Monday, March 12, 2012

Nine Months and Counting

Parents!!!

I’m staying in Tuscaloosa again...what the heck haha. And I’m getting a new companion, so I’ll be going to transfer meeting this Wednesday and picking him up. Elder Hardy and I are the only ones not leaving. Even the visa missionaries are outta here. I might be companions with Elder Hardy again, how crazy is that? This morning has just been crazy. I have been freaking out and super excited and nervous. I tried writing Jackie but it was so a.d.d. I couldn’t even stand it haha. But yeah, I’m really excited to see who I’ll be with and if I'll be with 4 elders again or just 2. So yeah....changes are fun.

I have never heard of that powder junk for headaches. But I don’t really get headaches too much anymore. Only when I’m in a car for a long time or do something crazy to mess my neck up. But that doesn’t happen too much.

Yeah, Elder Leali'ie'e told me about his brother being in the Long Beach Mission, and I said I don’t think I’ve ever met him. That’s cool how we ran into each other. I got everything in the package this week! Thank you so much. The helmet is a lil big so it adds to my nerd look quite well. And the shoes should be put to work on the bball court soon :) thank you! And stop sending me candy!! I swear I tell you every time but every time there is more and more candy. I am getting fat out here in Alabama and I don’t need any help from momma back home. Cut it out haha. Seriously though mom, what are you trying to do to me? Gonna get strait up diabetes and high cholesterol and junk.....Tracy.

And yeah, I'll call the dentist today and let them know that I'll be staying and can get that crown fixed. They said I’m going to need a whole new one and that my gums are receding. So I guess my toothbrush is too hard and I’m brushing too hard. Oops.

I haven’t gotten anything from Sis. Ball or Sis. Jorgenson yet. I'll probably get them on Wednesday when I go to Birmingham. That sweet potato pie was uh-mazing. I love it, but it was a little too big for me.

And who does mom tell the saluting story to? haha. I thought it was pretty funny though and that’s why I told you suckers about it. Haven’t had anything like that happen this week. It’s spring break so campus is dead. So we've been working all around and I’ve been on exchanges like 2 times this week and it’s been crazy. Went to Demopolis again yesterday and bore my testimony again. It was fun! And Bro. Champion fed us lunch and dinner this time. I love being here in Tuscaloosa! Glad I’m staying. And invisalign seems weird to me. You'll have to tell me how it is and if it hurts! Elder Ingersoll has invisalign, I’m pretty sure. He never wears them though, so it always hurts him when he does put em in. So keep them in your mouth! Sounds like more than your mouth is going to be getting some work done on it! New doors and carpet and bathroom ... I’m going to come home to a strange house haha. But it will be exciting, so I won’t complain.

And Hawaii????? Dang, that’s going to be so perfect. I want to go! Alabama is going to be hot and sweaty around that time and I won’t be bronzed up. Or my neck and arms will be at least. Everything else is just going to be white and pasty. I’m looking forward to that ;) Its been in the high 70s and 80s this week and I’m loving it. Getting my sweat on once again and there is nothing better. I don’t know why I love sweating so much but I do. Just having drips rolling off your nose and blowing them on Elder Ingersoll ... it’s the best.

And Elder Hardy and Emmanuel had a baptism of this 12 year old this week. He was deathly afraid of putting his head under water and it took like 18 tries to finally get him fully immersed. He would go in and then start crying and freaking out. It was the most stressful thing I’ve ever been a part of. Said like 1000 prayers while he was screaming and I was glad that he finally was able to be baptized. I would have just jumped in there, thrown him down and called it good. I don’t mess around haha.

Elder Ingersoll says thanks for the candy too, by the way. Sorry that was so random but that’s how my brain works. This week really was boring though. Nothing much happened. The visa waiters have been having a great time and they are a lil bummed they are getting transferred. But its ok, they will have fun in their next area for sure. Oh and I want to be an engineer like y’all when I get home. It runs in the blood, so why not. I think it will be good for me. And I want to stay in California and close to home. And I’m good at waking up early in the morning now, so no big deal. I’ve been talking to Jackie about it and I think it will be the best job. I can always have side hobbies that aren’t so boring hahaha. Seriously though, so what kind of classes will I have to take for that? Tell me about it.

That’s all the news I have for this week. It was a good one and the last one with Elder Ingersoll ... Finally.

Haha, I love you and I hope you have a great week!!

Love, Elder Tuscaloosa

Monday, March 5, 2012

Kerry's Baptism and Stuff

Kerry's Baptism

Kerry wishes he was cool!

Classy

Elder Leali'le'e

Elder del Francia

Elder Holley got me a soda for "one year of abstinence" from soda.

It's March!

Mom and Dad …

Really, send me the bike helmet haha. All the ones here are horrible or expensive. Elder del Francia, and Elder Leali'ie'e are both going to New Zealand as soon as they get their visas. It’s super fun to have them, but I’m pretty much training three missionaries at once. Elder Ingersoll doesn’t need me anymore, though. We are ready for transfers next week. Sister Rugg said to go to the dentist and get my crown fixed. But she wants to know if our insurance is dental too and where I should go. I wasn’t too surprised about the hug Pres. Holzapfel gave me from you. I thought it was classy :) Jackie is stealing my tank top!!!? That’s messed up. Whatever, she can have it haha. She will use it more than I would. Tell her she has to sing in the choir though!

Brazil sounds sketchyyyy!! Hahaha I hope Corbin is enjoying himself out there in the jungle. And the Brazilian handicap sign is way better than ours! Man, we need to step it up big time.

Jeffy and Courtney are engaged!!!!! What?????? Holy smokes, that is hilarious! Never would have thought, but that’s sweet! I want to see this invitation. And I heard about Addy from Zac. How crazy is that?! Man, everyone is getting married and growing up back home. It’s so weird. And all of that jewelry from Brazil sounds cool. Send me some pics of that stuff. Sounds like you had a good week even though it was slow at home.

This week Kerry was baptized!! So we're excited about that. It was cool to see him all happy and become a member of the church. I'll send you a picture of it. We had some bad weather this week, but I still didn’t get to see a tornado! Elder del Francia thought for sure he was going to die and was freaking out a little bit. But he said a prayer and calmed down. And I got rained on a bunch. It was in the 80s and humid this week, then after the storm it cooled down to the 50s. I love the humidity. Had to pull out my camelbak again. And the dog story is just that Elder Ingersoll got charged by this fat black and white dog. He started running and it chased him down haha. I was just standing there trying to get the dog to come to me and I was laughing. It was scary a lil bit, but mostly just funny. Dogs are the sketchiest things to missionaries. For some reason they just do not like us. It’s a shame. And this week I talked to more high/drunk people than I ever have in my life! Goodness gracious, they were everywhere haha. One of them tried to get money from me and was cussing me out like nobody’s business. He called me the "al Qaeda" and I was like....what in the heck are you talking about? (I didn’t really say that, because I thought for sure I was about to die, but I thought it). I love the ghetto!

Also, I got kicked out of an apartment complex by this redneck and it was hilarious!! We were going to see an investigator of ours. And as we are going up the stairs, this car screeches to a halt and the driver is all "get out of here!" and I try to explain to him how we have an appointment with someone. And he just says "you cant knock on doors and harass our tenants about religion … that’s called salooting and I can have you arrested for that!" I said "salooting? What are you talking about?" I knew he meant "soliciting", but it’s what popped out of my mouth. So I go down and talk to him and he says, "tell me your name so I can report you to your boss, who’s your boss?" and Elder Ingersoll says "God’s our boss", so I show him my nametag and he doesn’t even write my name down, just keeps saying "you can’t be salooting here, you need to get off" and stuff like that. It was funny/annoying because I couldn’t even explain myself to him. He didn’t believe we had an appointment, and he said the police won’t believe it either hahaha. Man, I love the south. I just don’t understand people sometimes. Doubt I ever will, though haha.

But yeah, my week wasn’t too shabby. The visa missionaries are really fun to be around. Elder del Francia is from San Clemente and Elder Leali'ie'e is from Texas. They are loving Alabama but Elder del Francia is scared of it haha. He doesn’t like the sketchy weather or the ghetto. You must have to be a dare devil to get called here or something! Haha man, I love it out here. Alright, well I’m going to send a pic or two, so enjoy. I don’t know what else to say, but I have 30 minutes left, so reply fast!!

Love you

Elder Oppenlander

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Visa Waiters


A big hug from President Holzapfel


Missionaries waiting for their Visa's to New Zealand are assigned to serve in the states until their Visa is granted. Elders Del Francia, Ingersoll, Oppenlander and Leali'le'e serving in Tuscaloosa


Elders Tonga, Ingersoll and Oppenlander

Monday, February 27, 2012

Brazil!

Dad! Sup, you Brazilian!! I hope you are enjoying the weather and keep your eyes peeled for Corbin! He’s out there somewhere! And Brazil sounds like just a bunch of huge cities, and are you going to sell the F-18s to them? That’s pretty cool. I wouldn’t mind working at Northrop and getting to do stuff like that. I still have to figure out what I want to do. There are too many options haha. But I hope you have a good time out there in Brazil and stay safe. Get back to mom asap because she’s bored out of her mind. You need to pick up a dog while you’re out there in Brazil and bring it back haha.

Have fun! Love ya

Elder Oppenlander

February 27, 2012

Mom!

I bet its super quiet back home right now! I bet you wish you had a dog to talk to haha. That’s so crazy that Dad is in Brazil livin’ the dream. That plane ride sounded like a blast. I hope you told grandma happy birthday for me. I’m going to get her a card tonight, but I’m going to be super busy. We got news that we are going to Birmingham to pick up some visa missionaries! So we will have 2 more missionaries working with us here in Tuscaloosa. So that will take up about 4 hours of my day.

And what’s up with grandma and pa getting all old and run down haha. Man, I hope grandma’s knees get better, and tell grandpa to walk Abby more. Get those legs back in shape! And I should become a physical therapist so I can help them out with all of that stuff. :)

How was Balboa? I love it down there. It’s really relaxing! I don’t think I’ve ever actually gone onto the island before, though. Just around it in Newport Beach plenty of times. Oh shoot! I met a girl on the soccer team here who’s grandparents live in Rossmoor! I was so excited to talk about home and stuff it was ridiculous. She lived in Mission Viejo. I love fellow orange countians haha. It makes my day. And Jackie is better at men’s haircuts than women’s nowadays?? Dang, I remember when she used to be sketched out to cut my hair haha. So that’s good that she has been improving and great that her boss is saying she’s doing well. I miss getting my hair cut and my head shampoo'd...its a shame I can’t get it cut by Jackie anymore!

And so Jackie is staying with the Harrison’s? I didn’t know where she was or if she had moved out yet. But that’s good :) I’ve been thinking about school when I finish my mission. Seriously though, I’m in trouble. Pres. Holzapfel or someone is going to have to pull some major strings to get me into BYU. I would like to go there because it’s cheap and a good environment, but we'll see! :)

Casey Cluff is engaged? Shoot! I bet the Cluffs are way excited! And it sounds like church is going great back home. And yes, Kerry is going to get baptized if he stops smoking! He’s planned to get baptized this Sunday, but if he doesn’t quit smoking by then we'll have to push it back a week or two. Which is no biggie though, because he needs to be ready for that. We had him and another investigator at church yesterday and it went great! The stake presidency was there for ward conference and they were great. President Smart is really excited about missionary work, so he made sure our investigators had a good time at church. Kerry said it’s the "place for him" :) So we are excited about him! Keep him in your prayers, and I know everything will be alright.

This week has been a good one, but I can’t remember anything that happened really. It just flew by! But I’m happy and kinda healthy. I haven’t talked to anyone about my crown yet. It doesn’t hurt, just has a hole in it. So I don’t know what to do haha. Should I just go to a dentist or what??

But yeah, I hope you have an exciting week at home by yourself and you don’t go crazy! Tell Jackie to come over and hang with you or something. Go dog shopping!!! That’s what you can do. But I love you and I’ll be praying for you. By the way, can you send me Dad’s lame helmet? Mine is falling apart. And Dad doesn’t need it. So yeah, haha. Please :) I don’t know what else to say....Elder Ingersoll got chased by a dog and it was hilarious! Haha I was chuckling for a good half an hour. Pretty sure I’ve told you that? I can’t remember haha. I’m going crazy! All these days just blend into one. I’m going to write Dad and Lauren and see if I can remember anything. I got 25 minutes, so respond quickly if you can.

Love, Elder Oppenlander

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

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!

Monday, February 20, 2012

February Photos

Bessemer Zone Training

Gathering before Missionary / Young Men Activity

Waiting for the Young Men to arrive

Leaving with the assigned young men

Monday, February 13, 2012

Eight months out!

‘Sup Mom and Pop!

This week in T-town was great! Super cold though!!! In the 20's and I think the warmest it got was like 45. I’m so over the cold haha. And I haven’t gotten your Valentine’s Day card yet? (I don’t remember, so I’d say I haven’t gotten it). And yeah, I opened up all the Valentines Day stuff, shoot! I wasn’t going to let it sit there for more than a week. :) But other than the cold, this week was a good'n. We really focused on campus and we had a lot of success talking to people. Had a bunch of lessons and we met some really cool people. But yesterday was exhausting (I think that’s how you spell it)....but yeah, I was dead. Elder Hardy and I went down to Demopolis for church. Got picked up at 7:15, it’s an hour drive to get there, had church, bore our testimonies, had branch council, and all that ended like at 2:00. Then we drove 40 minutes to Greensboro to visit a less active member. And his house was legit!! It was built in 1835, it’s called an antebellum house. First time I’ve heard of that, but it was tight. And he collects antique everything! His whole house was like an expensive museum and I told him my mom would have loved it. He had some weird stuff though. Like he had his great grandmother's family hair tree? All the kids in the family cut their hair, made leaves out of it and made a fake tree with it. I guess it was popular back then. There was a fat braid of hair from when she first got married and a lil tuft of hair they snipped off right before she was buried. It was weird/interesting :) but yeah, he was so oldschool it wasn’t even funny. Had like three 1800s pianos, old everything! And he was telling us how he can’t invite church members over to his house because Greensboro is so segregated. Their black friend wouldn’t come into their house because "he’s not allowed into a white person’s home". I was like, are you serious???? I thought that stuff was done away with, but not in Greensboro, Alabama! I couldn’t believe it. Then we drove another 50 minutes to Linden, Alabama to visit another family. We visited, not as exciting as the other guy, then started our drive home. Bro. Champion, the high counselor we went with, invited us over to dinner at his house, because we were all starving, and we finally got home around 7:30 last night. And Sis. Champion made me eat way too much food, I had a fat neck ache which gave me a migraine and 3:00 this morning I threw it all up :) haha. One cool thing though, is that I’m never tired anymore! I’m used to the schedule finally and I can sleep for like 3 hours and be wide awake for the rest of the day. That’s going to be a useful skill later in life, so I’m going to try to keep it. But yeah that was my day yesterday....so long!!! Sounds like you had just as an eventful a day as me!

We got to see the World Wide Leadership training and I loved it. We watched it Saturday morning though. And yes ma’am, the shaka laka lip blaka came, and I’m very thankful! I love that stuff! And you better pick some classy tile for the bathroom. :)

I hit my 8 month mark on Wednesday! That’s pretty crazy huh? 1/3 the way done:) shoot! And Dad is going to Brazil for like 8 days????? I am so jealous its not even funny! He better be excited! Man...Alabama is better anyways haha. And that’s crazy that Dean and Lauren are getting married! Exciting bizznizz right there. That’s good that young couples are staying in the ward. We don’t want it to turn into some Leisure World ward haha. I hope y’all have an enjoyable Valentines Day and get crazy with the Jorgensen’s haha. Dogwood mormons!!! And yeah, Gma and Nick’s birthdays are coming up like the 21st and 26th, right?? Something like that, whatevs. But I’ll write Gma O and Gma B today. I haven’t written them in a while and I feel horrible. I’m gonna try to start to write them every week. Gotta show them some love. I think they would enjoy that. Oh shoot, and I have a hole in my crown! I don’t know if my retainer did it or what, but what should I do?? Respond asap! Haha. I'll be emailing Lauren so holla at me!

Love you! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Papi Oppenlander

Monday, February 6, 2012

Birthday set-up!
20!
Shout out from the President!
Soaking wet & muddy ... yeah, I tucked my tie in!
Close up - wet
. . . and muddy!
Muddy butt from the back tire on my bike hahaha!


February 6, 2012

Hey hey!

Geez, you got a lot of questions this week! Haha, lets start answering them all! My birthday was amazing. Went around talking to people all day, it was like 75 degrees out and super humid. We walked around campus and taught some peeps, then we went to a section 8 housing neighborhood to teach a guy named Lazarus and to tract. At like 3:00 it started pouring down rain...like the hardest I’ve ever seen it rain in my life. And since it was 75 degrees out earlier, of course we didn’t have our jackets or raincoats. So we got soaked! It was so fun, though! Then we rode our bikes home in the rain and I got all muddy. It was shooting up on me from my tires, so I stained my shirt. Hopefully, some bleach or something will take it out. I took some pics of the lil mud drops on me, but you can’t really see them or how wet I actually was. Then Elder Hardy and Emmanuel came over and we ate the cake (I cooked it the night before...turned out perfect). They kinda sang to me haha. They can’t sing worth nuthin, and then I went to bed! Oh, and I had Chipotle for my birthday lunch haha, and spam, eggs, and toast, with tobasco on it for din din. I was in heaven!

Why did you get me the Raybans?? Haha, I was in shock! Like, what the heck? But I like them! They’re keepers. And yes, I used the knife to open up some mail and other assorted items around the house. Elder Ingersoll almost cut himself, but I took it away from him before he killed himself. It is crazy that I’m 20...no longer a teenager … and you must feel way old. I think I said that last week, but let it soak in a lil bit! Oldy! I didn’t decorate the apartment with Ugly Doll stuff, but I decorated the table haha. I love the guitar CD! It’s pretty classy and relaxing. Sis. Reynolds' pillowcase is black with a bunch of different cupcakes on it with blue trim. I like it! And I got a package from Jackie too! It was sweet and I loved the pics of all the family and her family holding up the happy birthday signs. That’s pretty original! I haven’t seen that before. But yeah, my birthday was perfect, and even some random peeps told me happy birthday. It was different but fun. I think that’s all the news I have about my birthday.

Haha, that CD of photoshoot pics is so funny. And yeah, that’s Bro. Mulder in the pic, and he took most of them and his wife took the first couple. Rockin’ denim and camo......it would be a sin not to rock that. And yeah, I’m running low (aka out of) shakka lakka. Get me that combo pack:) I love all the flavors, but the Maui Mint and the Medicated Ice (or whatever) is good, too. I love them all though. Right now I’m using that weird Ocean Potion stuff and it tastes horrible haha.

I didn’t talk at Mary’s baptism. Just watched her get baptized and ate some cookies and lemonade. It was a no pressure event for me. Campus missionary work is so fun haha. We just try to talk to college students all day and half of them are drunk. So I wouldn’t say good investigators but we have a couple good'ns. Like on my birthday, we met this cool guy but his frat was having a huge party and when we were walking home these drunk girls were all "why are you two matching???????????" talking about Elder Hardy and me, and I just laughed and was like "we're missionaries, its what we do" haha. Then they were trying to figure out my name and were calling me Offenlanger and stuff and they asked if that was right and I just said yeah so they would leave me alone haha. It was way funny though. Glad I’m not doing stuff like that. Yeah, I’m a geek missionary, but I love it. So those are the type of things that go on most of the time. Just trying to find genuinely (?? Is that how you spell that?) interested people. But there are tons of people to talk to, so its fun!

Tell Tony I can’t be funny/interesting all of the time! Wouldn’t want him not working and just waiting for my bomb emails every week. ;) I wish I had some swamp people to teach right now. That would be fun.

That’s awesome that Bro Mckay likes Lauren’s work! I hope she can find a job pretty easy. But I think with all the stuff going on with BYU Animation, she should be good to go. Courtney and Jeffy are dating?? Weird!! I don’t know why its weird, but it is. I haven’t gotten a letter from Chris yet but I'll be expecting it! I’m excited.

And Jackie! Yes, I loved everything in your package! The ties are classy, and I totally understand why your dad doesn’t have time to write me. I wouldn’t write me, either haha. I’m pretty bad at writing missionaries. I need to get better, especially with Chris and Zac and stuff. No letter from Elder Clanton yet ... I don’t know his address either, so I can’t write him. I miss that kid so bad. And Jackie and Nicole are going up to General Conference?? That’s sweet! I can’t wait for them to meet Haley, Elder Clanton’s girlfriend! Plus, General Conference is gonna be sweet. I can’t believe its already been six months since the last one! Seems like just yesterday. I'll be looking for the signs the girls are gonna hold up. I don’t know if you can do that at General Conference, but I guess we'll find out haha. Thanks for the prayers and all the thought. I’m gonna try to send some pics right quick! From my birthday and stuff. Love you all! Have a good week!!!

Love, Elder Class