Letter to home - May 18, 2009

 Hello family! Things are going good. Missionary work is tough stuff! I feel pretty settled in, but being responsible for the salvation of people can be hard work! The Lord has blessed me with a great area. San Ramon is a great place to start. It is a very safe city. I got the package you sent, and the mail man just left it on our front door step. Elder Cain said "Wow, its a good thing we are in San Ramon!" (people are so rich here that they could care less about a mail package, but in Oakland....I guess that's another story). Thank you so much for all the good stuff you sent me! I loved it! I really like the tie you sent - I'm wearing it right now! And my debit card got here just fine - no problems at all. I don't even think that I have used my debit card since I got here. We get fed quite a bit. I love the members here! They are so amazing. Sis. Johnson met us at Costco today, bought some of our groceries, then took us out to lunch. It was great.
> Well last week (on Saturday) I went on a split with one of our zone leaders. I packed up my stuff (everything I needed for 1 day) and spent the night, and the next day in Concord. It was awesome. I was with Elder Warden - from Sandy Utah. It was good to see how he does things, and get to be in a different area for the day. People in Concord seem a lot nicer than in San Ramon. It is not as nice as San Ramon, so the people are a bit more humble. People here in San Ramon are to rich for their own good. A lot of then are really nice but it still amazes me how nice it is here. The "ghetto" of San Ramon is comparable to Stansbury (and that's the part we live in), but the neighborhoods we tract in are crazy nice.
> The weather here has been pretty warm. Yesterday it was 104 degrees! Pretty toasty. The members say that once you go over the hills to Oakland, and your on the Bay, the temperature drops 20 degrees, because of the ocean. If your over here on the other side it can get really hot. I've also learned that Northern Californians, take great pride in being Northern Californians - and not Southern Californians. I guess that Southern Californians call the North "No Cal" (No. being the abbreviation for North, but also implying that its not even part of the state!) There seems to be a bit of tension between the two parts of the state!
> Well the work is going good. Right now I pretty much just follow Elder Cain around, and smile and wave at people, but it is going well. The man with the deep questions (James) is hopefully going to be baptized at the end of this month, but hasn't been at church for the past 2 weeks. I keep asking Elder Cain if we need to call him, and check up on him, but we don't. Sometimes I disagree on the way Elder Cain does things, but I don't want to speak out because, honestly I wouldn't know how to do things anyway! But he works hard, and has sacrificed so much to be here (he is the only active member of his family, and his mom is very, very sick) so I just need to trust him - he knows what he is doing. We have some really good appointments set up for this week, and Friday is my first zone conference! Things are good. Thank you for your love and for your support! I am blessed more than I realize. And I'm fine with emails. A letter every once in awhile might be nice, but emails are just fine! I love you all! Good luck with Pre School graduation, and Kenna - Enjoy your last few weeks at good ol' Grantsville High! Dad - In June we are going to Oakland, and I'll for sure get a temple schedule for you! LOVE YOU ALL!
p.s. That is CRAZY that Cacey got his call here!!! He is going to love it!