Brian Email 6-23-05

Hola familia,
It never ceases to amaze me how busy everyone is all the time!! To
answer some questions first off, the course we played on for disc golf
was really big and really pretty hard. I lost one of my "eagle" discs,
but I found another lower quality disc before we left. Elder Marks lost
his "eagle" too, so we only ended one short. The course is huge, all
the holes have three pins, or goals, and there is also a "gold course"
for more advanced players. So, there is always a par 3, 4 & 5 on each
hole, all in different directions. There is a lot of brush too, a lot
of the course was in the woods, so we had to throw between columns of
trees and avoid streams. There were also big ravines, and if the disc
fell down it took lots of extra tosses to get it back up. There is a
plant here called kudsoo (sp??) and it's really tangly and grows on
everything, so we lost some discs in that. It's one of the most
obnoxious parasite plants ever, but it's pretty. In short, it was a
professional style course. I've heard they have some big tournaments
here. (Speaking of tournaments, did I mention that one of the PGA
Master's games was here? It was in my area, and some of the
missionaries I know went to watch.)

As for exchanges, I definitely am leaving Charlotte. :'-( That's ok
though, I've been here 6 months now, I figure 1/4 of my mission is long
enough. President Noel said at interviews that I'll for sure be
leaving, I don't really know where yet, I'm thinking maybe a city called
Winston-Salem, but I'm not sure. Then after 6 more weeks, I'll be
training. There will be three new Spanish missionaries coming out, and
I saw their names so none of them will be Hispanic, just gringos. I was
hoping for a native, because I still have trouble understanding people
when they talk fast, or if they are from South America. Peruvians are
hard for me. But I get to grow this way too. As happy as I would be to
stay here in Charlotte forever, I should probably just go wherever the
Lord wants me.

Oh, and Happy Father's Day. I forgot to mention it last week, I had
been thinking about it for like a month, but I never remembered. I
forget everything on Thursdays, my mind just shuts down sometimes.

I'm glad Andy's been reading those sports textbooks, he's the kind of
kid who could be an expert after one week of practice and just knowing
all the rules and tricks. Has he been going bowling much? It's a good
date idea, and it sounds like he knows how to treat the ladies now. EFY
is good at training guys to be gentlemen. Congrats for dancing all the
slow songs too!

I really like how our family writes too. Shannon is very clever, I love
reading her emails that she sends out. She's sent me a few letters too,
I love those. And I could never forget Andy's stories, I still have one
of them memorized, one about his mask... Hahaha! If Michael would
practice sitting down for half an hour a day and just write whatever,
his creativity would blossom so much. He's got a great mind, he just
needs to train it, and he'll be a better writer than anyone in our
family. I think he likes writing anyway.

And now for a couple of questions from me, I was looking around for a
dictionary that defines itself in Spanish. Like a regular English
dictionary, but Spanish. I have plenty of Spanish-English dictionaries,
but I think having a Spanish-Spanish would help a lot. I can't find one
anywhere, could you look for one for me, and send it to me please?

I'm not sure if I told y'all yet or not, but the address for the mission
office is:
6425 Idlewild Rd. Ste. 104
Charlotte, NC (28212?)

I'm not sure on the zip code, but everything will get there anyway. Zip
code doesn't matter all that much. I think.

This is my last P-day in Charlotte, so I'll get the new address to you,
I'll be at the next one for at least 4 1/2 months. You'll have to send
all my birthday packages there...

Well, I love you all, have a great week, I hope you all had fun camping.
Did you make it out early enough? Thanks for the letters every week, I
love hearing from you.

Brian Harris