Yesterday at church, someone asked me, "how's James on his mission?" My response was along the lines of, "Oh James writes...that........Well, his mission is...........He says that.........Aaactually, I have no idea what his mission is like."
NEEDLESS TO SAY, JAMES HAS BEEN LACKING IN THE "INFORMANT" ASPECT OF HIS EMAILS HOME.
So when I saw that he had finally sent some pictures and the promise to document his mission more, I was very excited. So here is the (hopefully) beginning to more detailed emails.
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It's snowing in California!
Yes that's right, the top photo is what James describes as "rain-like snow," even though he admits he did not know it was snow at the time.
Although the weather is "a lot colder than what I thought Californian weather would be," it is nothing a native Canadian can't handle. James writes, "My comp constantly complains about how cold it is and I turn to him and say, 'aren't you from Utah?' But whatever, Utahans like to complain about everything anyway (that's my dig)."
TO ANY UTAHANS READING THIS, HE WAS JUST TEASING, IN, LIKE, A REALLY ENDEARING WAY.
One thing I have certainly noticed is that - and any other folks that have had missionaries serve in a foreign language can tell me if it's true with you too - as he learns Spanish, his English is getting progressively worse. At this point I am unsure if he is serving a Spanish-speaking mission, or a Spanglish-speaking one, because it takes a good couple reads to understand his emails some times.
James writes that his week was very uneventful. They are not getting as much success as they were hoping for, but in time it will come. Send him some positive vibes!
As for these photos, Elder Sommerfeldt must really like posing with Joshua trees. And raw chicken.
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