Sept. 10, 2012

Dear family,

Things are going absolutely amazing down here in Hidalgo/Mission/McAllen. The whole family that we're teaching came to church on Sunday and then we went over to Bishop G____'s house for a family home evening. Juan Pablo, the 9-year old son said the opening prayer and then after the FHE, which went wonderfully well, Bishop G___ asked the father if he'd be comfortable saying the last prayer. He said yes and as the Bishop and the rest of the family folded their arms and bowed their heads for the prayer, Juan Pablo, Jose, Jasmin, and even the 2 year old boy Jonathan all got on their knees and folded their arms. Bishop and his family were astounded. I guess we forgot to let Bishop know that we always kneel in a circle as a family for the closing prayer after our teaching visits. We left the FHE that night really happy because we know that Bishop is excited for this family to get baptized. They are going to be a great addition to the ward. 

I've been having so much fun teaching families. There's nothing quite like it. I cannot wait for y'all to come down and visit these people that I've grown to love so much. I stay in contact still with all of them through good ol' snail mail and it's been great getting their updates. I told you that Tabby is at BYU right? She sent me a BYU t-shirt. All the families in Edinburg are doing great. It's tough being so close yet so far away! Oh well, I'll see them soon enough. We've just started teaching some additional families; they are early on in the teaching process but I'll let you know how it goes as they progress.

I think (I hope!) it's starting to get a little little cooler now. We went out this morning right at 6:30 to wash our car and it was actually kind of chilly haha. It's going to be weird going to Utah in November! I'm gonna freeze my toosh off. By the way, it looks like I can't extend my mission at all because of Thanksgiving, which is a good thing though. It will be nice to be home for Thanksgiving. My departure date is now November 14th. My original departure date was the 7th because the transfers were off by a week from Monterrey, but they're letting me go home a week later that way I can go home with the entire group. 

Anyway...
I love y'all mucho! Thanks for your emails and letters. 

-Elder Brett