"I swear I'm sweating like a sinner in church. What ever for? [it hit 95 degrees out here]" - Princess and the Frog "We are gonna die" - Toy Story

Hey Daddy, be safe in Haiti.   I pray for your safety while you are there, I pray for your safe return, I pray that the Lord will guide you in serving His children there, and in spreading the love for our Father and from our Father that you have, with them.   You and Mom taught me how to feel that love and express it, and I am so grateful for that.   I hope you will enjoy this experience and find joy in serving God's children.   I love you Dad.

Wow!   It got hot last week!   I mean I was just pouring down the sweat.   It was a little irritating.   I don't think I've sweated that much since wrestling practice after we made Coach Coleman mad.   It is still beautiful but dang it was hot.   I miss the rain of my beautiful Washington state.

For those of you who didn't hear it last week, (I am sure my mom shouted out for joy/fear/trepidation/excitement) I got my visa last week or so, and I leave on the 26th for Zimbabwe.   Here is a little update on the Travel Info.   I fly out on the 26th around 4:15.   I have a lay over in LA (really?   LA?) then I fly to London for a twelve hour lay over, which will be awesome!   Then I fly to Johannesburg South Africa for another lay over.   From there I will fly into Zimbabwe Harare.    Amazing!  And from the emails I have been getting from the rest of my MTC zone mates, there are like five or six of us flying out that day, so hope fully I will get to see them when I fly out.   That would be great.   

We got to do a lot of service this past weekend.   Like from ten in the morning to five at night.   First we helped move a less active/part member family out of their old home.   The best part was at least five or six members of the Elders Quorum showed up to help.   It was great, cause our Ward Mission Leader put it out there that we needed help and the ward reacted.   It was great.   The Husband of the family, Robert, was super happy to see them and us.   He told President Hall that he was so glad to see us (Elder Dean and myself).   We have really made a friendship with him, and his wife.   He has been investigating for a little while, and hopefully we can meet with them for a little while longer.   Then we did some service for a Less Active family in our ward.   I love this family and we have made a lot of headway in cleaning the house.   I won't go into to much detail, let's just say it looks a million times better and we aren't finished yet.   Then we got to help the Bishop and a member from the other ward to move some stuff out of storage, take pictures of it, and then put it all back in storage.   They are gonna be putting it on Craigslist.   That is what happens when your mission president tells you to offer service to everyone.   You get so busy helping and showing love to those around you that you don't even have time to think.   I love the Just Serve stuff we do here in Cali, and I heard from Kevin Hamlet that they are gonna be instigating it across the board.   Not to brag or anything but we got a pretty great mission out here in San Jose.   I hope they do just serve in Africa, I've gotten to love it.

Things are going great with me and Elder Dean.   We decided to skip a Santa Cruz trip today and just stay home and relax.   The zone was going to the beach and we just didn't feel like it.   So yeah, gonna take a day for ourselves.   Namely we are gonna get his bike fixed, get me some passport photos to get an International Drivers License, write some letters, and if I am lucky, nap.   Yep were are gonna visit our good friend DAN( or Daily Afternoon Nap).   I am looking forward to that.   I am tired.   If anyone ever says a mission isn't tiring they are WRONG!   It is fun, it is the best, it is a wonderful experience, it is a chance to show appreciation to Heavenly Father for all he has given us, it is a chance to help change lives and make wonderful friends, but it is tiring.  

"It does you no good to have a Temple Recommend and not use it."   Bishop Geddus Dry Creek Ward.

The Apostles have been telling us for a while now that doing Temple work will protect your families.   They have counseled us that if our children do it they will receive strength to overcome temptation.   They have put a great emphasis on the Temples.   In April President Thomas S. Monson told us "we are a Temple Building and a Temple attending people".   If the Prophet of God is putting that much emphasis on the Temple I think we should too.   I wish we as missionaries were able to go to the Temple trips of our wards, cause that would be awesome.   But we don't get to.   I encourage those of you with a current Temple Recommend to attend the Temple more often, I encourage those of you who do not have a Temple Recommend to talk to your Bishop and get one and then attend the Temple when ever you can.   I know that serving the Lord brings safety, I and my Companion are living proof that the Lord looks after us when we serve Him.  

"No, you know what the kangaroo is right.   What?! I am not a kangaroo mate.   Oh and all this time I thought you were, so then what are you?"

"The tiger girl went out of the cave, saw something new, and she died.   Wow, surprise ending."

"You won't steal my soul! I won't let you! Hey its just music man... Hey man its a good jam, don't be a grandpa."

"Zeus? He's your daddy?   The big guy?   Mr. Lightning Bolt?!   Read me a book will you dada?   Zeus is all like Once Upon A Time" 

Love you all.