8/25/09

Hey Mom & Dad,

Good to know that my family's still keeping up on it's home teaching, even without me ;)

Sorry, I haven't sent the camera memory card yet. I had it, and the tape, all ready in the UPS envelope last week when we went the the Postal Office last week to pick up my package, but then they told us that USPS doesn't ship UPS :( Well, that is the competition, after all, I guess. But I'll try again soon. I happen to know that there's a UPS in the local Staples.

Yeah, Hawaii was great. I want to try surfing again. Oh, and wherever, I think I want to try water skiing, and anything that involves being dragged after a boat in a lake like that.

It's cool you're learning more about working with pictures. I wish I knew a little bit more myself.
Recently, in a few spare moments, I finally started writing a story I've had for a long time from the beginning. Of course, I wish I'd done it ages ago. But oh well.

That's a cool way to talk to yourself in your journal. I wish I was a little bit better like that. I also wish I had a better organization for my uplifting letters and stories and quotes I've gotten. I've certainly got quite a few.

I liked the article by Elder D. Todd Christofferson (Moral Agency, June 2009 Ensign), too. I liked the part where he mentions that though we taste good and bad in this life, we do not need to yield to Satan to fulfill the purpose of this life or learn. Hopefully we do learn and repent if we sin, but "like Jesus, we can gain all we need in the way of a mortal experience without yielding."

One of the investigators that I'd been working with before the areas changed finally came to church yesterday! Her name is Jenny and we had been teaching her with Jesus, the former atheist. Sadly, he's disappeared. In our work this past week we went up to Baker and Barstow. We had one "media referral" which meant we had a video (Finding Faith in Christ) to deliver. The address was in a car workshop. We went in the first time and didn't get very far so my companion started to leave, but since I though she'd probably seen a commercial or something, I really wanted to do my duty and at least deliver the movie, so I convinced my companion to go back in. We talked with her a bit more and found out that she had a son that was Mormon and wanted to learn more. We wound up leaving her with the movie, a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon in Spanish. She seems so sincere and it was a great meeting. She lives in Barstow but we'd be really happy to go back and visit. Hopefully I'll be able to write about her again in a while.

Anyways, we've done a bit of finding this past week to try and get people to teach. We finally had a lesson with a part-member family that we've been trying to get to. Don't know how it's going to go or how he really fees, but he does want to keep having missionary discussions. And we just got a call from a member family who has a friend family with someone who is very sick. They want the member family to visit along with the missionaries. We will probably have a chance to give a blessing too.

Elder Pepperdine

Email and letter excerpts 8/17/09

8/17/09 - Dear Mom & Dad,

They actually tried to deliver a package yesterday and the day before, but there are problems with that in our apartment. To explain- I checked the mail and there was a key in our small mail slot to the bigger mail slot for the package. Unfortunately, it didn't work, so the apartment office people said they'd leave a note for the postal service just to leave the package with them.

Wow, sounds like life's busy again back there. Well, I guess Pepperdine hotel is being of service to a bunch of people. I plan to check in myself in 19 months :)

How are Ben & Ryan doing?

And tell Sarah not to worry. I'm not good at writing either :( But I suppose if I want to write her, pretty soon I'll just be able to use the house address!

Joshua trees... hm... I'm not sure they'd be very good decor outside of the desert. Anyhow, I have not been to Joshua Tree National Park. I didn't know about it, but I doubt I'll get the chance to go there. You know, rally up the missionaries to go see Joshua trees for their P-day activity (I guess I'm a little bit of an oddball).

Okay, our apartment is Spanish missionaries at this moment. It used to have six, but Elder Popham, who I mentioned, and Elder Orr, his new companion, actually move out, just leaving Elder Clayton and I, and our new companions, Elder Stotts and Elder Johnson, respectively.

Yep, Elder Johnson was in the city before here. He's rather amazed at the lack of OYMing. But that's mostly because you walk around out here, and YOU DON"T MEET ANYBODY. Very different from the city.

Yep, I had a bunch of fun with maps since I came out here. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I've learned a lot more about my area geographically since I came here. Hopefully I'm getting better at navigation in general.

Today on P-day we went to a cool place in the desert and rode our bikes on some hills and such. Since transfers we've had more time to spend up in North Adelanto so we have a couple of new investigators. Elizabeth is an 18-year-old who is five months pregnant and wishes she could have waited. She loves the coming baby though and wants to give it a better life so she's taking the discussions. She asked asked if we had families (kids) of our own and I just talked about our missions and what we do for two years...that if we had a family and kids we couldn't really do this. We're also teaching Remedios, a middle-aged man who has taken some discussions before. We're hoping that he should progress as he has desires to know and even some feeling that it seems true.

Summer in the desert (or the hottest part) may not last much longer. We've already had a couple cooler days but it hasn't finished winding down just yet.

My Spanish may be getting better (I hope). Interviews with the President went well this last time. I missed Zone Conference though, because the Spanish missionaries were requested at a funeral.

By the way, our roommates, Elders Stotts and Clayton, got their bikes stolen and then found them later in a park. The thieves had taken Elder Calyton's bike pump and handle grips (... why?... people are strange) and had thrown Elder Stott's bike off of a roof. (My bike is perfectly fine.)

Sorry this is short. 'Till later,

Adrian

Email and letter excerpts 8/10/09

8/10/09 - Dear Mom & Dad,

Yep, my new companion is a D.L. But I roomed with a D.L. before, so I'm not sure how much more of the administrative side I'm going to see.

And yes, we get to continue using a car. Only one of the four Spanish areas in the desert is a bike area. We used to have three areas, and when they added the fourth, they didn't have any more cars to add, so they just added a bike area, but it sounds like it's going well.

We now have eight missionaries in the ward. The area I'm in split/changed a bit to make room for the new Spanish area. We get to spend more time in the desert-y Adelanto area than we used to. And, as I think I've said, I love the desert :)

You asked for info about the other elders in my apartment. Elder Popham is a fun-loving guy, tall and skinny like me and is from Utah. I enjoy his humor. He came into the field the same time as me but he's an English-speaking elder, so he's one transfer younger (less MTC time). He now has a companion named Elder Orr who seems really good and nice and a good worker. He's serious and is adjusting to the desert (he's from Canada) and he has his own type of humor. He can do a creepy impersonation of "Edward Saladfingers".

Elder Clayton's new companion is Elder Stotts. He is quite upbeat and good at telling stories and good to have around. My new companion, Elder Johnson, was in the same MTC district as Elder Strang (my first companion). The were both originally called to Russia, but then they temporarily stopped sending missionaries there and they both found out one week before entering the MTC that their calls had been changed to Spanish - California San Bernardino! He's a good, dedicated worker from a small mountain settlement in Utah and is glad to be in the desert away from the big city.

Scripture thoughts for the week - 3 Nephi 20:26; 3 Nephi 20:40 is a missionary scripture and 3 Nephi 26:9 - there's more stuff on the way if we believe in what we are given. Jesus commanded us to search these things ... even Isaiah... :|

Sincerely, Elder Pepperdine

Email and letter excerpts 8/3/09

8/3/09 - Mom & Dad,

We’re doing e-mail in a different place these days (more convenient and faster internet), so it's at a different time, too. Sorry if that's throwing you off. Oh, and my apartment is (probably) going to be four elders, all Spanish missionaries, when all is said and done.

Thanks for forwarding Jon's (Jon Pitts - friend from BYU-I) mission call comments from Facebook. It's great to know when and where he's going out.

Romar and Sarah sent me a package sent me a package while I was in the MTC, and I thought I sent a response/thank you, but I can't really remember, it's quite possible I didn't actually, and I should. I hope I can still find their address. I might not be able to right now.

Good luck on the swim! It sounds like fun to me! It'll probably be a fun experience for you...once you're out of the water on the other side :) What date is the triathlon? I'll mark it on my calendar.

Tony's back at the natatorium! Wow, it's cool to hear about him moving along. Maybe there's an off chance I'll see him somewhere in two years. Thanks for the news. "Hi" back to him.

I think I've hit a kind of mail drop. So keep the letters coming! I don't usually get other mail in the week except when Philip writes. And I got an email from Minh today!

Anyhow, I like the desert and the "Joshua trees" that we have here. I think Ill come back and camp out at least once out here after my mission.

Trips to the temple are separate from zone meetings or conferences. So far, they've been happening every transfer, but I hear some sad hints that they're going to be decreased to once every two transfers, so that's going to be rather sparse :( Especially considering how much work we're doing as missionaries. But life goes on.

And, about transfers, I do know a little bit now, but not everything. I'm going to be staying here. My companion is not. Also, my next companion is going to be the district leader in my new district. That'll be a good thing, seeing as we need a Spanish district leader to do baptismal interviews for Spanish-speakers. Otherwise, President Sanchez can give special permission for a missionary to do an interview (such as when the entire desert doesn't have a Spanish district leader, like this last transfer). I don't know who my next companion will be, however.

We had some good lessons this week especially one with the Cordero family, which is a really nice family that has interest but just haven't come to church. The father's work gets in the way. But we had a nice visit and brought the ward mission leader, his wife and daughter. ... We also had the chance to deliver the sacrament to a handicapped person. It was fun to deliver the sacrament again.

Some scriptures I noted in my missionary journal this week were Helaman 14:13-17 and 3 Nephi 7:24 and 25. The first one is about Christ, and the second is about the relationship between repentence and baptism.

And thanks for sharing the snippet from your mission. With love,

With love, Adrian

Email excerpts 7/13 - 7/27

Dear Friends and family,

My last email to you was dated 7/12 so I thought I should send out another update on Adrian's mission.

Tidbits from letters ...

Letter of 7/13/09
Thanks to Uncle Lee for the Yellowstone postcard - unfortunately, Adrian did not have your return address to write back to you. As noted in the last email, Adrian and his companion finally moved from their overcrowded apartment into one that Adrian said was spacious enough for two companionships... well you knew they wouldn't have it to themselves very long. They were 5 and then 6 in their apartment. Another companionship (English speaking) is staying with them temporarily because the member they usually live with has family visiting now. And their mission participates in a "two week mission" program. They had a 17-year-old join up with their companionship as a learning experience. Their missionary in training was a Hispanic native. Then they got another single (Spanish) missionary who was without a companion for a while.

"As Alma 27:27 says, the Lord worketh in many ways to bring to pass the salvation of his people. The Lamanite prisoners rebellion truly is a strange thing that ended up helping the Nephites. The Lord has many miracles in store, and has been working them from the beginning.

... The Spanish missionaries sometimes have to fight off envy of the English wards. We're working with our wards to try and help them get organized but the English missionaries seem to get so much more help from their wards with finding and teaching. We did just get a new ward mission leader and some ward missionaries so hopefully things are getting started up again in that department. The English elders got 6 of their investigators to church this week. for some reason getting people to church is almost impossible for us. In the very beginning of my mission, there were two coming, then they got baptized. The closest thing we've had to an investigator at church since then is when one of the recent converts brought two of his kids with him. We're doing a lot of good work with a bunch of different people, and finding new ones, too, but I'm looking forward to seeing people at that step again.

I think I've started to hit a little bit of a mail drop from people (other than my parents). -- hint from his Mom

------------------------

Letter of 7/20/09

I'm finally getting somewhat tired of all this heat.

We did a lot of finding this week considering we had 4 elders and could split up in twos. It was pretty good. I encountered one of my weirdest "finds" yet. We met a very science-driven guy who didn't like faith but apparently ran a Bible-study somewhere. ...In my scripture reading, I read the whole part about how Amalickiah schemed his way to become King of the Lamanites, but when it had finished talking about Amalickiah it jumped back to talking about how Moroni had not ceased to fortify his cities and build new defenses and prepare. So i wrote in my study journal "evil never rests. Neither did Moroni."

Also, I received the last two ward mission newsletters - very cool! - thanks go to Brother Hale!

------------------------------
letter of 7/27/09

July's just about over, and transfer calls are this coming Saturday. We're also planning to add two missionaries to the ward, so that would make eight missionaries in one ward. The mission doesn't have more cars available, so they're going to take part of our area, and part of another companionship's area, and create a spanish bike area.
Hm...we didn't have any investigators at church today, but we did get what could eventually be a baptismal date with Jesus, our "formerly atheist" investigator. Elder Strang's pushing on it. It's just sort of a goal to be by then decided, (and hopefully baptized). A motivation, I guess, to be working & reading and going to church, since he hasn't been or seen what it's like yet.

By next week's letter I might know where I'm going to be fore the next six weeks. My companion's the one that's likely to be moving, though. Here's the scripture thought for this week: Helaman 10:4-5, blessings come from working unwearyingly in your calling, or place in life that you're in right now.

-------------

Hope you enjoyed the Adrian tidbits. We appreciate your support.

Kristi

Email excerpts 6/15 - 7/6

Dear Friends and Family,

It is hard to believe it has been a month since I sent out the last "Tidbits from Adrian". Here is the latest news from the mission field.

Letter dated 6/15
-----------------------
I will only read the original study materials (standard works and the other four books) for the first year of my mission. Then we can branch out to a few other things. Books I've heard suggested for 2nd year reading are "The Infinite Atonement" and "The Inevitable Apostasy."

And Aunt Karen's package! Wow. Tell her thanks for me!

My Spanish is ... going slow right now. I've got to improve that. It sort of slowed after I got out of the MTC. So I've got to re-work on my language study.

Did I tell you that we're teaching a guy who used to claim Atheism, but had a change of heart after a near death experience with alcohol. So he's quitting, and even taking the missionary discussions.

We're having an extra hard time getting our investigators to sacrament meeting. None of them came this last week, which was pretty disappointing. We had a good goal, then had to put the actual down as zero for this week. Nothing to do but keep on trying, though.

If you ever get the Mission Newsletter with baptisms from May, look for Flores and Perez. Those are the baptisms I was at.

We do service probably once a week. If we are asked to. I've done it most weeks, but we might not do it every week. We help people move, help people with their back and front yards, which sometimes involves moving rocks, of all things.


----------------------
Letter dated 6/22
----------------------
Summer hit this past week and it hit hard. Now I have all sorts of heat to look forward to but hey, I knew that was going to happen sometime, right?
We had an unexpected opportunity at district meeting: we played chess and we fenced! The District Leader had a chess instructor in his ward, and so his family came to the meeting with a bunch of equipment and ran the fencing part of the event. I used an epee, which we didn't use in BYU, but the training with the foil (at BYU-I) certainly helped.

Does anyone have some stories about tithing to share? That question came up in the MTC and I would appreciate having some stories to share when teaching.

It is still nearly impossible to contact "potential investigators." We've also got included in that, some referrals that we just can't seem to get in contact with.


----------------------
Letter dated 6/29
----------------------


Well, the pollution and humidity aren't so bad where I am in the desert, but I have definitely had to do some over 100 degree tracting. And thanks for the stamps thought, that always helps. And yeah, and stories from anywhere in the family help, or others too, I guess.

I discovered that when I get back, I really want to learn to play the piano. Actually, there's a whole bunch of stuff I want to learn that I just didn't have the gumption to tackle before or want it as much. But now, there's all sorts of things, about computer, piano... gun laws.. photography... and other things and other types of music, and well, anything I can learn! My thirst for knowledge and talents has certainly grown.

Right now... an investigator came back from a trip to New York. It was my first time meeting him. Actually, he's working towards getting a baptismal date! His name's Raul, and his mother may even have interest now, but we don't know that for sure yet. The Marins, a family of recent converts who have been going through some trouble, finally came back to Church! It was really treat to see them there. They seemed really happy to be there, too.

We had another Zone Conference. All the missionaries in the entire desert area got together with President Sanchez and various other people. It's a pretty cool opportunity.

----------------------
Letter dated 7/6
----------------------

...we finally MOVED this past week! Elder Strang and I have a really nice apartment, that even has its own washer and dryer, is spacious, clean...I mean, I could see myself actually living there, if I weren't on my mission. It's pretty cool. It's got two bathrooms. For two people. It's actually kind of ridiculous. It wouldn't fit six, but it'd still be a nice set up for four missionaries.

Actually, I think the move is helping both our companion study and our language study. So far mostly the companion study, but I hope to amp up the language study soon. It was a little difficult with six elders in the house, which is one of the reasons, well, probably the main reason, that they moved us. They generally try to keep it to four in a living establishment. And now I am in Victorville, actually. But I still serve in both Adelanto and Victorville.

We haven't seen the former Atheist in the past little while. He and his friend Jenny, who we teach together, are doing well, they just haven't come to church. We have a solid appointment for teaching Jenny and hopefully Jesus next week. We'll be studying the asking questions section of PMG (Preach My Gospel) to try and assess where she is / start her progressing again. Sometimes you have to come up with a bunch of different plans to try and get an investigator to progress. You just keep inviting...

We've been told to look for "missionary purpose" scriptures. Like 1 Nephi 19:18; 1 Nephi 20:6 and 2 Nephi 25:23, 26. I have a bunch of insights listed in my study journal now.

-----------------------

That is the latest from his letters. If anyone would like to share a tithing story with Adrian - please send it either directly to him at
California San Bernardino Mission
8280 Utica Avenue Ste 150
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730-3851
or email it to us and we will be glad to send it on.

Thanks again for your support of Adrian on his mission. I'll try not to wait a whole month before I send out the next message.

Kristi

email excerpts 5/25 - 6/8

Dear Family and Friends,

Below are some excerpts from the latest emails and letters from Adrian. These go oldest to most recent...
--------------------------------

May 25 - (two weeks in the mission field)

We had a baptism in our ward this past week. That was pretty cool, of course. She was pretty happy. Three of her four daughters had already been baptized. The fourth will be in two years.

Another investigator has a baptismal date this Saturday. He's a good-natured guy with a good family. Three of his kids came to church with him this last week. (He kind of reminds me of Uncle David except his kids are younger. They probably would have gotten along.) He's big, so we're going to have two elders get into the font to baptize him. His kids may join in the future.

We watched "The Restoration" in Spanish three times this past week with other investigators.

June 1 -

The 16-year-old George we're teaching speaks English. It's pretty cool to see how much the younger generation is learning English. The kids get a chance to learn a language their parents don't know...

June 8 -

One of the cool experiences I've had up here is seeing the good fruits of the gospel in other people's lives. With the two recent converts who have just been baptized, and how happy they were to have found the Gospel. Also, in a less active who has been reactivated. We visited him once when he hadn't been to church one week (we visit him kinda often) and it was interesting and kind of apparent to see the difference between when he had gone to church and when he hadn't in how he talked, how he treated his family and how he was more at rest when he'd been to church. It's great to see this in the lives of others, adding to what I have seen in my life, even when they don't always entirely realize it themselves (like the less active).

As far as events in my last week are concerned, it's been pretty normal ... Just trying to get our investigators to progress and still trying to find new ones at the same time. We're trying to get the investigators into the Book of Mormon and actually read it, or we're trying to get them to church past various problems like work, family, or laziness, or we're trying to actually meet them at the appointments we have with them.

We did find one nice lady recently. We originally tracted into her sister, Angelica, the week before. But when we came back to meet with her, we met Olga. Olga is actually the only one to actually begin lessons so far.

Hope you enjoyed these tidbits,

Kristi

1st email from the mission field

Dear Family and Friends,

Adrian left the MTC on Tuesday, May 12th. Yesterday, Monday the 18th, we received his first email from the field. Thought you might enjoy. Also he has a request at the end of the letter.

Thanks to all.

Kristi

Begin forwarded message:

Hello Mom & Dad!

It's my first e-mail from the field! P-day is Monday here. I haven't even used my bike yet, actually. I have it in the apartment, but my companion and I have a car. It's really helpful in our mission.

Also, there are three basic types of areas in my mission. The valley, the mountains, and the desert. Yeah, I got sent to the desert. Based on the car thermometer, it just barely broke 100 somewhere we were tracting this past Saturday. It's still mid-May. oh boy.

It might be a little difficult to keep up the Spanish here because of how much English we need to use too, but my companion has confidence in me. My spanish coming out of the MTC is pretty good. But I need A LOT of work in order to be able to deal with native speakers as well as my companion does. But that's what I have the next eight months for. My trainer has only been out 10 months, actually. It might be hard to catch up to him in that time. Or I might do well. Who knows. Apparently no one could understand his previous companion because all that companion worked on was the accent, so he wound up speaking really weird and not very well with the actual Spanish usage, especially. My companion's got a foreign accent in Spanish, though.

Anyways, I'm doing really great now out here. ...

My apartment's pretty crowded. The missionaries here are hoping to move soon. Six of us with all of our missionary bags and stuffs in a four-person apartment. There used to be only four missionaries in there, until they stuffed another two in. They replaced a couple beds with bunk beds so we could fit. The bunk bed I'm on sways a little as you move on it.

Aunt Donna's wedding sounds really exciting. Have fun. I guess you won't get my snail mail until after you come back from there, though. So, here's an important note, straight from the papers they handed me:

My PERMANENT mailing address while in the field will be:

Elder Adrian Pepperdine

California San Bernardino Mission

8280 Utica Ave., Suite 150

Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

We will forward all FIRST CLASS mail to you (me) at your (my) current TEMPORARY address if it is sent through the United States Postal Service. Package requirements to be forwarded to you (you will get it quicker) by the regular postman:

Only packages sent PRIORITY MAIL or EXPRESS MAIL through the U.S. Postal Service can be forwarded to you.

All mail from foreign countries can also be forwarded to you.

Mail and packages that can not be forwarded will be kept at the Mission office until zone conferences or someone from the mission office comes your way. Packages sent parcel post, parcel select, ups, fed-ex, salt lake distribution center, pre-sorted standard, 3rd or 4th class mail come under this category.

Well, thanks for reading! Please spread my address abroad so I can get mail! I'm looking forward to it! Thanks, and until next time!

Your son,

Adrian Pepperdine

Address correction March 31

Dear friends and family,

My apologies to all - I sent the wrong address for Adrian's MTC mail in my posting last week. I gave you the wrong mailbox number.

I discovered it today as I read a reply. Can I just blame it on tax season?

I hope that if you have sent a letter or package to Adrian the MTC was able to figure it out. Please update your information.

The wrong mail box is 230.

The CORRECT MAILBOX ADDRESS IS - 280

OR in a complete address

Elder Adrian Pepperdine

MTC Mailbox #280
CA-SBER 0513
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Sorry for the type-o.

We received a three sentence email from Adrian last week. Basically - Hi - I'm here - no time so gotta go - message. Today was better. Adrian's email thanked Aunt Karen for her package of goodies. He let us know that he actually wrote a letter to mail today and then said ...And I quote "my letter was kind of random and thrown together, because I didn't know what to say. Oh well. Hope it finds you well."

So please be patient we us as we are having to learn the art of writing letters.

Thanks to each of you for your support and interest in Adrian.

Again, please update your address books with the correct mailbox#.

Sincerely,

Kristi Pepperdine

1st email from MTC

Dear family and friends,

You have been copied on this email because you have been an important part of Adrian's life and have shown interest in his endeavors. This is a test to see if email addresses I have work and to see if you would like to continue to receive emails like this.

Adrian entered the Mission Training Center (MTC) in Provo Utah on March 11th to learn Gospel teaching techniques and the Spanish language. He will leave the training center around May 13th to go to his mission assignment in the California-San Bernardino Spanish Speaking Mission.

His mailing address (if you are inclined to write) while at the MTC is

Elder Adrian Pepperdine

MTC Mailbox #280

CA-SBER 0513

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604

We have received one email and two letters since he entered the MTC. I have included some of his thoughts below from all three. His P-Day (preparation day when he can write and take care of laundry and such activities) is on Tuesdays.

Adrian's companion is Austin Harrison from Grapevine, Texas. I have asked him if his companion is related to us through the Harrison line but have not heard back yet.

Special message to Romar and Sarah Karl. Adrian said "Tell Romar's wife Sarah not to be shy with the cookies :-) wink." - So a special thank you to Sarah!

He also said ...And please tell people that missionaries do love letters!

Here is an excerpt from his email...

Begin forwarded message:

Date: March 17, 2009 10:16:33 AM CDT

Subject: It's up and running!

Hey Mom and Dad,
The e-mail is set up now.
Missionaries are to use the e-mail only to contact immediate family, so...I think I've been put in a bad way, considering all the e-mail addresses I collected.

Kristi entry ---So please excuse the fact that this email does not come directly from Adrian. As Mom - I have been asked to forward emails to friends and family. Now back to Adrian

I don't think I mentioned it, but my e-mail for Uncle Lorin didn't work (before I got to MTC).

I haven't cried normally so far in the mission, but I did once laugh so hard I cried. So sometimes stuff like that happens,though in general it's more like crazy scheduled studying. And inhuman zealousness.

Anyhow, I have a limited time to write e-mail, and I still move slowly in these letters and e-mails, so I think I'll try and bring this installment to a close.
But I don't know how to do that.
Anyways, gym period is the best part of the day.

Thanks for the dear elders!

Kristi entry - "Dear Elders" is a website where you can send letters and packages to missionaries. So Adrian has received a couple messages using their service. There are actually two services where if you type a letter online they will deliver it for free to missionaries while they are in the MTC. (They will also deliver care packages.) The two websites I have found are:

http://www.DearElders.com and

http://www.mtcdelivery.com

So if you want to save the postage and get a letter off in a day, please feel free to check out these sites. It is only a one way service. to the missionary - Adrian still only has his P-Day on which to write and only 30 minutes on e-mail so he can't immediately get a response back to you. I did leave him with stationery and stamps. It is a whole new learning process to have to wait for mail instead of immediate email.

--now back to Adrian

I'll send a letter, and I promise I'll write again next week!
Your son,
Adrian Pepperdine