5-21-12

Hello everyone! I hope your weeks have been going well. Mine has been.

We had some cold weather too. Cloudy and windy. We have had a couple days now though with very nice warm weather. And today is shaping up to be very warm and pretty. :)

The food has been strange, but not horrible. When something comes along that I really just do not want to eat, it is usually simple enough not to eat it. The families are all very nice, and all seem to understand that I might not like all of what they are serving. It's nice.

Still planning on making pigs in the blanket and such. Found some meat that seems to closely resemble hot dogs, and my companion says that it's about as close as we're going to get as far as flavor. They come in jars! A lot of things come in glass jars here. It's odd.

The work out here is going well. A lot of people that we can't seem to get a hold of, and plenty of people canceling on appointments, or not showing up. But it doesn't bother me. Did doors for the first time the other day. Liked it more than street contacting. It wasn't so bad. Helped me to think about relying on the Lord, and simply conveying his message. :)

I also have been striving to simplify how I think about the Gospel. I feel that I have a full, great understanding of it all, but I very easily get caught up in the details, and that can be bad in a lesson, because it can confuse the investigator, and distract the overall atmosphere from the true message of the lesson. It is nice learning to simplify. :)

Things are going well out here in any case. Plenty well off buying groceries and such. (Easier than I thought ;P) Getting along well with my companion. He is easy going and laid back, and a good missionary. Weird though, because he is going home after this transfer. Normally a new missionary would get two transfers (three months) with his first trainer, but I am going to have only one transfer (six weeks), and then I will have a new trainer. A 'step dad'. Your trainer is called your dad, his trainer is your grandpa, etc. Other people that your trainer has trained are your brothers, the end of your mission is death, the start is birth, your first area is the area you were born in, lots of funny terminology.

Anyway, I'm off. Have a wonderful week everyone! And remember, at the end of the day, no matter what kind of a day you have had, you are always the one in charge of how you feel about how that day went. You decide whether to focus on all the disappointments and shortcomings, or the positives and progress. Decide to dwell on happy things, and keep moving forward. Have fun! Talk to you next week. And feel free to email me if you aren't already. (Cody, Danny, would love to hear from you.)

Elder Michael Miles