April 30 Letter from the dashing Elder Ludlow

Hello everyone.

It sounds like a really exciting and active time over there. You said that the new group has arrived? Im sure mom has already started to talk to them about me. Be sure to say hi for me. And to make the most out of their time in the Holy Land.

You're right the area has reminded me a little of upstate new york. We have some of those smaller towns in our area like you said, in fact, right now im in one of those libraries next to a church in a town square. In our town of Lunenburg. There are definitely a ton of hills, my legs can testify to that, and i've experienced Jerusalem.

Fortunately, yes, we spend a lot of time driving in the car. Our miles are supposed to be limited but it's difficult in an area that is so spread out. We are often required to travel long distances through the forest to get to members' houses.

However, we try to spend the majority of our time in the cities where we work on finding and teaching people. I learned pretty quickly that appointments are very fickle things. My companion and I are focusing on learning how to set appts with people so that they dont disregard them as much. Because whenever an appointment doesn't work out, or schedule is thrown off track and sometimes we have to resort to tracting. Which is unbelievably fun.

It was a tough week as far as teaching people.

I get a monthly allowance to buy food and things. We're lucky to be fed dinner almost every night by members so we save money.

There's only one ward in the area and most of the members are english speaking. We do have translators though for spanish and the numbers for the hymns are always announced in both english and spanish. I heard that there used to be a spanish branch but it fell apart for certain reasons. Kind of sad.

The ward is great though, i have enjoyed it.

With the language... Yeah the accents and the ways that people talk have been a little hard to pick up. I had gotten really used to my teachers that spoke with the styles of Spain and Panama. Plus they usually spoke loudly and clearly. The people I have worked with have their own vocabularies that they like to use and speak softly, quickly or both.

Actually most of the people I work with have been Puerta Rican. with some Dominicans and a scattering of others.
Something to always improve on is loving the people and still being bold while doing so. Still working on finding the right mix there.

How was Josh and Joe's time in Tel Aviv? And what were the first impressions from Donald and Amy?

It's kind of sad that you have to go through another set of goodbyes with the students. I bet that their facebook profiles will be fairly downcast for a little while. So Eliza got engaged? Thats fun. Was it the guy that she dated immediately after returning from Israel?

No your note wasnt too long. I really enjoyed it. I have much more time now to do email. The library where we usually go allows us 90 minutes on the computer. On a typical p-day we usually do those routine things that you said like laundry, writing, cleaning, shopping. Today we took a few pictures. I thought I would be able to share them along with those from the MTC but the computer has not been cooperating :(

Honestly, there arent a lot of fun things to do around here. Our district lives pretty far apart so we dont often get together on p-days. I havent been able to play any sports, which is hard for me. I might go insane if i go a few months without basketball.

By the way i think I forgot to tell you that I saw part of Boston and surrounding area on the way to the mission home. Caught a glimpse of Fenway Park even. I think the city is awesome. Hope to serve there at some point.

Sorry for rambling on and not asking very many questions.

Have the professors developed a close relationship after being together so long? Are any of the sites getting "old" for you? (haha) Have any of the new girl students caught a rapid interest in the absent member of the family? The mysterious and dashing Elder Ludlow?

What is every person in the family up to right now? Im curious.

I'll have a cool story to share next time, I promise.

Praying for all of you. I appreciate the support as always. Shalom and Salaam.

 

-Elder Ludlow