Christmas Day!

The phone rang at 8am and it was Steven. They have two feet of snow and he's unable to drive the mission car. They have to walk everywhere. He said they hadn't plowed his street. So that's why no e-mail this week. Yes, Virginia does have snow plows but they're not like Utah's. They were going to a members house for Christmas. They people they live with had a new baby and the mom had come home on Christmas Eve. I can't think of other things to tell about. A little about plans for going to get him in March. We agreed that I can be the excited one for him to come home and he'll keep working hard. Great to talk to him!

Jane

December 16, 2010

well now to explain the pitcure with the dolls. theres a member here who collects them and has them on the back of the couch. so she told us if there feet bg you move them. so we joked around and took some pitcures with us holding them. so thats the story behind it. the other picture of me is cutting an onion. i love onions. i like them more raw though. but still good. i've heard the packages are in, but we live about 8-10 miles from the post office and everytime weve been in the area it's closed. but should be able to get it today. well as far as i know the rules with picking me up is, that ill be going in on the 23 to the mission home and then the next day is when you fly out. so not sure with everything so probably safe to say email pres. millburn. he'll be sure to answer that, or you could call the mission office and call sis. smedley and she should be able to answer any questions.

sunday was crazy for us here as well. we woke up to a little bit of ice from the night before. we had a small ice storm, but we had church. so everyone was happy. but heard snow is in the forecast again. defiantly wetter this year. we also had the branch christmas party this week as well. it was fun.

yes i also got the wedding announcemnt for brett as well. also another funny story. there two missionaries out that are companions right now, one is elder bronson and he's from tremonten. he also knows chad, and the other is an elder simpson, from blanding, and knows robby. small world huh.

so thurdays we taught jason and tabby's nephew jacob, and he's know set for the 9th of january. his mom is a member and he's been wanting to be baptized for a few years now, but he mom has been holding him back, but know she has agreed. it been crazy to see everything unfolding there. jason's parents are active, but have struggled to overcome smoking, and thats been keeping them from the temple, and right now the whole fmaily are striving to go to the temple. so it's been amazing to see the family come together like that. it's been great. then yesterday we had our christmas mission confernce. it was fun seeing alot of familiar faces. it was a blast. wwell don't know to much more to share. but i quess well talk to you later. take care and have fun.

December 9, 2009

The internet was down at the library and we didn't get an e-mail from STeven this week. We did get a short note with pictures. Maybe I can get Tiff to help me post them. We did hear from President Milburn. Steven will be released March 23, 2010. Wahoo!
Jane

December 2, 2009

hey everyone. this week has been great. also sounds like you did as well. well ill defiantly keep an eye out for the package. I don't think i will be sending one home this year. not much around here to send. sorry, but i am thinking about sending christmas cards so just letting you know. i can't remember if you said anything or not, but where did Liz serve her mission. bytheway did kate get the birthday card i sent her. hope she likes it wasn't much to good around here.


yeah i heard about the BYU and Utah game. jason rogers is a big football fan so elder karpowitz every saturday night asks for an update on scores. and sunday too. are you sure it was zack tghat heard his date, because i would think it would have been nick but then again i might be different for england.

thanksgiving was a blast. we spent the whole day at the lewis's and it was fun. it defiantly felt like it was a thanksgiving at the stringhams. there a very fun family. we had a football game there and it was fun. we won. we beat them by 20 points. my favorite play in that game was the ball got thrown to me and it looked like i was going to miss it but i got it at the very edge of the ball. i don't know how i caught it. but it was a touchdown so it was good. then we played a bunch of board games it was good. then on monday we went on exchnages with Scotchtown. it was pretty fun, went all the way up to a small town called bowling green. it was very intersting. we also saw kings dominion which is a big theme park, we drove by. it was pretty fun.

well thats it for this week. things have been going well. i quess i'll talk to you in 23 days. well take care and have fun. also i heard that we might be getting snow this weekend. if thats the case everything will shutdown, and hopefully they will still let us go out. well take care and have fun.

November 25, 2009

Jane's note: Sorry, I haven't updated in a long time, but this should have it all caught up.

well to answer your question real quick, you didn't ask me if i needed anything for christmas. i could use another pair of black slacks. other than that i don't really need anything. i'm doing good other than that. i keep forgettiong to ask about that guy, a few months ago i saw it in the newspaper as i walked by. he is actually from Vcu not virginia tech. (Mom comment---he's talking about the Jazz Player--Eric Maynor).

well for my bike i have a really sad story with that. right now for my bike i need a new rim, so thats the only hold up, as for the story, i've been borrowing a member bike and on saturday the derailer snapped. (thats what changes gears in the back) so on sunday we borrowed another members bike and the chain snapped before we even went a mile. so i have had really bad luck this week. but verything is fixable, so nothing to bad. so for right now, i've taken a tire off the first members bike and placed it on mine. so should get them fixed soon.

yes we got invirted almost a month ago to thanksgiving. it's with a fmaily named the lewis's. actually kind of funny story with them, they have us over almost weekly for dinner and every sunday her daughter comes and asks us what we would like. so the funny thing is is some members are starting to give elder karpowitz a hard time about her. mostly it is vallery and jason, and tabby and jason smith. i even get into it at times.

so for for this week the news is, we set vallery for baptism last night. she still has some things she needs to overcome but i'm certain she can do it, she almost quick smoking all by herself. so thats some really good news. so a few weeks ago i told about the member who was in the hospital and he is doing much better, he's in a nursing home now, but he has a staph infetcion in his knee, so once the infection is gone he's going to get a knee replacement. sorry i don't have to much news for you this week, i sturggling to remember all that we did. it was a busy week. and this week has as well. but have fun with thanksgiving it should be good. take care

October 18, 2009

so we just had transfer calls last night, and i'm still staying here. in fact i'm going to be elder karpowitz's longest companion. so pretty strange feeling if you ask me. we were really expecting me to go, but it didn't. so i should be here through christmas. thats great the marilyn got married, thats some good news, as well as all the new babies as well. but dylan has himself a truck... thats crazy. i didn't even think he was old enough to drive. i'm getting old. but tell colten congradulations on his mission call. he's going to love it. but i'm glad that jill is doing better, defiantly glad to hear that.

well this week was intresting. on wensday it rained, it was a cold rain, and it stayed for 3 days. it was a steady, cold rain. we even had to change a sisters tire in the rain for her. so it was a pretty wet week. but it's been fine now. so an update with vallery, she is moving out on thursday. she is going to live with her parents, who are anti, but i'm sure she should do fine, she already making plans to met with missionaries up there. sunday michelle came to church and loved it this time, last time, she couldn't hear anything but this time she and her kids enjoyed it. so very much on the plus side. well thats about it for this week. things are doing good here on this end. well take care and have a blast with thanksgiving. have fun.

November 10, 2009

yeah, we found out yesterday p-day was moved to tuesday this week. beacue of veterans day. so i quess i wont hear from you this week. anyways things have been going all right here. i got round two of a cold, but thats doing much better now. nightquil done the trick there. i also made chili last week. it turned out okay, still could use some work but it's getting better, i even put green peppers in it. going back to my bike, last week the axle broke, and so we took it to a member to fix it, and he's good but he says it's shot. so sometime i need to get a new rim. so hopefully that can get done soon. in the meantime i'm borrowing another members bike.

so for this week we found out one of our investigators named michelle got the swine flu, she's doing better, she was able to make it to church on sunday so that was good news. then we also found out this week that a member who weve helping out alot is in the hospital. his knee is is rough shape. he can barley move it without it hurting. but hopefully he can get out soon. on saturday jason and vallery, and preston were all sick. so it's been a ver7y sick week for alot of people. we only hyad one branch presidency member there at church on sunday. but things have been doing better here on this end though.

yesterday we saw jason and tabby and theyre doing great. there preparing for the temple and i'm sure they'll make it. now for the funny stopry for the week. so we live in the byrds basement and they have two kids, the youngest is named roger and he's about 2. and he's a blast, he is very friendly and you never see him without a smile. well yesterday morning we just woke up and i started to stretch before morning workout and and i start hearing a thumping sound. about the time i get up to see what it is, roger opened the door and peeked out from around it and said, hi, elders. it was so funny. he came down three times that morning. each time he came down just to see us. it was funny. well i should be emailing next week on wensday, anyways take care, and have fun, hoep everything goes well.

November 4, 2009

hey thanks for the pitcures, it was great seeing them again. they sure are getting big. yeah pitcures work here, but down in burkeville the computers there weren't the best. most areas aren't that bad. wow. sounds like woods cross is doing really good this year. so how did they overall do in the regular season.

yeah we didn't get any trick or treaters this time at the byrds house, mostly because we live down a mile long driveway. so for this week i've had some intersting stories. on friday we had zone confernce, and it was great. then afterwards we had exchnages with the zone leaders, i went to downtown richmond. i went with elder hoopes, who actually plays collage basketball for SUU. name sure fits huh. it was werid being there. it feels so differnt from louisa. different atmsophere. but the funniest part is that all the people there are scared about the swine flu. it's just a rougher area, just has alot of gangs and things and everytime i coughed, they all got scared and asked if i had the virius. it was differnt.

then for halloween, we had alot of finding, and then we went to the branch halloween party. they did a boxer treat. basically you designed a box and basically it's the same as trunker treat. then we went in a 6 and planned, that was basically it for us.

monday we taught jason and tabby again. and it was crazy, all there kids were bouncing of walls so it made it tough to teach. but the funniest part was there youngest son named will, he put on this mask and it was haning around his neck and was trying to scare people with it. it was funny, at first he was petrified of it, but he loved scaring people with it. it was pretty funny. then yesterday we had a district meeting and went very well, then i went on exchnages with an elder named elder sparrow. it was fun. so we had fun week. things are doing well here and it's been great. well take care and have fun. oh yes, real quick, my bike is having problems again. the axle broke on monday, which i think was a blessing in disquise, because if it happened last week we would have been screwed. we were very tight on miles. but i have the parts to fix it, so shouldn't be to tough. well take care

October 28, 2009

well this week was pretty intesrting. it was full of alot of differnt things. yes, don't worry i did get the package and the birhday card. i enjoyed them. so it's been snowing alot, here we've just had rain. i think people thought we were crazy saturday. we were about five miles down the road when a huge downpour started. we were soaked. we got in a couple of them that day, so not to much fun. oh yes, i talked to pres. millburn this past week and i asked about what it is you need to do? and this is what he said, that in about four or six weeks. the church normally sends a letter explaining about the missionary coming home and stuff like that. and apparently you fill something out that comes in that if you want to pick them up. so should be recieving something in the next few weeks.

well for us this week, we saw a member thursday who hasn't been feeling the best, so we went by and found out she has the swine flu. so we gave her a blessing and so far looks like we haven't caught it. so thats been on the plus side. then friday we saw jason and tabby again, and she's doing great. she is loving life right now. so it's been going great. so for by brithday on sunday, elder karpowitz kept telling everyone it was my birthday, i was just keeping it quiet. but other than that we had lunch with the swinson's, our branch mission leader, and then did alot of finding, and that was about it. but on monday we had a lesson with jason and vallery and they even made a cake for my birthday, but i swear they had to put trick candles on it, because they would not blow out. it took about 4 tries to blow them all out. but thats been my life this week. haven't had to much exciting.

but sounds like the new tv should be nice, i thought we had already gotten rid of that old tv. and thanks for the cookies they were great. i loved them and so did elder karpowitz. i also got a letter from the young women this week but don't know the reasoning behind it at all other than a friendly note. well take care, and have fun.

October 21, 2009

hey everyoneyeah this week was pretty intersting, it was cold for alot it but it's warmed up alot now. but i am feeling much better now. so some really good news. sounds like that banquet was awesome, it's kind of funny you heard bishop edgely speak and we had elder kenneth johnson speak to usthe very next day. it was great. mission confernce was not at all as i expected it. a little background of elder johnson is he is from england and was a convert at age 18. he's pretty much a comedian, he was making jokes left and right. he was just bursting full of enengy. everyone we've talked to loved it. he talked alot about teaching with your testimony, teaching with the spirit and things like that. it was great. he even made the joke he had everyone come up and shake his hand and introduce themselves. when he i told him my name he said, oh so your the one speaking today? it was a great experince, learned alot from that confernce.

well for our week we had a lot of crazy things happen. between weddings, baptisms, and funerals we were very busy. your probably wondering why i said funeral, this is the reason why. a member here named sis riddle, after we finished visting her, as we left we forgot to lock the gate behind us and her dogs got out, and one got hit by a car. i felt so bad about we volenteered to bury her dog for her. we felt so bad. but on a brighter note, tabby got married and baptized on saturday. it was great. it was pretty much at the last minute mostly because jason had a problem with getting a copy of his divorce papers, but once he got them it went great. we had basically two days to get verything planned, so we were gald when it was done. but everything went well. and one other thing, i made those homeade peanut butter cups to the baptism and they were a hit. everyone loved them. alot of people were telling me i need to get them the recipe. so tell grandma that they were a hit.

the last night we taught vallery and jason again and there doing awesome. vallery cancelled a trip to north carolina with her mom beause she wanted to go to church. her mom is very anti against the church and wasn't to happy. but that was a big step for her because thats what's held her back for a while now. but she knows this is true, now the only hold up is marriage but we have no idea how that is going to work right now. so it's still work in progress. other than losing that one dog this week has been great. we learned a ton from elder johnson and now it's trying to apply everything that was taught there. thats the challenge. but good to hear from you again, well take care, and have fun. next time i email, i'll be 21.

October 14, 2009

hey everyonei hope that everything is going well thereas for myself, i've been sick this past week. mostly it's been a cold with really bad congestion. it's been very annoying. but i've been doing good other than that.

as for right now we should be having the baptism on saturday, and were both really excited for it. so how was the banquet last night? i think that would be fun to be there, and good food as well. i can't belive how fast halloween is here. i can't belive it's been almost a year. time is going way fast. yeah i heard the dolphins back up has really come form nowhere. i heard he really is looking good. yesterday we taught vallery and jason and there big football fans. so they usually talk alot about football. she is a big 49ers fan and she also likes the redskins which is the big team here. so usually hear alot from them.

so funny story for the week. we had stake confernce this past weekend and we called and asked if were suppossed to go to the priesthood leadership and adult sessions of stake confernce. one of zone leaders said, yes you should go. so we went and went to the leadership meeting and afterwards we called the zone leaders because they needed one of our beds and we called and told them were at the priesthood meeting where are you? we talked to the other one and found out we didn't need to be at the priesthood meeting. oops.. oh well we still learned some good things from it. but stake confernce was really good it had a lot about missionary work and about strengthing our families. it was really good. we had a slow week, but it was filled with service opprunties. we had to move quite a few things for members who needed help. so it felt good to help them and we've had a good week. well hope that everything goes well. take care and have fun.

October 7, 2009

yeah i was pretty excited to hear that brigham city was reciving a temple. i was also crossing my fingers for one in Richmond but brigham city was cool. i always thought when i was younger there was a temple there, so pretty cool theres one there now. yeah we did not get to have any ice cream this time. we didn't have the time. we spent the night at the scotchtown elders place and we didn't get in till 10:30. so by then we were very tired and had no time to. but i enjoyed confernce of what i was able to see. the reception at scotchtown wasn't the best and it cut in and out all the time. but we had alot of good talks that we did see. elder hollands was powerful and then the first session alot of talks seemed to speak towards me. it was great.

thats sad about jills hamster. i'll be sure to write her today. elder karpowitz is from salt lake, near sugar house. he loves football and just loves giving people a hard time. he's been out about a year. last night was transfer calls and were staying together another transfer. in fact at the end of this transfer i will be his his 2nd longest companion. i'll be tied with his trainer. and you asked about for my birthday, right now the most i need is socks and some more garments. so thats all that i really could use.

so i have a funny story to share, last firday we were at jason's and vallery's having dinner and as we were eating, our phone starting ringing. elder karpowitz pulls it out to silence it and it said it was coming from jason. he made the comment, your calling me. then we heard Preston, there son start laughing and he was holding his cell phone. the funny part is he's almost two and from all the people he could have called, he called us. it was pretty funny. but other than that not tomuch news i know of to say, other than we've had alot of fun and had a lot of fun expriences. oh yes, jason and tabby another couple were working with should be getting baptized on the 17th. were looking forward to that. well my bike is fixed now too. it's been fixed for a few weeks now, i just keep forgetting to say something. well sorry if this isn't to long but hope everything is going good, well take care. Elder S. Johnson
oh just another thing, i think dad might be intersted in hearing. so for hunting in virginia, theyre pretty lazy. they climb up into a tree stand and send the hounds out to chase them out and then they shoot um. and they tend to do it in hunt clubs. so it 's kind of a cheap way it you ask me. well that's it. well take care

September 30, 2009

wow, woods cross is doing pretty good this year. yeah i remember wendover's airshows, that they usually had to look towardthe sun with it, so that was not always fun. but did see part of an airshow a few weeks ago here. yeah we had a a cool weather pattern satrt for us, it was in the 80's and next day the sixties. yes i did get robby's wedding announcement, so it was good. it's been kind of funny between the two of us we have 4 wedding announcemnts. three of them go every week. so elder wangemann got married last friday, and now it will be robby, and then next week it's his cousin.

yeah i'll be fine with you picking me up, i thought that was the plan. so i don't know much else about it right now, so i'll write him today and ask about it. or you could too. so last friday we were able to teach vallery and we talked alot about trials and overcoming them. it was a great lesson, spirit was very strong there. she wasn't able to come to church mostl;y because he son was kepping her up the night before. but she's really excited for us to come over this week. so it's been great.

sunday we had the primary program and it was really funny. me and elder karpowitz were laughing at some parts. theres a family we've been working with, the mom not's a member and there oldest son leroy was up there and was it was funny watching him doing this one song, it was one where there was signs in the song, and he kept the whole time doing the same one. it was funny. but the best part is his younger brother whoses about three went up on stage and said, i know i'm not to be up here, but i want to. then on the primary leaders let him sit next to him and he was just fine the whole time.

saturday we biked in the rain all day so that wasn't to much fun, but we actually found alot of sucess that day, so went good. i'm sure looking forward to confernce this week. it's going to be a blast. i'm looking foward to it. well hope everything goes well at robby's reception, and have fun.

September 23, 2009

this week was pretty good. yeah i heard that tom brady got beat and byu and utah as well. well it good to hear that dad is doing better, but time sure flying for me as well. i'm also looking forward to general confernce. i'm excited to hear what will be said.

well right now i'm up at richmond actually. we doing p-day uphere. we did exchnages and instead of switching back up we both are staying here. so it's been fun. had fun talking with them, earlier we played frisbee golf and that was great. also this past saturday we had a grounbreaking ceremony for the new church. it was great. there was a really neat story with it, there was a member who was very excited for it and he passed away and they dedicated the groundbreaking to him. he died a few weeks before i got here. it was really cool. the buliding is going to be big from the sounds of it. it suppossed to be able to house two congrogrations. very big for a branch. but everyone is excited about it.

well last thursday a member invited his friend to be taught and he's been reading the Book of Mormon and loving it. it's was a great lesson. then saturday after the groundbreaking we had an awesome lesson with another members friend. very powerful she knows it's true, the only problem is we had to pass her over because she lives in Charlotteseville, but other that that it was great. then sunday had a stake priesthood mtg and we had a great time there. i saw alot of members from Gayton. alot of them thought i had gone home already. they asked me if i was visiting. it was pretty funny. defiantly shows i've been out for a while. so yesterday had a pretty fun time with elder simmons. he was the elder i was on exchanges with. very odd being in city though. theres so many people here. kind of creepy. but it was a really good week. things are really starting to pickup here and it's been great. well take care, and tell everyone hi for me.

September 16, 2009

how is everything going? things here have been on the fair side. bike still needs some work done it, i'm planning to look over it today and do some, but i've been borrowing a bike from a member and thats been fine. yeah sounds good that dad is doing better. i've had cole slaw a few times, but i'm not the biggest fan. but i hear its really good on bbq sandwiches. atleast most places that have them have cole slaw on it.

oh yes, tell the stringhams hi for me too, plus grandma. there actually a missionary out here from tremonten and he says he knows chad. all i know is his name is elder bronson. he had to go home for a while for health problems but he's back out now.

so the normans moved, thats sad, i'm going to miss them, but tell the ward hi for me. so kate has started dancing lessons. wow, she really loves dancing. well for this week, we've had a alot of things happen. i spoke in church on sunday, about missionary work, tied into the plan of salvation. so that i think went allright. things have kind of gone downhill with vallery. she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and her mom isn't very supportive with the church and it's back to square one again, but she will make it sometime. but for the other couple we've been working with jason and tabby, there oing great. theve been having som troubles lately but what helped out was the member we took with us talked alot of marraige and what caused his marriage to fail. then he went on how to strengthen it, so it went very well. they defiantly needed that. we also visited a member who is really big into the confedrates, and showed us this flag he has thats the title of liberty, sown into a confedrate flag. i'll make sure to send you pitcures. but anyways our week been pretty good. had some bumps in the road, but things have been doing good. i aslo got a wedding announcement from one of my old companions. so that was pretty fun. well take care, and have fun.

September, 2009

well we had an intesrting week, things are starting to cool off but still on the warm side. yeah i heard about byu and utahs game, utah i wasn't to suprised about, but Byu i heard that they did really well. heard that okaholmas quaterback is out for the year now as well. well we actually saw a piece of an airshow on friday. louisa has a small airport and we saw a plane doing the acrobatic tricks, so we figured out what was going on there pretty quickly.

i also found out this past week that next month were having a 70 come out and visit the mission. his name is elder kenneth johnson. so they've been telling us to prepare because he will be doing one on one roleplays with some missionaries. so some exciting news here. well for this week we had a zone mtg on friday and had a good time there, it was a werid feeling thinking i was there a year ago. espcially because one of zone leaders was brand new when i was there last. i also found out i'm the oldest in the zone, that, was very scary, doesn't seem right.

then sunday we had a really cool exprience, we called up jason rodgers to see why he didn't come to church and vallery picked up the phone, and elder karpowitz stared talking to her about football, and then it got on to prayer and said when she came in on tuesday and saw us parying she felt like she was missing out. well she wants to get taught again, so we will be teaching her tommorrow, it's great. then yesterday we had zone confernce and learned a lot of things there. alot about making sure you have love for the people and bringing heaven into the work. it was really powerful, they also gave a copy of a tallk that was for training new mission presidents, that was all about making sure the holy ghost is in everything. Im excited to read the talk.

oh yes, also on saturday, we were drivng down the road and and a car in fron t of us motion us over and he said that a bike fell off the back. i turned back to see that my bike was no longer on it. so it needs some repairs now, not to badly damaged, mostly just scrapped up and such. but still needs some work done, just thought id let you know. anyways take care

September, 2, 2009

hey everyoneyeah things have been great here in Louisa. so brett is getting married, sweet. alot of people i know are right now, bro. wangemann, one of my old companions, and now brett. sounds great. friends with kim too, that's pretty funny. well sounds like it will be fun the singles ward back up. well i'll probably give it a shot. theres been a cold bug moving around here. the bracnh president here is sick as well. or the people we live with. so we actually live with members here, i'm not sure for how long, because they have plans to move back to idaho, so maybe moving out soon, but for now my address is 829 goodwin store louisa, va 23093so about louisa, it's country, right now were meeting in the local high school, but there going to have a grounbreaking ceremony for the new building in a few weeks. so they'll have there own building soon. alot of things are very spaced apart, so my companion elder Karpowitz loves to bike, so we've done alot. he is from salt lake, and he loves sports and hunting. so for a story, we parked the car and went out biking for about 9 miles and he got a flat. so we had to walk all the way back to the car. the worst part is we had little water, and it was about lunch time. so wasn't to fun. but this week we had a lot of intersting things happen, at transfers i saw bro. brockman, formerly elder, and we talked briefly. he actaully ives in newport news now. so i'm may seem him again sometime. it's been pretty fun being her seen someplaces where i've been before on exchanges so its been fun. yesterday we taught jason rodgers and got to see vallery again. just incase uyou don't remember, she was someone me and elder beames met on exchanges. she actually came out to us and said how she had been praying to know what to do, the night before and we knocked on the door the next day. so it was good to see both of them again. she right now got a little bit of cold feet, because after the missionaries started working with her she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so she asked for sometime. so hopefully we get to start teaching her soon. well i don't know to much more to say, but good hearing from you, take care, and have fun. and get feeling better

August 26, 2009

well last night was transfer calls and i'm getting transfered. i'm actually going somewhere i have been before on exchanges of course. i'm headed to Louisa. it's kind of funny, about a year ago i left Gayton, and now i'm headed next door to it. my companion is someone i've never heard of, elder cupplets or something like that. i'm sad to leave again i loved it here. so you aksed aout richard and he is still set for the end of september, but it may get pushed back. not sure though. elder hines will have to worry about that. my replacement should be arriving in virginia in a few hours. he's training, so he's excited about that. but i can understand a bit with you not feeling well, i had a few days were i felt a little sick. i think it was mostly i didn't drink enough water. but i'm doing better with that. now for what happened this week. on thursday we taught someone named George toth. he is a great guy, has a lot of questions. the biggest thing is he's a talker, and we brought a member wth us named bro. berryman who is also a talker. so what ended up happening is we got pushed to the side and they both went back and forth. we struggled to get anything in. but it was still a good lesson. then monday we had a lesson with kevin and sarah. they lesson went very well. were we quite nervous going in there, because we were going to teach the law of chastity and word of wisdom, but they accepted it and they should be set soon, unfornately i wont be able to. then we taught richard last night and he's doing great. last night he made a comment this is the only church he's every been to that explains everything. he's solid, he going to be baptized, i'm sure of that, he even gave a friend of his a book of mormon sunday. i'm sure going to miss them. richard, sarah, and kevin are all great. well i don't know to much more to say, but i'll let you know my new address next week, and much more. well take care, and have fun.

August 19, 2009

hey everyoneyeah this week has moved by quickly once again. its crazy how fast things are going. but it great that everything is going well at mom recovery. and grandma's too. wow, sounds like that harry potter clue sounds really fun, i'm starting to get bored of the games elder hines always wants to play. normally chess, and this game that is a lot like sorry. but it's been fine. Sarah and kevin are doing great. kevin's mom should be out of the hospital now and they didn't need to have anymore of her foot taken. now for a funny story, elder neugebauer is leaving tommorrow to go home, so he can get home in time for school. well yesterday he had to get an ingrown toenail removed, so the doctor brings some papers to sign and he reads on it that theres a chance that if it gets infected he may have to lose his toe, foot, or leg possibly. he was fine until that point. so afterwards we had exchanges and the elder there kept giving him a hard time about it. he wasn't to happy. so after we met back up for exchanges we found out that they still had a our phone, in fact we found that out after we got back. so we called them using a payphone and they had to drive back down to give us it. so they weren't to happy. so hopefully it doesn't happen again. but exchnages were good, i was able to go up to farmville again, and i got to see the jones fam again. it was great. last thursday we had interviews with pre. millburn and committed everyone to use a scripture before he asks you to share one with him, well almost everyone failed because as soon as you sat down he asked you. so it did not go to well. well other than that i don't know to much more to say, but take care. everything is going well here, i'm lovin it. well take care

August 12, 2009

well i'm glad to hear that everything went good with the surgery. it kind of suprismed me to hear about it, i was riding an email from tiff and read that mom had surgery, took me off by suprise. but anyways glad to her that everything is going better. wow, i can't believe that grace is almost 7 months now. it doesn't seem like it's been that long. still feels like the other day that i emailed. we've had a couple of really warms days lately. we had a few days where we were just roasting. well on thursday we took the car to colonial heights to find out that they don't have the cable to replace for the recall, so were supposed to get a letter when the part arrives, so for now we still have the car, but the person in charge of the cars has told us if anything happens they'll switch the car for us, so it's been good. then we had a lesson with someone named george toth. he's awesome, he talks alot, and gets on alot of tangets but he asked us a lot of questions, which we could answer, such as the spirit world and such. it was great. then we had a district mtg the next day and went on exchanges with elder rodgerson, one of our zone leaders. it went very well. it was great. then sunday was a very discouraging day, kevin and sarah did not come to church and we spent most of the day with things falling through. then the next day we found out that kevin's mom was in the hopital with a very bad infection in her foot. she is also diabetic, and they had to remove three toes. they hope they got it all or else she will be losing more of her foot. so they've had some rough times start showing up, but we should be teaching them again on saturday. then yesterday we had another day of running all over the area, it was fun though, plus got to stay out of the heat. well i don't know to much more to say, things have been going very well here. things have really been moving along here. well take care, hope that evrything goes well with your recovery. i love you all so much

August 5, 20009

wow, jill and jason broke up, that was a shocker. but sounds like it was a good thing. also it was suprising to hear that james and mitch are elders now, mostly it helping me realize how long i have been out. time is just flying by. i'm starting to wonder where it's going, it felt like yesterday i emailed. it's crazy. sounds like you all had a blast at the reunion, oh yes, i keep forgetting to say this, one of the new things i've tried is goats milk. it's actually really good. theres a member here that has a milking goat and gave us some to try. very time time we go back they ask us if we want some. i say sure. well no scary weather experinces for this week. just so you know. well we had a very intersting week. we taught kevin and sarah again, theyre doing great. there just taking everything in. sarah even came to church even though her boyfriend was sick. she called for a ride and came. it was really great. then saturday we did alot of walking out in the country, mostly due to elder hinds bike needed some repairs. not much happened, just saw a lot of cornfeilds and heat was not fun. but then we had a lesson with the cathey's a member family that way and they had some intestring stories they told us. bro. cathey told us of how he came into the church, and said, that missionaries came looking for his wife, and he kept saying she wasn't here, and a fter a few weeks, they finally ask if they could share a message with them. he agrees. and then when it came to being baptized he didn't tell his wife at all just said, there was an activity going on at the church. so they both go and turns out it was his baptism. she was very much taken by suprise. then yesterday we found out that our new car has had a recall on it. so tommorrow we have to take it in. apparently theres a problem with the parking gear, that it hasn't been working, it's worked for us, they just want to inspect it. so no big worries there. then the rest of the day we went all over the area teaching lessons, it was a busy day, we loved it, espically after the slow week we had last week. well it was good to hear from all of you. things are doing great. well hope everything goes well and take care.

July 29, 2009

hey everyonesounds like you all had a fun week, we did here. yeah we had tornado weather again belive it or not, but we luckily were on the good side. it was in amelia, all we knew was we were talking with a guy on the porch, and then a storm out of nowhere popped us, and he said, i think you guys needs to get going, we didn't get any rain but elder hines said, it was tornado weather, hopefully i'm not scaring any of you, but i'm fine, don't worry. there an older couple that serving in framville named the fishers, and aparantley her maiden name is rasmussen, so i don't know but we may be related, i think she said she has family in brigham city. so maybe you could find out, i don't know. but that sounds fun, there was one in the branch here a while ago and it was pretty much three familes, that make up most of the branch. the three familes are the daltons, roarks, and adams. wow that activity sounds great, that sounds very fun, wish they did that back then for me. thats sad to hear about brother soelberg, wow it's going to be werid going back there. well for some other stories for you, on thurday we had a lesson with kevin and sarah and it went great. we went over the restoration with them again to make sure they understood and they did. they also made it to church on sunday and they loved it. then monday sarah told us that this is the happiest she's been in a long time. theres alot of potiential there i'm really excited. well were reallyexcited with them. saturday the branch did a fish fry and that was really good, there was a lot of less actives and plenty of members there. it went very well. monday we went over to the johnsons and were going to have sarah and kevin taught in ther home. so thats a plus. there i also found out that wakefield's branch presidency was reorganized. i don't know to much information other the bro. Johnosn's son is the new second councilor. elder Salisbury is still there as well. then yesterday we had our zone confernce and learned much about doing short, powerful lessons. we took alot out of that. pres. millburn also told us how he was called as weel and said that pres. Faust told him your sucess as a mission president will not be determined until 20-30 years later. it depends on how your missionaries will be as parents and grandparents. so that was something i never really thought about. then that night we went on exhcnages and elder neugebauer came down with us. we also set richard for baptism. he's right now scheduled for september 26th. so thats the good news on this end. elder burmister, one the missionaries i came out with is a trooper, he 's been having alot of health problems recntly, but he's still going out strong and he's great. he was just diagnosed with something, i cant remeber what it's called, but he know has to eat alot of fruits and vegatables. he cant have very much fat. well other than that thats the news for us. we've had a lot of things happen this week, and saw lots of miracles. it's been great. it so good to see how much the lord wants to bless us. it's great. well take care, and have fun.

July 22, 2009

hey everyone
so blair is getting married, thats great news. that so good to hear. i'm also glad that grandma is doing better as well. thats some really good news. wow so tiff and dan got to ride in a limo, thats something. well sounds like grace is doing well. thats great to her that everything is fine at the doctors. that sucks about spencer breaking two teeth. thats no fun. but for the drug trafficng , the cloest thing ive seen to that was all the unmarked police cars pulling people over. they always seem to come out of nowhere. luckily were always going the speed limit. this week had some intersting things happen. on thursday we said goodbye to elder hall and he's no out in washington, probably strumming a guitar. that same night i somehow stepped in a nest of ticks. i had about thirty on my leg, that was annoying. then the next day we were headed to victoria, and we got a few miles out of town and we saw some really meaning clouds on the way there, we decided to turn around and get inside, which was a good thing, the lightning was terrible, and it rained fairly heavy and had some nasty hail. a little bit later we found out there was a tornado warnin, i don't know if there was one or not, but all i know, is the clouds were a a mixture between this dark bluish gray with a green tint. but we were fine, excpet for getting a little wet. then we had a great lesson with a couple we met named sarah and kevin. were going to see them again tommorrow. then the next day we went up to amelia, and got a lost, i looked at the wrong road and and by the time i figured it all out we were way off target. so we've had to walk a monday, everywhere, still a little sore from it. but other than that not much more i know of to say. things have been on the slow side this week but they are getting better. well take care, have fun

July 15, 2009

don't worry i did get the email from dad. it was good to hear from dad. well this week as been an intersting one. transfers, i don't know too much about, other than i'm staying here and so is elder hines. it will be just the two of us, so it will be a little differnt but should be fun. i'm glad to hear that grandma is doing better. thats really good news.

well i have a funny story for you, sunday we had dinner with the johnson's, and there son was my branch mission leader in wakefield, there was loking like a storm was going to hit there and bro. johnson needed water for his graden so elder hall joked around and did a rain dance for like 5 seconds, and about five minutes later, a really nasty storm hit. it was crazy, afterwards they joked around and said, it's a good thing he didn't do any more or we would have been blown away. it was really something. we also had quite a few miracles, theres this one less active family that all of the sudden want to come back now, so that was really something.

well i don't know to much more to say other than that i got a letter from Jacob this week, and i found out that he's works on updates for the new family search service, and he also is putting in a bunch of names from brazil. he says it's a blast. well take care, glad to hear from you again. take care

July 8, 2009

hey everyone,i'm able to email this week, but we still have terrible interent. they were trying to change internet last week and apparently it didn't work. so hopefully i'm able to email.

well i just heard some good news from elder wangemann. he's engaged. so that was a shock to see this week. it's almost been a year since he went home. but anyways it good to email today. i'm also sending a home a package today so i can get rid of some things, so it's your choice whether to wait to open in 9 months or you can open it. mostly it's letters, cards, and some souvioners. that sucks to hear about sis. thompson, i defiantly write them today. and it good to hear that grandma is doing better. so thats really good news.

we were not able to see any fireworks this past week. so it was a bummer but the branch had a barbque so we went to it and had a good time. i've been fine with the heat, only a few times has been bad, but thoise salt tablets work wonders. well i did hear about that new policy at the Mtc, but i heard what it was like there with the newbies, found out it was actuallly the swine flu, but heard its good now.

friday i was ble to return to Farmville on exhanges, so that was pretty fun, didn't get to see to many memebrs but it was fun. had a good time with elder neugebauer. monday we saw a recent convert named brother McCadams and he is a geniune redneck. he is very intersting, however he always gets into longwinded tangets on politics and stuff, but he also is very much in to food storage, and stuff. in fact he keeps telling us when we get home to make sure we have plenty of food and bullets. yeah he has a lot of guns. but he's a character, a little crazy, but it's fun. i don't know much else to say right off but that things are going really well here. well take care, tell mom to have a good time a shakespeare. take care.

Letter July 2, 2009

Hey family, as you could probably tell I couldn't email this week. The internet was down today so, I get to write this time. This week was interesting. ONe day we went out with Brother Berryman, and he went out and contacted quite a number of people all over the area. We found success. So we were pretty excited about that. We also had a family named the Hammonds (?) whose kids want to take the lessons again. So good news there as well. Sorry I don't know much to write. I can't really tink of much but take care. I should be able to email next week take care.

day after mission conference

hey everyone. this week went very well. the week before nothing happened and now quite a bit happened. so it was great. i also got the package monday, so thanks. wow, thats crazy, that the new ward mission leader served here and trained todd that shows how small of a world it is. okay so to tell you more about Elder Hinds, he is from pleasington, Kansas. he been alot just a little bit less than me, and he enjoys playing games. so today we have been playing rook. it's been fun.

yesterday we had mission confernce, so all the northern zones got together. i was able to see alot of missionaries i haven't seen for a while, it was great. found out how my past areas have been going and so forth. it was great. pres. millburn has also starting up a book of mormon reading, i'm so pumped for it. it's called a 146 days to remember. basically were given different gospel principles to look for as we read so that we can use them to become better and more powerful teachers. i'm really excited for that. we also were able to hear from siter millburn yesterday as well. she been having some health problems, that she just hasn't been getting alot of energy. she got up and bore her testimony to all of us, it was really powerful. in fact what was really special is that when she walked in everyone stood up for her. it seemed to hit her pretty hard. but she is doing better, sounds like it's been slow but she been improving.

we had a really cool miracle as well the first day with elder hinds, we had a lesson with a less active part member family and we got there and they hadn't got home yet, so we worked for a little bit and then decided to go back. they were they and in fact they had a friend there and he wanted a book of mormon. so we gave him a copy and now were teaching him as well as them. so you can call it two birds with one stone. that was a miracle. but other than that, thats been the most intersting stories for the week.well thats basically our week, we had some pretty bad stroms earlier in the week, an ac that broke down, and now it's been nice so far this week, knock on wood. well take care. have fun.

June 17, 2009

well i have some news for everyone. i'm staying here with elder Hall. but i'm also getting another elder with us. his name is elder Hines. i've met him a few times, but i don't know much more to say. but ill let you know next week. i was not too suprised with grandma going to the nursing home, i was kind of expecting it. but i think it sounds good that she'll move in with pam though. that way she has someone there to help her.

well it's still cloudy here, probably will get some rain today again. we've been getting rain alot as it is. monday during study it was a downpour outside and luckily by the time we got out it was good. well this week was very discouraging, we would go out and come in and nothing happened all day. we just couldn't get appointments to keep. it was very annoying. on sunday me and elder hall spoke on missionary work. and then the stake mission leader spoke as well. he's a character. i spoke on fear and faith tied into missionary work, it went all right, didn't go the way i wanted. but i think i got the point acrossed. saturday, notoway county did this thing called relay for life and it was a fundraiser to stop cancer, the church had a booth there so we went there and helped out for a bit. it went fairly well. then later that day we had a lesson with a media referal. she was awesome. she asked us a lot of questions about the church, and she is geniunely intersted. it was great.

there was also this older man we met he was outised and told us he had a stroke three year ago and it was really bad and barely survived. he was from puerto rico and as we finished the street we walked back and he was sitting underneath the tree. it turned out his leg gave out from under him and he couldn't get back up. so we helped him up and helped him walk back to his house and then his wife showed up and after that he expressed his thanks and it reminded me alot of bro. thompson. but it was so amazing because he said he was praying that we would come back by and help him, and we did. I know we were suppossed t be there, because his wife would have needed help to get him up and yet we were there to help. well i'll be sure to write grandma and give her some good news. i don't know much else to say right off but take care. and have a good day.

June 10, 2009

well it's been intestring here so far. i thought i told you but my new companion is elder Hall. he's going home next month. but whether ill be with him one week or six i don't know, but it will be known tuesday. sunday there was a baby blessing here and it was reminding me that grace was going to get blessed so it was a little discouraging but at the same time i got over it. i'll see her when i get home. sounds like you got a lot of rain this week. we did as well. there was one day i think it was friday we tracted all day out in the rain and most people acted like were nuts going out. but it was fun. the other day we tracted outside a small town and came by an airfield, it reminded me of dad. well burkville is basically country, lots and lots of country. in fact its one of the biggest areas. i cover most of amelia, all of nottoway and lunenburg, counties. and a corner of two others. so it's big. well this week has been pretty crazy. it's been alot of finding, goes from hot, to wet, pretty much every other day. but it's been fun. the branch here is about the saem size as farmville, but more priesthood holders. but is still difficult because the area is so big. well it was good to here from you. yeah i'll be excited to get those confernce talks once they come. but things have been going very well. i'm loving it right now. well take care

June 3, 2009

well this week was intersting, monday we got a phone call and found out transfers are being postponed two weeks. but the missionaries going home need to be replaced, so i got moved, not to far but to burkville. in fact the burkville branch was a ward but was split and made into two branches. one of which is farmville. so i'm not to far, but i'll be here atleast till transfers. my new address is 620 south main street apt 8b, Blackstone, Va 23824. just leeting you know.

well i've gone a week without any ticks now, so it's good, but i've heard there really bad this summer. so hopefully it can keep going. i hope dad gets feeling better, i don't think it's fun getting sick though. well that exciting news for robby.

well the most intersting stories this week was that the jones family are praying about a baptismal date, but we think theyre lacking that spiritual conversion, right now, we think its more they know it mentally. but they've been doing really well. but i can't think of any other good stories though, i forgot my planner to make a brief look over. well it's good to hear from you again. things are going very well. well take care.

a few things

hey evryone. things have been going fairly well here. we've been getting rain as well. yesterday we sat down in someones garage and a minute later it was downpouring. we were glad about that. well sounds like you had a fun trip i bet it was great toget away from everything for a while.

so heres a story foryou.last monday were near the end of the month and miles are getting tight.we had a media referal and so we biked five miles to it. we get there and found out that we had the wrong street. and it was 2 miles from were we parked the car. so we weren'tto happy. the way down was fine,but the back had a very large hill. so we finally get back and then we had a great lesson with her. she just had a son shot, wasn't killed but, is prepared. it was really awesome. for the week, we had a lesson with bobby and sam, they know finally have a marraige date. so there getting closer than they have been for a while. he feed us chili. now to tell you about. he warned us, as long as you keep scooping it down,your fine, but once you stop, that when the heat gets you. he makes spicy chili. it wasn't actaully to bad, i was expecting it to be bad but it wasn't.


then firday we went on 24's with the zoneleaders. i went out with elder burmiester and we had a great time. then saturday we had a special meeting with the assainsts to the president.it was a really good meeting, and we learned about the vision of the mission more, and things they want to get acrossed to everyone. making sure we are all on the same page. it was a very powerful meeting. we left there pumped. then we meet with a less active lady yesterday and found out that she wants to come back, she just can't drive but all she needs is a ride. so it was really awesome, she bore a powerful testimony to us and now we are going to work on having her get out to church. so that was pretty much our week. haven't had tomuch happen yet. edmund is still trying to find a job, and once he moves out,he'llbe baptized. he'slooking so forward to it, but he just hasn't been able to get a job yet. hows your friend doing mom, have you hsared your testimony with her yet? you need to,she doesn't realize the happiness she could have in her life. thank you for the prayers, and for the support you allhave continued to give me. i love you all. take care.

May 20, 2009

well to answer the question about the letter, i got it monday, so thanks. thats so exciting the matt got his mission call. tell him congradulations. tell him he's going to love it. i belive that the mission one of pres. millburns daughters served. she got home about a year ago. but wow, i can't believe that almost all of the priest quorum is going on missions now. time is just going to fast. well last year memorial day was just another day, so it will probably be the same. sorry if spacing is bad,the spacebar isn't working well today. so just apologizing ahead of time. wellthis week has been intersting,we have seen alot ofmiracles and just alot of good things are happening. it started out rough, we had one of our top investigators drop us, jay b. but still left on good measures, he'll be back. monday we met a really awesome lady who just had a baby, and now she is wondering where to take her to church. so we gave her a book ofmormon and she had a lot of questions about infant baptism.sowe shared with her that and going to see here again sometime. then we found someone later that day who is going through a rough time and she had seen commercials for a free video from the church, keep feeling like she should order it but she never did. so we left her with it and she accpeted a return appointment. it was amazing. then yesterday we had a coolexperience as well. we recieved a media referal and we went out to contact her and she had lost a son recently. and she is very depressed about it, but she was really drunk at the time so we told her to call us when she's sober. then we went and talkedto her neighbors. the next door neighbor has been struggling with whether God really does love her and if he truly answers prayer. we bore a powerful testimony and left her with a book of mormon.the funny thing is is that where she lived we planned nowhere around, never gone that way, but becasue of her neighbor we found her.it was really awesome. last week we were struggling and now after the trial of our faith were having miracles. it's great. welli don't know to much more of what to say. well take care, have fun at blanding. Elder S. Johnson

Day after Cinco De Mayo

well to answer your question about the tacos or mexican food, welll i did, we went to taco bell yesterday. so i quess so. allright i made some arrangemnts and i am going to be calling about 7:00. or five oclock there. if it's not good let me know. yes i got the recipes. i got them after i emailed. i loved it. still haven't been able to try anything yet, but i can't wait to try some. we've had a lot of rain lately. its been good because we can breathe now, but we are getting tried of getting wet. but other than that it's been good here. so for our week it was pretty intersting. we had quite a few meetings, six plus hours of driving time with it. so we are very glad theres no meetings this week. last wensday we went to instiute and it was the last one till next fall and we had a pizza party there. so it was good and then they played the Testaments. we got quite a few investigators to it and they all loved it. it was really fun. then on friday we ha our first meeting and it was an allright one but was still good. they also passed on information about the swine flu and stuff like that. so we know know what it is and what to do if we get it. then on saturday we had zone confernce and that was very good. we learned alot there and got a lot of things we were very excited to implementy but then it left us as we drove back but we turned things around and are doing better now. then sunday we had another really good meeting. elder pace and pres millburn both gave really good talks. pres millburn talked on oppistion and how it strengthens us and elder pace talked alot about "do you know?" and he challenged everyone to pray and read the jsh. it was really good, we've now been taking that and giving it to some of our invetsigators. and so far most of them have enjoyed it. then that night we had a lesson with brenda and her family and it was so amazing we saw a change that had come over them from the time before. then we as we shared the first vison there was a peace in her home and it was great. so thats was our big news for the week. i'm not sure on much else to tell you right now, but i quess i'll talk to you on sunday. well hope everything goes well. take care

Email to Tiffany

sounds like dan has got a pretty good job now, i think he'll enjoy it. from what is sounds like kate has gotten over her phone shyness, so maybe she say something more to me this time than bye. so i'm not sure if i shared this story or not, but i think you'll like it, one day me and elder brockman were teaching a 4 kids about faith and how it leads you to act. elder brockman for an object lesson picked up a small bear and placed it on the table, and talks about how faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains. he points to the beard and says this is much smaller than a mounatin move it with your faith, go. the oldest was 9, then a set of twins that were 6, and a four year old. i kind you not, there faces were turning red as they were starring at it trying to move it. i think they were trying to use the force or something to that effect. but then he showed them that faith leads to you to act, that means pick it and move it. everytime we came back and reviewed, we would ask what faith is and they would pick up whatever it was move it across the table. it was pretty funny. well there your funny story for the week.
> well take care, it was good to hear from you.

April 29, 2009

hey everyonethings have been an intersting week, we all have been battling allegies. it's been pretty bad this week, but atleast it been nice and sunny, and in the nineties. so it's been nice here, but we might be getting some rain today, i heard it suppossed to be thunderstorms. well right now, i have a phone card still. so i don't need one. right now the most i've heard is sometime in the evening for calling. so i let you know if its the case. and if i call grandma's house i'll need her phone number. so send it. thanks. well with the new stake president none of the names are ringing a bell. but i guess i'll meet them sooner or later. but we are having a stake confernce this week as well. elder pace is going to be there. so here something intersting to tell you, friday we have a zone mtg, saturday, zone confernce with elder Pace, and stake confernce sunday, all at the same place. pretty crazy huh. so we have alot of meeting this week. not to excited, but oh well. tanks for sending the recipes, i was really wanting that tuna fish cassorale again. so thats one reason i asked. plus weve been doing a lot of cooking, i even made goop this week, but we didn't have eggs, so it was in there but it was till good. oh yes, and now to tell you about elder Peterson. he is from Enoch, Utah. likes trucks, and has been out a transfer less than me, so he's hitting his year mark tommorrow. so thats who he is. so last wensday we were down tracting in a town called keysville. we ended up seeing a truck outside some ones house with a flashing yellow light, we walked up, no one there, so we knocked on the door and said the light drew us here like a lighthouse, and he invvited us in. his wife ended up talking to use and found out that she used to live with an abusive, alcholic husband, and that she has been struggling in here life now, the chucrh she went to basically left her behind and she hasn't been to church in years, but her daughter a few days before had attempted suicide and know she is wanting to come back to chucrh. it was an awesome experince it was so cool. she was so prepared and it was amazing. we taught her monday and talked alot about family and strengthing it, she loved it. i also now have a new food i can say i've ate. on firday a memebr made us squirell barbque. it was actually really good. i enjoyed it. so i added that to foods i've eaten list. so thats the news for the week. everything has been going pretty well. well it's a shame that dad is going to have to hunt up north this year, but it change, i'm sure he'll like it. well i'll talk to you later. take careElder S. Johnson

April 22, 2009

well i have some news for ya. i'm staying in farmville at least another six weeks. but elder Malone is leaving, he's headed to Norfolk. we are getting a missinory named elder Peterson. not one i came out with but another one. all i know is that he's coming from Nags Head, North Carolina. another intersting thing is that elder Neugebauer, trained elder Burmiester who is now our new zone leader. thats about the only news i know of really well. well to your news, i'm glad that grandma is doing much better. i'm glad to know that. so quess well be finding out sooner who are new stake president is. well make sure to let me know. welll thats pretty funny what happened with the crockpot. we went on exchanges this week and we were going out to eat. i'm about to order and thats when i realized i forgot my wallet. it was sad, at least i figured it out before then. the worst time that happend is we finished shopping and went to go pay and thats when i realized i didn't have it. it was pretty sad. well just to let you know, my bloddy noses are doing much better. not having them as frequently, i bought some nose spray and that did the trick. well theres been alot of storms here this week. had a tornado watch out oon monday and heard there was quite a few powerful storms that blew through, but thats about all i know. but a cool story from yesterday, is that we had to go up to the mission office so that elder malone needed to speak with the mediacl officer, so we tried to get the office elders to try giving us some hints about transfers but they didn't. but we found out a few things though. mostly because of a new elder there. one of the Ap's is now a zone leader for his last two transfers. so we soon figured out who the new one was and who the new Training assiasant was. his name was elder craig, but the thing that was funny, is me and elder neugebauer left and tracted for a little bit and as we were headed back to the mission office asomeone pulled over and was wanting missionaries to visit him. it was really awesome how everything lined up. so thats about all i can think of right now. but thanks for the updates about grandma and for everything else. take care. i love all of you. Elder S. Johnson

April 15, 2009

hey everyonethis transfer is going way to fast, next week is already transfers. it's crazy. time is flying by. it's been an intersting week, i've been having alot of bloody noses, but right now vasoline is seeming to do the trick, as long as i don't sneeze, or it doesn't get to dry at night. so it's been crazy, my pilllowcase is getting washed almost daily. but don't worry everything is going well now. yes i did get my package in fact theres a funny story with it as well. we were on exhnages and elder neugebauer has been expecting a package, and as were driving up he sees it on the porch. he's really excited, takes a look at it, and sees my name. he was very depressed, but he got his the next day. so it was fine. wow, it hard to belive miles is coming home now. time is going way to fast. were teaching this family named the jones, and the grandma has all her grandkids sit in so we teach them. it's really funny trying to teach them, there this one kid whose answers usually have something to do with food. then they came to chucrh on sunday and loved it. the branch pres has been out twon for almost a month and at the time time there wasn't to many investigators coming well last sunday we had 9. so it was a big suprise to him. edmund, is now set for baptism and is trying to get back on track again. so hoepfully he stays on this time. then sunday we went an easter play that this person we met invited us to, she was in it, so we wnet for here. it was good but differnt. so it was an intersting epxerince. now we went by this lessactive memebr and we quickly found out why. her health isn't the best and she has altimers really bad. she kept asking who we were every minute or so. so it made it tough. so thats the big news here, not o much exciting, but we had interviews on monday and had pres millburn do a compaion study with us. so basically like zone confernce but more one on one. i'm not sure on much else to say, but take care, have fun, and hope that tiff gets feeling better. Elder S. Johnson

April 8, 2009

yeah i did notice pres. McConkie, when they announced the name at first it made me wonder, then i thought i saw him. so after that i was keeping an eye out. but that defiantly confirms that, i was planning to ask you anyways. so thats really cool. sounds like it's a good car. it's a missionary car as well. most cars are either corollas or malibu's what year is it. so that's really cool. on sunday between confernce while we were having lunch i found something really cool. i saw a book that said doctrine and covenants commenatry. so i picked it up and found a story that had to do with simeon Carter. it had his conversion story. it was really cool. it said that Parley P. Pratt was reading with him, and then got arrested and left the Book Of Mormon behind. parley P. pratt got away and simeon read it and was baptized. then it contiued to say he was made an elder and organized a brach of sixty members. it was pretty cool. well i thought confernce was amazing, i loved alot of it. i was thinking it would be elder anderson as well, i aslo loved elder Hollands, and pres. monson's. i also liked pres. utcorfs talk at priesthood, had proabably the best joke. he went on saying how he was trying to find a story to relate it with, and he went on these things the other apostles were good at, and then he said, he made his desicion, i would share something i knew really well, aviation. it was pretty funny how he brought it up. i still can't choose a favorite. hey i was wondering, when it gomes out on cd if you could get me one. i'd really appreciate it. the last two day we had some really amazing miracles. on monday we had plans to go around the collage talking to everyone we could see but before we got there elder Neugebauer reconzinged one of his investigator he was teaching in the Innercity of Richmond. he was set for baptism and then elder Neuegbauer got transfered here. then edmund(his name) just vanished. so the elders there were seacrhing every hopsital, calling prisions, everything trying to find him. so it was really cool. it's funny, because they thought he had dropped off the face of the earth. it was so crazy what happened. then yetserday we were driving to an appointment got about 5 minutes away and they cancelled it. we were pretty annoyed, so we go to the members house who was going to come with us and that's when the phone rang a minute later. it was someone that missionaries had taught in january, and had to postpone there appointment. so they called us wnated us to come by again. it was really cool what happened. it was neat.i liked that story with grace and kate that sounded really funny. i thought it was pretty good. well take care, have fun with the new car. i also loved the pitcures, i got the letter yesterday. well take care.

p.s.
oh yes one last thing. when simeon was called on a mission in the Doctrine & covenants, Jacob Scott, one of elder Salisbury's ansectors was called as well. so six genratiions later we sevred together and they may have traveled together at one point. just was really intersting when we thought about that. well take care

April fool's

don't worry no joke, but maybe i get one in, who knows. snicker, snicker. this week was really fun, we had alot of miracles. on sunday we had 6 investigators at chucrh. it was amazing. i'm glad that your doing better. i'm glad that everything is fine there, well youll have to send me pitcures of the new car when you get it. i'm so glad that Grace is home as well. i'm really excited about that. i thought it was cute they were holding hands in the back. this weekend is going to be excitiong, i'm looking forward to confernce. it's going to be great. i'm getting along pretty well with elder Neugebauer, and elder Malone. Elder Malone does alot of cooking, one thing i learned from him is how to make mozarella sticks. so Jill will love that. well the only sister missionaries i know of that were in a group of three were best friends, so haven't seen anything bad. well i have alot more stories this week for you, we had some really amazing blessings this week. there was this one lesson we had where we got incredibly bold with this one person. one thing thats getting pushed in the mission is teaching more clearly, and refining our shortcomings. it's been really amazing how much improvement is happening in the mission. another cool story is we had a lesson with someone named Jay b. he's been going trhough a hard time and we taught him the restoration and he loved it, the spirit was very strong there, he was one of them that came to church, and then church had the answer he needed at the time. then monday we are working with a couple, the kids are members, but they both are not married but both have strong testimonies of the gospel. so we went into the lesson to teach the restoration, but before we started we asked, do you believ that Jospeh Smith is a prophet, and they both suprsied us with a powerful testimony. so there went or plan on what to teach them, because they didn't need it, so we taught about God, and how he is a merciful but a just God, and used alma 42. the really cool thing is we ended it with obedience, and we had bobby read 1 nephi 3:7 but swap his name for nephi. he read it and it was powerful. it really hit him, and now we have them set for baptism with plans to get married. it was really cool. then the last coo,l story is that we had zone confernce yesterday and they stressed with calling people to repentance, not being afraid to do it. and to teach with passion. it was an amazing zone confernce. a lot of things are happneing here, i'm really excited. farmville is great, i love it here, i'm not sure what else to say though, but everything is going well. take care, have a good april fools day. okay not really but have a good day Elder S. Johnson

March 25,2009

I'm so excited, i hope Grace will come home soon, and i'm glad that grandma is doing better as well. now for an intesrting story, so last night we went to a member house and had dinner with her. she has alot of pitcures of ther of missionaries she has met. i looked at one and thought, he looks familar, and it was a wedding announcement, and i read, the name Todd Low! it turns out that he was one of the first missionaries that taught her. pretty exciting huh. i'm not sure he served in Farmville, because the branch was made about two years ago, but still small world, so you probably should ask him about Sis. Shelly Justice. i really love the pitcures of kate chasing those bubbles, there really amazing looking. thats sad to hear about sis. jensen though, hope the elder Hunter is doing good though. wow, kate sure has grown, i jjust realized she's almost two and half now, man thats crazy. she's grown up so much. sorry i thought i gave you the whole address, it's 912 B longwood Ave Farmville, Va 23901, oh yes the missionary from here thats is chad's mission got ther in december, so they may have meet. i told elder Malone you found her blog, he was suprised. well im sorry that this email is really short, i don't know much else of what to say. but take care, have fun, and i hope that Grace comes home soon. talk to you later. Elder S. Johnson

March 18, 2009

hey everyone.this week been pretty intersting. i arrived in farmville and its a city compared to wakefield. it's still considered country but it seems more like a city. there alot of food places, alot of stores, including walmart. there is two small unvinsities there. so thats most of the exciting things i know of here. the branch is small like wakefield, we meet in an old store, werid huh. but it's alot of older people here. oh yes there is someone from the branch that is serving in chad's mission. so could ask ask chad if he reconizes the name Elder Zeledon. so exciting news. oh yes, i keep forgetting, i haven't heard yet what areas Todd served in, so maybe you could ask them again. thanks.so now for my companions, Elder Nuegebauer, is a convert. his parents joined when he was ten. he's from Billings, Montana. Elder Malone is from mesa, arizona. so you already know about him. yes he is the one, the likes Hannah Montana. so thats the brief of them. its kind of funny, we served in the same zone for 4 and 1/2 months. so its kind of funny were together now. well i hope that Grace gets to come home soon. Can't wait to meet her when i get home. but i can wait. don't worry. oh yes, we also replaced the missionaries that were here. so all three of us are brand new. on thursday we arrived at transfers, we had to wait till the evening until Elder Malone came up from cheasepeake. i also found out that three of my district from the MTC are zone leaders now. elder Peacock, Elder Beames, and Elder Peterson. so pretty crazy. then we had a ride with President Nyce to farmville. we border two different missions. there is a memebr hear who is a modern-day Job. he was involved in a very serious accident and he is on bedrest. they had to reattach his legs, and has lost alot of use of his limbs. but he has a powerful testimony and is an amazing guy. it was such a spiritual time when we were there. alot of this week, we've been trying to find investigators and the ones they were working with. most of them have been annoying trying to find. because there addresses have been wrong. so not to much fun. on monday we had a lesson with a pentecostal preacher. he understood alot of it, but just has a hard time beliving in the church. but were going to help him. okay now for the important thing. my address is 912 #B, Farmville, 23901.i'm going to miss wakefield, i was almost in tears when i left. but i'm going to give it my all here as well. well the first year has flown buy. it's been alot of fun here. i have seen alot of miracles and seen the Lord Hand in this work. i'm loving this. well take care

March 11, 2009

so transfer were last night and i found out that i'm headed to another Branch. I'm headed to Farmville. it's a small town, in the country that has two collages. so i'm headed to a collage town. so that the news here. elder slaibury served there for six weeks and told me a lot about it. then there are also two new missionaries coming here. one of them is a spanish speaking elder. so thats the news here, there replacing me with two elders. my new companions names are Elder Neugabauer, and Elder Malone. so some pretty cool news. well tell grandma to get feeling better, i was feeling a little sick this week, but that was mostly the drastic change in the weather. it went from snow on monday to the 80's by friday. only a little change. sounds like Grace is doing great, hope she gets to come home soon. well now for the other news for the week. all last week again nothing happened. we would have rather had everything fall apart than that. elder salsibury described it to our district leader, it's like a hmaster running around in a wheel, you don't go anywhere. but we had a baptism so we were really excited about that. it was pretty awesome. on thursday chelsea got broncitis so we were not to happy, so we went by and gave her a blessing and she on saturday felt good enough to be baptized. it was awesome. then this week alot of great things happened. so far this week we had more going on then anything else. it's been great. well i'll let you know about the area when i write next week, or you'll probably look it up. i also border the mission boundry. but take care. take to you later and tell everyone hi for me.

We have Snow

yeah, all of virginia has snow. just to let you know how bad it was, they had all missionaries go in early sunday night. mostly it rained all day, alot of standing water and then it changed to snow. we got about two inches though. but heard richmond had 6 or more. they had us stay in till the storm passed the next day, mostly because people in virginia have no idea how to drive in it, so it was just percaution. school was cancelled all over the state. but hey I got to shovel snow to this year. we did that as we went out that day. pretty fun. well next time you see Chad tell him hi for me. wow, Grace sounds like she's getting big, pretty cool. no i didn't know that charnelle was getting married, thats great. well just to let you know, mostly everything is good right now, the only problem right know are my shoes. so probably the best thing to do is put some money on my debit card for it and then i'll wait tell i can get to a place that has shoes. right know we don't hvae anything here. but transfers are next week so hopefully soon. well this week has been a trial filled week. we had almost nothing happen for most of the week. the best news is that we have a baptism on saturday for Chelsea. my first one that is not an unbaptized youth. so i'm excited. but the other highlight was sunday, we had three investigators at church. chelsea, and the stewarts. fast and testimony meeting was powerful, alot of conversion stories, and such, then at the end bro. stewart got up and bore his as well. it was amazing. it was so cool. now for a funny story, i forgot to tell you this last week. we had just turned left on a street and then we saw flashing red and blue lights. we pulled over and we thought oh no, i start going for the registraion, and elder salisbury rolled down the window. he asked the normal and then he said, eyes forward, hands on steering wheel. we give him the stuff and he then aks, how much have you had to drink tonight. elder salisbury, said none. the officer responded, why do i then smell alcohol . we both looked at each and he said say what. then the officer starts laughing and that's when elder salisbury noticed who it was. it was a member in one of his old areas. he said as soon as he saw us he knew he had to. thinking back nowit was funny, but elder salisbury didn't like it to well. just a funny story for youwell i hope that everything goes well at the doctors. well i'll talk to you later, i'll let you know next week about transfers.

February 25, 2009

well i just finsihed writing a big email and lost it. so i'll try again, so sorry if it's small. thanks for the pitcures and i sure got laughs form kate. do you know if Jacob has to go the MTC or will he go straight there? i can't belive that the larry milller passed away, that's going to be rough on the Jazz, but cool story with it though. well i'm no longer feeling sick now, so that's some good news. we luckily had it very brief, and wasn't bad. hope you all get feeling better, and why is jill's knee sore? well the biggest things that happened this week is we had on staurday 7 appointmnest scheduled. we did not even know when we would have lunch. we ended up only have one go through. it was not fun. but we had a very powerful lesson with a man named stewart and his wife. they both loved it as well. then sunday we set chelsea for baptism. apparently the guardian ship is not an issue and she was asked by one of the young women in the branch when she was going to be baptized. she answered, no one's asked me yet. so when we heard that we asked her. and she accepted. so that was pretty cool.well sorry about all that happend but this is about all i remember i had down. but i know it was much longer earlier, but oh well it happens. well take care. Elder S. Johnson

February 18, 2009

yeah, as you can tell were getting rain today. it's cooled off a bit now and getting cold again. i've heard febuary is really like that here. i loved the pitcures from last week i just wasn't able to print them off, i didn't have change on me but that's fine. just so you don't worry, my shoulder is fine now. still not sure what i did to it but it's fine, unfornately we think we got that flu bug going around. we had zone confernce yesterday and we were both sick during it, and when we got back we both just went to bed. but were doing better today so thats good. i'm glad that things are improving with Grace. sounds like she's already growing up. well tell Jamie congradulation on her new girl. yeah, i hadn't heard that at all. well i had a pretty odd week and werid at times. friday we had a pretty fun district mtg and as we were heading up there, the memebr who was giving us a ride up there, bro. henry saw an amublence and a police car at another's memebrs house. she is pregnant and it's going to be her first child, she keeps getting panic attacks and so we stopped by to see if there was anything we could do. we gave her a blessing and it really helped her out. it was awesome. they should of known what sex it is by now, but everytime they try the ultrasound, the baby looks right at it so they can't. i kind of think it funny. then i went on exchanges with an elder horsley. we had a good time had some pretty good lessons. he's from reno, neveda. then on sunday we visited some members that are less active because of health. i have a pretty funny story there involving ther cat. they have this one cat that is very fat. but it is very freindly as well. at one point bro. gibbs said, if your ever in the area come over and we'll feed you. at the time the cat was purring very loud and then he said, we've been fattening the cat for ya. the cat instantly stopped, turned at looked at him, and then he turned and looked at me and the expression on his face was your not going to eat me right. we all started laughing, it was pretty funny. then zone confernce yesterday was really powerful, it was amazing. i learned alot there. well the people i told you about last week, one of them got sick, and the rest we keep missing them. so it's been a little aggravating. well I hope that everything keeps going well. i'll continue keep grace in my prayers. well take care

February 10

hey everyone. thanks for the pitcures you sent me. i really apprecatied it. she defiantly is looking pretty good. things have been good on this end we had some really good things happen the last few days. oh yes, i heard the elder scott was out in viginia not to long ago. he was there for there stake confernce. he also held a special class for all new members and elder Salisbury had several recent converts meet him. we both thought that was exciting. unfornatley we wished we were serving over there because elder scott went to the zone confernce there for the missionaries there. so we were kind of bummed when we heard that. I can't remember if i told you about one of our new investigators. her name is chelsea. she is a foster child whom the Terri's have taken in. she is right now loving the church and is undertsnading alot of waht we teach her. then we had another really awesome lesson with someone named william Vaughn. he's an older man and he is very freindly and last monday we watched the restoration with him. he loved it, he really felt the spirit it was really powerful. were really getting excited with him, and we also met this new lady yesterday. we met her husband a while back whose from Guatemala. he wanted a spanish book of mormon and we kind of forgot about him. so yesterday we decided to go back. we talked to his wife and found out he had to go back to guatemala because his visa expired while they were trying to get him to be a us citizen. and found out he was more intersted than we thought. so she is going to ship him it. so it was a big testimony booster. last week we were having a rough week and so far we had a good one, but we know it's the Lord why things are happening that way so were very thankful. i don't really know to much more to say right now. but some more good news it's been in the seventies lately. so it's no longer the wet cold. but it's fine. well it's fine that you didn't send me a package. i'm fine with just having the pitcures. well take care. i'm glad things are going well on that end. keep up the good work.

February 4, 2009

hey everyonethis week has been intersting. i heard that the steelers won, but i heard it was good game though. i was kind of rooting for the cardinals. i also heard they had a transformers two preview on. elder salisbury was going mad when he heard about it. he's a big transormers fan. oh, by the way how did woods cross football team do. so to answer your question about the lightsaber thing. a missionary named elder green, who is from bountiful, showed me that. you can use some colored pencil lead. yeah, i had fun with it with elder meyers. i'm glad that things keep going well with Grace. I'm glad that things are improving and going well. well i hope that the martins feel better soon, my companion once a week gets sick it seems like. but he's usually able to sleep it off so we can go out, so that makes it a better day. i alos hurt my shoulder this week. it's doing fine now, just every now and then i strain it a bit and get sore again. at first it wasn't bad, i just joked with people i was having sympathy pains. because my companion shoulder was hurt, but friday night it got really bad and had to take imbrufen. it's more my shoulder blade that's sore. but it's doing much better now.
oh yes, i haven't cahsed the check yet, i keep forgetting about it, but i will soon, so don't worry. other than that everything has been going fairly well. now for the other news for the week.
oh yes, we got pulled over at one point because our inpsection stickers were expired. oops. so we got that taken care of and then realized we were behind on getting an oil change, o that was intersting. but everything good there now. one day this week we had a pretty cool experince, we went to some partments to go tracting we get there and is practically no cars there only like fifeteen at the most. so we stopand said a quick prayer and that's when elder salisbury noticed that one was a moving van. so we went over and helped them out and were going to be headed back there tomorrow, that was a very neat experience.
well not much else i know of to say right now. but things are oing very well here. i'm glad to that's things are doing a little bit better down there. i can't belive spencer been out almost six months. i'm struggling to belive i'm getting close to a year. man times flies.well take care.

January 27, 2009

well as it says transfers are going on, and quess where i'm headed. i'm moving pretty far, well actually, i'm staying here another transfer, i'm also staying with elder Salisbury again as well, so we are now each other longest companion. so that's a little exciting. as far as i know theres not any big news on transfers this time. i also mailed pictures home monday , so you should be getting them soon. I also survived boot camp, elder salisbury got injured though. a lot missionaries live in the same complex we were at and every mourning play basketball. he and someone else collided and he was the one that got hurt, he shoulder is just pretty sure. other than that were fine. yeah so i heard the super bowl is this week, i heard it's the Cardinals and Steelers. boot camp was pretty intersting, espically because we were in the city, so that was a big change. the two training assiants were elder Hatch and Hancock. they were pretty fun. we also were there with the a.p's as well, so that was very differnt. we worked with a lot of members up there and had pretty busy schedule. i'm still feeling tired from it. other than that not to much exciting news for you this week. oh yes here's a funny story for you. at boot camp one night, i took off my watch and set it down, went to bed and when i went to put on the next day, i couldn't find it. all four of us looked everywhere and still could not, so finallywhen we came back we stopped at walmart, and i bought a new watch. then when i was unpacking that night, i found it in the bottom of my bag. so i now of two watches. well i'm glad that things are going well on on end. that was awesome what you told me about with the spirit beingso strong in that room. well i hope that everything keeps going well on your end. things have been going great here. i'll talk to you later

January 21, 2009

hey everyone.this week has been another trial filled week. we had many appointments set up and one two were there. but last night was intersting though. evrything was falling through, and i wasn't feeling the greatest, and was bitterly cold again, we get back check the mail and there was the letter. i opened saw the card, and i was thinking this is random, i opened the card saw the pitcure of kate, and then i saw grace's pitcure and my companion heard me gasp and saw the pitcure as well. the rest of the night went very well after that. so i did get it, and thanks for letting me know. i also called president millburn and let him now as well. he also started talking about how amazing it is how a baby can be born so early and know with the miracle of modern science they can live. i still have a long way to catch up with elder salisbury and his neices and nephews. he has 16, but he is also the second youngest of ten. wow, i've never even heard of gout. i'm not even sure what it is, but your description helped a bit. monday we had zone confernce excpet this time it was on a much smaller scale. it was just our zone but it was still fun and a good learning experience. then today we are headed up to richmond for what is called missionary boot camp. it's a new thing that has started. we work in an area meant to help train missionaries. so that should be intersting i'll let you know about how it went next week. well i'm glad that everything turned out all right at maggie moo's, sounds like that was really scary. but glad that everyone is okay. oh yes we woke up to snow yesterday. so that was fun. I have some pitcures of it. i don't know if it was enough to cancel school or not, but it was on the ground, so that was an intesting suprise. well i'm glad that everything is going good right now. hope everything keeps improving. talk to you next week

January 14, 2009

i'm glad things are starting to sound better. that's great. things have been crazy here, friday is sounding like it's going to be bitterly cold, high in the twenties here. i alos called pres. millburn last wensday after emails just to let him know what is going on. yeah so last week everytime the phone rang my heart stopped for a second until i saw who it was, but it's been good. i've done pretty well at not thinking about it but at times it came up. but i am glad things are improving there. things have been going well here, the scary thing is were getting close to the end of the transfer here. i'm getting a little nervous. but it sure has flown by. we had a pretty funny story on thursday, we feel bad though. we had a dinner appointment with a member and we showed up about five minutes early and bro. jones was outside. we said hi, he saw and said, elders your early. it turns out we wrote down the wrong time, it was at 5:30 instead of five. so it was sad, but they fine with it. nothing to exciting really happened to let you know about but things have been going fairly well, we had interviews yesterday with pres. millburn and he told us he is pleased with what has been happening here. it was good to hear it from someone. things have been intersting though.i can't belive that chad is already in his last transfer. it was almost a year ago i entered the mtc. it's crazy. i can't believe how the time flies. but i'm loving it here. i'm really enjoying it. well not sure on much else to say but i like the potiential names from by next niece, hope and grace are nice ones. well talk care.

ps from January 7, 2009

oh yes one last thing a while ago in a zone confernce president millburn told us that, "when oppistion comes it is a blessing and that we should welcome it as friend." oppistion truly does strengthen you. i noticed that a lot last week. we had plenty of oppistion thrown at us but then we had a huge spiritual experinece with the baptism. it was great. trials do truly strengthen you, that;s why it's a good thing.that's all for now. hope this helps.

January 7 2009

well as it says it is really wet here. we just getting pounded by rain. i was nervous we were going to losepower so we couldn't email. but it's calmed down now. man that is scary with Tiff, i hope everything goes well with that. we have a had a very up and down week with trials and blessings. friday we had alot of disappoints only one out of five our appointments went through, but it was an awesome lesson, and that was from what i heard what a very spiritual lesson. i was on exchanges though at the time so details are a little skecty. but earlier that day we were at a pizza hut and us and a group of missionaries sung there. so that was pretty fun. we also went to the far reaches of our area and we made it two a town that splits us and another area. we were talking and said you know what would be funny is if we saw the other missionaries here. then less than a minute later we both stopped and looked at each other. they were there as well. it was funny. saturday we had an amazing baptism for trisha. the spirit was strong there. the cool thing about it is that two sets off missionaries were there with investigators and they felt it as well. in fact our zone leaders there invetsigator was someone they talked to five minutes before the baptism. we also had the Assaints to the president make a suprise quest appearance as well, so that made it a little nerve wracking. but after the baptism all of us got up and sung Joseph smiths first prayer. that was amazing. so it was a great week atleast for us.well i hope things keep getting better there. i have faith that blessings really do help. oh here's something funny here about snow. whenever snow gets in the forecast people panic and buy as much milk, eggs, and bread as they possibly can. and if an inch of snow is on the ground anywhere school is cancelled. so just pretty funny. but i will be praying that everything goes well. oh yes i also heard that the colts lost and but heard that the dolphins are doing really well. well that's all. talk to you later