Happy 24th Anniversary

Mom and Pop!

Happy 24 yearssss!!! Shoot that’s a long time! And Grandma and Grandpa’s anniversary is today! Happy 53 years G parents! And tell Grandma I’m sorry!! Every time I write a letter I forget what the heck I was planning on saying so I just freestyled it. I love the scarf, popcorn, hot cocoa, Christmas card, and money. I shared it all with Elder Ingersoll and every time missionaries stop by the apartment they take a snack or two out of the bin. So it was put to good use and everyone appreciated it! I’m horrible at writing letters.

And Jackie is moving out. Shoot, good thing I didn’t send the letter yet. I'll send it to our home address so just give it to her please :) and yeah it’s crazy how fast Becca’s mission went by. I can’t believe she is already coming home. Dad has the whole week off?? Dang poppa, make this trip to Brazil count. haha. And by the way, I’m still way jealous about that. Sounds uh-mazing.

Students at the university are doing great. We have a dinner appointment with 2 of them tomorrow with a young student who is thinking about going on a mission. Hopefully it’s a good experience for him. And yeah we're way too matchy over here. We stick out like a sore thumb but that’s just how I like it. I've gotten so used to being stared at its not even funny. Like Tupac says "all eyes on me" hahaha. Man, Paige loves to visit as soon as I leave, what the heck. But that’s cool! Elder York, our Zone Leader, is about to go home to the San Diego area. Lucky sucker. But I still got plenty of time to help people out and have cool experiences so I’m lucky too. I got a letter from Zac this week and it sounds like he’s doing great! Definitely sounds like a southern mission experience. Nothing better in the world. And I feel horrible for Forrest being out in the cold like that.

This week hasn’t been too bad so far. In the high 60’s all week.

Our neighbors are moving?? Why? They don’t need extra room or anything, and I’m excited to see who moves in too!! We haven’t had new neighbors in a long time. It’s good though. And yeah, Lauren is about to graduate!! That’s so cool! She’s gonna get a job real quick though I know it. No biggie. I can’t believe I have to wait another year and a half to see her film. That’s messed up. Just one more thing to add to the list of "to do's" when I get home :) JT hasn’t left the MTC yet??? That’s horrible. I didn’t know the Philippines were as far away as they are. I didn’t expect them to be by Japan and Australia. I don’t know where I thought they were but that wasn’t the location I had expected. That’s sweet. But yeah this week was a good’n! We had zone conference in Bessemer and I got a classy belt for free. Called the "mission belt" or something like that and I love it. We had some cool instruction by president and I learned a ton.

Also we had a missionary splits in Bessemer on Saturday with the young men of the stake. We split up in groups, i was with 2 young men from my ward and Bishop Thompson. Then we went to a neighborhood and knocked on doors and did a four question survey. Bishop almost got attacked by the fattest, buffest pit bull I’ve ever seen. I saw it in the back but the little 12 year old just kept walking up so I was like shoot, I cant let this little kid get killed and just watch so I went with him. We got all the way to the porch when all of a sudden it came around the house right by us...sketchy, but I could tell it was a nice one so I just called it over and petted it. It kept going after Bishop though because he was all nervous haha. He kept saying, "it was going after the weak one!" It was funny but I’m sure glad that thing wasn’t mean because we would have been destroyed.

Then we had another great lesson with our investigator with a baptismal date named Kerry. He told us about his past and he was a lively character. Working at a strip club and junk and being a hired thug for gangs in Birmingham. But now his body is falling apart so I think he gets the picture that he can’t be doing that and he needs to repent and start doing good stuff. So it’s been interesting becoming friends with him. But he loves guns just like I do haha. So we talk about Glocks and stuff. He always has his Glock just sitting on the couch next to him. Because he lives in a really bad part of town. I love being a missionary because we can go to those bad parts and feel totally comfortable. No one ever bothers us and stuff. It’s a good feeling. But Kerry is a real good guy and he’s making all the changes he needs to be baptized on the 4th of March. We're excited for him. So the work moves forward and oh shoot! I got a letter from Elder Lofthouse at zone conference and he is baptizing the junk out of people up in Huntsville! He’s a great missionary and I hope I can serve around him again. And we met some cool people this week as well. Got rained on a lot too, ruined my planner, We’re starting to teach a blind guy, met some crazy people who got out of Bryce Mental hospital, and just some regular college students. So I can’t complain! Missionary work never gets boring. It can be hard but it’s the most rewarding work I could be doing. It’s fun and I love learning more about the scriptures and about how I can be even happier in my life. I love it!

Have a good week and Dad, enjoy Brazil! You can email me from there ;)

Hope you have a great week and I’ll talk to ya later

Love, Elder Oppenlander!