We had one baptism this weekend. The other one fell through. It was good though.

I am doing well. I've been really focused and I'm having a great time. I love the work. The one problem I had this week is I got sick. I had a really stuffy nose and stuff. My head and throat hurt. I wasn't able to work for 2 days. That's what made this week a little hard. I love being out here on a mission though. I can't believe how fast the time is going by. I guess it flies when you're having fun and working hard. I can't believe it's already been 5 weeks since last transfer. It's pretty likely I'll be getting transferred this time around. Transfers are feb 8. I really don't want to leave Ron and Dee though. They are the coolest recent converts ever! When I fly into Salt Lake to go back to school I'm totally visiting them! This has been a crazy week though. Even though I was sick I had so much to do. It was stressful not being able to work when we had people we needed to see. I still had a good time though. 

I think time is speeding up here. I realized 2 years is short and I can't waste any time being discouraged. January is already over and we've had 200 baptisms mission wide. I think we'll reach our goal of 3500 this year!

Ok so our zone, North Zone, all got the Standard of Excellence! President Winn took us out to Tucanos. It is a Brazilian Churrasco. They bring you all the meat you want! I'm still full! It was amazing they had tenderloin and sirloin and mango cod and chicken and bacon wrapped turkey! I also tried chicken hearts. They were pretty good. My favorite thing was the grilled pineapple. I ate like 2+ pounds of meat! Then we came here to email.

Guys, When i sent that sad email I was kind of venting. I have done a lot of praying and all of you back home have helped me out a lot. I'm doing a lot better and I want to say thanks. The one thing I missed most wile I was laid up in bed was study. That was something I always had to look forward to, but last week I felt too sick to. I'm excited to do that again. It's really helpful. Thanks again for all the help.

The kid we baptized was awesome! His name is Angel. He's the one with all the video games. He's so cool. We had a fun time at his baptism.

I love you!

Elder Damewood

Hey guys!

 This week was so awesome! We did a lot of baptizing. Let me tell you Ron and Dee's entire story:

So we were tracting last month and this guy opens his door and says his kid is sick. He tells us to come back in 3 days. When we come back his kid is still sick. Usually that's just an excuse. We felt we should still try. We came back and he let us in. The whole first visit was his story and him talking for an hour. We didn't get to say anything. He had recently moved to Alaska and the place he worked at in Utah was all closed up one morning. He used all his money to stay out of the shelter. He had to end up going there anyway. The Church helped him get an apartment and furniture and food. He decided he'd listen to the missionaries since the Church had done so much for him. The next time we came back he still talked the whole time. He said he'd listen to us but he wasn't gonna stop chewing or drinking coffee. We kept visiting him often and eventually we got to do some teaching. He felt the Spirit really strongly. When we got to the Word of Wisdom lesson he committed to live it! No resistance or anything! He said God helped him stop with coffee cuz it tasted bad the next time he tried to drink some. We taught his wife Dee at the same time. They were both baptized Saturday and confirmed Sunday. Ron gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. It was one of the best talks I've ever heard. They are such a strong family. They lost their 16 year old son Jake to cancer a few years back. He should be getting baptized in the Temple soon. I'm so glad I was able to witness that Hand of God in this man's life. 

So I found something awesome in the apartment this morning. It's a 600$ suit. Just in time too! My suit jacket from Wal-Mart already got worn out. I threw the old one away this morning. I'll keep this new one as nice as possible. I plan on returning and reporting in it :). 

So Elder Wise left this morning. I'm gonna miss him he was super funny.

I have some time left I figured I'd use it to tell you random things.  I like to decorate my planners like Elder Rumsey showed me. My next planner design is a Pokèdex. I'm pretty excited for it. I may use the covers on all my future planners it looks so cool lol.

So i I got all this cool church music. I'm attaching my favorite song right now. Yeah, a song this cool is approved. Forward this email to Cassie so she can hear this sweeeeeeeet song too.

I'm working out a lot more. I learned something. If I want to bulk up I can do it easy and fast. It just takes doing it. (That's the hard part).

so i'm trying to learn how to type the right way,  you know with all my fingers.

I use backspace a lot. 

this next sentence I won't use backspace at all.

I love utah alks lake city mission.

Huh not so bad. I don;t know what happened to the word Salt though. 

I'm thinking about buying an electric razor so I can save time. 

We have a kid we're teaching who's 9. His name is Angel. He has so many video games. It makes me want to play lol. 

Well I'm pretty much out of time. We have 2 baptisms lined up for this weekend. Hopefully all goes well.

I love you all so much!

Elder Damewood

This week has been a lot better. We took Ron and Dee to Temple Square. They're getting baptized on Saturday. It was so cool taking them there. They are the reason I'm here. Them and other converts. It's amazing being here. I love it so much!

On Sunday Elder Oaks came to 4th ward and Ron got to meet him! That was so great! How often does that happen? An investigator getting baptized meets an apostle! It was incredible!

I'm trying my best to be obedient. It's hard to follow the schedule but I'm doing my best. At the beginning of this transfer I waited for my comp to get up first in the morning. I always ended up sleeping in cuz of it. Now I just get up on my own. It's a lot better. 

I had thoughts of going home cross my mind but I push them out. I love it here! I only have 20 months left! I have no time to waste! My study sessions and knowledge of scripture references are getting a lot better. I'm excited about that. I hope to keep up these study habits after my mission.

I'm excited for p-day activity today. We're playing a lot of dodgeball. I think I'm gonna be Iron Man.

I'll have pictures from a super awesome baptism next week!

The time really is flying. I can't believe that out of all the time I've spent here (which feels really short) I only have 5 of those left! I'm 1/6th done! 

So my companion talks about his home and girlfriend all the time. He's pretty trunky. I was trained by Elder Davis to not be trunky. I'm thankful for that. Sure I miss home and the people there every once in a while but I always push it aside and work. It's not hard to not be trunky. 

Things are getting better. It sure toughened me up. Nothing much has changed. One of the Visa Waiters left for Brazil this morning. Since nothing much has changed it's just the Lord making me stronger. Thank you so much for your prayers and email. It sure was a big help. We've had a lot of good things happen. We have tons of investigators and they're all doing well. Pray that Troy's mom will see that He's ready for Baptism. 

Today we went to Wal-mart and I got some protein bars and an ab wheel. I'm gonna get strong and stuff. I'm pretty excited about that. 

Things are all better now really except I didn't get any mail this week. It was the first time so far. I didn't get as sad as I thought I would lol. I was fine.

I'm so glad things are all better here! We're having a great time! We've got a few baptisms lined up. So far there's none this weekend but we're hoping to get Troy's mom on board. 

I love my district so much. Our district leader is the fantastic Elder Montgomery! We have so much fun. I look forward to every district meeting. This is the best mission in the whole world!. 

Dear family... and everyone else,

This week was transfers. It was pretty crazy. Elder Davis is no longer my companion. :( He was so cool but now he's a Zone Leader in South Zone. I have 3 new comps now. One is here to stay the other 2 are visa waiters going to Brazil. The apartment is so crammed. It's been really crazy being the only one out of 4 who knows the area and trying to find something for the other 2 missionaries to do when we split up. I've been extremely stressed out. I even threw up Friday night cuz of it. I think I'm doing a little better right now but I still sometimes get depressed or stressed or whatever. It's been a rollercoaster these past few days. I need all of your prayers. This is the first time the mission has really actually been super challenging. The emails and letters i get have been super helpful. A big thank you to all of you who help me out. I love you all so much.