Sunday, January 23, 2011

1/18 email





It was so funny though i opened my email yesterday and i was so pumped to read what you guys wrote me, haha and i turned to elder simmons and i was like, dude nobody from my family wrote me. Megan and Austin were the only ones that wrote me besides some of my missionary buddies. Haha but i knew that you probably were going to write me today. So i get a short amount of time today to email you guys! Woo Hoo, i love email, it is like the best thing in the world. Imagine what it would be like if we couldn't email, and mail was as slow here as it was to drew in mexico! haha that would be terrible, it really is such a blessing to be serving in the united states, i love it!

So the little boy i baptized this last week is such a stud. His name is Mehki, pronounced like MaKye. He is so awesome, he says all he wants to do when he grows up is to work for the church. He is amazing, he is only 9 and he is like halfway through the book of mormon already. I love it. Working with part member families i think is my favorite part about missionary work because we get to help complete families so they can truly be together forever. Its the best. :) i can't wait for the day when you can come out here mom and i can introduce you to all the amazing people around here. Like last night we went over to the Liu's house for dinner, and they are just so cool and have taken such good care of us. We eat over there every sunday night, and now they are having us over every monday night too. Wing, is the chinese guy i have talked about befoer who loves wheel of time and the sword of truth, is just the best. We have become such good friends, and he is pretty inactive and we always have great talks about the gospel and church and i just really hope i can stay here in geneva again so i can keep working with people like him. Haha i also don't want to leave frank, or Ray and Jacinda, or just a bunch of others. Haha i could stay in geneva my whole mission and i wouldn't even care, but the thing is change is bound to happen sometime and i'll be ready for it when it comes. :) because we may not want the change, but good things will come from it. Its weird mom, sometimes i think about dad leaving our family and all the crazy bad things that happened around that time, but how different would life have been if he was around you know? I am not happy it happened or wanted it too, but look how good all of our lives are now. :) Drew and joel have amazing families, jess and sam are at home with you and they are doing great. I am out here in New York on my mission, who knows where i could have been right now. Its weird because i realized you don't really see the blessings in things until maybe years and years down the road.

I'm really happy for Sam. Tell her to keep being epic, and that Elder Larson loves her and wants to marry her hahahaha. Its soooooooo funny, but its true. She will be doing better without Aj, and hey i called it and you know it. So i am 3 for 3 now when it comes to guys being bums to jessica or samantha, when are they going to listen to me?! :P haha so awesome, i'm the best and you know it. Sorry my letter is kinda random but i am just in a crazy good mood right now. Yesterday we had a really fun pday, we went bowling and i scored in the 120s both games, and then we went and played a bunch of games up at franks mansion too. I loved it. Frank said something realy cool to me too the other day that made me feel like i really am making a difference or atleast am doing something alright out here. He told me that out of all the missionaries he has met with over all these years he has been investigating the church, that i am one of the very most special he has ever met or come across. haha and to hear that from frank made me way happy, you know how much i love that guy. The really cool things too about transfers coming up too is that, there is a big possiblilty that Elder Larson and i are going to be companions, how sweet would that be?!

Well I will let you know as soon as i can where i am going next transfer or if i am staying right here again in Geneva. i love you mom and thanks for doing all you do for me. Megans new haircut is really pretty isn't it? ;) haha she sent me some pictures and i kinda dig it! Love you mom talk to you later! Sorry for the shorter email!

Love
Elder Ingram

1/10 email





Hey Momma!


That was so awesome being able to call yesterday, haha even though it was about my pills, it was still sweet to be able to talk to all of you for even just a second. That was soo cool! :) Yes and i did get your text by the way, and thanks for taking care of that for me mom, haha i was kinda confused. I think i'll just have you send out my pills, just so i din't have to worry about anything and have to go a while without them! That was soooo cool too that Megan was there, that is so wierd because i was going to call earlier in the day, and i was like nah i'll wait, and its a good thing i did because Megan was there! Woo Hoo :) that was amazing, and a little blessing from the Lord. Thats wierd, you said she didn't get a letter on monday, i totally wrote here a big huge letter. Thats lame, i will just make sure i send it out to her twice now so she will get it. Thats soo cool all the girls went out to get their nails done, i bet that was a blast... haha just joking i bet they all had fun. And i hope sam rocked her dance auditions and will get into the higher class that she deserves. She is amazing.


I'm glad that you guys got the pictures too! Haha and i'm glad you like them, we have had a lot of fun these last 2 transfers and it has been really nice to be able to take a lot of pictures so I will always have memories of it. :) Yes and if you could send both my memory cards back out soon that would be sweet! The snow out here in the trees really does make it look pretty doesn't it? I really like being able to be in snow and play around in it, haha but there is no way i would want to live in it. It is crazy, it is sooooo cold, and then you have to scrape off snow on your car everyday, and then it takes 10 years for your car to heat up and then when it does, you have to get out and your car freezes again. hahaha i love it out here, but i think i am way more adapted to the heat. I feel though i have done a lot better through this winter than i thought i was going to do. I feel pretty cool about that haha. Oh and i loved the cheesecake that megan sent me, that was soo cool.


Well there is not a whole lot of new that happened this last week because we were all over the place! Haha sometimes being a zone leader is a little different. We have so many meetings to go to, and we have to go on companionship exchanges with all the district leaders in our zone and with elders that are having a hard time. So last week we had pday, and then the next day i had to go on an exchange with Elder Larsen, the new one. And then on wednesday we had to drive a couple hours down to hornell for a district meeting. And then on thursday, Elder Larson and i had to go to a stake council meeting and talk about the missionary work throughout our stake. And then the next day we had an all day training meeting with the president. That was pretty epic, and then on saturday we had to do our weekly planning and then we had our ward correlation. And then on sunday we finally had another normal day in our area. Whew! let me tell you, i just cant wait to get back into our area this week and just go to work. After a week full of meetings and other things i am ready to just get back to work. THis last week wasn't bad haha it was just Elder Larson and i had a lot to do and so many meetings to go to, it didn't feel like we got as much done in our areas as we wanted to. So i am way excited for this week!


Haha i wish i could get frank baptized too he is so amazing. Our mission presidnet came to our ward and spoke on sunday and he did so amazing. He really impacted Frank, and Ray and Jacinda Johnson. We are going to palmyra this week with Ray and Jacinda too, they are doing really well and are really set on quitng smoking again! So Pray for them please. Chris Jensen is doing so well, i love that kid. His family is going to be sealed in the temple pretty soon and i can't wait to be able to go to that. And maria is doing great too, she comes to church every week, pays her tithing, and the relief society is being great to her i love it. And something that is really cool is Elder Simmons and i get to baptize 2 kids this week! The sister missionaries have been working with them for a long time, and we have helped a little bit, and they asked us to baptize them. I am really excited for it i love baptisms! So this is going to be a great week.


I love you so much mom, and i cant wait to get my pills haha. I am feeling a little wierd and shaky, so thanks for doing what you can to help me out. I love you guys so much, and remind drew and joel to write me when you see them next. Talk to you guys soon!


Love Elder Ingram

Monday, January 3, 2011

1/3 email

Hey mom i am doing great. haha having a pday thursday and then having one on monday is a pretty good gig, i think i could get use to this! Haha that'll probably never happen again though. But the game was pretty dang fun. We got to drive all the way out to buffalo, which was way fun because i have never been out to that side of the mission yet. And then the game was just a blast, there were a ton of BYU fans, and i forgot how much i missed basketball when i got to watch that game. it was way good, and the mission president was there too so that was cool. And it was fun getting to talk to people about the gospel at a basketball game, how sweet is that. There were these 3 old guys Elder Larsen and i talked to for like 20 minutes and they just loved it. Pretty amazing. It was kinda sad to me, some other missionaries thought it was funny, but when we walked in the game the whole student section made a cheer saying "we're not interested!" People are lame, we were only coming to watch a bball game. Other than that though, it was pretty epic i'm not going to lie.


You are right, it was so nice, it got warm out here for the weekend! It was so nice, i really did feel like i got to defrost a little bit. But its right back to the cold. I don't think it is the cold thats really bad, its the frigid wind that is terrible, haha it is so cold when we are out walking that sometimes i lick my lips and then they are frozen! I hate doing that haha, but i always forget for some reason. I am suprised how cold it is out in phoenix right now, that is nuts!


Things here in Geneva are going great. We got back in with one of my favorite families ever. It was sad we haven't been able to see them for like 3 weeks they have been so busy. Its the Liu family, they are amazing. Its the chinese guy who makes the best food in the entire world! Love it, and they missed us so much too that they invited us over for dinner again tonight! I am mega pumped, because Wing ( the husband ) and i get along so well, and he is inactive and i really want him to get coming back to church. And he does come out to church when he knows we'll be there so that is good. And the best part too is we are working with another amazing less active couple, the Phillips. They are the best, they are pretty much like another set of grandparents out here. And they love having us over so much, that if we haven't been over in a couple days, they give us a call to see where we have been. I really think they are getting ready to come back to church too. Missionaries have been over before and they have just sent them away, and they have just embraced us. And they still believe the church is true, they were just offended before, which is sad. But we are doing great work with them. And also there is this guys in our ward Bro Robinson, he speaks spanish and he is really cool, and he has started to come out and teach with us now, so its nice having someone else there to help me with the spanish work instead of having to do it all on my own.


Oh and the coolest part of this weekend was we got to go to the temple on Saturday! What a way to start out the new Year right? Pretty amazing, and every other temple in the world was closed, and the temple president there told us we were the 1st elders in the world to go through a temple session in 2011. Thats a nice little gem to put in the journal if i say so, haha. Well i love you mom and i can't wait to hear from you again next week. Tell jessica to update the blog and send out my memory card because i am sending you one back this week too. I love you mom! i hope your finger is doing better


Love,
Elder ingram

12/30 email

Happy New Year's to you too! Holy cow can you believe that it is already pretty much 2011?! :O haha that is so crazy, this last year has been the craziest and fastest of my entire life! But it has also been the best year too, so i can't wait to see what this next year is like. Its really cool out in the missionfield they call the time where you serve one full year jan. to dec. your year for the Lord. So 2011 is my year for the Lord, it will be so cool, every single day for this entire year will be dedicated to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Its a pretty amazing opportunity if you think about it. There won't be any other time in my life where i can do what i am.

Yes i did enjoy the rest of my christmas. It was pretty much amazing. We went over and had dinner with franks family and it was just so much fun. They are all very nice, and they loved us. So it was a great dinner and they are such a nice family it made it feel like it was christmas even more! It was sooo good. Haha it is so funny because Frank and his whole family should be mormons, they don't drink or smoke, or even drink coffee or tea! I don't get it haha, maybe they just need more time than other people to accept the gospel. And thats ok, they are so good I know the Lord will take care of them.

Talking to you guys on Christmas was so awesome! Haha no lie i thought i was going to cry like a little baby, but i was just so happy to be able to talk to you guys that i wasn't sad. It was just so nice to have a little bit of time where we could chat instead of having to email and wait a week for a response!!!! haha that was awesome being able to talk to gma and gpa too, i miss them alot. ANd it was nice to talk to peanut. I am so sorry he bit your finger! Did it almost fall off?! haha It was soo good being able to talk to drew and joel too, and kasey and tarah. Haha it was the most i have heard from them since i have been out here on my mission! Joel and Drew are such bums haha they were both like, you love how much we write you. They are lame, but they said they would start writing me more which is pretty awesome. I am so grateful to you jess, sam, and megan. You guys all write me consistently and it makes it really nice. Oh and don't worry after the phone calls i wasn't sad or feeling homesick i was just so happy. I am just in a way good mood and i love it!

So we haven't gone to the basketball game yet but we are going to today. It is going to be pretty sweet. Haha i don't really care about the game so much, as just having some nice time to kinda relax a little bit and have some fun with the other elders. That will be good. :) I am so bummed i missed maddux's 3rd bday! Can you belive that little dude is 3? That is insane, haha he was so shy when he was talking to me on the phone, but he told me he loved me and that made me happy. :) Oh and don't worry mom i am going to be sending a ton of pictures from this last transfer and from christmas out today, sorry it took me so long i just wanted there to be pictures from christmas on there before i sent any of them home to you. There are some good pics on here haha. You'll like them. And don't worry mom, my shoes fit perfect, I am wearing them right now! And the brown belt megan got me so i look pretty spiffy right now haha!

This week has been really good, but its so wierd time just keeps chugging along out here you know? I mean once sunday hits i am already halfway through another transfer! It is really starting to freak me out how fast it is going. :( I love it out here. Its so funny remember how i was always wanting to come live out on the east coast for such a long time, i just realized the other day that the Lord gave me the blessing of living out here on my mission. haha i should i realized it more before, but i wanted it so much, and it just hit me that He blessed me with what i wanted. I am out here living in it and loving it. Haha i'm not going to lie though i think i like the west a little bit more. :) Well Mom i'm sorry i don't have too much to say about this last week but we have shorter time to email today so i'lll write a better letter on monday. I love you mom, you are the best! Talk to you guys soon!

Love,
Elder Ingram

12/20 email








Ah i love getting emails from you. I am such a little baby haha, i always pride myself in not being very homesick at all, but everytime i get a letter from you or anyone in the family i start to cry. :) but that is ok, i just love hearing from you guys so much and i especially can't wait to call you on christmas, it is going to be amazing. Can you believe it is already time for me to give you guys a call and talk. I remember when i started my mission thinking, holy crud i won't be able to talk to my family until christmas, and that felt like it was an eternity away. But check it out, its already here on saturday!!! Woo Hoo i am soo pumped, but it is kinda wierd how fast my mission is going already, i hope it doesn't speed up too much more because i won't even be able to remember what was going on haha!


I am glad that you girls made it safe up to utah. I worry about you sometime not having a big manly person around like me haha. But i do, and i am glad that you and sam and jess are safe. I pray for that a lot, and Heavenly Father is definitly looking out for you guys. I am so jealous you got to drive over that epic bridge over the hoover dam, i want to do that so bad! But i will get to some day. I am kinda bummed though you can't see over it, i totally want to jump off that with a parachute, how sweet would that be? haha it would be pretty dang amazing if i say so myself. SO i am not exactly sure what time i'll be calling you, but it'll probably be sometime around like 10 or 11 my time, or do you want it later in the day? I can't decide i kinda want it early so i am not waiting around all day wanting to talk to you. Holy cow i am excited haha.


So anyways for christmas eve we are going to be having a really fun night. We are going to be going over to this italian family in our ward called the Fazio's. They are amazing, and they are cooking up this mega huge dinner and we are going to be playing games and just having a great time. The sister missionaries in our ward are going to be coming over too, so that'll be fun. These sisters right now aren't too bad in this district they are nice and keep their distance and i am totally happy about that, haha i and bet megan is too! :) So we will be having a fun time, but we won't be able to watch the christmas story. :( Soooo bummed, but thats ok, it wouldn't be the same without the familly around anyways. I am so happy that all of you got together for family night and played all those epic christmas games, the christmas tree game is like the best game in the entire world. I am so pumped that maddux got to play too, he is such a little stud. And then for christmas day we are going to have a really good time. Elder Larson, Simmons and I will be going up to franks big mansion and opening up our presents up there in the morning around the fire and the christmas tree. And frank is going to be cooking us a big breakfast while we do that. And then we'll come back relax for a little bit and then do our calls, and then at 2 franks family invited us over to have christmas dinner with them and to spend time and play games with them. haha that is going to be epic, frank and his family are crazy and i love that. It reminds me of our family. I love having a crazy family.


And mom i'm glad you liked what you got for xmas. Yeah i totally made them for you, and i used your favorite color! How sweet is that? haha :) merry christmas i love you mom. Haha and i'm glad that the girls enjoyed the leg lamp, haha i knew they would. I saw that and knew it was the perfect gift for them. Alright well i got to get going, i'm excited to see what you and the girls are sending for christmas its going to be epic. Can't wait to talk to you on christmas! Love you mom! Hey on christmas day i'll need to get joels and drews numbers i don't remember what they are!


Love
Elder Ingram :)

12/13 email

Momma! :D

haha you love that big fat smiley face! Kapew! I am doing amazing!! And i am frozen, but not yet frozen stiff yet! haha but it is cold as a well diggers knee here though. I can't believe you guys have the high 70's that is insane! But i would love that so much haha. So guess what..... I am staying in Geneva again!! Wooooo HOOOoO :D I am so pumped and excited i can't even explain it to you. And i am staying with elder simmons again which will be way fun, and elder larson is still my zone leader companion so we will just have a blast again here, especially for christmas. It is so funny because earlier last week i was getting worried about the transfers i'm not going to lie. I didn't want to leave and i felt like i was going to. I love this district i am in so much, i love frank and all the other people around here so much, and i love the ward around here so much i just couldn't stand the thought of leaving. No lie, we had our last district meeting for the transfer last friday and i got up haha and i just started crying like a little baby because i didn't want to go and i was telling everyone how much i loved them and how good they have been to me. These last 6 months really have been the most amazing of my life. I know i am missing out on some huge things in the family, and definitely with megan, but still they have been the best. I have made friends out here that will be my buds for the rest of my life and eternity, haha no lie its called the plan of salvation, and it rocks! :P And there have been people i worked with that are doing so great, and seeing thier lives change for the better through the church is amazing. I mean look at this, Chris Jensen is getting the priesthood next week and he wants me to be a part of it. That makes me want to cry thinking about that! And chris is doing so amazing, he keeps going to the youth activites and has made such good buddies in the ward, and he keeps coming to church. We just had family night with his family this week and it was amazing because the spirit was there, and that family was complete. THey are going to be together forever now, and i can't think of anything really in the world that is better than that. Because i know i want to be with you mom forever. I couldn't live without you. You cold tell whenever i was sad or down, and you always made me feel better and you always took care of me. I love you mom. :) And that is why these last 6 months have been the best, because i have been able to be a part of helping some family get what i already have through the gospel. And check this out too. Maria has only missed 1 day of church in the last 3 months because she was sick! How amazing is that? And she was having a really rough time at work because they weren't paying her and she didn't have enough money for food. And guess who came to the rescue to help her. The church did. It is just so amazing to see these people i have spent so much time with still active and pursuing the church. I love it! haha sorry if i was rambling or being emotional but those are just 2 of the things that i've seen here in geneva that made me want to stay. I couldn't leave that. And just last night we met with frank again, and he was crying he was so happy we were staying. i love that man and he is so good to me, how could i have left him especially around christmas?


Ahhhh the Lord is good, with prayer and fasting and if things are right to Him, He will bless you and give you want you want, if its a righteous desire. I love Him so much. :)


Ok so on to other news. Thanks for getting me my meds mom, how do i just get meds my own now? Do i just bring that card to a walgreens and get it there? haha sorry i'm a nub i just don't know this stuff. And i'm glad you guys got the package, open it up today because you are going to love it! haha its amazing. Sorry i didn't send much more, i just didn't have much to spend. And i hope you like what i got you mom, i spent some time on those. :) Oh and yes i love getting to open a present from megan everyday, i feel like the coolest special little boy every morning, i hurry up and shower and get ready and open my presents haha! She sends me anything from candy, to a beanie, to sweats, to a cool xmas book! Its amazing, i love her so much, she is so good to me. :) You asked too what kind of stuff do we do on preparation day, well last week we went to downtown rochester to visit this old memeber who makes some super tasty wings, and then we played some basketball at the church. Haha elder simmons rolled his ankle soooooooo bad. Then today we are just kinda hanging out and going to the mall to see if there is anything we want or to get someone for xmas. Or sometimes we play board games, or just hang out at the mansion with frank. Haha nothing too amazing, but its fun for us. This last week elder larson and i got to spend the night with the president and it was amazing mom. I honestly feel like he is another dad to me. We sat down together and had a chat till like 1 in the morning. :) It was a talk you would have with a dad growing up, and i loved it so much because i haven't had that opprotunity for a long time. I loved it. And then the people who helped write preach my gosepl came to our mission and helped train the zone leaders. it was epic. Well i love you mom and i am glad you guys are going up to utah, i have things worked out for calls. SO don't worry i am happy! Love you guys so much and share this email with everyone, i think i might start blasting this email to drew and joel too. Love you momma keep strong and never get down, you are what got me out here. I love you. :)


Love
Elder Ingram