Dear Loved Ones - May 27, 2009

Dear Loved Ones,

It's wonderful to be able to write to you again. ^^ Like last week, I took notes throughout the week, so I should be able to at least touch on everything I want to tell you.

The first thing I want to mention is that I've figured something out about Email. It's much faster than snail mail. Therefore information (questions, answers, updates) should be sent via Email. Eg: Elder Kirkland told me that if a letter gets to my current address after I get transferred, the letter will NOT be lost forever. It'll just have to travel from missionary to missionary until it catches up with me, adding some time to the delay of snail mail. Now uplifted by that knowledge, I asked him what our address is, and put it on the envelope of the letter I sent last week. HOWEVER, if I had merely waited a week (until today) I could've told you my address NOW, and you could send letters directly to me, starting today, rather than next week, when the letter will get to you. Sadly, the envelope is the only place where I wrote our address, and I have now forgotten it. =( The moral of the story is that important information, like my current mailing address, should've been sent via Email rather than snail mail. Please forgive me. I'm still getting used to missionary life, and I don't know everything I'm supposed to be doing yet.

On the other hand, snail mail is a good deal nicer than Email because A) I can take my time reading it and rereading it, and 2) I can keep it to reread it later. Also, snail mail can send packages. I am SO glad Email isn't our ONLY option.

Anyway, Missionary work is great! I love Saskatoon. It's really pretty with all the trees. ^^ The streets are so wide, and Elder Kirkland and I aren't getting lost as often anymore (Though just this week, we were driving on a street called Circle Drive, which we THOUGHT went all the way around the city (Like a circle, right?), only it DIDN"T. And when it ended, we found ourselves completely lost. We had lunch a little late that day).

But the BEST part about Missionary work is teaching people who want to learn. ^^ About a week ago, I was out on an exchange, helping Elder Orton teach one of the investigators in his area about the existence of God as our heavenly father, and his plan for us on earth. It was a wonderful lesson, and I was on a HUGE spiritual high afterwards. I love bearing my testimony. =)

For my birthday, my whole district went to Fuddrucker's for lunch. Fuddrucker's is a burger place when you buy a plain burger and put the toppings on yourself. I got a bacon cheeseburger with plenty of ketchup, and a m&m milkshake on the side. I couldn't finish the whole burger, but I got the milkshake down. ^^ (( Note to Mom: By the way, the chocolate here is a bit darker than the chocolate in USA. The milkshake was great. ^^ ))

After Fuddrucker's, Elder K and I (I don't call him that, but it takes time to type 'kirkland' so often) went back to our apartment and opened my birthday presents. Thank you so much Mom and Sariah! ^^ I'm saving some of the edible treats for when we can celebrate getting investigators to church, and I can't wait to listen to the CD. (( Note to Sariah: There's a rule against burned CDs, but I'm going to have some missionary leader or another listen to the CD and decide if it's okay. I'm sure it will be, since it's just piano. If it had any songs with lyrics in it, they'd have to listen to the lyrics and decide if they're missionary-oriented enough. Anyhow, I know it'll be fine. ^^ ))

This past Sunday was pretty disappointing, though. We had TEN PEOPLE that were going to come to church, but one family went to work/stayed home, one family took a trip to... some nearby city whose name escapes me, and one investigator wasn't woken up on time. But don't worry. Elder K and I know what we did wrong, and we'll do better this week. ^^

And guess what! I got another package yesterday!!! It wouldn't have gotten to me until several (Days? Weeks? Not sure.) in the future, but one of the other Elders visited the mission office and took the mail with him when he came back. I'm rationing the letters... somewhat, but I opened the package immediately. God bless America, eh! =D I just love it! I especially love that there's so much candy in it. I was going to buy myself some candy today, but now I don't have to! THANKS MOM! ^^

Well, time's up. I've got to wrap this up really quick.

I love you all, especially my immediate family. -hugs everyone- -hugs mom again-

Your somewhat rushed missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts.