"I am beyond happy, so in short, doing most excellent!"

I am doing fantastic. I feel healthy, not hungry, and I am beyond happy, so in short, doing most excellent. The mission is going fantastic, I keep finding more names in our genealogy. Oh, that reminds me, both Elder Nielson (my young missionary trainer) and Elder Rogers (my zone trainer) are BYU fans.

We do not have a Christmas tree in the apartment. A small one would be nice to, so thank you for your offer on that. Elder Nielson has a Christmas tree, but it is only one foot tall.

There are four elders in the apartment that I live in. They are, Elder Nielson (from Orem), myself, Elder Brough (he's from Sydney, Australia), and Elder Rose (from Hyde Park, which is near Logan). Our daily schedules vary as we each have different assignments. My schedule is for the first two weeks, at 5:30 AM, I wake up, shower, shave, pray, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, and head out the door to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I have to be there on the third floor of the JSMB no later than 7:30 AM, we have a short meeting then start working at 8:00. Then we take a break for lunch at 11:30. Report back to the training zone no later than 12:30, and back to work until 3:30, after which we head back to our apartments.

I also need to let you know I got my shirt and coat okay, as well as the treats inside the coat. I decided to share them with the other elders in the apartment, as well as have quite a few myself. We are fine as far as it comes to music, but if you send anything, it must follow these guidelines: it must be consistent with the sacred spirit of my calling, it should invite the Spirit, help me focus on my work, and direct my thoughts and feelings towards the Savior. I cannot listen to music that pulls my thoughts away from the work, merely entertains, has romantic lyrics or overtones, or dull my spiritual sensitivity by its tempo, beat, loudness, lyrics, or intensity. We do have a CD player in the apartment, if you would like to send more Christmas music, feel free.

The missionaries here shop at Wal-mart.. It's really not that hard, seeing I know how to cook very little. I could use some recipes. Would you please send me the instructions and recipes for: cheeseburger soup, spam surprise, those hershey's pretzel things, pizza bombs, and Mom's home-made chocolate chip cookies, as well as any others you can find that you think I would like? Thanks.

I haven't gone to the Salt Lake temple yet, but I will on December 16th. I will see what other ordinance work needs done for our ancestors. I think I will just print the cards off and send them to you in the mail, if you are fine with that. It says on the card what work has and hasn't been done. So if you have any questions on it, just email me.

Thanks for your support in my decision to serve, as well as the letters each of you send. I keep all of you in my prayers continually, praying that all of us may be strengthened in the Gospel while I am serving. I pray for you collectively, as well as individually. In case you didn't know, the second day here, I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time, and prayed that the Holy Ghost might reveal the truth of it unto me. Well it happened and I know that it is true. God has chosen prophets to speak his holy words, just as he did anciently, he does so in these the latter days. I love you very much, and look forward to hearing from each of you soon!


Love,

Elder Ryan John Capell