Mom! 

     My new companion is wayyy cool! He goes home in six weeks, which is a bummer, but I am pumped to have him as a companion. He has been around a lot of old experienced missionaries during his mission, so he helps me out a lot. My old companion threw a lot of the responsibilities on me so I was always very stressed, but Smith has been a ZL before--he is very helpful.  I am very pumped about the Christmas cards that you are sending, the members will for real keep them forever--most will probably hang them up on their walls!

     Dad asks me every time he emails what my plans are when I get home.   Just to let you know, I think that when I come home; I will work and maybe take some classes at JCCC.   Then, I’ll go back to Idaho in January. There are some things that I really miss about home, like my white car and carpet.  When I come home, I am going to lie on the nice fuzzy carpet in the house for a couple hours and then get up and take my white car for a spin. That’s a completely different ride than my bike here!!  Then, I'm going to I lay around the house and play video games for a week, but after that I will grow up and get a job!!

      But, I still gotta stay focused.  It gets harder and harder to stay focused as time goes on.  I only have about 6 1/2 months....the end is getting close!! My companion told me of this legendary elder who had a lot of success.  The President would put him in dead areas and within a couple months those areas were on fire. My companion said the hardest, but most useful attribute, he learned from this elder was how to keep his mind focused on the work 24/7 which really helped to improve his area.  My companion said that when this elder was riding his bike or was lying in bed, he would be thinking of how he could improve his area. So that is something I have been trying....and, yes it is quite difficult! But, I am still working on it.

     I am really pumped for these next six weeks. I think good things will happen in Kuching!!  I am starting my sexy six (last 6 months of your mission which is dedicated to getting ripped for home). I found a cold storage and bought a bunch of chicken; so, hopefully I won’t be fat when I get home. Haha!  This Saturday, we are baptizing this girl named Jennifer who we found last month!! We are pumped about her baptism. That makes number 11!!   I cannot believe that school is almost to winter break!! When I first started in Kuching, summer had just started!!

     This week the 2nd counselor in the Mission Presidency, who is a rich Bidayu (another tribe like Iban), invited us to his house for dinner. It was amazing, I stepped on carpet and ate prime rib....YES, PRIME RIB and mashed potatoes and soup! Everyone looked at me weird when I put 2 pounds of prime rib on my plate.  They asked me, "How long have you been on your mission?" I said 18 months. "How long has it been since you ate prime rib?”  I said, "Eighteen months." They started cracking up! Good thing he didn’t ask how long it has been since I stepped on carpet!

I love you and can’t wait to Skype!! 

Love, Mike