Elder Brett

Hello family,

I was cold yesterday. There was a huge rainstorm during church yesterday and I figured that it would clear up and get really humid by the time we were to get on bikes and work, but it actually stayed relatively cool. By the late evening it was pretty chilly. It was awesome. It will probably warm up again but at least there are signs of cooler weather.

It was a pretty good week. Things are improving again which is wonderful. This high-low, up-and-down cycle is crazy: lots of great weeks in a row and then there's a sudden drop or decline and then a lot of efforts are needed in order to improve. Luckily there are always lessons learned during the cycle.

 So last week I thought of some funny stories to share but I'm sort of blanking right now. One does come to mind though:

So, this was actually back in Rio when I was with Elder Diamond. The other companionships were on exchanges so Elder Brown from Roma was staying with us and after our nightly planning session after a long, difficult day, we all got ready for bed and we were laying in our bunks and we started talking about some of our favorite TV shows from before the mission and we were talking about the usuals like The Office, 24, Lost, Psych, and some others that I wasn't too familiar with but had heard of, and then we started talking about some of the old school shows that we used to love. Then Elder Brown mentions Boy Meets World and I didn't think that any of the Elders would have actually watched that but Elder Diamond goes "I loved that show!" and then for what seemed liked ETERNITY they were quoting lines from possibly every episode ever created of Boy Meets World. They would say a line and then giggle (yes, giggle) hysterically. So that night, I fell asleep with the wise words of Cory, Tapanga, and others running through my brain. It was wonderful.

Just before heading over here (the church) to email, the other two elders that we live with, Elder Hedman and Elder Alarcon, were having a sword fight with paper towel tubes because Elder Alarcon's (he's straight from Bolivia, learning English) favorite movie is Zorro. I mentioned that one of my favorite movies is The Count of Monte Cristo and that encouraged them to keep sword fighting. I gotta say, living in a four-man apartment is so fun. We're teaching Elder Alarcon english slang and other idiomatic expressions. It's a riot. Elder Hedman will teach him something and Elder Alarcon will come up to me and practice what he learned, for example, "I'm down with that", or "How's it goin'?" and "Wassup bro". It's hilarious, especially because of his heavy accent. Gratefully, he is teaching me some great spanish phrases.

Alright, well I need to hurry and email prez. Thanks y'all for the updates. Shout out to Ivan and Julia! Mal, I can't believe you haven't told me until just now. I don't have their addresses anymore! Let them know that I want it.

lots of amor,
Elder Brett