THANKS FAMILY FOR THE E-MAILS!

WOW IT WAS GREAT TO HEAR FROM EVERYBODY. That's the stuff you really miss out here, being in a house full of family. Man it was so fun to see all the little emails from everyone! I'm sorry, I only had the chance to skim them over, but I'm really going to enjoy them when I get back to teh apartment with dem all printed out. That's the kind of atmosphere I think about when I think about home--more than anything, family dinner with lots of people over. I remember some of those crazy sundays when we had the Thompsons over and Aaron and Brad and Carrie and Grandpa, and we always had lots of good food. And sometimes Nature going on the tv. HA that's Dad. And mom would always complain about watching animals get eaten. Hahaha. Brad is so much like dad. When he sits down to write, he writes. I'm really excited to read that email and hear about Gracie's blessing. I can just imagine that the spirit was so strong there. It's always like that when you have family gathered for a priesthood blessing or a baptism. I remember my temple endowment, the thing that really got me was watching all my family--parents and extended family--file in wearing white clothes. That really got me. And now I think I appreciate things like that more than I did (although the food and games in the yard afterward were always good, too).

Mom, I wanted to thank you for your email last week. I spent some time getting a good email off to Mitch Moss last week, so my email was kind of a dud. I went back and read what you had said, though, and it really was an amazing letter. I could tell that you guys had an amazing Easter back at home. I really like that you and Dad always focused on the Savior during Easter. Dad read to us from the New Testament that one year and I remember that really affected me. I read over that account not long ago, and I always think back to that one Easter. This weekend is Mother's Day, which is crazy. It feels like I just called a couple months ago!! I'm excited to hear everyone again. All my brothers is gonna have them deep voices. Weeeirrd. I'll call on the home phone (of COURSE I remember our home number, what do you think this is) and I feel bad that we didn't get to coordinate earlier, but Sam if you read this before Sunday, I'm going to be calling at around 11 in the day (home time), so I don't know how that works out with your schedule but I hope I get to hear you speak in Spanish. Man this is gonna be crazy to hear everyone. I LURVE IT. This week we were at an Armenian family's house to teach a lesson. They have a 17 year old son and a 10 year old daughter. XXXXX, the daughter, just got baptized a couple months ago before I got transferred here. SHE IS HOPE but Armenian. It's so much fun meeting with them. She seriously reminds me so much of Hope. She loves Hannah Montana and everything. That family is awesome. This week, I also conducted my first baptismal interview on the mish. I was kinda nervous but it all went really smoothly. I interviewed a 17-year old kid who's getting baptized this Tuesday, XXXXXX. He's an investigator of the Zone Leaders in our area. He is converted. While we were having the interview, I thought about Patrick. XXXXX wrote down his birthday on the baptismal record, and I noticed that it was even just a couple days within Patrick's. I thought about how different life is for a lot of people here than it is back home. Here's a kid who his whole life hasn't even thought about religion and is surrounded by so much evil in the world he lives in, and with absolutely no persuasion from his parents decides to meet with the missionaries after meeting them on the street. The end of the story is this: he read 5 chapters of the Book of Mormon one night after meeting with the missionaries, and then prayed to ask God if it's a true book right before he went to bed. That night he had a dream that he was dressed up in a suit and had a black nametag, and he went up to a woman on the street and testified to her that the Book of Mormon was true. Is that a cool story or what? I really felt the Spirit while we were having the interview. It was a calm peaceful feeling. He's one of those converts with a ton of potential to bring people to Christ, especially if he decides to serve a mission in the short future.

In other news, I got a transfer call yesterday morning, and it turns out they're going to whitewash my area--as in, Elder Swainston is going home this Friday, and I'm also leaving our area. I got transferred to serve as a Zone Leader in Saratov. Here's the best part--MY NEW COMPANION IS ELDER BARTON. Remember how my trainer got transferred to serve as a Zone Leader 3 months ago? NOW WE GET TO SERVE TOGETHER AGAIN. Man I can't even say how excited I am. I'M EXCITED. We had so much fun together and saw so many little miracles. It's going to be a BLAST and I'm really looking forward to getting even more lost in the work. I also found out that Elder Bahr is going to be training a greenie down there, so we might be able to do exchanges with him, too. LIFE IS GOOD.

Well, that's about it. I'm sorry I didn't get to write a ton, again, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR EMAILS. I love hearing all the little stories about the fam. You guys are so awesome. I pray for you every day, and I'm so excited to hear from you all again. It's weird how it works, but being halfway across the world and working as hard as I can to help families live happily has helped me realize how awesome a family I's ardy got. Sam, thanks for your example. I was thinking about that the other day, during study time, and I realized how much of an influence your mission has had on me. I love hearing about your success as a missionary, and I can tell that you're somebody that the mission president and the Lord really trust. Mom THANK YOU AGAIN for all of your support and your spiritual insights. They really help me out sometimes. As for everyone else, we'll hear you in a week!!! LOOOOVVVEEE YOOOUUU

Alex

P.S. Mom my companion had a good idea: Think of some specific things that you and the family would want to ask me about during the phone call. I'll do the same for all of you. That way the phone time is SUPER EFFECTIVE.