Tuesday, August 25, 2009

ENTOMOLOGY IN A MISSIONARY APARTMENT

MOM, what did you do to the Boompf?? Haha, THAT will make it just that much more ghetto... sweet. Hopefully this isn't an omen for the school year or anything...haha
[Background info: I emailed him a picture of his car that I accidentally ran into this morning as I was backing out of our driveway...um, sort of ripped off the rear bumper...oops.]
WELL, I'm not in Ogden anymore - quite different here. I don't know if you have checked out any pictures online of where I've been, but its actually quite beautiful here in South Cache valley. Different kind of place. I'd kinda gotten used to sirens and loud music and riding bikes through the streets and alleys and such... but now I'm further north, on the other side of the mountains. It's kinda like comparing Salt Lake City to DC, Ogden to Manassas, and Hyrum/Logan to Culpeper/Warrenton. I kinda feel more at home, there are tractors and cows and it smells like manure everywhere and we have to drive places - a nice country feel instead of dirty city. AND I HAVE A CAR!!! AND I GET TO DRIVE IT!!! THAT is quite satisfying. I missed driving. And there is no problems with the records, I'm fine driving. My companion Elder Muro lost his apparently and HE has to let me drive for a while, so it's good.

Elder Muro is pretty cool - he was born in Mexico, but moved to California when he was 5 and lost his Spanish. He joined the Church 2 years ago, alone, and decided to go on a mission. His mother was baptized a few months after he left, which is cool. He's kinda reserved, but a fun guy. I'm not sure I've described my previous companions very well, but they were pretty much absolutely psycho and full of energy and etc. Fun guys, but crazy. I think this transfer I might have to become a little more crazy - the longer a missionary is here, the crazier they get. It's like they leave the worldliness behind and have to fill the void with something...

I'm now in charge of TWO branches [small congregations]- Valle Hermoso (Handsome Valley?) and South Cache. We work in Hyrum and Logan, which is a beautiful small town - check out pics of the Logan temple and the town, it's fairly scenic. You can see the temple from anywhere in the valley, its on a big hill over Utah State University. I miss the people in Buenaventura - it was nice having everyone know and love me, because I'd been there forever, but I'm making an effort to know everyone here now.

The package - well, I STILL haven't sent mine because I heard there was a Post Office close to where we live HERE so I waited - sending THIS week... as for yours, do send it to the mission office. It just takes a little longer. And where I live is a set of apartments on the edge of Hyrum, and many don't even lock their doors here. We live below some English Elders, so that's fun. They're always down with us, interrupting studies and planning. OH MAN, I hate spiders. And bugs. We're not allowed to have pets, but we figure that since there are animals that want to live with us, we can contain them - we have 4-5 containers with an array of grasshoppers, 5-6 spiders (BIG, with names), a frog, 2 snakes, a praying mantis, and many earwigs (which DO crawl in ears). We keep the beds far from the walls and never let blankets touch the ground. And wear shoes... intense...

Sounds like the first few days of school are going as usual, with everything crazy. Glad everyone has some good classes, and I'm sure Heidi will get some good ones figured out. Algebra isn't too bad. Don't worry. And can Jeffrey drive to seminary? Or still no?

Well Mom, at least I'm taking the spiders for you... and REALLY glad I don't have a fro or a mohawk OR a powder blue bow tie like in your dream, haha (though I DO need a haircut...). But I think I've seen that duck-taped car in Ogden....dreams are awesome.

Congrats to all who survived day one of school! As well to Grandma and Grandpa - happy anniversary! I hope Grandma feels better! And that's really cool about Reagan and Dillon!

Thanks for everything, EVERYONE! We're praying for everyone always, and I really appreciate everyone thinking of me and writing and all. It's a huge help. I love you all, and hope all continues to go well. I know what I'm teaching is true, and this is what people need. I've felt the Spirit testify to me that it is God's work, and know this is the way to happiness here and after. We are all His children, and He is guiding us if we let Him.

Love you all!
-Elder Christopher Thelin and the Cows

PS Weird, we're teaching a 22 year old man who was living in Manassas!

And now for the continuing silly story of 3 little girls on a quest to find their brother Chris... presently finding themselves in China with a herd of platypii, Luke Skywalker, KungFu Panda, and others who were just lost in a whirlwind following a frightning attack by a firebreathing dragon. Here's what we added last week:
The girls began searching high and low for signs of their friends. There was stuff everywhere from the storm. “Hey, here is a piece of Luke’s pool noodle sword!” said Amy. “And one of the platypus' lunchboxes!” said Holly. “What in the world…” said Heidi. The three sisters stared at a bumper…from a car…the license plate said, “BOOMPF”. “This storm must have been bigger than we thought,” the girls said…

Here's what Chris added:

PPS ...a little ways away there was a car smashed into some bamboo that looked really familiar. "the BOOMPFMOBILE!" the girls shouted. "Look! There's someone inside!" cried Holly. The front door creaked open and... "Jeffrey!" cried the girls. Jeffrey, their older brother, fell out of the front seat and groaned. He was unconscious. "That's pretty crazy." said Amy. Heidi and the girls and Kung Fu Panda lifted Jeffrey up and put him in the back seat. Then Kung Fu Panda started driving the Boompfmobile through the jungle (without a bumper). "We'll go this way" said KungFu Panda, pointing to a little road that went up to a pretty Chinese looking mountain. "Ok...." said Heidi...

[One more thing...here is mom's dream that Chris refers to in his letter...thought Kayla would get a kick out of it, haha! So, from our family letter to him:
...I couldn’t sleep, and when I did, I had the
strangest dreams, so I finally gave up on sleep around 4 am. My favorite dream was that we were somehow driving through the streets of Ogden in our family van, and we spotted you in a turn lane. You were in some completely decrepit vehicle that looked spray painted (not unlike the paint job on the ThelinGroovy, mind you) and held together with an unprecedented amount of duck tape. You were driving with Kayla, which was somewhat confusing, why she was there. More disturbing, however, was that you both had mohawks. You still had all of your other hair (yours was like when you had the giant fro going on), but you both had parted it in such a way that it was plastered down kinda on either side of the mohawk. Additionally, you were wearing your white shirt, missionary tag, AND a beautiful powder blue bowtie. In short, you looked absolutely ridiculous. Nevertheless, we were ecstatic to see you and waved like crazy as we drove past. You saw us too and smiled at us, and I was so pleased to notice as we went by that the little gap between your front teeth had closed! You must be wearing your retainer! Anyway, I woke up actually laughing out loud. After that, however, I fell back to sleep and dreamed that there were hamsters in my bed crawling in my pajamas and such, and so I just got up after that. Couldn’t deal with any more.]
The famous Logan Tabernacle, on the corner of Main and Center Streets
Me, one of my first Zone Leaders Elder Perez, and my new companion, Elder Muro
Logan Temple is SWEET

Our little friends...


2 comments:

  1. His new area sounds nice! I hope him and his new companion work it!

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  2. Wow, that area looks beautiful! Good luck...Joey loved teaching in the more rural areas of his mission. Refreshing to get a variety of experiences. Good luck with the wildlife...sounds like nature is reclaiming your apartment. We love you!

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