Dear Family and friends,

I am so excited to get to email again, hopefully I can tell all I want to in less than 30 minutes! There have been a lot of things on my mind, I am learning amazing things every day! I love my companion, Sister Richardson. We understand each other very well and we feel the same about a lot of things; she is the best companion ever in her own way! And yes grandma, she and all the elders in my district as well as 4 other sisters and all the elders in another district in my zone are going to Utica. We all will leave together this Tuesday which should be fun. I have been frustrated with the elders in my district because they don't focus very well and they talk and joke about things that aren't horrible but aren't appropriate considering what our purpose is here. They laugh and talk and joke when we have study time and sometimes I wish that our teachers could hang out in our class all the time so that they wouldn't get so out of hand. I do love them though, they have good testimonies and I like that they can be light-hearted; I just hope that more young men will understand the importance of acting and speaking always in a way that invites the Spirit. The more we talk, the less the Spirit can speak to us.
Find out what Dear Elder is and figure out how it works.
I want to know how we are related to Glen and Jared Brooksby, I've talked to grandma Rene about them but I can't remember. There is a sister going to Utica with us whose sister-in-law is a Brooksby and she is related to them. She said that they are from Saratoga Springs, New York which is in our mission. We were so excited to make that connection; I will write about how we figured it out; the veil is very thin:)
I love all the missionaries here and all the teachers and the people I meet. Elder Bodily, Andrew Bodily's brother who I know from a class I took at BYU-Idaho, who is going to Utica, too, I have gotten to know and he is so funny! I love how he makes me laugh every day, he reminds me of Isaac sometimes. Yesterday I complimented a sister on her skirt and a teacher who was behind me said "You're going to be a great missionary." I have so many experiences I want to write here and next time I'll focus more on them but for now just know that I love all of you and want to hear more from you! I love the few letters I have received, they lift me up. Isaac's and Hannah's have been two of the best letters I have gotten in all my life, they made me laugh and cry. (By the way, I can't tell who Isaac was talking about in his P.S. in the letter he sent and I am so curious to know!)
I love you all.