December 15, 2014

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for all of your emails! So first of all, I must be going crazy because I thought Dads birthday was this coming week, was it just celebrated early or did I just totally space it? Anyways Happy birthday Dad! I love ya and it sounds like you had a good Birthday party! You are still younger than all my missionary companions and friends dads haha. And happy Anniversary! Sarah and Lynz and I wouldn't be here without you guys!

This last week has been pretty crazy. The Fredrick Brunswick area is pretty crazy haha. Its a pretty poor area and is the Maryland capital of homeless people because of something called the Fredrick rescue which is a huge place that take donations and feeds and clothes the homeless. We do service there every week and this last week we sorted a ton of canned food and served the homeless people food for about 3 hours. It was pretty fun, they had lots of soda and stuff to drink so it was good. This area is pretty tough to only have half car in because its so spread out and big. Me and elder p walked around and street contacted people for hours on some of the days we didn't have the car because we have already seen almost everyone who is walk able or really bike able. For some service this week we painted a members mud room and that took awhile. Our ward Christmas party on Saturday was fun. A ton of people showed up and the food was really good. All of the Hams were smoked in some members smokers, so they were really good.

Its been interesting getting used to the area. I have only had to get to know a new area 4 times on my mission so its always an interesting experience haha, there area a lot of cool people here. There is a really rich part of our area where... members...spoil us. One of them owns the company who builds temples for the church, and is good friends with Mitt Romney.

Tomorrow is zone Training and me and two other district leaders have to instruct of course. And on Wednesday we have to teach President and sister Richards a pamphlet lesson So we are going to be super busy these next two weeks which is good. And then its going to be 2015! Like what the heck?! Anyways on Christmas we should be skyping you at the L's who are way cool ....  So anyways that's about all I have for you guys this week, thanks again for the updates on sports and everything! I love you guys hope you have a great week!

Love wes

Dec. 9, 2014 letter

Whats up everyone!

Wow it has been a very long week! It doesn't feel like I have emailed you guys in two weeks! My new area is pretty nice though, so I know you looked up the town of Brunswick which is in our area. But that is only a tiny portion of our area. we cover a huge area that covers a lot of down town Fredrick and surrounding towns. Brunswick is actually a half hour drive from where we live in Fredrick.

 Our apartment is super nice apartment. Its like brand new and has a nice kitchen and everything. We have gym for the complex we are living in so we go there for work outs. 

 My new companion elder P has been out for 3 months so hes a pretty new missionary. Although you would never know it, he is a super good teacher and knows the area well. Hes from Idaho, nice kid likes video games and and stuff like that. He is a super smart kid, but he is willing to play sports which is good haha.

 We share a car with the sisters here which is interesting. It is a lot better than no car, but a lot of our area we have to drive to so when we don't have the car we can only stay in Fredrick.

 Anyways its been interesting getting to know everyone in the district and in the ward. Down town Fredrick is a ecently big so there is a ton of good stores and a decent mall which I was glad about. 

 Our church building is a stake center and it has a full size basketball court and smaller basketball court so its pretty nice.

 Its nice having elder B as my zone leader and elder P is serving in Fredrick Spanish right now so I can chill with him! Not to mention café rio is my area! Hopefully I don't go broke haha.

 Overall im pretty happy with everything! But of course there is the normal stress of being a District leader in a new area but its no big deal.

Anyways it sounds like you guys had a good week. Sorry you guys have been feeling sick! There is a lot of sickness going around the misson right now too.

Oh and by the way my new address is 5901 Ramseur circle apartment 203, Fredrick Maryland 21073. It has been pretty dang cold here the last week or so, luckily it hasn't snowed yet though. So anyways that's about all I can think of to say to you guys. Let me know if you have any questions! I love you guys!

Love wes 

Dec. 1, 2014

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving! It sounds like you all had a pretty eventful week! That's too bad about Grandma! I hope shes doing okay. They really need to make her house Grandma proof or somthing haha so she doesnt fall anymore.

My Thanksgiving was awesome. In the morning our zone went on base at fort meade and we played Ultimate Frisbee with the Fort Meade ward. It was pretty fun we played for about 3 hours. We had Thanksgiving lunch at Bishop C's house with about 15 other people and it was way good. I did a good job of not eating too much and was very comfortable the whole day haha. After the C's we went with the sisters to our ward mission leaders house and played board games and ate some pie. I ate quiet a bit of Oreo pie. After that we went to the B's and hung out with them and then played Basketball at the church as a zone. So it was an awesome last mission Thanksgiving.There wasn't too many people we saw because of black Friday and the holidays and all that, so it was pretty boring week haha. 

As far as Transfers go I am getting Transferred! I'm getting Transferred to Brunswick which is in the Fredrick zone. It is supposedly one of the best areas in the mission so I'm pretty excited to be the District leader there. Elder B is my zone leader and in my District so im sure we will be going on lots of exchanges haha. My companion is not someone I know, his name is Elder P and he just finished Training so hes a newer missionary. So I'm really excited to be going there and it will probably be my second to last area. 

Anyways I don't have much more to say. I will get you guys my new address as soon as I can! I love you guys very much! Talk to you soon!

Love Elder LeGrande

Nov. 24, 2014 letter

Whats up everyone!

 

Im super stoked for this Thanksgiving week, and I hope you all are too! Its 64 degrees here today so im happy about that as well. This last week was zone training and that was pretty good. On Saturday we went to M's baptism in the GB ward who I interview and play basketball with every week. I'm really tight with him and his Dad... so we brought brother B with us and got to attend so that was awesome. 

 

All of our investigators except for C are being difficult to get with right now ... and hope to pick some new ones up this week! 

 

Thanksgiving is going to be awesome. So Thanksgiving is no Pros, so as a zone were playing ultimate Frisbee in the morning. For meals were going to the bishops house with the sisters and 20 or so other people in the ward. We are also going for dessert from the M's (our ward mission leader and his wife from WJ) and then we are going to the B's! So its a pretty stacked day and should be a ton of fun. 

 

On Saturday we are going to the temple with the B's and some other people including T to go to Baptisms for the dead with them! By the way me and Elder K and the bishop and some high priests ordained T to the office of a priest yesterday and gave him the Aaronic Priesthood!

 

Sunday night is call outs to see if I'm getting Transferred or not, if I don't will be in 3 areas for about 18 months! I may only have one or two more areas left in me! 

 

So it anyways it sounds like you guys have some fun Thanksgiving plans with the family! Enjoy your last Thanksgiving with out me haha. Are you going to try to the black friday deals? I don't think we are going to see anyone on Friday haha. So R emailed me today and told me his Dad wants him to go to Utah or SVU so he can be a manager at his Dads place. So he is transferring from Dixie after this semester. They are buying another property thats about 3 acres and expanding on there business. So that pretty much makes up my mind on going to Dixie. I'm pretty dang sure I will not be going there anymore. R also told me that when I get back his Dad will give me a job starting at 14 bucks and houre. So that sounds pretty dang good, so we will have to see what happens. 

 

What do you guys think? Anyways I'm stoked to get the package from you guys! Thanks for sending me one! :) Well that's about all I got for this week! I love you guys! Tell the family I say hi and I miss them. Tell e's kids thanks for all the mail! :) Have a great week, love ya!

love wes

Letter 11/17/14

Hey guys!

Holy cow you guys wrote me a lot this last week! It was a good read, thanks for that! :) Sounds like you had a lot going on this last week haha which sounds exactly the opposite of how my week went haha. We had so many appointments cancel on us this last week and of course it was the coldest wettest week of the year so far haha. Me and elder Knudsen had some cold nights walking around haha, so I know you guys are feeling back home!

 Me and elder K are looking to find some new investigators because its been hard to meet with our current ones lately. But that's OK that happens on a mission hopefully we can find some new people who want to be baptized soon! Our recent converts are doing very and and are very active. The B's are just a joy for the ward out here to have, they are so solid. T has already taken on his new calling as scout committee chairman and has provided some great experience to a not very experienced Severn scout program haha. 

I have been feeling sick today and hope that I don't stay feeling like this for very long. A lot of people in our ward are sick right now so its not surprise haha. Tomorrow we have zone training which should be good. This last week I had to do two baptismal interviews so that was interesting, they both passed so it was good because I don't enjoy failing people :/ 

I cant believe Thanksgiving is next week! We have some awesome people having us over so im pretty excited. We will see if President bans turkey bowls this year, because I really want to play haha. Thanks for the sports updates Pops! Hopefully the 49ers do well and get into the post season and hopefully the jazz can establish some good chemistry and make the playoffs this year. So thats about all I have to say about this last week! Any questions for me or anything I can do for you guys? Thanks for all you guys do I miss and love each of you! Be safe out there! Love ya!

Love wes

November 10, 2014 letter

Whats up everyone! 

 

It was great to here from you guys! This week has been pretty busy and a little long. We had the mission tour with elder and sister Perkins which is the last mission tour of my mission. It was good he talked a lot about just teaching simply and be confident and happy as missionaries. Right after that I went on exchanges with one of the zone leaders in Glen Burnie which was alright, it rained at was cold for the whole exchange so I was glad to be in a car haha.

It was a little hard to set up appointments with people this last week because people were sick and no one wants to let us in when it gets dark haha. Today its sunny and 65 degrees out so its really nice and enjoyable. I hate the dark and the cold haha, especially on a mission. No wonder I like summer so much. But anyways A our investigator is doing well and came to church on Sunday. And some less active members we haven't seen in awhile also came so that was pretty cool. 

The weeks go by slow but I look back and everything is a blur. So I'm curious as to what the missionaries did as a lesson after dinner with you guys? How did they ask for referrals?

 I hope everything is good with Sarah and Lynz. 

What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving? We already have three people lined up for thanksgiving day so that should be fun. Anyways as far as Christmas ideas go. I really don't know what to ask for. I feel like sending money is the best way to go because I'm not really sure and shipping is expensive but I know you kind of hate doing that mom so I don't know. I'll try and think of some stuff.  Anyways thanks for all you guys do, have a great week!

Love Wes 

November 3, 2014

Hey whats up everyone!

This last week as really good, so I don't know if I told you wrong or if you just misunderstood but R is the one we lost contact with. T is great and got baptized and confirmed this weekend and gave an awesome testimony afterwords! So it was way sweet to be a part of that. His non member wife who hates any church for the most part and also came with there 14 year old son who were hoping to work with now. 

Anyways I received the Halloween package and letter with the drivers license and credit card. Thanks so much for doing that! Anyways we have a new investigator named A who has been coming to church and we have been teaching so hopefully he accepts a baptismal invitation next time we go over! :) Tomorrow is out mission conference with elder and sister Perkins and I'm not stressing about it anymore and so I'm sure it will be good :) 

Halloween was cool on Friday, we had leadership meeting in Fredrick and then since it was no proselyting we played basketball and volleyball as a zone! It sounds like you all had a pretty fun Halloween! That's sweet that you guys had such nice weather!

Letter from October 27, 2014

Hey guys,

It has been a crazy week. Transfer meeting turns out no big announcements or anything, like you already know we are reading the BOM in 60 days. My new companion elder k is from Hyrum, Utah by Logan. His family is farmers basically. He came out the transfer before me so he’s been out awhile. He is a nice kid and is in to ball room dance and stuff. He is even more so different than me than elder B is but it doesn’t really matter.

This last week has been pretty stressful. We haven’t had contact with R the whole week and he didn’t come to church. So I am really worried about him and as the district leader the zone leaders got on me and were wondering all sorts of questions about why he didn’t come...

T is good to go for this Saturday for baptism so we are excited about that. Friday I have leadership meeting in Fredrick and no proselyting on Halloween night. I did like the voice recorder you sent but I really have not been able to record anything of my own yet, so I will get on that.

Do you guys have any fun plans for Halloween? We will probably end up doing a zone activity or something but I’m not sure. Next week is that mission tour thing with Elder and Sister Perkins so that should be interesting. It may be on a Monday too so I might not email you till next Tuesday, just a heads up.

My ward mission leader told me about the Utah game and I was super stoked to here they won. So anyways I miss you guys, I hope you are all doing well and you are all happy. Anything cool or fun coming up? Is it still warm in Utah? Anyways I love you guys very much! Have a good week ok?! :)

love wes

October 14th and 20, 2014 letters

October 20, 2014

Hey guys!

So I'm not getting transferred and elder baker is getting transferred to Winchester. My new companions name is Elder K and he is a nice down to earth kid. I don't really know to much about him. We will probably have different interests but its all good I'm sure we will have a good transfer. 

A lot of people got moved around in my zone/ the mission. So there is a lot of changes in locations for missionaries. President Richards has asked everyone in the mission to come to transfer meeting regardless if anyone in your companionship is getting transferred so everyone has a lot of speculation about why hes doing it. 

Anyways I have been super busy lately. Me and the other two district leaders in my zone have been putting together zone training for tomorrow and we didn't get to much notice, so were working hard to get that done. Elder and sister Perkins of the seventy are coming on November 3rd and 4th and we have everyone has to prepare a short talk and prepare to teach them the Restoration. So I have been stressing out a little bit. Especially since if me and elder K get asked to teach then I will probably have to do most of the teaching.  Anyways it will all be fine I'm sure.

 I'm glad everything worked out with you and the B's. They are the bomb! That's so cool you were able to meet them.  Anyways Thanks for sending me a package with the B's. I cant wait to get it tonight! 

This last week we got to see meet the Mormons, and it was good! Especially as a missionary haha. Brother Neomatololo [from Meet The Mormons] is the man especially its crazy how he is in my Stake. 

Anyways thanks so much for all that you guys do for me! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you guys. I still am planning on sending you my camera soon. I love you guys very much I hope everything continues to go well for all of you! Have a great week!

love Elder LeGrande

October 14,

Hey guys!

This last week was a super good week! We had some awesome lessons with our investigators! T is not getting baptized this Saturday but next Saturday on the 25th! He is getting interviewed on Thursday and since hes my investigator I won't interview him the zone leaders will. But he is doing really good right now and is pretty solid so I'm super pumped he is getting baptized after meeting with missionaries for 2 years now! 

We also had a sweet lesson with R this last week and he came out to church and is getting baptized on November 8th! He is super excited to be in the church and he really wants to get baptized so that is pretty dope! 

Transfers are coming up next week as  you know. I suspect that I will stay in Severn and elder B will get transferred but who knows what will happen. More and more of the old missionaries who I am really good friends with are all leaving so its really weird. I don't know hardly any missionaries that came out after me and that's like the majority of the mission now haha. 

So anyways how is all of your lives going? Sounds like everything is pretty normal back home. That reminds me! My recent convert D and her member husband D are in Utah right now visiting family. And they were wanting to get together with you two and elder B's parents and do like a lunch or something on Saturday at like 11 or 1? Is that something you think would work? 

Give them a call and tell them your my parents. They will be expecting your call! They are super awesome people I'm sure you will like them. Anyways I want to here how everyone is doing! What else cool is going on with you guys? Thanks for sending me a package though!  Anyways I love you guys very much! I will let you know what happens with transfers this next week! I love you guys! Have a great week! 

Love wes

October 6, 2014

Hey guys!

I’m glad you all had a great week, it sounds like you all had a good week!

General Conference was awesome as always. We were able to get R & T both to watch conference with us and different members’ houses. We went to the bishop’s house to watch a session and eat dinner and we went to our ward mission leader’s house to watch another. The other two sessions we watched at the church and priesthood session.

There were a ton of good talks. I really like elder Holland’s talk on looking after the poor, elder Robbins' talk on not lowering our standards, and both talks in the regular session and priesthood by president Uchtdorf and president Eyeing. President Monson's talks were good but seemed to be a little more serious than normal for him. But there were a lot of other good talks as well.  Oh yeah and for priesthood session our ward had ice cream before it started.

The rest of this week was pretty normal. Nothing too crazy happened, T is still good for the 18th but I’m a little worried about him. I hope everything works out with it.

Basketball on Tuesday was also really fun. We had sooo many people come out. The weather is starting to cool down here.

Today it’s a nice 74 degrees for a high. Today for preparation day we drove to Columbia with the zone leaders to adjourn as the "high baller council" ha-ha it was a ton of fun. There were a lot of good players there but I lead all scorers again ha-ha. Its nice being able to play basketball a decent amount my shot has been nice and consistent for awhile now! :)

Our mission gets to watch meet the Mormons next week as a zone, so that will pretty sweet!

So how is everything going back home? Is it cooling down? It’s crazy that its fall and I only have 2 more seasons before I come home in the summer.

My friends have already started emailing me trying to convince me to go to Dixie and [other] people trying to talk me in to going to Utah [State]; But I’m trying not to think about that stuff right now even though its in the back of my mind. I’m still pretty sure I won’t go to school until the spring semester when I get home.

Anyways I’m happy to be out here on a mission and am realizing that two years really isn’t [going to be] forever and really not that long of time ha-ha. But thanks for your nice emails and sports updates.  I hope you guys all have a good week! I love ya very much! :)

Love Wes

Letters from September 22 and 29

September 22, 2014

Hey Guys,

… my birthday was pretty good. We had zone training and everyone sang me happy birthday and were really nice so it was cool. 

Our car got taken away from our area so that was a big bummer. We have been riding bikes all week and it has been really hard to see all of our investigators. 

But R…and T… are still doing well. We will have to move R’s date back though because we have a lot to teach him still… Thanks so much for everything, I really appreciate it. I love you guys very much. I hope you guys have a good week :) 

Love, 

Wes

September 29, 2014

Hey family!

It was nice hearing from all of you! Crazy that S… is home from his mission! It made me realize I have been gone for a very long time haha…. I have been meaning to email bishop for awhile. I will shoot him one after this. I miss that guy a ton! 

Anyways this week has had nice mild weather which has been good for biking and walking. Me and elder Baker calculated we put over 100 miles on our bikes this last week. Both of us are soooo sick of riding bikes haha. 

As hard as it its been, we have been doing very well with everything still. T… should be good for the 18th and R… unfortunately just got a job and has been super busy so we didn't really get to meet with him. 

We had some other good investigator lessons as well too. One cool guy named Z… who is Muslim is doing pretty well. He liked the restoration which was awesome to here. He owns 3 really famous pizza joints in DC which were on man vs food and some other shows like that. 

Basketball on tuesday nights is going EXTREMELY well. We have 4 wards playing right now and we had 28 people show up last week. So this week we are taking half to our church building to play, so it should be fun. We have a sweet less active RM coming to play and he wants to come back to church and his wife is a non member. 

Also another part member family in our ward was on date in a different ward close to us, but now they live in our ward so we will probably get  a baptism out of that deal-i-o! So that’s pretty awesome. Leadership meeting this last week in Fredrick was fun. It was cool to see all my good buddies who came out with me and stuff. 

Its weird to see how our group and the group before is like 85 percent of the leadership in the mission haha. So today I bought that awesome suit and got it tailored. I will send you a picture of me in it with my watch! How are the girls liking school?  Anyways I love you guys and appreciate all you do! Have a good week! Let me know if you have any questions. 

Love,  Wes

Elder LeGrande turned 20 years old this week!

September 8, 2014

Hey family!

It was great to here from you all this week! I had a really good week! We found 4 new investigators this last week! Heck yeah! We have 8 investigators right now and 4 of them are really solid I'm hoping for at least three baptisms this next transfer.

Yeah so I’m staying with Elder B here in Severn! I’m just fine with that this area is pretty awesome and we are really seeing some good things happen here. One guy who we found this last week while street contacting is way cool and he came to play basketball this last week and came to church. He has a ton of potential and I’m sure he will get baptized if he can just kick his smoking habit. He is 26.

We had stake conference here in Annapolis this last week! They had to broadcast it at 3 different building because there are a lot of people in the stake. I was at the one with all the live speakers in Severn so that was cool. President and Sister Richards came and spoke and gave some good talks on missionary work and all the good stuff going on in the mission. So it was a good Sunday. We had dinner last night at the Y’s and there huge forty Niner’s fans so they were talking about the game and giving me all the updates, so that was cool.

Overall my District did really well this transfer. We had a couple baptisms and have some really solid investigators right now so there are some good things going on. I also went on exchanges with the Zone leaders this week and that was sweet. I went to there area with Elder H and we are good friends so it was cool.

We taught this really cool family and they want to get baptized but cant give up smoking so we taught the word of wisdom and the spirit came in and slapped them all and they committed to stop smoking and they haven’t so far, so that was awesome!

Today for  P day we watched a movie called facing the giants that president Richards approved and the whole zone went to the B’s ( a senior couple) super nice club house that has a theater that we watched the movie in and it was pretty fun to watch even though it was pretty cheesy ha-ha.

So I had an awesome week and loved the emails from you guys! I have played against some high school players for fun here and Severn and give them a good fun for there money ha-ha. Anyways thanks so much for writing me I love you guys very much.

(…)

Anyways I’m glad lynz had a fun party and hope Sarah gets feeling better and has a fun birthday! I love you guys! Have a good week!

Love Wes

September 16, 2014

Hey family!

Wow thanks so much for all of your long emails you guys sent to me! Seriously that is the best birthday present I could get!

(…)

I..went to a place called Gabe's and which is like a really nice upscale thrift store I guess and it’s huge. My sun glasses broke a couple weeks ago and I got two brand new pairs of sun glasses for 2 bucks! The lady at the counter gave me a really good deal for some reason! I also got some new shoes that were only 10 bucks so I’m excited to not have my sock rub against the ground in my proselyting shoes ha-ha. I’m going to take a picture of my shoes and send them to you so you can have a good laugh ha-ha. Do you remember those shoes in that one general conference talk that the stake president bronzed? Well my shoes blow those shoes out of the water with how beat up they are ha-ha.

(…)

It sounds like all the birthdays and everything have been really fun and you have enjoyed them so I’m really glad to here that! I hope Sarah has fun at her Dance though!

It sounds like R is ready to go on his mission.  He will do well though, the most important thing to have when you leave is just the desire to help others and do your best.

So anyway in a really short explanation of my week, it was one of the best weeks of my entire mission. The Severn ward is killing it right now and the area is on fire! We put two people on date to be baptized this last week named R and T who are both older guys and really cool. T has been taught for a year and a half and finally he has decided to be baptized on October 11! And R is another older guy about 65 who has gone through a rough life and wants to be baptized soooo bad!

And we also have two other investigators praying about a baptismal date!!!!! The sister training leaders in my ward and district also have 2 on date so we are killing it right now and everyone is just in awe! The lord has blessed us a lot for our hard work and dedication!

Anyway thanks so much again for the birthday wishes, presents and emails! I love you guys very much. I let you know how everything went next week ok. :) Love you all! :))

Love Wes

Elder LeGrande Letters from August 28 and September 2, 2014

August 28, 2014

Hey what’s up family! 

My week was pretty good! My back is not hurting anymore at all so that’s good :) I had my back popped by like 10 different people so I think it got all lined up again ha-ha.  I’m excited for you to sell those houses and glad everything with Dads work is going well! It makes me feel good to know that being on a mission is blessing you guys! I would stay on a mission forever if you kept getting blessed the way you are now ha-ha.

 I can’t believe that school starts! What day does it start for the girls? I know for pretty much all the kids here in Maryland started school today. That’s crazy how Sarah and lynz are now in the middle grade of both of there schools! They are getting so old! And I can’t believe I turn 20 next month. That is crazy!  

We had some good lessons with some less active members that we got in with and split some wood for one too. We saw all of our 5 investigators and that was good. Even though only 1 came to church! (I was pretty ticked about that) ha-ha. So it was a pretty good week. We have been continuing to get fed REALLY well so that has been awesome! It’s so nice to get fed so much again!

Luckily I'm working out and playing a lot of basketball so I’m not gaining any weight. I actually have sitting at about 171 lately and ideally 171- 178 is where I want to be! I was looking at the stats for the USA basketball team dad gave me and realize at the beginning of my mission I almost weighed as much as Stephen Curry and he is like 4 inches taller than me ha-ha. Also I didn’t know Rudy gay is from Baltimore! You should look up to me where he played high school ball and where specifically he grew up In Baltimore. It very likely could have been in my last area. Basketball has been really good though lately.  

 I started weekly basketball night here and invited all of the Severn ward, fort Meade ward, Odenton ward and the glen Bernie ward to come out and play and it has been really good basketball. I have been really happy with myself trying to get back into prime basketball shape again. I think I have gotten better in some areas of my game on my mission, but lost a few other things that I had when I left. Ha-ha sometimes it kills me that I’m not as fast as I was back home, but I guess you can’t really expect to be on your mission ha-ha. My jumping is still as good if not better as I was when I left. I had some members throwing me some oops on an outside hoop and I had a few dunks from them. But anyways everything else is going well.

 Being a District leader is no big deal. Wednesday I have leadership meeting in Fredrick so that will be fun and I have the O's game on Friday so I’m stoked for that! Other than that I don’t have much else to say! But thanks again for your emails. I love you guys very much! :) Have a great week! :) Let me know if you have any questions for me! Love ya!

Love Wes

Sept 2, 2014

Hey hey what’s up family!

Sounds like you all had a great week in park city and going to concerts, and starting school and all the other things you did! I had a really good week as well.

I had a leadership meeting in Fredrick on Wednesday so that was cool. It’s a pretty crazy meeting actually. It pretty much consists of President Richards throwing down on us and letting everyone duke it out with each other in figuring out how certain situations should be handled ha-ha. Needless to say I didn’t say much in the meeting as a new District leader because I didn’t want to get destroyed by everyone hahaha. So that was pretty cool to see a lot of my good friends in there and hang out with them. President Richards even played a segment from the movie miracle (probably my favorite sports movie) about being on the same team and how the name on the jersey (our name of the tag) is a lot less important then the name on the bottom (Jesus Christ). So that was pretty sick he showed that, hahaha everyone was glued to the TV hahaha.

On Friday the Orioles game was way sick! Elder Burrup threw the first pitch at the game. He wasn’t allowed to throw 95 because the catcher wasn’t in full gear. 

So he threw a solid 70 curve ball ha-ha. The Stadium was packed so it was super sick. I got to hang out with all my bros and some members from my old areas. It was a blast. And the Orioles destroyed the Twins. 

There were 3 home runs and Chris the boss Davis cranked a grand slam and the stadium went crazy that was super awesome. Orioles will do damage in post season for sure. 

I’m on exchanges right now with my zone leader who was one of my previous zone leaders named elder Hall and were having a lot of fun after my District meeting so that’s pretty cool. A bunch of us selected ball players (ha-ha) went to Columbia to play some ball at the stake center there. And that was a blast. Most of us are either zone leaders assistants or district leaders ha-ha and we nick named our selves the high baller council hahaha. I was very pleased with how I played against so many good players. I had easily the most points and me and couple other good elders were on a team and we played against Elder H.  (6'7) and Elder T. (6'5) both playing college ball. And we beat them in a very good game. I had 7 threes in a row and had a majority of our points. It was a ton of fun. But besides that everything has been pretty good lately.

 Transfers are next week and who knows what will happen with that. So you and grandma and Tricia and people have been asking what I want for my birthday. Some ideas I have had are Taco bell/McDonalds gift cards. Some new dress pants. Some new shoes, a new suit, cash. I mean if I just had some cash I could probably just go get a suit and some shoes from Burlington coat factory on sale or a good will or something. It would save everyone a lot of money I think if I did that, but I don’t know! I’m down for whatever. People don’t need to send me food though ha-ha.

 But yeah just some thoughts. Let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you guys and I will do my best! I wanted to say Happy birthday to Lynz on Saturday! I cant believe that she is turning 14! That’s crazy! Hopefully she has a fun birthday! Anyways I hope you all have a good week! Thanks for the pics, letters and emails! Love you guys!

Love Wes

Letter from Elder LeGrande 8/18

Hey guys! 

Thanks for all the letters and emails! You guys make my day every preparation day! And thank you so much for the package and the banner that was pretty cool too, even though I opened it in the car and it made the biggest mess! Ha-ha it took us about a half hour today getting between all the cracks where the stuff fell ha-ha. 

Today has been a pretty good preparation day. We drove to Columbia with the zone leaders to go play ball at the stake center there. It was fun because they only invited certain people ha-ha so the competition was really good. There's a couple players in the mission going to play college ball so it was fun. But in the middle of one of the games I went up to lay a ball up and got smashed into by a 6'3 260 pound kid and got bent in half in the air. My back is killing me so bad right now. I can’t sit or stand up without having any pain. I think I may have slipped a disk in the middle of my lower back. So I'm going to continue to ice it and stuff and take ibuprofen. Hopefully it will stop hurting soon. I can’t bend over in the slightest or else my back just kills. But don’t worry about it to much... 

Anyway thanks dad I did get your letter with the money you sent to me! Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. I think its funny how people all start sending me money and things when I get fed really well and when I'm desperate for cash or food I don’t get anything ha-ha. But it’s nice to be able to have some extra money saved when I need it. But anyway this last week was pretty good, nothing crazy happened.

 I went on exchanges with the Zone leaders so that was cool. To get a break and be with a really cool missionary named Elder Be... that I have a lot in common with.  Elder Ba...  and I are doing well.  That’s good you all saw me on the mission blog. I wasn't too stressed out that day so if it looked like it, I really wasn't too stressed. 

The blog had everyone else’s zone conferences too so that why you saw elder B. and D.  on there, because there not in my zone. The Severn ward is good. It’s a tough area to get baptisms and things in. But the members are awesome and we get fed every day so it’s really nice. 

We have the Orioles game next week, so everyone’s excited about that. Elder B. an awesome missionary in our mission is throwing the first pitch of the Orioles game. It will probably be the best opening pitch of all time. Elder B. was going to get drafted to the braves in the first round but decided to go on a mission. He throws 94 miles per hour. So it should be sick! Look for it on sports center! I also have my first leadership meeting next week, and I heard those are super fun. Nothing else crazy from this end though. 

Hopefully Denise gets feeling better and everything is ok with her. Thanks so much for being seriously the best family ever. You all are the best I and love ya. Have a great week and have fun. And have a happy birthday on Friday mom! Lagoon should be fun! I will be able to celebrate your next birthday with you! Have a great week!

Love Wes