Dear Family,

As you can tell from my heading, I am now in Bedford Indiana. I have already met many nice people out here. I think that it is going to be a good area to be in. I find it interesting, but they sent me to the most southern area in our mission. If I were to cross the southern boundaries of the Bedford ward, then I would be out of our mission boundaries. It is somewhat weird to be on the outskirts of the mission. I think it will be a good experience though. We really have to take care of ourselves because we are so far away from our leadership.

One interesting tidbit about Bedford, it is the limestone capital of the world. Bedford limestone can be found in the Empire State Building, the Pentagon, the National Cathedral, and other Washington DC monuments. There is limestone everywhere, and when you drink the water here, you are risking getting kidney stones. The second counselor in the ward has been out of commission for about 6 weeks from kidney stones. One of his was the size of a golf ball. Bedford has a population of about 14,000 and is the county seat for Lawrence County which has been the home of 3 NASA Astronauts. It’s just 18 miles south of Bloomington which is the home of Indiana University, the “Hoosiers”.

Yesterday, I got the chance to meet a Nun. That was very cool. She was really nice, and she said "God bless you" a lot. I get to meet so many different and interesting people while I am out here.

I can't believe that I have been out for 5 months now. Time is going by way too quickly. I also can't believe that in a couple of months I will be in my twenties. Now that is weird!

I do have a new address for you it is:

1805 'O' St. #2

Bedford, IN  47421

That is O Street as in the letter O. They write it with quotations on either side to separate it. Also, thank you for the package. It will be greatly appreciated. I can't think of anything else that you could put into it.

I am glad that Grandma has finally decided to spend more time in Cedar. That is where all of her friends are, and where we live. It’s just too bad that she decided to do it after I left for my mission. By the way, please thank her for me. She sent me a really nice letter with a great "gift" inside. Tell her that I will put it to good use.

I am glad that you were able to help Trudy find a good car. That old Eclipse of hers was so small. I can't believe that Ken would ride in it for as long as he did. I was thinking that the Honda CRV would be a good vehicle for me to get. It has more room than the Neon, but it still is compact and it gets good gas mileage.

It is good to hear that the family is doing well. I hope that Mike has been able to get back into the swing of regular life. I can now understand how hard it can be when you first get back home. Out here, we are in a missionary bubble. We don't have to worry about anything. Our bills are paid for, and a magical fairy puts money into our accounts every month for food. It will be weird to go back to normal life after two years of this. I hope that everything continues to go well for Misti. It is weird to think about, but the baby will be 1 year old when I get home.

Things are good here, and I think that everything will work out. I hope that you all are doing well at home. Please continue to update me on any changes that happen. Also, if we have any changes in our ward or stake leadership, I need to know about that too so that I can tell the mission office. If any of that takes place, please let me know!

Thank you for all of your support in the work. I hope that you will all be able to enjoy your summer.

Love,

Elder Savage

    Elder Colton Savage

    1805 ‘O’ St. #2

    Bedford, IN  47421