All is Well

WHAT??? There`s a picture of Dad!?!?!?! I didn`t think it was possible to snap a photo of even the shadow of such an ellusive creature!! Hahahaha, Love you Dad! (from Mom: yes, this week's email from me included a photo of Dad. I had no idea he'd be so excited!)

Aaanyway, I sure am glad I`m sitting down here in the Southern Hemisphere, nice and warm (about 85-90º), drinking banana milk and walking around in a short-sleeved shirt :) Not to rub it in or anything ;) haha

    Sorry to hear that everyone is so sick! Hopefully you can get over it to at least enjoy the Christmas activities :) ANNA - be greatful for teachers like that! I can promise you that as you move up, you`ll find less and less teachers willing to make exceptions. Then again, you are following in my footsteps, so just as long as Trevin doesn`t ruin my reputation, you`ll be fine as long as you do your best :) (from Mom: Annalyn missed almost the whole week of finals due to illness, and 2 of her teachers waived the exam and did not require her to make them up)

Mom, I hope you don`t mind, but I translated the Parabol (how do you even spell that in English??) of the Heavy Pack and that`s my gift to the families here for Christmas. I know it`ll touch perfectly at least one or two, so thank you in advance for sending me that :) I`ve found that when I come home at night, time permitting, I like to sit down and throw a few thoughts on paper. Usually I just keep them for myself, but when I hit a good note I`ll be sure to send it home :) (from Mom: I wrote the Parable of the Heavy Pack for Daylon's birthday, and it is posted below in a separate post if you want to read it)

Tell Dad that his example of (sometimes literally) getting up the next day and fighting the bull one more time (does that even make sense in English? It`s a phrase from Spain) is sometimes the sole reason I get up in the mornings.

MOM!! Before I forget - I need some new breakfast ideas. After almost a year of switching between eggs and cereal, I hope never to have those for breakfast again :P Although, the ironic part is that I bought a new box of cereal not two hours ago...go figure!

Congrats to Connie and the family. That makes, what? 4 kids now? 3? (from Mom: 4 beautiful children)

Hahaha, I like your idea for annual speech! You know, the next time I`m there for one of those, I`ll be married and be giving my own speech! How weird does that sound?? Hahaha (from Mom: we had our extended family party with the Crider side last night, and I told Daylon that I made up a fake story about how Jay was taking up clogging, etc)

Elder Thomas Sanchez (from Colombia) can speak and understand English, but at a 1st grader`s level. But I need to practice my English, so I`ll be glad to translate :)  (this is Daylon's companion that has no family writing to him on his mission - you can write to him at dearelder.com. The mission to select is Chile Santiago West)

Love you all, 

- Elder Daylon Crider