"Didn't I have a principal by that name?"

My comps did not come and get me at the airport. Imagine my surprise to see President Slaughter standing there waiting for me as I left the plane. I was able to spend the whole day with President and the new missionaries. I spent a decent amount of time riding in his car, just the two of us, and I was able to pick his brain on some things. He asked about what I had observed in the Atlanta mission and I was able to pick up some good study ideas. I was with the Assistants to help pick up the missionaries and I went to the Alamo and helped them pass out copies of the Book of Mormon. I even got to test my Spanish with a man who was from Chile! We ate dinner at the mission home and had some absolutely delicious brisket. Of course, the reason that I stayed with the Assistants all day was because I MADE IT UP TO AUSTIN!!! I'm in the city of Round Rock in the Brushy Creek ward. I can already tell this will probably be a great area. The members are super missionary minded and accountable to the goals they set. It's a fairly well off ward, similar to ours without most of the Shiloh area. I had In n Out for the first time and it was soooo good!!! My companions are Elder H and Elder H and they are both ballers. Elder H is probably the next best player and Elder H is pretty good, too. Elder H goes home on January 3rd. We have too much fun together! 

Our apartment is fairly nice. Nothing too crazy. We have access to perhaps the best gym in the mission because there's a member who's a personal trainer who lives in the apartment complex next to us. We also play basketball with a bunch of church members and their friends every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. I'm getting lots of exercise in. We're being fed every day. In fact, my first dinner, a member took us out to a great wings place called Pluckers. He's from Idaho Falls and he asked what your family name was and so I said Holtom. Then he looked at me and said, "Didn't I have a principal by that name?" His name is Doug A. 

Good to hear Katie played some good minutes. If she keeps working, she'll be able to play a lot. I did hear about the games, in pretty decent detail actually. There are a lot of Utes fans here and one of them even googled me before I met him. I was flattered. The Bishop here is super cool and he said he was in the MUSS before it was even famous. So I've got the hook up there. 

Our party is this Wednesday. We have a great investigator named B. He's super close to getting baptized. He came to a baptism and ward Christmas party on Saturday and church yesterday. He is the man! Our party is on Wednesday. I love being a missionary again!!! It's tremendous that I get to preach, speak, and teach of Jesus Christ, especially during this wonderful season of Christmas. There really is nothing else I'd rather be doing!

Love,

Elder Montgomery