August 8, 2011 Email

Dear Mom and Dad,

I am sad...I did not recieve an email this week...I guess I will tell you about my new area.

I live in Donggang, its the second southern most area in the mission. I've gone from covering 2 wards, each with over 100 active members, to a branch of about 30 active. A little different. The recent converts are really awesome and solid. Its pretty cool, we had a baptism on saturday, cool 20 year old guy named Huang Ding Zhi. Sadly, he is moving to Gaoxiong this week, so I won't have a good chance to get to know him. Apparently my area is famous for seafood, which is cool. Its really pretty, we had to go to the bottom of the island for district training meeting, it takes an hour and a half. The bus ride was awesome, on the left, we have mountains covered in jungle. On the right, the ocean and beaches. Yep.

Today, we are going to go on an adventure to Gaoxiong, its the 2nd biggest city in Taiwan, and biggest in our mission. In other words, it has a lot to do. There is a hilariously cute brand here called "Banana Chippy: a Jolly Monkey." In America, it would be considered pretty femmy, but it is cool here! So we're going to look for the Banana chippy store today.

Sorry, don't have a whole lot of time today. Tell my friends I'll write them back over the next few weeks, haha! But I did want to tell you something. Sorry I wasn't the best son that I could have been. Mom, as I was cleaning my bathroom today, which had been used by 2 different Taiwanese elders who hadn't cleaned it in the entire 6 months they were using it, I realized how much work you put in to keep our house looking nice and clean. I realized that by cleaning, you were telling me that you love me. And for 20 years, I gave you a hard time about doing something as simple as straightening my room, which makes me feel that I told you that I didn't love you for 20 years. I'm sorry. Dad, now that I have responsibilities, and a lot of them, I realize how hard you work for our family. I realize that you would set time aside that you wanted to spend with me, whether it was going golfing, or going to see a game, or getting up in the morning to read the scriptures. I never really appreciated that, and now I realize that I was pretty selfish. I'm sorry. Maybe, in a year and 3 months, when I'm living at home again (at least for spring semester, haha!) I'll have a chance to repent. I love you, and I'm so grateful for how much you have done for me, and how much you are doing for me.

Love,

Elder Travis Leatham