Elder Findlay Under the Sun: First Week in Mesa! Week #4

Well I'm finally here!! I made it to Mesa! And everyone was right about it being super hot here! It is really hot, haha, but I can take the heat. I'm already starting to love it here, palm trees everywhere you look, and awesome people all around! The day we arrived in Mesa we got interviewed by President Townsend. He is nice and not too strict surprisingly. Waiting to be interviewed took like 4 hrs so we all literally took naps on the benches in the chapel. They told us to, and they even gave us our blankets and pillows! It was probably one of the longest days of my life! After we were all interviewed we were assigned to our companions and took off from there. My companion is Elder Grabenstein, I know his name is super funny haha! I have yet to have a companion with a sort of normal last name. He is from New Jersey and he has been out for 2 transfers. We get along pretty well, and he's nice. We went straight to work after we were assigned to our comp. and taught a couple of investigators, and yeah I was a little scared. Anyways the days here go by super fast of course, and I've already been here for a week!

One thing that is awesome is that we have a car with AC and it is a life saver! We have a pretty nice apartment that we share with Elder Karren and Elder Harris, they are fun but Elder Karren is super strict! Our apartment complex is nice and at the clubhouse we have a weight room and a really nice pool. We don't get to use the pool but we do get to use the weight room every morning at 6:30 til like 7.

We have a really chill area. The members absolutely love the missionaries and we have 3 wards. The Alta Mesa ward, Salt River ward, and the Mountain Park YSA ward. The YSA ward is awesome! We've meet with lots of members and they really do treat us the best! I have already eaten at one house 3 times and I've only been here for a week haha! Sister D. is the one that sent the picture:) And they bought us a bunch of food to take home ha! Speaking of food I went to the store on Wednesday and I didn't really know what to buy so I just bought sandwich stuff and fruit. Its okay though because today I made a grocery list so I'm prepared. Also we never make ourselves dinner because the members feed us every night. I also bought detergent and such because we do have a washing machine and dryer in our apartment.

Elder T. and Elder O. are my favorite companionship! We are always together because we do a lot of service and we have tons of fun doing it. We do service for investigators like John who is 65 and is soooo funny! He calls himself a holy roller and he has his own radio station. He knows a bunch about the Bible and the BOM but something is holding him back from being baptized so we are working on him. I've already met the bishops from 2 of the wards we cover and they are both great! Bishop C. is so cool! He is really fun and outgoing and he has 6 boys under 14 years old. One of them reminds me so much of Jack!

One thing I love about Mesa is that there are citrus trees everywhere! I have yet to try an orange from here but when the season comes around I will! Sunsets here are amazing!! So pretty!!! It gets really hot still like on Saturday it was 115. Its not that bad honestly because we are usually inside teaching someone. Sometimes we teach at the visiting center at the temple. The temple is so pretty! We went there on our first day just to walk around the grounds and it was cool!

I'm still trying to adjust to the missionary life and I'm getting there. Sometimes I feel super homesick and that is hard because, I haven't really felt like that before. Especially the first night because everything was so overwhelming. Since then I have met a lot of new people, but I still feel like I barely know anyone. When we plan for the day Elder G, I call him this because his last name is hard to say haha, set up appointments with members and I don't know any of them. He does it on his I pad so its hard for me because I don't get my I pad for 3 weeks. So I just kind of sit there and chill haha but I am learning. All of the missionaries here are really cool. They are fun and welcoming. I'm starting to get into the swing of things but I know it will take some time. At least I'm speaking English! Mission life is an adventure! I miss you guys more than I ever have before! I love you all so much and don't worry about me, I am really being taken care of!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!:)

Love, Elder Findlay