November 5, 2018

So first of all today was VERY successful because I learned to make french toast this morning. I could get released from my mission tomorrow and be happy, because I have now learned the one life skill that truly matters.

In other news, I broke the Comparison Project last week. Apparently it was supposed to be semi-confidential or something, and so I wasn't supposed to tell certain people. The way it was explained to me it would be cool so long as I didn't talk about the thing over the pulpit, but the project has been temporarily paused because I told someone I wasn't supposed to. Don't worry, though, they made very clear that I'm not in trouble.

The issue was actually really well timed, because I have now moved up to research! It's the final skill/level of SMTC, which is fitting since I'm on my last transfer here. We've been suffering from a shortage of research missionaries, which has meant that the lower skills have been somewhat lacking in things to do, so the fact that myself and a couple other elders either have moved up or will be moving up shortly is welcome news. Hopefully this will remedy the bottleneck that has formed at the second step of processing feedback on the gospel library app.

In other news, last week was Halloween (obviously), and I got to wear my costume a bit, specifically at my buddy Luke's birthday party. Unfortunately I have no new pictures for you. I would have been a little bit more vigilant about it if my other friend, Taliesa, had been able to do my character makeup, but she didn't. I'm letting it slide because she and Luke have been dating for about two months and they're still pretty doe-eyed over it. After all, who am I to attempt to stand up to the forces of twitterpation? As it is, have a picture or two of the character himself, Virgil "Anxiety" Sanders.

On Halloween itself, I got to go lasertagging with a bunch of other missionaries! It was a great deal of fun. Of course, I have a terrible camera on my phone so I didn't take any pictures, and I don't remember anyone else taking pictures either. Fortunately, this sort of thing happens every month or so, so I'll have ample opportunity to take pictures in the future. As it was, I had the best accuracy in the group by a 100% margin... 34% of shots hit, as opposed to the closest follow-up at 15%.

After we finished with laser tag, we hung out playing a couple silly get-to-know-you games, which was good because Sister Dearing's boyfriend was there. Up until conference, Service Missionaries were allowed to date, and the two of them started dating at that point. During conference, after we'd received the change to the rules, she received revelation on the matter to continue her relationship with him, so her mission is coming to a close here. We love her dearly (haha, puns) though, and she's been the biggest help we've had in SMTC, so Josh (her bf) is basically dealing with her two dozen older brothers... But we don't even really have to haze him, because it's already been made clear that if he treats Sister Dearing poorly, Sister Juárez will have his head. All in good fun, of course.

I love you guys, and things are going well. I'm continuing to work with my stake president, and he continues to be amazing. I expect continuing good things!

Love,

Elder M. Huntsman LeBaron