New Letters

Letter from 7/15/08

Everything is going totally awesome here. Karen is planning to be baptized this next Sunday and everything is great! I sent off birthday stuff to everyone and they should be coming in soon. :)

Pretty much nothing new is going on other than more missionary work and more progress of the people we are working with toward baptism. It is really awesome to see people's lives change permanently for the better. It’s a really great feeling and it makes me feel like my time out here is really worth it. its a great boost to get back out there and tract some more!!!!!!

....okay not really. Tracting still sucks.... but i feel better about it anyway. :-)

So I’m building a list for next week. You’re going to get a big list of almost everything that’s happened in the first 5 months (I turn 5 on the 20th! wow!) I’m going to try and sum up every event in 5 words or less.... there’s a long list (45 items and counting fast!)

So I love you all and I hope everyone is doing awesome!

love,
Elder Tritsch

Letter from 7/7/08

Hi Everyone,

Here’s what’s going on and an answer to some of your questions.

My knee is doing okay, I guess, nothing much has changed and apparently nothing showed up on the MRI... so I guess that means I just have to live with it. The doc didn’t even give me any pain medication or anything... but whatever.

The deaf branch is really cool but really small. there is only about 10 active members, and they are threatening to close it down and absorb it into the Hollywood ward... I hope not though because it would cause all the deaf people to scatter, possibly for good! The ASL is doing fine. I help interpret sometimes and everyone seems to like my interpreting style. (Thanks dad for showing me how to be expressive)

we don’t have any deaf investigators since I’m still technically assigned to an English ward, but we do have a baptism coming up on the 20th! YAY! Her name is Karen Cotton; she’s in her 50's and is really golden. She is working through quitting smoking completely this week and we came up with a new plan for helping her get god to help her:

1. pray and fast on Saturday night-sunday and come to fast and testimony meeting.
2. recieve a priesthood blessing after church
3. upon returning home, throw out the cigarettes
4. go 24 hours without smoking
5. meet with the missionaries
6. repeat steps 4 and 5 every day for a week.
7. rejoice, you have quit smoking with the lords help!

So far its working, she hasn’t smoked a since one in 2 days now. We are meeting with her tonight.

The weather is weird here. It rains at the exact same times every day and only for about 20 minutes at a time, at which it’s a torrential downpour with lightning that sometimes makes me feel like I may need a change of underwear..... OY... thanks a bunch for the camelback. It’s a lifesaver and even takes some weight off my back. Thanks!

The new area is GREAT! We have dozens of investigators and we are teaching all kinds of people. It’s a bit weird seeing more people of a different race than my own but it’s kind of cool. I pride myself in being unprejudiced so it doesn’t bother me any. The hard part is not looking at pretty women, but all I have to do is think about Kim and I have no problems :)

Things are definitely better with my new companions. We are getting along great and getting a lot of work accomplished. I think transferring me out of Boca Raton was probably one of the best things that could have happened to me.

As to the care package, I’m doing okay on most things, I had to go to office depot and buy a few things like pens, but I think I’m doing okay. One request though would be a big bag of hard candies like Werthers or peppermints or something. I go a long time between meals and something like that to suck on helps keep my blood sugar up. Also, (this isn’t urgent) but my white shirts really aren’t holding up to the moisture and humidity. I think I’ll need more soon. I’ve been told by other missionaries that there is a kind sold at JC Penney called "Stafford SuperShirt" that holds up really well. I don’t know how expensive they are though. I still wear a 15 1/2 for the moment...

thanks for everything but I have to get to writing other people,

love you all!
Elder Jared Tritsch

Letter from 6/23/08

Hey Everyone!

Well I’m now in Hollywood Florida. Yay! I’m near the Deaf Branch!

My new address is:

Elder Jared Tritsch

555 Luna Ct #308

Hollywood, FL 33021

Everything is going AWESOME here with my new companions. Yes, I said Companions.. plural.... I’m in a threesome again!

My companion Elder Christiansen (different from my last one) is great. He’s from Orem, UT and has been out for 19 months. He’s a really great teacher and I’m learning a lot from him. He likes to talk, like I do, but he is really good at making people open up about what they are feeling. Plus he has a great personality and I can respect him. He’s a lot better than the other elder Christensen.

My other companion is Elder Crowther, from SLC Utah. He was also trained by Elder Seegmiller just like I was. He’s cool but a bit quiet. He’s nice enough and we don’t have any conflicts.

We get along great and even have a brand new apartment to move into. We’re short on things like pots and pans though, since they didn’t come with the apt. the senior missionaries are bringing us some this week.

I get to be involved with the deaf branch now, if only a little bit. They need me to interpret sometimes so I get to be part of the deaf branch. I’m not needed all that often but I’ve already met some of the members of the branch. Eduardo, one member, has a lower level of education and is just barely learning sign language, and he’s almost 50... He’s funny as heck though and was making everyone laugh with his visual jokes. He mainly uses body language and hand shapes to express what he doesn’t know the words for yet.

Guess what!? My area is a Jamaican and Haitian Ghetto! Yes! Don’t worry though, we don’t do anything stupid to put us in any danger. We’re teaching a ton of people and got 10 new investigators in just the first few days. I’m going to get a baptism this transfer I know it!

So that pretties much everything that happened so far. Oh yeah! We get a new mission president on the 1st of July, and then we have zone conference the following day where we all get to meet him. I’ll write about him once I get the chance to meet and talk to him.

Hope everyone is doing great, wherever you all are!

Love,

Elder Jared Tritsch

Letter from 6/17/08

Guess what? I just got transferred again! I’m going back down South to Hollywood, FL. I'm going to be in a threesome again with an Elder Christiansen (different person) and an Elder Crowther. I don't think he has any relation to the Brother Crowther in our ward, though.

Thanks for the advice about communication with everyone. I'm currently writing letters to everyone. I'm going to give it a better shot this next transfer and try to communicate with everyone.

Speaking of communication the met with Otto went great! I can't believe I forgot to tell you about it! OOPS AGAIN!

We were out visiting people about a week and a half ago when all of the people we had written down to stop by were not there. It was only 100 at that point and we were trying to think of things to do. I had forgotten about Otto in your letter, but then I remembered it. We ran to the library as fast as we could so I could print off and we gave him a call.

He was a little weird out at first when we called him. He has an UNlisted phone number. but alas, we had it. I told him I was "Rozzie's grandson" like you said and he immediately lighted up like a Christmas tree. I could tell over the phone. We looked up his location and viola! We were less than a mile from his apartment! The Lord works in mysterious ways eh?

He immediately invited us over for lunch and even ran out to meet us at the gate so the guard will let us through. We had a wonderful lunch with him and his wife, and they seemed very interested in talking about the family. He seemed very proud of nana and papa, bragging several times about how Papa works in aircraft design and such. He says he had been out of contact with his family almost completely for over 20 years! I did not have Nana's phone number on me, but I gave them the house number and told them about you and Dad and about how you found him.

He doesn’t seem really all that interested in hearing about the gospel but he didn’t think it horrible at all.

All in all he really wants to get back in contact with the family so you should give him a call! He’s back up in Chicago now and will be there for the next several weeks but I think that number you found was his cell #.

So that the meeting with Otto!

So thanks for everything.

Love,

Jared