April 13

Tues night we get a call from the A.P.'s they say that there's been a slight change with transfers. Elder Aros was thinking his visa came. Nope. Elder Thomas's new companion had his visa come though unexpectedly, so that left Elder Thomas by himself. So Thu morning we picked him up from the Mission Home.

We had to give up our gps, we'd been using to the zone leaders, so we ended up a bit lost in Lansing, but we found our way.

That night we had dinner with Gerald & Joann Stepper. As soon as they saw my name, they said, "Candland. As in Rex & Karen Candland?" Turns out the went to the Seattle ward like 30 or 40 years ago, where grandma & grandpa are. Pretty cool connection :)

we were out in the boonies fri. Some members showed us their boa constrictor, it was big enough they didn't dare take it out of the cage.

We met an interesting person, he didn't believe in the atonement or that Brigham Young was supposed to be the next prophet, but he thinks our church is the 'most' correct church, that Joseph Smith was a prophet & that baptism is necessary. Also he has a smoking problem.

I tried to save an extra buck this week by washing my laundry in the bath tub. Never gonna do that again. Clothes are a pain to wring out.

Last night we visited a couple. The Husband got baptized the day before, and the wife's son, who's not a member, came to the service. Spirit was very powerful during the service. This 23 year old, who hadn't cried since he was 13 was on the verge of tears. Now he wants to learn from us so he can be baptized too.

It's been a good week. Sounds like yours was fun & busy. I look forward to hearing from you next week!

Love,

Elder Candland

April 6

So this weekend we had: general conference, transfer calls, Easter, & Elder Thomas's birthday.

Elder Aros got Elder Thomas a Pikachu figurine. It was nice of him.

We carpooled for district meeting, before we arrived we called our district leader & asked "Where you at? We're waiting for you at the Jackson building." Elder Haddock said "We're having district meeting in Jonesvile... That's ok, we'll wait for you." Elder Thomas said "ooah!.. April FOOools!" 'click'

For our last district meeting we ate at saucy dogs, the bishop of the singles ward came with us & paid for all of us. I didn't know until we were getting ready to leave. It was really generous.

Elder Aros wasn't feeling well wednesday night, so the Elders stopped by and we gave him a blessing. He was just fine the next day.

I loved general conference. I felt like the priesthood session was directed toward me, as a missionary about to return home. There was a few of the 70 who's talks I really liked.

It's been warming up outside. This morning it was 33°. I've been able to start running again. & fortunately Elder Aros doesn't mind.

Oh, so Elder Haddock is leaving, & Elder Sinsel is replacing him. Elder Zuniga is leaving to England, & will be replaced with another greenie.

I forgot my Camera cord again, so no pictures.

Take care, & have a good week.

Love,

Elder Candland

March 30

That's so crazy hearing that Preston & Cody are home! Each transfer is like 40 days, so I have like 80 days left. That's also pretty crazy!

So this week was different. President Jacobsen has decided to have the zone leaders blitz all the missionaries in their zone. So Thu & Fri we spent with Elder Jepson (from the mtc) & Elder Wheat (he's been out 13 months)
I went finding all day with Elder Jepson. We found someone was wasn't interested in the church, but he let us inside & let us help him do some genealogy on familysearch.

Fri I went with Elder Wheat to do some finding. It was snowing, and pretty chili.

Tues I had another exchange with our district leader, Elder Haddock. We had a great lesson with a less active there. The spirit was present, & we left him with a hope for a brighter future. We also visited a family that owned a pet goat in their house. that had us feed it with a baby bottle.

That's my week.

Today we used a coupon to go shopping at Sam's Club. That was sorta fun :)

It's always good hearing from you. I hope this week will be fun, and not so stressful.

Love,

Elder Candland

1. Jonesvile District

2. Jackson City