Dear Mom and Dad,
Hello!
Guess what?
I'm in Taiwan!
To answer some of your questions, I've heard its about 31-33
degrees celcius here. Probably about 80-85 farenheit. That's not too
bad, but I've seen on a few scales when we get over 100% humidity. In
other words, I'm always drenched in sweat. Its pretty exciting. Its
not too bad, I just have to drink a lot more water to keep hydrated.
Don't worry about the chest pains. I've slowed down running in the
mornings, and I've tried some relaxation activities. Its not nearly as
bad.
I figure if I wanted to study Chinese, Taiwan would probably be the
best place to do it. I'm not sure where I would go, or how long I
would do it for. Its just an idea. It'd be more convenient than being
an Elder, I could skype you daily and go home whenever I feel like it.
Just for fun, maybe you could look up which universities in Taiwan are
accredited in the United States, and show me in the next email?
Currently, for my future, I have a front plan of running for office, a
back up plan of being an educator, and a back up to my back up plan of
going into the Air Force. You know me. :)
I'm excited that you'll be able to meet my friend Vanessa! Tell me
how that goes. She's staying at the Combe's? Thats cool. I was Sis.
Combe's district leader in Yuanlin, the same ward Vanessa is in. Yeah,
you should definitely take Nick with you guys, as long as he doesn't do
anything fishy. :)
Guess what, I think about Nick too. I've been practicing the
guitar when I get a chance, I've written a few songs the past year, and
I've tweaked a few. It will be fun to see him again.
We have not been able to meet Bro. Zhang's daughter yet, she lives
in Taizhong. That's about 3-4 hours away by train. He's doing really
well, he's now a regular at church. Yesterday, a member from Taizhong
brought his friend to sacrement meeting, his friend lives in our
secondary area. He said he wants to join the church, so we'll be
meeting with him weekly to help him get ready. Its pretty cool. He's
an officer in the navy, we have another progressing investigator who is
an air force officer. Its kind of interesting. We also have a new
investigator, he's over 80 years old, but he thinks he's 50. Yeah,
haha! Its gonna take a while to teach him.
I went on exchanges with the zone
leaders last week, I was with Elder O'Brian. He's an interesting guy,
he is from Hawaii, his dad is white, his mom is Hawaiian and Cantonese.
He is going home in a few weeks, he's going to the Naval Academy at
Annapolis. This man, believe it or not, has a dream of becoming a Navy
SEAL. Yeah, crazy beans. He explained what the differences between all
the branches of the military are, it was pretty interesting. Good
missionary.
I have been making plans on continuing learning Chinese when I get
home. I have about 1000 characters memorized, which is no where close
to where I want to be. Haha! I'll be using the tunnel method to
memorize as many as I can in the next 3 and a half months. I'm excited
to be able to study more non-gospel Chinese when I get home. I can
watch Kung Fu movies for language study. My chinese is not nearly where
I want it to be, but its not nearly as bad as I thought. Elder Dailey
had an intermediate Chinese textbook from when he was in college, most
of it was too easy for me, including the characters. I can't wait to be
able to study advanced Chinese, such as Chinese history or literature.
That would be fun. Dad, how is your Spanish? How did you keep it up
after the mission?
Man, I can't believe Richie actually is home! It will be so
exciting to see him again! He complains about having so much time, how
about he writes me a letter? I'm scared about keeping busy too, that's
why I'm trying to make as many plans as I can. You can also keep me
busy with stuff. I wonder what Elder Perkins will be up to? Hey, can
you check facebook to see where Aaron Montgomery is on his mission?
Speaking of missionary work, when are you two going? I'm a
missionary so I have to give you an invitation. I invite you to set a
goal for when you would like to serve a mission, and then work towards
it. Are you willing? I know that the service you give will bless our
family for generations.
Believe it or not, I remembered your anniversary. I'm really
grateful that you are my parents, and you have given me a good standard
of how to treat my spouse. I love you both, and I hope you have a good
week!
-Elder Travis Leatham
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