Holt, MI 7/24/06

The area is great! I have about 150,000 people in my area now. Lansing is such a big city! There are parts that are more ghetto than others. It's better than Grand Rapids, though. It's funny because I wanted to go up North to a small town where it's cooler weather for the July/August scorch. Instead I'm greenie busting here in Lansing! And I don't have a car this week! So we had to buy bus passes, and I'm strapped for cash. Oh well, I'm trying to get more dinner appointments set up. Really, send the invite around Relief Society. That should work.

So the ward is a little less excited about missionary work. They're more organized than Greenville, though. I think I made an impression on them this last week, though. I'm trying to get all new lists, to see the members and part member families and get out to find the unbaptized children. I asked Bishop if he could help us get to know the members more, and later he asked me to give the closing prayer in Sacrament Meeting. That was good. One of the members, Brother Schwartz, piped up in Elders' Quorum meeting and said, "These missionaries are going to do some great things here. I can tell." All I said was that we were going to be calling people for rides and to do their home teaching with them.

We have one investigator who came up and asked us to teach her the lessons so she can be baptized. She's a member referral, has read the book and knows it's true.

Elder Paxman thinks everyone is the sweetest investigator. I'll let him learn on his own. He's a really good worker, and can run this area by himself if he has to. We're both enthused about the work and hope to turn this ward around, baptism-wise. The font's been pretty dry for a long time.

We do email from the library and laundry at the apartment. It stinks, but oh well.

So there's just so much work to do here it's not even funny. The ward needs to get excited about missionary work, we have investigators to teach and baptize, and I'm SENIOR! No safety ropes.

Note about address: His mailing address is still the same one in East Lansing and they are pretty close to the mission home and can stop in there. His apartment is in Holt, a suburb of Lansing.