Latest from Elder Aikens aka "Tommy"

We received a package him on Saturday the 18th. We waited for Tim to get home on Sunday to open the package - inside there was a personalized Book of Mormon for each of us, along with recommendations for reading. He sent a new Holy Bible, and also the other books of the standard works: Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. In addition, he sent along a video and some study materials. The movie he sent was, "The Testament", courtesy of Elder Sanford, one of his new friends. Apparently Tom was bummed because he was unable to send us a copy of this movie from the MTC's referral center because they didn't have it. But, Elder Sanford came through by having his parents send a copy from home. I'm not sure where he's from, but Tom says he's great and reminds him of Nathan. Tom also sent some updated pictures, which I will post as soon as I figure out how...

I'm sure you are all wondering how his Chinese is coming along. One of my favorite letters, recently, was when he wrote about delivering his first lesson in Chinese to an investigator from the Church. He indicated the investigator cried during the lesson, and that he hoped it was because the spirit was so strong, and not because the Chinese was so bad! It sounds like Elder Aikens has met some great new friends and is well on his way to heading out into the world to serve his mission. Watch out Singapore! Here he comes!

The last email I received from Tom was this morning - the day he leaves. It sounds like he will fly from Salt Lake City, to San Francisco, to Hong Kong, and finally on to Singapore. I know the flight from San Francisco leaves at 12:05 am (that's 2:05 am my time). He said he gets to call us from each of the airports, but we don't know what time to expect the call - so we are anxiously waiting :) Tim also received an email from Tom, today, where Tom reminded him that we are supposed to have his friends Katelyn and Emily over to the house during the winter break.
That's about it for now. After his phone call, I'll put up another post!

Photos relocated to upper right corner