Hola!

Great to hear from you again! And mom, please don't apologize for writing me a lengthy, detailed letter haha.

First things first, before I forget. I've been wanting to ask since I've been on my mission, but I just keep forgetting! Will you mail me copies of the Brownie and Pancake recipes? I need them bad!

Okay. So. Elder Thomas and I are not getting transferred. We'll both be here another 6+ weeks, which makes both of us very happy.

Friday was Mission Tour. It's when a General Authority comes and speaks to the mission. Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy came and instructed us. He did half of the mission on Thursday in Joplin Missouri. He did the other half on Friday here in Springdale. It was amazing. My first time personally meeting and shaking hands with a General Authority. He has truly been called of God. We learned a lot about Faith and about how we build our faith by Sacrifice. Amusing note, he rebuked a Missionary over the pulpit. This particular missionary(who has been rebuked for things his entire life and just won't do anything about it) had his top button un-done and his tie all loose. So Elder Jensen told him to fix it. It was hilarious. Maybe you just had to be there, but believe me, it was funny.

After Mission Tour we had dinner at an Investigator's house named Kong Lee. She is Hmong(look it up! it's interesting!) and made us an Asian dish called Pho. It's supposed to have a little line over the o. It was really good. It was rice noodles in a really good beef broth, and they had all of this stuff you can put in to change the flavor. So it's totally personallized. Kinda Hawaiian Haystack-esque in that way. I loved it. I know dad would love it :)

The Hayes family came to church yesterday! I was so happy! They seemed to really like it. Sharin Raymo and Kong Lee didn't show up though, which was sad. But oh well.

The older Spanish Missionary, Elder Poulsen is being transferred. Elder Chidister is staying here and is going to train. It'll be way fun to share an apartment with them to see what it's like to train and be trained. And who knows? we may even help a little :P

I am VERY excited for General Conference. Yes, we see it. Every session. :) I can't wait! haha. Our apartment has all of these old Ensign's, dating back like 30 years. We found an old conference issue from.... 1985 i think? Well there's a talk by an Astronaut in there haha. I'm excited to read it. :)

I can't believe you fed the Missionaries. That's so funny haha. What message did they share with you? And what did you feed them?

Well, it was great to hear from you all again! I will talk to you again soon!

Love,
Elder Bracken