January 10, 2011
Whaddup doe. Someone told me "doe" is actually spelt "do" and it's an abbreviation for Detroit Original. Don't know for sure. But as you can see my street cred is on the rise, so I'll keep helping your guys' go up too. Which reminds me, i'm still late getting that christmas package out to you guys - i'm slowly working on that - but what are your shirt sizes?

Thanks for the package family. I got it today. It's so great getting stuff from you guys, not just because of the food inside the package either. Thanks for that, and for the emails. Ya i've got hand sanitizer, i'm straight (that's Detroit for "i'm good"). Thanks for the address for jacob, i'll make sure to write him when i get a chance. could you pass along my address to sis myers for him too? thanks.

So things are fun out here. But things aren't always easy. The other day I had to step it up a little and rise to the challenge of leading the area for a day. Like i said in the last email, my companion Elder Berger is the district leader so he and i go on a bunch of exchanges. We had our second exchange on saturday. For this one, he went to the other area and I stayed in our area and a different elder came into ours to stay with me. This guy was in the mtc with me so he's just as new as me - the problem is he's struggling a little. he's kind of different. he's excited to be here and everything, but he's kind of a downer and doesn't talk a whole lot. there's more to it than that. and i'm not complaining or trying to talk bad about him, but i just wanna give you a good visual of what i had to deal with that day. Saturday's are our longest days proselyting-wise and usually when we get the most lessons. well we ended up doing a ton of tracting and teaching only one lesson at the very end of the night. tough stuff. but it was a cool experience. definitely a challenge. i learned a lot about our area because i had to use a map and find my way around the city instead of just following elder berger. definitely strengthened my understanding of the importance of patience as well. we're all faced with tough times (whether they last for just a day or for many years), so we have to choose whether we'll be miserable and complain about it or if we'll find out how we can rise to the challenge and grow from the experience. easier said than done. but do-able.

i don't have a ton of time left to write, but know i'm having a good time. the mission is sweet. and this mission is the best - wouldn't even trade it for the nice weather of the california carlsbad mission.....but that's not to say i wouldn't mind having a few days out here with weather like that.

love ya guys. talk to you next week.

elder lamb