Week of Oct. 11th

Dear Mom,

Before I start, guess what, I found Star Fruit, Dragon fruit, and Guanabana at a market in Odessa! I am super excited! I got the package and my companions are enjoying it more than me haha Elder Moschetti loves Twix and Elder Lund loves Cheetos :) Tell Bryn and Brie that I am so proud of them! They should really take soccer seriously for when I come back and school them (I have been training with Mexicans.) I miss Luna so much! I am definitely going to give her a lot of attention when I get back! I noticed that 3 things distract me a lot when I am out here. 1. Cute puppies, 2.adorable 2 year old children and 3. Cute girls...  But I can control myself with the third one rather well. Not so much for the first two. I never thought the rule where you can't hold children wasn't going to be a temptation but they are so darn CUTE! Especially mexican babies! Grandpa needs to send me a picture of the Elk he got in Deseret!

Tell Brigham that I am proud of him and hope he gets fluent in Thai pretty soon! I know that that language will bless him after the mission if he truly applies himself. That is so sad to hear about the Laytons! I will keep them in my prayers. My week was great, I was just crowned as the Finding King by the zone because I went on a couple of exchanges and everyone's minds were blown by my ability to socialize really quick with people and teach them gospel principles in non-awkward ways so that was a morale booster. We went and did service at a member's farm where they have every single bird you can think of (Ducks, Chickens, Geese, Turkeys, Pigeons, Guineafowl, and Doves.) That was some fun service, Elder Lund and I started calling the turkey over and it came over to us and when the moment reached it's peak of bond between animal and human between the bird and Elder Lund, it randomly bit his finger and booked it the opposite direction! Hilarious!

Then We waited 2 hours on an oil-change which wasn't fun at all, so we were just in the waiting room while an hour program about Medical Marijuana was on haha. We attended a baptism that was super spiritual, he came out of the water bawling and crying, it was awesome how happy he was to have what happened to him happen. We also keep helping the Asian neighbor with her computer and that isn't fun at all. I also met a guy from Mozambique, so we talked for quite a while yesterday at church. 

My favorite moment was the Baptism, Funniest was the turkey, Aha was when I realized that the Jordan River in Utah is named the Jordan river because just like the Jordan River in Israel flows from the Freshwater Sea of Galilee and ends in the Salty Dead Sea, The Jordan river in Utah flows from Freshwater Utah Lake to the saltwater Great Salt Lake! Teaching moment was contacting about families and talking about the Family Proclamation. Most grateful for my family. I just do normal stuff and basketball on Preparation day honestly.

I love you guys so much and I hope you have a great week!

Love you,

Elder Farley

Week of Oct. 4th

Dear Mom,

I am glad that you said that, it makes me love and appreciate you more! My week has been way better. I can now be a missionary and not be worried about what the guys with me have to say. President Heap and I are working through everything and I signed the contract already. I loved General Conference! due to Jeffrey R. Hollands talk I just want to tell you that I love you so much and want to let you know that even though I wasn't the best son, you were the best mother for me. even in your worst moments you taught me life lessons that I wish I would have realized sooner. I loved Bednar's talk on how even though the prophets are experiencing physical crosses, they have mastered their spiritual crosses and are the most inspired men we have! Also Uchtdorfs about not complicating discipleship hit me hard! I also loved his quote "If you tell a man that there are trillions of stars in the universe, he will believe you. But when you tell a man that there is wet paint on the wall, he will touch it, just to be sure" Haha I loved that quote. Also Eyring's about his grandfather's faith and diligence in magnifying his calling. Great lessons from many inspired people.

I think that puppy is so cute! But not as cute as my Luna, (of whom I feel remorse for the skunk accident) I hope she is having more fun now. So how involved are you with Sarah Hill? How involved are you guys with her parents? with Hyrum? I am also staying for 6 more weeks! Yeah! So let the packages come rolling in :)  I am feeling a lot better and I am ready to get back to work. I have learned that forgiveness of oneself and of others is like clearing snags out of a river stream. My goals would be to be exactly obedient without becoming a pharisee (which means be stern but loving at the same time) I feel like I have been to lax with disobedience of others because it is their salvation that they are effecting, not mine. But I need to change that thought. So Elder Lund is hilarious, me and him just to weird voices to eachother all the time (Such as me doing my impressive batman impersonation and being answered by a legit bane impression) haha. Elder Moschetti is funny too, he is from syracuse and he is a really hard worker. The restaurants are a BBQ named Jack Jordans (I have inherited my Dad's and Your criticing problem) and Wing Stop. Kind ove like Buffalo Wild Wings but with less Tvs. I love you guys so much! I hope Hyrum writes me too! I will pray for Brie and you. I Think that I am now trunky from seeing that buck haha.

Anyways, love you and hope the best week ever!

Elder Farley