I got my socks knocked off me in Spanish Scrabble

This feels like the longest week in history. So many things have happened... but they are really nothing that would interest any of you. Sorry. I mean, you don’t know who any of these people are and it would take too long for me to explain it all. Not to mention, it would be rude of me to put personal information in here about people I love. I think that is why so many missionaries don’t send much home to their families. Oh, and the fact that the fun things we do really shouldn’t be known by the world... if you catch my drift. But I do have a few fun facts for you all.

This week we went out into our "villa" or ghetto area right by the edge of our area. We saw two little kids in front of us with a slingshot. One of the kids picked up a rock and pulled the sling back (being his size made it so that he was basically spreading his arms out as far as they would go). He aimed up and released. We saw this poor bird just chilling about 30 feet above him just have its head kick back and fall. The other birds on the line didn’t move at all. And the kid just picked up the bird like nothing happened, like he does it every day. I was very impressed. I’m sure he would be a great hunter if he tried... I’m just glad he had a homemade slingshot.

We planned an activity this week for the two branches that attend our building. It wasn’t huge, but it was fun. We are going to start doing that more and more. We got inactive people to come as well as investigators... more like investigator, but still. It was cool! We watched Wall-E again (I’m glad I bought it). I crushed some people in chess. I got my socks knocked off me in Spanish Scrabble and ping pong. We`ll do it again sometime soon. I’ll get a little better every time.

I bought an MP3-4 player last weekend. But it is kind of cheap and I’m not sure how I feel about it. But it has been fun to use for one week (with 3 CDs on it... I need something new). I can also download the photos people send me and put them on it... so that`ll be nice if I end up keeping it.

We are also going to buy bikes soon. We got them picked out and everything. The bike guy just needs to put them together. I’m really excited because my shoes are getting a little thin. I take great care of them... but the bottom is just not steel. And the fact I basically only wear the black ones.

Um... that`s about it. Life is good though. I’m working really hard and trying to do my best. I’ve recently realized how sucky my Spanish is... so I’m making a new effort at perfecting that. I’m making a scarf because it turned into late fall over night (literally... over night). I found a cool sweater vest in the old fridge outside the apartment. OH! OH! I taught myself to cook burritos today! The only problem with them is the corn. I made a bad move with the corn idea. Um... Um... yeah, I’m out of news. Sorry.

I can however tell you all how glad I am to be out here. I’ve realized recently that it really is a blessing to be out here. I’m not terribly tired or anything anymore. One gets accustomed to things. I just haven’t realized until recently how blessed I’ve been over my time here. I’ve also realized how long I’ve been out. It feels really long ago that I went to the MTC. But my trainer Elder Sagripanti is about to go home. He has one week left. Wow, how weird is that? I like looking back after a long time and seeing all the ways God has put what I need in my path. I’m honestly in love with being out here. I want to be the perfect missionary, but I’m not. So I want to stay out till I am. Sorry family. I might not be coming home for a few more years then you were expecting. We`ll see what I can pull off.

I want you all to know how much I love you. It is such a blessing knowing that I have people rooting for me and praying for me every day. That I have true friends and family concerned about my welfare and trying to help me out. That there are people who listen to me and have gone out to help the missionary work. Thank you all. I love you more than my feeble words can describe.

All my love,

Tommy

PS I’m luckly still fat... for those who want to know.
PPS I finally broke a shoe lace too. They were the first things to go.