excited about things getting in gear here, and working really hard. I
think the last couple of weeks have made me a bit lazy (boo).
So I'll wish you all good luck, Cindy a Happy Birthday, and my
parents health and strength to get over their illnesses.
'Till next week!
Brady
