2330 Northwestern Ave APT 3
West Laffayette Indiana 47906
Here are a couple of pictures from the MTC of Elder Rees.
So we flew out to Indiana early tuesday morning, and flew first to Detroit. I sat next to a guy on the plane and we talked about the church, and I was able to share a few things with him, and get his phone number name and address so that the missionaries in Michigan could have a potential to go and see. From there we flew into Indy, and it was an odd experience. I mean we get off the plane head to the baggage claim, and get greeted by our mission president and wife, they are great people who have been out about 8 months themselves... so i'll have them for the duration of my mission! From there we went to the mission home and hung out, ate a good dinner had a devotional, and a slumber party in the basement, 2 sisters stayed up stairs, and we 8 elders, were downstairs. We were all so tired! After another wonderful meal in the morning it was off to transfer meeting. I've never felt more like a piece of meat in a butchers shop! All of the elders and sisters were totally all over us, with their eyes, wondering who we are, and if they would be paired with us. Everyone seemed to know each other and i'm sure over the next few years I'll be able to pick up on the names and faces of all of those people too!
So My First Area: I'm in the Laffayette 2nd ward! We cover most of the outlying areas of West Laffayette! Which is where Purdue University is!!! So it's fun there are a lot of young families in our ward, most from back west, here for their masters/doctorate degrees! Pretty fun, most know utah pretty good so it's fun to see westerners.
We live just north of purdue university, and here is my address.... 2330 Northwestern Ave APT 3 West Laffayette Indiana 47906. We have to travel through other Elders' areas just to get to ours so there is a lot of travel invovled. We get to share a car with on of the other Companionships, which means we'll be doing a lot of biking, we got our first taste of biking already, and my butt is sore, but I'm learning that had I been in a different part of the country, the hills would kill me, everything here is really flat, so the biking isn't too bad! And it's helping me get into a better shape so that is great!
A few enviromental differences: HUMID cold is SO DIFFERENT!!!! ok so it said 35 degrees and we stepped outside in just suits, and i almost peed to warm myself up! It really does SLICE right through you! But my companion is great and taught me about thermals! There are tons of TREES!! I mean i feel like I'm walking river bottoms all the time, there are so many trees! You look for a horizon, (they don't have many) and you see tree tops that cover almost all of the landscape. It's also interesting because you can feel like you are in a city, and then in 2 miles you are in farm country. The houses here are so different, i guess i'm used to Stucko, and brick half way up.... thanks utah... but everyone seems to have a yard here, a big yard, and are pretty spread out from each other... kinda unique. oh and EVERYONE has dogs! no bites yet, but i stress yet!! um there is no snow on the ground, we got snowed on the other day, but it melted away mostly that day... It's the start of the rainy season, and last night we had our first thunder storm, with more expected. In our training material there is information on what to do when a tornado hits... so that could be cool! It won't happen, but it would be kinda cool to say it did.
ok companion time: His name is Elder Jones, and he's from..... South Jordan UT!!! Cool huh, we don't really know any of the same people, but it's pretty cool that he'll be close by. he's been out for about 21 months, and he's great! He appreciates me being older, he says that it's easier to work.... because i'm not afraid to knock a door, or jump in and contribute in the middle of a lesson or things like that... which has boosted my confidence! i like him! We can laugh about a lot of things and we are still getting to know each other but in a few weeks we'll be closer. and we work hard!
The ward: I've never seen a ward more engaged with the work! They have (are developing) family mission plans with names of people and fellowship ideas that they can use and that they can impliment in their lives! And we've been fed every night since we've gotten here, which has been pretty nice too! The other elders say that won't happen as much in other areas, so i'm taking full advantage while i can! There are so many nice people here! And it's amazing to see just how prepared they are to hear the Gospel... We learned a bit about that in the MTC, about how God is preparing people around us to hear the Gospel, and it's so true, each person really has a light in their eyes, and hope in their voices, but don't recognize it as truth, I do! I see them being prepared by the spirit, but they can't see that.
