Dear John...AGAIN‏

email dated 5/27/08
Well, it happened again. My companion has been Dear Johnned. I feel for him. He has been a tough companion but we are really close. I consider him one of my best friends. He is an especially cool companion because he is 26 years old. He has a lot more life experience than all of my other companions have had and has a lot of good advice for me. I am sad he got Dear Johnned because he goes home to a very different life than most missionaries. His family lives in Indiana, and Texas, and Ohio, and he came from Florida, he thinks maybe he will go to Utah, etc... It is a different situation than it is for most of us Utah boys that go back home to mom and dad and college. He is a good guy. He goes home on my birthday. I wish him the best. I hope I have been a good comp for him. I am gonna miss him as I do with any comp when we have transfers. And yet again, I was only with him for one transfer. Now I am on number 5 and I have only been out here for 6 months in Uruguay. I never imagined the mission being like this before the mission. It seems I am always with someone new. Anyway, back to the point! Dear Johnning has got to stop. At least Elder Surtees doesn't seem to be taking it too hard. He kind of saw it coming for months.

My new companion is named Elder Oliphant. I think they said he was from CA. He is apparently my rival at the piano in the mission. So I am really excited. Our ward is going to love him. I don't know much about him, except that he has only been out a few months longer than me, and that he is said to be pretty shy. I have a good feeling about this one. I think we are going to have a really good transfer.

The work is going really well in Tacuarembó. I feel really comfortable with the area now. I know the people and we have some good investigators. I am really excited to have a new comp with a new way of looking at things and hopefully a new style to teach me. There isn't one right way to be a missionary. That is what I have learned. Preach My Gospel is a GUIDE to missionary service, and it is full of ideas for how to teach, how to find, etc... IDEAS!! One ought to try working a number of different ways. It is just a testimony to me that the Lord really does call US, for who we are. He knows we aren't all going to work the same way and that is exactly how He wants it. I may connect with somebody that another missionary wouldn't have, and he may find somebody that I never would have even looked for, etc... Anyway, I am excited to learn new things from a new comp.

I am sad now that my Artigas summer tan has worn off. I am a white-white boy again. The oncoming cold weather is hard on a good tan. But the upside is that while I may be losing the dark and handsome look in that aspect, it is being compensated for by my trench coat, which if I do say so myself, makes me look even MORE dark and handsome. If I throw my glasses on I am unstoppable.

I don't really know what else to say for today... sé que iba a decir algo pero no me acuerdo. No importa. Por lo menos tengo salúd y aun mas importante soy tan lindo. La vida es buena. Yo ando bien por ahora.

Andy