Snail Mail dated 12 Oct

Oi familia!
Tudo bem? Tudo bem aqui.

So let's see -- Leese, yes, all of the books are from the Redwall series. And I never bought the original, interestingly. Maybe you could borrow it from the library? My favorite of the series is Taggerung. And 'series' is an interesting word because there really is no beginning or end to the connection of the stories. Some characters are in multiple books, others you only come across once. But I enjoyed all of the books related to Redwall. : )

So Katie, by the time you get this letter you'll have been done with Frosh English! Parabens! : ) (when we moved to England it messed up Katie's class credits, so she had to take a quarter of Freshman English for full credit in that class. She's a senior!) How did you enjoy reading Romeo & Juliet again? Just as bad as the first time? Yeah, not a big Shakespeare fan. I mean, he did stuff for English and all, but really in the end I think hes just a big hack. (I think it says 'hack' - he writes fast and I got discern all the letters!) But then, West Side Story wouldn't exist without him, so there's one good thing.

And yeah, funny about magic cookie bars disappearing. I think we're all just so used to knowing that if you dont grab your own fair share of whatever (cookie bars, brownies, cake, Lucky Charms...), it'll be gone soon. So we all just go mad whenever there are "coisas gostoso" (literally "yummy/tasty things").

And yeah, learning 6/4 might be important in the future. Counting (in general) is pretty important, too. Is that why you were so sad when the magic cook bars disappeared -- you weren't counting on it? oof... you might want to stop after that one for a bit. That was pretty bad... : ) And yes, Schroeder is a win indeed. I like him -- he likes Beethoven : )

And Leese, it's way cool that Mrs Gil is your teacher!

So you're going to have to tell me more about this ham radio thing, and compare it to something modern so I can understand how this ancient device works. : ) Is it like ... an internet chat room? Where there are a bunch of people on the same channel and just talk about random stuff? Or what? Please, help my young mind understand the ways of this pre-internet contraption : )

I'm going to agree with you on how great home is. It's fantastic. I think I take after the ways of Grandpa Fillerup, in that after a few days of doing something, I want to go home. Wherever it happens to be. Granite Bay, dorm room at BYU, England, etc. Home rocks. No, it boulders.

So here we sleep on lovely Brazilian mattresses. Some are box springs, but most aren't. So you've got to try and snag a box spring if you can. My pillow is quite lovely, though. Sister Bezzera (mission president's wife) asked if we had enough pillows at the house ( because we're opening the new area). When I said we did, but that they weren't very good, she promptly pulled one out of the trunk of her car. It's one of the best pillows I've ever had, frankly. It's staying with me, com certeza (with certainty/for sure). And yes, I'm using both the mattress cover and pillow cover you guys got for me. They're great.

Mosquitoes, actually, have not been a problem, as of yet. Because it's been winter. But I think these days of luckery are almost over. Brazilian summer, here we come. I only hope to be here in this area for a good part of it -- it's generally much less hot here than everywhere else. Yay!

And that's too funny about the investigator saying, "Have a nice mission!" to you in English. ha ha (Bryon had shared a story from his mission in Japan).

Well, I love you guys. Hope all is well! Love your guts (amo suas tripas).

Elder McGregor

ps I sent a letter to Sister Clement and the Primary a little while back. You know if she got it?

Love!