Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2014 14:43:48 -0500
Dear Family people,
I don't know if you've heard but I am in Cass Lake, Minnesota! We live in a member's basement in the middle of the Ojibwe Indian Reservation in the Chippewa National Forest. My companion Elder Wendell is awesome! He's from Roseville Cailfornia and he's super nice! He's a good teacher, has a good attitude, and works hard all the time. He's about 6'2" and pretty muscular from playing rugby and his hair is basically my exact color minus the red tint. We live with the Chessmores'. The dad's name is David and he's SO funny. He likes to tease sometimes which is funny. He's 6'4" and weighs 430 pounds so he's a BIG guy. He served a mission in Puerto Rico and is 26. His wife Norabell is a really nice Hispanic lady that acts and sounds like a white lady. She's a great cook!! They have three adorable children! Dara (girl)is 3, Liam(boy) is 2, and Teyani (boy) is 1. The Chessmores' have two goats, a mini horse, 5 white turkeys, 6 ducks, and 9 chickens and a black lab. Elder Wendell and I get to eat a big meal at one of the member's houses almost every day and all the food is great! The people here are different than in Mesa. Cass Lake is run-down and there are a lot of poorer and kind of weird people and a lot of natives. Everything is just not as clean as it is in Mesa. Everyone is super nice though! On Saturday the 6th I mowed a lawn for the first time, ate bear heart for the first time, and ate some dear meat for the first time! We went bear baiting with an investigator and helped him gut and skin a bear! I had to ride in a car for 14 hours to get from Rapid City to here! I like living here with Elder Wendell and I don't get very homesick surprisingly. It was so funny...the first night I got to our house at like 10:00pm and Elder Wendell told me we were just stopping by at an investigator's house before we were to head home. Bro and Sis Chessmore were in their front yard in by the fire and acted like they weren't Mormons. They told us they needed us to come down to basement and give it a blessing because some strange demonic things had been happening down there. They led us down to the pitch dark basement and I walked in the door behind bro Chessmore. I thought to myself, "maybe I shouldn't be following this huge guy that I don't know into a pitch dark basement." Then I heard Bro Chessmore yell "AWW CRAP!" as I heard stuff falling and banging around which scared me! Then all the sudden the lights turned on and Elder Wendell says "here's your new home!" and im standing in the middle of the basement! It had been a ruse the whole time! They got me really well! I keep fervently praying to have charity for all the people I meet that are quite different from me. I believe it will work over time. This mission is really going to prepare me for life and make me a way more loving and humble person too. We are workin hard! im enjoying all of my dress clothes! I workout for about 30 min first thing after my prayers every morning and then I stretch for about 5 min. Then I eat breakfast, shower, get dressed, study personally for an hour, study with my companion for 1 sometimes 2 hours, and then go from there! We get home around 8 most of the time and chill with the Chessmore's. Then we get to bed by about 10:30. It's two hrs later here than it is in AZ. Everyone tells me that it gets to -60 degrees some winters here and im a little scared for that... The Chessmore's said that in the winter you can take a pot of boiling water outside and throw the water in the air and it will freeze before it hits the ground! But we missionaries aren't supposed to go outside when it's -30 or lower....which still seems horrible. There aren't very many people here. Today we went to a gift shop and I bought a cool shirt with an eagle on it, a cool native pocket watch, and abelt with native bead designs on it. Later tonight we are going to Applebees with some members and then going shopping for food and stuff. I hope everyone is doing well and I love you all so much!!!
Love, Elder Adair
