Spiders!

Hey! Mom & Dad & family;

First off! One of the members brought us home after splits the other night and said that he needed to check out the cellar for spiders. Didn't think to much of it until we took flashlights down there and there were BLACK WIDOWS EVERYWHERE! My comp and I ran up those stairs so fast. We left him down there. I have never seen so many Black Widows in my life. You know how I HATE spiders. Well, I think I got one hour of sleep that night. I could just feel them crawling all over me. The guy came back the next day and sprayed to kill them. I don't want to go down there to see if they are dead or not. I really like our home that we are staying in but not the fact that I have to live with Black Widows.
Well Mom & Dad, this letter is going to be a bit different. I know I don't say much on the net but I have a challenge for you. I would like to send this to the kids but not sure how they will take it. I know everyone is busy but I am going to give you and Dad this challenge anyway. This is a prompting from the spirit that I had and I want to share it with ya'll. I would like you to try and accomplish this before I get home. You have lots of time. Dad you know how hard it was to go out and knock doors all day long in the heat just to find that one investigator that is just waiting for the gospel to feast upon the words of Christ. Well if you have been on a mission you know that it doesn't work all that well. Most of the baptisms come from member referrals. Not all members go out and do what their part in the missionary work is. I guess we all think it is the missionaries job to find those who are searching. NO! that is not how it works, we are on a mission to help members to do their job, members are the means. Without the members our work is not possible. Last year we had 400 baptisms in the Texas Lubbock Mission. 350 of them came from member referrals. NOT from knocking doors. I would like ya'll to read D&C 38:40-41. Think about that scripture and look at your responsibility as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Also, read Alma 6:6 and do what that scripture tells us to do. I will get down to the chase. What I am asking ya'll to do is to find at least one person to teach in your home with the missionaries before I get home. The members here in Portales that follow that advice tell us all the time of the blessings that they receive from doing this. I know our family will be truly blessed. Then you will be able to bless the lives of others. Please take this challenge for me!
Things are great here in Portales. I am loving this place. I love the farm area. Dad I know you said in your e-mail that I couldn't wait to leave the farm and get away from it , but I can honestly tell you that I really miss being on the farm. I would give anything to go out and move hand lines with the family. I know, pick yourself up, it is a shocker. We are not able to be on the equipment on the farms here that we do service on but we get to do the grunt work. I love it, it gives me a chance to get into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and get my hands dirty. I am glad ya'll liked the pictures that I sent. I need to do better, I just forget to get the camera out but I know I am going to want them after my mission. Yes! Mom that is my comp Elder Krizin. He is from Utah. Funny looking guy but fun to be around. I am doing pretty good on keeping myself healthy. I can't work out much but I do my best. I have lost lots of muscle but we can work on that when I get back home. Oh! I lost one of my memory cards. I know you are mad right now Mom. I will keep looking for it. Yes! Mom it would be fun to skype but that is not allowed here in this mission. We are getting a new President in June. Maybe he will let us, but if not that is ok. I am going to miss Pres. Robinson. We get along great!
Our investigators are doing great. We have a family of 7 with a date of April 10. Keep them and us in your prayers so that all goes well. We are teaching the plan of Salvation tonight so I am so excited for that. I love the plan of Happiness. We are so blessed to have this in our lives. It gives us peace and comfort during our life here on earth. There are 2 other investigators. We have two appointments with them, one tonight and one tomorrow. We hope to set a date with them by this weekend. I love this place. I love the humility of the people in the community and the ward. I would love to stay here for awhile. The other missionaries tell me that I am in the promise land. Just kind of like home. Well I had better get I am going to get kicked off this computer. Hope all is going well for ya'll. I am really excited for this weekend to listen to Conference, it will be great! I hope ya'll love it as much as I will. Suit season is over here. We don't have to wear our suits all day. I am pretty stoked about that. LOL! Well, Love ya'll, Take Care.
Love Elder Eppich

Baptism of Tyler and Alexis from Midland , TX

Hey! From Portales, New Mexico

Dear Dad & Mom and Family;

Well it has been awhile since I have wrote. I am sorry about that. I will work on that. I am really getting bad with the letter writing. I don't think anyone has gotten a letter from me in awhile. I have a stack of letters just sitting on my desk. I hope I get those people wrote back before the next year is over. Lol! Things are going great here in Portales. Mom, you were saying that it looks like it is a farming community. Well it is. There is a lot of farming here. I love it. It makes me feel at home. We have gone out and done some work on some members farms. It has been a blast. It was pretty funny watching my comp try and get the eggs from all the chickens, I was rolling on the ground laughing. Watching him around all the goats, cows and horses. He kind of gets freaked out. We are getting along pretty good. We have had a few scuffs but who hasn't! I think I can tell you that I am not ready to get married right when I get back. I think I may need a little freedom, this 24/7 stuff is kind of tough sometimes.
Guess What? We had one of the members take us home the other night. He wanted to see the house we live in. Well, we have a cellar under our house and he wanted to see it and so he went under there with a flash light. Well, as soon as he went under there he looked up and saw a whole bunch of black widows and a whole bunch of egg's too. So our house has them everywhere, under the house and you know me, I hate spiders so much. I started to freak out and my comp was freaking out too. I don't think I got more than an hour of sleep that night. LOL. It was bad.
Dang, I can't believe I am past my year mark. That's so crazy. This last year is going to fly by. We are going to get a new mission President here in about 3 months. I am sad but excited at the same time. I guess I have mixed emotions about it. So everyone keeps telling me that Portales is the place to be or in other words, The Promised Land. After our meeting last night I am starting to believe that. We are teaching this lady named Salina, her daughter Destiny, and her 4 boys. Jonny, Elisha, Clay, Micha. Then we also teach Destiny's boyfriend Cody. We were at their house last night teaching them the Restoration. At first they were somewhat into the lesson. Then we got to the Joseph Smith part and all the kids started getting closer to us. They were all leaning in so they could hear better. The circle of the little family got really tight. The spirit was so strong. Like you could grab your arm and slide it down your arm and wipe the spirit right off your arm. Weird analogy! Lol I don't know how else to describe it. It was so awesome! I told them the First Vision and I bore my testimony after and I started to tear up. It was so amazing. I loved it. We set a date with all 7 of them for April 10th. So pray that it will go through. We also set a date with this guy for April 3rd but he told us yesterday that he was good where he was at. I felt that when we set the date with him that it wasn't going to go through. That is ok! He is a great guy and it is his decision, we are here to share the message. We planted a seed and he was very grateful. The ward here is very missionary minded. They love to go out with us and they love to feed the missionaries. I hope I don't get fat before I leave here. Lol! Actually I have lost weight since I am back on a bike and using the tower 200. That thing works great and I get up early and exercise in the morning. Anyway, this ward kind of reminds me of home. Everyone is related and they are a strong ward. I just love it here.
So I hear that Taylor and Laurin and Rex will be there for the summer. That is going to be so fun. Where is Taylor working at? Did you say that Laurin is working for Kacie part time also? Wow! Everyone of the kids are going to be so big when I get home. Crazy! Well I had better get. I promise I will do better on my letters. You will get one next week Mom. Promise! Love you all and ya'll all take care!
See Ya'll , from Portales, New Mexico!
Love Elder Eppich

New Mexico is Great!

Hey! Mom & Dad

I know my letters have been pretty short. Not so good at letter writing lately. Mom I will start writing to you better. That is a requirement that we write our parents once a week. I have failed on that commandment lately. LOL I haven't written a letter by hand in about 2 months. Last letter I wrote was to Morgan. Things are going great here in Portales. I think I told you that when I walk out the door every morning to work it feels like I am headed out to work with Dad on the farm. Looks just like home. When we do service it is usually on a farm. Smells like cows here. We travel lots of miles on our bikes. There is just 2 of us that cover this town of about 13,000. The district all comes here to have district meeting. We have 2 sisters in our district and 2 Spanish speaking Elders, they cover 2 towns and then 2 Elders that come from around an hour away. We are well taken care of by the members of the ward. Our Bishop is so missionary minded and it is so great to have help from the ward members. We do have a family of 7 on schedule for baptism here soon so we are very excited about that. We ride about 2 to 3 miles to the Library to e-mail. We have a family that has kind of adopted us and they are a fun family. My comp is from Utah and he is an older missionary. He has been out for 5 months. He doesn't really like it when I suggest what we should do, I just kind of ignore it. He pulled out in front of an Ambulance the other day and I got after him for that so you can imagine how our day went. I just try to no dwell on it. For the most part we work well together. President Robinson was excited to send me here. Midland was a lot of work. I served there for 6 months so it was time to move on. I love this place and will enjoy my time here. The work is going good here and we are seeing great success. Hope you are all well at home. I heard the girls did good in their Moab half marathon. Sounds like things are beginning to start on the house. I am excited. Hope all the family is doing good. Miss ya'll and look forward to talking to you on Mothers Day.

Love ya'll- Love Elder Eppich

We don't have an updated address for Nate yet!
We will post it as soon as he get's it to us.

Transfered to Portales, New Mexico

Hey! Mom & Dad;

Sorry! I kind of messed up today on the mailing. We have been swamped and lot's to do here in Portales. I am in a farming community, dairies, peanuts. My comp and I are the only elders here in this town. I had a very hard time leaving Midland but I think I am going to really enjoy the people here. They are so humble. The Bishop is very good to work with the Missionaries. People say Hi everywhere we go and even if they are not interested in what we have to share they take the time to visit with you. I love it. I don't have much to say right now have to run.
You all take care and we will talk to you next week.
Thanks so much for all the Birthday gifts. Best birthday.

Love ya lots! Love Elder Eppich

Getting Transfered Soon

Hey! Mom & Dad;

Well, how are things going for y'all? Seems like y'all are not liking the fact that y'all are all sick. That's no bueno, lol. I hope y'all get over that as soon as you can. Well things are going pretty good here in Midland. Right now with all of our investigators we are not doing to hot. We have dropped all of our investigators except like one. They are just not progressing at all. So we have been hitting the streets and knocking doors like crazy. We have really been trying to get the members to help us out. We can't do this work all alone we really need their help. We have been working on that lately. Brenda is doing alright. She is still smoking but she is slowly stopping. We just have to keep on her and let her know that we are here for her. Anyways, something cool happened last week. One of the less active ladies that has started to come back to church asked me to baptize her twins. I was able to confirm them also. She also asked if I would bless her baby, that was way awesome. I had a lot of fun doing this but I was so nervous. Great experience!
Well I think a transfer is in the working for me. I have been here in Midland for about 6 months now, I am ready to move on but not ready to change companions. Elder McAdams and I have worked so great together. I love that kid and he is a great missionary. I hope to serve with him again someday.
I want to let you know that I don't know if I am that excited about being 20. I still feel like I am 19. Crazy huh! It seems unreal that I will be on my mission a year on the 17th. That is crazy too.
I know this next year will fly by for me , I am committed to make it the best. My district is doing great. All the Elders are great and working hard. We have one of the companionship's that is tearing it up and they were struggling here a bit ago. I am so happy for them. Well I had better go. I love y'all so much and hope y'all get feeling much better. What is happening with the house or are you moving? Keep me posted.

Love ya Elder Eppich