"Officially going Portuguese", teaching a Baptist deacon and two Mandarin-speaking brothers, and... finally getting a bike

Hello!

Things are going well here in ze Paper Mill Ward. Exciting news-- I'm not sure if I told you last week, but we got four new brazilian visa waiters. They're here with us in Paper Mill. Transfers are this week on Wednesday, and we recieved transfer calls last night to find out what we're doing, where we're going, etc. After being "re-"trained, I'm now going to officially go portuguese, and Elder Blum will train a new greeny, amongst other changes. Super exciting. But obviously I won't be changing areas--I'll still be here in Paper Mill. Which means I'll still get to see my english investigators that I love every once in a while.

Marcus went to church yesterday--he's back from Detroit--and although it was a little tough to get him to want to go at first, he absolutely LOVED it. And wants to go next week. So chances are that we'll teach him about baptism this week and commit him for that.

Heather still hasn't been able to go to work--she still can't get Sundays off. Please keep praying for her; she wants very badly to be able to go to church and wants very badly to be baptized.

We're also working with a man named Warren Brown, who's a deacon in one of the local Baptist churches. He's been reading the Book of Mormon and loves it--he knows it's true. He's read from the beginning probably up through Alma at this point. He's totally fantastic, and the only difficulty is that he has his own church on Sunday, so it's difficult for him to make time. But he would love to come to church if he had time. So that's one of our goals for him--to get him to church in some way, shape or form, even if it is only an activity.

We're teaching two brothers from China named Xu Longteng and Hu Peng (last name first, just like Japanese), and Longteng was able to come to church yesterday. We have a couple in our ward who speak Mandarin (Sister Vanbredrode is FROM China), so we're trying to set up appointments where we can get them to come with us.

So I'm going to have to cut my email time in half today--I'll probably be back around 4:30pm my time to finish off emailing time. If you have any other questions, please ask them! Love you guys!

Elder McGregor


And here's the email we'd gotten just a few minutes earlier this morning:

So we went bike shopping this last week. I went to the nearest bike shop and the cheapest bike they had that would be most appropriate for missionary work was $450ish. Holy cow. So I tried it out and it was an excellent bike--much nicer than I was used to (as it should be, for that much). So I put a down payment on it to reserve it so I could ask you guys about it. In the end, after tax and a helmet and a bike lock and all that other stuff, everything will probably come out to something like $525. What do you think? Too much? The thing is, it's a super nice bike, and I'd probably be able to resell it for a good amount-- $300/$350. Maybe more. Or I could just keep it because it's really nice.

the other option is that there's a used bike a missionary who went home is reselling. Apparently it's a really rare brand, and was $1500 when he got it originally. But I have no idea how nice it is, what type of bike it is (I think it's a mountain bike), how good the shifters are, etc. I do know it's a 23. I should use roughly a 19/20. But the catch is he's selling it for $250. Here's the used info:

Elder Harrol.  Black Motobecane Bike 600ht.  $250.  Size 23.  Disc brake both front and back.  24 gears, all work well.  Back brakes ok.  Front brake needs and will be adjusted.  Great condition.  Hardly any scratches. It is about two years old but has not been ridden much of the time.  It has a wrap around coil lock.  It has a padded seat comforter and comes with a helmet.  No lights.  No kickstand.

From reading the description, I don't feel too good about buying it. And the more I think about it, the more I feel like I should get the new bike.

Please write me back ASAP (like, now ;) ) and let me know what your impressions are.

I'll get Dad on the phone, but I'm thinking 23" with no lights or kickstand - I don't know; I didn't get a good vibe either. 

Dad says you have better things to do than be messing around with this bike stuff, so go ahead  : )
with the NEW bike in the bike shop -

ok. Thanks a ton for the input, and I'll let you guys know how awesome this bike is =]

Okay!  

And now you're going to write us a real email, right?  ; )

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I just love how you can practically IM with your missionary during their email time.  Why, back when I was a missionary I had to WRITE a letter on PAPER with a PEN, then put a STAMP on it and MAIL it.  Two weeks later my parents would finally receive it and write back, then two weeks after THAT I'd get their response. Well, if there wasn't a POSTAL STRIKE. Or a military COUP.   Or El Niño FLOODING.  Or ...

Haha  : )   You have to read that with the "back when I was your age I walked two miles to school.  Uphill.  With no shoes.  In the snow" attitude.  : D  
Except I really did wait at least four weeks to hear back after writing a letter.  And there were strikes and coups and flooding ...