March 23rd, 2015

My awesome family!!!! Thanks for all of the updates, they always make my week!! I can't believe that everybody is growing up and doing different things on me, where is the pause button at? that is crazy that you only have 8 weeks left of school!! I'm glad that the truck got fixed and is running again too I will sleep better at night now :) I'm not going to lie I have really been missing march madness so I am Very grateful for the updates. This week has been a pretty good one!! My new companion is Elder Perazzo and he is from Falon Nevada he is a really good guy! He is just super mellow and nice and we get along really well together. Our mission is changing a lot in the next couple of months cause our mission president wants a few less missionaries so all of the old ones are going home and not as many are coming out so it will be very interesting how things work out, I can't believe that I am turning into one of the "old" missionaries it is kind of a scary thought! I just found out yesterday that our bishop is moving and I am really sad to see him go. He is a really good guy! His name is Justin Anderson and he is a football coach he coached at Nickel State for awhile and he just got a job at BYU and he is really excited. But he told me to keep it on the down low so don't tell anybody in the ward, cause me and my companion are the only ones that now. I just couldn't hold it in anymore haha So we have really been working on talking to everybody in that we see so I have been doing my best to take it to heart. Elder Perazzo looks at me like I am crazy sometimes but I kind of figure that the worst they can do is call me a few mean names (that steve probably has already called me haha) and so I just talk to everybody. So yesterday I talked to this 89 almost 90 year old lady and took a picture with her. I felt prompted to tell her that she was still looking as beautiful as ever and I took a picture with her. It really made me happy!! I love my new friend dorris :) Hope yall have a great week!! I love you!!!!!! Love MUD!!!

March 17th, 2015

My awesome family! It sounds like you have had quite the week! That is so awesome that Jessa rocked her dance competition!! But if they all dance like jessa does than I know that they must be pretty awesome! Is Stockton's brother and Aggies fan or does he just really like dad? I wish you all luck getting mom out of bed early this week I know that that is always a struggle ;) Thanks so much for the package that you sent!! And please tell the moultons thanks too! I got them on the same day and the other missionaries about passed out that I got 2 packages on the same day, I felt very loved! I am feeling lots better thanks for all of your prayers and support in getting me through that. It is getting a lot better. This week has been a pretty good one! It has been really busy and productive. Our ward isn't very big so a lot of the time we are just asked to do things like teach primary or young men gospel principles or something like that so it keeps things very interesting never quite knowing what we are going to be doing that day. This week we got to help with the sunbeams and I forgot how awesome sunbeams is. We played with Playdo colored pictures, we didn't get a snack but it was an awesome class. I hope that Jesus wants me for a sunbeam too so that I can keep coloring and playing with playdo haha We had the chance to do some more service this week and help Elder Jones plant his first tree. It has been fun to get to help teach him new things. He is kind of a punk sometimes but I really do love him and I am going to miss him. The missionary work here is really getting better! I know that the lord is blessing these peoples hearts to be ready we just have to get out there and talk with them! I love yall and am so grateful for all that you do!! hope you have an awesome week!!! Love Mud :)

March 9th, 2015

My family!! That would be the best care package ever if one of you was in there! haha Tell the poor bishop to keep hanging in there that is sad that sister Dalton isn't doing very good. That also makes me really sad about the truck, I love that truck...but $5,000 is a lot of money. I hope that Jessa gets feeling better too, I have been fighting a cold lately too so you can tell her that we are twins this week. It sounds like Jake and Melissa are doing pretty good and there Boise trip sounds like it will be a lot of fun! Things this week have been great! Lee got baptized!!!! and I got the chance to give him the Priesthood yesterday it was awesome! He is so ready to be a member of the church it is crazy. He lost his wife about 9 months ago and he is super excited to get sealed to her a year from now. I hope that he can keep this fire going for along time. So you know how after somebody gets baptized they kind of hurry to get dressed again and get back out? Well Lee whipped out his blow dryer and spent like 5 minutes doing his hair while everybody waited haha He is a funny guy. I am super happy for him! thanks for your prayers for him!! Next week is transfers so I won't email until Tuesday, and there may be a chance that I get transferred this one because there is a pretty big group going home but we will see. Hope that you have a great week!!! Thanks for all of you love, support, and prayers. It couldn't be done without you!......and there would be a lot less rocks in Louisiana :) Love Mud

February 23rd, 2015

Hey my family!! How's it going? I am glad to hear that you survived the week, I can't even imagine a dance recital that big...dad is a strong man haha It is so crazy to hear about all of these people moving and growing up. It seems like just yesterday we were over at the moultons and I shot Darin in the eye haha Jordan can't be old enough to go on a mission yet! 12 degrees that is freezing!! People are settling down after Madi Gras which is really nice. It has been a pretty good week this week! We had a service project with this crazy old lady and we were chopping down a huge tree in her backyard. The problem was that she only had like a 8 foot ladder so there wasn't a whole lot that we could do for her unless we fell it right into her neighbors barn. So we were trying to figure out how we were going to do it when her nephew showed up and he grabbed the chainsaw and yelled "I'm from the south I don't need any tools like that to cut down a tree!" and he just went ape crazy and started cutting it down right towards the neighbors barn, so we got out of the way and prayed that we weren't going to have to fix a barn next week. And truthfully I can't tell you how, I have cut down quite a few trees in my lifetime and there is NO reason that tree should have fell how it did he didn't wedge or direct in anyway. But the boss man upstairs must have laughed at us and our prayers and he guided that tree down safely. He really does always have our back :) Elder Kipishka of the Seventy came and spoke to us at zone conference on Saturday and it was awesome! He is from Germany and is just a happy guy through and through. He is always smiling kind of like Bro. Hoskins. It was one of those meetings were he rebuked us and told us how we could be doing so much better than we are, but since he did it with a smile on his face it didn't hurt quite as bad haha I am having so much fun being a missionary!! We are teaching a guy named lee forret who is getting baptized on the 7th of march I am so excited for him!! Hope that yall have a great week!!!! Love Mud :)

February 18th, 2015

Hey! Things here are going pretty good! How are yall doing? Yes I got my Valentines package, letter from Jessa, and email from Tom thanks so much!! The doctor checked out my heart and it is all working how it should. They think it might be a pinched nerve in my neck but we will get it figured out. Thanks for your prayers :) No I haven't seen or eaten any gators yet but I will let you know for sure when I do! Know that it is warming up they should start coming out a little bit more. I'm glad to hear that you survived your crazy week!! It sound like you had a lot going on. That is crazy that it is warming up so fast! Are you liking that or not? This week has been a pretty crazy one! since it was Madi Gras week nobody really wanted to see us but we still tried hard to see people and get around town. (Since there was at least 1 parade a day that cuts right through the middle of town and blocks off everything) But it is kind of a fun crazy environment. Yesterday we took our p-day and with our presidents permission we went to New Orleans to the "Zulu" parade it was crazy!! People were going crazy for beads and coconuts. It was a lot of fun to see and experience but you could for sure tell that there was a different spirit there than we were used to feeling. I am kind of glad that it is over now though so everybody will settle down and little and maybe be a little bit more sober hahaha I love yall so much!!! Hope you have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!! Love Madi Gras Mud

February 9th, 2015

Mi familia!! You guys are amazing!! It is so good to hear from you!!! It sounds like you have a busy week ahead. 137 crush pies and crush pops on top of that, that is a lot! Thanks for taking such good care of Koltin I love that kid!! And I wore my Bro. Leatham tie to church yesterday so I could think of him. He is an awesome guy!! Thanks for having a 6 months party for me it sounds like it was a good time! It feels like years since I have talked to you guys last. I really like it hear so far! My companions name is Elder Jones, he is a pretty cool guy! He is from Arizona and he is half black and half white. so I call him my Obama boy haha (I promise that it is ok with him) :) and we have a car so I can't complain. It has kind of been a rough week cause he really doesn't know anybody and I really don't know anybody or how to get anywhere but we have figured a lot out. It was quite the change not driving for 6 months and then driving for like 5 hours in Louisiana it kind of made me nervous but I caught back on quick. Elder Porter is staying in Covington and his new companion seems like a pretty cool guy. Louisiana winter is pretty much over it has been like 75 everyday for the past couple days so that has been really nice! You will never guess what I found in one of my suitcases when I was unpacking?! it was one of Jakes dirty socks!!!!! I reached in a pocket that I had never opened before and I found a dirty sock and so Kentucky program, it mad me laugh pretty hard. :) Things here are pretty crazy right now with Made Gras. There is pretty much a parade every night for the next 2 weeks. So how it works is that if the parade starts at 6 everybody who is on the floats wakes up early and starts drinking as much as possible before the parade so the can have a really good time. so we have heard a lot of comments from drunk people on these floats it is a lot of fun! I have been working on drinking more water that is what the mission nurse told me too. I have been drinking about 5 or 6 a day. I am going to the Cardiologist on Thursday so I will let you know how that goes. Life is good! I also went to my first Mass yesterday with one of our investigators, it was crazy! I love you guys so much!! Hope you have a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

February 3rd, 2015

My awesome family!!!!! I love you so much!! I am glad to hear that everyone is hanging in there and that you are finally done with concessions for the year!! I bet that Jessa rocked the dance floor she is one awesome little dancing chick!! It sounds like it has been a pretty good week. This week has been crazy but so much fun!! I am getting transferred!!!!! I can't believe that I am actually going to go somewhere else it is crazy to even think about that. This is my home and my people :) But I am excited to go and experience a new adventure! I am also follow up training in my new area so that will be an adventure! One of these days I am going to get 12 week right so I don't have to keep doing it over and over haha It was so cool to be able to meet Elder Cook and Elder Hallstrom they are awesome guys!! We had a great meeting with them and the whole mission! It was a lot of fun to be able to see everybody in the whole mission again! The people that we are teaching are really progressing now and I am sad to leave them, but I know that Elder Porter will take good care of them. I love you guys so much and thanks for helping this poor white trash kid make it through the last 3 months! I couldn't have done it without you! Love Mud p.s. It is a lot more fun and goes a lot better when mom and grandma help you pack haha