Berry Lemonade Jones drink . . .

[I'm sorry about the spacing in this letter! I can't figure out why it won't hold the correct spaces that I put in! ~ Julie ~]


What's up Fam!

Sorry about not writing last week, but I just had to use my p-day to take a quick snooze. My body is constantly tired. :( Guess I'm gonna have to get used to that right? I'm even not sleeping while I have a huge headache, so this letter should make you all super smiley!

First off, I challenge you all to try the Berry Lemonade Jones drink. It's the best! That's what my blue card buys me every day. The blue card is just like a money card. Every week we get $6.00 put on it and we can buy stuff from the vending machines or the bookstore with it. We also need it ot get into the cafeteria but that's pretty much it.

I also wanna tell you that I'm in love with the temple. I go there every p-day (Friday) at around 10:00 a.m. Amazing!

And Mom, don't worry about printing the e-mails. I'll figure out what I want to do about them later.

That's sweet that the children are attending EFY aain this year. That reminds me! There are a few Elders here that were in my EFY groups from 3 years ago! Funny we remembered each other, but tell them to have fun.

I think that you should send me Brother Hadley's address at the seminary. I love that guy and I'd love to toss him a line. He helped me out a lot during my high school years.

Portuguese is coming along. I have to memorize a "verb card" before I leave here with 625 verbs on it! I'm almost done though, so it should be easy. As far as talking to someone, if I mime out what I'm trying to say, I can hold a pretty sweet conversation with someone. It was so crazy teaching a Portuguese lesson for the first time, I'll tell you that much! Talk about wild!

And the balloon did float up when I opened that last box, it was way cool!

Me and Elder Ruiz get along super dooper. Everyone kinda looks up to us, I'd say, in our district, cuz he's native and teaching me lots. It's pretty cool. We still party all the time. One thing we do is what we learned about companionship unity. So, check this out. In Portuguese "gatilho" means trigger or to shoot. So, whenever we're messin' around and Elder Fairbanks says something dumb (or anyone) Elder Ruiz holds his hand like a gun to them and I say "gatilho"! That means they are dead cuz they said something dumb so they can't say anymore dumb things! Good idea huh!?!? I must say, I'm kinda turning into a pretty blunt person so maybe that's why I love this little game of ours. But hey, I was told I'd be blessed for my honesty. :) There are a few times though when I wish I could just chill for like five seconds alone, but nope.

Oh, I just thought of a quesiton or "pergunta" in Portuguese. Ya know my countdown chart? Where did you put that? I picture it being in the hall between the front door and the kitchen/laundry room where that weird long picture is of the house and flowers and stuff. You should put it there so people can see how long I've been gone!

I haven't had to speak in church yet, but I'm sure my week will come. I think I'll be ready. I'll send you home my talk for next week.

I think that USA is winning by like 20 medals olympic wise. Or at least that's what I hear from teachers when I'm walking by. But as soon as they see a missionary they instantly stop talking about normal stuff. It's stupid. Pretty much in the white bible, the first rule is this: Don't have any more fun. Rob and Dad can probably vouch (sp?) for me on that. That's why me and Elder Ruiz think it's so funny to hide people's name tags when they're eating. Gotta get by somehow!

It's funny, before my mish, I used to kinda "dread", if you will, listening to conference. Now, I have the opportunity to listen to them on the computers and whenever I have free time that's what I like to do. People in our church are smart. Don't get me wrong on this next part, because I like being on a mission and stuff, but just like the next guy, I'm excited about getting married, so I've been listening to those kind of talks. The Brethren have convinced me that I need to treat my wife better and I don't even have a wife yet! Just simply amazing! At this point in time it feels lilke my mission will never end and I'll never get married. But, I also thought that about my mission before my mission. So WEIRD that it's one of the next things I'm gonna be doing. Definitely before Heath [Heather]. Unless you marry someone before November 2011. :) Then I give you permission!

I'll work on getting those pictures you asked for.

That blows about the St. George house. :( But, that's their choice is not ours. Good quote, remember it.

Also, I love singing in the MTC choir! It's not just hymns, we're all over the place and yes, the Spirit is crazy strong! I'm not much of a singer, but the spsirit still overwhelms me when I open my mouth. It's not really fair how much he blesses me. I try to keep up and help him and do my work, but he never stops giving! Not fair! :)

Some stories now for you guys!!! Yay!! A guy in my branch presidency named Brother Aidukaitus (or something like that) told a sweet story in a Sacrament meetings. As we all know, in Portuguese and Spanish there are masculine and feminine words. To say "my whatever" you say either "meu" for masculine words or "minha" for feminine words. Both mean "my". So, he and his wife were driving and decided to practice when they need to say meu or minha. They'd see random stuff outside like a ball. So his wife would say "meu balo" seeing how it's a masculine word. So he said the word "pain" for some reason and his wife said "meu (word for pain)". He then said, "no, it's 'minha (word for pain)' cuz it's a feminine word. Isn't it proper that pain is a feminine word?" he asked her with a giggle. She replied, "no, but isn't it proper that "leixo" (means garbage) is a masculine word?" Ha ha! Funny stuff! She totally dissed men, but I laughed.

Me and Elder Ruiz are teaching this lady the lessons through the phone. She's from Ohio named Kim. It's so awesome that my missionary work has literally started!

One thing me and Elder Fairbanks like to do is really childish, but it's so funny. Every time we see each other, we "pretend" to kill each other, like pretend to throw grenades or have swords and it's the funniest thing ever. Let's say we're running around the track. I'll be lifting weights and he'll run up behind me and pretend to stab me and, obviously, I am committed, so I fall to the ground. Well next time he runs around he can't find me so he starts going slower and I bust out from around the corner and cut his head off. It's so funny cuz ya just gotta see us together. PB&J.

I finished the Book of Mormon! AMAZING! The only book I'll ever need to read. Just superb! Check this out . . . Missionary: Someone who leaves his family for two years, so that others will never have to leave theirs!

I love you guys. Kyle, prepare now. Tara, be awesome and keep being the boss. Heath, show some emotion.

Much Love,

Elder Brian Anderson