June 23, 2011

Dear Mom & Dad;

Well first off I just want to say , sorry for not having an e-mail written to y'all today when you opened your e-mail. the computers in the library all shut down. Then when we got back on we didn't have a whole lot of time, but at least I got a really small e-mail out to y'all. LOL Anyways, Dad what you were saying today about when you get out on your mission for so long it gets harder and harder to write back letters. It is so true. I am tired that all I want to do is sleep. But I can't sleep right now. It was pretty nice because today was the first p-day in I don't know how long that I got to take a nap. It was so nice. Dad I don't know if you ever took naps on your mission but when I get the chance I take advantage of it. LOL!
Anyways, my comp is doing great. He is a cowboy from Elisa Idaho. A really small town. Only 150 people there. He is a way good kid. He was way shy at first but I am breaking him of that in a hurry. I have been making him do a lot of the talking at door steps. He has made me laugh quite a few times. He has been a little homesick. He say's it feels like he has been out for 12 years already, lol! I just laughed and told him it will start to fly by before long and to just hang in there. This kid has probably been my favorite greenie. He is way funny and a very nice guy. Not cocky and is willing to learn, he is just a very good person. Well a little bit about what's going on here in Portales. We have this guy named Michael Whery. Way cool guy. We set a date for him to be baptized on the 10th of July. This guy is way solid. He has read the whole Book of Mormon in about a month. So way cool. He knows it is true and is stoked to be baptized. So pretty exciting. He actually took us to Pizza Hut tonight. Next is Grady. He is a 45 year old black dude. At first it was a little hard to get him going but he is doing great now. He said ever since we started to teach him everything has just felt right. Because he has been going through a lot of stuff with his wife and everything. So he is a pretty cool dude. He is going to be baptized on July 2nd. Next we have Sally, Perla, Yla. I think I have told you about them. Well, right now we are kind of in a bind with them. We really don't know where to go next with them. But we will figure it out. Well the house is looking pretty good so far from what I can see. I really do wish ya'll would send me more pictures of the house and everything back home. I would like to see y'all. lol Honestly it is not going to take my mind off the work. Promise. I mean y'all want more pictures of me right? This can go both ways here. The more pictures I send home the more y'all will think about me, right and interrupt your work. Lol! Do you get what I mean? I would like some more photos of home. So I will get some updated ones sent out and you do the same OK! Good! How is everyone doing back home? Good I hope. Well I had better get going now. I need to get to bed I am a little tired. I will talk to y'all later. Take Care. Love ya lots! Love Elder Eppich

Short Update June 26, 2011

Not a whole lot of news from New Mexico. Elder Eppich is kind of decided that he doesn't have to much time for letter writing. He seems to be very busy in the mission work. He is still in Portales New Mexico and loving it. He is training a brand new missionary from a small town in Idaho. His name is Elder Ward. He says he is very shy and quiet but that he is a great kid and is going to be a great missionary once he opens his mouth. He is giving him lots of opportunities to talk. The work is going great there. They have just welcomed a new mission President. Haven't heard anything about the new President yet. Nate hated to see President Robinson leave. He is very busy and very hot , the temp stays in the 100's this time of year with lots of fires around the state.

He said he realizes that his mission is winding down to the last 6 months and there is so much work to do. He apologizes often that he doesn't write much but welcomes anyone that would like to drop a line. He said he is having the time of his life and really enjoying mission life.

June 2, 2011

Dear Mom & Dad;

How are things going back home? Good I hope. Sounds like ya'll had a great time with Kyle & Natalie and the kids home. Did Kel and Mel make it, I never heard, I sure hope the got to go. I like knowing that all the family is together, just like it should always be. Sounds like Liv had a little accident. I sure hope she is doing ok now! She is part Eppich she should be tough, lol! I sure hope the house is done by the time I get home and I miss the moving part. I do so much of that out here and would love to put the grass in so I get that job. lol Things are going pretty good here in Portales. We finally got rain here. So everyone is happy about that, lol. Si it is really starting to get hot here. It was in the upper 90's the other day. Man was that fun to ride bikes in that heat, lol. speaking of heat, Mom did you send those mesh garments? I want to try them to see if they will be cooler. Thanks! Man, I was sad to see Elder Krizin leave. At first we really struggled with each other and we were able to work things out and we got to where we were working really well together. We learned a lot from each other. He really had a hard time that I was younger than him but we made it work and now I hated to see him move on. Seems like you just get going with a companion and then it is time to move on. Oh Well! My new comp is from a little town in Idaho with about 150 people that live there. His name is Elder Ward. He is VERY quiet and scared. Kind of drives me crazy but we will work that one out, he will get more comfortable here, we have amazing members here. Just like home. His dad raises and works with horses for a living , I think that is way cool. Mom, there isn't a whole lot that I want you to send me because I know it will be food that I should not be eating. I love your cookies but I will eat them all and I am trying to keep my weight down so don't worry about it right now. I really don't need anything, but thank you. Our investigators are doing great but kind of slow. We are working with Sally, Pedro and Yla. They aren't really reading and we have only got them to church 1 time so hopefully something will change I hope soon anyways. I do think they will get baptized soon so that is good. Next is Destiny, she is legit. She was a referral from a member. She says she needs direction in her life and she has gone to other churches looking for that direction and hasn't found it so she is really liking the doctrine of Jesus Christ and what the Gospel has to offer. I know she will like this I have such a strong testimony of the Restored Gospel I just don't know how anyone could not see the good. The most progressing investigator is Michael. He is a cool kid. The only problem is he can only go to church like every 4 weeks so we have to figure that one out. But it will be all good. Well I got to get going, I am tired. I really need some sleep. Last week was so crazy and exhausting. So I plan on crashing here soon. I love ya'll lots. I am having a blast on my mission and so grateful that I am able to serve and especially here in the Lubbock mission. I will send more pictures Mom don't worry. Love ya'll! Take Care! Love Elder Eppich

Time flies

Just an apology to those that follow Elder Eppich on his blog. His mother has gotten so behind in posting his letters. He is doing awesome and looks forward to seeing everyone when he has finished his mission.

May 1, 2011

Hey! Mom & Dad;

Man, a year ago I would of never thought it would be this hard to keep up with this letter writing, LOL! I am trying my "best" to get er'done. :) I wrote Lexi, Taylor, Kacie and Laurin. They should all have their letters by now. If they don't I don't know what to tell you. I am still working on a huge pile on my night stand. We have been so swamped with work that I get in at night and crash then p-days are so full it seems. Hope everyone understands.

So, I don't know if I could have a better Mother's Day than this one even though it is for Mom's. The reason way, I get to call home which I can't wait for. It seems like I just talked to ya'll yesterday. But that is good because that means we have been very busy in the Lubbock Mission. The next best reason is that we are having a baptism this Mother's Day weekend. On Saturday. I am so stoked. This girl is so tight. Her name is Jolisa Carter , she is 18. she is really excited to get baptized. We are also teaching this other family. There is a Mom and 2 daughters, they are pretty tight. They are from the Evangelical Church. They are coming along slow but still they are making progress. Then we have this other lady named Denice. She is cool. Her boyfriend left her for some other girl and they had a 7 year old and another one on the way. She is thinking about abortion. We are going to be having a good lesson about the plan of Salvation tonight. I hope it goes well. Well that is about it for our investigators. We work hard at finding more. It is funny, here in Texas when we walk down the streets the some families will hurry and get their kids to come in the house from playing and shut the doors and close the curtains. Then as we walk by you can see them peeking out the curtains and we just smile and wave to them. A lot of people think we are the FBI, that is kind of funny also to watch people hurry and put on seat belts and worry that we are the law and going to stop them. I get a kick out of that one. I love serving in Protales, New Mexico. People here are so humble and teachable. We are fed way to much food but we enjoy it. The winds have been so bad. We try to ride bikes in 60 mph winds, there was one day that I almost hit a parked car because the wind was blowing so bad and dirt blowing I couldn't see. Windy season will be over in May , so they tell us. My legs get great exercise. Things are great here, it is wonderful to see the work of the Lord move forward. It will move forward with or without us. I am so glad to be on the Lord's team. It has been a huge blessing in my life and I have seen it change the lives of many here in the Lubbock mission. I am thankful for this opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father these 2 years. We are so busy and I like it that way. Take Care! I love ya'll. Love Elder Eppich

Elder Eppich with a HUGE sombrero that a

member gave him.

A Day at the Ranch

Hey! Mom & Dad;

Well, Here you go Mom, here is another letter for you. I am so sorry that I haven't been keeping up on the letter writing. I will try to keep up on it. I am not going to lie, I might miss a few weeks but I will do my best. Well, this week has been pretty sweet nothing really exciting has gone on except for Conference. That was pretty sweet. I love Elder Uchtdorf's talks. I think he is my favorite speaker. It seemed like conference was focused on guys picking up their game and getting married. At least in Priesthood it was. I hope they aren't talking about returned missionaries getting married right when they get home because I am worried that I have so many decisions to make when I get home. Conference was so great though. I noticed that President Monson was full of jokes. LOL! President Robinson came to our district and he was telling us that after listening to conference and realizing his call that he was having a change of heart. He is going to get out there and actually be a missionary instead of just a mission President. I thought that was pretty cool. Last week we found this unmarried couple that we started to teach, they are pretty cool. Their names are Debra and Andrew. Andrew is a lot more opened to learning, Debra not so much. We talked to them about eternal marriage and they really liked what we taught. Andrew was asking some pretty cool questions. So was Debra. I hope everything goes good with them they could really use the Gospel in their lives. Keep them in your prayers please! The Selina's family, we are trying to find out what to do with them. I don't know. They aren't taking it serious. But it is just like Preach my Gospel say's if they don't realize how important this message is , We Do! So we need to help them realize that they need Christ in their lives. Well those are our most progressing investigators.

As far as my comp and I , we get along pretty great. He does have a problem with someone younger telling him what to do. I guess I wouldn't like that either. But he thinks that I can't serve without him and keeps telling me that. He is right! I think one day I will just keep quiet all day and help him realize that we need each other to do the Lords work. He knows the area better than I and I have been out longer so I have had more experience in teaching. So basically together we make one. Other than that we are doing great and we will get that figured out.

We are pretty excited for p-day. We get to go out to a Ranch and we are going to play doctor with the cows. We get to put our hands all the way into the mommy cows .........and feel for the babies. I think it will be tight! LOL So I am pretty excited. We are going to be able to hang around the farm and help out and jump into hugh cotton bails. I will take photos for sure.

Riding bikes is going pretty good. Going good with the exercising also. I have started to eat more because we get fed here very well so I am pretty much staying at the same weight. I am hoping to get some running in here soon. Here in New Mexico it is a little colder than Texas. Actually a lot colder right now but still a lot warmer than home. You know Mom & Dad I have had a lot of experiences out here in the mission where I have realized that the Lord cannot work through us when we are boastful and think we are the best at everything. We are not able to listen to the spirit or be teachable. I am thankful that you and Dad taught us that we should not think so much of ourselves. I know I probably didn't listen so much at the time but I have been reminded of that often out on the mission. When we think so much of ourselves and put ourselves above others we are not able to be effective. I remember Dad always telling me, Let your game do the talking, you don't have to remind everyone that you are good if you have game. It works here in the mission too! Being humble! That is a Christ like quality. With humility we are able to serve others and not worry about ourselves.

My camera is ok! I bought that one from Best Buy but it was way expensive. So I took it back. Jeremy the kid we taught in Midland needed some money so I bought his camera that was pretty much new. It works for now. How is Dad feeling? Hope better. I have picked up something and been feeling really crummy. It is hard to do missionary work when you are sick but we will shake it here soon. Mom, you haven't seen Morgan in awhile? I am sure he is real busy with baseball. Hope he is doing ok! He wants me to go play baseball with him in Oregon when I get home. Yes! We are getting a new mission President in June. I am going to really miss President Robinson. He is way tight! Change happens and we all have to deal with it. I am excited to meet our new one. Well I had better go. Love ya'll lots!

Love Elder Eppich

We got back from the Ranch! We had an awesome day. We got to jump into huge cotton piles. We didn't get to check on the baby cows but maybe some other time. We loved being on the farm. We got back so late and we had a lesson and we didn't even get to shower. Stink!

Love ya'll

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