The kitchen. Pretty clean!!!!

Elder Catmull

I haven't heard from you guys in awhile hope you are doing okay. Hope you got my e-mail saying that I got here okay. I sent you a letter today telling about some things here but I will send some pics and most of the stuff about Cali for the blog and you. I hope you got my pics I send you in the mail also.

I get $150 a month here which is not enough at all. Groceries are so so so so expensive here.

I have a car in my mission and chances are I may not need to get a bike unless I get transferred to a bike mission but then the mission sometimes provides the bike. We drive a nice car also. It is a '10 Toyota Corroal. Quite the step up from my 99 Camery. Ha ha

My companion is Elder Catmull and is really great. I will be with him for the next three months at least while he trains me. He went to High school with Jess and even knows here which is pretty cool. Me and him like a lot of the same stuff. He played basketball in High school and so we love doing that on P-day which is Monday/today. We also love board games and he even created his own board game with army men and we play it on p-day. We also play battleship on p-day. We need more board games though so it would be amazing if you could send me either the Zombies!!! board game, The Walking Dead board game, or my Mechwarrior board game which is in a shoe box. They are all in my closet on a shelf. That would be amazing if you could do that. Don't worry it isn't against the rules we asked the mission president and we would only play them on p-day. That would be awesome if you could do that. Gives us something else to do on P-day and promotes companionship unity. Thank you guys so much.

Our daily schedule changes from day to day. Wake up at 6:30 do exercises and stuff then we eat break feast have personal study then companion study then we go out to appointments with investigators and what not. We street contact a lot because we are in the University ward for UCI (University of California something) we nick name it the University of Chinese Immigrants because it is about 60% Asian. Anaheim is the birth place of Anti-Mormon Literature though so everybody knows about the Mormons and is usually full of false doctrine about us. There are a ton of great and abominable churches here also lol. The Jews hate us and yell at us all the time in Hebrew. It's okay though. For the most part everybody here is really super nice to us and listens to our message for the most part......except the Jews. They really really hate us for some reason. Some Catholic guy called us followers of Joseph Smith and wanted to bash with us but we talked him down and he actually agreed to read the BoM and find out if it is false doctrine or not.

The members here are super nice. Most of them are BYU grads doing their PhD or master programs at UCI. We are fed every night though by a member which is really good because we wouldn't be able to feed ourselves with only $150 a month. The temple is right across the street from the church building and is so so pretty. Look up the Newport Beach Temple and you'll see how cool it is. It has Rose colored granite instead of white on the outside.

I only get to write letters and check e-mails on P-day (Monday) and only get mail on Thursdays.

We don't get to ever go to Disneyland or the beach. Even the sidewalks are off limits. Next to swimming pools. apparently there is a history of girls exposing themselves to missionaries. So we aren't allowed to go by the sororities because girls will steal our name tag and stick it in their cleavage and make us fish it out while they take a picture of it. Apparently Missionaries are the second most wanted men according to GQ. It's a good thing that hasn't happened to me yet though.

I'm feeding myself fine though and am eating healthy. Just today for lunch I had rice, orange chicken, a banana, some tiny tomatoes, and Mt. Dew. Cooked it all myself. Aren't you proud of me?

So Elder Catmull will be training me for the next six months and then probably get transferred out of the area. Then I will stay in it and get a new companion and get transferred to a new area two-three months after that.

President Bowen is such a cool guy. He believes in the Spirit of the Law and not the Letter of the Law which makes him a cool guy already. I love him so much and feel like I can talk to him about anything. He is really spiritual and does have relatives in Star Valley. He is like uber rich also.

I need a second towel. If you can send that it would be amazing. That's all I really need right now. I love to hear from you so don't be afraid to write or e-mail your only son and missionary.

Some pics of the apartment and of Elder Catmull. I will send more next week of me. I love you guys and remember to read and pray by yourselves and especially as a family. God loves you and blesses you a ton. Never forget that. I love you guys!!

Don't forget to send me some board game and also another towel. Thanks so much Family of Mine!!