Week 18

Hoooooooooooola!
Sounds like things are going grand-ly! And yeah, I got the box with everything in it. Thank you so much!!! Hopefully, I won't have to use the tire equipment anytime soon, but it I do, it's good to have, right there and handy!
To grandma and grandpa (All four of ya!) Happy belated Grandparents' Day! Hope it was a fantastic one!!!

As for food - I'm trying to buy more filling and healthy food for lower cost. I think I'll be buying some oatmeal and cinnamon for most mornings, and jiffy muffins make really good pancakes!
Rain jacket-wise: I'm good with the ones I have. I have one lighter one that actually keeps the rain out quite well. The other one is for colder weather that should work better with rain that isn't quite so heavy.
If you get the chance, another journal would be awesome! I'm getting low on pages in this one, but I should have enough to last me for the next 2 weeks. Nothing expensive or anything, just something with enough pages that I can write in for the next segment of my mission.
Here, we have an oven, microwave, toaster, and blender. But I haven't used the blender yet, so I'm not sure if it works. I'm trying to come up with cheap ideas for filling lunches or dinners. I've got breakfast pretty well taken care of.

Time Out for Women sounds like it's been really awesome every year, but especially awesome this year! John Bytheway! He's so awesome!!! Maybe you can send me some of the notes you have from the conference!
And actually, I have met Elder W! He arrived at the beginning of this last transfer!! I'm not sure how he's doing (He's in another zone, I think), but when I've seen him, he seems to be doing alright. And I hope his mission experience gets all the better!

And, to write you a little about what I think was going through my mind for the first part of my mission:
At first, when I was feeling terribly homesick, I was wanting to suffer silently, I think. I guess I wanted to "play the hero" and take it all upon myself to endure, and not talk to you about it. Then, I started getting the concern (just seemed to come out of the blue) that when I got back, things wouldn't be the same. We wouldn't have that awesome 'dynamic duo' thing going on, and that I'd be a completely different person, with absolutely no sense of humor. That wouldn't be too fun. So, I've decided that I'll tell you all about the good times AND the rough times. And when you're having a rough time up there, you can let me know. Things might be tough sometimes, that's true, but like you said, we can rely on Jesus Christ and His Gospel for those things that we need and the strength that we need, too.
So like I said in my letter, things are tough sometimes. And lately, I've had a lot of thoughts of home. Life at home with family and friends, and just how different it is from life here. One of the Hermanas in our district said something during our last district meeting that stood out to me a little bit. The life we're living now is the life that the Lord wants us to have. There are habits and attributes that he wants me to gain while I'm out here that will make me a better person when I return. So I've been trying to change my thoughts and my habits to become the person that I believe the Lord wants me to become. It'll come gradually, but it'll still come. And I'm sure we'll still have a great (if not better) Mamma-son, Devin-son relationship.

And Justin! Great to hear from you!!! Another 3 minutes filmed? Awesome! How's the editing going? Have you gotten that Action Essentials program or the Movie Scores program yet? You've got to let me know how they are! They looked sooooo cool, what you can do with the bullets and things, and how you can make the music that fits in exactly with that's going on in the movie! How many people are in it? Do you have a script written out? How about the climax of the movie? A really intense action scene? I can't wait to see how it turns out!!!

Things here have been great! Well, getting much better! Luis is progressing towards his baptism, which is scheduled for the 26th of this month. We also have a few different people who are moving right along, which is awesome! Last transfer, we had a lot of lessions, but not a lot of solid people. Now, we're working on getting both.

Elder Neilson is a really driven guy. He has so much work to do, so much on his plate, but he still has time to make breakfast for both of us a lot of mornings. He's a pretty swell companion! I want to take some (or a lot) of the attributes he has, and emulate those in my own life and in my mission. He said something that stood out to me. We're here for two years (still seems like a very long time to me). That means we have 2 years worth of time for self-improvement. Thinking about that, I could return a MUCH better person that I left, and that is what I want to do. It will take a lot of work, each and every day, but it'll be worth it in the end.
And doing this work that we're doing - there isn't anything else in this world that we could do (maybe other than raising a family in His Gospel) that is worth this much. Not making movies, going to the moon, or discovering a new element. We're in the work of saving souls. Most of what else I had done up until this point really seems pretty insignificant.

But I've got to go now. I love you all SOOO MUCH!!!!!
And mom - Happy early birthday!!! Have a great one!!!! Enjoy every minute!!

Con mucho amor - A infinidad, y mas alla!

Dev-i-o