james letter 5-16-12

I'm sorry that I wasn't able to write on Monday. I had to go to the doctor to get my smashed toe taken care of. The doctor cut of the nail. It looks way nasty, but it feels loads better. When we got back we went straight to our zone P-day, we had our dinner, and when we came back to the library that night the internet was down. We were on exchanges yesterday, and so this morning was as soon as we could get in.

It is going to be kind of a short letter, as I don't have very much time. This last week was kind of a mess, and a little disappointing, but I know that we will do better this week.

So I turned 20 yesterday. I hadn't told anyone about my birthday, because I didn't want all the attention. It didn't seem like a big deal at all to me, so I tried to keep it under wraps. That didn't happen.

We were on exchanges yesterday, and during our morning studies we got a call from the mission office, and they sang to me over the phone. Elder Wilcox scolded me for not telling him it was my birthday, and I told him not to tell anyone else.

We also had our district meeting yesterday, and when we walked into the room Elders Davis, Judkins, Aki, Jensen, Baxter and Auwen had decorated the blackboard with chalk balloons and happy birthdays, including some in german. They sang to me in district meeting too.

I made it almost through the rest of the day without anyone else saying anything, but when we got back from our last appointment the Simmons were sitting outside, and their son and his kids were there. When I got out of the car they started singing to me too. I wasn't sure how they found out, but they told me that a young lady came by and dropped off something. They told me to look in the fridge, and when I didn there was a homemade cherry pie. There was also a card saying happy birthday from Julie and Emily. I thought that they had already gone home, so I was a little confused, but I guess they had gotten their sister, I think her name was Anna?, to drop it off. It was really neat. I shared it with the other elders.

So far its been pretty good week. As companions we are still rubbing against each other, but we are doing a little better that we were.

Thats all I have time for.

Love Elder Schultz