Where is my Letter??!?!?!?!

Hey There!
I know I know WHERE IS MY LETTER!!! :) Well you probably figured out from the last email I was about 400 miles away from wright. On sunday afternoon me and elder hammond loaded up and drove to newcastle, wy about 100 miles away and picked up the Newcastle elders. Then, drove another 150 miles to Rapid City South Dakota. Man! It was a long drive! But as soon as we got to newcastle, wy you are in the beautiful black hills. So the entire trip, we drove through the black hills and passed crazy horse and bypassed Rushmore. And Dad finally I can tell you after the many questions. I went through Custer. Just for you. :) Love you dad. But on the way home from Rapid sunday night we passed right through Mount Rushmore its way cool. Yes, I have been before and all but I havent been passed it and when you go around one bend all you see staring at you is washingtons face it kinda scared me. Haha. But needless to say it was a long long long drive. Elder Hammond wasnt too found of it. I told him well my friend. You better get used to it.
Mom, you have no idea how much that broke my heart when I opened that package from whitney and saw your letter and saw Nicks picture. I played baseball with nick for about five years. I couldnt believe that. That is so sad. So tragic. Could you send me their address please. I would like to send a letter to them. My prayers and thoughts are with his family though.
Tri-Zone conference. You will get to see a huge picture of about 70 missionaries elders and sisters at tri- zone. We took a huge one with elder gibbons from the 70. It was awesome. i will send it when I get it.
But Tri-ZOne was amazing! My Gosh! Elder Gibbons was awesome. Alot of it was working with members. Basically, what he taught us. Dont ask the missionaries anymore HOW CAN WE HELP YOU. ask ELDERS, HELP US. It is not the missionaries responsibility in the ward. The members are to do the finding. The missionary work in the ward is upon the bishop and the members. So, lets ask ourselves. How many times have we asked the elders WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP THE WORK GO ALONG? You need to kick it in gear and start asking the elders to help you become better missionaries. Coming from a general authoirty "MISSIONARY WORK IS NOT HARD" Missionaries to two things, invite and help people. Is that hard? The spirit is the teacher. As long as YOU are doing what YOU are supposed to then YOU can have the spirit with YOU and YOU can have the opporunity to be a missionary. From the words of our dear prophet "EVERY MEMBER A MISSIONARY" From the words of apostle david a. bednar "Missionary work isnt just temporary, its forever" Elder Gibbons asked an elder in tri zone, how long is your mission? He said 24 months. Then he said Oh, my whole life. Elder Gibbons said; "Forever Elder" I just ate it all up. So as members of the church what is our responsibility? What is our purpose? to invite and help! LETS GET GOING! There is urgency in this matter. We have to be ready to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. He needs all of his disciples. If you have been baptized you have taken the name of jesus christ upon you. In mosiah 18, we must stand as witnesses at all times in all things and in all places. Read mosiah 18, its amazing. But stand off. Put satan aside. Stand with the courage of the lord. Be worthy and willing to say I am trying to be like jesus.
Sorry I know. But it is awesome. Oh yeah! Dallas wrote me!!! Yay! It was awesome. I loved it. She wrote me a good letter too. I am so excited to hear from her. I miss her a whole lot. Elder Hammonds letter didnt send. He sent one but it didnt send. But he re sent it.
Michelle is kinda at a stand still right now. It broke my heart. But she is having trouble coming to church in such a small town because of what people will say if she does something wrong. Ugh! I am sick of the less active people saying well im sad because this person said this to me. This person did this. Ugh! THEY ARE NOT THE CHURCH!!!!!!!!!! Yes, they might be at church, but! THEY ARE NOT THE CHURCH. But we spend alot of time babying the less actives. which is good and I listen to their concerns but they have had these concerns for about twenty years or so. Its time to forgive and forget. "I will forgive whom I will forgive, but to you it is COMMANDED that you forgive ALL MEN." We cannot choose to be selective obedient. "If ye love me keep my commandments" I dont see "some" in there at all. Be strong and Keep the Commandments.
Havent been able to meet with tommy for a while. Because he is in montana as well. Bro Hansens father died too so it has been a little shaky on that matter.
So the news you all want to hear is there snow in wright wyoming? Lets just say we drove home in a snow storm, so yes the snow has fallen. At night its about 25 or less. It feels wonderful. Elder Hammond is so cold. But I love it. It was alot colder in sheridan when I was there. I just hope I dont get transfered next transfer to minot or fargo. I want to stay in wyoming for the winter its not too cold. I love it.
Oh mom it was amazing the prime rib was awesome. The week after we were eating with a less active named jason jensen he used to be a professional chef but hasnt made to much money at it so now he works at the mine. He smoked a pork roast for about 24 hours. Then made some corn bread, black eyed peas and some collard greens. Oh my gosh i love my collards. Haha. It was awesome. Elder Hammond isnt a big eater. He doesnt eat much. But I havent gained any weight back yet. Dropped about 8 pounds and kinda stayed.
Next monday is tri- leadership training. So, I will be at that for 5 hours. Then on tuesday we have our regular bi zone conference. But, they made it a tri zone so another huge meeting all day. Alot of things going on. After that I am going on an exchange with gillete 4th ward. Then In about two weeks I will go on an exchange with Newcastle and do some baptisimal interviews at both places. It will be fun. I got to see Elder Woods at tri- zone. I love that kid. So awesome. we decided to go to breakfast about 30 minutes before it was to start and it took a while and when we got our stuff at sonic and hurried back and we walked into the cultural hall and they were all ready for the picture. Like all eyes were on me. I was finishing a breakfast burro. I was like woah. Hahaha. It was a "had to be there" moment. But I got in the picture!!
I think with the potatoes mom. She cut them open and threw it all in and then folded it all back up and cooked it. They were awesome. You should try it.
Okay mom you will be proud of my new recipe. We were staying at the Assistants apartment in Rapid and the only gimme food was chicken and strawberries, honey. Yes it is what you are thinking. In idea of sis laytons cranberry chicken I made Strawberry Chicken and guess what! It was one of the best things I have ever eaten!!! So good. Used a magic bullet and ground up the strawberries and the honey and cooked the chicken a while and then glazed the strawberries on it. OH MY GOSH! It was awesome everyone had a piece. Dwarf young. Yes we do have a dwarf in our mission he is awesome. But, he tried it and went nuts he thought it was awesome. I love being a missionary, I hope all you know that.
Tonight is the play Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood, Its a 50's twist on red riding hood. Super cool. I am so excited like you have no idea!! Then tomorrow is the ward christmas party. We wanted to dress up as sister missionaries. But obviously not approved. So we might do something crazy like switch name tags. (Pause for either laughter or a pity laugh, I will take either)
Yes, So elder rich, our vehicle cordinator hi-jacked our car cause of hail damage. But he gave us the sisters car in rapid. Same exact car, same year just different color. They got into our car and it was brand spanking clean and sweet. They were like wow this smells like elder. We got into their car and were like woah, too much perfume. :) What a life.
Thats way cool to know that Elder Hammonds mom and you talk. So i got to watch what I say now about him they are reading, darn! Just kidding. I love him. He is a good guy. Struggling with some home sickness here and there but doing so awesome. I am very proud to call him my son. He is doing great.
Mom, their are only three things we take with us in the next life: our family relationships, and our knowledge. Do not feel bad about only spending time with your family. Thats what i love about our family, we can do that! Because we love eachother so much. Thats the way heavenly father planned it to work out. He gave me seven sisters to test me and make me crazy but I love every one of them so much. I will spend eternity ALL of us together one giant family. What a glorious blessing. I love you mi familia. You know who you are!
Oh well gosh darn the elders back home are looking like they are going to have to try tracting. haha. About time. :) I love it.
But there comes a time every week that this novel needs to come to a close so from Wright, WY Elder Rudd is out.
I love you all very much. More importantly your heavenly father loves you so very much. Love him, talk with him.
Remember the savior EVERYDAY not just "selective obedience" Remember his eternal sacrifice.
I love you all so much,
Elder Michael Corey Rudd
District Leader, Wright District
Gillete Zone
South Dakota Rapid City Mission
Elder Michael Corey Rudd
P.O. Box 701
Wright, Wy 82732
Keep an elder updated!! Dont make me pull out the parable of the dead letter writers. Emails are great. But letters are wonderful.