Monday, December 1, 2014

Week #1 in Fort Collins, CO

(I was waiting with baited breath for this week's email...wondering where he was, who his companion was, how things were going. After his rough start in the MTC, I was a bit worried. Sounds like he needs to be more patient and things will work out. Lucky for me, I got pictures from the airport--thank you kind lady and a Thanksgiving picture--thank you again nice family in Fort Collins and a picture from his Mission President. YEAH for people with cell phones!!)

Hello Family,

(BYU won Cal Berkeley in football on Saturday. That was exciting stuff at our house.) BYU winning was some wonderful news! Colorado is a much different place from what I thought it would be. Everyone said it would be beautiful, but honestly, at least in the winter, it's not. It's also really flat and plain. John Denver lied to me! People are really kind here, and they are also very wealthy. They also have the smallest sidewalks in the world. It's kind of wild. (I want to see a picture of a sidewalk in Ft. Collins now.)

Elder Moala is very kind and especially humble. He's twenty years old, and played football at a small school in Kansas before he came here. He plans on walking on to Utah State's team when he finishes his mission. We've clashed horns a bit, though. (Oh, no!!) He's just happy being a pretty obedient missionary, and gets annoyed when I try so hard to be an exactly obedient missionary. He's also seen a lot more of reality than me, and my "greenie fire" doesn't always fit into his world view. I just really don't like the status quo. I don't want anyone to think that I think so highly of myself, I've just found that a lot of my success at the Laycock Center and elsewhere came through breaking the status quo and doing things differently. (Hopefully he will mellow and his companion will learn to love him!! Patience my son!)

(They had a 2 and a half hour delay when they were flying from SLC to CO. I wondered why?) So, first our plane was damaged, and had to be replaced by a plane in California. Then they had to do a tune-up on it, and kept finding problems, It was a fun time. (I'm probably glad I didn't know that until now.)
Thanksgiving was very good and the Wolfenbargers were very kind. Brother Wolfenbarger actually spent a year attending Tokay High School. (Wow...I never heard of any Wolfenbargers in the neighborhood. I'll attach the picture Sis. Wolfenbarger sent me.)
So, I've discovered that the Fort Collins Mission is the lowest baptizing mission in the United States. How about that?! Apparently when President Brown came in, when the mission was formed, he had to sweep out a lot of bad behavior among the missionaries, and changing the culture is an on-going process. Elder Moala has only been in the area for a short time, and the missionary work has been in disarray for a very long time. The ward has not had a convert baptism for two years. The work is in need of fundamental change. The members are lukewarm when it comes to supporting the missionaries, a lot of the areas have been tracted out, and I seriously worry for our investigators and contacts. How is that for a first area! (Sounds like he has a lot of work ahead of him!)

It's time for a story! The bishop gave us a referral to a house that I found quite scary. He said that it was almost impossible to breathe inside and there was an angry dog out front. I didn't want to go to in, but, I thought to myself, "Jesus Christ would go to that house", and after that, I knew I had to go up to it! We are still trying to see if that woman is going to become an investigator, but I'm happy I had courage...like Nephi! (I'm just glad he didn't have a run in with the angry dog!)

Also, the family we are staying with is the Pixler family. Brother Pixler works for Nestle. He stocks a freezer in our room, and we are allowed to eat as much pizza and ice cream as we want. I need not say more. (Sounds to me like he's in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory...lucky ducky!)
The weather has some wild fluctuations. It freezes one day, and gets quite warm other days. We do have a car though! (And did he mention if he got my package with all the warm clothes in them? Or his Thanksgiving package? Whatever!!)

I'm running out of time. I don't see an SD card reader on this computer, I'm sorry! (Of course he doesn't...it's the curse of the Campbell boys. Never any pictures!!)

I love you very, very much.

Love,

Elder Andrew Campbell
PS:
Woo, I got another hour of emailing. (I wonder who he emailed...it wasn't us. This is all he added to his previous letter.) The library kicked me off because I don't have a card yet. I wrote that last email when I was in a bad mood. I'm feeling a lot better now. It's just cold and my back has been aching. Could you send me my patriarchal blessing, Mom? I'm a bad person and left in on my dresser. (And of course I already have his packages all taped shut!! I guess I will have to open one. And is he wearing his gloves I sent him? His thermals? His warm socks??????)
PPS: I'm in the Fort Collins Parkwood Ward, by the way!



1 comment:

  1. Cathy, I LOVE getting to read his letters, abd your parenthetical comments are a kick!

    ReplyDelete