Week Twelve

Yes it was an extra busy week.  There were approximately 2500 people here.  On the main floor people were packed shoulder to shoulder, and on my floor every computer was taken.  I had people coming up and asking me questions while I was helping people.  It was pretty chaotic.

I was only upset about Grandpa coming to visit me because I told him that intentional visits are against the rules and that I could get in trouble but he came anyway. To quote from my handbook: "Visits from family members, friends, and acquaintances are against Church policy.  The impact of such visits may extend far beyond the visit itself, both before and after the visit and among other missionaries.  It can often take some time for missionaries to refocus on their callings and their work.  While expressing your love and your desire to share your experiences with them after you have been released, help those who may want to visit you to understand the importance of maintaining singleness of heart and mind on the work of the Lord (see Matthew 10:37-39; Luke 9:61-61)."  So yeah I think I'm kind of lucky I didn't get reported because I know quite a few young elders saw me talking with Grandpa.  But it's whatever I guess I know it probably won't happen again.  I'm not worried about such things though so don't think I'm stressing.

Speaking of Becca, she told me that she promised that she'd e-mail me "this week" like 3 weeks ago and she still hasn't.

No I don't really want a keyboard.  I do want CDs though.  Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing is my favorite Motab CD along with Men of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Good stuff.  And while we're talking about stuff I want.  I really want an ab roller.  I used Elder Simpson's all the time when I lived with him and I really miss it.  It makes exercising fun and it really works out dem abs.  Also I'm pretty sure you can see me on last Sunday's Music and the Spoken Word.  There were a couple of shots of Mack Willberg conducting and I saw on one of the monitors that the balcony area where I was sitting could be seen in the background.  Plus I could see the camera man that was filming that particular shot and he was facing directly at me almost.

Yes I believe Christian is in Long Beach California, and I still haven't gotten a letter or anything from him so I'm wondering if he even knows how to mail me.  If he does he's probably just procrastinating because I was terrible at mailing him in which case fair enough.

Well I just got the news last night, I'm moving to another apartment again on April 3rd, and Elder Scotto will no longer be my companion.  I'll have 3 new roommates and a new companion so I'll tell you more when I know more about them.

Temple Square is getting more and more busy and so is the library.  Even though I'm allowed to walk to the library, and my apartments, and the Temple Square area by myself I kind of hate doing it because I'm tired of hearing people whisper "Where's his companion?"  and I've had plenty of people ask me why I don't have a companion with me and I'm getting pretty tired of having to explain.  And I actually just found out that conference weekend is the exception to the rule and that we will need a companion with us even in the free zone.  Because there's going to be members everywhere and there's going to be protesters everywhere and they will point out that we don't have a companion with us to them and no amount of explaining will be able to convince them.  So it's easier just to have a companion with us during those times.

The night of rootstech.  They offered free pizza.  Hence why there was so much chaos.  Elder McCarty is the one kneeling and the other one is Elder Davis who is now an Assistant to the President.  They're both in the British Zone though except Elder Davis only works with us in the evenings.

PIGEON UPDATES!!11!!!!!111:
I know you guys are just thrilled that I have more pictures of some random pigeons than I do of myself and my mission, but look they're all grown up!  In fact I'm surprised they haven't flown away yet.  They still have some yellow feathers on their heads though.

Week Eleven

The following is Eric's reply to Brian's email.
(Note: Eric ran out of his medication and did not remember that his mother had given him all the insurance information necessary to get his pills.)

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Yes it started to snow the day after the first day of spring.  Just in time for the tourists coming for RootsTech/Conference.  Go Utah!

Yeah I told Elder Angus (my new district leader) that I had about a week's worth of it left about two weeks ago.  He told me he'll tell Elder Brandon and that he'd take care of it.  So...two weeks later I go over to Elder Brandon and say "Yeah, I've been off my medication for like 6 days.  What am I supposed to do?"  I guess both he and Elder Angus just assumed I knew how to get my medication on my own but when somebody tells you that it will be taken care of I think that it's reasonable for me to think that I didn't have to do much, or at least be told how to pick it up and whatever.

I got it yesterday but I didn't have any insurance information with me so I had to pay $20.  I was wondering if there was actually anything in my savings account because I kind of need that $20 back.  Again I think everyone thought I knew all about my insurance but again I say when somebody tells me that "It's being taken care off." -  Well whatever there was a lot of confusion but I got it now.  

This mission is a very interesting mission.  The last last Monday I was having a pretty bad day so I went to see Elder Brandon to talk about it (that's why we almost ran into each other...unless I'm thinking of a different day.)  And he showed me just how exclusive this mission is.  It's gotten to the point where he's giving a potential Elder a tour almost every day, and he told me that they have to turn down about 10 elders every month which is really sad and hard for him.  (This actually happened to a friend of mine over here, another Elder Smith, he told me he was supposed to come in 2011 but got turned down because they didn't have enough room.)  So he told me the fact that I managed to get on this mission so soon is almost unheard of around here, and that I seriously was called by God to serve this mission because both he and President Peterson had a very strong feeling that I needed to be here.  That really did make me feel better because I also just found out that I am only the third young missionary to be called to the British Services zone, and that I'm in a very exclusive zone because it's so much harder than others, mainly because of the frequent interaction with patrons.  But they told me that they put me in there because again, they had a very strong feeling that I should be there, and that they believed I can handle it.  

Sorry if I'm scaring you but I'm doing much better now.  I would tell you why I was having a bad day but it's kind of personal and mission related that only the mission leaders could help me with.  Elder Brandon is such a great man, and I really am amazed how he's managing to handle all of us young elders.  But yeah the problem was solved, and I'm much happier now.  

On a brighter note, I'm working on the McBride line in our family and finding out a lot of interesting things about them.  I don't know why, but I found an 1861 Scotland Census with Robert McBride II in it, and he's an inmate at an asylum- Robert McBride II is Peter Howard McBride's grandpa in case you didn't know.  Yeah he ended up being in a place called Mariners Asylum, which appears to be an asylum for ex-seamen.  This is the only record I've been able to find of him and I'm really interested to learn more so if you know anyone that knows more about the McBrides do tell me. 

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The following is Eric's reply to Molly's email.

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Yeah I don't remember any of that stuff you gave me and I have no idea where it is (the insurance information).  Sorry I forget all this stuff I'm just so focused on my mission that I tend to forget things like this.  I figured Elder Brandon already had that information so I didn't really get worried until I went 5 days without my medication and realized that I had to take action.  I didn't get too sick, I just had frequent headaches that were easily taken care of because I have Aleve, and I was much, much, more irritable than I already am.  But now I'm on my medication again and all is well.

Do you guys still watch Music and the Spoken Word?  Because I really loved last Sunday's.  Mack Willberg's arrangement of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing is my absolute favorite song to hear from the choir and the face that I got to see and hear it live pretty much made my mission.  I also really like their arrangement of Amazing Grace.  Both of those songs are on their CD "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" it's a really good CD that I listen to a lot.  It's not my CD but Elder Scotto doesn't care if I listen to his music so yeah.

I'm not really sure what is going on at the RootsTech convention and us young missionaries are absolutely forbidden to attend it.  Apparently we were allowed to attend it a couple of years ago, but bad things happened or something.  All I know is that they're going to be coming to the library on Friday and Saturday and it's going to be insanely busy.  

If I had accidentally run into Dad it wouldn't be that big of a deal so you can stop worrying about it.  Just know that sometimes during my lunch and/or study hours I sometimes tend to go to the JSMB to talk to the Elder Brandon or the APs something.

  

I'm coming up on my 3rd month here which means I'll be 1/8 done with my mission.  Yay!  But who's counting?  

It's really hard to find things to tell you when I have a routine that I'm so used to.  I'm still helping the patrons and a lot of them are still pretty creepy.  For example there's this guy on the computer in front of me and he won't stop picking his nose.  And his glasses are covered in what appears to be his own dandruff.  Yech.   But I haven't dealt with one difficult person yet and everyone is always very nice and friendly to me, even when we're having a hard time finding something. 

 

More and more tourists are coming and I'm sure it will be that way for the rest of the year.  Because of conference coming up the Anti-Mormons are starting to pop up around Temple Square too.  They don't bother people unless they bother them first though, and when they try to give me pamphlets I just say no thanks and keep walking and that's about it.  

I got the letter and drawings the girls sent me, and am trying to find an opportunity to send my own letter but I've been really busy.  So hopefully they'll understand.  

I gotta go.

Love,

Me

Week Ten

I thought it would be funny to send an email to Eric translated into Scottish (I used http://www.whoohoo.co.uk/ for the translation). The first couple of lines from Eric's email his week's is a response to that Scottish email.

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Wa that's nae a Scottish e-mail!  Ye forgot yer exclamation marks! Yer a sham tae th' scottish bluid ye claeem tae hauld! wa Ah ooght ta brain ye wi' haggis ye nae guid nancy!

Yeah okay I'm done.  Now that I've wasted about 20 minutes typing out one sentence, I actually didn't eat at Croon Burger because the elders I gathered bailed on me and my schedule is so different than everyone else's that it's hard to coordinate stuff like that.  I ended up just eating at the cafeteria at the Church Office Building because I can go there alone and it's actually a nice place.  Brother Klopfer plays the piano in there apparently too.  I have eaten at City Creek a couple of times though.

And speaking of which, Elder Smith told me that I missed running into you on Monday by about 10 minutes.  I got the jackets but that's the only thing I've gotten this week.

(BRIAN'S NOTE: When Eric requests things that he needs from home, it is easier to drop them off at the mission office than to mail it. When I do that, I am supposed to call Elder Brandon -- who is in charge of the young missionaries in the Family and Church History Mission -- so we can arrange a time and place for a drop off. I couldn't find his number so I decided I would risk it and just went up to the mission office to drop off the package and was told that I missed Eric by about 10 minutes.)

I keep telling everyone I know that this weather isn't going to last because I've lived in Utah long enough to know that but they just plug their ears and go "lalalalalala" so I think everyone knows we're just currently pretending the weather will stay like this.  I don't know if you knew this but I'm not allowed to serve in the library without my suit coat on.  It gets really hot.  And I'm not even allowed to take my suit coat off in public until April Conference passes.  Again, I am really hot.

Next week is going to be busy because there's going to be a RootsTech conference, so I'd assume family historians from all over the country are going to be in Salt Lake for one week.  UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Also the two most commonly asked questions I get from patrons is "How do I print this?"  and "I put my flash drive in but it isn't showing up.  How do I get to it?" I've only actually helped someone with their family history like once.  People still love me though because compared to all the senior missionaries in my zone I'm like the Computer Lord of All.  The funniest thing I've seen here so far is the senior missionaries excitedly showing each other Google Images because they all think it's new.  It's adorable.

The library is getting busier and busier and it will only get worse as conference draws nearer and it will probably stay like that until October Conference ends.

PICTURES OF BABY PIGEONS!!!1111!!!11111:

I found these little guys just hanging out on a window seal [sic] at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  

OUT OF TIME BYE, BYE

Week Nine

Yes my P-day is Thursday now.  I'm glad someone remembered.  And I had a nagging feeling all week that I forgot to tell you last e-mail that I would be starting my P-day on Thursdays now so that I wouldn't have any e-mails today.  I'm glad you remembered though because this is the only e-mail I got.

No the store wasn't crowded at all today which was nice.  When I walked in Wreck-It-Ralph was playing on a tv next to a display case of Wreck-It-Ralphs and Elder Simpson and I (he's my shopping companion now because his P-days are now on Thursday too) stopped and watched some of it before we realized that we probably shouldn't be doing that...and moved on.

I'm not really learning Latin, I just look at this site

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Latin_Genealogical_Word_List

if I find a record in Latin.  And that hasn't even happened to me yet.  But yes I am reading that Scottish Dictionary just for leisure, I just find it so funny.  And I think it's teaching me how to talk in a Scottish accent.  I'll just randomly pick it up and see:

Herrie- (1) To rob, plunder, pillage.  To carry off in a marauding raid.  (2) To rob birds' nests of eggs or young, beehives.

Then the funniest part is when I read the word used in a sentence.  And it in all seriousness says this:

"Oh, dinna harrie 't o' its eggs, ye cruel, thoughtless bairns!"

So I'm just sitting there in wonder realizing that what I just read was indeed English.  So then I think  "What on earth is a bairn?" So I look it up, and I find this:

Bairn - (1) A child, of any age, male or female.

"Cricky, 'oman, bit they are mair sharp nor the very minister's bairns, an' them jist the scaddins o' the streets!"

Yeah apparently it's impossible to say anything in Scottish without ending it with an exclamation mark, if this dictionary is to be true.  Anyway yeah it's funny stuff.

So I actually remembered to bring pictures and I will tell you about my roommates.  Elder Sy is from California, and I knew he had autism as soon as he started talking to me.  He reminds me a lot of a higher functioning Alex.  He talks in a very simple, and literal way like Alex and he worries a lot about tiny things and random stuff that just pops into his head out of nowhere.  The other night he woke me up because he couldn't find a trash bag for the trashcan in his room and he was genuinely worried and didn't know what to do.  I told him to just use a grocery bag because it saves money anyway.  He now tells everyone he meets that Elder Larson says it's better to use grocery bags as trash bags instead of actual trash bags.  He is also weirdly interested in Australia, as in that's all he talks about.  He says that his parents promised to take him to Australia if he completed this mission...which also reminds me of Alex because his parents promised him stuff like that a lot too.

Elder Bowers is a new missionary that came in on March 1 and is being trained by Elder Sy (who is actually a very good trainer despite what you may think.)  He's from New Jersey just like Elder Scotto.  He's pretty quiet and shy, but I was able to get him to open up to me.  He likes to draw, and he is much, much, much better than me because he showed me his sketchbook.  He likes Nintendo video games and he's a huge fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog universe and draws a lot of characters from that.  He is also, surprisingly, 26 years old.  I didn't ask how he managed to get on a mission at that age though because I didn't want to offend him or anything.

So yeah, I'm enjoying living with them as they aren't crazy and they're polite and respectful.

From left to right: Elder Bowers, Elder Sy, Elder Scotto, and that other guy.

My package arrived exactly on my birthday so whatever happened it turned out fine.  It didn't arrive on Friday or else I would have gotten it.  Thank you for the stuff and the pictures. The pictures were a huge hit in my apartment, Elder Sy especially liked looking through them.  And as you can imagine the Senior missionaries in my zone love looking at them too as I hung a couple of them up on my locker.  And I like the stuffed animals you guys sent me.  My new favorite thing to do is to grab Cyndaquil and randomly scream "Cyndaquil used Tackle!" and chuck it at the nearest elder in my vicinity.  It doesn't seem to amuse anyone but Elder Bowers though.  And the lotion you gave me is awesome.  It works really well, absorbs super fast like it says, and I'm so glad someone invented a lotion that doesn't make me smell like a grandma.

I want the coat that I always wear that Grandma bought me, and some zip up hoodies, and that second overcoat that I got at Men's Warehouse that I forgot to bring that I keep asking for yet hasn't come yet.

This has been a busy week and I'm helping patrons a lot now.  I've helped them find several stuff relating to family history, but they usually just want help getting the printer to work.  Still I'm here to help and that's what I'm doing.  The reason my p-day is now is because most of the missionaries in my zone are part-time seniors and so they won't be here on Saturday and they need me there to handle pretty much everything which is going to be hard.  But whatever I can do it.

The view from my apartment to the left. (You can see the Conference Center, the Church Office Building, and the Salt Lake Temple.)

The view from my apartment to the right.  That's the Energy Solutions Arena but it's probably hard to tell.

P.S. I totally forgot to tell you that I went to the Salt Lake Temple my first time yesterday.  I went to a 12:00 Noon session and there was like no one there.  Grandma sent me a bunch of names and I'm slowly but surely going to start working through them.

Week Eight

Eric's birthday is Monday (March 4). Molly sent a package with birthday presents and was told by the post office that Eric would get it by Friday (March 1).

The first 2 paragraphs of Molly's message to Eric were about the package she assumed he had already received.  Well, he does NOT have it!  I don't know if the post office messed up, or if the box is sitting on a counter somewhere waiting for the zone leader or district leader to deliver it.

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Well this is awkward, I haven't gotten my birthday package yet.  Way to spoil the surprise.  I got a ton of stuff from Grandpa when he came and visited me.  (I told him not to come visit me but he did anyway...well I guess I told him that nothing was stopping him from coming but I still told him that he shouldn't.  Did you know anything about that?)  I've got a lot of posters of art from Deseret Book and stuff, and I got a pocket Hymn Book like I asked.  I hope you knew that they got me one because getting two would be kind of awkward.

I finally remembered the name of that terrible Thai restaurant around here.  It's called Thai-Aroy-D.  I'm serious.  Is that not the stupidest and most unappetizing thing you've ever heard? 

Yesterday I decided to eat at the Nauvoo Cafe in the Joseph Smith building because I haven't eaten there before.  It's super expensive, I ended up paying $10 for a complete two halve sandwich meal with chips and a drink.  The sandwich was pretty good I guess, it was a Coca-Cola Pork Loin sandwich which sounded like something I would eat.  And then when I found out that refills weren't free (they have a soda fountain machine out in the seating area so I assumed they were) it was then that I made the horrifying realization that pure evil had infiltrated Temple Square, and it's name is the Nauvoo Cafe.  Seriously I'm never eating there again.  

I know I said this last week, but it's official.  Me being assigned to help patrons is now officially on my schedule starting Monday.  By the way, when I was reading your letter about you getting an e-mail from Sister Haddock  (I did get that in case you were wondering) I was kind of laughing my head off.  I completed the Apprentice Manual about half a month ago, and what I had just completed was the England and Wales portion of the Journeyman Manual which is what you need to complete in order to help patrons.  Elder and Sister Haddock just barely became zone leaders because the zone leaders that were here when I got in the zone were leaving in a couple of weeks.  So yeah they're kind of busy and have a lot to learn.  But it's still nice to hear that she took the time to send you an e-mail.

After completing England and Wales I was given the choice to start working on either Ireland or Scotland and I chose Scotland.  (Because I like Scotland better.)  In retrospect I probably should have chosen Ireland it being March now and all, but hopefully I'll finish Scotland by St. Patty's Day.  Just so you're not confused, pretty much every nation in the British Isles does their record keeping differently, which is why I have a lot to learn.  And Scotland is pretty hard, because I swear they have at least two ways of spelling and pronouncing every place in Scotland.  Also I found out why that purple binder says Peebles.  Peeblesshire is a county in Scotland, and since adding the Shire part at the end of counties they just shortened it to Peebles.  So yes, Peebles is a real place in Scotland.

 

We also have this giant collection of dictionaries called "The National Dictionary of Scotland".  Because the Celtic language and dialects persisted so long in Scotland there's  a lot of words that are hard for us to understand in old records.  So it's pretty much volumes of dictionaries that explain Scottish slang and dialects.  I found this pretty funny, especially when I found that they had "Ach!" in there.  

I get the feeling that I might confuse someone, so before anyone asks, I can still help patrons without being assigned if they ask me for help.  So even though I haven't really been assigned yet I've still helped plenty of patrons.

Yes I'm living in a new apartment now and I forgot to bring my camera to show you the pictures I took of it.  I'm still living with Elder Scotto and he's still my companion.  My new roommates are Elder Sy (pronounced 'see') and Elder Bowers, who is a new elder that just got here yesterday.  We all get along well, and none of them are loud or irritating which is good.  

Anyway, thanks for the birthday wishes and stuff that probably won't arrive here until my actual birthday.  (Joseph Smith building is closed on Saturday so no mail until Monday for me.)  And before I forget, would you guys be willing to send me my old casual coat and the other coat I forgot to bring?  I don't have any casual coats or jackets for jogging or anything and it's kind of hard to jog when you don't want to get cold.  The obvious solution is to just not jog but I just found out that I'm expected to get at least 30 minutes of running exercise done.  So um yeah can you do that?  Thanks.

Elder Larson