Having Snow in Abilene, Texas Dec, 2011

Well we got our e-mailing back. I didn't know how much I love the e-mailing system. Dad I don't know how you did it on your mission. lol I sure did miss e-mailing and knowing what was going on right then at that moment. Pretty grateful for small things. So for Christmas we get to Skype or video phone. President just sent us all an e-mail telling us of this opportunity. I just wanted to let you know so that we could do that if you want to. Let me know what y'all want to do , I am down with whatever y'all decide. I would like to do the video phone so I can see everyone since it has been so long, lol. Mom I still haven't gotten my box with my little tree in it. I thought you had said you sent it and I wanted to make sure it didn't get lost in the mail. It doesn't feel like Christmas without my little tree. lol Thanks! Well the weather here has been freezing cold, we have been down in the 20's and let me tell you it is not one bit of fun riding bikes in that kind of weather, lol. Abilene has gotten it's first snow fall. We got a whole 1/4 inch. Ya! we are moving up in the world here. They said a long time ago it snowed a whole 1/2 foot, Ha I didn't know weather to act surprised or just be like, "oh that's cool. We get 4 times that much in Washington. lol My comps and I are getting along great! They are pretty funny guys to be with. We get some pretty good laughs while we are tracting and out working. I am pretty excited for when I don't have to go into the bathroom to be alone. Ha Ha! So how is everything back home? Anything new or fun you all have been up to? How is the house looking? Have ya'll started working on the inside yet? When are ya'll expected to be in? I get it! Ya'll are delaying the move in so I can help , right! lol
Did ya'll get those pictures I sent home? Hope you liked them. Before I forget. Dad , Happy Birthday, also can you tell little Taylor Happy Birthday for me too.
Well a little about the area. We are getting a bit frustrated about everything that has gone on here. We find new people and we all get so excited and they seem so strong and then we can never get ahold of them. We have been having that a lot. So we don't have to many solid people right now. We are working hard towards positive things to happen. We do have a girl named Hannah and her boyfriend named Toby. He is a less active member that is trying to get back into going to Church. She keeps her commitments but it is hard for her to get to church cuz she works on Sundays. I think she is done working after Christmas though. Then she is going to be having a baby here in February so we will see what happens. Then we have Eric. Eric isa guy that always tells us that he doesn't have time to read the Book of Mormon, but then whenever we go over to his house he is playing computer games. We taught him last night and he tried to bring up every excuse that he could think of in the excuse book but we were on our game so we had a little something to say after each one, so he pretty much backed himself up in a corner. Then, Tarus we found when we were looking for one of our other investigators. He is way cool we started just talking to us and we were getting to know him and all, then all the sudden he just started asking questions so it was pretty sweet. Our of all the people we have found since being here he is the most solid one. lol So I got a pretty funny story to tell y'all. You have to picture this in your head while you are reading it so it will be funny. So we were riding down this sidewalk, and whoever designed this sidewalk is an idiot. They put fire hydrants right in the middle of the side walk. We were riding and I was on my bike and I tried to shift up but it wouldn't shift so I was looking down at the gears and right when I looked up I ran right into a fire hydrant, flew off my bike into the area, hit the cement and slid like 5 feet. It hurt pretty bad but I think the thing that got hurt the most was my pride cuz I was on a main road so everyone in Abilene pretty much saw it, or I felt like it. lol So I had to get my bike fixed from that. I had to use all the money on my mission card so I will probably be using the home card for food for the rest of the month. Well I think this tops my longest e-mail home. lol I probably better get going. Make sure y'all write back right away letting me know if y'all want to do the video phone or Skype for Christmas, ok. I need to know asap. I love y'all , take care and stay warm building the house. Hope to hear from you next week. Love Elder Eppich

Pecos, Texas! 2011

Training meeting again! Elder Simmons & Me!

This is God's four-way stop sign in Peco's Texas!

More photo updates!

Eppich has a smile on this one! :)

Elder Eppich and Elder Jacobsen at training meeting!

Floors in Apartment are getting cleaned! Time for a snooze!

A member took them to a mexican horse race! He said a guy died that day!

New Photos of Elder Eppich

This is a photo of Karl on his mission in Australia!

Mailing a letter home!


Elder Eppich and Elder Martinez in Pecos! Cool Photo!

October 17, 2011

Dear Mom & Dad;

Well how is everything doing? Pecos is treating me pretty good. Right now we are stuck in our apartment. President Augustin told everyone to get inside cuz there is a 70 mph sand storm coming through. I think we will be in for the rest of the night. I am very bored, there is nothing to do when you are stuck inside. lol Anyways the branch here is pretty small. There is only about 30 people counting all the kids. lol Pretty small! So there is a family here named the Sparkmans. They are pretty cool. They have us missionaries over every Sunday for dinner. Then the kids have us over through out the rest of the week. There isn't very many member so their family pretty much takes care of the missionaries. I really appreciate them for that. The whole branch is pretty much related. The older Sparkmans pretty much had a lot of kids and they made up the Branch, lol! So on Saturday night Elder Martinez got a call from President Sparkman to give a talk on Sunday and he was upset because I didn't get asked to speak. Well, dumb me decided to make fun of him. The next day we go to church and sacrament starts and Brother Barrera gets up and says now we will hear from Elder Martinez, knowing me right, I start laughing at him. Then all the sudden Brother Barrara was like, we would also like to hear from Elder Eppich. He said sorry for not telling you a head of time. Right then my stomach dropped. My mind went blank and I couldn't remember scriptures or anything. It was bad, lol! I didn't know what I was going to talk about till I got up there. Then all the sudden the Gospel of Jesus Christ popped into my head. It was crazy. I felt really good about the talk and I felt like I made sense. I pretty much surprised myself. Usually I get a little notice when I need to give a talk so this was a good test for me to always be prepared. I talked for about 10-15 min with the help of the spirit. My comp was giving me guff because he didn't think I messed up and I didn't get way ahead notice so it was a good day for me. He did good also. A few cool experiences we had this past week. We were knocking doors and we saw this lady and her daughter sitting outside. It turns out that they were less active and her sister wants to be baptized. Pretty cool! We are teaching them now. Also there is this other lady named Ellen, she has been taking the lessons for awhile now. Well we go to her house to talk to her for a little on the door step. Well, it turns out she has been reading the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized. Also this other lady named Anita, she wants to get baptized too but she said she needs a little more time. Hope she doesn't wait to long she is about to die over dead, lol. Kind of old. Oh , man there is this other lady we are teaching. Her name is Arelli and her house stinks so bad. I think that is the reason I stayed states side cuz I wouldn't be able to handle it, lol! She is about 400 lbs and is pretty lazy. She has a 4 year old daughter that jumps all over us and I have the hardest time letting that happen cuz her mom just doesn't keep her clean. We endure though. We went there the other night and they kept giving us food, so me thinking I was smart tried to stuff it in my backpack to eat, (throw away) later. Well, she caught me and said, "eat, eat" I know I am supposed to appreciate that they will give us anything but I had the hardest time eating that stuff. I was being polite Mom and I ate it but I felt sick!lol Hey! Thanks for the picutres! Looks like everyone and everything are doing great. The house looks great, can't wait to see when the outside is all done. I think all of us missionaries get a little trunky when we get to the end of our missions. I am not sure when I will be home but I sure look forward to coming home. Don't worry, I am pretty good at staying focused, I have it covered. Yea! about those concussions, I got the one after the bike reck in Alpine. I got another one in Midland. We were playing football with those black guys from the college and they wanted me to play quarter back I got clobbered pretty hard on one hit and I felt like I did when I had my accident. I didn't want to go to the hospital. I just put up with it. I do have headaches more often now but it is all good, I have it covered. Well I got to get going, not sure where I am going since I am stuck inside for the night! lol. Take Care! Love ya all!

P.S. Thanks for the camera and Mom here are some pictures finally.

Pecos, Texas is a slow town!

Elder Eppich wrote today. Not a long letter , he has Zone Conference tomorrow so didn't have much to say. P-Days are pretty quiet as there is nothing in the small town of Pecos. He was looking forward to Zone Conference as there was a General Authority coming to visit the mission. They just made a visit to a woman's home and it was a very dirty and poor home, they give them lots of food, Elder Eppich wasn't sure what it was and if it was edible so he proceeded to put it in his back pack to get out of eating it and throw it away later. The lady was persistent that they eat. He did and felt very sick the whole time. Not sure how that came out for him. Elder Eppich is in an all Spanish speaking area and he doesn't speak the language. It is kind of difficult for him but good that he might be able to learn some Spanish. Says to say Hi to everyone! He loves you all.

New Transfer! Pecos, Texas October 5,2011

I don't get to many good letters from Elder Eppich these days so I will share a bit from his SHORT e-mails. He has been transferred from San Angelo, TX to Pecos, Texas. This is a very small town which he likes. He is in a car and he is pretty excited about that also. He has been given a challenge of being put in Spanish speaking area. His companion is Elder Martinez from Payson , Utah. He speaks fluent Spanish and all their contacts up to this date are completely Spanish. I think he is being challenged. He was excited to learn Spanish at the first of his mission but he said he is pretty tired right and not sure if he has it in him but that he would sure give it his best try. The food is awesome for sure! His companion has been out for about 9 months. There has not been a baptism for quite a long time now so he hopes he can work on that. The weather in Pecos is around the 70's and he is enjoying that. It is a pretty slow pace town and he thought he may get caught up on some letters that he is behind on. Don't anyone hold your breath though. He only has about 4 months left on his mission so it is going to pretty much fly by for him after the holidays. We are grateful for his service to the Lord and we are thankful for keeping him safe and healthy. Thanks for every ones support to Nate as he has served. I will post his updated address soon. Love y'all!