January 9, 2012 Email

Dear Mom and Dad,

I can't believe it, this is the last week of my 8th movecall. I've been Senior for 2 and a half and District leader for 2, and my former Senior companion, Elder Eliason, only has six weeks left. Everything has gone by really fast. January is a third over! My time is disappearing so quickly! I have a feeling that next time I write you, I will be in a different area with a new companion, because I've been with Elder Wang for 2 movecalls. But we shall see.

I'm glad you enjoyed the cards. Did you recieve the gift that I sent to mom? If not, please tell me, I would hate if it didn't make it. It is kind of interesting how many of the leaders in the ward served their missions in Argentina. Thanks to the Reeces and I, we have Asia covered.

Speaking of bald, I'm a little worried about going bald myself. It might be my imagination, but I do feel that the corners of my hairline are slowly moving back. Either way, its not a big problem. I've heard all of the sisters here pull out hair every morning while they are washing their hair. My body has taken some of the normal signs of missionary work. My shoulders and legs are much stronger, I have a nice belly going for me, my back and knees are beginning to protest, and I have a lovely purple hue permenantly engrained under my eyes. Missionary work is a little stressful, you could say. But it is definitely worth it. I feel so much more guidance in my life. I know what is right, I know what is wrong, and I always know what kind of choices I'm making.

We will be studying George A. Smith this year. I would love to study it more in depth, but regretfully, the copy the ward provided me with is in Chinese. While my Chinese is getting better, I still have no way of reading a book like that in Chinese! Maybe if you get a chance, you could send me an English copy. I've been a little under the weather the past week, I can always tell because my Chinese always sounds horrible when I don't feel well. But the past month, I've been really focusing on setting a foundation of learning how to read Chinese, I'm suprised how much I can understand. If its a character by itself, I can understand, hmm, about 300. But when they are put in words, I often can figure out what the other characters are, or at least understand the meaning of the sentence. My Chinese is far from fluent, I've only been speaking it for a year. But I remember my MTC teacher's telling me not to worry about learning Chinese, because I have my whole life to continue learning and progressing. Right now, I can just focus on helping others come unto Christ.

I'll be sending a box of stuff home that I don't want to take to my next area when I move. Mostly books and a muouxi, you'll see. Anyways, it'll probably take a few months. Oh, so you know, I received a Christmas CD from Greg and Barbara, I plan on writing them, but let them know that I am grateful for the gift. I did get the oreos from the ward, I eat one or two a week, because there is no way I'll ever find them in Taiwan. Haha!

I love you! Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Travis Leatham