Hey family!
I've just spent the last week working in Corpus Christi and I love it to death. It's a heckuva lot different than Rio Grande though. To be honest, I feel like I'm in Detroit. I'm working in northern Corpus and it's pretty ghetto. But!... there are stores, traffic lights, city parks, and most dogs are on leashes or at least within a fenced yard. It's beautiful. I have to say though, I miss the whole 'speaking spanish' aspect of the mission but I guess that's just a sacrifice. There are some amazing people here. I'm excited to get to know them better and then share with you all some great stories.
I'm not sure if I let you know in the last email but I'm in a bike area and it's been a ton of fun. I've lost even more weight in the last week though so today I'm going to buy some grub at the store to help me pack on some fat. It's difficult because we share an apartment with the other two elders in out district (it's a four man district) but we live in their area so we have to bike a little ways just to get within our boundaries. Because of that, we just grab a quick snack after studies at 11 and then just work in our area until 9 or so. Then I just eat a little snack after nightly planning and then hit the sack. Being on bike though has been wonderful. I don't think I fully understood what it meant so sweat until this week. I feel like I took a shower with my clothes on by the time we get back to our apartment at night. People feel sympathetic when they see us so they give us water...or kool-aid. That's the best. I have a crazy cool tan line on my hand because the back of my hand is exposed to the sun all day but my fingers are wrapped around the handlebars so they are protected and are pretty white. It looks pretty funny but who cares right?
So when I was in Rio, Elder Pallo and Elder Ginez were in a bike area and Elder Pallo had a hard time staying on his bike. I think he had 5 accidents in the months I was with him. Because I was greatly inconsiderate, I tended to laugh when Elder Ginez would come busting in the door to tell us about the funny spill that Elder Pallo had that day (it was usually because he would try to ride no handed). I just never understood why it was so hard to stay up on the bike...until a couple days ago. We were riding home and it was already 9:15 or so, it was really dark and we were really close to the apartment and I'm not sure exactly what happened but next thing I know I lost control and got launched from my bike. I hit the ground with my wrist and shoulder and skidded along the pavement into the street. I looked behind me and all I saw were bright headlights heading towards me. In what seemed like a split second, I lunged towards my bike, grabbed it and fell to the sidewalk as the car sped on by. I ended up making it home and then used the first aid kit to clean me up but overall I was fine. It just made me feel bad for always laughing at Elder Pallo when he crashed. I guess it's not that hard to fall off a bike after all. It's at least easier than falling off a car.
Church was wonderful. We have an actual building instead of just a trailer! Spanish branch starts at 9 and then English ward at 11. Spanish branch is tiny, even smaller than Rio. The English ward is really small too but bigger than I'm used to here. I met a lot of great people and I'm excited to work with them more in the following weeks/months. Considering I was in Rio for 6 months, I'm nervous/excited to see how long I'll be here.
My companion is Elder Arens and he's awesome. We're getting along great, I've learned so much from him already, and I'm way excited to keep working with him here in Corpus. He's from Arizona and went to a semester at ASU before the mish. Also in the district is Elder Duke (remember him? I was with him in the trio when I first got here to texas. He was companions with my trainer Elder Anderson) and Elder Arlacon. Elder Arlacon is straight from Bolivia and didn't know a lick of english. He's learned a lot though and sure is a character. It's a great apartment. Good things are about to happen.
I feel like I have so much more to write but I don't have a lot of time. I gotta write something quick to prez and then we're off to check out the stores here in Corpus. The best thing they had in Rio was wal-mart so we're pretty excited.
Love you all. thanks for everything. My address here is 3333 S. Alameda. Corpus Christi, Texas. (I forgot the zip code...sorry)
Love,
Elder Mechanico
(Have I mentioned that spanish people have a really really difficult time pronouncing my name? Most have just used the word mechanico, which means mechanic. I'm okay with that I guess)

August 8, 2011

Hey everybody!

I found out last night that I'm being transferred way up north to Corpus Christi! I'm going to be serving in an area called Bel Air! It's crazy because before every transfer, there's a missionary tradition where all the members of the district guess where everyone is going, and guess what? I guessed Bel Air! The reason I chose it was because the name sounded cool and because I like the show Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I could hardly believe it when I found out I was being transferred there. I'm really excited though. The only downside is that I won't be using my spanish nearly as much. I'll be in an awesome english ward and possibly a spanish branch too. I guess I'll let y'all know when I get there.

Love you all,

Elder Brett

August 1, 2011

Hey everyone,

We had interviews this past week and I found out that I'm getting transferred! I'm sad to leave but really excited to go at the same time. President didn't tell me where I'm going yet. I'll find out on Friday or Saturday. I can't wait to let you all know.

We're taking the day off today and not playing soccer. It's been miserably hot and humid this week and we all need a little break from the sun. We're just going to finish all of our errands and then relax in the apartment. We might clean a little, the apartment is a mess.

I printed off some pictures today at Walmart and I'm going to send some out to everyone. Not a whole lot of pictures, but a few that I really liked.

Thanks everyone for the updates. It's great to know that everyone is doing well.
I'm doing awesome. Healthy and happy as usual.

Love you!

-Elder Brett

July 11, 2011

Hello family,

Elder Diamond and I are working hard and having a great time together. The days always seem to go by so fast because we're really enjoying what we're doing. We're working a lot with the less active members and seeing a lot of blessings from it. There are so many great people here.

We went down to McAllen for the 4th of July because there was a stake breakfast. One of our investigators came too. After enjoying breakfast tacos and a pancake (haven't had one of those in forever), we went to a soccer store named Soccer Locker and we all bought $10 soccer jerseys. I got two Mexican soccer cub ones; America (It's a mexican team) and Monterrey. Then we had a giant game of soccer, probably 25 versus 25. It was pretty intense because it had rained the day before so the field was all muddy. Later we had a four-zone activity in the Stake Center with Presidente and his wife.

Things here are awesome. We're about to play some more soccer in the cancha pretty soon. We'll all be wearing our new jerseys. I'll take some pictures if I remember.

Love,
Elder Brett