Wow. What a week. Monday was Preparation Day. Tuesday I ended up 

going to Tahlequah (in Oklahoma, where NSU is located, Cherokee 

country). Wednesday was full of meetings and planning. Thursday Elder 

Valai-Tufuga went to Rogers (just north of Springdale), and on Friday 

I went to Fayetteville (just south of Springdale). Saturday we had 

three baptisms: one each for Springdale, Fayetteville 1st, and 

Fayetteville 2nd wards. Everything was smooth, and there were quite a 

few non-members there, including Juan Paz, one of our Spanish 

investigators, who is really increasing in faith. I was asked to 

teach the 1st lesson in Preach My Gospel about the Restoration of the 

church while those that were baptized dried off and changed. Everyone 

said it was really good. Our baptism was Gabriel Loredo, 9 years old, 

the son of a recent convert family. They're really awsome. They asked 

me to do the confirmation on Sunday, which I did, and everybody said 

that it was good.



So now last week is over, and I have no idea where it went. It seems 

like a combination of temporal hastiness and temporal lethargy; I was 

in Tahlequah not one week ago, and yet it seems like it's been quite 

a while since then. I'm not quite sure what to make of time these 

days, but I am glad that I don't seem to have a real sense of its 

passing; it means I'm focused on what I should be doing.



So, Friday I begin training Elder Albert. This transfer has been 

nuts; my Spanish has improved, and my Marshallese has gone kind of 

downhill; but last night I noticed that I could read Marshallese 

rather quickly out loud (at least, under my breath), even though I 

didn't really understand what it was saying. Hopefully Elder Albert 

will be able to assist me in learning Marshallese more quickly.



On a random note, I've decided that I would like to have the skill of 

being able to make basic wood furniture. Like, a table, a really 

simple dresser, or a small chest. I just think it would be cool to 

get some wood, screws, and some hinges or something, and make a piece 

of useful furniture out of all that.



My bike is doing a little better; it's no longer trying to shift all 

the time, but the berings in the back wheel are gone (I can here them 

knocking around quite often, and my wheel is getting wobbly), and the 

chain still slips a bit. I'm wondering if I should just get the back 

wheel fixed, and then later replace the gears; but if I can get 

another 4.5 months out of it, it will have lasted me for a year, with 

the only major breakdowns being two flat tires. Pretty impressive for 

$130.



No mastering on the origami; I just have a bunch of small envelopes, 

and need to shove a piece of paper in there somehow; so I just fold 

it in some random manner. Between the box of 100 envelopes that I 

bought back in Fort Smith and the 100 that you sent me, I'll probably 

have enough of them until the end of my mission.



So, yeah, my birthday is coming up. I plan on buying a couple of 

music CDs (I would have bought them already, but I'm waiting to see 

if anyone sends me any). So, I'm almost 24, and I've noticed that 

things are changing. The hair around my part is looking a bit 

thinner. Maybe the Lord is just making my hair a little easier to 

part, but I'm sure if He's having me lose hair to do it, they're 

numbered. So far I've found 5,682 strands of hair in my comb. Just 

kidding. I don't keep count.



I've been thinking a bit regarding the fact that I will be 25 when I 

return home. I'll probably be able to get grants, which is a plus, 

but I've realized that I will be a fresh RM, a college grad, and will 

have a bit of savings. Throw in a good job, and theoretically I 

should be one of the most eligible bachelors in a college word, and 

girls should be flocking around me. Ugh! All those girls playing with 

my mind...it frightens me. Ah well. Moving on.



Today I don't have much to buy - milk, cheese, bread, and a small 

plastic bottle to store a small amount of shampoo so that I don't 

have to lug around the whole bottle--an ingenious idea that I came up 

with in the midst of all these exchanges, which probably won't happen 

again (unless I somehow end up as a district leader), but I'm going 

to follow through with it anyway. Since I have so little to buy this 

week, I'm going to treat myself: I'm buying a package of Pilsbury 

chocolate chip cookie dough, for $2. Cheap and good, I find it the 

perfect item to buy to reward myself for being so frugal with the 

Lord's money (and for being able to survive on so little, but with a 

great amout of help from the members, and other missionaries, due to 

exchanges).



I feel that at this point I'm just blabbering on, so I'll close.

Bye for now, Brady