Hola! For anyone interested, Josh's email this week was titled with a quote from The Office...it's from Dwight, of course: " My father's name was Dwight Schrute. His father's name was Dwight Schrute. His father's name? Dwide Schrude. Amish." There are some pictures again, and I'll try my best to get them on here, but I make no guarantees! Enjoy!

Hey all,

Not a lot of time to write today because we have stuff to do still, so here I go...

I have a list of things to write, and I'm gonna try to do it in 10 mintues.

Dad, wasn't it cool that you're uncle had an article in the Liahona? Very good article, I enjoyed it.

People came to church! We had six investigators come this week!

I finished Captain Crunch this morning, went to the offices, package waiting for me. The one with the Plan of Salvation thing. Very awesome, muchas gracias...

Changes next week, I'll probably stay here and Elder Richimondg will most likely leave. He has six months here, and I only have three, so it's most likely that he'll be leaving and not me, but we'll see. Next monday I'll know who my new companion is!

I had like 8 Batman dreams this week.

I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish this week. That was a really cool experience for me and I learned a lot, plus with all my markings now I feel well armed with scriptures. I'm trying to finish the New Testament in Spanish antes de Christmas.

I've been 20 for a month! Veteran...

Steve-o, got you're letter about your last three weeks. Awesome, much needed advice, and a very good example of working boldly. I think about your letter every time I do a contact now. Crepes and Waffles is close to the mission office, but today I don't think we'll have time to go. One day, I will have crepes, and I will have waffles, and they will be eaten under one roof.

I had a cool experience this week. There was this really nice guard who worked at a pharmacy right by our house. He always smiled and waved at him, and one day we wanted to go talk to him and get to know him, but he was nowhere to be found. He changed jobs, it turns out. Anyways, we saw him walking around near our house one day, and figured he must live nearby. I've prayed for two weeks to find him, and this week it happened. He is really excited to learn from us, and we have a cita with him this Wednesday, we hope. I'll keep you posted. His name is Cristobal, which is awesome.

I can't wait for Christmas, the stores have stuff in them now for Christmas...

While my Spanish is nowhere near perfect, I feel pretty comfortable talking with anyone now. I need to work on opening my mouth more. In English, we don't really need to, in Spanish, we do. So that's what I'm working on mejoraring right now with Spanish...

Steve-o, any news on your trip to Quito yet?...Thanks to everyone who has sent me letters. Someone else from our zone got to the offices before us, so I don't have letters today, I'll get them Thursday, but I do have the package. Captain Crunch was with me way up high in the Basillica.

I was told I'd have 30 minutes to write, and right now I'm at 30, but no one is stopping me, so I'll keep going.

People who are married, be really good and really faithful to your wife/husband, and don't do dumb things. I've seen a lot of couple recently going through really tough times. One family wasn't married, the Dad said he wanted to, then ran away the next day and left his family. Just crushed the family, they're still really sad, but they came to church Sunday and that helped them a lot. Another husband was inactive for awhile, and it sounds like he was very unfaithful to his wife and broke about every commandment you can. He said he wanted to change time and time again, and now his desires to change are sincere, but the wife just can't believe him anymore. He is doing all the right things to get back on the path, and it's so sad to see his wife not believing in him. So be good to your spouse, and never get drunk. Dads here get drunk, beat their kids or wife, and it causes so many troubles. If you've found someone you love, love them! It's that simple, and with my years of marriage experience, you all should listen to me. Mom and Dad, you're great examples of really loving your spouse... So love your spouse, do something every day to make sure they know you love them, and that you'll never do anything to hurt them. That would solve so many problems here...

What I've found out here is that there are three things that can always brighten your spirits: music, scriptures, and general conference talks. I try to do/read/listen to these things every day, and it makes such a difference. If I can start the day with really peaceful, spiritual experience, I find myself smiling more, being happier as I walk and talk. If you could listen to one song, read one scripture, and read one general conference talk every day, and then think about it thorughout the day, everyone in the whole world would be happier, without any day. Another good thing is to just go out and serve. Help an old woman carry a sack of weird corn, walk a drunk man home as he's vomiting. Smile at an old man when you have no idea what he's saying. Eat food when there is literally no space for it. Things like that make all the difference. It's so true that little things can make a big difference. Also, if you watch Batman daily, that probably wouldn't hurt.

People have started feeding us more now that it's cold outside, so I'm doing harder exercises in the morning to counteract their attacks. Fruit is getting really good. I bought 55 mandarinas and 25 oranges for $2.50, and in a month, vienen los mangos. Boo-yah! There are two drinks here I really like, colada morada, and máchica, and I really want to drink it every day.


Time to go, love you all tons! Write to me and pray for me! Thanks for all you do, and always be willing to help the missionaries.

Con amor,

Elder Thomas