Another Week Down!

Hey everybody! Whaaaaats up! Sooo this week was pretty low key. When we started here we had several lessons and then it kinda died down... So we have been doing a healthy amount of tracting. Surprisingly, I haven't gotten a single door slammed in my face or have been cussed out so I guess that's a victory! Momma, we have been working super hard here haha I'm not slacking off haha. Every night I get home and my feet just throb. It's a good time though, Elder Adair is a great comp and has taught me a lot! We have made several good contacts but nobody is willing to let us in cause we are both big tall guys hahahah. So on Tuesday this past week all we did was knock doors and street contact people. Ha it's a good time though, like for real. And Wednesday we had a dinner with the Hubbard family.. they are super super nice! Let's see what else could I tell you... Oh yeah mom and dad there is a family that I love out here and they have a son graduating from BYU along with Keith and Rhiannon. They are the Nixon family and I told sister Nixon to look for you and to say hi so I hope that she finds you. Her son's name is Ryan I think! They are by far my favorite family out here. Oh, and there is this guy, brother Lloyd, he is a super high up officer In the military and he is the boss he is a single father and he is a bad a. He is funny and has this Mohawk that he wears to church haha he is great. Holy cow, I've met some super crazy people here. Just tonight we had dinner with a member family and a non member and the non member was a rocket scientist and said that he worked on most of the things in the air and space museum... I've also met like several deportation lawyers and and several people that are working on the hill (the Capitol) hahah. Yeah, so when we went to dinner with the Nixon family she was telling us how she was at the first lady's fashion show and sat next to Jay Leno... People are pretty important here soooo. But everybody is so super nice and friendly here and willing to give us the time of day to at least chat. Oh yeah, I finally bought at bike! The brand is called giant and it is a good bike it gets the job done. Elder Adair has popped three tires this week haha we can never get anywhere without bike problems ha but it's all good. So what is new back in Colorado Springs!? It's so amazing that pretty much everybody that I've talked to here in Alexandria knows about and either been to or lived in Colorado Springs. We contacted a lady that even lived on Powers for about 5 years ha it's crazy. Momma did you get the pictures that the mission office was supposed to send you and poppa? If not I'll send them to you they are of me and my companion and the mission president and his wife! Im pretty sure that those are the only pictures that I've ever looked pretty decent in hahahah. Oh yeah president Riggs is like the coolest guy I've ever met. He is so funny and so spiritual it's great. He has really made this transition easy on me. In fact, the first time that I ever sat down with him one on one he said that I will have leadership in this mission and that he wished he could stay around to work with me for my whole mission ha it would been cool if he made me an assistant to the president right there hahah just kidding that would be scary! But yeah, he and his wife are super super cool and I love them and will miss them. So you know how everybody told me that this is the most foreign mission the  U.S...? They were totally right!  Oh this Ghanaian lady told us the other day that if we stand directly under the bus stop that we were going to get shot hahah I just laughed. Yeah we have had our fair share of crazy people come up to us (Keith you were right about that) hahah but it's the best. What is new at home!? Mom you said that its been snowing there? Dang, I would kill for some snow right about now! The biggest challenge is probably the humidity here... wow it's intense! I'll be riding my bike and just dying I feel like I am just going to melt and it's only spring time... I cannot imagine what the summer will be like. Elder Adair is convinced that I will be in Kingstowne for 3 whole transfers he says that's the norm here In the DC south mission. Oh, so I saw a Mormon message the other day that I absolutely love and I want everyone who reads this to watch it ok? I've watched it about 3 times and I've learned something absolutely different and new each time I've watched it. It is called "The Hope of Gods Light" please watch it. It is seriously amazing. And then the next assignment is to read and reread Elder Renlunds conference talk "Latter Day Saints Keep On Trying" it's my favorite talk ever. So Keith, I know you hate that part of the email so I kept it short. Unlike Kari... Hahahah just kidding Kari I can't believe we are both  brother and sister kickin butt together. Dang. How are Tiffany and Stanley doing!? I know that they are kicking some serious butt. Well I love and miss all of you!! 

Elder Routsong 

Me and the President and his wife



Tired!

Apartments we Tract



Basketball on Pday!
 

 

First Week in Alexandria!

Hey everybody! Okay so this week has been pretty crazy!! It was the busiest week of my life! Okay so my companions name is Elder Adair! He is actually an inch taller than me  and I am 6'6" daaaang. He is from St. George and goes to Dixie state. So I am just going to tell all that happened this week... On Thursday we had transfer meeting from 9-3 and we learned how to use our iPads and phones. Sorry non member friends I can't call or text you hahaha but I love ya anyways. So after the meetings we went back to our apartment and the elders before us trashed it. It was soooo gross. By the way, I am living in a suburb of Alexandria called Kingstowne. We then decided to go tracting at about 5 and seriously the first person we talked was named Daniel. He is recovering from drugs and alcohol... And I love this guy! He is amazing! We talked to him for about 10 minutes and In that time I committed him to read the Book of Mormon and pray with us and then Elder Adair committed him to come to church with us this past Sunday! And guess what!? He showed up and he loved church! He only could stay through sacrament and Sunday school because he has a program with AA that he can only stay out a certain amount of hours throughout the day. We have a meeting with him tonight and we are going to teach him the word of wisdom... Then it's my job to extend a baptismal invitation. Sketch.  On Friday we went to visit the ward mission leader and had dinner with him. His name is Rich Curran. He is great. On Saturday, it was crazy, so mom you know I've gone through two bikes here hahaha they are junk but I didn't buy them so it's chill. Anyways I'm going to buy a bike of my own this week. So Saturday we went tracting pretty much alllllll dayyyyyy my feet still hurt. Before we started, we visited a man named Kwesi and his son Ellom. Kwesi is a recent convert and he and his son were baptized back in September on my birthday in fact. He is recovering from a stroke and seriously the most humble guy I've ever met... He is from Ghana! Okay, so where I live I swear that Elder Adair and I are the only white people... Everybody is from Ghana it's so legit. We went to visit this family named the Okus in the ward and they fed us chicken gizzards... Hahah I just thought of those Tucanos chicken hearts... So it wasn't bad. We tracked this place and everybody was from Ghana and they were all so nice. We met a ton of people and got a few appointments. On Sunday we went to church and the stake has 4 wards in it going simulaneuosly... I don't know how it worked ha but there was A ton of people. Sunday was so cool cause Daniel did come to church with us and it was great. So we are whitewashing this area which means both of the elders are new and the area book hasn't been updated in like 6 weeks... It's crazy ha. After church we had a dinner appointment but we went to the wrong house it was pretty embarrassing. We then met bishop he is cool. We then went tracting again and I got a prompting we needed to go knock on this one door at this complex and we knocked and we met a lady named Josie. She is so freaking awesome! She is from the Philippines. We are not meeting with her this week but next week. I'm excited. And today is pday so we went to Walmart but I forgot my wallet... Crap. We are going to the city now I'm excited it's supposed to be the peak of the cherry blossom today! Sick! How are things going back home?? Kayla your hair looks so pretty! good choice! Keith and Rhiannon! Good luck with graduation that's so cool a lady from our ward said she would be there and look for you haha her name is sister Nixon and one of her kids is graduating with you. CONGRATS love you! What else is going on? Is track still dragging pops? Haha I'm so sorry. Wish Nikol luck for me that's awesome! Any other throwers doing good? Kari!! How are you doing!? love you! How is little Emmy doing is she ready to be done with school!? Ha I miss you all. Momma what's new with you? I saw that your work is busy! That's awesome I'm super happy that it is! What does the basement look like now? Did you move all of Emilees stuff Into my room right? How is Krispy doing?  She sent me a ton of pictures so I'll hopefully be able to download them later tonight! Okay, so I'm on the metro right now to the city and I am sitting by this guy who is headed to meet the Iraq prime minister... What the heck... I've ran into a lot of Islamic people down here but we aren't allowed to teach them unless we have the mission president with us... It's kinda scary haha oh I did mention that there are a lot of people from Ghana here right? I love them we have a lot in our ward. Oh yeah we are allowed to go to DC once a transfer so there are like 6 of us on the metro right now ha. Tell me some more stuff about home though! I miss you all a lot though it's crazy! Yeah momma I get my own iPad haha it's pretty cool but we aren't allowed to get much on them and they are very strict with the rules to use them. I trying to think of what else to tell you..oh yeah my pday for the rest of the mission will now be MONDAYS! It's so crazy hot here I'm going to have the worst farmers tan ever when I get home from the mish.... My biggest adjustment is the humidity gahhhh it's so hot and humid and I think it is supposed to rain tomorrow.. Super lame! We have no car only bikes... Haha but it's great! We spent a good amount of the day in the city the cherry blossoms are sooooo cool and beautiful! Wow I wish you could all see it in person! I can't wait to go again next year! We are riding the metro and it's during rush hour... Yeah it's pretty freaking crazy... Oh another funny thing is that everywhere we go people are always asking Elder Adair and I if we are professional basketball players hahahah it's hilarious! We met this referral named Ray and he loves us cause we are so tall! He says he could take us in basketball so he wants us to come shoot around with him haha! He is also 53 years old and has 9 kids haha he is great! Momma please forward this email to everyone cause I'm pretty positive I don't have all the family's email addresses whoops so yeah tell all the family I say hi and yes I am clearly still alive even though parts of Kingstowne are pretty ghetto but nobody will me mess with Elder Adair and I haha. Elder Adair says I intimidate people into letting us in hahaha he is hilarious! How is uncle Tim doing? Tell him to write me! I miss hanging out with him and all the cousins! Momma also in the next couple weeks I need you to get me an iPod with some songs once I can find some more! I just wanted to quickly share a cool scripture I found this week in study it's doctrine and covenants 123:17 read it and see if you can apply it to your life! Hint if we pray don't just ask for an answer go do your part in finding the answer then God will work his miracles and bring them into your life :):) yeah I thought it was cool! Signing off now love ya!

My Last Day in the MTC

Hey everybody today is my last pday here in Utah!! I had the opportunity to attend the temple this morning with my district.... it was so spiritual and amazing!! I really know that the work I am doing in my life right now is correct and true! But hey, what about general conference this past weekend?!?!! whattttt! This was the first time I actually sat down to watch the WHOLE thing! Let me just say that Elder Holland's talk about the two brothers was amazing! My favorite talk I think...But I did like Elder Renlunds talk too! It was about not letting your doubts overcome your faith and trust in the lord. Also, I loved the quote that was shared "A saint is a sinner who keeps on trying" That is so powerful isnt it? God knows that we are all imperfect...and He loves us so much that he atoned for our sins and wants to be able to see us again through baptism and repentance! What a amazing week its been...I got to meet the new district and they are great people! I had the opportunity to train all of them! Isnt that cool?! I unfortunately was released from being a district leader this past sunday :( oh well maybe in the field I'll get the chance by working hard. Today is kind of crazy we have most of the day to pack and get ready for our 3:00 a.m. departure from the MTC... dang I'm going to be so freaking tired...oh wait! I am always freaking tired here because we work so hard so its all good hahahaha! I think our flight leaves at 8 am tomorrow morning but I'll check my itinerary again. The sisters from our district left this morning it sucked letting them go but they are going to do a great job in Georgia! I am so nervous for the feild!! AHHHH I will be teaching real investigators possibly tomorrow...thats insane... But I feel like my preparation here at the mtc has had a wonderful impact on my life! Anyways, I'm using half of my internet time right now to send and read so I will be back on later for another email session!! HOPE YOU ALL HAD A GREAT EASTER!

Hey again Everybody! Yeah so today is the last day in the mtc if I didnt already say so! Im glad I got to read all of your lovely emails today it sounds like you are all doing well! One of the teachers last night told me that duke won in basketball...dangit!  I haven't watched any tv or listened to any music in the last two weeks its still  weird... I get those weird phantom vibrations in my pocket cause I think that I still have my phone hahahaha! Its insane! Tell me some more news from home?! What else is new! It's so weird not being with you all! But it seriously sounds like all is well!  Tonight after pday one of the members of the 70 is going to speak to us or possibly an apostle! CRAZY! Last pday elder Teh addressed us and it was awesome! I am glad that I dont have to sit in class anymore and I can actually get out  into the field. The first door is the hardest I've been told but I am actually really excited/scared for that time. I hope I get a great trainer and he has the same kind of interests as me but if not its chill! I'm nervous to get all packed right now.. I'm doing some laundry and just finishing up my pday email session hhaha the days are pretty much all the same here in the MTC so Virginia will be super super awesome! I cant wait to be on that side of the country! But yeah, the temple was so awesome this morning!! And my favorite conference talk was either Hollands or Renlunds... I can't decide. Oh yeah, mom please forward my email to everyone because I didn't get anyones email address before I left so that is your job!! I hope all is well at home and I know it is... I pray for all of you every morning and night ESPECIALLY YOU MOMMA J! haha love you so much. The exercise time here is so lame haha we only get like an hour so I've already gained like 3 pounds here... I feel pretty chunky... its all good though haha I'm not here to lift weights, I'm here to better myself and the lives of other people! I'll sign this one off and write some smaller letters to you all. LOVE YOU ALL!

Love Elder Routsong

P.s. mom I love all the Easter pictures hahaha I also miss teasing Em and Kayla.

My District

 

My First P-day!!

Woaaaahhhhh hey everybody!! I hope all is well back at home!! I am super excited to write to you all!  I am super excited for my first email!! I have been dreaming about this all week! I got here on Wednesday of last week and they informed us that pday was on tuesday the following week...I was like DANGIT! but it is finally Tuesday! Time only flies when you are having fun in here! Most of the time at the MTC we are just in class working and working and working! My back hurts so much because the chairs are sooooo uncomfortable here. I have seen Tiffani several times since being here! She is doing pretty good and I think she struggled with eating the first couple days but its good now her comp said she has been eating somewhat.  She studies hard in here though and is alot better than me! The first couple days here were so dang busy it seemed like every hour we had something going on... But it kept my mind off of everything at home! I was hoping to see you mom and family as you drove past the mtc probably like a billion times but I never saw you...oh well its probably better that way! Being here in the MTC has been the most spiritual time in my life thats for dang sure! I have learned so much that my head is going to explode!  President Hodges (our branch president) actually made me a district leader! Its a scary calling and has a good amount of responsibility. I'm in charge of mail and holding district meetings... But the other elders and sisters are all asking me questions on where we are supposed to go and what we are supposed to be doing and I am just as lost as them most of the time.. hahahaha. My companion is Elder King! He is from Oklahoma and runs track and loves to lift and play sports! So yeah, we get along!! Elder King is great!! We always have these little inside jokes and talk about movies and we are always quoting the office (Jeanette) hahaha so yeah we get along just fine which has made my experience here a thousand times better! This morning we got to attend the Provo Temple...It was just as good as my Denver Temple experience! Before going I had a feeling that I should turn to D&C section 14... So I did. I can tell you that I was supposed to read that section at that moment in time. So I suggest to all of you... that you follow your spiritual promptings!  Section 14 is about missionary work and why we do what we do!! It made me so happy and the temple session wayyyyy better! MOM, thank you for all of your letters and packages from you and the family! haha that rootbeer that you sent us was funny because the other district down the hall from us thought we were sneaking beer into our room HAHAHA. We quickly told them it was rootbeer and not actually beer haha they are also from Australia so they think we are weirdos anyways... We leave on the 8th at 2 in the morning to make our way to SLC to fly to DC! It will be a hard leaving these people but I am ready to get out into the field! How is everything at home? Dalvin have you still been practicing with the CSU coaches!? Best of luck bro you deserve it! Chase and Zach I hope that work and school are going GREAT! You all rock! Jean stay golden! hahaha Kayla you are almost done with school soon!! LUCKY! where are you all going to vacation this summer?! Dad, I saw that Nikol threw a 130 in the disc?! dang thats like a 7 foot pr! Tell her congrats and she better win state! Keith and Rhiannon I hope you are doing well! KARI! WE ARE IN THE FIELD TOGETHER!!!! Isn't that crazy!? I did get time to exercise here we get from 8:25-9:15 at night so its not much but I try to get a good sweat in and Elder King likes to lift and do some track workouts with me so its great! I miss you all alot and please pray for my back it has been hurting quite a bit but I'll be tough! OH this week Sister Owens, who was going to our mission, got sent home because of sickness...She came up to me the night before she left and asked if i could give her a blessing of comfort... I was shocked!! So I did and I was so amazed by the spirit that was in the room! Honestly that was the most spiritual experience I  have had in my life... the mission is hard and I have only been in it for a fraction of a time but I can tell you that the feeling I got from that blessing was worth all the pain and frustration of being here... It is one of the reasons why my mission got delayed a week I believe... Tell me some more stuff thats been going on at home!? I hope all is well and you haven't destroyed the basement and gone through all my stuff....... hahahaha I'm just kidding!! When do you go back to Colorado Keith and have you decided about school yet?! I pray for you! I pray for all of you whether you like it or not! LOVE YOU ALL! 

Elder Kyle Routsong