Christmas Party! ...Dec 15, 2009

Hi Everyone!

Yes, we did have a Christmas party. It was awesome, but kind of weird. I'm just now realizing that my mission is almost 1/4 of the way done. WHAT THE HECK. Me and all the guys I came out with are still considered the young guns, but no longer the newbies. Interesting. Any-hoo, thank you guys so much for the presents! That was great.
You guys have so much snow! That's way cool. We got some the other day but it didn't stick for very long. It all just turns into ice, which is a little scary to bike on. I'm going to Forks again on Friday so I'll try to get some pictures this time.
We had an interesting week, we taught 32 lessons, and we got to be firemen. We were visiting a lady who had just recently gotten baptized, and while we were knocking on here door this guy in the apartments across the street came running out of his house and started banging on his neighbors door, yelling "I LIT THE HOUSE ON FIRE". Me and Elder Tueller saw them throwing their stuff out of the house so we went and helped them. It was crazy. We stopped by again the other day and helped the dude who started the fire get all his burned stuff out of the house.
We got tons of people at the ward Christmas party, oh, and I totally beat this sixty year old guy we tracted into at chess (weird sentence). It's way cold but we're doing good. Transfers are next week so I'll let you know if I'm leaving, but I probably won't be. Lemme know how Andrews doing, and tell everyone Merry Christmas from me. I love you guys. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

LOVE

Elder Downintown

A Little Adversity Never Hurt...Letter from Dec. 7, 2009

Sup Peeps,

Good times, I just got a letter from Aunt Tiff. She sent me a picture of you guys in Colorado. I assume Andrew took it, how's that kid doing?
Our week wasn't really the best. We kept striking out hardcore, lots of people dogged our appointments and a bunch of people in our ward who we've been working with have had some seriously tough times. It seems like we had a new crisis almost every day last week. It also suddenly got reeeeally cold up here too. We had snow on Saturday, which made me excited! And then I realized we bike everywhere, dang.
But, don't despair dudes! My Sunday was awesome, pretty much all the people we we're trying to get to church didn't show up, but a ton of ward members brought their friends. Which was way good. Then we saw that Christmas devotional. That was amazing.
I'm way to busy to be homesick, but I still really miss you guys. I'm glad people are reading the blog or whatever. I expect a letter from all of you! Especially the Bird's. Oh, one more thing. What is Gabe's address? It still the same? I know he's coming up on his year mark and I wanted to write him. Thanks so much for all you guys do. I love y'all and I hope your not too cold.

LOVE
Elder Uppencamp

Turkey Day Owns...Nov 30, 2009

'Sup Peeps,

Thanksgiving was awesome, we had 2 of them.
Yes, waterproof. (Daniel wants waterproof pants for Christmas)
Don't expect to see Washington scenery in New Moon. They filmed it in Vancouver. Speaking of which, I get to go to Forks tomorrow on a shifty, I'll make sure to take a bunch of pictures.
How the heck did you get Simon to Colorado? Tell Tiff and Glenn I said hi.
Our week was pretty lame apart from Thanksgiving, but we did get a baptism in on Sunday. This guy is sweet, he wants to learn MMA so I'm excited. No-one wants to wrestle me here so I have to play basketball instead, lame.
We finally had a nice day! It was Saturday and not a cloud in the sky, I almost was brought to tears. Teehee. Anyhoo, I love you guys and I hope your holidays are sweet.

LOVE
Elder UPPENCAMP!

"It's Like Going Swimming..." Nov. 23, 2009

Hello Friends and immediate and extended Family Members,

The rain has come, it's not as bad as everyone says but it's definitely here. We had our first big storm this last week, our power was out for a only a few hours but it was out for a couple of days on the other side of town. Riding bikes uphill, in the rain, in suit pants is not fun. My coat's holding out though.
We're teaching a bunch of cool people, we keep getting all these awesome teaching opportunities that come out of nowhere. We taught 31 lessons last week, and only half of those were scheduled.
I'm not sure what I want for Christmas. Do they make water proof suit pants? What I would really like is more pictures, and maybe to hear from some of my friends. Does Andrew have a job yet?
Are you guys reading your scriptures every day? Studying is my favorite thing to do now! I've amassed quit the religious library through my travels, and the contrast between our scriptures and other religions holy writ is astounding. Indubitably. Don't ever think the scriptures are boring or long winded you guys. I've read some of mans attempts to make them "easier to understand" (IE. the NLV, NIV, and the American Standard Bible) and they just aren't as good. The poetry and meaning are lost. I kind of understand why a lot of people have problem with the Book of Mormon. The concept of revealed scripture is definitely alien to them. But when they read and pray sincerely, they always feel the Spirit witness to them the truth. I love you guys, I hope you all have a way fun Thanksgiving. The Church is true.

LOVE
Elder Up'in the camping grounds camping

P.S.
Friends, if you're reading this WRITE ME PLEASE!
I haven't heard from you guys in forever and I'd really like to know how your doing.

November 16, 2009... Thighs of Steel

Hey Guys,

Port Angles is pretty sweet. Our ward loves us. I gave a talk last Sunday on helping others to recognize the spirit. It was pretty sweet. My new comp is way sweet. He's from Austin TX but he played basketball for Utah State.
Being on bike is a little harder but we're doing O.K., my quads are getting HUGE!! We're getting a whole lot done in our area, we taught 26 lessons this week.
Is Andrew Wright on his mission yet? I just got some mail from him and you from like 2 months ago. I'm doing pretty good, it's way rainy though and the money goes away really quick. I'm excited to be here in Port Angeles. Tell Andrew to get a job and stuff. Tell Nathan and Chad I miss um.
I love you guys and I hope your doing good.

LOVE
Elder Uppencamp

From Elder Uppencamp Nov. 10, 2010

Hey Everyone,

Yes, I am in fact, in Port Angeles. Sorry it's Tuesday and not P-day but transfers were yesterday and we had to drive like two hours to get here.
My area is right in the city itself. We cover most of downtown and the waterfront so I'll have to give you some cool pictures.
My new companion is named Elder Tueller. He came out with me so I'm pretty stoked. We have our own ward for the first time so I'm pretty excited. Our apartment is way small. I am also on bike now, so pray extra hard for me to not die.
My last week in Olympia was way cool too. We baptized three people on Sunday. My favorite was Sloane, she used to be totally agnostic and really anti-church. But we gave her a Book of Mormon and she felt the Spirit. She has had a way hard life, but as we taught her she started to light up. She was way excited to get baptized, and right after it happened she was the happiest I've ever seen her. I was also there when she said her first prayer and it made me cry.
Anyways, My new address is:

1115 S Lincoln st apt #3
Port Angeles, WA 98362

I'm way excited to be here and I'll send back some cool pictures. I love you all. Support your local missionaries!

LOVE
Elder Uppencamp

Nov. 2, 2009

Hey Dudes,

This last week was kinda lame until the end. A bunch of our investigators ditched us. The weirdest thing happened to me on Thursday too. My comp totally sat on my legs while they were stretched out on the couch and accidentally popped my kneecap out of its socket! It hurt a ton and I couldn't bend my leg for a couple of minutes, until my comp pushed it up a bit and my knee-cap literally snapped back into place. It was so weird. I'm alright now but it's still a little stiff.
Halloween was pretty sweet. We were able to tract in places that would normally kick us out, under the guise of trick-or-treaters. Got a ton of candy too.
Then church was finally good! It was fast and testimony meeting and we had a bunch of investigators there so I was a little worried, but the wards did great. They testified simply about Jesus for the most part and no-one got too deep, then a girl who we recently re-activated bore powerful testimony about missionary work, so the ward doesn't think we're stupid anymore. We also had a great class after that in which our ward mission leader committed one of our investigators to get baptized. She felt the spirit really strong and was crying the whole time. good day. Its looking like we're gonna baptize two this weekend. Cross your fingers, they've got some opposition.
That sucks about Harry Reid, He apparently doesn't believe the Church is true. If he truly believed President Monson is a Prophet he wouldn't let politics shape his decisions so much.
Transfers are next week, so I'll probably have a new address. Keep telling my buds to write me, I really miss um. And I still totally need they're addresses, get Andrew on that.
I love you all and keep you in my prayers

LOVE
Elder Uppencamp a.k.a lil' tank

P.S.
Those pumpkins are legit, especially the Trogdor and Support the Municipality ones.

P.P.S Send me back that memory card so I can send you this one.
OCTOPUS EATING!!!

From Elder U on Oct 26, 2009

Hey guys,

Yes, I got the candy and stuff, thanks guys. I'm still doing good up here. The ward is still a little dumb about teaching deep doctrine to investigators but it's getting a little bit better. We meet a,lot of really nice people but none of them will check out the church. I don't know what's up with that.
We just had P-day and I decided that I still, and will always, hate basketball. Speaking of sucking, we ate at a Chinese buffet today and I got some octopus. It was really good, kinda like fish bubblegum. Yup yup, having a good time.
Tell Rachel thanks for getting her friends to write me some notes, and tell her to tell Brotha Goss thanks too. That was way helpful.
Oh yeah, I got another companion a couple of days ago. He just got back from recovering from back surgery. My companions are as follows: Elder Hill, a dude from Colorado. He's way funny, I think he will be president one day. Elder Allred, also from Colorado, very musically inclined and skinny, doesn't like getting hugs AT ALL. Elder Coon, he's from Kaysville. He's about 6''4 and 300 pounds, a way nice guy. Yeah, good times in hippie-town. I love you guys and I hope your doing good. I still need Emily's address though. Tell Andrew to give Chad and Nathan a big hug from me.

LOVE
Elder Eppsoncamp

Letter from Oct. 19th, 2009

Message from Mom: I know everyone really enjoys hearing from Daniel but he would really love hearing from YOU! His address is posted to the right. :D



Hey Everyone,

Well done, my brother. G! E! D! What, what. That's cool.
Yeah, things are still doing good. We got to go street contacting downtown this week, at night. It was crazy! But, we met some really nice people, most of whom had tattoos on their faces. Oh, and you'll be happy to know that the rain has started. It hasn't gotten softer than a drizzle all week. It gets dark really early here, at like 5. Which sucks cause that's when we start tracting every night.
Church is sooo stressful! We bring investigators who are just there to check it out and everyone in the ward immediately starts talking about the deepest doctrine they can think of! This Sunday we brought a single investigator. She was interested in the church but she almost ran away when one of the members told her she can't be exalted until she gets married. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Do me a favor guys, if you see missionaries with investigators at church, please keep it basic. People who aren't even really sure if the Book of Mormon is true do NOT need to be hearing about the temple, or baptisms for the dead, or any stuff like that. It's way important, because investigators have no idea what any of that stuff means. As missionaries we always tell people that the church is centered on Christ, people get really confused if the only time they hear his name is during the prayer. Focus on the Savior always, 'cause that's what the church is really all about. O.K. that's enough of that. I'm glad you guys are doing good, and I'm way stoked for Andrew getting a job. I love you guys!

LOVE
Elder Uppencamp a.k.a Elder Uppencup a.k.a Grampa Uppencamp

Letter from Oct. 12, 2009

Dear Everybody,

Whew, I'm glad you got those pictures, I spent like and hour in the post office trying to figure out how to send them. Don't worry, that wasn't my toe, this dude in my zone had it last transfer and I was on a shift with him when he went to the doctor. The next pict is the toe nail itself, with my hand there for scale. Yeah, those are some way good memories. I wish I could've put some caption under them so you could tell who is in them. If you have any questions, let me know.
Yeah, Olympia's a little harder than Tacoma. Everyone here goes to Evergreen College which is basically the hippie Mecca. They all say they're open minded, but when you bring up God they have their opinions and there's no changing them. The ward is also really different here too. They don't really like missionaries and they REALLY don't like it when we (the missionaries) find people. They think missionary work is exclusivley a ward thing, and that we're just some annoying side-thing that they have to "deal" with every Sunday. They're coming around though....slowly. We didn't teach too much this week, but we still got twenty lessons in.
We met a way cool family of three that we're working with so thats sweet. But yeah, tracting kinda sucks. Its amazing to me how prideful those who claim to be humble are. Yup yup,
How are my friends doing? I havn't really heard from any of them yet. How's Chadley and Nathan? Emily? Anyhoo, missionary work is the Bomb-diggity to the max. I love you guys and I pray for you all the time.

Love
Elder UP

Daniel is in Olympia...

Dear Everyone,

Yes, it's true. I'm in Olympia now. Last transfer was way fun, and we had a lot of success. Olympia, on the other hand, might be a little bit different. This is the most liberal part of the state (gasp). People don't really like missionaries here.
My new companions are Elders Allred and Hill. They're pretty cool. Elder Allred says this is the triple H zone (Hobo's, Homosexual's, and Hippie's) we'll see. I love you all and I hope your doing good. Tell Matthew to stop altering his brain, and Andrew to take up tap dancing, and give Simon a good wrestle for me.

LOVE
Elder Uppenchamp

Sept. 21 Letter...

Dear Mom and Such,

What's up guys. We had another 2 baptisms this weekend so I have now officially reached the North American missionary average! Hoorah! It was sooo cool. I got to baptise this Vietnamese dude named Lam. His story is as follows(be advised: you may cry)
O.K. So we met this dude named Lam. He just came to the states like, 3 months ago. He doesn't know much English. We ran into him tracting and took him on a tour of the church. While we were on the tour we showed him the restoration video and he loved it. We taught him the lessons that week and brought him to church. We had really hard time understanding him so we tried to get a Vietnamese speaker to come and translate. He was not down for that at all. So we pretty much taught him using only the scriptures. We took him to church and he decided to get baptized. Here's were it gets touching. Lam really wanted to get baptized, but he had work that Sunday. It's crazy cuz he is the bread winner for the family, but he doesn't have a steady job, so he takes work when he can get it. We were talking to him on Saturday and the baptism was the next day. We told him we could reschedule and stuff but he wasn't having any of that. He knew he would be blessed so he called his boss right then and said he wasn't coming in, thus probably losing his job and definitely losing 100 bucks. We felt real bad about him losing that money, so we all went to the bank and got together like seventy bucks. We brought it to his house and told him how we felt , but as soon as he saw the money in my hand he literally pushed me away. He knew he was gonna get blessed. He had such perfect faith! That touched me hardcore. I felt so blessed to have met such a genuine person. I felt the spirit so strong, I just started crying (first time on my mission) and I didn't stop for like an hour. I baptised him yesterday and I felt the spirit so strongly. I love it out here.
Tell Nathan that's awesome and that he should write me. I love you guys and I pray for Y'all every night.

Love
Elder Uppencamp

Letter from Sept. 14, 2009

Hey fam/random readers of emails,

Whats up? I'm doin pretty good out here. We had another baptism last Sunday so I'm at three so far. How did you see a photo of me with my mission pres.? I do look good don't I( and so very humble).
Tacoma's still really ghetto and yes I have gotten to drive....once. Our car is a Chevy Malibu that gets -5 miles to the gallon so we have to fill up a lot. It still hasn't rained that much here. The only day it really rained hard was the day I got to drive, fun huh.
None of my missionary pals, or my regular pals have written me yet with the exception of Nathan. What the heck. I'll probably send that memory card back soon, though it's nowhere near full.
We're just truckin' along here. We met a way cool Vietnamese guy named lam who will probably get baptised. We had Stake Conference the other day, it was a broadcast and the Prophet spoke so it was really cool. WE TAUGHT 40 LESSONS LAST WEEK! Neat huh. Yeah, we keep pretty busy.
I'm feeling a little sick today though so I might have to stay in. My companions just got done being WAY sick so I guess it's my turn. I love you guys and I pray for you every night too. Tell Andrew to get a job, and please remind my friends I'm out here. I feel a bit forgotten.

LOVE
Elder Uppencamp A.K.A Elder Up at arms.

From Elder Daniel...

Hey Dudes,

Guess what. I totally got my first (in font)baptism!!!! It was really my second one I guess.... but it was the first one where I was in the font. It was on Sunday, and it was like the raddest thing ever. Apparently I dunked him waay to hard but he didn't mind. I just dunked him Gunnell style so there was no question on whether or not he was baptized. He's a cool kid from Jacksonville Florida. His brother had gotten baptized the week before I got here so he was thinking about it, then on Sunday he came to church and said he'd do it. It was way fun and I felt the Spirit really strongly, even though everyone was laughing cause I dunked him so hard.
That's cool about the letters, I was beginning to think my mail was getting stolen or something. Yeah, my areas really ghetto. But its fun. We heard a bunch of gunshots the other night but DON'T FREAK OUT. That's just life in the hood. I'm a little disappointed that I haven't gotten into a flaming row yet, but there's still time. I'm probably gonna be out of Tacoma by the end of the month 'cause I'm a greenie and we get moved around a lot, so I'll send my address when I know.
My pants still fit. I'm actually not really even showing any signs of gaining weight at all(other than what the scales say) all though I'm not really surprised considering how much the Samoans feed us. Still haven't got any letters from any homies accept Nathan (which was hilarious by the way) but I remain hopeful.Yeah, having tons of fun preaching the word. And reading the scriptures is getting way more fun. Yes, a recipe book would be good, and I'll totally send you the memory card when I remember. I love you guys!!!

LOVE
Elder Uppencamp

Daniel's Latest Letter...

Hey moms!

Thats cool, we haven't really been rained on that much yet. I've only had to wear my coat like once. Last week was pretty cool, my comps baptized this kid but I'm not counting it as mine cause I didn't help. It was way cool though. We were in the middle of a meeting and talking about how we didn't have any baptisms set up that week, and he called and asked us if we could do it that day! Freakin Sweet, man. My companions/trainers are the coolest. They are as follows: Elder Cook from Centerville Utah, Elder Schull from Plain City Utah, and Elder Waggner from Medford Oregon. I cant believe our first transfers almost over, AND I STILL HAVEN'T HEARD FROM MY FRIENDS! whats up with that? I gotta get Chars address so's I can congradulate her. She's married now right? Guess what! I'm up to 150lbs!!! ridiculous huh? The first week I was here we didn't eat that much and I guess someone got on the ward's case cause they've been feeding us like crazy, and not just spaghetti too. We are over the Somoan ward so we basically get like 20lbs of food every time they feed us. Have you ever heard of Taro root? Yeah, things are going good. My companions are Uber hard-working. I beat Elder Schull in wrestling like my second night here. Elders Cook and Waggner don't believe that I like to box....teehee. Well, I love you guys, make sure you get on Nathan/Chad/everyone else/Corryns case about writing me. That would be nice. I love you all and I hope your enyoying yourselves. The Church is true, Tacoma is hot, and Samoans are crazy.

LOVE
Elder uppencamp

First Email From Tacoma

Here is Daniel's first email, unedited.

Yes, I am, in fact, on a mission. Cool huh. I'm in Tacoma proper so sorry, no vampires yet. I'm in a four-some with my zone leaders and another newish dude. They are so freakin awesome! Apparently Tacoma is the highest baptizing mission in North America. I didn't believe that at first but I guess we're doing one this weekend. Yeah, so awesome. It's hot here and it has yet to rain, what the heck. Oh, I got my bike and its awesome, though I don't think I'll ever get to ride it in this area cause we have a car. We talked to these two black girls yesterday and gave them a tour of a chapel and they were diggin' it for sure. Speaking of which....is Emily back yet? you gots to post this e-mail mom, because I gots to tell Char CONGRATULATIONS!!!! on getting married that is. I have a bunch of Samoans, asians, and black people in my area, it's rad. I feel so....diverse? Anyhoo, my mailing address is 5801 Orchard St. SW apt 76 Tacoma, WA 98467. So get everyone to send me goodies, and like a letter or something. So yeah, I'm loving this whole missionary thing, I'm really excited right now. I hope I don't lose the fire I'm feeling for along time. Tell Andrew to get a job, tell Nathan/Chad they need to writes me, and give Simon something to chew on that resembles Barrack Obama. Well, I love you all and I hope your already gettin blessed.

LOVE
Elder Uppencamp

A Surprise Phone Call...

We got an early call from Daniel today! He bought a calling card at the airport and chatted with us all while waiting for his flight. He says the MTC is "Da Bomb" and that he loved it and gained 6 lbs. I asked him if the food was good or what, he said "No, there's just lots of it."
Daniel, 17 other elders and one sister all flew out to Tacoma bright and early. He will report to the mission office and then get assigned a trainer and area.
He says his MTC companions where amazing and that they didn't fight at all. (Except for the occasional wrestling match in the hall. Daniel is undefeated.)
He sounded happy and excited. He kept saying, "Guess what? I'm a missionary!" and "I don't know what else to say. The Church is true." etc. He is still Daniel, just more so.
We'll put his current address up when he writes his first letter. He begs everyone to write! He doesn't understand why everyone didn't instantly drop everything and write to him every day. ;) I know he would love the occasional letter from anyone who has the time.
He sends his love and thanks for everyone's prayers and support!

Busy, busy, busy...

We survived summer! Getting Daneil off, the weeklong for Boy Scouts, Girls Camp, and Youth Conference. We had so much fun! Now we all need a month to sleep it off. :)

Youth Conference was at Utah State in Logan. We had a lot of workshops, games, swim and gym activities and a dance. John Bytheway spoke to us and that was great but I really loved our Stake leaders speaking to us. They are all amazing people and great examples.

There are a few photos in the slide show from Camp and Youth Conference. Daniel promises MTC photos soon!

I Hope They Call Me On a Misson...

Daniel received his mission call to the Washington, Tacoma mission. He reported to the MTC yesterday, July 29th.


Thanks so much to all the family who came out to support him and say good bye and good luck! We had such a great time visiting with everyone even if it was short.

I'll keep his contact info updated so we can all keep in touch with him. I know he would love to hear from friends and family as often as he can!

I have a bunch of photos to upload but we are having difficulties with our one remaining computer now so it will take a while. I wanted to get things here updated without waiting for the photos.

Technical Difficulties...

I've tried to update several times but we have had the worst luck with comuters! Aaron's laptop was stolen from our home and then 2 weeks to the day later our home PC and external hard drive melted. We lost everything we had not backed up to CDs. I thought we were safe because of the EHD, so we learned a hard lesson. Aaron also had an EHD but it was connected to the laptop when it was stolen. The only way to truely protect your stuff is back everything up on CD or use an online source to store everything.

We had great family photos we had taken in the fall.
Also, photos of Rachel's musical, Joseph and the Amazing Techincolor Dream Coat. She was in the chorus and was a dancer.
We had photos of Matthew's band concerts with close-ups of him playing his cornet. He did so well in band! He's a natural.
Jake was in his school play and was Father Escalante the explorer. He sang and did a great job with his two lines.

Lots of other photos of everyone were lost too. You'll just have to use your imaginations!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Jake was glad to get his school play over with.They have been studying Utah History this year. He did such a good job! He was Father Escalante the explorer. He sang his song and said his lines so well!

Playing Catch-Up...

Hi Friends and Family! We hope your holidays went well. Ours where fun and full.
The slide show shows our Christmas, Jake's Birthday, Simon before and after his first trip to the groomers(he really is as soft as he looks), and Rachel's Valentine rose.
We've had a lot of good friends move lately, and we miss them! We wish you all well in your new locations and endeavors.


Here's a quick update on all of us...

Daniel... Turned 19! Yikes! His mission papers are almost ready to be turned in. We will of course let everyone know where he is called to as soon as we do.

Andrew... is still working at Sub Zero (an ice cream store in our mall), still working out at Throwdown and still plugging along in school.

Rachel...is getting taller and prettier everyday. She is doing really well in school and is about to turn 15!

Matthew...is liking being an official teenager. He is loving playing trumpet and he's doing well in school.

Jacob...just turned 10. He got his first iPod so he officially joins the rest of us as techno geeks. He had a birthday party and he and his friends saw "Ink Heart"(which we all really liked). He's a Webelos now too!

Aaron...is working hard and long hours but is still loving his job.

Heather...is still in Young Women and loving it. I've gone to a lot of doctors lately but I'm feeling much better now so it's not so bad. Even at my worst times the traditional medicines for Lupus would make me feel a lot worse than my symptoms do. So, I'm on a few anti-inflammatory meds and I'm slowly trying to build my stamina back up. We'll just leave it at that until the next flare and then re-evaluate. I feel really blessed! There are so many Lupus patients who are far worse off than me.

We hope you all are doing well too!