July 18, 2017

Dear family and friends,

The past 2 weeks have been eventful. I got transferred down to Salinas from San Jose which is pretty far, it's down by Monterey though which is super pretty. It's been kind of nice to be out of the city actually but I'm still adjusting a little bit. My new companion has been good so far but I'll definitely miss my last one. 

So my last week in San Jose we went downtown for fireworks on the 4th of July which feels like it was forever ago but it wasn't. They do a show down there which was pretty good but there are so many firework restrictions here that just a few places do shows and that's about all. It was a good show, but being in Edmond and having everyone do fireworks everywhere you look is better. It made me miss home a little bit because the 4th of July was always one of my favorite days. And people in the Bay Area just aren't as patriotic in general which is kind of sad. But then again when you have so many immigrants from different places here they don't really understand our patriotism that well. 

It's always weird to change areas, I wasn't expecting to get transferred but then again I knew that it was a possibility. It's weird to leave people that you've been working with and helping too. I've always wanted to serve in Salinas though or somewhere in the southern part of the mission just to get a taste of it and get out of the city for a bit. So I'm glad that my little wish came true and I get to be down here for a while. 

So yesterday we went down to Carmel Beach for P day and it was awesome. It's so pretty down there and the weather was amazing. It was perfectly clear and like 70 degrees. It kind of stinks that we can't swim as missionaries when the water is right there but it's still really fun to just hang out on the beach. Like playing volleyball, throwing a football, digging in the sand, or just relaxing. I made a little chair spot out of sand to sit in with a little hole to keep my Mountain Dew in next to me and just watched the waves for a while which was really relaxing. 

But anyways, I think that's all for now. I miss you guys a lot but things out here are going well. My new mission President is great and things are all good overall. I'm still new to this area but this upcoming week should definitely help me get a better idea of it. It's crazy for me to think that I'm approaching my year mark, so far I've absolutely loved my mission and I know that there is a lot more in store. 

From,

Elder Godwin