Feb 27, 2012
Dear Family,
I have not received the package yet. I will probably not get it until Mission Conference on March 9th. The way they do packages is you send them to Fresno, where they wait until the Zone Leaders pick them up. Then, the Zone Leaders distribute them to the missionaries in their zone. Since I am about 3 hours away from Fresno, I do not get packages very often, whereas, if I were serving in Fresno, I would get them about once a week.
Sonora is awesome, it is pretty much like the Palisades area, minus all of the Coniferous trees. The water tastes NORMAL here. My companion is Elder Yandow (Yawn-Doe) from Georgia. He goes home at the end of this transfer. He is extremely knowledgeable and has a great sense of humor. He is serious, yet funny.
It snowed for a little bit today, which was a sight for sore eyes. It did not stay there, but it was OK. It is now super Green. We are in a small truck, and We have been having fun getting to know each other, there is a lot of driving time. I was sad to leave Modesto, but Excited to come here.
I appreciate the letters I have received from all of you, It really brightens my day. I am sorry because I don't reply very fast, but I am only able to write for Preparation day, and I write really long letters.
Sorry I haven't written a blog post very much, I got a recorder and have been using that to talk to my family. I will work on writing more on this.
Here was my week:
MONDAY- Preparation day, I packed and wrote and did normal preparation day activities. Then we went and saw some people.
TUESDAY- We taught some good lessons, I also said goodbye to some of the Ward members.
WEDNESDAY- Transfer day, I transferred. Unpacked after the drive to Sonora, then we went out to talk to some people. This area is different than anything else. There is no such thing as a street contact. We drive everywhere and our area is mostly rural. Lots of Time Between Appointments. Elder Yandow is really awesome. He would get along really well with Michael. He is currently tanning a Deer Skin from a roadkill deer, and is going to start today on a raccoon. We had some of the deer the other day for breakfast. It was OK.
THURSDAY- Went and talked to some more people. Still "Dizzy" (I call it that, because I have no clue where anything is and am kind of in "Safe Mode" I also have no clue who I am talking to) I don't remember much. (I usually use my planner for this, but I switched planners)
FRIDAY- We prepped for the Fireside with President Gelwix that was occurring that night. It was awesome. I will send a recording, but the quality is low. (I wonder who the idiot was who recorded it... oh, wait...I wonder who the genius was who recorded it!) We are working on capitalizing on the excitement of the members and the nonmembers. They all loved it. We had a "Sleepover" with the Zone Leaders. They did not want to drive back to Modesto that night, so we got permission for them to stay at our apartment for the night, that was interesting. President was supposed to stay the night, too, but he had to deal with some disobedient Elders in Merced. Grrrr.... We were excited to have him stay the night.
SATURDAY- We saw more people and invited them to church. Had more gospel conversations.
SUNDAY- We cover two wards, with ward council that amounts to about 9 hours of church. It is certainly not a bad thing, but exhausting. After that we ate dinner, then went and saw some potential investigators at a member's house. That was awesome. They are both new investigators. To top it off, this member has a son, who is currently serving in the Idaho Pocatello Mission. I am hoping he gets transferred to the Blackfoot, Idaho, East Stake, while I am serving in Sonora. That would be cool. Then we went to some members and intended to do a follow up lesson, but talked about Elder Yandow's Pets (He had ~175 pets at one time, mostly reptiles, including venomous snakes.) instead.
MONDAY- I don't know. It hasn't happened yet!
You are all awesome! I love you!
I repeat what I said at my first adult session of Stake Conference, "It is of utmost importance who your child's Friends are. Their FRIENDS will determine, MORE than you, the person that child becomes. The righteous friend will protect and lift and encourage the child." Food for thought. Also, "Show me a man's Friends and I will show you his future." Ben Franklin.
I have to go.
Love you. The church is true.
Elder Coles
I have not received the package yet. I will probably not get it until Mission Conference on March 9th. The way they do packages is you send them to Fresno, where they wait until the Zone Leaders pick them up. Then, the Zone Leaders distribute them to the missionaries in their zone. Since I am about 3 hours away from Fresno, I do not get packages very often, whereas, if I were serving in Fresno, I would get them about once a week.
Sonora is awesome, it is pretty much like the Palisades area, minus all of the Coniferous trees. The water tastes NORMAL here. My companion is Elder Yandow (Yawn-Doe) from Georgia. He goes home at the end of this transfer. He is extremely knowledgeable and has a great sense of humor. He is serious, yet funny.
It snowed for a little bit today, which was a sight for sore eyes. It did not stay there, but it was OK. It is now super Green. We are in a small truck, and We have been having fun getting to know each other, there is a lot of driving time. I was sad to leave Modesto, but Excited to come here.
I appreciate the letters I have received from all of you, It really brightens my day. I am sorry because I don't reply very fast, but I am only able to write for Preparation day, and I write really long letters.
Sorry I haven't written a blog post very much, I got a recorder and have been using that to talk to my family. I will work on writing more on this.
Here was my week:
MONDAY- Preparation day, I packed and wrote and did normal preparation day activities. Then we went and saw some people.
TUESDAY- We taught some good lessons, I also said goodbye to some of the Ward members.
WEDNESDAY- Transfer day, I transferred. Unpacked after the drive to Sonora, then we went out to talk to some people. This area is different than anything else. There is no such thing as a street contact. We drive everywhere and our area is mostly rural. Lots of Time Between Appointments. Elder Yandow is really awesome. He would get along really well with Michael. He is currently tanning a Deer Skin from a roadkill deer, and is going to start today on a raccoon. We had some of the deer the other day for breakfast. It was OK.
THURSDAY- Went and talked to some more people. Still "Dizzy" (I call it that, because I have no clue where anything is and am kind of in "Safe Mode" I also have no clue who I am talking to) I don't remember much. (I usually use my planner for this, but I switched planners)
FRIDAY- We prepped for the Fireside with President Gelwix that was occurring that night. It was awesome. I will send a recording, but the quality is low. (I wonder who the idiot was who recorded it... oh, wait...I wonder who the genius was who recorded it!) We are working on capitalizing on the excitement of the members and the nonmembers. They all loved it. We had a "Sleepover" with the Zone Leaders. They did not want to drive back to Modesto that night, so we got permission for them to stay at our apartment for the night, that was interesting. President was supposed to stay the night, too, but he had to deal with some disobedient Elders in Merced. Grrrr.... We were excited to have him stay the night.
SATURDAY- We saw more people and invited them to church. Had more gospel conversations.
SUNDAY- We cover two wards, with ward council that amounts to about 9 hours of church. It is certainly not a bad thing, but exhausting. After that we ate dinner, then went and saw some potential investigators at a member's house. That was awesome. They are both new investigators. To top it off, this member has a son, who is currently serving in the Idaho Pocatello Mission. I am hoping he gets transferred to the Blackfoot, Idaho, East Stake, while I am serving in Sonora. That would be cool. Then we went to some members and intended to do a follow up lesson, but talked about Elder Yandow's Pets (He had ~175 pets at one time, mostly reptiles, including venomous snakes.) instead.
MONDAY- I don't know. It hasn't happened yet!
You are all awesome! I love you!
I repeat what I said at my first adult session of Stake Conference, "It is of utmost importance who your child's Friends are. Their FRIENDS will determine, MORE than you, the person that child becomes. The righteous friend will protect and lift and encourage the child." Food for thought. Also, "Show me a man's Friends and I will show you his future." Ben Franklin.
I have to go.
Love you. The church is true.
Elder Coles
 |
| Elder Coles' new area, Sonora, Calif. |
 |
| Elder Yandow's roadkill raccoon! (Brett's mom says Yuck! Get it out of your sink!) |
 |
| Elder Coles and Elder Yandow |
No comments:
Post a Comment