Way behind on letters

Hey! Mom

Well first off I just want to say sorry that I haven't sent a hand written letter out for awhile. It gets harder and harder to keep caught up on letters the longer I am out. I have a whole stack of letters just chillin on my desk that I still have to write back to people. I hope to catch up on them this Thanksgiving Holiday and hope everyone is patient with me. We don't want to do much for Thanksgiving but take a well needed rest and catch up on somethings.
So, there is this lady that we started teaching this past Sunday. She is way awesome. She is about 25. She has made a really, really hard life for herself. She is a single mom and we taught her the Plan of Salvation. She was crying so much. It was awesome that she could really feel the spirit. We set a date with her for the 4th of December. I hope that it goes just wonderful. There is another really cool family that we are teaching. They have 7 kids. There is also this Mom and she isn't married but she has a girlfriend, which is nasty. But I hope we can help her to see that it is not right. The Mendez family has a date for the 18th of December. Well at least the Dad and the kid do. That is a rundown on our most progressing investigators. We are happy with all of them.
So the girls lost out in volleyball huh! That's not good. Are the boys still in the running for State again this year? Time has just flown by here in the mission. Especially when you are so busy that when you stand still you fall asleep so we have to keep moving. That is why we have moved to more bike riding because we need to keep active. It is so crazy! It seems like I just got into Midland yesterday and I have almost been here for 3 months. I did talk to Daniel the other day and he is doing great. He really liked meeting Keldon and Mel. He was kind of scared of Kel first and then he realized he was a way nice guy. Hope they keep a good eye on him.
I was happy to hear that Briar's baptism went good. He wrote me an awesome letter. He bore his testimony to me and I loved it so much. I can already feel of the change in his heart. It is so sweet. I know! Morgan has been waiting for a letter from me too! I just got one off to him yesterday. So it's all good. I sure hope he isn't mad at me for that and everyone else that has been so good to write to me and I haven't gotten back to them. I really appreciate their letters. I met the 2 missionaries that were in the MTC with Bryant. They really liked him and said he was a good guy. They were happy to be out of the MTC and in the mission field.
How was Thanksgiving for everyone? It was alright for me. Still had lots of thoughts of home and a bit homesick. We played some football with some guys that we didn't even know and went to eat at a members home. I didn't have much of an appitite, I was missing your cooking Mom. I haven't been feeling to well lately so I got to work through that. It does help to just work through things, they go away. Well better go. Got lots of letters to catch up on.
Love y'all so much.
Love Elder Eppich

Mission is doing great!

Hey! Mom: We have been a little off lately. That is all my fault I am really sorry about that. We are not really able to judge exactly when we are going to be on the computer or not. We do have to drive another set of missionaries around and they are kind of slow, so never know when I am going to be here to e-mail. I will try better though. Well, my bike is doing pretty good. I have had some troubles with it though. Ever since the crash my wheels have been kind of off so I went and had them fix it the best that they could. My shocks were not really working at all so they had to fix them also. I had to get a back light because we are riding bikes pretty much everyday and we ride them at night sometimes so I had to get a back light because I almost got hit a couple of times because the people couldn't see me. I figured that would be a good investiment, wouldn't you say? lol Mom, we do have a place for a small tree. My comp and I were going to go get a few lights to put up in our room to bring the holiday in, lol. I am sure this will be a sight to see since I wasn't very good at helping with the Christmas decorations, lol. Thanks that would be awesome.
The baptism that was scheduled for Nov. 20th is not going through right now. We will move on and hopefully we planted a seed of knowledge of the gospel. So many people have the wrong ideas about the church, it is amazing some of the things you hear about us. I appreciate it when people come to those that live their religion. Oh well. I did hear from Daniel, he is pretty excited to be able to come for Thanksgiving. Hope that works out for him. He is pretty shy at first until you get to know him. You will have lots of fun with him. I am so gratful to know him. Sounds like things went well for Briar's baptism. I am so happy for him. I know there will be alot of opposition for him but it will make him stronger. I don't think I have ever seen Briar cry so he must of been feeling the spirit very strong. Thanks to all of you for being such a good example to him. I am sure he can already feel the change in his life. Mom I am sure you did an amazing job speaking, you always do. I am sending Elder Reay's phone number so you can contact him. I think he is doing great and hoping to get back out on the mission soon. Love that guy. Pres. gave me permission to keep in contact with him, to check up on him and make sure he is doing good. As far as Marcus I just want to know that he is ok. I am worried about him and would like to hear from him so I will send some peoples names that may know how to get ahold of him. Thanks for doing that. We are doing great in the Midland 2nd ward. We had a family stop us the other day and ask us if we would come over to teach them and have dinner. They are so awesome. We are very excited to meet with them. I love the fact that people just want to know about what we stand for. Maybe it isn't right for them at the time in their lives but they want to know and pray about it. I am so thankful that they come to us to find out and not another church that doesen't know. Christmas is almost here. Wow! It will be fun here in the mission. I am excited to call and talk to everyone. As far as candy, I love reeses, sour patches, and Sister Shultzes candy, I love all of her stuff, I look forward to that every year. Just some ties would be great too.
Well I had better sign off, our time is almost up and we are headed out to get stuff done and play some football today. We look forward to that activity. I am pretty tired right now, we had training for 2 days here. 8 hours a day and it was for Zone Leaders and District leaders so I was so exhausted but it was SO LEGIT I am ready to have another training. These guys that train are so good. It helps us out alot out in the field. Mom thanks for sending the coat, I am going to need this soon. Oh! I saw that cake Kacie and Laurin made. That was so awesome! Sign those cake girls up for my birthday. How long did that take them? I better run our time is up. Love ya Mom you take care. Tell Dad I love him so much and to take care also.
Love Elder Eppich

At the Emergancy Room

Dear Mom;

Well, It is about 9:05 p.m and I am at the emergancy room. One of the missionaries here in Midland broke something on his leg, we think. He was playing a game at a members home, they asked me and Elder Shaffer to take them to the hospital. So that is what I am doing on this eventfull night, lol. I hope we don't have to stay for ever. There are a lot of people here and we have only been here for about 10 min. But hopefully everything goes well.
I am sorry that I have taken so long to write back. I have been really busy this transfer working my butt off. This transfer has been pretty good. Right now we have set 4 dates. We set them all this past week. The first two were two black guys. Their names are Justin and Marsales. They are about 20 years old. The lesson with them was legit. They were almost crying during the lesson. It is the best thing they have ever heard. That is what they said. They said it was awesome. Their dates are set for the 20 of November. I hope that all works out. Steve is another investigator. He is a Catholic. We have been working with him for about 6 weeks. He is finally coming around. He is set to be baptized on the 20 of November also. I am pretty sure that will go through. He says he doesn't like people that don't keep commitments. I am really excited for him. We have Isiah. This kid is golden. He is a member referal. We taught him for the first time on Saturday. He said he was having the worst day ever. Then we came and taught and at the end of the lesson he said we made his day so much better. He felt by us coming he knows God loves him. He doesn't have Sundays off work but he wants to go to church so bad that he is going to switch his off day to Sunday. I hope ll of those baptisms go through. President Robinson said " This is the best Midland 2nd has been doing in a long time. I hope it continues. Oh! Also there is this other lady named Wakeshia. She is so awesome. We will probably set a date with her next week so I can't wait for that also. So, as you can tell things have been going pretty good here in West Texas. Midland especially. It is starting to get a little colder. We just started suit season. We have to wear our suits unless it is over 70 degrees. Which stinks! My suit is going to get trashed. Oh well! lol. Well, I found out that I am getting a new companion this transfer. Elder Shaffer is going to lubbock. Elder Shaffer and I were really clicking, I am going to miss that guy. This will be my 6th companion in 6 transfers. I don't really like that very much but OH! Well! I am sure there is a reason for everything. I am getting a kid from Canada. He was in a different mission for 2 months. He got sick and went home for 6 months and then he has been sent to our mission. I sure hope he knows Spanish. I wonder how long I will have him. Hope you all are doing well at home. How was Halloween? What did all the kids dress up as? Did you get many trick-or-treaters? How is work going for Dad with work and ACN? How about Kacie, how is her job going? How is your calling Mom. Can't believe Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is almost here. Before you know it , we will be having Christmas. Man time flies! How is Briar doing with everything? Is he staying strong? Oh! Elder Shaffer says hi and thank you for the McDonald's card for Halloween. Well ya'll are really lucky that fall is there.The trees here are still green. I might ask for a box of snow for Christmas because it doesn't really snow here. I am gonna miss the snow. Well I noticed you said that you were going to get back into hunting. I hope ya'll do because I really want to go deer hunting when I get home. For Thanksgiving a member in Midland invited all the missionaries to come over for dinner. Then we might be playing in a Turkey bowl that they will probably have with all the members here in town. Pretty excited. On p-days we play football with all the missionaries here in town. Well I had better end this letter. It is 1:30 a.m in the morning and they are about done. Time me go to bed. lol. Oh! His leg isn't broken. Hey! Mom can you call Kel and tell him that Daniel has moved to Logan. It would really mean alot to me if he could get ahold of him and see if he is ok. He doesn't have any family or friends there. It is important to me that he stays strong. Well, got to go. Love ya'll so much.
Love Elder Eppich

Nate seems to find these little creatures. I think the

huge spiders has been replaced with this frog he calls "Z"

Alverez Family- Alpine Texas

Elder Eppich & Ray Ellis- Alpine, Texas

Another new companion !!!

Hey! Mom & Dad;

This week has been pretty good actually. A lot has been happening, I am kind of sad cuz Elder Shaffer has been transfered, he is now in Lubbock. I have been getting new comps almost every transfer, it kind of get's annoying because we just get going and then a new one comes in, but there is probably a good reason why Pres. is sharing the wealth with me. I really shouldn't be complaining to much. lol. My new comp's name is Elder Mulcock. He is from West Jordan. He went to Canada Mission. He got pretty sick, he was only there 6 weeks and came home for 6 months and is here in the Texas, Lubbock mission for 4 days now. So I guess you could say that I am kind of training him and helping him get going with a fresh start. He is a real funny guy and we have so much work here to do in Midland, we will do well together. Elder Reay had his surgery about 2 days ago. He called to talk to me and how the mission is going. He is home to heal now for 3 - 6 months. I sure hope it is only 3 months. He wants to see if Pres will let us serve together when he gets back out to give him a good start again. I am sure Pres. will do what is right for both of us. That would be legit to serve with him. He is such a spiritual guy. Mom, could you try again to get ahold of an address for Marcus Kidder. I really need to write that guy. It is kind of weird but I have only written about 2 letters in the past 2 weeks. We have been working so hard that all we do is Work, eat ( a little) and sleep, we are so tired when we get in we just drop. Our p-days are so busy , the weeks become days. Progress is going great here in Midland. We haven't been able to go see the lady that stopped us on the street. She set up an appointment with us at her Mom's place yesterday, so we stopped by and she came out of her Mom's home and said we will have to do it another time because her mother dosen't want us in her home. So we are going to try and catch her at her house one of these days. I hope sooner than later, lol. Well all the other investigators are doing pretty good, we are actually going to be setting a date tonight with a family for the 20th of November. I hope that goes through pretty good. Steve is still solid with his date, so I am pretty excited about that. We have a lesson with him tomorrow so we will have to wait and see how that all goes. I am pretty sure he will keep his date though. There is another kid that we taught on Saturday that we set a date with. Oh man, was that an awesome lesson. He said that we showed him that God still loves him so that was way tight. He even said that he would switch his day off to Saturday just so he can go to church with us. I will let you know more details on that later. So, things are going pretty good here. I finally got a companion that likes to golf. I am pretty stoked about that. I can't wait to go golfing now. That's going to be a blast so we will have to see if I still have any A game, lol. Dad, thanks for the encouragement. It is so true that we just need to slow down and smell the roses. That reminds me of President Uchtdorf's talk when he said "that we just need to all slow down so we can see what we have around us and take the time to listen to the Holy Ghost and what he is trying to tell us. If we are going 100 mph we will not be able to hear the Holy Ghost prompt us. I sure agree with you on that one Dad. Well I had better get going. I love ya lots. Look forward to talking to everyone at Christmas. It will be a blast! Love ya lots! Take Care.
Love Elder Eppich

Midland Texas still warm

Hey! Dad & Mom;

Well I can't believe that you guys are getting ready for the winter up there. We are still in the 80's here. I don't think that is fair, lol. I am going to miss the snow and everything this year. They did tell me that they might get a few inches here every so often but it melts with in the first few hours of the snow hitting the ground. So no snowball fights here. One of the things that I really hate here is the wind. Especially when we are riding bikes. The other day it was about 50 mph wind and we were pretty much going backwards. It was not cool at all. Frustrating! My eyes were full of dust and everything, lol. Things are going way good here in Midland. Second ward is about to blow up. We should have about 6 baptisms in November. I hope and pray that it all goes through like I want it to. Doesnt' always happen that way but we can sure hope for it. Monday was a pretty tight day. This lady pretty much asked us to give her the discussions. Oh! That was a shocker for us. I was like, "Yah! YOU CAN TAKE THE LESSONS, LOL. Man was I happy. Then on Tuesday we went knocking and this black kid let us in and then his friend showed up and we started teaching them the restoration and at the end they were like, WOW, that was an amazing lesson and his friend was like , WoW I know that was meant for me, I wouldn't of shown up when I did. We extended a date with them for the 20 of November so I hope that it goes through. I can't believe they are finally starting on the baseball field. Really, all of us ball players like the old field because we don't have so much wind down there. Pretty awesome that they are doing it anyway. Should be all done when I get home. Yes, Dad we have been playing a bit of football on p-days. It is pretty fun except for 3 days afterwards, I hurt so bad, I feel old. Well I had better go. We are so busy right now it seems like I just fall right in bed with my clothes on because I am so tired. We are real happy with how things are going in the mission though. I am almost out 8 months. Time has just been flying by. I think it will be a bit harder during the holiday season but it will be all good. Getting to call home will be great. Better get going, we have lessons scheduled tonight and some football to play. Ya'll all take care. Remember, I love ya all.
Love Elder Eppich