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