January 5, 2015

Hola Familia y Amigos,

     Monday- Such a great day! However I think it was my first time ever doing laundry in a Laundry mat in my entire life. It was definitely a humbling experience. Made me realize, and understand how much I have taken for granted the past 20 years of my life. However, those laundry machines are so fast. We had all our laundry washed and dried in less than 1 hour. 

     We went the church an participated in the normal weekly p-day events! To end our night we had a pretty funny evening. We had dinner with an awesome family at a good Mexican food restaurant. That definitely made me realize how much I miss being in a Hispanic branch or ward! The food is a huge part of my being nowadays!  

    To end the evening we drove out to Bodega Bay, to see a less active. She is a super funny older woman, but man she made it quite obvious she didn't want anything to do with us as missionaries, guys, or even the church! It was quite interesting. She did think we were quite funny though, but even after a few jokes an such, she still wouldn't allow us in her home. 

    Tuesday- We were able to go on exchanges and Elder Green an I had Elder Middleton with us! It was a lot of fun, and we were able to do a lot of service. We were able to go out to a campsite where people actually live, and were able to do a lot of service. This campsite was a site where they actually had to evacuate a few weeks ago when that huge rainstorm came because it was flooded. We were able to help hang up some new storms tarps over their trailers to protect their trailers from the Redwood limbs that fall all the time. 

     Wednesday- It was New Year's Eve. We had quite the experience as missionaries that evening. We had a lot of fun, trying our own Duck Dynasty life! It was quite enjoyable. However I will explain that after.  I will admit, that night I got pretty Trunky because we spent the night, at the Daley family’s party! Seeing all the cousins in the family wrestling, playing basketball, rough housing, reminded me of what it will be like when I get home, an how I can't wait for that time. On our way home, a jackrabbit jumped out in front of us. We happened to take its life that night, on our way home. However I am proud to say, that we didn't just waste it. We actually picked it up, made sure it wasn't suffering, and then put it in a plastic bag that we had. We took it home, gutted it, cleaned it out, and then ate it for lunch the next day! It was interesting but it wasn't the worst lunch I've had on the mission yet. It was quite the interesting experience.  

    Thursday was another great day of service. We were able to run chain saws and drop a few trees. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoy this area a lot. The only thing I wish is for the fact that I could speak more Spanish than I have the opportunity to right now. However we do contact a lot of people in Spanish, but then I just give them to the sisters.  Sister Thirion who we did our service for, is an older lady who is from France. She is so awesome. She actually does steel gun carving and belt buckles by hand. It is the coolest trade I have ever seen. 

     Friday was another interesting day just because we usually get stuck doing our weekly planning all day. However, we finished it in a relatively quick amount of time. We then had a wonderful night teaching lessons, and were able to go contacting at like 8 o'clock. I froze like a little girl though! I couldn't believe how cold it was.  

    Saturday- Holy cow! Saturday blew my mind away. We talked with so many people as well as taught 6 lessons that day! It was a lot of fun! It was in the city of Guerneville where we technically aren’t aloud to proselyte because of the population of homosexuals! It's such an interesting city, however the members there do a great job of sharing the gospel and then we just go there to teach the lessons. It's a ton of fun. 

Overall this last week was a lot of fun! I hope you all Enjoy your New Year! It's crazy to think I come home this year. However this year is going to be the best year of my life. I love you all! Miss you all a ton! 

Love, 

Elder Albertson