Letter - 9/28 {Gregory}

Hi mum :)

Hello so this is letter #2 because I promised you one every week from now on :) and I total always tell the truth :) Well I hope you have an awesome week and same with the rest of the family! I'll go ahead and start telling you about mine now.

Monday 9/21/15 - So today was my good ol' P-Day which meant I got to email which is always cool up until ou know...I had to go...so then it wasn't cool :) then we went and got our shopping and cleaning done then I got a "three year" package from Sabrina and Elder Willis was totally jealous haha, sweet :) Then we went to Goleta Beach Park which is the park we first came to on the first da I was here so that was cool. Played frisbee and hung out and just yeah it was cool. Then we went to dinner at the D's (the family that sent you that photo) and that was cool because they are cool so yeah :) Then we went and visited TL and her kids and then we went and talked with M and he is awesome, has a mullet and drives motorcycles and just yeah, he is pretty cool. We talked to him about the BofM and then after that guess what happened? I stepping dog crap again! For the second time on my mission I stepped in dog poop and it was soooo annoying...haha anyways :)

Tuesday 9/22/15 - We drove down to Oxnard today to the Mission Office for a "Trainers Meeting" so pretty much jus tot see President so he could catch up on us and all that fun stuff. I got to see Elder Crook and just yeah it was super fun! The meeting took up most of the day though so after we went and visited with Brother R for a bit and then we had dinner with the C's. After that we met with the Zone Leaders to do exchanges and we did this like activity thingy and then we exchanged and now I am with Elder Gregory!! He is super cool and he has a super cool name :) haha anyways, then we went to Sister P's house to take her trash down and we shared a message with her about her husband who passed away a year ago being an angel by her side at all times and it really touched her so that was really cool. Tomorrow is gonna be awesome with Elder Gregory because he is super cool and jus yeah - good times, good times :)

Wednesday 9/23/15 - Today was totally so awesome! We woke up and ran for exercise then we went and saw MW or at least we tried to go see her and instead of meeting her we met her dad who is named JW and his servant gave me a book he wrote about his lit saga, yeah that was sweet. Then we went and did service at the food banks that was super fun then we went and drove on the E's property to see if it would be good to have our Zone Activity BBQ there and so we were totally creeping haha so anyway I had to get out to back him up and I like felt someone staring at me and the first window I look through boom there was T just staring at us haha it was absolutely terrible...so awkward :0 Anyways then we went and visited B and then we went back to our apartment and Brother N picked us up and brought us to dinner to Marmalade Cafe and it was soooo good, I had this super yummy burger and then chocolate molten lava cake - yum! Then he dropped us off at our apartment and then the biggest miracle happened - this car broke down in front f our apartment and so we went and helped them push it off to the side of the road. Then they were about to walk to the nearest gas station and without even thinking I blurted out that we could go get gas for them and after I was like "what did I just say?" because these people are super sketchy looking haha, anyways, so they let us so we went to the gas station and while we were filling up their gas can this lady asked what happened so I told her what was going on and she was like "oh that is so nice of you, where do you work?" so I told her we were missionaries and asked if she needed any help and she jokingly asked for a spare tire and so I was like "well I wish I could give you that but here, can I give you a Book of Mormon instead?" She said yes, so she has a Book of Mormon and our number now :) So we drove back to give them their gas and once we got there it turns out they had started talking about the Bible and stuff so we answered their questions and offered a Book of Mormon and all three of them wanted one so then we got their phone number and address and they told us to come drop by and yeah, total miracle :) Then we did our exchange review and now I'm back with Elder Willis. Today was totally awesome! Transfers are October 6th so don't send me anything that won't get to me in time just in case I get transferred!

Thursday 9/24/15 - Today is my one month in the field! The time is flying by but there is still so much left haha so that's cool. Anyways, so about my day...today we had weekly planning. Then we went and saw B then we went and saw PV which is always fun then we went and saw Sister B which is always cool. Then we had a lesson with L and met her boyfriend, she actually is doing awesome so that's good. Then we had dinner with the D's and they fed us Little Caesar's pizza - yum! I missed Little Caesar's :) Then we met this guy named E and he was super cool and we set up a return appointment and yeah, that's cool!

Friday 9/25/15 - Today I am just stressed out and wanna come home but I'm not a quitter so blah, I guess I'll just keep faking it tip I make it, haha :) So about my Friday - we went to District Meeting and I had to give a talk on "How to be a Successful Missionary" so that was cool :) Then we went and did service for the D's and they sent you a few pictures :) Hopefully you forwarded them to Sabrina :) Anyways after them we went and did service for JC and helped her paint her walls pretty much the same exact color as I painted my room haha :) So that was fun. So yeah, lots of service today :) then we went and showered and got ready for some church tours with E and the J's and of course none of them showed up so then we drove around with nothing to do haha, up until we had a lesson with L at the church and of course she showed up because she is awesome and the lesson went great so that is cool. Then we went back to the D's because they had a ward party going on and guess what they were serving? Homemade Cafe Rio with the green sauce and everything :) just like Sister Myers does. Anyways then we helped them clean up everything because we told them we would and we started cleaning and it started getting close to 9:00pm so Elder Willis was like "we gotta go" and I was like "we are not leaving until we finish helping" so we were like 15 minutes late, haha oh well :) I'd rather do what is right than be "obedient" and make Brother D clean it all by himself, ya know?

Saturday 9/26/15 - Today was another really long day. We had to take this stress evaluation quiz that all new missionaries have to take and I sweat it made me more stressed taking the test than it helped, haha, like crazy, right? The test did help me realize that I am probably stressed because of how lonely I am though :) I'm used to having you or Garrett or anyone else in the family or Sabrina by my side all the time and now I have no one - depression, haha :) anyways...then we had mormon.org time so that was cool and then we met with Brother N to discuss the progress made for the week then we came back to have lunch and I got your letter! Yay for letters :) More on that later though. So after lunch we went to go see this less active and I don't remember her name but I do remember how not happy she was to see us, haha, it was solo awkward. Then we had a lesson with L and CK came and then after the lesson wen great C drove L to the B's to watch the General Women's Conference so that was cool. Then we met with E and so that was pretty cool. Then we met with J and hopefully he will be coming to church tomorrow! Cross our fingers! Then we started our fast for Fast Sunday and yeah. So your letters...yes, I got our package and I'm always like yay :) But you and Sabrina are making me fat :) j/k - packages are awesome! Happy Anniversary to you & Dad!! Did you do anything fun? I totally love the questionnaires :) Just make sure you share the questions and my answers with Sabrina, ok? :) Thanks! and good for Isaac! I'm so glad he is making friends and stuff. Put Mallory in soccer :) she will be competitive, it's in our blood. And you total would still be helping out with wrestling even while I am gone :) I knew you would. How is Garrett doing? Probably better than me I'm guessing :)

Sunday 9/27/15 - Today was Fast unsay so that was cool. J didn't come to church though, lame, and L was sick, so no investigators at church today. But other than that church was pretty good! I had the realization though that a mission is the exact same day after day after day haha soooo basically how do I enjoy being out here so that I'm not just depressed for the next two years? What did Nate & Nick do? What advice do you have? I enjoy doing service so maybe hopefully more service opportunities will come or something, I don't know. Anyways, so during study time I couldn't even focus I was stressing out so bad or homesick or whatever, lame. But then we went and had dinner with the L's at their super duper nice house with the most beautiful view ever so that was pretty cool. And then after dinner we literally had nowhere to go and nothing to do because everyone was out at parks or the beach to watch the blood moon or lovers moon or whatever it's called. Could you see that in Utah, too? It was totally awesome! Super duper cool moon - anyways, tomorrow is P-Day so we get to email - yay.

Email was awesome except Sabrina was working the whole time haha, lame. Anyways send me flash drives, okay? Thanks ... I love you lots mom - glad everything is going good back home - talk to you next week!

Questions:

What time do you get up? 6:30

Do you set an alarm? yes, I would be screwed without it!

Do you get ready for the day before or after study? before, it's poopy, but oh well

Do you study one topic for a week? we usually just study for whatever lessons we have that day

Who chooses the topic? just whatever is needed

What is our favorite part of PMG? I don't know - the lessons I guess, so that I actually know what to teach :)

What is your current favorite scripture? Probably Luke 1:37 because of Sabrina and how much it has helped me - or D&C 84:88 because that one is super good too

What do you usually eat for breakfast? cereal, pop tarts, eggs, or nothing...food from packages :)

If you have time what is your fave breakfast meal to cook? there is literally never any time

What "tools" do you have to cook with? Elder Willis bought a rice cooker and then we have the usuals

What time do you leave the apartment? usually 12

Do you drive or walk? we drive everywhere

What is the "bike situation"? hopefully I don't ever get sent to a bike area!

Do you ever proselyte on "main street" or in the shops? nope - but I can't wait to come back and be normal and go to the shops :)

What time do you usually eat lunch? right after studies

How long is your lunch? 1 hour

What do you usually eat for lunch? nothing, or whatever is here - food from packages :)

Do you share groceries? I share with him...

What time do you exercise int he morning & what do you do? 6:30, push ups, crunches, or go for a run

What time do you have to be in at night? 9:00 unless in an appointment then 9:30

What time do you go to bed? 10:30

Do you shower in the morning or at night? morning

Is it easy or difficult to fall asleep? easy most nights

What time do you leave your apartment on P-Days? right after studies to go email

What time is P-Day over? 6:00pm

Do you eat most of your dinners with members? Yes!

Do you go to the laundry mat every P-Day? we have one at our apartment, we go on P-Day

What do you usually do on P-Days? clean, shop, hang out with my District

What is the hardest thing so far? haha stay out :) deal with companion, I don't know, yeah, many just dealing with how lonely I feel! Everything else isn't so bad

When have you felt the Spirit the strongest? after reading some of Sabrina's letters about serving a mission

What strengthens your faith when you feel down? prayer - visiting with investigators and seeing the change this Gospel has for them

What do you wish you had learned before leaving? how to build a time machine :) how to type faster or write faster and neater

What skill are you most glad you already have? not being too shy, being able to work hard and have a good attitude or at least being able to fake it :)