Bonus Material

The Mama Note:  One of the blessings of technology is how instantaneous communication can be. I happened to be on my computer when Owen emailed his weekly letter home on Monday. Thanks to the wonders of the internet I got to "chat" with him a little and find out some extra details about his mission and how he is doing:

M:  Do you prefer snail mail?
EK: Snail mail is exactly what I need. :) If you could do that I would really appreciate it...Time on a computer on this end is so limited...

M: How do you find the food?
EK:  Holy cow. The food down here is so good. I love it!!!! haha. Even the pig skin soup (no joke) was good. :)  Everything here is about 10 times richer than in the states... Holy cow.

M:  Are you feeling better today? What were you sick with?
EK:  I am feeling much better physically today. I don't really know, aside from the fact that it sucked. :) Haha. I just couldn't keep anything down for a day. But fear not! I still worked equally hard that day, without breaks and everything! :D Honestly I can do anything physically here. Mentally and emotionally it is hard though. More so because my companion doesn't speak a lick of English, nor does anyone, so I don't have an outlet yet. :)

M: I saw your first photo. Is it still the monsoon season? Are you warm enough?
EK:  Yes, it is still that season. Every day we get more water than Utah does all summer :) And yes, I am plenty warm!! :D The coat is perfect. It rains every day right now, from about five o'clock on to about midnight. And it rains hard.

EK: This week was kind of interesting because it was a festival week here. Lots of drunks, parties, booths, games, music, etc.  was way cool. Just not many investigators. :)

In commenting on his picture with his mission president....
M: We noticed your hair was slicked down. I've never seen you wear it that way. It works well for a '30's mobster look... :)
EK: THAT WASN'T EVEN ME!!! President Whitehead requires all of his missionaries to have a part, and that was the AP's doing. They went crazy with the gel....I have since then got a haircut, so I look much better now. :)

It was so wonderful to connect for just a few moments. He was gone abruptly, but we both knew that was going to be the case. I got to wish him happy birthday though -- his birthday is this week.  If you get the urge to write him, please see the right side of the blog for direct letter and package mail, as well as an address for pouch mail. The pouch mail instructions are here. He would love to hear from you!!