Into the wilderness he goes!

FAMREE!! I RIVE!!!

Hello :) I must first apologize for the long wait between e-mails, but
Sister Hatch was more than willing to call Mom (she has 2 missionaries
out) and tell her I had arrived! The situation was that while i was in
the MTC my p-day was on Wednesday, and in the field my p-day is now
Tuesday. Since we left the MTC early Tuesday morning, I spent my P-day
traveling and in meetings and stuff and things, and was unable to
shoot an e-mail your way, but alas, I am here in the Garland
Tabernacle using one of the most prehistoric computers I have ever
laid eyes on to compose this email. Fingers crossed that it sends!

SO! My first area is a town called Tremonton, Utah. From what I
understand, there are about 4500-5000 people here and like 70-80%
member population. At least thats what i've been told. After hearing
this, I was VERY shocked to find out that we had 6 baptisms planned
before the end of the year in our area alone! o.O The average
missionary in the Utah Ogden mission will baptize about one person
every 2 weeks! So we are very busy! However, you may be shocked to
find out that.. well.. remember Sister Hatch? The 'Bishop's' wife?
Well.. my companion and I cover 14 wards (2 stakes) and she is just
one of 14 I have to remember. I also have to meet and know 14 Ward
Mission leaders, Councilors, Young Men's Leaders, AUxiliaries, etc.
etc. etc. Its crazy! Dad - the mission work is VERY different here. In
Tremonton, we can't tract. Well, we CAN, but only if we want food.
There are so many members and so many communities of members that want
to feed us that if we knock on a random door, we're likely to just end
up with food. The way we find people is we go strictly through the
Ward Mission Leaders, who find people for us to teach and we come and
set up the appointments. As much as we'd love to knock every door, its
just not practical for this area and we'd be wasting time. The only
problem there is with that is that if the ward mission leaders don't
find people for us to teach, we're kind of stuck with not a whole lot
to do. But oh my gosh. The member support here is CRAZY. Lets put it
this way - we get fed every single night of the week except Tuesday
(P-day), and we often leave dinner with either leftovers or some kind
of dessert. In the past week we've been left with 2 loaves of banana
bread, 3 batches of cookies, an entire fruitcake (which tasted like a
potpourri), and an entire chocolate pie. Also people give us fruit and
other things whenever we come visit. We visited Sister Gibbs last
night who works at the Malt-o-meal factory, and apparently one of the
perks of working there is that EVERY shift, they get to bring home 3
bags/boxes of cereal. As a result, she has an entire closetful of
cereal that she can't get rid of. So last night we went to her house
and she loaded up as much cereal as she could into trash bags for both
me and my companion and shipped us off. Did i mention the average
weight gain in this mission is 40 pounds? I'm beginning to see why...
Also - my companion told me that he doesn't like to go out to eat.
Why? Because 90% of the time when you order something, a member will
swoop in and pay for it before we get the chance to. No clue why. He
said that a member paid for 120 dollars worth of groceries for him a
few months ago. It's just unreal. Every single person we talk to asks
us if we have a place to go for Christmas, and if we need to make
phone calls or skype then we are more than welcome to just walk in
their house and use their phone, raid the fridge, and they're totally
okay with it. I don't even know what to do. I struggle with taking all
the generosity, but they're offended if you don't take it from them.
Another situation - we got a text from Sister White today that said
"Hey! I'm headed up to Sam's Club today, can I get you anything?"
Straight up. People treat us celebrities here, and I haven't even done
anything yet!

I must admit, the work is discouraging sometimes. We went from 6
people getting baptized down to 3, and one of them is shaky. I love it
though! Every time we teach I learn something, and I love the people
that we're teaching too! I don't remember any of the questions that
you guys asked, honestly... o.O And I'll feel really bad if i don't
answer them...


Feel free to post updates, and make sure to remind everyone that I'm
not at the MTC anymore! For any mail, send it to the mission office,
and they forward it to me. The address is:

Elder Tyler Grant
Utah Ogden Mission
4380 South Orchard Avenue
South Ogden, UT 84403

ALSO! THE ONLY WAY THAT I CAN GET PACKAGES FORWARDED TO ME IS IF YOU
MAIL IT STRAIGHT THROUGH THE POST OFFICE! NOT Fedex. NOT Ups. NOT
parcel post. If you do, then I have to wait 6 weeks and go pick it up
at the mission office at transfers, and from what I've been told,
theres already a package there for me that I won't be able to go pick
up :( Its okay. I didn't get to tell you guys because I couldn't get
to email. I'll be patient! I'll just have a late Christmas I guess...

OH! There will be a very special package coming from Sister Ravena
Lamph. I can't tell you what it is, but she's a lady in one of our
wards that does something very special for missionary families at NO
COST to me or you. Whenever it comes, PLEASE send her an amazing thank
you note. She's an incredible lady, and what she does is just amazing.

Uhh... Oh! My companion is Elder Scoggin from Arizona, and he's pretty
cool! Kind of quiet and monotone at times, but I'll get over it. Right
when my medication wears off at night and i get full of energy and
ready to go is right when he's about to collapse and fall asleep. So
we'll work through that.

I was going to try and see if i could attach some pictures, but the
outlook is grim for this poor machine. I'll try and attach some in a
separate e-mail so you can get my pictures from the MTC :) I took
lots!

Umm.. I don't know what addresses I want. Maybe Josh Crowthers? He's
in Korea and It'd be nice to know how he's doing. I lost Andrew's
address so i haven't gotten to mail him yet, but I'll get it soon.
Ermm... There were a few people in Canada who I told I would write.
You'll be shocked to find they are mostly girls :). Umm.. Lets say
Josh's address, Emily Stuart's, and.. and... I don't remember who
else. OOH! Give me the Kelly's address! I'd love to write them a
letter. GAH! And my friend Brittney Wasden in Idaho! OH MY WORD! I'll
have far too many letters to write.. But I'll get over it.

Well! I'm alive. I'm not fat yet. And the few opportunities that I've
had to teach have been awesome. We got to spend a few hours helping a
less-active family set up Christmas decorations on Saturday, so it was
almost like setting up decorations at home.

BY THE WAY: On Christmas day, I can call you. OR! If you would like to
take the time to figure it out, you can download SKYPE! And we can
video chat. Its your decision. I know that Kim Kelly knows how to
skype so if you have questions ask her. I don't think I can talk
either of you through how to do it in one e-mail, but it's not overly
complicated and it's free! Uhh.. I'm trying to remember other
questions..

OH! Dad - I'm slowly realizing that the last time I read through the
Book of Mormon that I probably wasn't completely honest in saying that
I read it all the way through, and I'm counting THIS time as my first
time reading it. I must admit - when you read it every day, it becomes
MUCH easier and MUCH more exciting to read. I'm in Alma 33 right now
and I started reading at the beginning in the MTC. So my pace is
decent. But the more I read it, the more my testimony of it grows.
It's truly another testament of Jesus Christ. And the Alma chapters
have never been more exciting to read! I didn't remember just how SICK
of missionaries that Alma and Amulek and the sons of Mosiah were.
Ammon is a BOSS. It's just an amazing book.

Fun fact - Elder Scoggin told me that like.. 55% of our baptisms in
this mission are between the ages of 9 and 12. But theres still LOTS!
Utah Ogden is the second highest baptizing mission in the United
States with approximately 2200 baptisms a year. Ish. The number rises
every year. I really think that I"m going to love it here :). Keep me
in your prayers! How's the new Zelda game?? I'm PRETTY sure that came
out by now. We don't get to hear about news or anything, so I can't be
sure. RYAN! How's skyrim treating you? :P

OOH! By the way - President Olson is very lenient when it comes to
music. Not that I'm trying to break rules or anything, but I think
that some CDs would be nice :). Basically nothing too heavy or
degrading, and it must be uplifting and conducive to the Spirit. One
of the things I miss MOST about being home is listening to music,
since i did that a LOT. If you could send me some Relient K CDs that
would be AMAZING! Relient K is widely accepted as approved music
around here and it helps me focus. Some good CDs by them are "Mmhmm" ,
"5 Score and 7 Years Ago" , and "Forget and Not Slow Down." I may pick
up some form of music player but I'm not sure. CDs for the car would
just be neat-o though :).

Well I think I'm going to try and attach some pictures and be on my
way... Maybe. I'm drawing a blank on what else I was going to say..
The church is true in Ogden too! I love being a missionary. And i
haven't even been out a week! Well kind of. But yeah - addresses would
be nice. And next time you send a package, send it through the post
office directly. I'm not sure exactly what that means, come to think
of it. But thats just what I was told.... I love you all! I miss you!
Let me know about skype/facebook/stuff of that nature.

Love,

Elder Tyler Grant. (: