Got a Bike

Hey there everyone! it's your favorite elder again!

I am going to tell you a little bit about my week. First things first, I went to the bike store last pday and picked out a sweet ride, I was amazed at how smooth it was while riding it.  I have been riding a lot more now that we aren't limited by time, since I have a bike that can keep up now. Since last Wednesday, so 5 days, since I wont count Pday and Sunday because we hardly ride at all, we have gone 85 miles!!! That is a ton! It shows too, because I am getting into really good shape out here. Probably a combination of less food intake and a lot more exercise every day. I am getting back into the shape that I was when I played football in the 7th grade, so that is a good thing! I have dropped a couple of pounds again, down to 177, but that is OK.

I got a "greenie" package from my mom, which was really fun! Everything in that box was green! I am pretty sure she went to the dollar tree and just picked out everything in there that was green. So thank you mom, I loved it. Elder Cornilles was just laughing, we both wonder why here they don't do greenie meals (where you dye the food green and have green koolaid)? Oh well...

Sorry that these thoughts are random, but I just right down subjects throughout the week and expand on them while I sit here.

My companion and I have started talking to people on the street in Spanish, we know how to introduce ourselves, tell them that we have a special message about God for their family and how we want to send some Spanish missionaries by their home. We get a lot of referrals for the Spanish missionaries and they are thankful for them.

So we didn't have any baptisms last weekend, but that is just because we had baptized our investigators that were ready and we spent a lot of this past week finding new people to teach! This Saturday (May 22nd) we will be having a baptism for Aileen and Petra Adundo, They are a Hispanic family, but they speak perfect English so we were able to teach them, We met Aileen at the bus stop, invited ourselves over to her home and started to teach her. Then her mother became curious as to what we were teaching her daughter, so now they are both going to be baptized. They are solid! They come to church every Sunday and they even signed up to feed us dinner last Friday night! She made Tamales and they were soooooo good! I don't know if I will be baptizing either of them, but I will let you know next week who does the ordinances. (could be the first time for me)

We were out teaching on Sunday night and we heard some loud music playing behind this brick wall that was exactly 6 feet tall. So I was curious, I stood on my tippy toes and guess what I saw! I saw a Luchedor "wrestling" match! Have you ever seen "nacho libre?" Because it was exactly like that, masked men, flying through the air and pretty much kicking the crap out of each other! It was awesome to see, I got some pictures, but they were blurry...I will send the best one that I have though.

I found some really funny signs here in mesa! One says "loving help out of Mormonism" and the other said "25% off all strippers" (talking about paint strippers because it was a paint store). I love finding signs here, instead of "speed bump" signs, they have "speed hump" signs, which makes me laugh every time!

I had my first Overcast day here in Arizona on Saturday, It reminded me a little bit of home! I loved the clouds, even though they are a completely different type, and I swore that for a few hours I could smell some moisture in the air! No rain came, but I am sure there will be some here when I get closer to august. I read somewhere that Mesa gets only 8 inches of rainfall annually, THAT'S NOT ENOUGH! ha ha

On a more serious note, My knowledge of the scriptures since I have been here has increased so much! I was reading through the Book of Mormon and paying great detail, but it wasn't helping as much as i wanted it to. Then we had Zone conference, which talked about studying for our investigators instead of ourselves, then we would grow even more. It's true! when I study for the people that I have to teach each day, I learn more than if I try and study for myself. I am seriously trying to "forget myself and go to work" , but I will admit that it is extremely hard to do so! I will get better at it as my mission goes on. My parents told me something when I talked to them on Mothers day that really hit me. They said that they are being blessed because I am out here doing the lords work....I have been thinking a lot about that and how I need to stop being selfish and I need to do this for them, for God, and for my future family, Not for myself. I am not very good at this yet, but it is a goal that I have, to become less selfish, because I know that what I am doing will bless EVERYONE I love! My sister-in-law Amber wrote me and I got that letter yesterday, she told me how my brother, her and my niece Zoe-Jayne are starting to have family prayer every night before they go to bed....This made me cry because I was so happy! I know that my example is important to them, and to everyone. Keep it going Brandon, I love you bro! I know that as I keep working hard, that God will keep blessing those who I care about.

I have learned a lot about patience since being here, a lot of people who know me well would say that when something goes wrong (like my truck getting stuck in a snow drift) I tend to get all stressed out. Since being here I have had so many things go wrong that it's funny! I laugh at things instead of dwelling on them. I have learned to deal with people that I am not used to. There are half way houses and psycho people everywhere west of the temple, sometimes it scares me, but I have learned to not judge them by how they act, I still try to teach them the same as everyone else. Part of my mission goals was to be taken out of my comfort zone, I am getting this one out of the way early and I know that it is going to help me a lot throughout the rest of my mission.

I love everyone. My family, my friends, and all those that were there for me!

Please continue to write me, I will send some letters out today, Kate and Beth I will send you personal letters today. Sorry it has taken me so long.

P.s. I got to watch a little bit of game one (suns vs lakers) at dinner on monday! It was great!

Love Elder Thomas