Dear Family,

Sorry for not getting this out earlier. We drove up to the public library yesterday, but they were closed for some reason. The other Elders also told us that the College Library was closed as well, so we had to put off our emailing until today.

Thanks for the email. It is very nice to hear how you are all doing back home. I hope that you did have fun on the trip Mom. It sounds like it went well. Don't worry about me…the Lord will take care of me. I had a good birthday. I was on an exchange with Elder Driscoll in Linton, and he even took me out to eat for my birthday. We went and had burgers at Hardies, that is the Carl's Jr. for the east, and it was good. I think that this is such a great birthday, because instead of thinking of myself, I had the opportunity to think of others, even on my birthday. It is a humbling experience knowing that there are so many more important things out there than worrying about myself.

Mom, I hope that your finger is healing up OK. It isn't ever fun to get hurt. I actually have this really big bruise on the back of my right leg. I can't remember where it came from. One night Elder Worden just asked me where it came from, and I looked at it. It doesn't hurt, but I find it funny that it happened, and I was so focused on other things that I didn't even notice it.

The mugginess out here is bad, but I am really lucky. I do get very hot and sweaty by the end of the day, especially if we are biking around, but I just don't get as bad as Elder Worden. When we are out biking, and it gets hot, he starts to look like a waterfall. It doesn’t affect me as much for some reason. I think that I am actually going to have to get used to the dry weather at home. Hopefully, it won't take too long, but the fact that it is in winter won't help any.

Hopefully, Dad will be able to get feeling better. It isn't good that it took it out on him that hard. Hopefully, he will be up to another week.

Thanks for taking care of the school thing for me. The letter with my signature is already on its way home. I would love for you to fill out the information on the catalog and send it out, if it doesn't cost too much to send out, and then I will look over them and let you know what I want to take. Also, if you wanted to take some notes for me at school I would never say no to the help.

Our investigators are still doing well.  Sarah is progressing towards her baptism on August 28th. I am very happy for her, and what she has done. Tina is still doing well. She has had some trials, but her faith is so strong, I am not surprised that she has had the trials. She is a very strong lady. I feel so blessed for the opportunity to be there when this all happened.

President Collins is doing great. He is a great asset to the missionary program, and I know that he is going to do a wonderful job in this mission. It is too bad that I will only get to see the beginning of his presidency and not the end. He will have a lot of success.

They came out with this new thing that they call the “Simplified Curriculum”. It goes over how they can teach the missionaries to be better teachers. It is really cool. As a leader, I had an opportunity to learn about it first hand from President Collins, and this is a Miracle for missionaries. The things taught in this new curriculum are things that most missionaries learn on their mission around the last 6 months, but now they have developed a way to teach it to brand new missionaries in the mission field. It is such a great opportunity to be out here when it comes out, and it has already been a blessing in my life. This mission has done so much for me, and I will be eternally grateful for it.

I have to get going, but thanks for everything. I love you guys so much. Take care, and work hard.

Love,

Elder Savage

P.S. Tell grandma that I got her letter, and thanks for the gift.

Also, I don't need anything right now. I am doing OK.

      Elder Colton Savage

     3158 N. 19th St.

     Terre Haute, IN  47804

--------------------------------------

Mission Home

    Indiana Indianapolis Mission

    1980 E 116th St STE 200

    Carmel, IN 46032