One Happy Elder

I think I could be the happiest I remember ever being in my whole mission. I just feel really good today. There are many factors, I believe. Allow me to share.

I had a SWEET birthday. On Thursday I got 2 packages, just in time for me to open the next day on my birthday. I was very happy for the new CDs, the blankets, the letters, the pics of nieces and nephews, Teddy’s adorable letter, CANNED CHEESE and RITZ!!!, a scarf, a really AWESOME P-day jacket, etc... It was a happy birthday indeed. And I gotta hand it to Shalynn Decker, she is smart at wrapping a package. I imagine she didn’t want it to get robbed and so it was wrapped by tin foil, wrapping paper, followed by a black garbage bag. Any thief would have given up by the time he reached the tin foil. My companion Elder Stevenson bought 5 meters of pizza for the 4 of us in the house to share and Elder Ballard and Elder Holloway bought me a cake. It was a happy birthday.

So the birthday was good, but I am also very excited about the new house and companions. We all get along just swimmingly and we will have a good time together. But I must say the house just makes all the difference now! We have a piano in the house!!!!!! The lady we rent it from just left the piano in there. And Elder Ballard is a really good guitar player and so we jammed for a few hours this morning, wrote a few songs, etc... It felt SO good to play music. That definitely is a factor for how good I feel. Music is a very wholesome P-day activity.

I got really good emails today from family, and it is SO cool to hear that Logan has some Shepherds there again. It makes me so happy to hear that everyone is doing well.

The weather is warming up. 'Nuf said.

I am happy.

The new area is pretty different. It is BIG and the people are very different. I am going to have to refine my street approach because you only have 3 seconds before they are done with you. We don’t have a lot of investigators, but we will change that soon, and I am excited about our ward. It is a really good ward. In church yesterday there were good classes, Sacrament Meeting was very edifying, and the ward is already in love with me because I played my very awesome arrangement of Joseph Smith’s First Prayer. Many lunch invitations followed. This seems to be a strong ward. I am excited to work with them.

We did a lot of knocking and street contacting this week, because we don’t have a lot going on, and we found a few people. We will see how they progress.

Life is good. I am the happiest I have ever been on the mission. I am feeling into the groove of things, I feel decently fluent in the language, it is fun feeling cool this week because I am senior companion (even though that doesn’t really mean anything), and I love all of you for all your prayers and all you do for me! I have to go. Out of time. Love you all!!

Andy