Howdy mom, just got your email. Also I just finished packing one suitcase,
sort of. There’s still a bit of space
left that I can fit something in.
Probably just a bunch of rolled up socks. Anyways, packing. I’m on suitcase number two. Got pants… oh so, real quick answer to that
question, I have lots of great clothes.
It was just, we were an hour away from our home, and we didn’t have a
car since we got a ride down there to save miles, and that was the only pair of
pants that Cami said that she had that fit me.
It was the only pair of pants that the whole family had that weren’t
dirty or something like that, I don’t know.
Long story short, those are those pants, and yeah. I’m looking at them now, and holy cow. I was glad that at least I didn’t have to
look at them. They’re an adventure.
No, I have lots of great pants. I told you about the pair that Elder Tucker
bought me right? I had some pairs that kept ripping, kept sewing them, kept
trying to fix them… Elder Tucker’s family got me some Under Armor golf
pants. This amazing stretchy material,
like can’t rip, it’s amazing! They’re
comfy and I am just so thankful for others.
They really helped out. And so I have those, I still have a bunch of
other pairs that still fit me. I picked
up a couple others at the mission home the last time I went through there for
MLC back when I was in Wyoming that work.
I still have my gray suit, and those pants. A little tight, but nothing’s ripped, it’s
all great for meetings, and then I go home and change into a pair of
slacks. I have enough white shirts. I’ve got warm clothes that I need to probably
figure out what to do with, pajamas…. I’m all good, thank you. Lots of socks. Thank you.
Is this still recording?
Yes it is. I think. Yes.
So let’s see (reading from my email to him) “So how do you feel about
leaving? Never mind you just answered
that. What about being released as Zone
Leader?” You know, I am going to miss
some things. MLC was amazing. Loved MLC. That was tons of fun to be able to interact as
a council. You get to see how things are
going in the mission, solve problems, listen to these wonderful inspirations
from President, but at the same time,
for the next 4 months, I just get to focus on missionary work. There’s a lot of missionary work that you do
as a zone leader, and now they’ve actually taken away a lot of the paperwork
recently. It won’t be too much different,
I do have to go back to planning district meetings. I’m not gonna lie, I’m not too excited for
that. District meetings are wonderful
and great, but a little stressful to plan for something that is supposed to be
the second most spiritual meeting of the week, second only to Sacrament
meeting. I’m like, holy cow, that’s
quite the… I am only 20 years old!
(Talking to himself) Did I grab all my pairs of pants? I think so? What’s in this? Sweater… oh yeah got it. All that stuff. Okay!
So yeah, pretty happy, I’m not really sad. I’ve had a lot of
fun, but at the same time I’m ready to go do other things. That’s honestly how I feel. Definitely being a zone leader wasn’t as
stressful as I thought it would be when I was first assigned. A lot better than
I what thought it would be.
(Reading my email) “Elder Shumway’s good bye party – is that
why you were in the back and he was front and center with their family?” Yes. That was EXACTLY why. (laughs) Oh my goodness. It was so
funny. And then the mom was only there
because the mom lives in New Vegas? No. What’s that place called? Las Vegas.
What’s New Vegas? I don’t know.
Anyways, yeah cause New Vegas isn’t the state, that’s Nevada… I have had a
really long day. Not day, but, my brain
has been off today. I’ve been packing. I
didn’t even make pancakes today, I didn’t really feel like it. She lives in Las Vegas with a couple of their
daughters as they are trying to be actors, they are trying to get something in
Hollywood going. And so she was only
there for the weekend. And she loved Elder Shumway. She knew him before they left. And so, it’s kinda hard on the family to be
split up like that, have like their family in two different places. They are kinda counting down the days until
they can be permanently back together.
But that’s life sometimes. So
yes.
(Reading email) “What is your new address?” That is a wonderful question. And I will have to email that. I think you’d prefer me to just write it in
an email rather than just speak it. “I
can’t find anything about Elder Johnson on facebook.” (I like to stalk his new companions and find
out as much as I can about them when he gets new ones) I know he goes home in
November, so he came out a little bit after me.
“Stars Hollow is the correct name.”
Sweet! I’ve heard it’s exactly like it from the little, I don’t remember
anything. It will be an adventure. I might
even have to drive. I think I’m senior
companion, so I might be driving, but at the same time you usually have the guy
that’s been there the longest. So I
might drive for like one or two transfers on my mission. But hopefully not. I do kinda like driving but at the same time,
I’m fine. Just chillin.
(Referring to Madison who made the comment to me that she
“will learn to be organized on her mission” ) Oh my goodness, watch her be a
Sister Training leader, where you have to go on 2 or 3 exchanges a week with
all the sisters. At least here, because
there are only 4 sets of sister training leaders in the whole mission. Each set covers like 3 or 4 zones, and all
the sisters in it. And their job is to
go on exchanges and deal with all the sister drama, and help sisters out and do
all that fun stuff that thankfully I don’t have to do. So that will be funny to
watch her lose everything. I feel bad,
but at the same time, yeah… “I’ll learn to be organized on my mission” (laughs)
If it helps, I still lose stuff. I swear
I lose the phone all the time. Which is
funny, because I swear I never lost my phone back home. I dropped it a lot. That otterbox case saved my life.
“Zach had his triathlon.”
Awesome. Go Zach. “Not exactly a
‘He is Risen’ kind of day, but it is what it is.” (I had just told him about
our church-less Easter Sunday :/ ) You know, it is what it is. And I think that’s a great way to spend an
Easter Sunday, honestly. We were running
around visiting a lot of members. Not
necessarily a lot of members, but maybe some less active members who don’t have
a lot of family around them, who are going to be alone, or members who are
active, but their family kind of dislikes them, stuff like that.
Honestly don’t feel bad about not getting me anything, I
broke a tablet. So frustrating, pulling
that out, opening that up, and seeing the LCD screen cracked. Like I didn’t
even drop it this time! Ugh. That was
really annoying. But, I have the old
tablet, and supposedly if I plug an HDMI cable in it, cause the device itself
still works, I can get it to like pop up on a tv and do stuff on it, but…
clearly I don’t have access to that on my mission. I don’t know, maybe I’ll use it as like a
portable Netflix box? no. I think
basically right now it’s just a glorified external hard drive. But it’s only 32 gig. Yeah.
“Question- do you have any interest at all in working at
Metro Fire?” Oooh, I would love to do
that! I will admit, I’ve got four months, but the thought of what I’m going to
do when I get home has been a lot on my mind.
And I would totally be interested in applying there. Definitely apply at
the airport as well, or any other place, but I was thinking that I don’t really
want to go back to fast food. I don’t
know quite what I’d do, so yeah, if there’s an opening, I’ll take it. It’s at least something. I’ve got to pay for college, I’ve got to pay
for potential housing, that was another thought of mine. I don’t even know what I’m going to do
there.
Right now I’m at the point where
I’m not thinking about it.
Purposely. You know, that’s a
wonderful way of dealing with your problems, just don’t think about it, it
doesn’t exist. I’ve still got four months, well, I have 2 ½ months until I have
to make my plan and write all that down and use that awful thing. I saw “awful” but Its a wonderful program,
inspired by the Lord, to help missionaries figure out what they are going to do
post-mission, so you do it your last transfer.
I’ve been around other missionaries when they did it. It was kinda funny to watch them do Week 5,
you do a section every week, Week 5 is “Having the Faith to find your Eternal
Companion.” So that’s kinda funny. So that was a thought as I was laying in bed
last night…. (Companion - “Are you
trunky?”) Trunky, yeah, you know me. Trunknation!! No, I’m not trunky at all. I’ve been around way too many missionaries who
were trunky, driving them to Billings… that was not something that I want to go
through. If you don’t know what the term
means, ‘trunky’ means you mentally have your bags packed, you are ready to go,
you are mentally checked out… I feel like all missionaries in one form or
another will experience some part of it, whether it’s just homesickness, or
whether its not enjoying the mission and just wanting to go home, I’ve seen
that, sadly. Mine is more just, I don’t
know, stress. (laughs) Not stress, but just
more like, “Holy Crap. I have 4 months.
I have to do, you know, life things.
Figure my life out and figure out a way to go to college and do all that,
spend time with you guys, find a job… We were visiting a member the other day,
and thankfully he was like, “Oh I really needed you guys to come by today,
that’s great, I’m working on paying bills right now….” And I’m just like, “Ugh, that’s right. Bills and taxes.” But I also have family, I also have lots of stuff, and I’m thankful
for this mission because it gives me the chance to figure myself out
spiritually at least somewhat. (laughs)
I know how much I, no I don’t even know how much I don’t know. There’s a whole lot to the gospel, but I have
faith in Christ and his atonement. So
much faith in Christ. So, there’s that.
Oh! Mom! I need to pay tithing. It hit me the other day, it
says in the missionary handbook that missionaries don’t pay tithing on
missionary support funds, and I haven’t been earning any money, but then
President was talking and he was like “so I’ve been doing interviews with
missionaries, whose temple recommends are about to expire, and are going home,
and a common thing has been coming up when it comes to the question of tithing,
and that includes gifts that you’ve been given.” And I’m like Oh! Crap! And so I was thinking that I haven’t paid
tithing on any money at all that I’ve been given for birthdays or Christmas,
and I’m like, Oh my goodness! I need to
be able to say “Yes, I am a full tithe payer” in my temple recommend
interview. And so I was wondering if
you could help me figure out what I need to give for tithing. Cause I know there was some money just put
into my bank account, for birthdays or Christmas, I’m not sure. I need to go back and look at the letters where
people have sent me gift cards, because I keep all of those. I hate to ask this of you, mom, but I can’t
access my bank account, I realized that like maybe month one into my mission, I
don’t know my bank account information.
That’s probably bad. And I kept
meaning to ask you, but I don’t want to ask over gmail because that’s not
secure. So like over a skype call, but
it’s only four more months and I don’t really need it, except for tithing. End of rant.
It’s 17 minutes, I hope this will still send off, love you
mom, I’ll make another one as I continue to pack. Love you, bye!
