Becoming a new uncle

Lacey Gray

5lbs
17 in.

Ashley Gray 4lbs 8oz 16 1/4 in.

Jess became a new uncle this week to twin girls named Ashley and Lacey. Emily and Jason got an early present when their twin girls were born six weeks early on Nov. 21, 2009. They weighed 4lbs 8ozs and 5lbs. They are doing great but will need to stay in the hospital for a little while so they can gain some weight and make sure they are doing well. Emily is doing well considering it was an emergency c-section and spends all her time at the hospital as does Jason. They will be great parents we can't wait to get them home. Jess was pretty excited to hear the news since he has been waiting to know they were here and healthy.

Hello everyone,

We all have a lot to be thankful for don't we. I am so glad we have two new babies in the family and that they are safe and sound. I had a feeling I would be getting the news this week. I hope they continue to get bigger and stronger so they can enjoy the holidays at home. I wonder how max feels? The pictures were sure cute, usually newborn babies are a little iffy looking but these ones both look pretty darn cute!

There is one good thing about the fact that they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, and that is the fact that I hardly even knew it was coming up! Between time going by so fast and the lack of said holiday here, I haven't had to sit and miss home and think about the banana cream pie that I won't be eating. Although instead, we have had to worry about other things that still took us away from the work we need to be doing here. We found a nice apartment after looking at several and calling several agents. We also finally have everything moved in. All this has taken a lot of time away from our missionary efforts. I am glad to finally be done with it so soon our focus will be on nothing but the work. I don't have a whole lot to write about this week since it seems like all we did was move. We took the opportunity to get rid of all the junk in our aparment from previous missionaries so that was good. Our apartment now is really nice and we have it pretty well organized. It will be a home where we will be able to feel the spirit and receive revalation on what we need to do.

Today we will be going over to Sister and Elder Lowery's apartment to have Thanksgiving dinner. Our assignment is to have this dinner, invite an investigator and help prepare the meal. The rule was that every companionship had to bring something. Neither Elder Traasdahl or I know how to cook so we came up with the brilliant idea of bringing the veggie tray! Elder Traasdahl has a packet of powdered ranch dip so we will make that as well. We are bringing a girl that comes and plays volleyball everyweek after English club. She isn't technically an investigator yet but this sure will be a good start! It should be lots of fun, and yes, Sister Lowery does know how to cook. After eating at her house a few times already, I decided a crockpot should be in every missionary apartment. Ovens here are only about as big as a small cake pan so you can't do much in there. You can't even buy a turkey by the way. You can buy pretty much all the pieces of a turkey so our turkey will be a bit of a frankenturkey.

I was wondering if there was ever any article in the church news or the ensign or something about Elder Nelson coming to Russa recently. If there is, maybe you could forward a copy to me or something. I really can't think of anything I need in that package, I will trust your judgement.

This Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for family. You are such a huge support to me while I'm here on the other side of the world. It is great to know there are people out there who love and support me. I am so thankful that I have such a happy, loving family as well. I know there are missionaries out here right now who have problems with their families at home and it only makes things that much harder. I know my family is a loving happy family and that means I don't have to worry about things back home. I am thankful to be here on a mission, especially here in Russia. There are around a million people I think, here in Veronizh. A little over a hundred are members of the church. That means there is an incredible amount of potential out there. I know the gospel blesses lives, I have seen it in my life and in our family. I am so glad I have the opportunity to invite people to accept these blessings and come closer to Christ. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and remember all the wonderful things we have to be thankful for. I love you and pray for you daily. Thank you for everything you do for me!

Love, Elder Geddes

Traveling through Russia

Hey everyone,

 

Wow, what a strange week I had!  Last week I wrote from Moscow.  One of the office elders there made the french toast by the way.  One of the toppings we had to put on was this kind of sweet and sour salsa.  It wasn't too bad.  Anyway, I stayed there until around five when one of the senior couple elders drove me and a native sister to the train station.  We were going to meet my companion there but they said if he didn't make it to just get on the train and go.  It took about 3 hours to get to the train station so we had less than an hour to find our train and everything.  The sister said she was going to go find out and had me watch the bags.  She was gone for about 20 minutes and I had no idea where she was.  So I was staning in the middle of a crowed train station with 4 suitcases and my train was leaving in just over a half an hour.  I usually don't get too stressed out but I was feeling it a little bit at this point.  Finally the sister comes back and we get a call saying my companion is there and waiting.  We go outside and find him by our train and got on with just over 15 minutes to spare.  It was a nice train, somehow the AP's messed up and bought us the nicest tickets.  Me and my companion had a small room with two small beds to ourselves.  I slept okay and woke up and we were almost to Veronezh.  The other elders in the city met us at the station and took us to our new house.  The problem is, the elders who we replaced had a situation with their landlord so they had been kicked out.  They needed to find a place pretty fast so the apartment we got stuck with is a one day find.  It is pretty junky.  We are searching for a nicer one that is closer to the branch.  I hope we find one soon!  Maybe they have these things in Austria but I had never heard of or seen one before.  It is basically a water heater but it is a small box on the wall of your shower.  It has two levers, one to open a valve and one to turn on the gas.  It has a small slot for you to put a match in to light it.  The water has to be running for it to work and so you have to light it every time you get in the shower.  You just have to be careful when adjusting the levers to not let too much gas out.  The fact that my left hand has no hair on it anymore should give you the idea that it isn't easy to get used to.  Also, sometimes the water is weird so there is no pressure at all.  That means you can only flush the toilet once every 45 minutes or so, so just hope both of us don't have to go to the bathroom at around the same time or the second guy doesn't get to flush.  Anyway, we want to get out.  So we arrived Friday morning, and the first thing you have to do when you move is get registered or you will be deported.  While trying to do this, we found out that my companion couldn't be registered because they hadn't done the right things for him when he came out of Belarus (his last area).  They told us we were not to leave the house, but we had to anyway.  They really don't want you to do missionary work if you aren't registered because it isn't unheard of to get the cops called on you.  Anyway, we didn't get a whole lot done for the whole weekend.  They figured out he would have to come with me and my group to Ukraine when we went to renew our visas.  So we got him a ticket with us and kind of had to bum around for a couple days.  Sunday was cool, we had church start at 1:00 and we got to meet a lot of the members of our branch.  It was so awesome to go to a priesthood meeting where the room was filled with guys all wearing jackets and ties!  The branch president is really awesome and a great president.  So church was good and we had to head to the train station right after to catch a not so desirable train to Moscow.  It left at around 5 and got to Moscow at 4:30.  We didn't get the Lux like we did from moscow here but it still wasn't bad.  It was a private room with 4 beds in it and there were three of us.  We just talked and had some fun until bedtime.  They came around and woke us up at 3:30 for some reason.  We got to the metro in Moscow at about 4:45 and had to wait until 5:30 until it opened.  Once it opened we went to the stop and met the rest of our group.  It was so crazy trying to get 9 of us on the same bus to the airport!  People go nuts when the bus gets there so we didn't make the first bus but the second bus pulled up and some crazy stuff happened.  I was near the front of the line, if you could call it a line.  When the bus pulled up I found myself being squeezed so tight by the people around me that I could niether move nor breathe.  All of a sudden I feel myself being lifted off the ground and moving toward the bus.  The next time my feet touched the ground was when they hit the first step of the bus.  I had the money to get tickets for our group but my companion was closer to the window.  I handed him my wallet and continued being forced to move.  The last I saw him, he was plastered against the ticket window with a 1000 ruble bill in hand.  It was so crazy!  The bus ride was way long and we knew for sure we would miss our flight to Ukraine.  We finally get to the airport and are running around like crazy.  Somehow, the people were so nice to us and rushed us through security and got us on the plane.  It's about an hour and twenty minute flight to Ukraine, and they still gave us sandwiches and drinks!  We had about 2 hours in the Ukraine airport so we went outside and got a dessert at a small cafe diner thing near the airport.  We got on a plane back to Russia and got more sandwiches.  Someone was brave enough to ask for another sandwich so almost all of us ended up having 3 sandwiches and 2 glasses of juice.  Once we got back to the office in Moscow, we ate some delicious food made by the same elder who made the french toast.  We headed back to the train station and this time got on the least desireable train ever.  There are no private rooms, just beds.  Picture about a hundred people all just sprawled out on the train beds, snoring, breathing, making other weird noises, it was so weird!  The only reason I was able to sleep at all was because I had been up since 3:30 the morning before.  I got woken up by my companion who told me to hurry and get ready because the train had stopped at what we thought was our stop.  I start grabbing all my stuff and just as I was tieing my shoes, the train took off.  We were both pretty scared but the conductor told us it was the next stop.  By the time we got home, I was so tired and nasty looking ha, I hadn't shaved in almost 3 days, or showered for that matter, and I get to come home to a nasty apartment that smells like urine and sleep on a really awful bed.  Missionary life is AWESOME!!  You never know what you'll find in the morning.

 

The rest of the week has been filled with just trying to get used to the area.  It's a bit frustrating when neither of us know where we are.  I hope we figure things out fast because I really hate feeling like we are wasting time.  It's really cool being in a city with more than 2 elders.  We have another set of elders, a set of sisters, and a senior couple.  That's the best part, the senior couple has fed us already I think 4 times.  We will get to eat lunch there every week after our real district meeting and we will be having thanksgiving there.  For some reason Sister Woolley wanted us to have thanksgiving in our own cities this year.  I guess last year, President Collins shipped everyone to Moscow and had a mission thanksgiving.  Anyway, we are supposed to invite an investigator and make it a kind of pot luck thing.  It will be fun. 

 

My companion will take some getting used to.  He's very sarcastic and is having a hard time getting back into the swing of real missionary work since he has spent the last 3 months in Belarus.  I will hopefully be strong enough to bring him back, rather than adapt some of his habits.  I will be fine though and will still be able to learn a lot from him.  He speaks the language very well.  His name is Elder Traasdahl and he is from Arizona.  He goes home in April.  Neither one of us know how to cook very well so hopefully we will learn some stuff.  That would be a great thing you could send me in emails is easy recipes for stuff.  Keep an eye out for easy, tasty food and send me instructions. 

 

Have you gotten the memory card I sent you?  I really hope so.  Let me know, I sent it to the boise house.  I think that is just a bit too scary, I don't know if I'll ever do that again.  I think I will be able to email pictures from the internet place here so that will be nice.  I was getting haircuts from a place in Tula but they were weird because Russian men like to have everything short but their bangs so it just looked weird.  I gave myself a haircut with the equipment that Elder Traasdahl has and it looks really good.  I will probably just be doing that from now on.  Elder Hiatt gave me the scarf as a going away present.  I found out I won't be seeing him again before he leaves.  We are all going to be in Moscow on the 23rd I think so president didn't want to ship us all there 2 weeks before that for zone conference.  That means he'll have a main zone conference for the cities near moscow and for us loners in the far away cities, he will be coming to us.  I was a little sad I won't see Elder Hiatt again but it's okay, I'll just have to give him a call.  I will be able to grab my packages when we go up for the Christmas party so it will be perfect.  Last year, President Collins gave the missionaries a 3 day window to call home just so they could all find a good time that worked for everyone.  I'm not sure what the deal will be this year and I have no idea yet about what I am supposed to do about a calling card or whatever.  Elder Hiatt said his family found some sort of card and just called him.  I'll keep asking around and find out what works best.  You can ask around too and see if you can find some sort of international calling card.  I'll give you more details when I find out.

 

This has to be a record longest email, sorry!  But I am doing great and having a good time.  I'm still trying to figure out what it means to be a true missionary and I suppose that will be my goal for the rest of my mission.  Right now I'm not exactly feeling like I have been the most effective missionary but I'm doing what I can.  This is just one of the many challenges I will face and conquer.  I love you guys and I'm so glad you are all doing well at home so I don't have to worry too much (except about these little babies, they keep me a little worried)  Thanks for everything you do.  I love you all.

 

Elder Geddes

Pictures at last

Jess finally sent a few pictures from Russia.  This is the first babushka he met and he says she is his favorite.  The other one is a member of the branch in Tula.  Doesn't he look handsome in his new winter coat. His first transfer was this week and it was a little harder than he thought to leave, especially the members.  Here is his latest letter from today.

Hey guys,

 

Once again, I am writing from Moscow.  I got here around noon today.  Elder Hiatt and his new companion saw me to the train and said goodbye.  That means I had to ride a train from Tula to Moscow by myself!  I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of scary for me for some reason.  I didn't like being alone in Russia without a phone or anything.  Anyway, I made it to Moscow and there were two Elders waiting for me.  I take a train that leaves at 8:55 tonight and I will arrive in Veronezh at 7:55 tomorrow morning.  I am in the furthest southern city we have in Russia, Kazakstan is still further south but I'm now in the dirty south of Russia!  I'm pretty excited to be going there. 

 

It sounds like everyone is doing really well.  I'm going to try to write you all a quick note, I'm not sure I have a whole lot of time and I still need to eat something but anyway, a little about my week.  First of all, Tanya, our baptismal candidate, is a little confused.  This is a testimony builder of the power of prayer.  When Tanya started meeting with us, both Elder Hiatt and I felt like she didn't really know why she liked meeting with us, but she just felt good about it.  Well we continued to teach her more and more but she for some reason refused to pray.  That could only keep up for so long before she forgot the initial reason she was meeting with us in the first place.  I'm pretty sure Elder Hiatt will still keep meeting with her but she isn't as excited as she used to be.  Unless we pray to find out the truth, the light of Christ will only take us so far.  Remember the scripture, for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray but teacheth him that he should not pray?  It's true.  The reason he teaches men not to pray is because prayer is real and there is a real power that comes when we pray.  That was kind of disappointing but hopefully things work out.  Anyway, the rest of the week was kind of filled with member lessons and saying goodbye and stuff.  I spoke in church for the 3rd or 4th time and that went well.  I was really surprised to find out how attatched I had become to the area and to some of the members.  It was harder than I thought it would be to leave Tula, and Elder Hiatt for that matter.  Rob and Dad know exactly what I'm going through right now, I was a little surprised to read their letters about being transfered.  I had already realized that this was a chance to clean my slate, drop some bad habits, pick up some new good habits and continue to strengthen my good habits.  Elder Hiatt taught me a lot, but some of the things he taught me were things not to do.  I'm sure it will be the same with all my companions.  I am really excited to see what Elder Traasdahl has to teach me.  It will be really fun to serve with him.

 

I did get my debit card and that probably wasn't a mischarge.  We can only take off so much money at a time then it spits out our card and we do it again.  I probably took out a thousand rubles, got my card then took out a thousand more.  My winter coat is awesome, I will be sending some pictures so you can see it.  The lady in the picture is one of the first Bobushkas I met and definitely my favorite so far.  She is awesome.  Her name is Sister Zina-Ida (like ee-da) 

 

Anyway, that's about all the news I have.  I'm glad everyone is doing so well.  I bet you just can't wait for these babies right mom?  Although I bet you are happy to wait if that gives them more time to be healthy.  Well take care everyone, I love you and I will write you next week from Veronezh.

 

Love, Elder Geddes

Transfers

Halloween was especially fun this year because we had all the grandkids there but a little sad because Jess was not. He always loved halloween and all the festivities associated with it. I am posting some pictures of our celebration to show how much fun we had and for Jess to see when his mission is over and I publish this post for him.

Hey everyone,

It seems like a few people forgot to write, namely Liz and Emily. Thats not good since I wonder all week whether or not I have some new nieces or not. I hope everything is okay, but don't forget to write me next week and fill me in on what's going on. Anyway, I'll take care of the business first. I bought a palto, I don't think that is a Russian word but it's just a really nice overcoat. It's got nice thick wool with a fur liner inside. It cost 4900 rubles but it's really nice and actually it's the cheapest one I found. I already have my had, I wear a kepka, one of those old man hats from the newsies. I think I pull it off quite nicely. If I find a computer I can send pictures from, I'll show you. I have gloves and maybe a scarf to buy is all. I have been using Elder Hiatt's extra scarf lately but I am going to probably buy one soon. My debit card wasn't there when I was in Moscow, hopefully I get it this weekend when the senior couple comes to Tula. If not, I will be in Moscow again next Thursday on my way to my new area in Veronezh! I am being transfered and I'm assuming Thursday will be the day I move so if I don't send a letter on Thursday, I probably will Friday so don't worry. My new companion will be Elder Trasdaahl. I don't know too much about him but Elder Hiatt says he is a hard worker so I'm not too worried. Neither one of us have served in Veronezh before so we will both be new to the area. I am a little nervous to get a new companion and a new area but I am excited for all the opportunities this will bring. Veronezh has one of the strongest branches in the mission. They actually have two right now but it is in the process of being combined into one big one. They have aaronic priesthood, young women, and even a choir! It will almost be like being in a real ward. We will have 3 hours of church every week instead of 2 and I most likely won't have any callings in the branch. I will just be a real regular missionary. I'm really excited.

So, it seems like everyone had a lot of fun this past week! I was glad to hear all the funny stories and see all the pictures. Everyone looked great in their costumes. Halloween for us wasn't too interesting. I did draw a picture of a ghost, a pumpkin, and a witch on the board for English club that night, but nobody really cared. I bet you just loved having everyone over for a while right mom? That would have been a lot of fun.

This week has gone by really fast, as usual. On Monday, we got to go to Kaluga to do splits with Elder Vernon and Player. I love working with Elder Player. We are already such good friends from the mtc, and we both still have our greenie fires burning. Both of us have old companions who can be less than enthusiastic from time to time. Elder Player actually really wanted to be transfered but he didn't get it. Anyway, it was really fun and we did a good job of talking with everyone. They couldn't find any lessons for us so we street contacted and knocked doors for about 6 hours. It was tiring but so much fun. It's awesome to be able to talk to people and actually have them understand us and have a conversation with us. We talked with one lady for probably over 20 minutes. We are progressing and learning every day. After we got back from Kaluga, we for some reason had a lot of our lessons cancel on us for the rest of the week. It wasn't too good, but there are still a few days left this week that we can get some good lessons in. Tanya, our baptismal candidate was one of the ones who canceled a few meetings. She once again didn't make it to church on Sunday. I honestly don't really know how I feel about her. Sometimes I get a sinking suspiscion she just likes meeting with two American guys. She tells us she hasn't smoked since last week when we tore up her cigarettes but I'm still just not sure how well she is progressing. I have one more week here to get a few more lessons with her and hopefully help her receive a testimony. Something strange, one night the phone started ringing at 3 in the morning. I jumped up to go grab it but they had hung up before I got there. I layed in bed for a few minutes worried that someone needed our help and we missed their call and then the phone rang again. I jumped up and ran to get it. I said hello and it was Tanya! She asked me what we were doing and I said uh... we were sleeping, why are you calling. I think she had the wrong number though because once she realized who it was, she said a bunch of stuff that I couldn't understand on a good day, let alone at 3 in the morning then hung up. It was really strange. Anyway, we'll keep working with her this week, and Elder Hiatt and his new companion will continue working with her and hopefully help her get to the water.

I have kind of a funny story from English club last night. There is this one Vietnamese guy named Thien who comes. He is a student here in Tula. Last night, he said (insert broken English with a vietnamese accent) "Elder Geddes, I read a book about how to make women laugh" I said, "Oh yeah? How was it?" He said, "Well, I took action, but the first women I met, I make them cry" I said, "How did that happen?" He said, "Well, my joke were so long and boring, they began to cry." I was laughing pretty hard, almost crying myself. Thien is a great guy, I'll miss him. I got my picture taken with some of the members of my club. Hopefully the rest come this Saturday so I can see them again.

I think that is all the exciting news from this week. Next week I will probably be writing you from Veronezh. Oh ya, if I don't even get my debit card next Thursday when I am in Moscow, I will be in Moscow again the next week because it's about time for my first visa trip to Kiev. What a crazy mission I am in! A lot goes on around here. Tell everyone hello for me, especially if you all get together for Thanksgiving. Let me know what happens with that. Also, Mom, you forgot to let me know if the emails I'm sending you to forward to other people are working. I really need to know. If they aren't working, have Rob or someone figure out why so I can communicate with other people as well as with you. I hope you all have a great week. Thanks for everything! I love you.

Elder Geddes

How to make a missionary homesick

Its hard to know what to tell your missionary while they are on their mission.  You go between not wanting to say too much about what's going on at home and keeping him informed about what's going on at home.  I hate to make him homesick but I know he loves hearing about the family.  I guess I will continue to keep him informed and he will get a little tougher as the time goes on.  He has always loved it when the family gets together and hopefully always will.  We really missed him last week when Anthony was baptized and he had to miss it.  It made it a little more special though since that is what his mission is all about.  I am including some pictures he sent home last week that are really quite beautiful and really show what a lot of Russia looks like.

Hey everyone,

 

I'll admit it, I got a tiny bit homesick reading about all the festivities.  It sounds like it was a lot of fun and a special occasion.  I would have loved to be there to join in the fun.  It seems like it definitely kept you all busy this past week.  Busy weeks go by way way fast thats for sure.  So the furnace went out huh?  They just don't make 'em like they used to do they.  Don't worry, it can only keep up this way for a while, until you've replaced everything, then you should be set for a couple of years. 

 

Well, I am writing this letter from the mission office.  I am stuck here all day while Elder Hiatt is in Ukraine renewing his visa.  This week has gone by so fast.  We had a busy couple of days with missionary work, lessons and what not then we were excited for mission conference yesterday.  I love mission conference because we get to come to Moscow and we always learn a lot.  This one was extra exciting because Elder Hiatt had a visa trip the next day which meant we got to stay in Moscow the whole rest of the day and the night.  The conference was really helpful and full of ideas how we can improve.  I like to get to know all the other missionaries better and plus we get pizza hut for lunch and Sister Woolley gives us all a jar of peanut butter.  We still have some peanut butter but we now have more.  After the conference, Elder Hiatt, Elder Worthington and I got to kind of do whatever we wanted.  We weren't even in our mission boundaries so it's not like we could do work.  We decided to go to Red Square and get some pictures.  We also went to the main temple of all Russian Orthodoxism.  It was closed for some reason but I definitely need to go back there before I go home.  We went to a mass that was going on in the temple right on Red Square so I got to see what goes on.  First of all, I have no idea where they get the ideas for how their service is supposed to go.  It's a very flashy kind of service that is actually broadcast over microphones so you can hear it without even being in there.  It seems a bit like they are really trying to impress people.  We got covered in insense as the bishop guy walked around swinging his little golden insense thing.  It smelled pretty good though, I'm not gonna lie.  It smelled like Christmas tree hunting if you can believe it.  Anyway, it's funny to think of how on earth they came to the conclusion that this is how church should be led.  We went through the mall there on Red Square.  Supposedly it is one of the most expensive malls in the world.  It was kind of neat.  After we were done having fun and it was time to go home, we went to the AP's apartment to sleep.  I spent some time with the AP's just talking and getting to know them, all in Russian!  They are great examples because they are supposed to speak pretty much only Russian and they do.  I am in a sort of slump with the language.  Satan has figured out a tool to slow me down and that is fear.  For a while, everything I would say to people would get this reaction like "why is this kid slaughtering our language?"  One guy even asked me to please speak to him in Russian!!  I know he knew what language I was speaking but some people are really intolerant of accents around here.  It's kind of funny now but at the time it just ticked me off.  Anyway, after a while of this going on, I got a little more timid and shy about speaking.  Now, I understand so much but I don't speak well, I feel like.  I can understand almost 100% of a missionary conversation.  I understand a lot of what other people are saying but when I try to speak, I just can't seem to do it.  I told Elder Hiatt that I'm just plain not practicing enough.  We speak way too much english and now after staying a night with the AP's, I know I can speak Russian, even in the apartment.  I have a new motivation to speak more so I can catch up.  I am happy with how much I am understanding but that doesn't help much if I can't speak back to the people.  Anyway, it was so much fun staying at their apartment because they share the apartment with two office elders who are really cool and fun.  The AP's wanted to take a nap before they got going with stuff so I tagged along with the office elders here to the office.  Elder Hiatt will be gone until aound 6 or so.  Just enough time for us to catch a Marshutka home to Tula. 

 

Some news about our baptismal candidate Tanya.  She has brought two of her friends to lessons with her, one seems more interested than the other but we view both of them as potential investigators.  We're almost sure she won't be ready by the 14th just because first of all, she hasn't come to church yet.  She keeps saying she will but she doesn't.  The reason she hasn't been coming is not a good reason either.  She things 10:00 is too early to be there on her day off.  If she doesn't get baptised just because she's not willing to get out of bed in the morning, I won't be too happy.  Also, we found out she smokes.  She's only about 20 years old and she's already tried to quit a few times.  We have called her every night for the last 4 nights since we found out and asked if she smoked and so far so good.  We are hoping to help her quit that.  We haven't gotten any other baptismal dates yet but we have had some trouble getting a hold of some of the people we have a chance with. 

 

That seems to be about all the news for this week.  Things are going great and I have a new desire to be a better missionary.  The trick is to keep the desire alive.  I love you all and thank you for all your love and support.  Thanks for everything!

 

Elder Geddes