Elder Brad Smith Across the Pond: "Yes, Grandma, These are Real!"

Wow after reading Mom and Dad's letters, I think you guys have been having quite a fun summer. I'm just a bit miffed I won't be able to have a full summer by the time I get home... but I guess that's life. I was interested to read that we've acquired a Subaru Outback, all mark needs on that car now is a cheap Masterflo exhaust that just makes a load of noise, well that's pretty much what every chav in this country does when they have a Subaru Sti or Mitsubishi Evo so it just makes the whole neighbourhood move when they pass. I imagine Todd Wilhite's new Lambo is going to be quite a neckbrecker, bright yellow Eh? I'll have to ask him if I can borrow it for a date... or I'll just date Delie when she gets home to see if her dad lets me drive the Lambo :P I'm totally joking. I'll just take one of his other Dodge vipers since he multiple of them ;)

Well my companion has been seriously under the weather this week. We haven't been able to get a lot done because he's had some seriously bad allergies, twisted ankle, and he probably needs a root canal done on one of his teeth. Yeah... he's kinda falling apart at the moment. I've been doing my best to take care of him, but there seems to be nothing I can do. Plus everything he has doesn't just go away after a few days. So we've been slowed down a bit, and he's had to sleep a lot. Well I'm going to be spending part of this p day in the emergency dental care with him... so I probably won't have anything fun to do today... but he needs to be seen by a dentist. Of course I've given him blessings, but I haven't been blessed to heal him yet... so still working on that. Yeah we'll see how the day goes here. I've brought my Rubik's cubes to entertain me while I wait in the waiting room of the dental office. Yeah that's called thinking ahead :P

Well, I'm off to my last zone conference this Wednesday which should be fun. I'll have to give my testimony in front of part of the mission which should entertain a few people. I've become very eloquent with my words since I've been here. Plus I've been asked by people in the ward if I have a English Accent, well I can imagine I can fake one pretty good and you couldn't tell the difference is about how good I am at it. I've heard accents disappear pretty quickly once you get home because you are not around the culture anymore. Hey this is kinda random, but ask Ryan which Football (soccer) team he supports in England. I'm kinda curious as to which teams the Leeds mission supports, whereas most of us down here in London support the major London teams in the Premier League. Since I haven't known football to well, I decided I would support Arsenal. Whether the Hillyard family agrees with it or not will be interesting to see since they were really into the world cup and stuff when I was last home. Speaking about the World cup, United States seems to be doing pretty well. I believe they play against Belgium tomorrow. You should watch it if you have the time. If the united States doesn't win, I want Holland to. They've got the guts to pull it of. Just don't let Brazil win. That's about it. To many Brazilian missionaries here that would get hyperactive if Brazil one... and there would be no end to there pride. Not that there isn't one in the first place :P

Well, I've spoken myself dry. I'd tell you more missionary stories, but we haven't done anything to exciting this week. A few service projects here and there. Oh, I managed to go hold some more reptiles at the shop the other day. I'm loving that place. We teach, hold snakes, and teach some more and we have a jolly good time. I don't know why Grandma doesn't believe that Python was real. Chuck is very real. I'll go take more pictures of him if you don't believe me. He's a reticulated Python and he's about 22 feet long at the moment and is almost full size. Unfortunately he won't get much bigger. I've also made a few other friends at the shop who happen to be employees as well. I've been shown a personal collection of snakes which this kid has and I just had the time of my life. I remember a poster that Mom made a long time ago for a show and tell project when I was in Elementary school that said "anacondas are huge" yeah, I held one for the first time a few days ago. He was just a baby, so he wasn't very big but I can now say I've done it :) I know mom is thinking I'm going to be some creepy "snake man", but there are plenty of "cat ladies" out there as well. I'll be honest, I love what are called Royal Pythons, basically the British version of a Ball Python. The don't get to big, very nice tempered, and have great life spans. Very beautifully coloured as well. I don't ever plan to own a snake bigger than 7 or 8 feet. They just get to big to handle if they weigh more than you. Don't worry I've been taught the care and how to handle dangerous snakes, not extremely properly but what I should do for the most part. I think I told you about the albino rattlesnakes these guys own. Yeah he's not much fun because he's grumpy all the time :) Well all things that have rattles are grumpy all the time. Well I think I've rambles off a lot here, but I think it shows how much I've loved being with these guys. Unfortunately, they aren't very religious but we are rubbing off on them. My companion and I are called the "Cool Mormons" and they love to get answers to questions from us. Plus they defend us from other people that make fun of Mormons even when we aren't there. Absolutely love these guys :)

Well I hope all is going well, I'll send a few pictures from my service project today, and I'll survive the dental waiting room as well. Pray my companion gets better so we can continue to do good work here. I love you guys loads. I'll see you in 6 weeks.

Love,

Elder Bradley Smith

plus I had a hairstyle change from one of the members... its ok but I keep it because the ladies love it :)

I'm holding what is called a "house" snake. Pretty much the same thing as a corn snake. The pictures are kind of bad, so I hope you can see him. Plus our two lovely sisters we work with here in Southend.