4/23/12

Hello all!

This last week was pretty good!

Monday we had an awesome P-Day as a district going around to pawn shops and flea markets and thrift stores trying to find some cool ties or some missionary treasures or whatnot. I kind of struck out, but after grubbing at Buffalo Wild Wings, it all felt better. Now, I will say this, any uneasiness I had when walking into B-dubs surrounded by countless TVs was dispelled when I saw that all they were playing was Golf TV and the WNBA draft, talk about the weakest temptations ever.

Tuesday was awesome! We had exchanged with the bike elders, so I grabbed all of my stuff and jumped on our District Leader's bike and we were off. Their area is the same as our area, we just have dibs on Spanish. So I was pretty familiar with everything. What I was not familiar with was biking, it has been several months since I have done any sort of biking, so my legs definitely felt it. I am not trying to be a wuss, they were just pretty tight. Elder Potter (my exchange comp) and I had an awesome day though. We talked to tons of people and followed up on a few referrals and then went and helped a member move. We had an awesome experience as we were walking around with the member as she was waiting for her husband to walk home. We were talking with her and we passed a lady who we hadn't thought to talk to. She turned to us and said, " thank you guys for all you do, I really respect you." We said, "Thanks!" and kept walking. HOW STUPID, right? She then said, "Yeah, I used to meet with ya'll, but I lost you". Obviously we turned around and stepped toward her, without really even thinking I semi-yelled, "Well, you found us!". She stopped, looked at us, and started weeping. Really weeping. She explained how she did not feel the Lord in her heart anymore and how she was trying to compensate for that by doing tons of service. She had a huge back and leg brace on and she said how she knew she would be perfect in heaven and how her life had been declining. We assured her of the love her Heavenly Father has for her and before we could say anything she asked us for a card. That doesn't usually happen. We left her with the bike elders' phone number and she said she would call.

In Preach My Gospel we read how the Lord is preparing people for us to teach. It says that sometimes we will find them, but they will also find us. And that is what happened that day. There were so many variables that were in play, 10 seconds later and she would have been in her car driving away. This is definitely the Lord's work.

About ten seconds after that we ran into a big dude who said, "I know somebody is gettin saved today, the Jesus Gangsters are out!" Apparently he meant us. There was a few expletives in there as well, but I don't think I should include those. He asked us to call him if we ever needed Spanish translation. That piqued my interest so I stopped and told him I spoke Spanish and we started talking. He was a cool guy. Very interesting. Now he does Spanish translation for people, but he used to be a pimp in Chicago. Real interesting. Nothing really happened with him, but our street cred is rising in downtown, that's always good.

The next day we had a good district meeting. I heard that an old investigator had a little caesar pizza eating contest with the missionaries once and that he had eaten a whole on in 6 minutes 13 seconds, so I felt the need to try and beat it. Big mistake. I got 9 minutes 56 seconds and a terrible belly ache, but everyday since then I have been training with little caesars, so we shall see. That was the highlight of Wednesday until English Class. Our English Class in Charlestown is SO packed now. We have about ten people and more on the way, it is definitely a handful. It will be very interesting to see how we handle it. We went from one lady consistently to ten people and all their children in a week, a bit of a jump.

Thursday through Friday was pretty chill, nothing really happened.

Saturday we met with a few people and helped a member with his remodel.

Sunday we were met with no investigators to church, again. But things will be changing soon, I can smell success in the air.

Today is Elder Banks' last day on the mission. He leaves on Wednesday and has a full day at the mission home tomorrow. We have transfer meeting tomorrow, so I will get a new companion and we are out the door, hitting the pavement, getting to work. I will be the experienced one in terms of the work here in Clarksville, so I am effectively "in charge", which is scary. Luckily I have a GPS now so we won't get too lost, but for the next few weeks it will be definitely interesting until my comp gets up to speed so we can be equally yolked in this mess. I am so stoked! There are some amazing things brewing. We have multiple families in the works, which is ideal.

Pray for me and my new companion, we will definitely be having an interesting week this week.

I love you all, I hope everyone has an awesome week!

Love,

Elder St. Martin

4/16/12

Another great week in the GKLM!

Last Monday we were disappointed to have our lesson cancelled with our most promising investigator family, so we ended up driving around and checking out some hispanic-heavy apartment complexes. We ended the night with some rocking chinese food and I learned that if you go in to get food right before they close, they give you the rest of everything, sweet, right?!

Tuesday we went and worked on our English class and our fliers that we are putting out for it. We will be starting a new beginner class soon so we want to be ready for that. I love teaching them English and I should probably stop soon or else I might want to do it for a career. Not that it would be totally bad, no offense to anyone on that. We had a really sweet spiritual thought on Tuesday after class about prayer and how it draws us closer to God and I could definitely see peoples' minds working. Loved it!

Wednesday we had Zone Conference, so the day was a bit shot. It was a great conference with awesome talks and meetings by President and Sister Woodbury and our Zone Leaders. After that we went out to Charlestown to teach our English class there and we were immensely blessed with some awesome tacos. An awesome investigator from there owns the only Taco Truck in the area so she always hooks us up. Class was great and she brought a friend and we ended up teaching her about the Book of Mormon and she said she would read it.

Thursday we had a great day of service at the Baptist Food Kitchen making Chicken, Ham & beans, and garlic bread. I am starting to remember lots of the regulars and the awesome ladies who work there always provide some good entertainment. After that we went to the Tornado Relief Seventh Day Adventist Warehouse. It was pretty darn slow so we left pretty soon after that and then went tracting for the rest of the night. We didn't really pick up any investigators but got some referrals for the English Elders. That is how things go here, we end up finding more English people who are interested when we go tracting and not many hispanics, and the English Elders never find anyone tracting, crazy.

Friday we had a good day full of Weekly Planning and Ward Coordination. Friday night was awesome. We found out at the last minute about a baptism going on in another ward so when we went over to an appointment we had set, that was our goal, to bring them to the baptism. This investigator is someone who doesn't have much support from their family with their progression, which is normal, and their baptism date keeps changing, so we were stoked when we got him to the baptism! It was such a sweet experience. The Spirit was so strong and when we talked to him after he said, "if it feels like that all the time, sign me up!". We are assured that he will remember that experience and peace for a while to come.

Saturday wasn't super eventful. We ran around trying to meet with people and no one was home or had time. And then we went contacting some former investigators who look like they will stay "former" and then went out to Charlestown to invite some people from our English class to the charla foganera (fireside) that was being held at the mission home on Sunday night. We went by the awesome family with the taco truck and we couldn't get out before she fed us, not really complaining. She is slowly becoming my second mother (don't worry mom, you have a clear 1st), but just because she loves to feed us whenever she sees us.

The charla is held every 3rd sunday of every month and it is a Spanish fireside. We can only go if we have an investigator there, and a rock solid member or recent convert always speaks and then it is a testimony meeting. It is an awesome activity so we spent a lot of Saturday trying to get people there.

Sunday came, investigators didn't show up for church, which was disappointing. But, we made an awesome find. We miss a lot of stuff since we drive everywhere, so when the English bike elders called us saying they just have their only Spanish pass along card to a hispanic family at a park,we jetted over. This park is amazing. HUGE! Seriously, there were hundreds of people there. And a good number of hispanics. And, apparently they hold soccer games there and street soccer matches at the tennis courts on weekends, so it was an amazing AMAZING find.

Our mission now has a standard of talking to 10 people a day, not including lessons, tracting, or normal finding activities. This standard is accompanied by a promise that Elder Ballard gave that if we did this, our convert baptisms would double. Already there have been awesome stories around the mission of golden investigators and instant baptisms being set up by making sure they hit the 10 people mark. So, I feel so much more confident in achieving that goal now. The fact of the matter is, there aren't tons of hispanics just walking around, so that park helps.

Anyway, we followed up on some invitations to the charla, and it seemed as if we were going to get jipped on that. But, we called our sweet second mother with the taco truck and she said they were coming. But they would be late because they were celebrating their daughter's birthday. But that she was bringing everyone to the charla from the birthday party. Wait, did you read that right? Everyone!
So, we went over to an amazing Spanish family's house from our ward, got a ride, and made our way to Louisville for the charla.

We arrived a little late, quickly took our seats in the back of the living room (about 50 people were there, so its pretty crammed and missionaries either sit in the back or stand in the kitchen).

After about ten minutes, our investigators came. With about ten friends and all their children. Multiple families, people! In the mission home, with 50 spanish investigators and members and almost every spanish missionary from the mission. It was amazing. As they walked up I felt so amazingly happy. Not just because this was a huge step for those we already knew, but an awesome introduction to the Church for the ones we hadn't met. But, the Spirit was very strong, and other than one old man from Cuba who had to be told to sit down because he started rambling off about assassination attempts in jails in Cuba, the testimonies were great!

Not all of those people who came loved it. Their kids were very rowdy. But all of them but one usually attends our English class, so we are in an awesome position. And, our superstar Spanish family knew one of the families that came. It was great.

I am so excited for this week and every one after it. I have officially been on my mission for three months. Time flies! There is always something more to do, so it is impossible to feel inadequate. But I know that this is our Father's business. I have only begun to scratch the surface on the insanely huge bank of tender mercies and blessings that is missionary work. One of my teachers, Hermano Pacheco, wrote me a letter before I left the MTC. He helped me out a ton in the MTC and I know that the Lord blessed me with those teachers. He told me that I would be a successful missionary. Success does not always mean baptisms, he said. Success is building friendships that last throughout the eternities.

We have had no baptisms. Not one investigator has come to church since I have been here. My Spanish falters and my teaching is far from perfect. But the Lord builds up His missionaries. Sunday night as all those people filed in, my heart was full. I kinda think that is how it will feel in the eternities, as we see those we have loved and shared the gospel file in amongst the ranks of faithful saints. It is possible that none of them will be baptized. But, for that instant, I knew what success was.

Family and friends. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the vehicle that will help you peel back all these false perceptions of reality that we have today and help you see that the Gospel is the truth. And Christ is the truth, the way, and the light. The Church is as true as the Gospel. And Christ sits at the head. Anything you do to progress His work is a deed well done. Let your light so shine and open your mouths! There are 14 million of us on this Earth that know the truth and the way, many less than that are active on their beliefs, don't hold back. Member missionary work is missionary work. Home teaching and Visiting Teaching is just missionary work to those who are already baptized. The simple joys that come from this work are out there for you to enjoy. Pray for a missionary experience and you will get one!

Is it any wonder that missionaries say and write stuff like that? We are on the front lines. We know how many blessings there are to be had in missionary efforts, and the blessing that you could be to someone else's life. Be that blessing.

I love you all. I don't know who all prays for me or what you say, but thank you and keep it up, it is more than myself out here.
Thank you for everything.

Elder St. Martin

Photos {MTC}

4/9/12

Hello Family and Friends!

Another great week in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission!

General Conference and then Easter were awesome bookends to an otherwise uneventful week. It was still great, don't get me wrong  (I am on a mission, is there ever a bad week) (Oh, how naive I am)) but we had some setbacks this week.

Nothing too drastic, just some difficulties in getting a hold of people and schedule conflicts. That, plus a family completely disappearing off the face of the Earth, made it not the best of weeks.

We did have an awesome dinner and lesson with a great family we have been teaching. We have another scheduled tonight, so pray for us!

There really have not been any drastic changes, I know it is not a boring work, but sometimes I don't know what to write! Lame, I know.

UK won the championship, we definitely saw that, and now Indiana is rated #1 for pre season, so my area is pretty set in the sports kingdom - not that I really hear much of that anyway. The derby is coming up, so maybe we will have some cool stuff associated with that.

Although I don't have any crazy story or new development, I am still so happy and excited as ever to be out here. Time flies so fast! It has almost been a month since I came of the MTC, next thing I know, it'll be over. I really do love being out here and I love the people. It is not the easiest thing, being a missionary, but man is it worth it. The closer I come to being the truest follower of Christ I can, I grow ever more grateful for this opportunity I have to proclaim the truth. We see the Lord's hand alive and well, actively participating in furthering along His work, it is a great experience we have in helping others bring their souls unto Christ.

I hope all is well out in the world, Thank you for all of those who have sent letters and also thank you all for your prayers, love and support.

Elder St. Martin

4/2/12

Hello family and friends,

It has been yet another great week in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission!

General Conference as a missionary was very different in that I thought infinitely more about how these messages could be applied to my investigators and others without the knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. For that I loved Elder Christofferson's talk so much, as well as the Priesthood session talks. Those talks featured a lot on "rescuing" less actives and fulfilling priesthood responsibilities. There are many less actives here and we are involved in the reactivation in some of those, missionary work in and of itself is an awesome tool for reactivation of our members, but member support is always the most vital aspect of retention in this church. It is something I am learning about enacting and maintaining "real growth" in this Church. A fear I have is baptizing someone into inactivity. Not something I want to be responsible for and something I would and we are trying to prevent.

Although we had planned on 15 investigators coming to at least one session of General Conference on Sunday, we completely struck out as we sat investigator-less for four hours yesterday. Regardless, I am so incredibly for the Restoration of the Gospel and the opportunity we have to listen to living prophets and apostles.

That was the end of our week, I guess I should fill in a bit of our week as a whole.

It really was a good week. We were busy meeting and teaching new investigators and trying to build our teaching pool as well as our fellowshipping pool. The members in this area are great and we have been able to find ways to get people involved in the work, which is exciting. Also, we had to scurry around to the different buildings to set up Spanish translation for conference. On Friday we had a Leadership Training Meeting with President and Sister Woodbury. We went over and had training on a few different things.

We first took upon us a promise that Elder Ballard gave to mission presidents in 2005, that if every individual missionary spoke to 10 people a day, irrespective of tracting, teaching, or other finding activities, just talking, that convert baptisms would double. Obviously that is something we want to work for. And for us especially, I mean double 0 baptisms and you still have 0, but we could at least shoot for one!

We also went over the purpose of the Book of Mormon in the work. The whole time all I remember was that stat that Elder Holland gave us in the MTC, that less than 20% of new converts say that during their path to baptism they had a significant experience with the Book of Mormon. And, since it truly is our greatest resource and other than the Spirit, THE key converter, that is a problem. So I welcomed our training because I know how powerful the Book of Mormon is.

Also, we went over how to help our investigators get to church (or conference). Judging from our numbers we didn't internalize that too well! But, there are no excuses because the MTC trained us very well at least in the knowledge of these things, its just a different story applying them.

So, hopefully things will pick up once we start doing those things.

On another note, Elder Banks goes home in three weeks, and so that leaves it up to me to know this area well enough to make sure whoever comes in can be on the same page. That isn't an easy task. We cover New Albany, Clarksville, Jeffersonville, and Charlestown, Indiana. Thinking about how to get from point A to point B alone gives me a headache. So, it is down to crunch time to make sure that I can at least make sure we don't flounder.

The work is moving along though. I love being out here. The weather has been kind to us, it is gorgeous. And although sometimes we have insane thunderstorms, we are always in the car or at home when they are going on, so we get to watch them, and they really are way cool. The only thing that has been tripping me up is the allergies here. The Ohio River Valley is apparently one of the biggest areas for allergens and whatnot. But there isn't anything that a triple dose of Claritin can't fix.

Hope all is well with everyone. Thank your for your prayers and support. Love you all, 

Elder St. Martin

3/19/12

Hello all!!

I am officially finished with my first week in the Great Louisville Kentucky Mission! My mission president and his wife are awesome, the new batch of missionaries I came in with are equally awesome as well. I was only in Kentucky for a day or so, my first area is Clarksville, Indiana! We cover two units, the Charlestown branch and the Jeffersonville ward. I guess I will give a quick rundown of my mission info and then get into more stuff. My companion is Elder Banks, he is an awesome guy. The day I got here we got a brand new car, so spoiled. We don't have any Spanish branches out here. . . . yet. So we translate meetings for whoever comes that speaks Spanish. There are not a ton of Hispanics out here, but they are here in small patches and numbers. It is a little different because a Stateside Spanish mission isn't as completely immersed as like Mexico, obviously, so the work is different. But I will just get onto my week.


So I was stoked to leave the MTC. The last few days were a bit weird since I was so antsy (btw, that feels so long ago). And over half of my MTC district was going to Argentina and their visas didn't come, so only four of us were leaving. My flight left SLC at 7:30 in the morning and then we got to Denver. We had a bit of a layover in Denver and then it was on the plane to Kentucky. Si denote - going from the MTC to an airport is a little weird, I felt a bit sheltered. But, I assimilated nicely, no worries. And on the plane to Kentucky was my first real taste of the mission. I sat in the emergency exit row, so much legroom, next do a guy named Brian.  (FYI - I usually won't use people's names because that's not good, but this guy doesn't live in our mission) Our planes had TVs on the seat so I had a second to see Peyton Manning maybe coming to the Cardinals (WHAT!?) and then felt guilty and turned it off. But that's okay because good ole' Brian asked me what my missionary name tag was all about. First thing I did was check my watch and realize that we still have twenty minutes to takeoff and then our three hour flight to Kentucky, I had to assess how long of a lesson this was going to be. Man, I was stoked. This poor guy had no idea what he was doing asking a brand new, fresh out of MTC missionary "hey man, what's your name tag all about?" Especially since it is in Spanish I bet he was wondering more. So, thus began the best flight I have ever been on. It was awesome. He attends school in Kentucky and is like 25 or something and was just getting back from snowboarding in Denver. He served two tours in Iraq and has lived a much different life than I have. Now, I am positive that I shared opinions and said things with him that I will never again say or share in a teaching situation out here, but it just felt like two guys talking. It was awesome though. Since there was so much time I did not feel any sort of need to shove things down his throat. And I was kind of afraid to start sharing the gospel since I had only really done it in the MTC and only in Spanish at that. But quickly that fell away and I felt very comfortable. Brian and I talked non stop all three hours. I taught him every single lesson. He was definitely intrigued by the Plan of Salvation. It took a little bit of boldness when we started talking about the Word of Wisdom since he was sitting there with chew and a spit cup. And then I have never taught the Law of Chastity to someone my own age, more or less, so that was different. A few minutes after switching the topic from the WoW to something else, he spit out his tobacco and told me how he was probably addicted to coffee (very cool thing to hear). I felt very blessed at a few points, our last lesson with Ivelisse at the MTC she had brought us polygamy, and we were a little stumped. That is hard to talk about in English, let alone Spanish. But I felt a bit more prepared. When Brian asked about that whole thing, I was super glad I had found a good way to explain it. But honestly, I felt the Spirit guiding me, and us. He kept asking, I kept answering. I could just see him letting me into his life more and more and after that flight I genuinely cared about him. As the plane was landing I told him how hypocritical it would be if I did not ask him to do something to act for himself. As I pulled my bag out and he said, " come on man, I don't want a pamphlet", which was funny. But I told him I got something a lot better and pulled out one of my copies of the Book of Mormon I had brought. Let me tell ya, I had everything in that bag. Pamphlets and pass along cards and copies of the Book of Mormon out the wazoo. So i was definitely excited to hand something out. We talked about the introduction to the BoM and he said he would pray about it and I told him about attending church in his area. We shook hands, he told me he would "hunt me down" if I didn't go to Skyline Chili in Georgetown, and parted ways. I found out that night that he isn't in my mission, just barely, a small slice of Northern Kentucky is out of our mission. So I will likely never know what comes of that. Maybe nothing, maybe something. But he said he had never really talked to a Mormon before, so it was a great experience.

That really pumped me up and primed me for the work. We got to the Mission home that night, had a great dinner, testimony meeting and whatnot and then went to bed. Best night of sleep I have gotten for a while.

Woke up in the morning and got on out way to transfer meeting. The new missionaries left their "words of wisdom" and then we met out trainers. The rest of that day was a blur. Elder Banks and I drove out to Clarksville, IN and dropped my stuff off and then drove out to Charlestown to see someone they had previously talked to, then we had to get ready for English Class. We teach an English Class on Tuesday and Wed. night. They are awesome. Between the two this week there was like seven people, including children.

Wednesday we went back and were able to catch our investigator at his house and we went in and had a great lesson about the Book of Mormon. His wife came over and tries not to act interested but she had a question about the picture of Christ from 3 Nephi that is in the front of the Book of Mormon we gave her. From then on the lesson went everywhere, which is okay, since she had lots of questions. It was awesome. We talked about Book of Mormon geography, babies not needing to be baptized (which caught her attention since it was something she had a problem with in the Catholic church) and then something that was a bit harder to handle in Spanish was circumcision in the Book of Mormon. Explaining all of that and the Law of Moses was a bit difficult. But we made sure to commit them to pray about the Book and then we left to our next English Class. That was a great one, a lady in that class owns a taco truck so she cooks awesomely. She brought us flan, and our topic that night was "ordering at a restaurant" so we had some fun with that one.

Thursday went and worked at a Baptist soup kitchen. Alright, my first real experience with all that. It was awesome. We helped them make fried chicken and cabbage and potatoes and then plated the food for everyone. I will try to get a picture of all the super cool ladies there and whatnot this week. They were enjoying a March Madness game. We weren't. It is hard not to catch glimpses of games here. Between KY and IN there are like 7 teams in the tournament, or used to. After that we went out to to the Seventh Day Adventist central distribution center for the tornadoes that came through here. We were there for a while organizing stuff and whatnot.

Let me tell you, I will have pictures of it this week, but it is crazy to see what the tornadoes did out here! One town, Henryville, got decimated. It is so sad to see. We went and helped a member out there on Wed. as well and I could not believe it. It was crazy. But it is awesome to see everyone working together.

Friday we had a huge weekly planning session since I am so annoyingly thorough with knowing about every single person in the area. And then went and met with an investigator who has a baptismal date, He is someone who has been dropped so many times before and just now is committing himself to do what he knows is right. But everyone has their trials and that's why we are here.

That is how a lot of it goes here. Since there are maybe 1,000 Hispanics here (tons from Mexico, and then a lot from Guatemala and Honduras and then some from Cuba) you have to be careful with who is really interesting and who just wants to be friends. The people are awesome. We haven't had to tract at all yet, we will next week, but apparently they all let you in and will listen, but not all are willing to change, which is probably more frustrating than not getting in at all. But, it was never meant to be easy. I honestly have no problems with it all. A lot of people have talked to missionaries before, its interesting when the Former Investigators folder basically comprises of the Spanish speaking people in the phone book. But they are awesome people.

Anyway, Saturday we went and worked with a member who his remodeling his house since we got bad information on a Stake service project and then were kind of in a bind. But it was still an effective day.

Sunday was great as well, my first Sunday on the mish! We attend both the Ch.town branch and Jeff ward. We would usually teach a Spanish Gospel Principles class but no one was there. A good bulk of the rest of Sunday was spent at an awesome family's house in our area. One thing is for sure, the members here are great and we probably won't have a problem with food. Also, they are rather quick at finding missionaries on Facebook, which is something I did not think about being a problem.

But, on that note. I feel so blessed to be in this area and in the states. Now, there are some things kind of hard, the language will be a bit different to deal with since not everyone speaks Spanish. But, going to Wal Mart today was a HUGE blessing. We actually live right behind two shopping centers. So to have both a Target and Wal Mart right there is a huge blessing. We live right behind a bike shop too. And then we have a Burlington Coat Factory right here too. Throw in the Taco Bell practically across the street and we got ourselves a full package. Clarksville, Indiana? More like heaven. Seriously, I feel so insanely spoiled. Most missionaries either don't have a car or they have one they don't like, or so I hear. But we have a brand new car. And then phones make things way more convenient. The only thing we don't have is a washer and drier, but our complex has a laundromat, so its not so bad. I know I am being annoying with my being braggadocios, but I feel so blessed. In the future I will have a bike, some missionaries like that more actually. And I will have less stuff, but why dwell on that? Right now is pretty awesome. I pray that I will still be here when summer comes so I can have that A/C car.

On that note, the weather here is so amazing. It isn't humid at all yet and it gets up to maybe 80, but its a good 80. As of yet nothing looks too insanely different from anywhere else I have been, other than everything being green and there are a lot more rivers and such. There are no mountains. I will have pictures soon I hope.

Anyway, I love it here. Elder Banks is from Idaho and Utah, he is a bit older so he can handle my little quirks. He has already learned how many millions of questions I ask and how clean I would like everything, so if those are the only bad things that can be said about me, I am doing pretty well so far. He is an awesome guy and I am so happy I have him as a companion. One thing I am glad for is that everyone 1. thinks I am way older, especially the latinos (one guy thought I was thirty, which is not a compliment and I look nowhere that old, a lot of Latinos say like 25 or so though) 2. no one thinks I am green, which is a huge blessing. I think I can assimilate pretty well into things.

There is so much potential here. I am so excited to get to work. By the time I leave we will have formed the first Spanish stake in the South. That's my goal. Some say its lofty. But, if people could baptize thousands in England, why not here? :)

I love and miss you all. Please write me, can't email anyone but family. I would love to hear from you. My sister should be putting up my new address soon. Those of you who have had big changes and exciting things recently, you know who you are, please write me soon!

Pray for me ya'll! 

Love, 

Elder St. Martin