OFFICIALLY OLD

December 20, 2010

Dearest Family and Friends,

I am officially old now.......20. How'd that happen so fast?? I don't feel any older than I was at 19 though. This was an interesting week though being my first full week with Elder Stokes. He's a nice guy and we're getting along just fine, but we aren't best friends needless to say. He does like singing and playing guitar, so I'm trying to get him to teach me how to play. I'm definitely excited for that, not so much for the area, but for learning guitar, yes!

My birthday week flew by, but it was nothing short of fun or easy. With the conditions of the ward, we are mainly trying to run by members that are less or inactive. This causes us having to travel long distances and not being able to talk to anyone on the streets, if any. We don't even really talk to many besides hi because we are usually in hurries to try to get from member to members houses. Also with the nature of where people live(spread out everywhere and at the edges of our boundaries), we have to bike sooo much and soo far. Like take last Monday. We left the flat at a little after 6 to go to someones house that lives pretty far away. It was so far away that after traveling there, talking for 15 minutes and traveling back, it was 9:20. Oh man. That was such a cold and long journey.

Like I've heard about America, England got hit by a pretty darn big snow storm...... and boy does everything go dead when that happens. Here in Stourbridge we received about 4 to 5 inches in about a day. Basically everything stopped and it really halted our ability to travel anywhere especially since bikes were now out of the question. It also made my birthday decently miserable, but that's alright. I didn't really care. I was just happy to receive those letters/notes from all the friends and fam. That really made my day. The gifts were a nice side note, but those letters made my birthday for me. So THANK YOU! You really get a greater sense and understanding of Christmas when you're on your mission. To be honest, I wouldn't have been bothered had I received zero presents- because it really means nothing to me. To see the thought and the intent of the presents is what really matters. The love and the appreciation. I really loved those books I got about Christmas Mother. I hope you read them yourself before it. The whole Christmas story and how the people around him reacted to the birth of our Lord and Savior is just great to see and provides us with something to emulate. That has just rung true to me this year.

So there really wasn't anything to talk about my week besides the loads of snow and lack of mobility besides walking(I hate walking compared to biking). I do have some stuff I need(like answers to questions and info, no material stuff).

Um..... I love you all and I hope all is going well in your respective neck of the woods. Life is rough, but who said it is supposed to be easy. I'm still loving it and doing my best, so you better make the best of life and the Christmas season especially, ok?

Love,

Elder Hulet