Elder Brett

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)