It’s a wonderful world we live in...

What a week here in Portales for another week….

I was thinking today and I am in the second largest mission in the United States but I think the population is the smallest, seriously everywhere in my entire mission is pretty much a small town and I really am digging this small town life. I live in the literal Wild West like no joke.... we are still here down here. I got to rope cows this week. I have realized how much of a sissy I was before the mission like no joke, when I first came out all the hicks would call me a city boy, but know that I have grown into a man and can rope cattle, cook bbq and know pretty much everything you could ever want to know and need to know about cows, horses and building your own house. I have finally been accepted into the southern cowboy life, I have become a cowboy in a way and I’m so down.

This week was really cool. We got to volunteer at food drive where we put all of the food into bags for people who needed it and there were a ton of people there in the back room doing it. And the people in charge of this huge assembly line thing came up to me and Elder Hammond and asked us out of the like 80 people there, if we wanted to be the ones to hand out the food to those who needed it. It was such a blessing to see the faces of the people who truly needed food and how grateful they were that we were willing to help them. It changed me too see how truly blessed we are to have the things which we have. At the food drive I saw a lot of people that I talk to all of the time and you would have no idea that they were struggling because they are always working and they never ask anyone for anything.... we truly need to be thankful for the little things in life. Like every piece of food that we are blessed with, and every minute of life, it’s the little things that truly matter.

A quote in a letter that I got the other day that I really liked was "It’s a wonderful world we live in" man it really is this world is awesome, think of the beauty in it think of the sky and the sun and the stars and the moon. I took trees and clean air and water and hills and mountains and my family and my friends and my car and my life for granted when I was home. But never again. I love you guys be safe out there in the world. I love you.

love elder c