So Much to Say, So Little Time

 Landon with his new companions, Elder Ostergar and Elder Salvatierra

September 15, 2014

Good morning folks,

I have so much to say, but so little time to write it.

So first off, I got transferred this week! I'm now in an area called Clinton. It's just a country town and the main industries are tobacco, soy beans, pork, and some other stuff. It's definitely a change from Pinehurst, but a good one none the less.

So as far as the work goes down here, it's incredible! In Pinehurst we were lucky to get over 10 lessons a week, but here we rarely get below 20. That's because of the people here and the humility of the area itself. Most of the people here live in trailers, and it's about half Hispanic. The branch is very small. There's close to 300 members, but only 80 usually attend on Sundays. That means there's a lot of less active work to be done. The Hispanics here are mostly from El Salvador and Honduras, so the culture and accents are a little different here. Needless to say, I'll have to try extra hard to understand these people when they speak. They use some different words and speak with a different accent. 

My new companions are great. My first one, co-trainer, is Elder Salvatierra. He's from Charlotte, NC! He's originally from Mexico so he's a native speaker. That will definitely give me the opportunity to improve my language skills. Elder Ostergar is the new missionary. He's from Holiday, Utah and is barely 18 years old. He has a lot of fire and he's willing to work. Training has been fun so far, but the main adjustment for me is the new area. It's just SO different. Oh and Papa Carroll, there's a lady here that is related to Rosemary Cantrel, who works in the baptistery in the Atlanta temple. Do you know her? Also, mom and dad, this same lady is related to the Clantons. They apparently live in Sugar Hill. Do you know them?

So now some specifics about the work. We have so many investigators, so it'll be hard to get them all in, but I'll do my best to talk about the main ones. So first is F. He's in his 20s, from El Salvador, and has a baptismal date for the 18th of October. Then there's a bunch of others. Oh jeez. Most of the other people are just your basic southern or Hispanic person. Oh and I forgot to mention that. We do English work here as well! It'll be a lot of fun and it will be interesting experiencing both sides of things. Oh and one of the members I sat next to yesterday in church was like "They sent a Georgia cracker here?" And I said "I know can you believe it?" That's the kind of humor I appreciate. Blunt, sarcastic humor. So as far as the other people we taught, there's just too many to describe. But I can assure you that the work is great here and we will be baptizing and reactivating.

I'm running low on time so I'll include more details next week.
Tengan un buen dia!

-Elder Landon Carroll

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Landon and Brother Swope