Week # 36 ~Feeling SICK!

Hey everyone,

I have got all of your letters. I love getting them, they really lift me and make my day special.

I just want to say that Preston, he kind of made me a little excited/nervous with his little input in the letter from home it said " loving your PSN account, love you"  boy if you mess that account up I will …

1. forgive you because I am a missionary  

2. tell you to never do it again and

3. re-make it and get it back to where it was previously. 

Preston, I hope your knee surgery continues to go well.  I hope you get healed fast because surgery is not fun.   If you can find my doctors prescription that say’s that for a full recovery you need hugs and kisses form cute girls- you can use!  It worked for me and you will probably get more kisses than me though, but don't get too prideful about that!

Anyway, I am feeling good, I am currently sick and am coughing up crap.   I am feeling so crappy but I am still going and doing my best to go out and work. 

My bike tire is flat for an unknown reason, I got it fixed and am riding a lot. 

My testimony is growing with the work here in Nebraska. I am super happy, my comp is great.   We have not even had an intense argument and we are like best friends.  I love to teach and enjoy the experience with the people in my ward.

My time is out and I love you tons and really love all of your letters. 

…and I love you with all of my heart also mom!

I will send you a letter in the mail about my week soon.

Love you,

Elder Vance

Week # 35 ~Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Week,

I am going to have to make this email a little short. I will send you a letter about each day of my week and send you some Easter pictures.

Our mission president sent us this link http://easter.mormon.org/  it is really cool and you should visit it.  Share it with someone.

All my love,

Elder Vance

Week # 34 ~Working Hard!

Hello,

Last week was transfers.  I am staying and my comp. Elder Bailey is staying also.  He is now our district leader.  When he got a call that told him that he was the new district leader, he freaked so much, so I thought he was kidding.  But he has calmed down now and will be a great leader. 

Here is a little about the always strange and totally random weather we have been having in Grand Island Nebraska. 

Saturday it was hot enough for us to wear short sleeves and walk out side. I started to actually sweat a little. 

Then Sunday, it started to rain,

Then to hail

And then to snow

And then to blizzard

And then to have our cars temporarily grounded so we couldn't drive.  What an adventure!!

 We are just starting to teach a girl by the name of Anna.  She is all of a sudden super interested in the church. She was asking very deep questions about the church which include ' in Mormon marriages do they say till death do us part?' We were more than happy to explain.  We talked to her for about 2 hours and she wants to get baptized as soon as she can!!  She has not set a date yet because she is out of town for about a month.  I think that she will be a super great member.

I am reading in D&C 10, one of my favorite books!  I love reading in D & C.  In comp study we are reading in Moses 5. 

I had a dream the other night about Dad.  I was face to face with Dad and my bishop.  I was talking to Dad about something and Dad told me,” You have to love the people that you are serving like your family loves you.”  And that hit me hard; I realized that I just felt like they were like friends rather then a member of my family.  I am striving to change that with in me. 

After being out here for a few months and serving the people of Nebraska. I have developed such a strong testimony that there is a devil that is Satin and he wants to destroy us, but we can over come him with the help of God, prayer and repentance.

My comp it super awesome and way better that the last one.  He is almost a head taller than me and is really funny.   He helps me out a lot and he loves me and has started writing down some of the funny things that I say.   He is super into dirt biking and mountain biking and knows a lot about bikes.   

Speaking of bikes…I just bought a bike, and my credit card is not working for some reason.  My bike is kind of like our tan one that I rode with the front shocks but no back shock and it is a Giant that is what the bike model is called.   It has tires that are in between mountain bike tires and road bike tires.   I have a lock for it that clips on my bike.  If I get transferred with it I can bring it on the trailer with me. My comp has a bike also, we are riding all over the place now, weather permitting!   

There are a lot of hard things about my mission, which include, waking up at 6:30 and going to bed super tired at 10:30.  Also walking until your feet are both cramping and riding your bike until your lungs start burning.  I also worry about people I am teaching.   When they do something bad like do drugs again, pornography and all the other sins that are so prevalent. There is not anything that is super easy on your mission.  It is hard, but worth every minute to serve. 

I am doing better because we got a pull up bar in our apartment and I have been doing pull ups.   

 My time is up and I love you so much.

Tell everyone thank you for the letters and packages.  It really makes my week! 
Please keep them coming! 

Love, Elder Auston Vance

AKA Elder Brother

Week # 33 ~Suprise snow storms!

Hello family,

Yes, my hand is healing fine and all of my stitches are out now. 

So I put that letter that you sent me in the mail today and wrote a letter on the back of it for you explaining a dream that I had.

Here is my week in review.

Monday.  P-day.  Did some shopping and I am having to go to a different store to get my milk.  Prices are super expensive in some places and others milk is cheaper around $2.50 a gallon.

Wednesday.  We had district meeting and had district pictures. It was great! 

Friday.  It was another surprise snowstorm. We were walking in it and we got covered in ice and snow.  It is super hard to do anything in that kind of weather especially walks around and tracting.  But we are thawed out now.

We are teaching a couple of families. I am working with them to help them understand plan of salvation.  They are awesome people. 

Tyson, good luck wrestling!  Don't panic but concentrate, some of the best wrestlers in the world have won because they have beat their opponent mentally first.  Get some adrenalin pumping in you right before you go wrestle, it makes your whole body react quicker. Good Luck, you will be great. 

My comp wants that Red suit of Preston’s.   He was thinking when you are done with it you could send it to him.  We both think that that whole tux is super awesome!!!

Until next week-

Love you lots,

Elder Vance

Week # 32 ~A what?!

 

Hello family and friends,

So this week has been strange with its weather.  One day it was really hot and the next day it started to rain,  Then it turned into a mini snow storm and then stopped and it was sunny again.  The weather here is super bipolar here in Grand Island, Nebraska. 

During the week we met with this less active named J, he was very interesting.  He lives in a small house with some friends.   He told us that he has a gigantic under ground bunker with 50 foot ceilings.   He claims that Verizon built a cell tower on top of his bunker and since he owns the land, they pay him 1.5 million dollars every year so they can have the tower on top of his land.  Inside his bunker he has tons of motor cycles and other life saving items in it.  He also claims that he has drones patrolling his property.  I think that he is a little crazy but he is being totally serious about it.  I hope we can teach him some lessons and bring some “normal” into his life.  We will see!

Other than that we had a very slow week and nothing much happened.  Teaching, walking, reading, praying, listening, smiling!!

Love,

Elder Vance.

Week # 31~ Eyes widen, "uh oh."

 Hello All,

First off, I would like to say, happy birthday to Tyson who is now 13 years old and tell him to not give into the urge to do stupid things because of his teenageness.  Also happy birthday to Preston and Makenzie, turning 17.  Wow!

Monday.  It was a pretty normal day and it was pretty hot.   It’s about 60 degrees.  We played street basket ball in the park and it was a lot of fun.

Tuesday.  It was kind of a slow day and I needed to buy some ear buds so I could listed to sounds on the computers in our library, so it was about 9:30 p.m.  When I was trying to open the ear buds with a very sharp knife,  which is very stupid, don't try to do what I did!  The knife slipped and cut my knuckle open.  It was a pretty deep cut and I could see my tendon and some other things in my hand.  So I got some thing to stop the bleeding and we called the Spanish elders.  They had the car  that we share, we asked told them that I needed to go to the ER.  They came and picked us up.  I got three stitches.  I am fine and will heal completely.   I will follow up with a  doctor on April 1 to get the stitches out. 

Then on Friday  it started to snow and to blizzard and we had to walk in it and it was freeken cold.

That was my week in a quick review.  Talk more soon. 

Love Elder Vance