2 September 2014

Dear family,

Sounds like you guys had a good time in Parowan. I realized half-way through the day that it was Labor day, and was kind of sad I missed out on the chance to join in on the fun. Were there sloppy-jos? (Bwah ha ha!) Sorry I didn't write you yesterday. Since it was a holiday, they had us proselyte because “people are supposed to be home with their families.”  I think the exact opposite is really what happened. Everyone was gone camping or was too busy to meet so it kind of backfired. As a result, it was really hard to stay busy and productive yesterday. 

That's so sweet that Danielle is home from her mission. Wish I could have heard her speak in Sacrament Meeting, she always makes me laugh so it would have been cool to hear her testimony and mission experiences.

So yeah, I could hear your concerns about missionaries exploring caves on PDay all the way here in Sheridan :)  I’m honestly not sure if it is an “approved” mission activity, but it’s one of those “mission traditions” the missionaries have done here since the area has been open.  We also told our Zone Leaders about our plans and they didn't advise us to the contrary.  Regardless, it probably wasn't the best idea because it was kind of dangerous.  No desire to do it again because it was exhausting and the next day was really rough.

That's freaking crazy that the Summer's are moving!! I never thought that they would! It must be a really nice house that they are moving into and that's kind of sweet that they are moving to Daybreak. The Summers and Andersons are two of those families I wished we could do more things with. The times we had with them are many of my best memories.  Maybe we will do more with the Summers if we live closer again! I'm soooo sad that I won't be able to see Marc come home, I miss him a lot and was really hoping I could see him before I left. Oh well, it will only make seeing him again that much better! I'm excited to see their new house in 2 years, and that's sweet that Ryan may be getting married soon.  Tell the Summers I say hello and thank them for all they did for me growing up—allowing me to spray paint their garage and eat their food.

It's crazy to think that even though I haven't been out for very long, I have been out for 2 months now, time is flying by! 

Answers to some of your questions:

1) Media Hour:  Media hour is a time that we are allowed to use LDS.org, Mormon.org, and other approved websites. We can watch videos on LDS.org, read talks and basically just use the approved sites. 

2) Winter Boots: I will need boots, they get a lot of snow up here and it gets pretty deep.

3) Sleeping Bag: The sleeping bag I don't need yet, my blanket it still great! keeps me nice and warm.

Summer here has been really nice..it rained really hard for 5 days straight and is really cooling down but yesterday it rained for 20 minutes then it cleared up and was a beautiful 75 degrees.  That's how the weather is around here. It will rain and be super windy, then clear up into a sunny day with a little breeze They say we only get three weeks of fall and then it's winter, so looks like fall has already hit for us. Ha!

Anyway, things here are great! We made contact with three new wonderful people who are investigating the church.  One is a cool brother from Detroit! He is door to door salesman (ya know, mom, the ones that scare you because they’re so enthusiastic) that we ran into while being out and about.  We talked to him about the restored gospel and committed him to come to church.  He seemed really excited to come; we also gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, which he said he had read some of previously and really liked. Unfortunately his company moved him to Montana so we won't be able keep in contact with him, hopefully he will seek out missionaries in Montana! He was such a cool guy and really humble. I felt badly when I heard that he grew up in a bad part of town and didn't have a lot of money.  It was strange, but I almost felt embarrassed when he said we were rich in his eyes because we (and/or our families) could pay our way to come out and serve. In that moment, I just wished I could hand him all the money in my wallet. I really hope that he is able to find the gospel and experience the peace it brings.

The second one of our new investigators is a young person in a foster care situation, currently living with members in our ward.  We taught her the first lesson and she really wanted to learn more. 

Our third newest potential investigator is a young woman with contacts in the YSA  (Young Single Adult) branch.  She hurt her foot and got a priesthood blessing from some brethren there.  She said she felt the spirit and wants to know more about the gospel. 

We have done a lot of service lately. I mentioned the bee attack that scared me for life, yes I’m am even more terrified of bees now. My companion and all the other elders laugh at me when I scream and run away from bees…they just don't understand! We helped a member build a fence for his garden that was really cool. I'm starting to feel like a rancher out here, taking down fences, building fences, doing yard work, being surrounded by cowboys and their animals.

I'm happy to say that I got all the elders in my area addicted to flavor blasted goldfish.  Many of them buy a carton every week.  Not even I go that HAM! I'm sure the hype will go down soon, but for now they’re loving the goldfish.  

Hopefully we will have some new people choose to be baptized soon.  It’s interesting to see the things people experience and go through as they contemplate changing their lives and being baptized. Thanks for the prayers and support, and tell the Spencers I'm still working on their letter. I'm really sorry I haven't been able to get it to them faster!

Love you all and miss you!

-Elder RasMcSass (that's what all the other elder's call me now, they think I'm funny/sassy.)