July 18 Email

Dear Mom and Dad,
I've been on a mission for 9 months. Mhmm. Did you know I have an automatic extension? I'll be here until the 2nd week of December. So I'll miss 3 thanksgivings, but I'll be home for Christmas!
It was definitely an interesting week, let me tell you about it!
So, I'll tell you about the bike crash, because everything has been taken care of. I was riding down the road, and I saw a car parked on the side of the road. I was going around it, and didn't realize there was another car parked in front of it. So I turned out into the road, tried to correct myself, and ended up having my bike slide from under me. My right arm took most of it, I had abrasions on my arm and knee. Ripped my clothes up pretty good, but the relief society fixed them for me. Haha! About a week later, the right side of my chest still hurt, and it was hard to breathe heavily. President Bishop told me to go to the hospital, so I did. No collapsed lung, no broken ribs. I'm almost back to normal, yay!
The kid who wrote you is an RC that lives in our ward. Brother Chen. But he goes by Michael Jackson. He's pretty goofy, he told me he talked to you, he used Google translator to figure out what you were saying. Meh heh heh. He's a good kid, he wants to serve a mission when he's 18. Who's the sister missionary who talked to you? WHOA, Michael is home??? Tell him to write me a letter!
My investigator who was supposed to be baptized this Saturday went out of town this week, so he did not get baptized. No worries. This saturday he'll have the opportunity. The mentally disturbed man we are working with is not mentally retarded. He has a driver's license, not saying a lot in this country. We have permission to baptize him from President Bishop. By the way, we were asked by Salt Lake to be careful about using the names of investigators and their situations in our emails home. Just to make sure their info doesnt get out onto the internet.
So I hear the new Harry Potter is coming out soon? True? Just curious.
So what's happening with Kyle's baby? I figured he would end up backing up before the baby was born, sadly enough. I also figure Jenn doesn't want any of us involved because of Kyle, tell me if I'm wrong. Does she actually want to keep the baby, or is she going to try to do adoption? I know I have no say at all, thank goodness, but I'm grateful that I'm adopted, and I would want the same for anyone in that situation. Anyways, it sounds like both of them are being pretty stupid. I'm glad I'm over here.
Here's some fun stuff. We're pretty sure Sister Tan's RC from Gaoxiong has some sort of crush on my RC here in Tainan, and he definitely has an interest in her. They met at a YSA activity. So we are working together to get them to start dating. I'm now counciling him on how to talk to girls. Yeah, I love my job.
Hey Dad, how many people did you meet on your mission who claimed to see Jesus? Its not really that uncommon here, which is really odd, because most people have never thought about religion before. Its interesting, Americans really are religious people all around. You can ask a Taiwanese person if they have ever thought about what happens after we die, and 99 out of 100 will say never. It makes me feel that the message we are sharing is even more important.
So, my RC Brother Li planted some plants outside the church, some sort of leafy plant you can eat. So during Sunday school, Elder Eliason looked out the window, and sees Brother Li, in his church clothes, with a little red watering pot in the pouring rain. We had a good laugh. Everyone thinks he's hilarious, and he definitely isn't trying. So great!
Hey speaking of politics, would you mind looking into having my mail in ballot sent? I'd still like to vote. Also, just to follow up, if you could send me info on ROTC, that'd be cool. I sent you a letter with some pics and stuff, have you recieved it yet?
Oh something of interest. We cast a ghost out of a teenage girl this week. Cool huh? It wasn't that interesting. Its the sister's investigator, she actually sounds like she has the signs of depression, but her family (daoist of course) thinks its a ghost. So we gave her a blessing of comfort, and invited any evil spirits that might be inside of her to leave. She is actually beginning to progress now.
Tell Brother Birrell that I'm casting out spirits, the ward might be interested.
WO AI NIMEN!
-Elder Travis Leatham