Happy Groundhog Day America!

Dear Elder Morain Fan Club,

How has everybody been? I've been goin non stop since I last emailed ya guys. Wednesday we drove up to Osceola and spent the night with the missionaries up there. Thursday morning my companion Elder Thomas drove up to Des Moines so I was with Elder Norris for the day. We drove down to a city called Lamoni(some may recognize this name from The Book of Mormon!) Lamoni used to be the RLDS capital of the world! Now its in Independance Missouri. But they have their college, Graceland University in Lamoni. I got to see Joseph Smith III's house(Joseph Smith Jr.'s son!) who was the prophet for the RLDS church when they split off from our church. It was quite an experience down their seeing all these Amish people haha.
Anyways, I stayed the night in Osceola Thursday night as well. Friday morning our companions met up with us! I finally met my companion Elder Schwartz who is an awesome missionary! He is from Boise Idaho and is going home in 3 months! We are great friends already and were having a lot of fun. He just came from being a Zone Leader in Sioux City! So we have been talkin about all the members I knew when I was being trained in Sioux City.
So then we drove down to Lenox and started packing up our whole house. It took all day long but we got it all packed in the nick of time. Saturday morning came and we had members from our branch come with trucks and trailers to move all our stuff to the house in Creston! Once we got there it took us all day Saturday to unpack everything. So I have been crazy busy with all of that.
But all the work that it has taken these past 6 weeks to find a place to move and finally move to Creston is now worth it! We live in a way nice house, that has a garage! I'm excited cuz I don't have to chip off ice from the windshield now. O ya since my companion Elder Schwartz is "X'ed" from driving I am the designated driver! I haven't been able to drive for the past 7 months so I am excited to drive again. It will be a new experience for me to drive in the snow haha.
Anyways, I feel so blessed right now. When I got to Lenox 6 weeks ago things were rough. Some how I made it through those 6 weeks and here I am. I am living in Creston, 8 times bigger than Lenox. I have an awesome companion who I love. And the members here are being a great support to us. I learned so much about not giving up during your trials. I feel so much more grateful for what I have it really has opened my eyes. I've learned that trials in our lives help us grow and reach a level we could have never reached if we had not gone through them. I'm so grateful to be a missionary for this church that has blessed my life so much. Thank you to all who have supported me as a missionary these past 10 months, it really has helped me through the hard times. I've learned to truly rely on my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ when no one else is there, they are always there for me and that has given me so much comfort.
Until next week
-Keep it real
LO
VE Elder Morain