Nathan: An Adventure to the Outside World and a Call to Repentance

Здравствуйте (hello) everyone.  How is all going? 

Well this last week was exciting! Last Saturday I got to leave the MTC for about two hours which was pretty exciting cause I also got to go into an actual car! I was so excited that I forgot to put on my seat belt.  When you’re in the MTC this long you forget what it feels like to sit in a car! Any who, the reason for my adventure to the outside world is because I had to get stitches on my left hand ring finger. I was doing a old parlor trick where you fill a glass bottle with about 80% warm water then with one hand you hold the bottle and the other you smack the top of the bottle and if you do this right the bottom of the bottle will pop off. It’s pretty cool. Well to continue with the story, an elder in my district asked if any one would like to try it, and since all 15 of us elders are stupid young men, everyone tried the trick. Of course the only one who could do it, however, was me and I got trick down perfectly the first try. The next day I did it again, and again it was flawless. However, the third day I tried it, I squeezed a little too hard and I shattered the bottle in my hand, therefore slicing it. It was a pretty deep cut and I lost a lot of blood, but luckily I was standing over the trash can so no blood got on the floor. They had to take me to Instacare and they stitched it for me. I am, however, now the manliest elder in the MTC and now my nickname is Cinnamon Bear because I have huge paws(hands). Since I lost a lot of blood my immune system is was slow and so I got sick. Nothing too bad just a little cold. 

Also it is sneging(snowing) like crazy here. I just absolutely love it !!  I had to host some senior missionaries around the campus and it was a blizzard out side and I just stood out in it like for an hour.  That is probably another reason I got sick.

So on the spiritual aspect, my testimony of the atonement and of the gospel are growing larger and larger each day. Our investigators Lena and Taras are doing great. Taras was sick so we barely saw him but he went to church so that is awesome. We had a lesson where he confessed that his sins are too much for him to carry, so we taught him that through Jesus Christ and His Atonement he feels lighter and happier in his life and that he will be able to see his deceased brother again. Lena however is being a little stubborn. Ugh, oh well. We keep trying.

So the BYU Men’s Choir came to sing to us last Sunday. It was a Christmas concert it was absolutely beautiful!! Also we had the entire day Sunday dedicated to the topic Obedience which really hit me and I need to hear all of that, especially right after my cutting my hand. Also my branch president, Clark, roasted me in sacrament meeting regarding the hand issue and it made me feel horrible, so I repented and he told me that he did that to warn the other elders to behave. We have a saying for that. We call it “the Levi Savage call to repentance”.

 Well everyone, I love you all and you’re in my prayers. Also the reason I’m here is to help people realize that they can repent of their sins and that the scriptures are true and that they can lead you to a happier life. So if you are not reading the scriptures do so please. I’m begging you!!! Well, if you have time also read the story of Christ’s birth in the beginning chapters of Luke, Mark and Matthew. 

 Also don’t forget about dearelder.com my unit number is 71 and code is UKR-DNE JAN20.    

God Be With You Till we Meet Again

 Elder VanBuskirk (AKA Cinnamon Bear)

HEY MOM  Love you. miss you too!  Well, I sliced my finger open and had to get stitches. Yeah, it was deep, but its all good. I smashed a bottle with my hands. Don’t be mad. Its good. Oh just doing a bottle trick where you fill it up with water and hit the top and the bottom flies out but I squeezed too hard and it shattered in my hand. Oh well. I did it two times before and they both worked great and I’ve done it at home too. Hahaha. Sorry.

Well that was exciting to hear about Adam!!!! I love that guy and Dylan dyed his hair!!! Did he cut it too? I think it is awesome! Tell him that, please. Haha.  Sorry about the tree! My mouth dropped when I saw that! haha But your onaments looked so cool!

So could I get Adam’s address or email? Also, can I get the Clark's address?  I am so glad to hear about Gabby that is awesome and that the family hosting her lessons was the Whitlocks!!!! So Dom is doing okay then? Great. Ask him how he is doing, and tell him and Franky to read the scriptures because that is the reason why I’m here, to tell people to read the scriptures!

But I’m doing great. The Russian stinks but it is coming along. We started doing TRC which is basically home teaching lessons with real Russian speaking members, so that’s pretty cool and we get a new district today so thats gonna be fun.

Tell grandma I got her package and I’m waiting to open it. Ah naw, I don’t need anything. I think I’m good.Also today I did endowments and last week we did sealings for the first time, so that was exciting.

Oh, how is Ayden doing? Poor kid‬.

Not LUKE too!!!!!!! ugh hahahahah Too many broken bones! Tell them I wish them the best and tell the Thatchers I love them.

Also, I get to call home on Christmas, around 2 to 5 your  time for thirty minuets, so watch for that!  Good hahaha yeah! They just told us!

 Well, got to go. Thanks for the package! Love you! God be with you till we meet again.

Alex: I Love Having the Spirit!

Well what a week. Well first off, on Monday my companion was listening to Christmas music y then the Holy Ghost told me we need  to visit investigator Gaby who we were planning to baptize on Saturday. So I went to another room where it was less noisy y I asked God again y he said yes visit Gaby. When I finished, Elder Runyan asked who should we visit?  Y I said the spirit told me two times we need to visit investigator Gaby y he said sounds great. The lesson was full of the spirit. First she had a lot of questions about what she heard in church. Then we said, “Are you ready to get baptized on Saturday the 12th like what you said you will?” Y she said, “no, I don’t know everything.” We talk about how you don’t need to know everything to get baptized. Then I asked a question from the spirit. I said, “did you pray to see if God wants you to be baptized on the 12^th?” Y she said no.  So I invited her to do it that night.  After my companion liked how I worked y listened to the spirit y we both said that was the    push she needed to get baptized.  Well she prayed y got her answer so we visited her on Wednesday to get her ready for her interview for Thursday. Well she passed her interview y on Saturday we baptized her, but she didn’t receive the Holy Ghost because there was no church on Sunday because it was the dedication of the Tijuana Temple. Well she said in her prayer, thanks after one year you send these two elders to come y make me feel I’m ready to get baptized. The baptism was so sweet y the spirit was strong y she was happy to get baptized. 

On Friday we had the ward Christmas party. We, the missionaries, sang Joy to the World y my companion played the guitar. Then the kids sang some beautiful y funny Christmas songs. It was just wonderful.

All week my companion will get to a lesson y turn to me says  “what does the  spirit tell you what we need to read or teach?” y then during the lesson the spirit was very strong. I love having the spirit like that. 

 The yellow card is from the dedication of the Tijuana Templo -now it is the 149th templo in the world.

 Well on Sunday was the Tijuana Temple dedication. It was great!  Dieter F. Uchtdorf was there y so was Dallin H. Oaks. It was great y the spirit was very strong y the  quotes from the speakers were awesome!  Like Dieter said the temple is a lighthouse in our lives.

Oh, on friday we had a zone meeting where we learned about teaching better y the the zone leaders told us we have a cake for Elder Van’s birthday y it was a Spiderman cake. So everybody sang happy birthday y then they pushed my face in the corner of the cake. It was great. Just loving being an Elder in this Christmas time. Love you all y thanks for all the prayers y gifts for me y my family. GOD BLESS YOU EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Elder VanBuskirk

ADIOSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello mom! It was great week full of the spirit. Hey I’m going to my next area today. Hey do you have pics of the house all decorated. Thanks. Love you. Okay? I want some of the lights at night too. Thanks for the photos of the house. It’s looks very beautiful. Hey, do you have a stocking for me? How was your ornament party? How is your Christmas card coming this year?  How are you feeling about things?

grandma’s package y your package 

‪Wow, thanks for the package. No I didn’t get it yet. I barley got grandma’s a few days ago y it got here in a month. But you know what was weird? There was no card from Grandma.  She always gives cards. Funny Grandma, haha. Hey, Grandma sent a new shirt, but it is too big. It was 18 y I wear 17. So what should I do?

Well ask grandma about the shirt because she paid 36 dollars for it y about the card. Thanks.

Aaron finishes his mission on Friday. Wow time does fly. Did you see the pics from Shabelly? Love you.‬

‬  So do you want to know where my new area is? Well yesterday they told me I was changing to Osconinglo, or something like that, y my companion is going to be a trainer. Just kidding. Well they told me yesterday I was going y then this morning at 8 they said I was staying because they had to do special changes. So I’m staying for a few more weeks, because the transfers were supposed to be Christmas, but that’s not good, so the transfer will be 7 weeks, not 6.

‪Okay yes. The temple dedication broadcast was wonderful. President Uchdorf was there y Dallin H Oaks. They did the cornerstone y a lot of awesome talks. We watched the two first sessions, not the last one. There was no church for any one in Mexico on Sunday‬. This was my 3^rd temple dedication on my mission. It is my second one in Mexico y one in MTC for the Ogden Temple.

Thanks mom. I got to go. I will do Face Time because it will be easier y I will do it on the 25^th!  You can do it on a Mac. Work on it this week so you will be ready when I call! Love you y thanks for everything y give all my love y faith y hope! Bye. Love you!

Okay, bye. Love you.

I was leaving, but I want you to tell Dad sorry for taking alot of money out, but I’m going to take out a little more to make cookies for people in the ward y investigators for Chirstmas. Thanks mom. I will make you cookies in a year! Love you so. xoxo

A Christmas tree on a hill 

the fruit is cates fruit 

Our Meetinghouse in Las Lomas

Bye. Love you. xoxo

Nathan: I've Been Changed for the Good

Hey Everybody. How is it all going? So this marks three weeks being here in the Missionary Training Center here in Provo, Utah. I’m starting to really enjoy my time here. They released me as district leader so that was great.  Now I can just focus on my investigators, my companion, and my own spiritual needs. I am grateful for the opportunity though, to be able to serve my other elders in my district so I thank the Lord for that. 

So this last week has been quite strange. The beginning of this week I was annoyed with my companion over something really lame and I had no right to be.  However that night we were going to have a discussion with one of our investigators, about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we went in there without the spirit being there to lead us and to guide us all because i was annoyed by my companion for no reason. I realized that our investigator knew that something was wrong. So after the discussion I confessed to my companion why the spirit wasn't there and why we did a horrible job in there. That same day our teacher Sister Hyde asked this question to our district, "Do you feel like your TWO YEAR mission started when you got here or are you waiting until the field? If not, then do something about that." And I was thinking exactly that. So I changed myself around after that point. I talked with my branch president about his issue and he talked with me with all his heart and the spirit spoke to me. I wanted to cry. So I’ve been changed since then for the good!! My companion does not annoy me anymore even though he is exactly the same, haha. Also we taught our investigator "Taras" again a couple days later and when we taught the spirit was so strong in there that all three of us, my companion, Taras, and my self were about to tear up a bit. Afterwords he thanked us for whatever we changed from the previous time because he felt the difference. And to remind you that every discussion here is completely in Russian, so that testifies to me that the language of the spirit is much stronger then what you actually say, because my Russian is just terrible haha. 

This week was quite sad for multiple reasons: one being that my entire branch of fifty elders and sisters left to their missions in Ukraine and Russia. I am extremely happy for them because they are finally out their doing the Lord’s work!!!! But those elders became really good role models to me and I’m going to miss them.  However I will see a few of them in Ukraine, so that’s exciting! But I wanted to let them know that I love them and that I hope they got there safety.  Another sad thing was that our female investigator "Lena" was doing fantastic in our discussions; she was accepting the lesson and were feeling the spirit. But sadly, this last discussion we invited her to be baptized and she said that she was already as an infant in the catholic church and didn't see the need to be baptized again as an adult. I was devastated because I didn’t know what to say in Russian, so all I could say that "our Heavenly father loves us no matter what" then we said a prayer and left. It was hard but we have another meeting tomorrow so hopefully it will get better. 

Everybody thanks for all your prayers, emails, and packages.I really love them and cherish them. I’m not home sick yet, so that’s great as well, however I am starting to miss real Mexican food. Well, I love you all and I pray for each one of you every night. I would like to leave you all with a scripture: Mathew 11:28-30. Please read it and tell me what it means to you. It hit me hard and has changed me. So see you all in two years. 

With love 

Elder Nathan VanBuskirk 

‪Also if you can send me dear elders at DEARELDER.COM and thanks to all of you who wrote me !!!!‬  (Nate’s info for dearelder.com: Unit 71, Departure date JAN20, Mission code UKR-DNE.  It's free and easy and they print it off and put it in his box everyday.  If you ask questions he can respond via email on Wed.) 

Hey Mom! LOVE YOU MORE!!!!!

I’m loving the MTC now. I had a rough time in the beginning, but I really turned my self around!

That’s okay about the suit. At least I get another tie!!!!!!!!!yes!

Well, my language still stinks but I’m able to read mostly anything now!

Did you see the Christmas broadcast and Uchtdorf’s talk? My comp was telling me about the Carol of the Bells being a Ukrainian folk song like last week!!!! I was stoked and the broadcast was fantastic!!!  That’s pretty cool!!!!!!

Hey mom thanks for the packages: the Christmas one and the Star Wars one. It is super awesome!!!!!!  I got Sis. Broadhead’s too. It was fantastic!!!!! I love that everyone was jealous that I got a package from the young woman, hahaha. but they don’t know that they are like all twelve haha. Yeah it is awesome.  The tree is hanging up in my dorm. I haven’t taken a picture yet. Don’t worry, I will, haha. Also everyone thinks your the best due to the Star Wars package. Eveyone loves you haha. Soooo cool!!!! Tell Franky I want to see him in his Yoda ears!

All my branch left so I’m sad. Now there are only 15 of us instead of 50. But six of them are going to Dneper, so I'll defiantly see them.

Hey mom could you send me Adam Cruz's mailing information? I want to write him. And if you could find my cousin Chris’ info too. Thanks. Also could send so good duct tape, because the one I got stinks? haha 

Got to go Mom. Love you so much! Thanks for all that you do. Say hi to everyone and that I love them send the info in dear elder. Love. Bye. 

Alex: A Great Birthday or I Love Being an Elder!!!!!!!

Well on monday night we helped some members put up the christmas lights y then they bought us pizza. That was fun. With investigator Gaby we read 3 Nephi 11:16-41 y she really liked it. We showed her the new church videos for Chirstmas. the problem is with her she is a nurse y she needs to work on Sunday. But the good thing is she knows it is true y she invited us over for a birthday dinner for me this Wednesday.

With investigator Ivan, he got called into work so no church y we also taught him about Christ y the new videos.

Well on Tuesday we ate with a member y then they sang happy birthday to me y gave me a little cupcake with a candle.  Then we broke open the little piñata you sent me. The members loved that little thing. Thanks family.

Then on Wednesday we had our Christmas party with the whole zone y with presidente. It was fun. We did a Christmas devotional where we sang a song y then we read a scripture. It was a great meeting. There was a talent show. I just made cookies for everybody y then the president talked on how we are examples for everybody else, y I did a 10 minute class on virtue. Everybody said they learned something from me so that made me happy. Y everybody loved my cookies y some of them even ask for recipes.

Well I woke up on my birthday with Elder Runyan brining me french toast in bed y then a whole bunch of members called me y sent me texts y then some of them invited us over for food. It was a great birthday. Everybody here was so nice.  I like being a missionary.

 Hermana Lilliana y her husband Thomas sang to me y gave me a cake. 

 Even yesterday the member we ate with told me to close my eyes y they brought out a small cake. So yea, I had a great birthday. So that was my week. It was a great birthday y a great meeting filled with the spirit for Christmas. I just love being an Elder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Elder VanBuskirk

Y thanks all for my BIRTHDAY WISHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Mom. Love you. How are you? How are the boys y dad? Love you.

Did you get a real chirstmas tree? How big is going to be are tree this year?  When is the ornament party? I’m glad you are decorating the house. Everybody here is y I cant wait to see your christmas card. Love you.

Tell Uncle Jeff I love him y miss him. Good thing he didn’t send me 50 dollars in the mail like last year. I never saw it!

Hey the 17th is the Star Wars movie, right? That is also the date when I will have 15 months in the mission.

I bet everyoine is looking forward to it. I cant wait to see all the new movies I’m missing.  I cant wait to go to the new theater with Brother Stevens when I go home. You guys should buy me some tickets at Costco. haha It is a date.  Love you.

Wow. Tell Sis. Broadhead thanks. I hope it gets here. I still didn’t get grandma’s package yet. Well it is fine. I’ll just get it when it comes. Hey, if it is not too late, can you put some black socks in there? Some have holes. Thanks. Love you.

Thanks mom.  I got to go, but I love all the blessing God is giving you y me y I know he is helping you out.

Grandpa Devine wrote me y wished me a HAPPY BIRTHDAY. That was nice. Y Ramiro got your letter and said thanks. He says he misses you y he loves you. Tell Jeff I sent him a email for the money.

Bye Mom. Have a great week getting ready for Christmas. Bye. Love you. Say hi to everyone y tell them I’m always praying for them. Thanks love xoxoxo  I know I’m 20, but I’m still your baby boy. Love you mom y thanks for everything you do for me. I know all you guys will be blessed. Love you. Adios!

Hey i was about to leave but i wanted to send Nate a dear elder. What is his unit number? fast I’ve got to go. Thanks. I got to go. I sent one to him. Bye. Love you.

Alex: On Giving Thanks and Root Canals

Hi all! What a week! For my wonderful Thanksgiving I was in a dentist chair for 3 hours at night getting a root canal because my dentist at home didn’t see it before I left.  But the good thing is they did it here from a member so it was free. If I was home it would be a lot of cash for my family.  But wow, did that hurt! So that was my great Thanksgiving. ha ha.

Well yesterday, after weeks of no investigators in church, we finally had Gaby, who is 19 years old.  She visited church before with the other elders so we had been teaching her y helping her with her problem of the word of wisdom. We send her scriptures in the morning y vist her often.  We are planning to baptize her on December12. We taught her about being patient.  We read in Alma 14 about Alma and Amulek and the walls of the prison falling down.  She likes that story a lot y I do too.

 Well this week we did an activity with some less active families, the Toledos y Sister Pat y her 3 kids. Well, we made a tower out of flour then we went around y said different names of Christ until someone says “the rock” so then we put a candy on top y then we said this is our goals in life y then we went around with a spoon y we said something that we did that week that didn’t help us get to our goal, like not going to church, then after saying it you need to scrap some of the tower off, but who ever makes it fall needs to eat the candy with out using your hands. It was a great activity y the spirit was so strong y they all liked it. We also taught Hermana Gaby, who lives far away. We read 3 Nephi 11 about Christ coming to America y she liked it.  She wants to get baptized but she works on Sunday so we are doing a lot of praying y fasting.

Well we saw an elder who served here before y he told us about an investigator named Ivan.  So we visited him y talked to him y he went to church about 4 times, but the only problem is he is not married but he is planning to next month. He is such a great guy, he y his wife.

Well that is all.  Love you all so much y miss you a ton. Thanks for all the birthday wishes y love.  You guys are the best. Love Elder VanBuskirk

ADIOSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xoxoxoxo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Y 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE ALEX

        

Hi mom. I’m on. Love you.

I’m good. Well my tooth was a root canal y it was the worst 3 hours of my life y it was on thanksgiving night. 

But I celebrated Thanksgiving. All I did was i said a thanks prayer for a long time in the morning of all my blessings.

Hey I got Nathan’s email. Sounds like he will be a great missionary. I’m sorry you didn’t get the whole 3 min to say goodbye to him.

That is cool about Dyana getting married. Can’t wait to see her y her new husband.

Hey, for my birthday I want you to make your pizza y I want you today to think of a family who dosen’t have a lot y do secret Santa y talk to it with the family tonight at family home evening, That is what I want the family to do for my birthday

Love you how are you? I bet you are busy with the holidays.  How are the boys y dad?

I cant wait to see your Christmas card. Love you.

I’m just so happy you guys are supporting me y loving! I can’t wait ton see you in 9 months! Love you!

Thanks. I got to go. Tell dad I wrote him y tell the boys I said hi. Love you so much y thanks for all the love y work you do for me. Love you mom. Tell Dad y all the boys I love them y pray for them y thanks for everything xoxoxo Love you

No love you more. Adios

Look at the picture what do you see? It made me y Elder Runyan so mad at them. It was from a church who gives out posters y wants us to be part of a thing of paz, no say.

I know – not about peace, is it? They told us it was in the Bible where it says when Christ comes again towers will burn y we said it doesn’t say by plane, y they said it is nothing to do with the twin towers on 9/11.  Yeah, right.

Nathan: I'm Finally My Own Hero!

Hey everybody. How are you all doing?? If your wondering how I am doing, well I am starting to get really tired of this place, haha. The food in the cafeteria is starting to repeat itself, nine hours of Russian a day is not healthy for my brain, silly rules to follow, only able to wash your clothing one a week and I don't have a lot of clothing in the first place, and I can barely talk to any sisters without getting yelled "page 33 elder!!" (That's the page in the missionary handbook about the opposite sex) So yeah, it’s a blast!!

If any of you would like to send me a letter throughout the week but don’t want to write one or wait for me to read it on my p-day then go to dearelder.com you can send an email to me and the MTC will print it out and hand it to me that day. And its free. (Unit 71 JAN20 UKR-DNE) I would actually prefer that because it gives me a chance to read them more. Thanks.

My Brother who is serving a mission in Tuxla Gutierrez Mexico is turning 20 in two days!!! Happy birthday Elder VanBuskirk! Love you and you are such a great example to me!!! Miss you!

 Thanksgiving in the MTC was different then usual. No football in the morning, no cornucopias, no Thanksgiving dinner, no thanksgiving parade and no family. However we did a service project which consisted in making 351,845 meals for hungry school children across Utah, so that was a great experience!! Even though we didn't have a "Thanksgiving dinner" we had a Thanksgiving lunch so I still got my cranberry sauce, turkey and gravy so that makes up for the sack dinner which consisted of milk and a PB and J sandwich. That night however Elder Oaks from the quorum of the twelve apostles came to talk to us about giving thanks for every thing we have! We should say thanks for our blessings, friends, family, trials and hardships; so basically anything you could think of! He really brought the Holy Ghost into the room I felt it the moment he entered the room! Afterwards as a present from the MTC we got to watch 17 Miracles. If any of you haven't seen it I highly recommend it! It’s about the hardships the Mormon Pioneers went through while traveling to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah. That movie makes me cry every time, especially now because I realize what it means that they gave there all to the Lord.

 My companion, Elder King, is driving me a little nuts half of the time. He is a great elder, nice, funny, smart, but he likes to control me and likes to be better than what the rules require and it’s sorta hectic. So I try my best to love him and not let that bug me. But he is pretty hilarious. 

It’s crazy being a District Leader.  A district leaders means that your in charge for not only physical but spiritual needs of about ten elders. It is extremely difficult due to the fact that every single elder in my district is completely different from each other. But I know that if I do my best then the Lord will do the rest and help he to accomplish my task. All the other elders in my Zone who got extremely close to are headed off this Monday to their missions in Russia and Ukraine. And when they leave there will only be me and my district of eight elders left, when we started off with 50 elders. 

I feel the Holy Ghost here constantly! And that's no shock to me because I’m surrounded my missionaries constantly praying and who dedicated two years of there life to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Russian is going slow due to the fact I can’t pronounce a darn thing! haha But I’m constantly trying and trying. However, I know the Lord will bless me with the Gift of Tongues which I continue to practice and pray for help. 

Well everyone, thanks for all the love and prayers. I really do need them haha. Well I have 7 weeks left here in Utah so I’m counting down the days till I’m headed to Ukraine. 

LOVE ELDER NATHAN VANBUSKIRK

Mom, that’s great you got to talk to Francisco. That made me happy. Thanks for the pictures. I'll have so much more for you next week and tell grandma so much for the cinnamon rolls and that I love her and for Sister Doria and Sister Whitlock for their letters.

hahahaha The diet is going horrible haha, but I restarted it and I’m doing good now. Haha.

Got to go. Tell me everything please! I’ll write you next week. Love ya

I’m soooooo happy! I really do love it here, and being a missionary is a dream come true! I’m finally my own hero! Well got to go. Love you soooooo much <3 Bye. Love you!

XOXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOXXXXXXXXXXXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOXXXXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOXO MISS YOU