Another New Companion

Hello,

My week has been great, thank you for asking. Not any new investigators to really speak of. No investigators came to church this week, but one of the less active members that we visit all the time, Bro. Scott, came to church this week again - that's twice in a row! That was exciting. No, I haven't heard anything more about Tim. Elder Pickett got transferred out of Cleveland so I don't know either of the missionaries there anymore.

The Spanish is going good. Elder Wells' visa is all in order now, though, so he left for the mission home yesterday and his flight for Argentina leaves today. My new companion is Elder Gullerud. He is from Oregon, he's been out for 5 months, he has 5 brothers/sisters, and he likes to ski and build robots. That's about as far as we've gotten so far. He was serving in the Perrysburg area, which neighbors ours, 'til yesterday. His former companion, Elder Munson, is now serving in a triple-up companionship with Elder Carter and Elder Robison, the other elders in our ward. (the area they were previously serving in is now closed.) Now everybody in our ward gets to feed 5 people instead of 4! Yay!

I'm glad everybody had a good time in St. George and a great meal of steak and monkey juice when you got home. I can tell the church is still true in Ohio because the monkey juice still tastes as good here. Good job dancing well. I don't know about the dancing boys, though, Delaney.

So, hasn't Dad run whole marathons in less than 3:19:50? That must have been a nice, relaxing race. Was the second-to-last place runner's time 3:19:49 or something like that?

I'm glad we're getting a new horse. We definitely needed one. I like the sound of the stretch limo quarterhorse, if that makes any difference. Hopefully nobody complains in the next 15 months.

Did you buy any more guns while Mom was in St. George, Dad? I think we need another one.

Way to go on the charity jar. Have you set a goal for how much you want to get this year? That $20 won't hurt. Remember, "When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates" (- Pres. Monson, PMG ch. 8)

Yeah, I can't wait for conference. It's like Christmas for missionaries! 1 conference. 2 days. 4 sessions. 8 hours. Thousands of locations. (any idea how many churches the church owns?) I'll look out for Bro. Neu.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to some good weather again. Biking in the rain isn't fun.

Love You!!

Elder Matthew Smith