6 Months!

yes, I've made it 6 months on the mission. Much better than my previous record of 3 days. haha. That makes me giggle in shame.
I didn't get a chance to burn a tie in celebration... but i did FINALLY get a toaster from Elder and Sister Gray because they went home to New Zealand. I love toast. next week i'll try to include my list of things learned in the 6 months i have served.
Ummm... i had a whole list of things i wanted to cover this week in my e-mail... but i seemed to have forgotten it at the apartment (thats a lie) so i'll just have to try and remember what went on this week.... but my memory becomes worse and worse as i become better and better at using my planner.
This past week sickness finally caught up to me. My companion is ALWAYS sick, and i guess after 4 weeks my immune system took a break from working hard. Just a cold though. I still don't have nearly a tenth of the problems he has. And for that I am VERY thankful. I'm beginning the feel better though and i'm excited for this next week. first of all, its the begginning of the month, so we have money again! which means we will have food! It still wont be the fine dining i was treated to with elder swainston... but atleast i wont have to ration my sandwhiches this week. Also this next saturday will be a baptism! It's a 13 yr old son of a recent convert. He was supposed to get baptised this last week but read about the people in the dream of Lihi which continued on the iron rod until they were able to partake of the fruit, but afterwards looked around and were ashamed and wondered off and died. So he was a little afraid he wasn't ready, But we were able to reassure him that through baptism he can recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost which will be a really big help to him in doing the right things and following commandments. So he is getting baptised this next week. which i am excited about.
we also met a very interesting man this week. he reminds me of 'crazy eyes' from mr. deeds. and well. He invited us to come to his apartment and teach him. we went there and there were bugs everywhere, he had a ton of books about aliens, and CAT POSTERS on the wall. I now have another place i can put my cat posters to good use. I was amazed at how he could relate everything we were trying to teach him about Christ to aliens. when we left one of his cats was desperately trying to escape ( I don't blame him) It was a really interesting meeting... and he is a really interesting person. I have mixed feelings about teaching him to be honest... but he came to church, was involved in conversations and even shared some really good insights. So... we shall see. I'm not one to judge someone by how many cat posters they have on their wall.
we're seeing a lot of success here, and i really like the area and the branch here. My companion and I are very different, and we are both pretty stubborn... so it's been a struggle at times. But I have also learned a lot from him about how i can become a better missionary, leader, and just easier to live with.
well sorry to be short this week, we had a new letter format for our e-mails to president so it took a bit more time and thinking to understand what i needed to write. I'm happy safe and behaving though! hope you all are too! love you all!!
Love,
Elder Ellis