Hi mom.
This week was a little... different.
So the new area is kind of on the other side of the mission. I just went from the farthest south you can get and still be in the Great San Fernando Mission to the farthest north you can get. The city I live in now is called Santa Clarita, (if that name sounds familiar it's because that's were the mission office/home is) There's a lot more English speakers then Spanish speakers up here (seriously, everyone's rich and white and there's no trash just thrown on the ground or shopping carts in the middle of the street. I'm not sure I like it) as a result I'm now in a rama, or branch. It's super cool. We meet in the same building as all the gringos that live around here, we even meet with them for primary and the beginning of priesthood, it's super weird. To make it even more weird, my old district from Van Nuys is up here, Elders Gonzales, Rangel, Tyus, and Hermana Woods.
My new Companion is Elder Perez-Villanueva. He likes Villanueva more then Perez, but he sometimes has to where the tag that says Perez, so he'll introduce him self as Elder Perez-Villanueva (that doesn't actually fit on one placard) He's super fun. I've sent some pictures of him at the wheel. He's also District Leader, so I've been able to see the numbers on a daily bases. It's weird, even with all the white people up here, I've found more easily and been fed more then my whole time in Van Nuys (I miss it, but Cena every night with members is going to save me a lot on MSF, good thing to because I'm out this week). He was born in Mexico but moved, actually here, or near by, when he was younger. Right now he lives in Texas with his family but he's attending BYU-Idaho (I think I'm going to have to talk to him about school at some point). He also plays the piano and sings. I'm hoping he'll teach me a little (kind of like a refresher/improvement) piano before he goes back to the real world at the end of this transfer. Yes Spanish is his first language, but he doesn't have any problems with English.
The address to my apartment is (drum roll please) 18341 Oakmont Drv. #716, Santa Clarita, Ca, 91387. It's super nice, We have a gym, a real gym, but we have to walk to it, andour own washer and dryer.
CAR IS KILLING MY WEIGHT LOSS!!!!!! Even with the gym I've gained 3 pounds this week (the computer wanted to say 23) and member cenas aren't helping one bit, but they are muy rico. I'm going to ask for eating tips from the nurses so I can get down to 160 by my birthday. Good news, we're almost out of miles for the month, so the car's staying in the garage, Weight loss here I come... hopefully.
So far on my mission (I'm not counting MTC where I was 210) I've lost just a little less then 30 lbs, I want to have a total of 50 before I start really building the muscle.
Idea for name of the work outs Small and Simple Things.
RETURN AND REPORT.
Weight loss if you did the math you'd know I have 183 right now
Dias de espanol: 7/7 last week and I'll have a whole month of Spanish!!! WHOOT WHOOT
That's really it. I got your "package". Thank you. I've started over so I can mark it all.
Please keep praying for my weight loss, It's going to be a lucha in this area.
Love
Elder Michael Blanding