I used to like national holidays, because it meant I got paid for 

doing nothing. Now I don't, because it means that I can't get to my 

e-mail account.

Well, the last two weeks have been very warm. It rained last Saturday 

morning, but it then went sunny, and later got really windy. The 

forecast called for rain all day, and possible tornadoes. Blah. 

There's only one weatherman that's correct, and he works in San 

Diego, where it's always nice.

Suitcoat Season is almost over! Three more days and I get to take off 

my suitcoat! I can't wait. It's in the 60s and 70s here!

As an update to what's going to happen to me, here's the plan, 

straight from President Seal himself: I'll be leaving Fort Smith in 

three weeks, and go to somewhere else for 6 weeks. Then I'm going to 

Springdale, and I will be training the first Marshallese missionary 

that will be coming. Wow. A quarter of the way through my mission, I 

get to train already. That means I have to jamb-pack a lot of 

progress in the next nine weeks.

We FINALLY had an investigator come to sacrament meeting. Jimmy 

Gardner, who is 37 years old, and lost his mom about a month ago. He 

has a learning disability, but he's excited about church and the Book 

of Mormon, and on track for being baptized.

Last night we went to see Daryl, a man we taught a bit of the 1st 

lesson to. When we first contacted him, we noticed a Finding Faith in 

Christ pass-a-long card nailed to his house, and apparently he had 

been reading the Book of Mormon for years. However, the night before 

last night he had gotten drunk, and felt a lot of godly sorrow for 

what he had done. So Elder Erickson and I, and Brother Kelley Burnham 

(who just moved here from Price, has three kids going to CEU, and has 

a wife who is from Bulgaria and is teaching 1st grade at the Pinnacle 

Canyon Academy) gave him a blessing. He went from weeping and shaking 

to very calm, cracking jokes on occasion, and his hangover was gone. 

I have great faith that he will be baptized and get his life in order.

So, I haven't gotten Spoken Marshallese yet. I haven't yet received 

word from the author of Practical Marshallese, but I'll let you know 

when I do. To buy it, you send him $25 and he sends you the book, but 

I dunno if he lives at the same address or not. Still waiting to hear 

from him. Go ahead and send me the 96-page Peace Corps manual.

Oh, and I got a package from Mandy which included cinnamon hearts, 

tiny Hershey's bars, and a couple of crafts from Remy (the glitter 

went everywhere). I also got the package with "Forever in His Love" 

and Deidre's funeral program and obituary. Until further notice, I 

won't be needing any candy, except Cadbury Mini-eggs, Wint-o-green 

Life Savers, and breath mints (like Tic-Tacs or Breath Savers), which 

always come in handy.

Anyway, time to go buy groceries. See you all later!