Hey!

I am finaly feeling like I am an established missionary here. I have almost
no time to be homesick. Usually I get homesick when walking to class and
I look up and see Squaw peak peering down at me, and I think, "I climbed
that recently." Then I remember that my house is a literal five minute
walk away, and that is when it gets pretty hard. But mostly my mind if
full of Chinese words and phrases and of course thinking about discussions
and such so it's not too bad. At night I have a hard time sleeping, but
even then I just sit and think about how tired I am and how annoying it is
that I can't sleep, and that pretty much occupies my mind.

My companion is pretty cool. He reminds me, oddly enough of a mix between
Griffin Taylor and Brendon Williams.

As you may have noticed, there is no spelling and grammer check, so I am sorry
for any mistakes.

I am doing my best to not gain weight. Elder Hong who is in my room has
been here since last monday, and has gained 10 pounds! I try to stay away
from bread and potatos (and rice, I'll be getting plenty of that soon). For
breakfast I like to eat half a grapefruit, a small bowl of yougurt and fruit,
and a bowl of fiberous (however you spell that if it's even a word)
cereal. Lunch and dinner I usually go for salads and wraps, with the
occasional chicken and mashed potatoes. I hope all of that is interesting
to you all.

I've been drawing decorative patterns around the edges of some of my paper
during large group meetings and devotionals and such. It gives me sonmething
to occupy my hands with and helps me listen. It also gives me a creative
outlet, which I've really been feeling the lack of. I know that Dad told
me my focus in life would change, but it hasn't completely done that
yet.

My poor companion hasn't gotten a letter from his family yet. Admittedly it's
been less than a week, but he's sent I think, four or five letters to
them and gotten nothing. Poor guy. I'm thinking about forging one...

We're supposed to report how many times we were on time to certain things
during the week, like...

6:30 am wake up
9:30 pm back at the apartment
10:15 pm quite time
10:30 pm lights out, in bed

and we aren't supposed to count it if it's a minute late. so last night the
church filmn we were watching went long, because the fireside went long,
so we were back at 9:32, and my companion says he isn't going to count it.
I was saying mt prayer in chinese, so I wasn't in bed until 10:31, so
they say I shouldn't count it. I think that is ridiculous.

Well, I am out of time. I love you all.

-Kong Zhang Lao