First Email from California

I'm in a little house in Fremont, it's the northernmost area in my mission and boarders the Oakland mission. The house we have is owned by a member who rents it to the mission for a dollar a year I think so really for free. We just have to tend to the yard and thing like that. There are two orange trees in the front and an avacado and lemon trees in the back. We have to gather a coulple bags full to take to the owner once a week I think. And then we just give out avacados to everyone in the ward. My first week was a little confusing. My companion is Elder Bludworth from Albaquerque(still don't know how to spell it) New Mexico. He's a cool guy and really relaxed. I think I really lucked out to have such a patient trainer. According to him he was a terrible missionary to train. He didn't really want to serve a mission but is now over it and seems to be training me okay.

My first day here we got off the plane met the mission President and then went to the mission office to eat some snacks and watch some instructional videos and meet the senior couples who work in the office. Then my companion drove me around in our Carolla to meet some of the ward members. Then we ended up at a members house for dinner and it was a good night.

The house I stay in apparantly was not very well taken care of by the previous missionaries so my companion, the first six weeks he has been here has spent the whole time cleaning it up cause his second day here he got chewed out by the lady who owns it while his companion the one responsible hid in the avacado tree.

I'm really excited cause we seem to already have a crazy. I don't want to sound incensitive and perhaps my family should edit this out but I've grown up hearing mission stories of the interesting people that you meet on your mission. There is one lady that we met with at the Bishops request because she just started showing up to church one day and seemed like she was a member but they requested her records from church headquarters and they don't have any record of her being baptized. So we met with her and brought this up and her story is that she works for the government and because she's involved in some pretty hefty government work the government has to keep any records affiliating her with anyone under wraps. It is all pretty ridiculous. She isn't as crazy as some of the stories you hear but I figure if I've gotten this my second day then I'm in store for some good ones throughout my mission.

Anyway things are going good. We haven't really tracted too much. My companion hates it for one but really I think the mission President expects more member visits than is normal because the duty of my companion and I is to sort of clean up the area from some damage that previous elders left behind. Five missionaries were sent home the week before I came out so we're trying to regain trust a bit and establish a presence.

I'm having fun though. The members feed us every night and everyone I've met thusfar is really interesting and cool. A bunch of young couples in the ward keep having us over and they are really fun to talk with. At dinner last night we got on the topic of mission animal stories. The Brother last night said that his Dad went to London and a lady let them in to her house and was preparing them hot chocolate in the kitchen and the ladys cat started really attacking his companions leg so his companion flicked it in the nose and the cat dropped dead. So they stuffed it under the couch, drank their hot chocolate and left as quickly as possible. That is horrible I know but I find it funny.

Then the same Brothers brother served in New Jersey and they were driving and a cat darted in front of the car and they hit it and just drove on nothing they could do. But the guy in the passengers seat felt guilty cause the cat hadn't died and was just suffering there so they circled around the block until they came to a cat in the rode and so they drove over it, reversed back over it and then once again drove over it. They then drove off as a lady started yelling and chasing after them. They kept going wondering what she was so mad about when they had gone a couple blocks and found a cat half alive in the middle of the street. The first cat they had run over, the other one had just been sleeping in the street. Heh heh.

Anyway things are great here in Fremont. The zone leaders had talked my comapanion and I into waking up a 5am this morning on our Preparation day to go hiking up some hill but then they called at 4:55 as we were ready to leave to tell us that one of them were sick. They normally wake up at that time to work out so I'm thinking they were just pulling a prank on us, making us get up early just to mess with us.

My mission president gives us more time to e-mail so I can respond to more than I thought I'd be able to. I had to get a library card but hopefully it will be usable throughout all my areas. That's all I got to say.

Love, Elder Miller