See you tomorrow!!

Dearest Mother mom thchemamamayayyyseisssss,

 

      It´s me! Your 7th child..... Elder Emett!!! But sep for I think President Blunck told me something about a plane ride tonight to another country or maybe back to Iquitos or Yurimaguas. idk........ I didn´t really understand him that well. He thanked me for all the hard work I did as a missionary and the leadership I showed for 2 years, then told me to go home and start studying and get married hahaha. I think it was a joke. . . . . . . . . . . . or was it????????? You guys should know more about this than I do hahahahaha.

 

     I´ve had an amazing mission, mom. I owe a lot of that to you. Thank you for the support and the love and sending me money haha. Tell dad that I don´t just keep all the letters he sends me, I absolutely cherish them. I am so grateful for his testimony that he shared through almost every letter he wrote. It helped me focus even more on the mission. I have a lot of mixed emotions about coming home so please be careful with me and please be understanding if I don´t talk a lot haha I´m actually kind of a nervous wreck right now hahahahahaha. I love you guys. A lot. I really am so excited to see you tomorrow!!

 

Elder Emett

Kolby has to leave Peru... Boo!!!

 But he is finally coming home... *YAHOO!*

 

How about that conference????

Dear Mamchiessthissesss,

     How about that conference????????????????? When I heard the announcement that all girls can now serve when they are 19 my jaw dropped and I just stared at my companion for 6 or 4 minutes without saying a word. whe wher speechless. Wow. THAT´S SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel kinda bad for all the future zone leaders, but revelation does´t need explication. I set a personal goal to get back from the mission and make sure all my female friends get out on missions!!!!!!!!! Laura, Kimber Timber, Everyone!!!!!! It won´t be hard to get them stoked about it, pues, that´s the only thing I´m stoked about right now. My companion and I set a goal this week. We are going to find 10 new families to teach and baptize 2 people on saturday. We have 1 baptismal date, her name is Anamaria. She is about 50 years old and lives with her whole entire family. The only problem is that none of them are ready to accept the gospel, but she is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO   READYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She went to almost every conference session and she loved it!!!!! We talked about how important it is to be an example to her family and she understands that that´s the best way to help her family accept the gospel. She is STOKED to be baptized!!!!! 

     Well, today is October 8th! Happy birthday Matt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every one of my companions is jealous that I have a brother who served in Brazil. That´s where all the southamericans want to serve their missions hahaha. I don´t know if you guys were paying tons of attention in the conference, but Elder Cook mentioned his trip to Iquitos!!! That was way cool!!!!!! I have a few heroes in life and one of them is Elder Holland. I love how he explained Peter´s ¨moment¨ of conversion. I was studying that story sunday morning just before the conference haha and Elder Holland helped me understand it so much better. Elder Hales mentioned it, too. I love you guys. I wish I had more time to write, but I need to go!

Elder Emett (más limeño que Morales)

Scared out his mind to come home!

I know, right??????????????

     This week was very loooooooooooonnnnnnnggggggggg hahaaha. We were planning on baptizing  another family on the 29th and they were all stoked, but their papers just didn´t come through... We are planning on baptizing them the 13th. They have been listening to the missionaries for quite some time now, but nobody has known how to get them married... good thing I got tons of experience in this from Iquitos!!!!!!! There is another person we are teaching that has a goal to be baptized the 13th. His name is Jerson. He went to church yesterday with us and invited to eat dinner with him  today so we will see how that goes. There is another family we are teaching that we invited to be baptized on the 20th of October, but they didn´t go to church yesterday!!!!!!!!!!! bummer. At least they´re already married. They will attend next week. We have two other families that we are teaching that need to get married so we are starting on that. We just had lots and lots to do last week, but that´s good!!!!! We have EVEN MORE to do this week. My agenda is completely FUUUULLLLLLLL!!! We have a load of lessons to teach, a marriage to organize, zone leader council, interviews with President, general conference, and two zone meetings we have to plan and conduct. I honestly think this will be the busiest week of my entire life haha. It´s funny because I never did ANYTHING before the mission because I didnt know what to do and there was never anything to do, but now there is tons to do and even when we don´t have anything to do, we can go outside and knock doors!!!!!!!!!! Haha, we knocked doors ALL DAY long on sunday. Good day, fun times. I love being a missionary. I used to hate knocking doors and teaching lessons, but now it´s just the only thing I know how to do. I don´t even know how to play soccer anymore. I´m not even sure if my english is very good anymore, but I am sure that these two years in the mission have been exactly what I wanted and needed.

     I don´t want to sound like a big-time bummer, but I am scared out of my mind to come home. I have no idea what I´m going to do!!! But I just figured I would plan all  that out when I get there cuz if I think about it too much now i´ll stress myself out haha. But don´t take that the wrong way!!!!!!!!! I am SO EXCITED to see you all!!!! I´ve been practicing saying all your names in my prayers so that I can recognize all those nephews and neices? nieces? I don´t remember exactly how to spell that... or is it neeses? or nisiz? or sobrina? or perhaps nchtehessess? oh well, all I know is I have to study when I get back. big deal. Oh yeah!! I bought you guys some cool stuffffff!!!!!! And I´m going to the center of Lima with my companion (who is from Lima..aka.. el limeño) to buy just a couple more things for you guys cuz there are a few little things more that im gonna get with the money you sent me. And......... I BOUGHT A SUIT!!!! And I didn´t give it away to the family we baptized!!!! It´s a pretty nice suit! It´s super black and super peruvian. It came with a shirt, a tie, and shoes!! It costed 300 peruvian dollars. 

     I always show a picture of you guys to our investigators and some ward members and my companions and my zone and they always say the same thing... Wow! Your brothers are huge!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ... what happened to you?????? I wasn´t a big huge muscly man before the mission, but i had something, but now hahahahahahaha I´m just chubby and have tiny little arms. For example.. when you sent me that watch when i started the mission I always had to fasten it on the fourth or fifth loop to keep it from moving and it was tight... now i wear it on the third loop and it´s loose hahahahaha. I´m positive that Branson has bigger arms than me hahaha. Well, I´ve written way too much now, almost as much as my baby brother in arjinteenuh!! man i miss that guy. 

Elder Emett

Don't blink or you will miss this email!!

Buenos Días!!!!!

     Hey family how´s it going!? I have about 0 time to write because we are leaving now to play soccer with another zone here in Lima. We baptized a family of 3 on saturday! It was a super cool experience! They got married and baptized the same day! Se llama la familia Quispe. I need a huge favor. I need you to send 5 pictures of me before the mission to my email. All the missionaries who are ending this change have to send 5 pictures of before the mission to the offices to do some kinds of slideshow thing so maybe you could send like a few pictures playing soccer or hangin out with my bros or something así. It would be better if you could send like 10 pictures and I will choose between them. THANKS!!!!!!! Well... talk to ya later man

Elder Emett

IT WAS CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!

ThCHHHEAmamamyyyyyyysis....

     Wow! I was ready to write you guys this morning, but then we had all these different things going on in the zone and I had to organize a few things and find a new internet place and send 4 missionaries to the mission offices and a whole handful of things haha so I just found some time to write to you!!!! Thanks for putting money in my account! I am going to get a suit today!! And after that, I am going to go with my companion to another part of Lima to organize a marriage we have coming up this saturday and another one next friday! We are going to marry and baptize 2 more families this month!!! Wooohooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the hard work is finally paying off haha. My companion is the man. We are bros and he is a stud.com. He speaks a lot of english and we set a goal to not speak any spanish in the house haha, it´s really cool because he understands everything I say in engish and he can respond and everything! Well, I was right about this week. IT WAS CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were sprinting all week long!!!!! We literally did not have 1 minute to stop and think! We were just going and going and going! The energizer bunny couldn´t have kept up with us!!!! The mission is an amazing thing. The zone is really excited and they are all working really hard. We are going to pass the goal that we set for this month!! I have learned a lot this week. I learned a lot about diligence, goal setting, and faith. I wish I could share every detail about everything I learned, but there just isn´t enough time haha. 

     We are teaching 4 families that have goals to be baptized in october. I should baptize at least 2 more families the saturday before I come home. It´s impossible to understand how fast the mission is until you have 1 month left. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday about how I gained my testimony of the book of mormon and an ex missionary came up to me afterwards and told me that if I could teach the first lesson like that every time and make the investigators feel how I made him feel during my talk that I would baptize more that John the Baptist ahahahahahahahahahaa. I´m going to give my homecoming talk the first sunday I´m home, right?????? I hope so haha. I hope all my friends who are not members or are not active in the church are there! Is the brown still around there???? I´m definitely going to take him on a few dates after the mission hahahahaha. well........ talk to ya in a week!!

I want you guys to see what spanish is like. It´s a lot like english. I bet you can understand a lot of what I wrote!!!!! It´s just a basic testimony

logré tener mi propio testimonio del libro de mormón por medio del poder del espíritu santo justo después de hacer una oración a Dios y preguntarle si el libro de mormón es verdadero o no. Algunas semanas antes de esa experiencia, yo había escuchado el testimonio de una de mis amigas del libro de mormón. Ella dijo que le había ayudado mucho en su vida y nos invitó a leer el libro. Gracias a ese testimonio, tuve el valor de investigar y ¨probar¨ la buena semilla. Empecé a leer el libro y sentir el poder que tiene. Así logré tener un testimonio propio y firme de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días, del profeta José Smith y de mi Salvador, Jesucristo. Siempre agradeceré a mi amiga por compartir su testimonio en ese momento y siempre compartiré el mío con la esperanza de ayudar a alguien más. 

Elder Emett

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN AMAZING!!!!!

Heyyyy HEEYY heyy HEEYYY heyyy

      Wussuppppp?????????????? Dear family. THIS WEEK HAS BEEN AMAZING!!!!! My new companion´s name is Elder Morales, and he is a STUD. This is his first change as a zone leader and he is one of the best zone leaders I have met in my 23 months in the mission. He is from Lima, Perú and he has 13 months in the mission. He is my height, with dark skin, black hair, and brown eyes and pretty skinny. A lot of missionaries that I know start to relax in their last change in the mission, but that is NOT what we are doing! I have never, not even in Yurimaguas, felt so focused on missionary work as I do now. Let me explain... In Preach My Gospel, in chapter 8 it talks about setting and achieving goals, it says that the mission president (i´m just roughly translating from spanish to english) will maybe set goals of excellence that we should work on completing. President Blunck´s focus is the family. In the Perú Lima North mission, WE BAPTIZE FAMILIAS. At the beginning of 2012, President Blunck set a standard of excellence that is called 8/4/2. The idea is that in every area every single month we can baptize at least 4 people and of those 4 people, there are 2 families. Almost every single month when I was in Iquitos, I completed with the goal with my companion. But now my companion and I have an impossible goal haha. We don´t just want to achieve the goal, but we want every companionship in the whole zone to complete with the goal. This requires A LOT of work, attention, dedication, faith, diligence, and verification, but we KNOW we can do it. We hardly had time to think this week we had so much to do haha. And this next week will probably be one of the craziest weeks of my whole mission. A lot of what we do this week will determine if we meet the goal as a zone or not. I know all of the zone´s investigator´s names by heart and we are constantly praying for every one of them. Like I said... I have never been more focused in my whole mission. But that´s how it´s supposed to be right?????

     I wish I could send you all some sort of picture, but my camera is not working all that well ahaha. oh well. About the suit. I don´t have one. I borrowed a jacket from the mission offices, but I wont take it home with me haha, it´s not my size at all. There is a place right here close that is doing a special on suits. with S/. 300 I can buy a new suit with pants, 2 shirts, 2 ties, and shoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That´s about $120. But I don´t know. I don´t like spending your money. I´m fine with just going home in a shirt and tie and maybe my sweater hahaha because St. George is going to be WHHAY too cold for me!!! About what I want to eat when I get back... waffle cookies. no bake cookies. maybe a home made lasaña. Lots of vegetables. Maybe some kind of salad. Maybe some pizza. fruit snacks. gushers. oreo brownies. dr. pepper. 7 layer dip. doritos salsa verde. hahahah idk, I just want to eat all that and some other things that you make haha and i want to see all my huge brother and little nephews and nieces and erbody. That´s so funny that the stake president has my return date in his phone haha. I never understood the power of his calling until I got here in the mission, but i have an amazing respect for church leaders and every stake president i have met in the mission has been such a great person!!! I really respect his calling so much! Haha i feel honored that my name is in his phone hahahaha. He is a good guy. 

     We were praying really hard all week that we could have a lot of investigators in church so that there could be families who are progressing toward baptism for these next few weeks, and there were 11 investigators there!! With 5 families! We were also praying so that a family could get a few things cleared up with their marriage papers and we went with them this morning and we got it all cleared up so  they can get married and baptized on the 22nd!!!!! My testimony of prayer has grown so much. I love you guys. Thanks for all the support over all this time. I really am excited to see you, but it will not be easy for me to leave Perú. 

I have seen 8 apostles during my mission!

Tchzszzzzsaaremiimmmyyyyj!!!!!!!!

     What a crazy week!!! Well, not really haha. It was a pretty normal week. OH WAIT!! On friday, we got to listen to an Apostle!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Cristofferson come to Lima to meet with all the missionaries!!! It was super neat!! I have seen like 8 apostles during my mission!!!! And all of my companions and friends from the MTC were there!! We had a big group hug haha. Everybody has changed so much. Well, we got the changes today...... I am staying in my area, but my companion is going to another part of Lima... We are actually really good friends and we were excited for this change together, but it will be a very good thing for both of us. Our personalities didn´t really mix that well haha. But it will be sad. I am going to be training a new zone leader to finish out the mission. Today is the first day of my last change... 6 weeks left to give it my all. I´m more prepared now than I ever have been. This will be a very good change!!!! My new companion´s name will be Elder Morales... I don´t know him haha. I have no idea where he is from or what he is like, but I´m sure we will get along and we will work hard together. All I know is that he is in Lima right now. I will meet up with him tomorrow morning. 

    I´m sorry that Aunt Florence died, but you´re right, it was a good thing. Give Linda a big hug for me. Tell KJ congrats on her 5th child!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think they are trying to get to 10 like you guys!!!!! haha. I tell everyone that Im going to have 11 kids because I want to beat my dad, but 12 is too much haha. Well, I don´t have that much time to write, but i love you guys, thanks for everything!!!!

Headaches??

wasssssssssuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppppppppppp???????????????

 

     Bueno. Sometimes I get headaches on saturday and I have to stay home and drink waters and eat pills. 0 fun. BUT I´M BETTER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bought you all some super cool stuff with all that money you´re putting on my account!!!! You´re gonna like it so much!!!! I´m doing a lot better at getting along with my silly little companion haha. He loves to tell jokes and so i have been thinking of all the funny jokes i´ve heard and translating them into spanish so we can both laugh haha. While I was sick he sat right next to me and talked to me and took care of me and he told me a few stories and then I told him my own version of hansel and gretel, but in the end they all get baptized as a family and live happily ever after haha. We don´t have any problems, but I don´t think I will be with him much longer because the change is ending and I think that Presidente is going to send me a new zone leader to train.

     Things sound like they are going just great at home!!!! That´s super exciting!!! I can´t believe it´s already august 27th. I´m just trying to forget about the date and focus in on what I´m doing. It´s so little time, but it´s enough. I´m very very very nervous about coming home, but I´m just workin and baptizin like I know I should haha. I do have like 2 favors to ask you, though. When my really good friend elder Anderson got home, his mom cooked him a few of his favorite things to eat and I just had a few requests to make, but I will tell you all that when I´m actually closer because I still have like 3 months left- august, september, and october. 3 full months at least.

    Well I love you all a whole bunch! I will write you next week to tell you all about the changes!!!!

 

Elder Emett (not Matt, not Josh, not Ben.... especially not Ben cuz he´s in arjintenuh)

Something very very strange is happening!

Tcheammmmmmmmmmsssiiieiiiissss

sssssssmmmmmammmmyyyyyyyyeyee!!!!

     Hey there! I´m just still here in Lima, Perú!!!! Just still
having lots of fun with all my best friends! Something very very
strange is happening. We are working SO HARD! But we have not had 1
baptism in all of August!!!!!! My head just can´t understand how to
live a week without baptizing or planning baptisms. So weird. The
truth is that we have 3 families who are progressing toward baptism,
but their silly marriage papers are worse than 6 or 4
nightmares!!!!!!!!!! There are some other people we are teaching and
we found A LOT of new people to teach this week so things should start
to go a lot better. Wow. We decided as a companionship that we were
going to work on diligence this week and almost every appointment we
had fell through hahahahahahahaha. God answers prayers the hard way
sometimes. So we just had to lift our heads up and go to work. We
worked really really hard and we had great results. We are looking at
2 families and 3 other people who should be ready for september!!!!!
And 2 more families who should be ready for october!!! God gave us so
many opportunities to work on diligence this week and I feel like we
did a good job at being extrememly diligent!
     Things with my companion are going just super great. Our
personalities are just complete opposites, but we are getting to know
eachother more and we are getting along a lot better. He´s just silly.
But he´s a really good missionary and we have the potential to work
very very well together.
     Tell Branson, Feliz Cumpleaños!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 11 is so
old!! How old is Jason now? I´m glad Josh is counting down the days I
have left because I have NO IDEA!!! I just figure I still have 2 years
left haha. That´s way cool that Jer got home after being gone for so
long!!! He stole all my thunder!!! You wasted the good surprise on
him!!!!! Haha jk, Jer, you´re the man. Ummmm.... I thought Papa Bear
whas alrheady whay murried. Whhen izzy getting murried?? I hope I am
home when he gets murried so we can dance and eat cake together and do
other wedding things, idk. Tell him congrats on his milk man job. I
live in the apartment with just my companion, there aren´t any other
missionaries there and it gets kinda lonely sometimes. Ima have to
have a super big family like ours so that I never get whay bored haha.
    So we were asked to speak on sunday in sacrament meeting and I
decided to talk about....... YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is a part
in the pamphlet of the first lesson that says that one of the best
places to learn and practice the gospel is in the family, so I shared
with the entire congregation what we do to practice the gospel in our
family! I talked about Emett Family Fun Time, dinner at 6, family
scripture study, interviews, blessings, responsibilities (cleaning the
kitchen), and family council! Everybody loved it haha. Like 10 people
came up to me after the talk and told me how much they wanted to meet
my family and how they wanted to try all the things we do. There was
one sweet little old lady who got so stoked that she came running over
to me after the meeting and grabbed both of my hands and told me how
good of a father I was going to be and how much she admired me and my
family and how she was going to share everything the Emett family does
with her family and try to be even happier. Another guy came up and
asked me if I could make him a calendar that explains exactly what we
do every week so that he could start doing it and have a better
relationship with his wife haha. I love talking about you guys. I have
the best family in the world. I didn´t realize before the mission, but
I do now. I´m not extremely smart, handsome, cool, tall, or stylish,
but I do have the best family I have ever met. Thanks mom and dad. I
miss you guys!!!!! Seeya in 2 years!!!

Elder Emett

Still in love with the Book of Mormon

 The famlyyyeeeui.

      So...... I tried to send you some pictures from my brifday pizza, but my camera decided that it would be funner to just not work. so...... I guess I can show you my brifday pizza pictures when my camera decides to work (14 years) or when I get back from Preu (2 months). Holy wow. Thanks for all the bday wishes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I tried to tell as few people as possible that it was my birthday, but somehow we ended up with a pizza, 2 bottles of soda, and 2 pieces of cake each hahaha. 

     My companion´s name is Elder Vasquez. He is from Guatemala. He is short and brown haha, he looks like a Bolivian. He´s a silly little guy. He always wants me to tell him what I´m thinking and feeling and I´m always just like ¨what!????¨ I grew up in a house with 8 brothers! I´m just not that into talking with dudes about my feelings hahahahahaha, but we get along. He is just a little stinker. 

     This week, Elder Torres, from the seventy is coming to the mission to do a conference and I´´m siked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I´´m still in love with the book of mormon and Im studying it more than ever. We taught a lot of lessons last week and I feel like I am a lot better at teaching than when I started the mission hahahaha. You are all gonna hate me cuz this is my shortest email ever, but I don´´t have whay a lot to say. I love you all a whole bunch!

     You told me you are gonna send 1 more package? Do it! could you send some m&ms? the plain chocolate ones? My companion loves them and I want to give him some! Send a lot! could you also send some gatorade powder drink packets or something like that? or some kind of vitamin water drink packets cuz i´´m tired of drinking just water and rice don´´t  got no vitamins and i thought it would be a good idea. idk. and next week, could you tell me how much $ is in my account? I found something really cool that I want to buy for the whole family and we are going to go next monday so just let me know how much $ is on the card porfa. And..... that´´s it! thanks for all the birthday wishes! I´´m scared out of my mind to come home!!! hahah love you!

Elder Kolby Emett (the real one)

Birthday wishes this week!

Dear The FAmmmmmooooooooollllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

     Thanks for all the birthday wishes!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh! I´m turning 21!!! I´m like a dinosaur but sep for I´m still alive!!!! What a relief!! Yesterday was such a good week!!!! It is NOT EASY coming to a new area after being in another area for almost 10 months, especially when the new area is over 700 miles away and it´s a different geographical region. But........... I´m doing much better!!!!!!!!! I´m super used to the cold weather now. My companion and I are BEST FRIENDS, and we are just focusing in on the work and we are going to baptize 2 more families this month!!! And we found another family last night that will get  baptized in September!!!!!!!! So don´t worry about me, family, I am still stoked!!! Wow! Thanks for having a birthday party without me ya silly brains!!!!!! I hope you saved a little bit of that cake cuz it sure did look good!! Thanks so much for the pictures! Everybody has grown up so much BUT MOSTLY JUST BECCA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think she is big enough to be in hike school!!!! What happened!? Every time I get a cute little letter from her I still just see this tiny little girl who used to sit on my lap and say ridiculous things, but now I think I will have to tell her my mission stories while I sit on HER lap!!! que bien.

     I was talking to my pension´s husband this morning and he was asking me all kinds of things about my family, especially my parents. I told him that we did foster care for a few years and that we ended up adopting 2 kids, one from the navajo tribe, and that dad is the special needs mutual leader and mom is the lady-what-helps-out-that-other-ladies-what-had-that-problems-like-I-really-dont-understand-what-moms-calling-is-I-have-no-idea-what-its-called-but-i-know-it-has-a-really-long-name and he was super impressed. He said just from talking to me and being around me, he could tell that I have extremely good parents and a really good family. And..... I couldn´t agree more!!!!!!!!! You guys are the best!!!! I was going to send you all some pictures, but I really dont have that much time so I will just tell you that everything is going so good. I have loved every minute of my mission up to this point and I´m so excited to serve with all my heart, might, mind, and soul for these last 2 months. I can´t believe how fast these 22 months have gone by. Matt and Josh know exactly what I´m talking about. It will be very very hard for me to leave Perú. I love you all. Keep writing and STAY STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Elder Kolby Emett (El Limeño)

Hardest change ever!

Dear The family,

     Hey there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am in Lima!!!!!!!!!!! I am very close to where I started the mission. I actually saw the bishop from my first ward just the other day! Great guy! He said I´ve  gotten a lot skinnier hahaha, I´m pretty sure I have just gained tons and tons of weight. I´m in a zone called Carabayllo. My companion´s name is Elder Vasquez. He is from Guatemala and he has 15 months in the mission. If I could use one word to describe my companion it would be pest. He´s just a little stinker. Noboby in the zone really likes him and  that puts a lot of pressure on me to help unite the zone because everybody likes me. I already know almost every Elder in my zone (one of them is Elder Castillo - my companion in Yurimaguas, and another one is Elder Walker - the elder who lived with me for 6 months in Iquitos). So I have been trying to help the zone get along a little bit better, but it has not been very easy. This is the richest place (by far) that I served in during my whole mission! Everyone has so so so much money! It´s blowing my mind!!!! These houses are just all so big and made of concrete and they have tile floors and couches and TVs. I am honestly so intimidated by all these people haha. This has been the hardest change that I have had in the entire mission. I was so used to my last area. I was so used to the people, the food, the heat, the elders in my zone, and everything! But everything here is 100% different. I am over 700 miles away from my last area and EVERYTHING has changed. I´ve just felt like crying a few times, but I´ve been able to hold it in until night time. I have been praying very very very fervently so that God will help me and it has been working miracles. I got here on Tuesday and the whole mix of everything just gave me a headache and I REALLY  didn´t want to be here, but I am doing much better now. I had some hard changes when I was training the missionary from Ecuador, Elder Galarza, and it helped me grow so much. I guess I was just kinda ¨smooth sailing¨ in Iquitos, but now I have to really dig down and bring myself to a new level emotionally and spiritually to be able to adapt to all these changes. 

     That´s super sad about what happed to Recucca. Stitches are no fun!!!! Tell Kjirsten and Bay-bay HAPPY BIRHTDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have 10 weeks left in the mission and I am just trying to give it my all so that I can go home happy and know that I did my best. I also feel like I am at my best right now. I am working very very hard and I am enjoying it a lot!!!!! We baptized a family on saturday and we will baptize another one this saturday!! I am glad the missionaries who were here before were working so hard and I plan on working even harder to leave this area and this zone much better than I found it! I talked to a new missionary the other day and he asked me how much time I had in the mission. I stopped and thought about it for a minute then started counting in my head from October 2010 until now. ¨21 and a half months¨ I told him. Then he just looked at me with that look that can´t be described, but doesn´t need words. And I couldn´t even believe it when I heard it. I am going to see you all so soon. I am so excited but so so so nervous at the same time. I can´t even imagine that day. I am just  going to keep working with everything  I have and I will see ya when I see ya!!!!!!!!!! I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Emett (El Limeño)

Back to Peru!

Querida Thchamapsisisses,

     ¨I´ll go where you want me to go!¨ That´s what I found myself
singing this morning when I opened up the changes hahaha. I will be
leaving my dear Iquitos and going back to Lima. I have no idea what
part I will be going to or who will be my companion or if I will be
training a new missionary or what will happen, but I am STOKED!!!!!!!
I love Lima! They actually have things like paved roads and
Mcdonald´s!! What fun! I will be finishing off my mission in Lima. I
always kinda wanted to finish off in a part of the jungle, but it´s
not really my choice!!!!!!!!!!!!! It´s going to be a great
adventure!!!!!!

Love Elder Kolby Emett

Last week in Iquitos!

Jill Emett,

     Ok, so like totally like my sister Michele like sent me like 4 or 2 pictures of her brand new baby Addie, but she isn´t that brand new anymore... she´s like 2 I think... What happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????

????????? I never even met her once in like 2 years and now I´m supposed to just walk into her life out of nowhere and expect a relationship??? I hope she likes me cuz she is sooooooooo cuuuuuuuuute!!!!! What  a cute family we have!!!! Today was a good week!! We taught some people, got caught in the rain again, then my companion got sick, then I got sick, then we commited a family to baptism and they said YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had a bunch of investigators in the church and in ward mission night! Fun stuff!!!!! Well, that all sounds super confusing about the money deal hahaha. I have decided that I probably just won´t touch that account anymore because there is no possible way to keep track of all that because every time I take out money it´s not it dolares.... it´s in nuevos soles peruanos...... like.... it´s not.... like... the same... ya know?
     So this same area where  I have been since the month of November.... I´m leaving it next week. That´s gonna be weird. I don´t know where I´m going, but I´m pretty sure president will tell me tomorrow cuz we have interviews with him woohoo!! That will be fun! He is coming to Iquitos.
      ... ummmmmmmmm. That´s all!

Elder Emett

I guess there is not a McDonalds in Iquitos!!!

Dear Thaeeaammanayyyyy,

     Happy Christians!!!! It was a pretty good week! The trip to Lima
was good as usual (hahahaha it was my very last one!! what fun!).
Everything is going just fantastic here in Iquitos, Peru. It´s just
blazing hot or it´s raining. nothing else.... ever. It has mostly
rained a lot this week haha. On monday night, I left with my companion
as usual to start our proselyting. We had a few lessons to teach haha
and right as we were saying the prayer to leave the house we heard a
few drops hit the metal roof... then a few more...  then a few more...
then we finished the prayer... then we looked at eachother... then we
heard a big BOOM! And the rain came pouring down like crazy
hahaha!!!!!!! We both just looked at eachother with a huge smile, then
went sprinting out into the rain and mud to find a mototaxi. Hahahaha
it was so much fun! We got SOAKED! But then we started teaching and we
got all dry. What a fun day! You asked me if there is a Mcdonald´s in
Iquitos... I will answer your question with this:
hahahahahahahahahahaha. Not much is new with me. I realized that I
only have 3 months left out here and now I just feel rushed to get as
much as I can done (not that I wasn´t working, but I just feel like
doing more now). I am still WHAY happy and WHAY healthy (except for
all the parasites and bug bites.....that rymed haha). The next
transfers are in 2 weeks!!! I am going to be leaving my area! I don´t
know if I will leave Iquitos, but I think I will. I have been in the
same ward/area for over 8 months!!!! Since November 2011!!!!! That is
a really really really long time haha. I know everybody and they all
love me! It will really not be easy to leave. But the thing is I have
2 changes left after this one. Every change is a 6 week period. All of
the new missionaries coming in are with their trainers for 12 weeks so
President Blunck wants me to train a new guy!!!!!!!!!! It´s going to
be so much fun!!!!!! I really am so so so excited! So I will be
leaving my area on the 24th of July. Wow. I can´t believe its already
July. How long have I been in Peru for anyways??????????
     Ok, I have a few people I need to publically thank for sending me
TONS OF LETTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1. Dad  2. Jessica  3. Hannah
Andersen  4. Max   5. Riley   6. Becca   7. Grandma
Sandra!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My companion was SO SO SO HAPPY when he
got that backpack!!!!!!!!! Could you please tell grandma Sandra that
she totally made my day, my companion´s day, and that I love her! What
a nice thing to do. Now my companion and I walk around in style
hahaha. Dad asked me a hilarous question in one of the letters he
wrote me. He asked my what I want to be when I grow up!!! Well, dad, I
have your answer. I thought about it for about 2 days and I tried my
best to think about what I could possibly do to keep me as happy as I
have been on the mission my whole life and I got it! I want to be a
home teacher when I grow up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!! I don´t
plan on making very much money, but I´m ok with that! Are there
inactive people in the ward? Are there families who still have not
been baptized???? I would just love to home teach them hahaha.
     So I talked to Sister Blunck about the whole BYU Idaho thing and
she doesn´t see a possible way I could get in without having taken the
ACT (I guess that´s important idk) and we both came up with the
solution! I am just going to study at Dixie, then maybe when I grow up
I can move away from St. George. Don´t get me wrong, I love St.
George, but I don´t know how I´m supposed to survive without drinking
fresh coconut milk so I think I will be going to either Jamaica or
Hawaii to raise my family hahahaha.
     Ok, well I already wrote way too much! I love you all! See you
tomorrow!!!!!

Elder Emett de la selva

Dear Jill?????

Dear Jill,

     I´m going to have to start this email by thanking my little brother, Ben, for writing a whole bunch this week so that I don´t have to!!!! hahaha. Same ol same ol up in heeeeeeeeuuuhhh. Still in Iquitos and still loving every second of it. Technically I should  be seeing you all in about 3.5 months, but I was kinda thinking about extending my misison another 2 years. What do you think about that????? We are teaching some really great people right now and we found a ton of new families to teach last week. We have some baptisms planned out in July, but we will have keep working really hard so that they can actually get baptized. love kolby.

Elder Emett

P.s. I´m going to lima tomorrow for that conference thing we do ervry month. Wish me luck!

I love having a big family!

Guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

    What´s up famlie???? I´m just still here in my same area since November 2011!!!!! I have 3x more time in my area then ben does in the mission hahahahahaha!!!!!!! Big deal. I don´t even know what havasupi is, but it sounds like a blast? Good for all the murried kids that they could all go have some fun doing whatever it is that you do in Havasupi! Wow! I can´t believe how big our family is!!!! When I tell people that I have 7 brothers, 2 sisters, 3 sisters in law (almost 4), 1 brother in law, and 11 nieces and nephews, they never believe me!!!! I love having a big family! I´m just glad that I don´t have to take care of all the kids hahaha.

     Well, today was a good week. We baptized that one lady we found walking with her husband that one day (we whould have whay baptized her husband, too, but her husband alrheady got whay baptized like 15 years ago). We are teaching this really nice lady named Martha Luz who has 2 little kids and lives with her husband, but she split up from him like a year ago, but he doesn´t have another house so he kinda just lives there and doesn´t want anything to do with her, us, or the church. Does that make sense???? (I hreally hhope so). She is like super super strange sometimes. She laughs a whole ton and always asks us some of the worst ever questions that just don´t make any sense or acheive anything. She always told us that she had tons and TONS of doubts about the church, so we tried an old trick that I learned back in Lima. We gave her a book of mormon and committed her to read it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahaha, like alwhays, IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!! She hasn´t missed a sunday in church in almost a month and she is progressing very very quickly. She says that she only has 1 doubt left. Out of like 9,562,228 doubts that she had about the church, there is only 1 left. I have no idea how much time and energy it would have required to solve all of her doubts one by one, but all I can say is that the book of mormon does it WHAY faster that we can!!!!!!!!!!!! And that last time we were in her house, I gave her 3 different scripures that she can use to solve that 1 doubt. Needless to say, I am positive she will be getting baptized soon. Maybe I won´t be here, but I feel like I have done my part there.

     Nothing too exciting this week, just trying to take things 1 day at a time. Later dudes!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Elder Emett (That one  guy what gets home in roughly 3 months 2 weeks and 4 days)

Promise of a temple in Iquitos

THCheuammiesuasss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

     I´m not sure if that makes sense. Oh well. What´s up family!!!?????? Before I start let me just say happy father´s day to Dad, Jason, Scott, Matt, and Josh!!! Cool stuff!! Tell little Paysli happy birthday for me, and tell Branson congrats on  the great soccer playing!!!!!! I was never on a team that won anything hahaha. Well, you guys, I miss you all a ton. I sure have been in Perú for quite a long time. I wanna let you all know that I´m having a super great time! During my mission I have been blessed with the opportunity to listen to 7 apostles speak. This past week was one of those experiences. Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Cook were on an assignment in Manaus Brasil to dedicate a temple, then they flew on their personal jet directly into the city of Iquitos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They wanted to have a special fireside with all of the members, investigators, and missionaries in Iquitos!! So the conference was at 7 in the biggest stake center in the whole city. We showed up at 4, waited in a HUGE line for about an hour, then we got inside in the same room he would be speaking and just sat down and waited for two more hours. It was so cool when they came walking in!!!!!!! Elder cook´s wife spoke first, then Elder Cook. Then President Uchtodorf´s wife spoke and President Uchtdorf concluded. Every talk was so amazing!!! They were all just short talks (or long testimonies). President Uchtdorf promised the Iquiteños that if they all payed their tithing and they all had current temple recommends that the Lord would bless them with a temple in his own due time, which is a HUGE deal!!!!! Because the city of Iquitos is completely surrounded by big, jungle rivers, it´s basically an island. O sea, the only way to get into Iquitos is by air or boat which kind of costs a lot of money and these people just don´t have a lot of money so it is really hard for them to get to the temple. It would bless so many people´s lives if there were a temple here in Iquitos!!!! What a great promise!! All of the ward members are totally siked out about getting temple recommends now! It has been quite the experience. Just being in the same room as Elder Cook and Elder Uchtdorf was something I will never forget. I feel the same way every time I see a member of the 12. I just know that they are called of God.

      We are baptizing another family this next week!! We were just walking out of a lesson like 2 weeks ago and we saw this family walking back to their house and we both had a really strong impression to say something to them, so we did!! we went out of our way to go say hi and introduce ourselves and ask if we could come back and teach a message to their family. They guy told us that he was a member, that like 20 years ago he was baptized in a small city in the south part of the jungle called Yurimaguas (ever heard of that place???) and that he had just told his wife like the night before that he wanted to start going back to church and get married, but he just didn´t know where or how to start. I would love to say it was a coincidence that my companion and I felt a strong impression to talk to them, but I know that it wasn´t a coincidence. It was the will of God. He knew that this family was ready so he sent us. We listened and obeyed and now this sweet little young couple will get married and baptized THIS WEEKEND!!!!! They are just so cute in church haha because they come all dressed up and give us huge smiles and sit down with their two adorable little kids and just smile the whole time. We also receive a referral of another family that was in church on sunday, so we went to teach them sunday afternoon and the lesson just went REALLY REALLY GOOD! They accepted marriage and baptismal dates for the month of July. There are also a few other people we are teaching who are just absolutely amazing and will be getting baptized the 30th and a few more in July.

     It was just an all around great week. We had a special conference with President Blunck on Thursday and he asked my companion and I to teach about a creative way to talk to people and invite them to listen to our message, so we did a fun little training in the conference and everybody loved it! Well, I guess I´ll see you next week!!! Love you!!!!!

 

Elder Emett

Going to see Elder Uchtdorf and Cook today!

Dearest the Tham tham wusssup,

     Another successful week went by. Yesterday in church, these two guys walked up to us and told us that they had two friends who wanted to be baptized. So we went and visited their friends and now they are both going to get baptized. It was really quite an experience talking to the both of them because they were just SO READY!!!!!! They will both be getting baptized on the 23rd of this month along with another family that we just found 2 weeks ago. Amazing things happen when The members take part in the work.
     We are all just way way way stoked about the special visit we will be receiving from Elder Uchtdorf. I was imitating his voice while I talked to my companion all morning haha it was super funny! We are planning our WHOLE entire day around it. We are super lucky  though,  because it is a pday so we don´t even have to take time out of our schedule  to go and see him. It´s just a pday!!
     Hahahaha you asked me what we do if we are walking around and we have to go to the bathroom. That´s a really good question. Remind me to tell you and I will tell you when I get back, ok? So I totally looked at my watch yesterday and it said June 10th and I thought for a minute ¿what is that? then I realized!!! That´s Josh´s and Fuller´s birthday!!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! That is so cool!! I can´t believe Josh is 26! I thought he was like 24 idk. And I love that Fuller is older than Jason hahah. He´s such a man. Tell  them both that I love them and I love their families, too!
     HEY THANKS!!!! I 100% got 2 big, amazing packages from you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of them was full of candy and the other one was full of a backpack!! Thank you so much! It really helps out to get things from home haha, and the camel back is helping out a lot so that I don´t die from all the hot, hot heat. I am even more stoked that you sent another one for my companion!! He is super stoked about it! Tell Grandma Sandra that she is the best and that my companion says ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Gracias!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!! Tell dad and Riley and Hannah Anderson and Jessica thanks for the letters, too! I love reading about the family and friends and seeing what´s going on! Let dad know that I receive more letters weekly than any other missionary in the entire Perú Lima North mission and that I absolutely love reading them and seeing all the fun pictures he sends.
     Well, we got the changes today hahaha. I AM STAYING IN MY AREA!!!! ¡¡¡Locazo!!!! This will be my 6th change here!!! 6 changes = 9 months hahahahahahahaha. That´s like more than a third of my mission in the exact same place and I love it!!! It has been a great area for me. My district leader is really really cool, too. His name is Elder Jensen and he is from Tooele, Utah. We are now living in the same house and it´s totally way way cool. Sometimes we get time to chat and it always lifts us both up a ton. The ward is doing amazing right now and we have investigators who come to church and more who are getting ready for baptism in June and July. (Can you guys believe it´s already June???????) That´s crazy sauce.
Love you!!

Elder Emett (the one who´s going to see Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Cook today)

Another great week

Good morning mother,

     What a good week!!!!!! My companion and I prayed together starting out this week so that we could find more new families to invite to be baptized in june and july and we found 5 new families!! 4 of them committed to baptismal dates, and 3 of them came to sacrament meeting! We were just on fire one night and we made tons and tons of contacts and met a lot of people and it just felt good cuz we both just felt so guided. We had no idea what to do because 2 of our appointments fell through, so we just contacted the first house we saw, then just kept going haha. It was a great day.
     So, we moved houses again haha. We are back in the same house that we were in when I first came to this area (in November... over 7 months ago.... i know.... that´s a really long time). So we live with two other elders right now. One´s name is Elder Jensen. He is from Tooele (pronounced Too-will-uh) haha, Utah. He has 2 months more than I do in the mission... which means that he has 2 months left in the mission hahahahahaha. He is a really really good missionary and one of my best friends, too. we always do gringo chat. He´s a sharp kid.
     We are going to Lima tomorrow to go the that conference thing. It should be super super fun! The elder working in the offices told me that there are like 2 packages for me that are waiting there so... Thanks!!!!! Well.... funny story.. true story. Do you remember that one time that you sent me like a whole bunch of money so that I could buy a suit? That was the best, thanks! Do you remember that one family that we got married that doesn´t have any money cuz the guy makes about 5 dollars a week selling brooms to his neighbors and 7 people have to live off that  and we talked to the ward council and they couldn´t help us out either and it came down to their wedding day and they didnt have any money so i payed for it? do you remember that? Well I did that. Sorry. I´ll just come home without a suit. I mean, its blazing hot in Iquitos and its blazing hot in st george so why whould i need a suit anyways, right? It kinda seems like a waste of sweat-pore-action that i could use in more practical situations. That sounds crazy. But it´s super true. So please don´t send me more money or I will probably just end up getting stuff that isn´t really that useful or just paying for weddings when I was supposed to buy a suit. hahahaha. Well, that was awkward. Love you!!!

Elder Emett

Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Cook coming to Iquitos!!!

Mom.com,

     This week was actually really good, too!!!! We baptized another family!!!! They were so so so so funny. They both were so excited to hear and accept the gospel, but they were a very very very humble family. They both have about a second grade education level and neither of them can read or write very well. (teaching them was always interesting haha) but they progressed fast and got married and baptized this week! My dearest sister Kjirsten sent me a message and told me it made her laugh when I told her that I feel like the wedding planner haha. The weddings we plan are soooooooooooooo not by any means fabulous, but the people who we marry and baptize are some of the best people I have ever met. We don´t actually plan the weddings haha. All we do is get ALL of their papers together (which is so hard sometimes) and then the Municipalidad does the rest. To get somebody´s birth certificate, you have to go to the little pueblo where they were born (or make a sketchy fone call there) and find a way for them to send you the certificate (which is usually very impossible... it usually comes by boat along the amazon river) and for you to send them money (which is even more impossible sometimes because the small pueblos we call don´t have banks!!!! the most technology they have is 1 public phone that´s in their main city hall place...which is usually a wooden shack with a leaf-roof) haha. It´s really interesting sometimes, but it amazes me how much God blesses us and makes it possible for these people to get married and baptized.
     We had one of the coolest experiences last night! So the Gonzales family got baptized last week, but their son didn´t get confirmed cuz he was at some school activity thing. So this week he got confirmed and now they are all members haha. So we went to their house last night to take them their new members boxes (I have no idea what it really is in english... it just has a book of mormon, a bible, a picture of the lima temple, and a hymn book) and to talk about the temple. When I met the Gonzales family about 7 months ago, they never did anything together! The mom was always screaming at her kids, the dad always came home late from work without any money smelling like alcohol, and they never got along! It was so bad sometimes. When we walked into their house last night, I almost just wanted to cry. We felt the spirit. They were all in their house together just laughing and playing. They just looked so happy!! We got in and sat down with them and gave them their retention boxes and they all got so excited and opened them up and loved everything about it. After that, we  talked about the temple with them and let them see the picture of the Lima temple. Then felix, the dad, looked at us, then at his family and said ¨We will be there in 1 year¨. I know they will!! The coolest part is that they all just looked happier. So much happier. Their faces were just brighter. I wish I could send you a picture of this family, but my camera decided to get way broken!!!!!!!!!! Sorrryyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I´ll show you after the mission and I know you will just fall in love with them haha.
      Ok. biggest news of the whole world. Monday, 11 June, Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Cook are coming to Iquitos, Perú!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you even believe that!!!!!!!!! THAT´S WHERE I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE GOING TO SEE THEM!!!!! President Blunck just sent us all a message telling us that we get to go!!!!!!!!!!! We have no idea what he will be talking about or anything, but I am SUPER STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They will be talking in one of the stake centers that is about 30 minutes away from where I live. President just told us all to be there before 6 p.m. Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How crazy is that!!!!!?????? Iquitos, Perú just seems like the craziest place for an apostle to come to, but they are definitely coming!!!!!!!! Wow, I just got so excited that I got all out of energy.
      Well, that´s what´s going on in Iquitos! super excited stuff!! 1 huge favor. Remember when you guys did that thing where I asked you to send me that camelback and you sent me that? Was that hard to do? Was it super expensive? Cuz I totally totally was wondering if maybe it would be possible that you could maybe consider sending one to my companion? That would be so tight. It´s just kind of hard to carry around a water bottle everywhere and if we don´t drink water..... we´re done for. It is getting so so hot here. It is St. George hot, but with humidity. Lots of it.
     well, out of time. goodbye. I LOVE YOU.

Elder Emett (el Iquiteño)

Happiest night of his life!!!!

Dear the T-tt-t--t--t-t-t-t-tt-tt-t-

TThammss,

     Wasssssuuuuuppppppp?????????????? Gonzales family??? BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was probably one of the happiest nights of my life! I have been teaching this family and searching for their marriage papers since NOVEMBER!!! I love them so much. Their baptism was such a special moment for me. I would totally send pictures, but my computer is having like super virus problems and I don´t dare plug my camera in hahaha. It really was a good good week. We did a work visit to Nauta (the one place thats like 100km away) on friday and we stayed the night there and got to be their for their baptism on saturday morning. It was quite the experience! Then we just came back to our area and got our other family prepared thats going to get baptized next saturday.
     There is going to be a giant marriage on june 22 here in Iquitos and it´s going to be absolutely FREE!!!! That will be so nice for all these people. We are preparing about 7 familias in the zone to get married that day and we set a goal of 10. I really love the focus of the mission right now. Our motto is ¨we baptize families¨. In the month of April as a mission, we baptized 40 families!!!!!!!!!! The average for the mission before that was about 7 per month. We have already baptized more families in this year than we did in the entire year of 2011. President is super stoked and all the missionaries are too. We all feel very blessed for all the work we are doing.
     Thanks for sending me all of Ben´s emails. You don´t have to send me the emails that you send to him hahahahaha, I just want to read what he says. But keep sending them!! And if you´re going to send packages and letters and all that good stuff just remember that the first part of the mission is A LOT harder than where I´m at in the mission so if you just feel like sending a random box of candy to one of your children... send it to Ben!!!!!!! And I will help you guys send him stuff when I get there cuz it really helps out so much in those first few months!
     We have a super busy week planned out! We have conferences with President Blunck here in Iquitos, and we have 2 marriages to organize before thursday!!! Have you ever seen the movie the wedding planner? I feel like that lady. She just helps out everyone to get married and she´s like the best at it. That´s exactly how I feel....... just that I´m not a lady.
     Ah man. I think the computer just gave my camera a wicked virus...... Thats a shame. I was totally going to send you all those pictures!!! oh well. big deal.
Love you!!!!!!!

Elder Emett (el Iquiteño)

Well, this is the week!!!

Maammmie,

 

     I sure did have fun talking to you all yesterday!!! What a great family I have! It was fun to hear from all 7,294 of you!!! It was way fun to hear from all the nieces and nephews even though I couldn´t really understand anything they said haha. I told Becca that I´m going to get home on her birthday hahaha (sorry!!!) and that we are going to have a race in the pool to see who wins! Should be pretty embarrassing to lose a race to my little sister! I also told Michele that we are going to go on a date so I can tell her all my mission stories (don´t tell Josh!!!) haha. And Amelia told me that she told Kimber Timber that she has to marry me! Hahahahahaha! She already has like a hundred of boyfriends. I had fun listening to you guys laugh when I told you that you can buy a crocodile or a monkey or a sloth or an owl or a snake for $7!!! Now that I think about it, that does sound ridiculous, but it´s totally normal here!! I really did enjoy talking to you all so much!

     Well, this is the week!!!!! The Gonzales family is finally getting married on friday, then baptized on saturday, then confirmed on sunday!! I am going to take at least 6 or 4 pictures! We have been working on their papers since November of 2011!! What a blessing! Then another family is going to get married on the 25th then baptized on the 26th. We were teaching them before, but then the guy left Iquitos to go to la rivera between Perú and Brasil to work for some company, but he just got back so they are going to be getting baptized too!

     I messed up on one of the reports I sent so I just spent like 43 and a half minutes fixing it and now I don´t have any more time left to write.... I love you!!!!

 

Elder Emett

 

Pictures

Zebra Cakes!!

Dude, dear mom

 

     I´m going to call you TODAY!!!!!!! We get to do what is callled a pre-call and I am super stoked!!! Wow. The zone has changed a lot! We had four missionaries leave (including my companion) and we have one new Elder who is just starting his mission out. He is from Payson, Utah. His name is Elder Brown. I don´t really know too much about him cuz I have just seen him once, but I know he will do good in his area. He has a really good companion. Sooooooo..... The Gonzales family will finally be getting baptized on the 19th!!!!!!!! and married on the 18th!!!!!!!!!! We already announced it in the newspaper! hahahaha. We´re so cool. There is another family that is going to get married on the 26th of May, too!! We are totally totally stoked! 6 people in total. And they are all just great great people. Life is better than good.

     Ok. Ok. Ok. I don´t know if I´m going to be able  to study in BYU Idaho because I NEVER TOOK THE ACT! I´m such a lame face. I will need to start out in Dixie, but I do have plans to transfer after one or two semesters. Fun eh? I wish I heard more from my baby brother jake cuz I miss him so so so dearly. I hope he likes teaching in Texas. I always wanted to know what a mission would be like in the states. So some new guy who is here in Iquitos just barely asked me how much time I have in the mission and I couldn´t believe my own words when I told him ¨19 months¨. I felt so strange!!!!!!!!!!!! I have not been gone 19 months!!! It has felt like only 6 or 4 months! Not a minute longer! But it has been a very very long time since I have seen you guys and I do start to miss you sometimes.

     TWO HUGE FAVORS!  So my new companion is from Mexico!!! Haha, don´t tell Zakk. I love my mexican companion so much and he speaks english so we have a little bit too much fun together hahahaha. His name is Elder Blanco and he is tall and dark and handsome. I just look like a little fat baby next to him hahaha. big deal. We got talking the other day about all the food we miss from home and we both mentioned Zebra Cakes. Do you know what that is? Zakk will know if you don´t. Could you please send us some!!!??? That would be the best ever!!!!! And also here in Iquitos, the rainy season is O.V.E.R. And now it is H.O.T. and I am D.Y.I.N.G. because I do not have a water bottle, but I was thinking of something that would be sooooooo much better than a dinky water bottle that I can buy from Peru. CAN YOU SEND ME A CAMEL BACK?????????????? I don´t know how much that would cost or how hard it would be to send, but you don´t even know how much I would truly truly truly appreciate that. It would be absolutely excellent. If you don´t know what a Camel Back is just ask Dad. We always used them on hikes up Pine Valley mountain and at Thunder Ridge camp (some of my favorite memories ever..... THANKS DAD!!!!!!!!!!!).

     My testimony of prayer grew a whole lot this week. There is a part in 3rd Nefi chapter 18 where Christ is teaching about prayer and he says that we can ask God for anything that is just. I have always had a big problem getting nervous in the mission. Sometimes I get nervous while I´m teaching and I don´t know what to say and sometimes I get nervous when I´m giving a talk or sharing a spiritual thought so the other night I prayed about it and just simply asked for help. On sunday, I was called on to give the spiritual thought in priesthood meeting and I had a scripture in mind  that I wanted to share, but right when I stood up, I thought of another scripture and changed my mind completely and had no idea why I changed my mind and I had no idea what i was going to share!!! Right when I started talking I just felt a peace come over me and I shared the scripture and explained it perfectly without feeling nervous or stumbling with my words. What a blessing!!!! I didn´t even feel one percent nervous! I just feel so much more confident now. So..... Prayer works!!!! I know it! I have had tons and tons of experiences with prayer in my mission, but i just wanted to share that one with you today.

     I love you all sooooooooo much. I know when I was in the house I never wanted to be with the family and do stuff together. I never wanted to participate much in family nights and I never really tried to talk to you and dad a lot to get to know you better and just spend time with you, but I´ve been able to realize in these 19 months how much you both really mean to me. How much the whole family means to me. I really love you all so much and I´m so excited to see you and give you all a big hug and tell you all about my mission.

 

Love Elder Kolby Emett

 

P.s. I´m sending two pictures.

1. Elder Harris and I right now in the internet place hahahaha

2. My new companion and his new assigment in the mission sunday morning before church.  ¨Lider de zona¨ is zone leader.

 

 Since it´s mothers day this sunday, I will be calling you today to figure out when I will be calling on sunday

 

I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tons of flooding in Iquitos

Meeeaaaammmmyeieieey,

     I´m just your son Elder Emett here. That old guy who called you
is right! There is tons and tons of flooding going on in Iquitos! Half
of our area is underwater!!!!! I can´t believe I forgot to tell you
that! Ok. Changes. Elder Riquelme is going home tomorrow. I am staying
here and my new companion will be Elder Blanco. He is from Mexico and
should be really really cool. I have heard a lot of good things about
him and I have met him a few times. Another tall, brown, handsome one
haha. He is from the same group as Elder Galarza, the one that I
trained! This is his 8th month in the mission and he is going to be a
zone leader. That´s really fast!!! That means that he is a really good
missionary and that we will keep on having tons of success in the
zone.
    We are  going to the conference in lima tomorrow! We called up
the mission secretary and hooked it up so that Harris and I could sit
on the plane together and stay in the same room tomorrow night
hahahahaha. BTW Thanks for sending me information about BYU!
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!! I know you don´t want me to go, but
please just send me 6 or 4 things about the school so I can make a
wise choice.
   Terrible news. my internet time is officially up. I didn´t have
any time to write you in the morning with all the reports and the
changes and all that so i am just taking a few minutes out of my p day
to write, but I totes have to go now. I love you all a
ton!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep sending letters and packages with all the
candies that I so dearly miss! But mostly just keep praying for Ben
and I. We really do appreciate it so much and it really does help so
much with the work that we´re doing. Call me! (I just realized that I
really will be calling you soon hahahah FOR THE LAST TIME IN MY
MISSION HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA).

Elder Emett

Life just couldn't be better!

Dear Jill Emett,

 

     Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Still here in Iquitos. Still with my same companion, but but but he will be leaving and going all the way home in 7 days. Wow. We got your package!!!!! It was full of the shirt for my companion and tons of Easter treats!! thanks!!!!!! And I got 2 letters from dad and a letter from Branson! I pretty much figure that dad is my best friend in the world because we talk a lot! Hahaha, I have talked more with him during my mission than I ever did before! And we are like on different continents!!!!! I don´t know if dad even reads this thing, but tell him that I absolutely love his letters!! I know I never ever ever write him back haha, but it´s just for a lack of time (which I know he understands), but we will have a lot of catching up to do when I get back. And tell Branson that Im just super jealous of him. Not only did he steal my place in the Emett Family, he is also way better at soccer than I ever was. And to make things worse, i´m just fat and slow now.

     But Im super stoked!!!!!!!!! Wanna know why!!!!!!!!!! The Gonzales Family got their ID and now they are for sure getting married next week! I´m so siked!! It has been one of my favorite families that I have ever taught! They have been able to change so much and give up so much and they will finally be getting married. Life just couldn´t be better!

     We just had interviews with President Blunck and I´m pretty sure I will be here in Iquitos until I finish my misison hahaha. And that´s a good thing! I love it here in the jungle! I was just thinking yesterday and I realized that we are already in April! That means that I was in Yurimaguas more than a year ago. That doesn´t seem like it was a full year ago.

     Well next time I write you I will almost have a new companion haha. I will let you know what his name is at least! And next week is zone leaders conference so we will be going to Lima again! Missions are just my best thing. See you tomorrow!

 

Elder Emett (the older one) (but looks younger, but is older)

 

 

18 months today!!!!

Dear Jill,

Still here in Peru loving every minute of it. Today is the 16th of April... That means that I finished 18 months in the mission!!!!! I was joking around with Elder Harris telling him that no sister missionary can make it as far as we have and that we are true men now haha (cuz the sisters only serve for 18 months). duh. Nothing too exciting has happened this week. We are waiting on some different papers so that a few families in our area can get married then baptized and we are finding some different people to teach, but nothing too exciting. My companion is going home in 2 weeks haha and his family is SO EXCITED to see him! It kinda makes me think about you guys sometimes and what it will be like to see you again after 2 years and I think it´s going to make me cry to see 11 nieces and nephews! I only know 8 of them!!!!!!!!!!!! But the work goes on!!!! I´m mostly just way stoked that baby jake is going to be starting his mission out real soon! It will be fun to see what different difficulties his investigators have and how he does with it all. I´m sure he will do just great!

I think I had like 100 things to tell you all, but I really don´t have a lot of time left and I have nothing else to say. Love you!!!!!!

Elder Emett

He is still not homesick!!!

MMMMMMMMAmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Before I comment on what you wrote to me I have 6 or 4 requests. COULD YOU PLEASE SEND ME MY LITTLE BROTHER´S LETTERS SO THAT I CAN READ THEM TOO!?? ¿ME PUEDE MANDAR LAS CARTAS DE MI HERMANITO PARA QUE YO LAS LEA TAMBIÉN? I put it in English and Spanish just in case you could understand one or the other better. That is my only request.

So I was totally in the Lima airport on my way back to Iquitos and this white guy saw us and said, ¨Elders!!¨ So we stopped to talk with him for just like 5 seconds and I told them I was from Salt Lake (I was born there, right??) and they got stoked because they´re from Salt Lake, too and they told me they wanted to call you hahaha. So I totally gave that guy our number and told him to tell you that I´m happy and that my scar is healing up nicely and it looks like he did a good job! What fun! That´s almost as good as getting to talk to you guys!

We all know that dad sends me like 143 letters a week (Thanks dad!!) with tons of pictures haha. Well, since I got to Iquitos, i have been collectionalizing the pictures and now i have a HUGE stack of pictures haha. Normally I just take the pictures, look at them once, smile, then put them away haha. But the other night I just wanted to see them so I took them out and I looked through ALL OF THEM! I got way stoked to see all my brothers and nephews and nieces haha. It was quite the experience. It was the first time in 18 months that I have actually just thoroughly enjoyed looking at the pictures and thinking of you guys hahahahahaha. Maybe I actually have been gone for quite a long time! But don´t worry, I´m still not homesick! Missions are my best thing! It will be very hard for me to take my nametag off.

HAHAHAHA You went to dinner With Loorraa? Where was Kimber Timber? OF COURSE they´re excited to see me, we are best best friends!!! Just hope Jake doesn´t get super jealous haha jeez! AAAAAaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh yyyyyeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh. Mom, don´t worry! Yes, I had a facebook account before I left, but then I erased it cuz I knew I wouldn´t use it on my mission, but then I realized that it´s like the ONLY way to keep in touch with all these people and all my converts so I just had some guy from the ward reactivate my account so that all the people I met here can find me and send me a friend request and then when I get home I can open it and keep in touch with all my mission friends! Good idea, right? But don´t worry, I´m not getting on facebook ya silly brains!!!!!!! But if you want to be my fracebrook friend, you will have to wait until after the mission.

Oh man, I was just talking to my companion about papa bear´s wedding. Tell him to wait for me! I totally would love love love to see his wedding! Side note... I think I will be getting home on Beckham´s birthday, so that should be fun haha. big deal.

Ok, everything is alright in Secada. We are just waiting on some marriage papers and then we will be able to baptize my favorite family! I wish i had a picture of them to send you! They are so funny! Hahahaha They are called The Gonzales family and there is also another Gonzales family that we are teaching that should be able to get married and baptized this month or next month! So many Gonzales people! Did I already tell you I baptized a man named Stephen? He´s the man. He is an active member of the church and is preparing to receive the Melquesidec Priesthood. What a stud.

Quick story! When I was sitting on the airplane on my way to Lima, I was sitting next to a teenage girl and her mom. To help keep me from getting sick on plane rides I always pull out a book of mormon and just read so that I´m not thinking about anything else. Well, they both saw me reading the book of mormon and started asking me questions about who I was, why I had a nametag, how it is that I spoke spanish so well, what is the book of mormon, why was I in Iquitos, Why was I going to Lima and all kinds of good questions, so I obviously turned it into a teaching situation. I taught them about a few different things in the book of mormon and answered a few questions they had about the ¨mormons¨. haha. Needless to say, they absolutely loved it! I don´t know if it was for the spirit, or my blue eyes, but they accepted a book of mormon and an invitation to go to church. It just builds on to my testimony that God is always preparing people to hear his gospel. He knows where they are and he knows where we are and he ALWAYS ALWAYS puts us together! The lady gave me her number so that the missionaries can get in touch with her and see how she is doing with her book!

Thanks for everything family! Thanks for all the support and love!!!! Ben and I will both be calling you in just like a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Emett

Pictures

Best Priesthood session of his life!!!

Mammy

It has been a super crazy week! Another family got baptized!!!!! They were so stoked, but not nearly as stoked as I was hahahaha! The guy´s name is Jose and his wife´s name is Lissette. We baptized them two and Elder Walker and Elder Tana (the other two elders in our ward) baptized the other lady there and her daughter (I totes forgot their names hahahaha). That´s the first picture I am sending. The next one is of me in the water with Jose right after I baptized him! Cleanest water ever!!! hahaha. Not! All the water we use here comes straight from the amazon river or straight from water wells and it ALL SMELLS LIKE FFFFFFIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHH

HHHH! But I´m used to it.
Conference was SO GOOD! wow. Conference as a missionary is like 431 times better than it was as a teenager (haha I just realized I´m not a teenager anymore). I actually feel like I understand what they´re trying to tell us and I recognize the scriptures they use and I always get so much from it. Conference is number 1! P.s. that was the best priesthood session of my life! Elder Holland is and has been my favorite for years for his powerful and direct way of speaking and it was just such a good talk that he gave. We watched 4 sessions in english and 1 in spanish.
Yes! I am getting all the packages you are sending so don´t worry! I got both the packages and now I have 2 brand new pairs of pants! Thank you!!!!!! And thanks for the money!!!!!!!!! No.... Easter is not celebrated in Perù.
I sent another picture, too! It´s of the wedding! On the far left side is Jimmy (He is the guy who was driving the moto when the silly car decided to hit us) Then it´s my companion, then the family, then me and another lady named Marly who is our pensionist! Great people!
I wish I had something cool to tell you, but I´m all out of cool stuff and WHAYYY out of time. I love you all! Thanks for everything! Call me!

Elder Emett

Awesome Pictures

Will be going back to Iquitos with his wife!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I can´t believe it´s actually your birthday! Today! I remember last year on your birthday I was in the mission, too! haha. How long have I been doing this mission thing anyway????? Doesn´t seem like very long! We had a very good week!! Five of our investigators got baptized!! I totally included a few fotos!!! The first picture is of the four who got baptized in the night. The middle-aged lady is Lisbeth, the two kids are hers, Mateo and Dana. The other young lady´s name is Maribel. Her boyfriend is a member and they have a marriage date set so they were both very happy to get her baptized! The other foto is another guy named Thuachito (the guy who found us and told us he wanted to get baptized haha). He got baptized in the afternoon because he can´t see in the night time to walk back to his house. I also sent another picture of the river here that surrounds the city of Iquitos! It´s so beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It looks kinda like a swamp haha, but they people really just build their houses on stilts right on the river! Silly people. The other side of the river is 100% amazon rainforest. It´s so much fun to talk to all the locals about all their trips and schinnanigans on the other side of the river. There are so so so many wild animals (especially boas and pythons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) that they tell us about! It´s super cool! In the river there are tons of fish (some of them up to 40 feet long!), alligators, pirhanas, turtles, and river dolphins. Iquitos is like the 2nd biggest tourist city in all of south america!! But I have never seen anything because I´m so not here to be a tourist!!!! But I will be coming back in a few years with my wife to finally see all the sights hahaha.

I wish I had tons more stuff to say, but everything is just the same here. My shoulder is doing....excellent haha don´t worry about it. We will be going to Lima in about 2 weeks which will be super fun! I will not be eating at Sakura tonight, but I will be enjoying a buffet of rice and chicken like every other night these past 17 months!!! hahaha, I´m not bitter. I love you mom. Happy birthday. See you tomorrow.

Elder Emett

15 baptisms in 3 weeks!

MAAAMMMMHHYYYYYYY!!!!

Another successful week!!!! Finally!!!! Everything is set to go for all the marriages we have been planning on and there will be 15 baptisms in these next three weeks!!!!!!! 4 families!!!!!!!!!!!! We are off the chain stoked and super happy about the work right now! I don´t know if you ever talk to Elder Harris´s mom, but Elder Harris is my best friend!!!!!!!!!!!! He is here in Iquitos, too, and we always talk about how much we love our moms hahah and then we realized that our moms are friends online!! So send her some more messages haha. We got the changes today.... I will be staying! Yes!! And Elder Riquelme will be staying, too! Yes! This is his last change hahaha so I will be his very last companion. We are working very hard and we are having a lot of success together.

My collar bone is doing fine, but I am going to have the doctor look at it because it´s still kinda bothering me. But how is Jake??????? Is he going to have to get surgery or wear a brace or anything??? I sure hope not!!!! My biggest fear ever would be getting sent home before the 2 years are up so I sure hope that Jake gets to stay in the mission! Yes, I did get 1 package from you and the other one is in Lima so I will get it when I go to the April conference! Which reminds me! GENERAL CONFERENCE IN LIKE TWO WEEKS!!!!!!! I´m wayyyyy siked out!!!! I didn´t even really like conference before the mission, but now it is like the coolest thing in the world!! It´s so much fun to take the investigators and recent converts to listen to the prophets, they always get so stoked!!!!

Little bit of bad news. I was totally going to send you some cool pictures that we took by the river, but there is not a USB port on my computer so I will not be sending any pictures today haha. I don´t need anything right now. Everything is just dandy, but my companion is finishing his mission in a few weeks and it would be cool to send him like a sweet t-shirt or a cool hat or some candy or some sweet ties or anything at all, but I would love to give him something from the U.S. to take back to Chile. He has probably been my favorite companion so far haha. We just get along so well it´s stupid. We´ve never even disagreed with eachother even once haha. He´s a true bro.

Don´t worry too much, I´m not homesick, but I am STOKED to see you all again haha. I just got talking to my companion last night and thinking about how long it has really been since I´ve seen you guys and it has been A WHILE!!!!!!!!! My trainer, Elder Orellana is going home tomorrow hahahaha, half of my companions have already finished their missions, and I have over 17 months in the misison, but it has really just felt like 6 or 4 months. I gave a talk on sunday about eternal families and I brought my two favorite things to show everybody, the picture of the whole family that you guys sent me, and my journal that you wrote in when I was a baby. I explained to everyone that what really made me happy was knowing that I had been born into sacred covenants and had the opportunity to make sacred covenants with God so that I could live with my family forever. Everybody was so stoked to see the picture and they all wanted to take it and just stare at it after sacrament meeting haha. I have the best family in the whole world!!!!!!!!!!! And there are 3 of them that I don´t even know yet!!! Again. Not homesick, but super siked to see you all again.

We had a bunch of cool experiences this week! I will tell you 1. So we went down to this place in my area that used to be just mud and wooden houses with palm leaf roofs. All of the houses are built up on stilts, but I never knew why. Now I know why hahahaha. It has rained so much in these past few months that one of the nearby rivers is totally overflown and what used to be mud paths is now a huge body of water!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everybody has to travel by canoe or just build a ghetto bridge!!! It´s way cool to go tracting down there!!!!! Anywhays, we have a family down there that is going to get married and baptized this month so we went down there to teach them a lesson and when we were leaving their house, a little old man came hobbling across a ghetto bridge and told us that he saw us pass by and that he wants to be mormon too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha. He had his baptismal interview last night and he will be baptized on saturday!!!! The Lord has people prepared in every part of every mission in the entire world. I know it!!!! I know that this is his work and that yes, 19-year-old-boys can do this work!!!! Missions are number 1!!!!!!!!

Elder Emett

Longest email of his mission!

The mom,

Ok, you guys are all right! I suck at writing!! I know I´m super bad with details and stories and fun things to say, but I always sit down at the computer and I just can´t think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But, I´m going to try to do way better right now. The weather here NEVER EVER changes. It is ALWAYS blazing burning kill-you-dead hot, or it is raining really really hard. Those are the two seasons that are here in Iquitos. My companion´s name is Elder Riquelme. He is from Santiago, Chile, and we are really really good friends and we work really hard together. All of the marriages that we were planning out are going to be happening this month or at the first of April and we have a family and another person that is going to get baptized next week, then another family on the 24th and another family that will be getting all of their papers ready and will be able to get baptized in the first week of April. We are super stoked and working super hard. I now have 3 changes in my area and I think I am going to be staying for three more hahaha, then I will train for 2 changes to finish out the mission. This week we went to the trainings in Lima and it was super good! The president helped us all get way more excited about the work and we are looking to have some really really good results in March.

I had a great week, and yes mom, I am still in Perú. I haven´t had a lot of problems from the car wreck except for my shoulder. Something happened to my collar bone and I haven´t been able to sleep much since the accident. I´m not exactly sure what happened, but my bone just isn´t in place. It juts out of place when I move my arm in different positions and I have to reach up and push it back into place hahahaha, it´s super stange. But it doesn´t bother me during the day so I´m not even 1% worried about it. Maybe when I´m back in the States we could have a doctor who knows what he´s doing look at it and see if it´s a problem. Yes, every time we go to Lima we have to go in plane and I am doing a lot better with it. Traveling used to make me so sick, but since I have traveled so much by plane now (over 15 times) it just doesn´t affect me anymore which is a HUGE blessing.

Hahah I can´t believe you bought a bed from a yard sale. That´s number 1! Mostly I can´t believe you are already thinking about getting things ready for when I come back. I am SOOOOOOOO far away from coming back. I will be in Perú for at least 7 more months, but thanks for thinking about me haha. You asked me who my friend was that wrote me and said that missions are her best thing hahaha, her name is Hannah Andersen, I don´t know if you know her. She is from our same stake and I met her at the Trek that I went on when I had swine flu haha. But don´t worry, I don´t have any more swine flu.... just tons of parasites.

Michele sent me a few pictures of her daughter Addie. ¡¡¡¡¡¡WOW!!!!! She is so big!!! She´s just a little puffalump!! Does she talk and say words???? She is totally going to be almost 2 when I see her! OH YEAH!!!!! I got one of the packages you sent me with pants, candy, and two big pictures of my family that I don´t recognize anymore hahah. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! I love the pictures so much! I don´t recognize the following members of my family: Rebecca- she is like a woman!, Tanner, Kallie, and Matt´s other new daughter, they are all so so so so big and Kallie looks just like all of shellie´s sisters hahaha. I don´t recognize Annie or Payslie anymore and Brigham looks way older than I thought he was. He has a full head of hair!!!! I have NO idea what happened to the family, but you all just look so good and so happy and so so so so so so so so much different. It will be so different, but so nice to see you all again. Don´t worry about me, I haven´t changed much. I´m just super much fatter and I have a HUGE scar from the middle of my forehead to the bottom of my eyebrow, and I can totally grow a moustache now haha (but not really).

I wish I could just share a cool mission story with you all, but there are just too many to just share 1! You will all just have to wait until I get home and then we can share all kinds of stories together with details and all that stuff like that. Just know that I love the mission, I love the church and I have a testimony that grows every single day.

Elder Emett