What's Up...

Monday, October 26, 2009

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

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

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

Monday, October 12, 2009

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

Thursday, October 1, 2009

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