Elder Cameron Summers:

Cameron has been called to serve in the Samoa Apia Mission and he will enter the MTC in Provo on July 16th and will learn the Samoan language and study the gospel like he has never studied it before. His mission does allow him to wear sandals and if the mission president approves, he will be able to wear the traditional skirt!!! Go figure. Cam in a skirt? We'll have to wait and see what that is all about!

Elder Andrew Pena:

Monday, April 21:
Everything went great getting Andrew to the MTC. It was a little emotional, but not too bad. Everybody made it down, so that was good. We got a letter from him today that he wrote his first night there. It was short, but good. He said they were already keeping him busy....I'm sure he is even busier now. His companion is Elder Bingham from Preston. It sounds like they get along pretty good so far. His favorite Elder in his district is Elder Kaka...... yep.... and he says he knows what it means in other languages, but he is a big Tongan guy so he's not going to give him any crap about it. He leaves for Fresno on May 7th and is really excited to be on his way. Nicole

Elder Matt Hansen

March 31
I'm glad that you got to go to Andrew's farewell, I bet he did really good. When does he leave? You should get me his address
so I can write him. I haven't heard from him forever. That's cool that Cody got his call, Bolivia sounds way fun, when does he leave? Things are going good here. We have been teaching a few people this last week. One day it rained so hard that we just had to stay in all day, it was pretty boring. We aren't teaching any families, it's mostly just single people. But we have one family that has just a baby girl and they are ready to be baptized but they just have to get married first. It will take a long time though because they don't have the money right now so the church is going to help them with a marriage certificate but it is a long process. Hopefully it will happen soon though. The work is still kind of slow but things will be picking up, slowly but surely. We can only teach people in English because if we taught in Swahili things could get misinterpretated. One word in Swahili could be a lot of words in English so we have to be careful with that. I love you so much and I miss you a ton, I hope you know that. It was good to hear from you. Remember I like letters too. Anyways I better get going. I love you.


April 7
Hey mom, whats up? How are you doing? I hope everything is going good for you! Things here are just fine, everything is going good. I'm going to try and answer all your questions. As usual you have a lot. I sometimes wish I was there just for the cool weather. It is very hot here. It's the rainy season and it's still hot. The rain cools it down a little bit, it also makes everything very muddy and it can be hard to get around sometimes. It makes everything filthy! Last week we got caught in the rain when it was pouring! It comes out of no where and it comes down hard. We were on our bikes on our way to the chapel coming from an appointment and it started to pour.
We had an appointment at the chapel so we just rode as fast as we could, ha, we got soaked and we were dirty from the mud flipping up from the bike tires. It was pretty fun though. Yes, I sleep with a mosquito net around my bed at night. At first it was weird but now I'm used to it. Also, my bed is pretty short (for me anyways) and my feet hang off the end. Funny uh. At the foot of the bed it's wood, which is way hard so to fix that I put a towel to cover the wood so at least its soft. Elder Byaruhanga is really funny and nice. He has really helped me out a lot. He always tells me I have huge "Rocky" hands. NO matter where I go I can't escape it. I guess I'm just a freak that way. He is ten times the missionary I'll ever be and has taught me so much. Unfortunately, we didn't get to listen to conference. I wanted to really bad but I guess I'll just have to read about it in the Ensign. We have been able to do lot of teaching but not a whole lot of people progress towards baptism. A lot of people are pretty firm in their own church so we just try to be patient but it's frustrating at times. We did give one investigator a baptismal date though which was pretty good. He's about my age and his name is Frank. He is very nice and willing to learn. I really like teaching him. Other than that, we are just teaching as many people as we can hoping and praying they gain a testimony for themselves through the spirit. The Swahili is still pretty tough for me, hopefully I'll be able to catch on sometime. This week we had zone conference so Pres. and Sister Taylor came here for it. I love those people, they feel like my grandparents away from home. They are so nice and really look out for me. The zone conference was really good. We also got to eat pizza! Ha, it was so good. We also had choc. chip cookies and rice krispie treats. I miss the food from back home a lot. The food here is ok, it just gets old sometimes. No matter what I do I get stared at by everyone. I am the only white person in this whole big city. Especially when we ride our bikes. I'm sure I look very goofy and it's probably hilarious to see. I have a helmet, pant leg tucked in, hunched over on the bike, white as can be, what's not funny about that! If we have an appointment far away we take the
"dala dala". It's like a mini bus. These things are crazy. They cram like 30 people in them and they're not even that big. It's so dirty too. I usually have to stand and that sucks cause of course, the ceiling is about as tall as my shoulders. So there I am again hunched over because I'm too big and awkward. I wish you could see these things, you wouldn't believe it, they all look like they're going to break down or explode. But it gets us where we need to go, ya know! I love the people here though and especially the little kids. Everyone is so happy and the poverty is so great. Most people's homes are as big as my bedroom. It's so sad to see but the people are still so nice and happy. It really makes me grateful for what I have back home. I am learning so much from these people.
Anyways, that is my exciting news for the week, ha. Well, I better get going. Thank you so much for sending a package I can't wait to get it, I'm very excited. Just know that I love you and miss you. Keep writing. I love to hear from you. Nakupenda Sana! ( I love you very much) Elder Matt Hansen

April 13
Hey, thanks for the e-mail and I did get your package. Thank you so much, I don't know if I've ever been so excited. I loved it! The candy is so good, and I'm trying to make it last as long as we can but I don't think that will happen ha, it's too good. I loved everything that was inside. Our family with the little baby hasn't been baptized yet but hopefully soon. Frank is so awesome. He does everything we ask him to do and he is so eager to learn. I love being around him. I don't have much time cause I tried to attach some pictures and it took me forever. I have to get going. Just know that I am doing great! Tell everyone hi for me. I will be able to call on Mothers Day or I might have you call me. I will let you know when it gets closer. I'm excited though! Thanks for everything, I love you and miss you.
Elder Matt Hansen

Elder Cody Mitchell:

Cody is planning on getting his endowments out on Friday evening, April 11th. We are all so happy for him. He wants to go through the temple with Andrew and Adam before they leave. He is very excited about his mission and has already applied for his passport and taken his first round of shots. Many more of those to go! Jackie

April 14:
Cody went through the Rexburg Temple on Friday, April 11th. Andrew Pena and Adam Walker were able to come through with him. Some other family was there as well. The next day we all went through the Idaho Falls temple. Cody and Andrew and Adam were trying to figure out a way they could go through the SLC temple before Andrew left today, but they could not work it with everyone's schedules.

Elder Scott Snell

April 2008
Hey Family,
We have not gotten to watch conference yet. Since we are 13 hours ahead of you guys, watching it live doesn't really work out for us. It sounds like a pretty good one. I really have grown to love talks on my mission and haven't had a good one since the MTC so I am looking forward to it. Since we didn't have conference last week we still had Fast Sunday and since we only have 15 people in our branch, guess who gets to bear his testimony in his broken Korean every month? You guessed it, me! Oh man, I swear that when you talk into a microphone you really hear how foreign you sound. It is so frustrating to me to have things to say but not be able to say them. It has been a really humbling experience.
I have really learned the importance of studying hard on my mission and prayer and patience and reading the Book of Mormon and just a lot of stuff. It is amazing that I might actually be growing up a little bit. Ha ha, don't worry not to much though. I really study a lot to learn this language and it is a lot of work. My companion, Elder Mitchell, is a lot of help though, he is a good guy. I am getting to the piont that I can pretty much get the jist of the conversation but oh man I have to concentrate pretty hard. My brain is so tired at the end of the day. But I am learning fast.
Wow, I haven't had potatoes for a long time. All I eat is rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But it is ok, I kind of like rice, it's quick, easy, and cheap. When you are a missionary, cheap is good. I eat a lot of ramen. If you felt like sending some rice-a- roni, I would not mind or just some stuff for tater tot casserole, my companion has never had it and I am craving it. Thank you for the recipes mom, I think that I can find everything to make it. It may cost an arm and a leg because peanut butter costs five bucks for a little jar. Cheese cost five bucks for ten slices of the plastic ones. Ha ha, oh well, I eat other stuff, like worms and squid!
We have a couple of good investigators that we are teaching right now. I really enjoy it more and more as time goes. I got to teach a recent convert how to play basketball and it was really satisfying. He has already improved a lot and we are good friends and it keeps him coming to church. Life is going pretty good. I am working hard. I will be sending pictures at the end of the transfer. I have some pretty good ones.
The cherry blossoms are amazing here. Yes dad, my house is just down the hill a couple of blocks from that big bridge. We went there yesterday with the branch to see the flowers, it is really pretty. I am living in a really beautiful place right now.
I love you all and love getting to hear about everything.
Elder Snell

Elder Brantley Shattuck

Thursday, March 20 and it has been a crazy week. We are baptising 4 people this Saturday (a family-everyone except the father who has to wait a year but he is solid - the mom, Mercedes, and two kids, Brandon & Dina) plus another woman (Cheryl Lewis) and have been teaching tons and tons! It really is kinda fun, I must say I am not a huge fan of tracting but teaching is great!

April 2: I spoke in sacrament this past Sunday (same day as Andrew). Transfers are tomorrow and I am staying here, but getting a new companion, Elder Rochford. He will be the new District Leader. Mom, this mission thing is crazy!! Sometimes I just wish the two years would be over with and I could come home, other times I never want to come back and never worry about anything ever again. I love you and I am doing well. I am excited to see what the new transfer will bring. Hopefully more people will be baptised than last but we will just have to see what the Lord wants to do. Elder Shattuck