Monday, January 28, 2013

Eric is back in the mission field and I will be posting his weekly letters again!

Our missionary son leaving for Jacksonville at 4:20 a.m. on Monday, January 21, 2013

Week #1

Things were definitely hard this week, but they really do get better every day.  It's funny because there's always one part of the day that I always feel extremely happy and successful and ready to go out and work, but it's usually at night when it's kind of weird to talk to people.  I was extremely happy to hear that I was going to be with Elders Winward AND Lee.  I thought that was incredibly ironic.  Did you know that when I got back home in March or April, I wrote a letter to Elder Winward saying that I would be back in time to "kill" him?  One of the very first things that he said to me when I got back was "prophecy fulfilled."  Isn't that crazy?  Haha considering that I might be here in San Jose (the place I was trained) until he leaves, I guess I might have the gift of foresight or prophecy.  

Elder Winward got pretty sick, but he seems a lot better.  I've been washing my hands a lot, so don't worry about me getting sick.  And remember the blessing that told me I wouldn't miss a day from being too sick in the field.  Today we went shopping and it was really frustrating not being able to afford much.  I don't know that I'll be able to afford to cook good food because we don't have enough money to buy any ingredients.  We just buy the essentials and sprinkle them with salt and pepper for the most part...  Haha it's not that bad, but it's definitely an adjustment from cooking really delicious food with you every single day for the past nearly month.  I bought the stuff to make garlic bread and spaghetti / meatballs though, so I'll let you know how it turns out.  I also got Sleepytime Vanilla to keep myself happy at night :)

That day that dad dropped me off was one of the longest of my life.  I slept most of the plane ride to Chicago and then watched the Presidential Inauguration and called dad during my 5-hour layover.  I ate 800 calories-worth of goldfish and then had Pepsi on the second plane to make sure that I had some energy when I got to Jacksonville to see President and Sister Barry.  Words cannot describe how great the reunion with them was in the airport.  When I saw them, I was so antsy to get over to them that I power walked around all of the people in front of me to greet them.  It was better than I had ever thought it might be!  We ate at Ruby Tuesday's and talked about a lot of stuff, mostly mission-related training before they took me back out to the field to be with my companions.  Honestly, things haven't seemed to have changed much since I've been gone, but then again it hasn't even been a year.  Everyone is just really old and about to go home :(

Elder Lee, Elder Winward and I have been having a great time together, despite whatever might have happened in the past between any of us.  It's incredibly hard though in some ways to be back, especially when I think about the amount of time that I have left on my mission.  Pray for me please because I really just ask Heavenly Father every day that whatever He wants me to do will keep me content and not just wishing things were different.  I'll be back in the missionary spirit in no time, but right now I'm really just wanting to be back home to be completely honest.  BUT REMEMBER - it's getting better each day.  

I've been updating my companions on what's going on in the normal world and they've been a lot more interested than I would have thought, haha.  They'll know the Gangnam Style dance in no time.  

I hope that you have a great week :)  I love you and I'm missing you guys so much.  

Love,

Eric