Tom has now been out for over 6 months. His letters home tell us of the things he's experiencing and the people he is able to talk with. He loves being in Germany and is happiest when he's teaching. He has fun stories to share and I'd like to pass on a couple of those.
The first experience was a couple weeks ago. This is what he says:

"Okay! So I had a busy weekend! First off, I totally forgot to share the following awesome things last week! First, I cooked chicken fettuccine and it was good! The first batch was blah cuz we had no salt, but the 2nd batch was close to home. Not quite as good but close enough to make me happy XD I love learning to cook! Send me more recipes in the next package you send me, please!
Next, so Elder Nelson of the twelve visited our mission! We were told he was coming in a few weeks to visit the Hamburg stake conference and give a talk and President Thompson got him to agree to meet with us as a whole mission and give us a talk on Saturday morning! AND on top of all that 3 days before, President Thompson calls me and says "I like how you lead the music at zone conference last week Elder" (I lead music as an emergency precaution when no one else could at zone conference) "How would you like to lead the music at the Elder Nelson talk" I was like: O.O "HECK YES!" So I did! We all got to shake his hand and I lead the opening and closing hymns that we sung. It was cool!"