Hi mom.
This week has been a blast. My new companions are (Drum Role Please) Elder Tuys (The District Leader) and... (Drum Role restarts and gets louder) Elder Deyholos. Trio life is a blast. We spent two nights with out a third bed, so Elder Tyus opted to sleep on the couch. We called the Sanders as soon as possible and Thursday we took some time to put together a bunk bed a de-junk the apartment, which consisted of throwing out the couch and moving a t.v. dresser stand thing. It was where we needed to put the couch. Santa Clarita is very different form San Fernando. There if you want to get rid of a couch just put it on the side of the road, eventually it will be gone. That was only the beginning of the fun in the Trio.
Elder Tyus is a hoot to be around. He's from Colorado and has the best descriptions for anything and everything. He also quotes Star Wars or some other movie every five minutes, so it's always fun to hang around with him. We've been on exchanges before, and he's just as fun if not better as a companion. I can also tell that he truly wants to help out his district.
Elder Deyholos is a brand new missionary straight out of the MTC. I'm training him and it's a lot of pressure to have his training on my shoulders. He's from Canada, Alberta (tell Jessie that's where they film "Heart Land"). He's supper dedicated to his mission. Spanish could still use some work, but he's doing good. He's having a really hard time with the heat down here. One day he turned on our AC and left it running all day, when we came back the apartment was soo cool, but the next day we found out we'd used up all the coolant, so the AC didn't work for the next few days. the nights were SOOO HOT. He's also been teaching me how to speak with a Canadian ancient, I hope to come home speaking Canadian and espanol and nothing else, That be pretty decent, Eh! Oh and he's the supper tall one in the photo I'm sending, 6'5"
We actually started the companionship off with a supper cool miracle. We ran by a investigator on Wednesday, and he was there, but didn't really want to listen right then. Elder Villanueva had found this man through knocking the week before and picked him up on his door step. As we were talking about a day we could come back his nephew came up to us and asked "Are you men of God?" We told him yes, and then he started quoting the Bible and we offered to teach him a little. He said he was interested, so we cam in and taught him part of the Restoration. At the end we felt inspired to invite him to be baptized on the 5th of July. HE ACCEPTED THE FECHA!!!!! It was so cool. The sad news is that he's only 10 so we had to get mom's permission, and she said "NO" so he doesn't have a fecha :(. He still wants to get baptized. Actually when his mom was telling us he couldn't be baptized, C* (the 10-year-old kid) said "I'll have to find some other way to get baptized" while tapping his fingers together in a very mischievous, I'm up to no good/something sneaky way.
We talked about who we could use as a friend for him on Saturday, when we finished weekly planning (because we put a bed in and cleaned the apartment on Thursday, Yes mom I clean, you can stop "fainting" now;) te amo), and we thought that M* Bernal, the 10-year-old son of Hermano Bernal (our branch mission leader) would be perfect, so we invited him and his dad to a drop by lesson with C*. It didn't work out as planned. I'd been in that area before, but we'd only ever gotten there by car. I thought it was within walking distance of Hermano Bernal's, so to save miles and gas I said let's walk it. It didn't actually work out. We had to take a detour down a dry stream bed to avoid hopping a fence, which we did in the end anyway. In the end, he wasn't even home, so we walked back (by way of the road) and I talked to Hermano Bernal while Elder Tyus and Elder Deyholos walked with M*. We had M* do a few Finding Opportunities with us and he was so good. He's going to make a really good missionary. I need to get a picture of this family so you can know who I'm talking about. Dinner at their house is like going home for an hour. Big family, little kids, lots of fun.
That's about it. They asked me to play piano in sacrament, but I told them I needed a week's notice with the hymns in order to do that, but I'd love to help out if I can.
RETURN AND REPORT
Weight Maintenance. (I've stopped focusing on losing weight and now just want to stay with in 175 to 180 lbs) right now I have 183. We haven't had time to workout in the mornings all week.
Spanish; I don't know, I fell behind in counting it so I'll say 6/7. It's really hard with Elder Deyholos and he's not as focused on learning the language as he is on teaching the gospel, so I can't force anything.
That should be it. I do want to know what happened to the medicine I mentioned on Mother's Day skype call. I still don't have it and now I need the shower cream too. also, I'm thinking about my Birthday package, It's only a month and a day away (That's so weird.) and could you send me a chocolate cake dry mix. I'm going to make your cake for my birthday, if you could through in the marshmallows too, that'd be great. I can't wait for next week to write again, but I will do it. other things, Could I get the sheet music to "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and a song called "Glorious". I want to try and learn them on the Piano.
Other thing. I'm going to be sending home some things. It's not that I don't want them, it's I don't need them or have room or a place for them. Please keep them safe and if you feel a need to buy me things like them (Thor's hammer, A TARDIS desk toy, ect.) Go ahead, send me a picture, and put them in a box for when I get home. Not time or space for them on a mission (see what I did there?)
Love
Elder Michael Blanding