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Excerpts from Mike's Letter Home:

09/29/2003

Dear Family,

It has been a pretty awesome week. I received a letter from (the former Elder) Jeff Sorenson. He seems to be doing well, and enjoying life. Interestingly enough, he will be returning to the mission once again. In December, one of his former companions (Elder Tinney) is marrying a girl who lives in the mission. Jeff (you have no idea how much it bugs me to use his first name) will be the best man. This seems like a wonderful thing, but interestingly enough Elder Weeks pulled out the old 'Iron Rod' and found out that Elder Tinney just went home six weeks ago. Sorenson has informed me that because of school, he will only be able to stay a few days and will be unable to visit anyone. Sorenson also informed me that he was able to visit the Redland's Temple open house and that it is absolutely gorgeous. He also mentioned that he might stop by on Halloween to hear a little pipe organ, but that was only a possibility.

On Wednesday, we went on exchanges with the Zone Leader (Elder Laney). I was here in Nixa with Elder Laney. The day went pretty well, but it was kind of interesting. I met a lot people that I had been trying to meet since Elder Slatter was here. The usual people that were never home, were. However, they were all busy and politely talked briefly with me. Interestingly enough, most of the usual people were not home though. The day went pretty well. Our District Leader (Elder Miller) has already scheduled an exchange for Tuesday of this coming week. I will be going to Ava. We are not having any problems, they just want to come on exchanges before the end of the transfer, which brings us to 3 exchanges this transfer.

On Thursday, Elder Weeks and I and a less active family went to Lambert's Cafe. It is the most famous little restaurant in the mission (at least among missionaries). Lambert's is the home of the thrown roll. Yep, you raise your hand and they toss a fresh roll at you. If it ends up on the floor, oh well, they toss another. They are a little costly, but the portions are huge. Plus, they walk around with fried okra, fried potatoes, macaroni and tomatoes, and blacked eyes peas that they will just dump on your plate if you want any. So, there is a lot of food and rolls being thrown everywhere. As I was leaving, the roll guy walked up to me and asked me if I wanted one for the road. Though I was stuffed, I said why not. Even though I was a foot from him, he tossed it up into the air. Like I said, the restaurant is pretty well known throughout the mission.

We taught our investigating family the sixth discussion. Which went pretty well. They are wanting to have a deeper understanding and appreciation before committing to baptism. We will start teaching their eight year old daughter brief versions of the discussions to help the family review. They came to church, and all is still going well. We also watched the video, An Ensign to the Nations, about the spread of missionary work. They enjoyed it, and the stories of the people in it. This coming week, they are going to visit relatives in St. Louis. I recommend that they might stop by the temple visitor's center. Hopefully, they will enjoy it. They will only be able to watch the last session of conference though, due to the trip. The other family we are teaching did not make it to church and were too busy for us to teach them a discussion.

One interesting thing we saw while driving around was a moving truck. The company name: "Two guys and a Truck". Though the company name is interesting in itself, we read the website on the back, "women.com". I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why that would be their website. Finally, it dawned on me that it should have been "twomen.com". The "t" had been peeled away, so it was kind of interesting.

I was re-reading dad's letter and remembered a few other things I had requested for the CD, "If you Could Hie to Kolob" and "Come thou Fount of Every Blessing". Perhaps those will be on volume II, some day. Either way, keep up the good work Dad!

I am glad to hear that there were no major setbacks on mom's implementation of the data warehouse project. Hopefully, mom can breathe a little easier. The church program with me serving in the "Africa Johannesburg Oklahoma Tulsa Mission" was very amusing. So, I guess my call was more exotic than I thought.

The trip to Disneyland with scouting sounds most interesting. I too am sorry that I missed it. Though, I am sure that Jared had a good time. With Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and the Haunted House closed, it is a wonder that they have much of a park. DCA sounds much more appealing under those circumstances. Thank you for also picking up the special patches. Those truly are a unique thing.

I have been feeling much better this week. Though, since I don't exactly control my diet, a few dinner appointments were kind of though on me. Though I am pretty much back to normal from my sickness.

Transfers are this coming week. I am a little scared, because I want to stay. I am pretty tired of moving around and changing companions. Plus, I just don't feel like packing yet. Though, I will let you know what happens when I hear. I would say that the probability is slightly higher that I am staying put.

That is about it on my end. I want to thank grandma for the postcard and I am glad to hear that she had a wonderful grandparent's day! Take care my family, I miss you greatly. As always, let me know if there is anything I can do.

Love,
Elder Mike Robinson