This past week has flown by but at the same time it has gone by kind of slow. so how is everyone doing? i hope that work,school, and everything else is going well for y'all. things are going great for me out here, this winter weather and long nights make me really tired all the time. i agree about being used to having pdays on wednesdays and having to adjust to monday, i'm not so sure if i like it or not.

i think later today we are going to go up to Glenwood and play basketball and football. we were originally planning on moving out today into our other place but yesterday we had ward council and my comp was the one that was in the meeting and he didn't get everything organized with the ward so it will probably be later this week sometime. he was the one in there because we were on team ups temporarily so all 4 of us wouldn't have to be in the same meeting, only one from each area.

i do have my new address so you can start sending stuff to that address, because we have the keys to the place and have been taking a few things with us every time we go down there. the address is

854 W. Battlment Parkway L-101
Parachute, Co 81635

this past week was kind of a slow one for work because most of the families we are working with were out of town for the holiday, but we were still able to teach a of couple people. so last monday night we left here in Rifle at about 6:30 and headed up to Frisco, the roads were good most of the way except for Vail pass which is at 10,680 ft so you could imagine it getting snow. but we made it to the cabin safely and spent the night there. it was such a beautiful cabin i loved it! they had 10 sleds just sitting outside so of course i had to go and start one up and smell the beautiful smell of snowmobiles! ha i wanted to ride it so bad but we didn't asked the member that owned them so i decided it wouldn't be smart!

tomorrow we have a miniture zone confrence here in Rifle and also interviews, so it will be good to talk with President Maynes and have him help me out on how i can be a better trainer. It's crazy for me to think that this will be my 2nd to last zone confrence.

so when we were up at that leadership training it hit me for the first time that i'm really going to miss being a missionary, i was talking with Elder Allred and he brought up how much time i had left and the fact that i was the oldest missionary there and it really hit me then how close it is to me going home, i'm excited to see all of you but i like doing what i'm doing.

So yesterday during sacrament a young man from the ward gave his farewell talk and it was on how he prepared for a mission. towards the end of his talk he said how he knows it will be hard at first but he hopes to be a great missionary like Elder Anderson. lol i thought to myself what the crap, no way you dont want to be like me ha. but he was being serious and he talked about me for like 30 seconds ha. although i dont think i'm that great of an example i think it's really neat that he thinks that of me.

Saturday night we had a lesson with the Trujillo's which is a part member family and the spirit was so strong there i invited him to pray to know if the things we teach are true and after that invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God and he said that he would if he recieved an answer! it was awesome, but the thing is getting him and everyone else to actually pray. because i know that if anyone takes the promise found in Moroni 10:3-5 seriously then they will recieve an answer.

we had a great Thanksgiving, we were able to play football for a couple of hours in the morning and then we went and had two meals! i felt so fat afterwards, well i was so fat afterwards!

i hope that everything is going well for all of you and you have a great week! happy early birthday Aunt Janet, you're getting old! haha and mom you're gonna be .... i dont even wanna say! lol miss you and love you all so much! cant wait to hear back. Christmas is just around the corner and that means i get to call home! :)
love Randy

My new comp is Elder Castro and he is from LA California. He's 21 as well and excited to be on his mission. it has been great serving with him so far, he is really quite when we are in appointments so i do most of the talking ha but i totally understand because that's exactly how i was earlier on in my mission.

I still pray that i'll be able to do a good job while i train him because i'm really nervous and dont want to mess his mission up. it is really a humbling experience helping him because as i teach him how the mission is, i see the things that i need to work on myself. i'll take a picture of us and send it to you as soon as i get a picture and get that other sd card back.

well i've been told that they found us a place to live down in Parachute so that will be cool i guess, i was kind of hoping that we'd be able to stay up here in Rifle since they only have 4 of us in the duplex now. we are going down there later today to get our keys and all the info. so if you have things you were planning on sending between now and next monday go ahead and send it to the 695 McCarron Ct and i'll get it from there 'til i get you my new address.

so tomorrow we have a leadership training up in Frisco at 9. We were originally planning on leaving early ealry tomorrow morning but since it is snowing now we are going to head up there tonight around 6 and stay in a cabin that a member owns up there. my comp will be on team ups with another missionary 'til i get back. and i'm the one that gets to drive our group up to Frisco so it will be awesome driving in the snow and staying in a cabin tonight! :) i'm so excited!!!

we didn't have any of our investigators show up to church yesterday because of the snow, if they really wanted to they would have made it but i think satan just gave them ideas not to go.

so i heard another story of when the branch is supposed to open, either the very first sunday in the new year or the last one in december because they are wanting to have the last Chirstmas service be together.

we have been seeing progress in those that we are working with and that always makes it worth it. anyone who will listen and ask with a sincere heart will progress in my opinion, i've loved seeing the blessings and progress that people can make and recieve as they apply the teachings of the Gospel into their lives. i hope y'all are being missionaries in your own way. it's our privilige to share with others those blessings we have and can recieve from living the teachings of the Gospel.

ok so last wednesday we went up to eagle to drop off my companion and then i was on team ups with another missionary for that day 'til i got my companion the next day and he had been having stomach pains all that night before and throughout the whole day on wednesday, so we got back into Glenwood Springs and we were just resting at their apartment and i was like we should call someone to see whats up. so i called Sister Larsen and asked her what the symptoms of having an appendicites and she was telling us what they were and it was the same things he was feeling so we got permission from Sister Maynes or mission President's wife and i took him to the hospital and they put him through a CT to see if it really was or if it was something else and sure enough he had one. we went to the hostpital at 1:30 and he didn't go into surgery until 6.

Sister Larsen works at the hospital so she came down and spent a lot of time with us making sure he was alright and she had brother Larsen come into the hospital to help me give him a Priesthood blessing before he went into surgery. then i went on team ups with Brother Larsen for like 2 hours while he was in surgery and recovery and the Glenwood Elders went to the hostpital and waited for him to come out.

so because he had surgery he had to spend the night in the hospital and so i was privileged to stay with him! ha it was awesome though because before brother Larsen and i went back they took me to wal-mart and got us stuff we needed like showering stuff and then they bought me dinner to take back with me. they spoiled us like crazy and i'm so grateful for them and all the help they gave us. The Glenwood hospital is probably the nicest hospital i've ever been in, it is so fancy and the rooms are awesome! i was hoping we could have stayed another night ha. but he is doing great now and is out doing work. it was lots better than i can describe. ha

Oh this Thursday is our pday this week because of thanksgiving and we have 2 dinners lined up! maybe we'll get another one we'll see.

Happy early Thanksgiving, i hope y'all have a great week together! think of me! ha all is well with me down this way and i cant wait to hear back from you. i miss you and love you!

love Randy

Another snowing day here in Colorado, the time is getting closer and closer to the BIG day! lol i cant believe how fast time is going by. so i just found out on monday starting this next week our pdays will be on monday from now on, so email ethier sunday or monday morning. Our mission President said that the missionary department of the church encourages it and so that is what he is wanting to do, i was kind of bummed about the whole deal but whatever i only have to email 12 more times! ha

so with pday being on monday it is changing a couple things up at least i have heard we will learn more about it for sure this upcoming tuesday at a leadership training. but i was told that with pday being monday, transfers will be on tuesdays and we will go home on wednesdays not fridays, so if that's right i'll be home the 9th of Feb. not the 11th. which means it's exactly 12 weeks away from today. 84 days! haha so crazy.

anyways so yeah i also recieved a call monday night from President Maynes and he called me to train a new missionary, which should be a really exciting thing but i'm not too excited for it! ha i'm actually kind of nervous. i think it will be a real humbling experience, because how i train will be a foundation for the rest of his mission and i dont want to mess it up! that's why i never wanted to train. but come what may and love it. right!? ha

i believe i am staying as district leader but i wont find out for sure until tomorrow.

another rumor floating around is that the Parachute branch will open up on moms BIG BDAY! lol so i hope that goes through, at the same time i'm sure the missionaries will be doing lots of assignments or giving talks to start off if we dont have a ton of people!

my comp took off today and is on his way back to Denver and he flies out on friday. the work in the Parachute area continues to move forward and i hope that it wont slow down.

we had a brother come to church on sunday that hasn't been to church in over 3 years since his little girl was blessed, it was so awesome to see him come because we have been working with him for so long! i think re-activating members is so awesome! rekindling that spark that they once had. so this next 6 weeks i have a lot to look forward to! i also call home this transfer, isn't that weird? time just flies by too fast.

i hope all is well and y'all have a great week! :) miss you so much and love you!! you could call the mission office to confirm that whole leaving 2 days early thing if you want.

love Randy

One year older and WISER TOO! lol NOT!! i had a great birthday though, thank you so much for all the gifts and birthday wishes, it was a great day. i woke up and opened the gifts and then had a normal morning. then for lunch we all (the 6 of us) went to a place called rib city (really good bbq) then we went out to Parachute and worked until 5 then we headed back to Rifle because the Larsen family came down from Glenwood and took us out to dinner.

it was awesome being able to see them and we had a good dinner, then after that there was a FHE activity at the church for our investigators or families that we are working with to go to and so we did that from 7-8 or so then i went and bought some IBC ROOTbeer and went back to the place! ha i really loved all the things you sent me, and the cards were great! the only thing that could have made it better was if i was able to see all of you! karie sent me a cd with pictures and videos of Raegan and that got me really trunky, probably the best gift! ha not that i didn't like any of the others because i really love them!

sounds like the football team is rolling right along, so this past week was the first round of playoffs and this upcoming week is the quater finals, is that right? i hope i hear from kraymer and kade about the games. i heard from them a few weeks back and didn't write them back yet, sorry guys. ha but they seem to be doing good. so continue to kick butt guys! bring home the gold!!!

well the work is starting to pick up in Parachute and we have some good things going. we finished last week with 19 lessons taught to investigators and/or less active members. and we have a great start to this week so far. this past sunday we had 2 investigators come to church, it was awesome seeing them there. we also got 4 new investigators throughout the week, which is really exciting for being down there, but what i love is how humble most of the people are.

the Hurley family came to church this past sunday as well, we have been working with them trying to get them out and they made it! :) then they also came to the FHE activity on monday night, and then last night we had dinner at their house and we had navajo tacos but these weren't knock off's these were the real deal! ha because they are native americans! Sister Hurley is going to have her baby anytime this week, which will be the 9th one!

they found a place to rent to start the branch up, i heard that they are going to rent out part of the senior center which is kind of weird but hey they have so much space they're not using right now that they wanted to rent it out so my guess is before Chirstmas we will be going to church down there in Parachute with our own branch.

i gave up on looking for a place to live down there because i figured it's better to teach people then look for a place to live so i'm sure when the Lord is ready he'll find something that is available to us. transfers are next week, so next time i email i'll let you know if i'll still be in Parachute or not, my guess is that i will be!

but the Lord's work continues to move forward and i'm happy so all is well!

i need to write some thank you letters for the things i recieved for my birthday and i also need to write y'all back. i think it's like 93 days or something i cant remember but it continues to fly by. i love you all so much! thanks for all you do.

love Randy

so this past week was a great week. Saturday we had our trunk-or-treat thing and we had so many non members and less actives show up! it is good to have those ward activities like that, we also had a few non members come out and play flag football with us. it was awesome! thank you for sending my cleats i forgot how amazing i was! lol NOT!!!

but at the trunk or treat thing we all dressed up in old school suit coats and then we decorated our trunk, it was really fun i liked this Halloween a lot better than last years. i took pictures so you can see when i send this sd card home.

yesterday we had an appt with an inactive couple and he is an RM, well we were there talking and i asked him where he served and he said that he served in Washington DC and i knew his age and figured it was about the same time that Reese served so i was like did you by chance know an Elder Edler and he was like ya i guess they didn't serve together but lived in the same apartment! at first i was like does this guy really know him or is he just saying this ya know? and then he was like yeah he would always talk about tractors and fields and i started laughing and said YOU DO KNOW HIM!!! so tell Reese that Elder Shaefermyer (sp) says hi! it's sad that a returned missionary has gone completely in-active, i hate seeing people do that.

right after that appt we had another one with the Hurley family and they are in-active as well. they are native american and have 8 almost 9 kids, she is due on the 8th! :) but anyways we had an awesome lesson the spirit was so strong and the dad totally took charge and was saying what they need to work on as a family and how they need to re-dedicate themselves. it was probably the most spiritual lesson i had in this area. they have a few kids that haven't been baptized so we are trying to work with the dad so that he will be able to baptize them. as soon as my comp and i got in the car we were yelling and saying that was so awesome! this is why i love the mission so much, because i can see the change that the Gospel can bring to people in their lives if they let it.

we have had a few appts that were just spanish speaking and i feel like i do nothing in those because i dont! haha i just sit there and try to stay awake, i was going to try and learn spanish but i gave up on that quick! ha i need to get going though cuz my time is up!

i cant wait to get my package and the letters from y'all! keep strong at studying and saying your prayers! i love you and miss you!

love Randy