This past week has been a really good week to say the least. We went on splits with some other Elders in Edinburgh and I met my godfather (Godfather is the first Elder I go on splits with) Elder Carter. He's a really cool guy and we spent the ENTIRE day just talking to people on the streets. Since Edinburgh is full of people its actually really cool to just talk to people about anything. Edinburgh has a lot of people from different cultures and stuff, so I met people from France, Germany, Czeck, Ukraine, China, Japan and tons of other places. And Elder Carter can speak bits and pieces of a bunch of different languages which apparently I'll pick up when I get put into a city like Edinburgh, so that'll be cool.

17th of July, Monday

It's crazy that only two months ago I graduated high school. Literally everything has changed since then, but everything also has changed for the better by a million. Today was an alright P-day, we went into Edinburgh and met with Cat for lunch at a Mexican restaurant place. The food was actually decent but it was really laid back. We ended the night helping out a member with some stuff and Elder Mueller and I are just chillin, listening to music right now.

18th of July, Tuesday

First district meeting today in Edinburgh. I met the rest of the Elders and Sisters in the Edinburgh area so that was rally cool. I hope they can tolerate my noobey-ness. My blister is getting worse and worse. It's big enough to have its own postal code. It was getting pretty hard for me to walk everywhere so we ended the night an hour early and took care of it at the flat, and called Sister Donaldson for some advice. Hopefully it gets better, it really bugged me to not be working tonight.

19th of July, Wednesday

We had to cover a lot of the Livingston area today and we wanted to take it easy on my foot today so we took the bikes out today. My seat was raised a little too high, so my butt is actually a little sore lol. At the end of the night though, my blister felt a million times better and it didn't hurt. We also had a D.A tonight (Dinner Appointment). They fed us mexican food and the family is actually really cool. We met with Antony and did some family history stuff with him and he is really excited to start that.

20th of July, Thursday

Did lots of work today, a ton of chapping and an appointment with Robert. It's difficult to teach him because of his disabilities but he is learning well. Gotta remember to love people as the Lord does. Another D.A appointment tonight with the Coldheart family. All really nice people and their oldest daughter is a returned missionary so it was cool to talk about missionary stuff with her. At the end of the night we went to spend the night with some Elders in Edinburgh since we had splits the next day. It was really cool to meet them, and their flat is freaking sick. It's like a rich persons flat, and is the most expensive in the mission. Super cool. They also had a cupboard literally full of oreos, so Elder Mueller and I stole a bunch of those thangs. They also have TONS of Irn Brw so we stole a bunch of that too. I also talked to the AP's quite a bit and they like me and I like them.

21st of July, Friday

Long long long long long long long long long long long day. But really fun as well. The whole day my godfather (Elder Carter) and I spent the ENTIRE day GQ'ing the streets of Edinburgh. I got a lot better at it. Some tips for talking to random people about Jesus.

1. Be yourself
2. Have fun
3. Keep it brief and let them ask questions
4. Don't let rejection bother you
5. People may like talking to you until you start talking about religion

22nd of July, Saturday

A few days ago someone in the ward was put into the hospital. Some background on Dixie, he was never a member but he was a friend of everyones. And I never met him. His wife called us in the morning telling us that he asked for a blessing. So we started to head over and we didn't make it in time. He passed away which was really sad because I'd heard a lot of really good things about this guy. So that all happened a few days ago. Today, we went to go talk to his wife to see how she was doing. She is really cool and isn't doing all that well. She cant sleep or eat but when we talked to her she seemed to relax a bit since we didn't talk about the plan of salvation or anything else related to the gospel. She got all of Dixie's ties and clothes and gave a bunch of them to us. I got all of his football jerseys so that was sweet. But I feel sad for her. We had another dinner appointment tonight though, and they took us out to a Chinese buffet place. I ate a ton which was awesome and the food was really good. I ate baby squid. It was delicious.

23rd of July, Sunday

Every time I go to church I love this ward more and more. Everyone is super friendly, and people genuinely care about the Elders. I think they know that Livingston is usually the hardest area in the mission, so they try to help as best they can. I gave a talk in sacrament about prayer, it should have been longer but whatever. Our investigator Gary is super excited for his baptism so that's flippin' sweet. Cat never showed up to get confirmed as a member and receieve the Holy Ghost though. Which was really weird and a bit disapointing. A family I'm getting really close to is the Paterson family. They're a retired couple but they are a ton of fun to be with. We also met with a referral today. He was going to Uni (college) in Pennysalvania and came home for a few weeks before the next semester starts. He's clearly been taking the discussions for a while because he seems to know quite a lot.

Can't wait to hear back from all of you again, love you lots and keep staying awesome!