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