September 28, 2015

I'm alive, I promise!

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Well,  I don't have too much time today, so I'll try to keep it short and relatively to the point.  We won't get to watch any of the talks from Women's Conference, but when the Liahona with all the talks comes out I'll be sure to read that talk from President Uchtdorf.  I'm honestly so excited for General Conference, I think that now more than at any other point in my life, I've been praying just to receive answers and increased understanding on how to approach a problem, and I know that the Lord answers questions by the means of his prophet and General Authorities.  It's just so exciting, and I wish that I had cared this much and had been this excited back home.  I love the Nursery story, the blood moon story, and just the fact that you're able to enjoy things more this time around then we were able to during our first stint in Utah.  That's so cool how the surgeon was in our stake in NYC, I love hearing stories like that.  I'm also glad that things are going well with Grandpa, he and Grandma sent me an email last week, and I just miss them (and you all) tons!  I hope things are going well with them and at the home.  Have you finally decided on what you're going to do in terms of changes to the house?  Anyway, since I don't have too much time I'll get started.  Oh, until I forget, Sheri Dew spoke at the MTC, and she's just so awesome!  I'm glad that Rebecca was able to have such a cool moment with such a wonderful person.  Anyway, this week:

First off, a little PSA.  Yes I've lost about 30 pounds already, but I also put on quite a bit of weight before coming out, so now I'm just a little bit ahead of the curve in terms of thinning out on my mission.  So things are all good.  Second, now that I'm finally getting back into the swing of things, my pants are already too small.  I've poked an extra hole in my belt, but это не достаточно (it's not enough).  It's kinda sad that my brand new suits probably have an expiration date of around 6 months into my mission, but missionaries already have a suit guy here where they can get there suits for $200 and less, so it'll all work out just fine.  This week I got to go on my first split because I was finally alive enough to do so.  His name is Elder Saxton and he's been out for about a year and 9 months, and he's awesome.  He seems to have found the balance of working hard, but enjoying it and having more fun than you've had at any other point in your life.  He's a great Elder and we had some really good conversations.  We didn't get an opportunity to contact, and that's because we had a lesson with Albert on the day of the split!  Albert is awesome, and is really knowledgeable about the Bible, but has also taken a lot of very biased internet sources about Jospeh Smith for doctrine.  It's ok though, because he has a really strong desire to come to know truth, and whether or not the Book of Mormon really is the word of God.  We're meeting with him again today at a member's house (plus our first lesson was with a member present at the Church building) so things are going really well and I'll keep you posted!  That's another thing that has been awesome, so the ward members here were a little upset because they feel like the Elders aren't working as hard as the Sisters, and so in Ward Council we asked what we can better do to involve members of the ward and better help the ward fulfill their missionary responsibilities.  They gave us a couple of things to do, and Elder Simonsen and I took care of them that night.  It's already made a difference with how we work with the ward members and I hope it will help change their opinions of the Elders.  We're just excited to help make that relationship better as well!  Also, since we're Zone Leaders, we got to lead a discussion at ZOne Conference last week just about expectations and how to find out that, what the Lord expects of us.  We had a really good and productive conversation, and I wish I had time to leave you all some thoughts from that, what we discussed there.  Oh also, at ward council I understood the смысль (sense) of almost everything that was said!  It was so awesome!  Anyway, I'm just having so much fun here, and I love you all so much.  Like I've said before, thanks for your prayers/well wishes/thoughts/whatever you send my way because it is felt and appreciated!  Love you all and I'll talk to you soon!

с любовью (with love),

Elder Belnap

1.  This is a picture of the Lada that I want.  I love them so much, they're just like an old little car that you see everywhere here, but that don't exist in the states.  I think it would be so fun to ride around in one of these.  I've already decided that since there's a dealership in Mexico (something funny we found out from contacting) that I need to get my hands on one.  

2.  Some sweet Star Wars poster that someone left buried deep in the apartment.  Liam Neeson is my hero in life.  

September 29, 2015

Hey mom, I know it's not P-day but I realized I forgot to let you know the information that you asked me about so I need to watch some videos for my training and my companion said it's ok if I just let you know.  I think my iTunes Username is belnap.christopher@gmail.com and the password is one of three:  bisley1996 , olympus1996 or, 12281932chralanb.  Hope that helps/works, and let me know next week!  Also I took a lot of money off the card because I needed to purchase a lot of things, an inbetween coat, a bible and a couple others.  Anyway anything else can wait until next week!  Love you have a great day!

Elder Belnap