Week 44 THE SOO

 Monday, December 6 2021

Hey guys! Another week flown by here in Traverse City. This week we had exchanges with missionaries at the furthest point of the mission (In a place called Sault Saint Marie) and it was a blast!

I got to go with Elder Chytraus (my MTC companion) on exchanges this week. It was so fun! On Wednesday Morning Elder Tueller and I woke up at 4 am to drive up to the Soo. It is about a 3 hour drive for us. We were supposed to wake up at 415 but I slept like a rock and was slumped  Elder Tueller said it took him 10 minutes to wake me up. For those of you who don't know, I can literally black out when I sleep like I go to another universe. On our drive up we were so hyped to get McDonald's breakfast for our road trip. We had been getting hyped about it for weeks as we prepared to go up to the Soo. So, when we drove past the McDonald's we viewed it as a sign from Heaven when the lights turned on and we were the first ones in line a few minutes before it opened.

Up North is so beautiful! I got to drive over the Mackinaw Bridge which connects the Upper Peninsula to the rest of Michigan. There are so many trees it is so beautiful. Up North is also extremely cold and Elder Tueller and I were freezing. But, we had a blast hanging out with Elder Chytraus and his companion Elder Marsh! They are both a couple of studs. We got to go to their gym in the morning with them at the college they serve nearby and Elder Tueller and I were in our element haha. We both want to serve in the Soo for their gym! It was sad when we had to drive back down to the Soo but it was so fun to be companions again (even just for a day) with Elder Chytraus!

On Saturday we went over to our friend Fred's house to go to their son Christian's birthday party! Elder Tueller and I picked him out a nerf gun and we had wayy too much fun playing around with it before we gave it to him haha. And, we didn't have any wrapping paper so we used two Walmart bags and it looked pretty trashy  but he loved it. Chrisrtian's Mom is this super nice Fillipino woman and she is hilarious. As soon as we got there she was like "Come in! Eat!" And she loaded a massive amount of food onto my plate. Unfortunately, a few hours before we had gotten Taco Bell with the AP's who were up to drop off some stuff to us and so we were absolutely full. I was struggling to finish my plate off so I didn't look rude. I had Elder Tueller dying as he watched me try to finish all my food lol. But the party was so fun. Christopher and Christian are the two kids and they had us cracking up. They are both studs and Christian loved his Nerf Gun. It was a good day.

It has been DUMPING snow here in TC. Yesterday it snowed like a foot. The truck we have up here doesn't have a cover and the office elders won't get us a cover, so it has been Elder Tueller and I's goal to try and fill the bed up with snow over time. Last night we got shovels and shoveled as much snow as we could into the back and then we went out knocking haha. Everyone probably thought we were crazy shoveling massive amounts of snow into our truck bed haha. By the end, it was probably like 400 pounds of snow in there. I will add a picture below.

On Sunday our friend Mike and his family came to church! Mike is literally elect. He has three young kids and they LOVE primary. Mike seems to really enjoy church and we are finally going to meet with him this week! The Lord is blessing our area.

Ah, I have so many stories I wish I could share. Elder Tueller and I are doing really well together. He is such a stud and we have a lot of laughs together. Transfer calls come next week so we are hoping Tueller will stay here for Christmas but he could get transfered. We will see what happens! I love all of you so much and I hope to hear from you!! Happy Holidays!

Elder Elliott