First exchange with Elder Manwill my district leader

Family,

Poor little bird... Well, it's for the best, I'm just glad Ace is not suffering anymore. At least he died with everybody loving him. I'm glad you tried everything you could to help him out. He was the sweetest little bird and he deserved that. Thank you for trying to make him as comfortable as you could, I appreciate it a lot.

Things here have been pretty good, just the same old routine. We've been working pretty hard, just teaching those we can. On Wednesday, I went on my first exchange with my district leader, Elder Manwill. It was really fun, I like everybody in my district a lot, but we only have two sets of elders so Elder Manwill always jokes about him being a relief society president. We did a blitz, which is where the district goes out and knocks doors in someone's area when they need it. The sisters in the visitor's center have an area that they cover with the visitor's center so we help them out a lot. We were only supposed to be out for an hour, but Elder Udy and Elder Taylor were nowhere to be found. Finally, after like an extra hour they came walking down the street. They'd knocked into some Jehovah's Witnesses and had a healthy discussion about religion with them... We also went on a little hike thing on preparation day with Elder Manwill and Elder Udy, it was fun! It's so pretty here, I love the forest areas a lot!

Aside from that, our week has been pretty routine. I really enjoy eating with the member's at night, it helps us get to know everybody. It's hard sometimes though, they have all this food and so I'm always starving and just chow down. Then after I stuffed myself, they bring out all this dessert. You don't want to be rude, so you just shovel it down. Hopefully I'm not going to get gain a ton of weight! We actually have somebody to teach though, come this week. A lady who's been attending church for awhile finally accepted to taking the lessons from one of the members, so that's always exciting.

Yeah, Grandma & Grandpa Matson have been writing me. I've been meaning to write them back, but it's tough to get a minute to write. I'll get around to it though! Grandma & Grandpa Burge sent me a little care package this week! I'm sure they'll read this, so thank you! I've been eating the moon pies like all week! Plus, they sent a gummy snake that we ate like the day I got it. It was a lot of sugar, so I was feeling kind of sick after! It's all good though!

Well, I've been doing alright. It's exciting to hear about Kayleigh getting her Patriarchal Blessing! I hope that it was helpful for her, but I'm sure she'll tell me all about it in her next letter to me! Tell her I've written her back but we have to wait for the good ol' postal service to deliver my freaking mail faster! Jordan Steele wrote me just the other day, and it was really good to hear from him! He's doing really well now, and he's talked with me a bit and been super helpful. Thanks for getting me those addresses, I wrote quite a few people this past week so hopefully I get a lot of mail back my way. Fingers crossed!

Well, I love you all and hope you're doing well. I miss you everyday!

Love,

Sam