Hey everybody, life as a missionary in Iowa is pretty good. We are starting to get the hang of the town and stuff. Walking around it all day helps. The weather reminds me a little of Idaho, one day it'll be overcast and cold and the next it'll be pretty hot. I'm pretty sure it'll just be cold here in the next couple of weeks. Everybody says last winter was really mild last year so that probably means this one will be pretty crazy. The work is kinda hard on cold days because nobody wants to have their door open to the cold for very long but I've got a pretty hard working companion so it's easy to forget about ourselves and just go to work.
The people are pretty cool here, there are small town white people who have lived here forever and have gone to the same church for forever and don't like talking to us but there are a few that will be nice and chat with us about church and stuff. The Hispanics are really nice here like they are everywhere, they'll always be nice to us and talk for a while most of them will even invite us in and listen to the whole first lesson. Sometimes they are too nice though, they'll listen to us and act interested and then flake on out follow up appointments which is kind of a bummer but it's a small town so we'll run into them again. We've been teaching lots of lessons and placing a few Book of Mormons here and there. There is a surprising amount of diversity here because there are two really big meat packing facilities around here, Tyson and Farmland, which both bring people from all over. There are Mexicans, Guatemalans, El Salvadorans, even Sudanese and Liberian people. It's really easy for me to love the people here, even the ones that shut their doors on us.
The meat packing places sometimes make the air smell bad which kinda reminds me of home and sometimes the air smells like bacon which is pretty cool but makes us hungry walking around. There are hardly any members in Denison so we don't get fed very often but the members of the ward we go to in Logan were worried about us up here all alone so they bought us some groceries and frozen dinners and stuff which was so awesome and thoughtful. That'll make shopping today a little easier.
The schedule is pretty rigorous but I'm pretty spry so I'm handling it alright. Studying the scriptures for a few hours every morning is pretty cool when I can stay awake. I am really starting to understand the words when I read in Spanish. I've been reading a lot of Jesus the Christ which is difficult even in English but if I don't challenge myself I'll speak like a gringo forever. I'm glad I had a little background in Spanish before and then got tons of practice in the MTC because I can communicate pretty well already. My companion didn't know Spanish well when he got to the field so it was real hard for him in the beginning .
I'd really like to get some updates about everybody back home. How my are siblings doing in school and work and stuff. Who else is getting mission calls and to where. Who's getting back from missions and getting married, stuff like that. As you can imagine i'm pretty isolated out here, even from other missionTharies. We are on the outskirts of the mission out in the boonies. News of the outside world would be much appreciated.
I send my love to my family and friends back home, you guys are awesome and I wouldn't be out here without your help. Thanks so much for all the letters and emails I got in the MTC, don't be afraid to send some letters to me out here. Love you guys tons but my time is up, talk to you later.
Sincerely,Elder Jacob Harrison
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