Monday, September 21, 2009 - Cool summer days in Texas?

Howdy!

Things are going well here in Abilene, especially the weather. On Tuesday, we had to take in the van (that got rear-ended) into the shop for repairs. Annoyingly, the dent smaller than my fist was supposed to take up to a week to fix. Anyways, we were stuck on our bikes for most of the week.

Fortunately, of all the weeks to be stuck on bikes, this was it. It was cold and cloudy all week. I have never seen so much good weather, for so many days in a row. All I can say is, I'm glad I'm not in a bike area. If it was hot and we didn't have a vehicle to fall back on, I would not have been able to work.

By law, all bikes need, at minimum, a headlight when riding at night. I don't have $23+ to buy a headlight, so Elder Tuttle and I decided to buy el-cheap-o flashlights and strap them to the handlebars. It's West Texas; it'll blend right in, right? Anyways, we went to Wal-Mart and we were trying to decide between the fat $1 flashlights or the smaller $3 LED flashlights, when who shows up? Bishop Hill. He just so happened to have two extra flashlights that were bought for scout camp, but never used. We were also having dinner with Brother Eldridge the same day, so he said he can give them to him to give to us that evening. So not only was he at Wal-Mart at the same time as us, in the same section as us, but he had exactly what he needed and a way to get it to us. I thought that was pretty cool.

Also, that old pedometer that I got out of the box of Special K before my mission, which has been on my belt every day of my mission, has finally begun to show its age. The screen is weak and it's only counting every other step, or every fourth step. I was trying to find another box of cereal that has one inside, but to no avail. I went to Sports Academy, but they were like $9 - $24! Finally, I found one at Wal-Mart for $5. It's a gay shape, but it's black, so it's less noticeable. Also, I think it's *too* sensitive - instead of daily averages around 4000 steps, now the average is 20000 steps! I haven't really changed my daily routine, or anything. Anyways, it's just for fun, right?

Also, what would be the possibilities of me shipping anything home? It's a lot more expensive since it's leaving the country.

I also drove through Texico! I was only there for a moment. I'm sad I didn't take a picture of the sign.

In my planner, I wrote a list of things I wanted to include in my letter home, and one of the items was "Christmas", but at the moment, I can't remember why I wrote that...

This week has felt rather long.

Anyways, I hope the rain/clouds keep up. Yesterday, it was hot for the first time that week. People say one more week of heat, then it'll start to cool off, rain or no rain.

The Church is true.

I love you all!

-Elder Brandon Wong

Something weird about being a missionary: having that "mantle" on you, blessing people just by being there and others feeling the Spirit when you're around. I'm not looking forward to losing that.