17 March 2010

Its supposed to hit 50s today, and its been in the 40s monday and tuesday.
So much better than sunday, but we have another storm coming in on Friday!
Bleh... I absolutely detest snow!

I got a mail letter from Eliza yesterday, sounds like she's having a good
time. Hey did I totally miss the st patricks day thing. I don't think anyone
celebrates it here.

So the baptism was amazing! I will have to get pictures printed sometime
this week. We had stake conference on Sunday and no one ended up going from
our branch. So bc of stake conference the Branch President insisted on a
waterside confirmation. i didn't want to get into a church policy battle, it
didn't seem the time or place, so I did it. I got chewed out by mission
leadership, but that's their job, and when they call, unless you want
something you make sure your doing something to distract you and don't hold
the phone up to your ear and just uh-huh, ok, sorry periodically. hahaha
Then it doesn't get to you. But it was an awesome experience. He loved it.

I did make a phone call to the mission president and told him our situation
bc we haven't had many dinner appointments, this week we only have two and no
one has yet signed up for next week. We are getting super low on money, so
he is giving us each an extra 30 dollars for this month. We can manage off
that.

I'm not sure what else you need to know. We are out and about working, but
either ppl are couped up in their houses or have a place to be and don't
tend to talk much. Besides I think they see me and realize we've already
talked... at least twice. haha

I don't know, its a good idea to invite people to conference, but we've had
investigators that have come drop off the radar, so I don't know how true
what that Elder told you is. Are the missionaries there for real people, or
are they the holier than thou nose in air type. A mission is a great thing,
just some missionaries bother me. Oh well tho.

I haven't had corned beef or cabbage since I left home. I guess I probably
won't until a year from now. Oh well though. I think that game meat has that
beat any day if its cooked right and fed off of alfalfa. That's the good
stuff right there. If you hunt antelope off of an area with that type of
feed and cook it right that right there is good eatin'.

Other than that just trying to keep sane. I love it up here, but I do need
to get to the city again. Where there are people all over and things to do
on your day off. I just want to go back down into an area with bikes and
keep fit and happy. I wish there weren't so much snow on the mountains too,
that would be fun.

One thing I started doing was setting up a wall of pictures of friends that
still keep in touch, family, a picture of Jesus and of the Redlands Temple.
It has helped me so much. When I come in at night and feel like I can't do
this again, I look up at all the faces of those people who love and support
me and I am calmed. I look at the temple, I haven't been able to go in a
temple since November, and that is an ultimate goal. I want to be in the
temple at least twice a month when I come home, and I want to be worthy of
that. So looking up at all that makes me smile even when things get rough
and it helps me move on and keep going and just grit my teeth instead of
saying whats on my mind, which in most of these cases would be a bad idea.

i think a mission is really for teaching people to cope with adversity and
not as much on spreading the word, because if the members were talking to
friends on a simple matter of fact level about the gospel they could study
the material in Preach My Gospel and learn basics, and if they heeded the
warnings of what not to talk about in there and followed the K.I.S.S.
principle (keep it simple stupid) then it wouldn't be as necessary. But that's
an ideal world, and probably will never happen. So the missionary program
causes people to learn to be men and deal with stress and cope with people
(because dealing with people isn't always a good idea). But those are just
my random thoughts, take them as a grain of salt.

I also love living with the family we live with. They are there for us every
step of the way, and not involved so much in the cliques in the branch. It
feels like home every time we enter that house. It is a great place to be.

I want to let you know that I have found out that Christ lives more so at
this time in my life than ever. He walks with me, he knows the desires of my
heart and helps me everyday. I know where I stand, and I'm trying harder
everyday. I love the book of mormon, and I have especially loved the
writings of Paul lately. He is a great guy, because he just speaks the truth
and doesn't leave too many questions in my head anyway. I love you guys and I
realize that I was a very lucky kid to be raised in a loving home, and in a
more hardened area. It was a blessing to be able to see the people who have
less than I do and see how different of my friends followed different paths.
It was good, because it made me see what I didn't want to do. I really am
excited to come back at the end of this year and see where life takes me.
But until then I just gotta keep working, because that makes the days go by
quick and sometimes gives you things to laugh at.

I hope all is well there and I miss you all. Take care and thanks for all
the love and support.

Love,
Tom