28

Week one of transfer five! On Tuesday (pday for the last week of every transfer) we went up to the San Andreas building and had a Nerf war. E Harral has a whole artillery of Nerf weapons, and we set up barriers in the gym. It was awesome.
 
On Wednesday E Harral left for the mission office so he could go to the temple and have his departing interview. He flew home Thursday morning. (in the picture he's not that short, we're just on a slope :-) E jones left for his new area, so Boeke and I waited at the apartment until his new companion arrived, E Maxfield. E Maxfield is from Wyoming! A while after that my new companion arrived, E Barrow! He's from Houston, TX. He's the oldest of four. He's pretty cool. This is his second to last transfer, so he could die here in the hills just like Harral did. He's never been in a hills area before, so I broke him in by doing service every day ;) Working on Jess's ranch, helping Mark Tresnor, tearing down a carport, and helping a family move. We've been busy!
 
On Friday our Elder's Quorum President in the Ione ward asked us to be on the judges panel for the ward's chili cook-off. Oh boy. The chilis were dang good, but the next day we suffered the consequences.
 
Sunday was wonderful. I love Sundays. In Jackson ward we had many people that we've been working with attend sacrament meeting. We had lunch with the Busis, one of the awesome families here, and had dinner and a lesson with the Hertzogs. I love the people here :D
 
Well, this afternoon we'll probably be going to Indian Grinding Rock, a state park in our area, with Boeke and Maxfield. Love ya!

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

P.S.

BTW, we're getting our mission president back!!!!!

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

28

Week one of transfer five! On Tuesday (pday for the last week of every transfer) we went up to the San Andreas building and had a Nerf war. E Harral has a whole artillery of Nerf weapons, and we set up barriers in the gym. It was awesome.

 

On Wednesday E Harral left for the mission office so he could go to the temple and have his departing interview. He flew home Thursday morning. (in the picture he's not that short, we're just on a slope :-) E jones left for his new area, so Boeke and I waited at the apartment until his new companion arrived, E Maxfield. E Maxfield is from Wyoming! A while after that my new companion arrived, E Barrow! He's from Houston, TX. He's the oldest of four. He's pretty cool. This is his second to last transfer, so he could die here in the hills just like Harral did. He's never been in a hills area before, so I broke him in by doing service every day ;) Working on Jess's ranch, helping Mark Tresnor, tearing down a carport, and helping a family move. We've been busy!

 

On Friday our Elder's Quorum President in the Ione ward asked us to be on the judges panel for the ward's chili cook-off. Oh boy. The chilis were dang good, but the next day we suffered the consequences.

 

Sunday was wonderful. I love Sundays. In Jackson ward we had many people that we've been working with attend sacrament meeting. We had lunch with the Busis, one of the awesome families here, and had dinner and a lesson with the Hertzogs. I love the people here :D

 

Well, this afternoon we'll probably be going to Indian Grinding Rock, a state park in our area, with Boeke and Maxfield. Love ya!

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

27

Busy as ever! It was rainy/snowy on Monday, but we went upcountry anyway to Black Chasm! It's this huge cavern that is managed by a member in our ward. She took us on an off-trail tour, sliding and crawling through the underground chambers. The rain made it even more wet in the cave, so we got pretty muddy. The formations in Black Chasm are the most distinctive in North California. The picture is of a wall of helectites. It was so awesome.

 

On Tuesday we went over to the Saldates, a family in our ward. They needed trees pruned and yard waste burned. We cut and burned a huge pile of branches and two Christmas trees. It was fun.

 

On Wednesday E. Jones came on exchange with me! We cleaned out one of our investigator's gutters and had a good lesson with her afterwards. In the evening we had a lesson with another one of our investigators, Steve. He is blind and we have been teaching him since the Gladys Knight fireside which he attended with a ward member. It was a great day.

 

On Thursday we drove to North Stockton because we needed to trade vehicles with another companionship :( Our vehicle coordinator, Elder Clifton, called us and said that the church wants all the vehicles to mature at the same rate and we were putting too many miles too fast on our truck. We haven't been exceeding our monthly allotment, but our truck is a gas-guzzler and with the summer months ahead we probably don't need the four-wheel-drive. So, we've been demoted to a corolla :( This will make some of the dirt roads harder to drive, but I'm sure glad we're not on bike.

 

On Friday I hit six months! My companion hit 24 on the same day. And now he's going home in two days. I'm really bummed, we've become good friends. We get along well, teach well together, and we have fun. I'm gonna miss him!

 

Last night we got our transfer call. E Harral's getting transfered to Utah and Elder Barrow will be serving with me in Jackson/Ione.

 

Later!

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

26

I sent this last week but it didn't post. Sorry.

 

 

 

Last Monday we went to Calaveras Big Trees! Boy were there some big trees. We only hiked The North Grove section of the Park. And there were patches of snow!!! It was so beautiful. We need to hike more often. Unfortunately today it's rainy, so we might be staying indoors :(
 
This week was awesome! We worked really hard and did a lot of service, almost every day. We split wood, burned weeds in a cow pasture, blew pine needles, hauled wood, scraped paint, and even installed house numbers for a lady. We really gain trust and friendship through service. And besides that, it's just plain fun to work and sweat. It's also been a successful week teaching lessons and strengthening our wards.
 
It's the last week of this transfer! It felt like yesterday I moved up here. Boy is Harral trunky (nine more days til he meets his family at the airport), but it's alright to talk about it as long as we still work just as hard. We've really seen the blessings of our faith and work.
 
Love,
 
Chris

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

25

This week was awesome. On Friday Harral and I went out to one of our member's ranches (he runs several). We helped him prepare the foundation for a horse barn we're building. We've helped him out with a few other projects. I love working out there. It was also my birthday on Friday! In the evening we were called over to our ward mission leader's house, Bro. Martinez. My companion had secretly texted him and and he had cake at his house. It was awesome.

 

On Sunday we attended church in Jackson ward. Testimony meeting was awesome. One of our less-active friends bore her testimony and said she wouldn't be less-active anymore. We taught the gospel principles class and a non-member came with a friend and really enjoyed it. Priesthood and Relief Society was combined and the bishop spoke about pornography and showed a Conference talk by Jeffery R. Holland. One of the loved members of our ward has had a brain tumor since last year and was not expected to be still alive. Yesterday we heard news that she took a turn for the worse. It's amazing how a crisis like this has united the ward. The Jackson ward is small, but it feels like one big family. I love this place.

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.