The Economy and Police Officers

Hello everyone,

My new area is great! It is huge, and I am completely lost. I can get to the church and back, but that is about it. There are thousands of people, most of them dont even want to say hello to me, but thats okay. at least i can say hello to them. hahaha. sometimes people are so awkward. i just want to say to them , yes, i am white, yes i am a Mormon mission, and yes i want to talk to you about religion. i will have to give that approach a try when we get back out on the street.

when we contact people here, they always start whining about their work and the economy and money. they all assume that every single american is a millionaire, so they like to whine. whenever they start to whine i tell them about my friend, Elder Seawright, in Africa and how the people there dont have any food or running water. that usually humbles them up real quick. they start to be a little more grateful for what they do have. sometimes i want to ask them, how many meals a day do you eat? because if you have food and a place to sleep, you are pretty well off. thats basically all us missionaries have, food and sleep.

the big focus of this culure is education and money. if you dont have the latest cell phone or the best education then they consider themselves destitute. i am so glad that during these 2 years, i dont have to be distracted by that junk. greed is so evil. happiness is not found in the newest cell phone or the best entertainment system. i had a conversation with a guy the other day. he started the conversation, he was whining about his job didnt make him enough money. so i just said well atleast you have money to eat right? he was like yea thats easy for you to say, i bet you make a ton of money as a missionary. hahaha, i laughed, and told him that we are not only volunteers, but that we pay our own way. he seemed to think that was pretty cool, so we are meeting with him on Friday. i asked him if he had ever seen a sad missionary, and he said no. then i asked him if its not the money, and its not because its fun, then why are missionaries so happy?

funny story:
we were biking to an appointment yesterday, and this cop stuck out his hand and high fived me. hahaha. it was pretty cool, basically made my day. what a nice cop.

my new companion is really cool. he is helping me with my chinese a lot. even though we have a lot of people in our area, we currently do not have any really good investigators. i hope we can find some new people to teach. although there are a lot of people in the city, they seemed to be a little more distracted by worldly desires.

well i love you all and i pray that you are all doing well. i am doing great, tell grandpa wood i love him and that i say hi. i am praying for him.

love,
Elder Craig Anderson