Brian Email 9-1-05

Hey fam,

Thanks for the email, I liked all the details. Tell Andy that Mr.
Lawrence is really and honestly the most boring teacher around, but his
personality will eventually make up for it. I've heard that he really
is nice and easy enough to put up with. He really has a good line-up of
teachers. A lot of people like Mrs. Norton a lot, and everyone likes
Bartlett, he's had him before hasn't he? I had Mrs. Alexander one year
for my second Algebra class. She was good, really nice if you're
obedient. I'm sure he'll like her more than I did... That's great also
about Michael's mile time, I never did make it under 6 minutes, he has a
lot more natural ability than I ever did. Keep running every day, even
when you don't have practice.

It's good to know also that the gold Accord is still around and still
alive. That car is older than I am, I hope it lasts a while longer.
How's the Taurus? How is mom feeling? Not quite ready for basketball
yet? I hope that all works out well.

I understand a lot better, dad, about how you grew up with one ward per
two schools. Our branch here covers about 2 hours if you drive fast on
the freeway, maybe more. It's a huge area, and all the youth get along
really well, even though they only see each other once or twice a week.
It's a lot different from anything I'd ever seen before. At the same
time, it was fun to go to tri-stake activities and know everyone there
too.

Our branch is doing really well, we keep getting referrals, and we are
expecting about 6-8 more this month, if the average holds up. We're
excited to be here, I've never been busier. We've been dropping a lot
of investigators though. It's always sad, but at the same time it's
really relieving that we don't have to waste our time there anymore. I
have some good/bad news from Charlotte, (our Spanish Zone leaders are
there, and they gave me an update when I called last night) Remember
Victor? He had a baptismal date, and the day was approaching, and he
had to move for his work. Bummer, he should be back though in a couple
of months. I'm sure he'll go through with it. Same exact story for
Luciano, another guy I taught with Elder Marks. The good news is that
Sebastian, one of my favorite investigators from there still talks about
me all the time. His family is not supportive at all, they are
JWs/Catholics, and they are all pretty anti, but he still remembers the
way he felt when I bore testimony to him the first time about Joseph
Smith and the Book of Mormon. He always asks how I'm doing, and that
means a ton to me. I hope he gets baptized someday. I was thinking a
while back that Sebastian was the reason I stayed in Charlotte for so
long, he was the only person I really felt really close to. Very cool
news to hear that even though his family threw away his pamphlets and
his copy of the Book of Mormon, he got more and is still reading all the
time. Woohoo!

Spanish Zone Conference was going to be this weekend, but they cancelled
it because of the gas prices. The hurricane (hmm, why hadn't I heard of
a hurricane??) broke a major gas line in Mississippi and so gas is
expected to hit $5 a gallon by this weekend. It hit 3 for the first
time yesterday. Bummer, eh? It's all good, we'll go see all our
Spanish companions next weekend.

Well, that's all I've got for now. Everything is going well, and
everyone is doing fine. Thanks for everything, and for your prayers,
they help a lot. I love you, have a great week.

Love, Brian Harris