Rugby Playing Companion

Texas is growing on me day by day. The weather here is pretty crazy. It says that it is 40 or 50 degrees, but with the humidity and wind it feels much colder. The people here are all very polite, even if they want nothing to do with Mormons. Everyone talks with a bit of a southern drawl, but most of them aren't too bad. We went to an older brother and sister's house for dinner this week, and if I wasn't playing close attention and looking at him I had no idea what he was saying. I just nodded a lot and smiled.

It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas. On Sunday we went to a Stake Christmas singing thing. It was pretty good. Some of the choirs were really good, but my favorite part is they had a trombone quintet that played some Christmas songs. I never thought a trombone could sound so good. Yesterday we had our Christmas zone conference. President Thurston and his wife spoke. They gave us some challenges. Then we ate. The members prepared some brisket for us. I am still waiting to eat some brisket that is better than tri-tip, if that is possible. After that we watched Presidant Thurston's favorite movie. I got really excited when he said it was over three hours long and had won eleven academy awards. I thought we were going to watch Lord of the Rings, but it was Ben Her. After that we had a White Elephant gift exchange. I ended up with a bottle of bubbles that was re-labeled "Super Miracle Baptisms."

My companion and I get along very well. He and I are both easy going. He has a pretty cool life story. He has grown up all around the world: Hawaii, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, and Utah. He played rugby at the college level in Australia, and has an associates degree in law. He worked at the courthouse in Salt Lake for a bit before he left. He only has a couple more months in the mission.

My ankle is doing really well now. I played basketball today. I am still trying not to push too hard off of it and I am really careful when I land.

We are both new to Gainesville, so it took us a bit but we are getting to know our investigators. We have one named Nick. He is the boyfriend of one of the young women in the ward. He is a smart kid with a good head on his shoulders. He is preparing to be baptized on the 27th of this month. Another investigator is Joanna. She is a sixty year old woman. She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and a desire to be baptized, but she says that she wants to quit the habit of smoking first. We are headed there tomorrow to set an action plan to help her. We also met with a young man who is the step son of a man in the ward. His name is Chance and he is 12 years old. We taught him the first lesson and answered some of his questions. He is really knowledgeable about the bible, and had some really good questions that I didn't have until my late teens. I think he has a real desire to know if the Book of Mormon is true.

Well time is about up and it's time to run off to a dinner appointment. I love you guys, and love hearing from you.

Love

Elder Rindlisbacher