September 9

We do get thunder storms occasionally. They just come and go, it usually happens when it's dumping outside. There was one night we drove back to our house that we kept seeing a lot of flashes & maybe a couple lightning bolts.

I haven't been to the temple since before I left :( I wont get to go, unless a convert asks me to come. There isn't a temple in the area, the closest one is in Detroit. I would like to, but it may be a while.

During companion exchanges, Elder Louis & I ate at this famous bakery called Cops & Doughnuts. Their doughnuts are pretty amazing.

We also helped this guy there herd some cows. It was actually kinda fun. I didn't really get to pet a cow, cuz they'd always run away from you. I actually used my track skills so I could chase ahead of the small herd of cows and box them in towards the gate. It almost worked, but they didn't go were I has hoping they would.

During that transfer we also saw a lot of Amish. They dress like Amish, and they don't own anything that runs on electricity, but they do go shopping in town and eat at McDonald's. 

We just got haircuts again. I got mine shorter this time, I want it to last a little longer.

Elder Oler and I were in midland last week, and while we were there, Elder Oler got a T-shirt that says "don't kill my vibe" which is from some song. And I got a lion shirt, which I got in memory of Preston, because it's something he would wear.

Last week I forgot, but I wanted to congratulate Shaini on her calling. So congratulations Shaini, I hope you'll enjoy you're experience there, & that you'll get make bank working at Nintendo so you can pay for it.

Hope this school year starts off well, and that you enjoy all the constant activities!

Love,

Elder Candland

September 3

Since yesterday was labor-day the library was closed, so my companions and I are emailing now.
We drove into Lansing to drop off Elder Lutz at the mission home, and on the way we stopped by this place called the MBC and got some gourmet burgers.

Afterward, Elder Older introduced me to some of his favorite people that he knew from when he served there. One of them lives in the same ward as the Allan's when they lived there. Then a bunch of missionaries came to Lansing to do trade offs and we picked up Elder Louis and brought him back to our home.

He said he was sick, so for a few days we stayed nearly the whole day in the house.

When Elder Louis settled into the area, and felt comfortable we moved back into our regular schedule.
I guess I'm known by the other missionaries as the cook. I bake cookies a lot, it's a good way get people to like the missionaries. And also I made french toast one day.

On P-day we went to a member's home and showed Elder Louis the fire trucks at the station. So that was fun I think, I'm sure elder Louis enjoyed it.

Now that the school year is starting we're probably going to see a lot of college students. We actually found a few already door knocking. They're so easy to talk to, especially that Asian kid. He was very nice & honest about himself, but unfortunately he wasn't interested in having us come back, which was a bummer. Asians are always awesome, they're always open to listening, and most times they've said they're interested to having the discussions.

My favorite scripture is Alma 37:6 There was a scripture that Adam showed me that's similar to this one. I think he even suggested it as my plaque scripture. If he remembers that one I'd like to hear it, and I may even use it.

Alright, last thing worth mentioning. Elder Louis is a decent beat-boxer and can rap some. Him and his last companion made this awesome rap about missionary work; Elder Louis rapped while his companion beat-boxed. He showed it to me on his camera.

K, see you later. Love,
Elder D. Candland

August 26

Oh man, this week was crazy.

So Elder Lutz (companion) was very lucky, no, very blessed; his visa came through & he's heading to Brazil Belo Horizonte today. We're meeting with the mission president & he'll have a new companion. Since we're taking him Elder Oler wants to take me around Lansing for a while & show me the cool places there & his favorite people. One of them has multiple personality disorder, so some days show fully accepts the gospel, & others she get upset about the littlest things. There's also an Arab guy we're seeing who Knows the gospel is true. But unfortunately can't get baptized, because if he does his family will kill him. Which sucks.

So we spent the last few days seeing our favorite people so Elder Lutz could get a picture with them.

K, time for a crazy story. So there's this investigator, who at one point was a member, now she's getting her live back together & coming to church. We had dinner at her place, she sowed my pants I ripped a few weeks ago, and we decide to change the lesson last minute. We decide to give her the stop smoking program, so we run back to our house & got the materials & came back. The lesson went great, she's fully committed & she's been good the last 4 days. Anyway we leave the front door & hear this crackling noise. Elder Lutz thought it was fireworks. Then we realize it's coming from a giant tree in her front yard. I see the branch hanging over her house, so without thinking I stretched my hands up to catch it & hopefully spare some of her roof, it seemed small & light enough. Turning back my companions see a branch from the base of the tree fall on top of me & I disappear. The branch knocked me down, & I land fortunately on my back-pack.

We estimated the branch weighed >1,000 lb's. After I realize what happened I said I'm ok. I came between two branches that could have seriously injured me. My companions, & some guy across the street came to me. The guy asked if I was ok & I said yes. After talking to me he asked my companions if I seemed ok, he said I seemed a little disoriented, & my companions replied "No, that's just Elder Candland." We call our mission president & drive to intense care for a check up. No serious injury, just a sore shoulder I needed to ice occasionally.

During our last visits with one of the members we ate at cafe. The member ordered us a banana split, witch consisted of a banana, and 1&1/2 gallons of Neapolitan ice cream. The member was telling us how none of the past missionaries have been able to finish it. He almost seemed disappointed when we did finish it. I felt so gross afterward.

Anyway, I better wrap this up so we can get to Lansing.

I'll get back to you next week!

Love,

Elder D. Candland

August 19

The weeks seem to get shorter as they come.

As a companionship we've found plenty of potential investigators. And right now we have 3-5 Investigators that have shown some promise. The most promising investigator moved to some college, so the missionaries there get finish giving her the discussions, which is fine so long as she invites me to her baptism. Kidding, but it would be nice.

During trade offs I was companions with a pretty cool missionary named Elder Hefner. He's a pretty nice guy, we talked a lot during that hour car trip to his apartment. He loves Batman, and Marvel. He's got a switchblade shaped like the bat'r'ang. Also he's really into Halo, so once I told him what dad does he said "That's awesome!" & gave me a high-five.

A few days ago my companions and I had a bar curl contest, Elder Lutz won. To him it seemed the bar was half as heavy. I got to a point were I could not possibly go any further, even when I used my body to bring the bar up. Today my arms are super stiff, I could hardly extend them out all the way this morning. It's good though, it Feels like I'm getting Stronger!

I didn't think about it that much but I've learned a ton of gospel doctrine from being on a mission and talking to me companions, especially the senior companion.

I'm sure there's more to talk about, but I think this is good for now.

I thought I might add that the 2013 edition of the LDS Scriptures have been released, I would love to get a set for my birthday.

And I you need other Ideas, our mission president has approved Hymns, Mo tab, EFY music, and classical music.

Love,

Elder D. Candland

August 12

That's cool, sounds like everyone's happy.

Off the top of my head I can't think of any super interesting stories. Although that one black guy with dreads, we got to know him more. When he's in a good mood he's really funny, especially when he's talking about his cats & how they get along. He's also a pretty good artist. I'm not super fond of his work, but he does have a couple of paintings I would like to send you pictures of.

The weather's been pretty nice, it's been pretty mild, at least compared to when I fist got here.

One of the members of our branch gave us 3 Elders a box of 30 candy bars, and another box of 20 packaged cookies. We thanked her. But after a few days I decided we needed to put the junk upstairs, where we hardly ever go. But that didn't stop us from going up and grabbing some more. Fortunately we made it last 2 weeks .

The Elders and I have been getting a lot of Investigators from door knocking. Those people asked US to come back so we can teach them. I love when people do that :)

I met someone at the door & her 8 year old let me hold baby iguana. It reminded me of Jake, except it didn't look so fat & lazy. Hopefully when we go back we can see him be feed.

 

Alright, talk to you next week.

Elder Candland

August 5

Dang, sounds like you guys had fun, unfortunately the only time I wake up at night is when I have to pull the covers over the sheets cuz the A.C. makes the room so cold. So far I haven't experienced getting dripped on over night.

During our P.day today we went Golfing. I think Michigan is the perfect place to go golfing. It's mostly plains with bumps and small hills, and it's got tree's that are spreed out. We did it early in the morning, so it was slightly foggy, the sun was coming up, and there was dew on the grass, It was pretty.

Here's a couple of pics. the 1st is a picture of Elder Lutz, holding a picture of me, holding a picture of Elder Lutz, holding a picture of me, holding a picture of Elder Luts.

The 2nd is our studying place. It's gotten pretty cluttered, I still haven't figured out where a good place would be to put all my stuff.

 

I think I'm getting used to missionary routine even more, compared to the last two weeks, this week has slowed down. In a good way though, I don't feel too overwhelmed any more. I'm getting comfortable with the area.

There have been so many people who don't give us an opportunity to explain who we are, they usually tells us, "we already go to church." or just say "not interested." We had one person who opened a door and closed it without saying anything.

A lot of people here are interesting. We went to the trailer park yesterday, and met one lady who didn't have any idea to stop talking. She was talking about how her trash can fall and injured her, or how she can't trust her neighbors cuz they stole some of her stuff, or how she thought some people in the park were aliens, and something about Obama. I can't remember everything, but whenever our senior companion took that a split second opportunity to say something, she would just keep rambling. Eventually we started walking away from her and said "Well have a good night" but that didn't stop her. I can't remember how the monologue discussion ended, but the Elders & I, and someone from across the street thought it was pretty funny.

There are people here though with better sense. We had the opportunity to help this old lady do yard work for a couple hours. She only knows the Mormons from BYU TV. It was a good expirience, It left a good impression on her, and we ate lunch outside, so we got to talk to her for a bit, she seemed really nice.

Alright, I think my companions are ready for lunch, I am too. So I'll wrap it up. I'll talk to you next week.

Love,
Elder Candland

July 29

So as far as how much stuff has happened since my fist day here, things have slowed down. I'm really getting used to the area. I do miss seeing hills and mountains, out here everything's flat aside from the trees and housing. It's cooled off so much compared to when I fist got here, there's a lot of overcast now, and it rains occasionally. It's awesome.

We've got one person who's committed to come to church, and a couple others we have high hopes for.

I can't think of much else that's happened. Elder Buckley, and I have been emailing each other, he's enjoying his mission it sounds like. [note: this is probably why this email is so short]

I'll try to come up with more stuff to email this next week.

 

K, talk to you next Monday.

Love,
Elder Candland

July 22

Alright, so there's a lot to write so I'm going to use my journal. Get ready.

So at the MTC we listened to some return missionaries who were pretty great & funny. One of them was from France, so he joked a lot about it. We play Volley ball as a district every time we have gym, & it's always a good time, & we usually get a good laugh.

Thanks for the cupcakes again, those were great.

Last day at the MTC we woke up really early, got on a bus to the airport. The airport wasn't super big but it was still pretty nice. The airport in Detroit was the one I said was giant, it had train going through it. The AC on the second plane wasn't working, so my face was dripping before I got into Lansing. The airport was pretty small.

We met the Mission President and his assistant missionaries, they were all really nice. Later that day we went to a college campus and shared a message with people walking around. I tried to say something and have input, but for the most part I was watching the Senior missionary's example, which was great.

 

Lansing, in mid summer, is very hot & humid, I'm not trying to complain, but just to give you an idea, I think the only time I wasn't completely sweaty was when I was inside a building with AC.

I'm Serving In Alma & Ithaca. It's a pretty poor place, compared to what I'm used to. The economy isn't doing so well, I don't see a lot of great places to work, I have yet to see an office building. Most of the houses I see look like they're 40-60 years old, although I have seen some nice places to live. There's a Wal-Mart near our place, and a few good restaurants.

 

I have a Senior companion, and another companion who's waiting for his visa so he can go to Brazil. The Senior companion, Elder Oler, has had a year of experience, his prayers are funny. he say's things like, "That lesson was awesome, that family is awesome. I'm sure they got a lot out of it." There was one time he said "Were grateful for the dinner we ate, it was delicious, please bless that it will nourish our bodies & will not get fat from it, so we can look good."

 

The other companion, Elder Luts, seems like he's shy but he likes to talk. Him & Elder Older love to talk about football & basketball, and their favorite rappers/ rap songs.

 

We have a house we're staying in. At first I felt disappointed in it, because it was old, but now I'm grateful to have it. There's plenty of room, and we have all the necessities, except for a dish washer. The moment you walk into the kitchen you smell macaroni noodles, except they're old and gross, Adam & Lars know what I'm talking about. Oh, and the weird thing is there's an upstairs, but you need to walk outside to get to it, so pretty much we never use it.

Our study desk looks like a place for the mafia to hang out, or a place to solve a mystery case on a typewriter & hearing private-eye style monologue.

We finally installed the AC unit in our room, it's so nice. We can finally sleep without sweating it out over our sheets at night.

Side note, there's Fireflies here. I haven't ever seen them in person so that's cool. I swat one in our room and got green glow in the dark stuff on my shoe.

One more thing I'll mention, the water is slightly rusty, so we bought a water purifying pitcher. I've got pictures of that.

K, the last thing I'll talk about it the people I've met. Darnel is this convert who's this big black guy with dreadlocks. At first he intimidated me, but I realize now he's a nice guy with a big laugh. He's so cool.

Then there's this couple who just got married, the Bojanen's, who are in there late 50's. They just bought a place to live, which used to be a catholic church, so it's pretty big and pretty old fashioned and awesome. Sister Bojanen was a children's psychologist, so she's had some sad/great stories. Dean is a Geophysicist, his job is to find places underground where his company can collect oil, he's shown us maps & stuff, it's pretty neat. Those two make a great couple, and they're both pretty humble.

There's this guy named Joe we met. He honestly the kindest man I've met in the area, He's a great guy. Which is too bad because he's an inactive member. He looks Arab, although he says he's Italian.

Alright last one; I forget the name of the family, but the parents, and their 2 daughters when geo-cashing with us & Darnel. That was fun, not much more to say about that.

Alright, I think I got through all the good stuff. K, I'll be back with more next week.

 

Love,

Elder Candland

July 15

I'm doing laundry right now, so I have just enough time to send a quick message.

I've been learning a lot about becoming a missionary, there's a lot I didn't consider when I teach Investigators/less-active members.

We've had a lot of good speakers. Some were really funny, other's had great stories, & we had one talk given by a member of the 70, I could tell the talk was given by revelation, it taught me how I should be saying my prayers & listening to the spirit.

The Elders in my district are pretty funny.
Elder Raun is the giant in our group, he's very calm & mellow, but often he'll say something that makes our district laugh. His companion, Elder Wheelright, is mellow too, I think he has a minor disability based on the way he talks, but he can say some things that make us realize he's pretty smart.

Elder Olderoid is the shortest of our group, when he wants to be he can be a spaz, he can get us laughing by some of his comments & just some of the noises he makes & things he'll do. His companion, Elder Rhodes, people say they look very similar, like they could be cousins. He's a pretty nice guy, and he knows how to communicate well even though I don't hear him a whole lot. From the stories he's told us though, he's gotten himself in trouble.

Alright I'll get back to you in a sec, I'm pretty sure my laundry's done drying

K, I'm back. So I told you about everyone in our room. We're all in the same district, there is 6 of us including me and my companion. He's Elder Taylor, He's a very talkative guy, he thought it was funny when he welcomed new missionaries, cuz he would raise his hands and yell "Welcome To The MTC!" He's also pretty athletic, he's done a lot of sports. He's also kinda odd. He's raised on a farm, I think, because he raised horses & so he knows a lot about them. He also had a mullet before he became a missionary. And he does one of the best Gollum impersonations I've ever heard.

So that's who my friends are in the MTC. We'll be leaving the MTC 3:30 AM Wed morning, and we'll be on the plane by 7:30 AM

I'll talk to you then.

Love,

Elder [Dallin] Candland

The picture is my district in the MTC. The Elder sticking his tongue out is my old companion.  Elder Raun (dark blue PJ's) brought those PJ's, we call them flying squirrel suits, and our district thought they were awesome. So his mom was really nice and asked Elder Raun for measurements from everyone in that picture. And then less than a week later we all got squirrel suits!