Is This A Dream?

Dear Family and Friends,

This week began with my first experience with inception. it was so weird. The dream felt like it went on for hours. I would go into more detail about my dream, but I don't think it is all that important.

The subject of this email is due to a few things: my dream, I'm in a companionship now, and I'm on a mission. Like wow!

So, this Wednesday at lunch, we got a call from the assistants to the president and they asked to speak with Elder Westmann. They asked him if he played sports (he did karate or something) and then asked if he was flexible. He said yes, and then they told him that he was needed in Maryland (which is in this mission). So, both Wednesday and Thursday were basically shot because we had to get him all packed because he left Thursday at 3:30. He is gone now. Down to one trainer.

District Meeting in Stroudsburg

Elder Smith, Elder Martinez, Elder Westmann, Elder Underwood, Elder Stimpson

Sister Cost, Sister Palacious

Every day here, still, amazes me that I am on a mission. I literally have nothing else to do other than preach the good word of God and that amazes me. I know that I am all the way across the country, but it doesn't fell like it.

Friday morning, I was awakened by a beeping from outside our room. I was too lazy to see what it was, so I just pulled the covers over my head and tried to fall asleep before it beeped again. When we woke up, we found that it was the carbon monoxide detector. So we got outside and called the zone leaders. Then we went back inside and read the back and the chirping was just indicating that we needed to chnge the system. So luckily, I am not dead. Our motivation was pretty low this day because we lost an elder, and basically 2 days of work because of the emergency transfer.

HOWEVER, Friday turned into a much better day because I had my first door slam! The guy opened the door and said "Can I help you?" We said, "Hi, how are you?" and he just slammed it right there. It was sweet. I yelled "God bless," saluted, and walked away saying "the field is white...elsewhere." I'm getting pretty good at talking to people. It was hard a tfirst because I feel like I am saying, "Hi, how are you? Would you like to talk about Jesus?" But, it gets less awkward over time. I also saw a possum and a jack rabbit.

Cooking here is different. Sometimes we eat at a members house. The Lucas family made baked mac and cheese yesterday and it was amazing! However, we cook our own breakfasts. Sometimes I eat a protein bar.

But, Elder Martinez taught me how to make an over easy egg and I made the best one I have ever had. I gave my mom a run for her money.

I beat my Rubik's cube record. The people in my district are getting into cubing.

We taught a guy earlier in the week that really wanted to talk about the universe. I thought "Cool, I know a lot about that." So I told him things and he would tell me that I was wrong. It was so hard because I knew that I was right, but he didn't want to hear it. Haha.

I have learned a lot this week about obedience and focus. I have changed some things that I ahve been doing so that I can be more obedient. I should let you know that I am not reading the emails every day. I decided to only leave it to Pday because I would get so distracted when I was reading them every day. I need to keep two feet in the mission and not one foot at home. I think that not reading my emails every day will do that for me but things may change a little bit.

One day this week during lunch, my companion and I watched the Mormon message "Mountains to Climb." IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THAT - GO WATCH IT NOWWWWW!! It is great and I cried some. Seriously. Go watch it.

These next pictures are called lineage pictures. In the mission, your trainer is called your dad. So here is a picture of me and my parents. We often played with our lacrosse sticks to unwind and stuff. We just bought them at a dollar store.

I love you all. I hope life is going well. But trusting in the Lord always guarantees that everything will be okay. Faith makes things possible, not easy. Jesus Christ is our Savior and it kills me to know that a lot of people do not have that knowledge. If you don't have that knowledge or testimony, find it. There is nothing more important.

Man, I am so happy 😀👍🏻❤️

Love,

Elder Marshall Underwood