Fairbanks

It's been a very eventful and unusual week. The first half was in the Yukon, and the second half has been here in Fairbanks. I spent Monday through Thursday in Whitehorse, and it wasn't fun saying goodbye. I was there for a really long time so it felt like leaving family behind. It will be good to have a new adventure here in Fairbanks, although I will miss the people in Whitehorse a lot. On Friday morning I hopped on a van headed to Tok, AK. I'm just glad I got to take the long part of the drive first this time. The drive wasn't as bad as before by far, and It was light all day and night so I got to see everything on the way up. In the afternoon I switched vans at Tok and headed for Fairbanks. I was the only one on the van, and it wasn't too bad because it was a lot shorter than the drive was from Wasilla to Whitehorse. When I got dropped off by the van in Fairbanks, there was no one there to pick me up, so I used the driver's phone to call President Dance (he was the only person whose number I had) and he called Elder Piiparinen, and I was picked up about ten minutes later.

It's so fun to be serving with Elder Piiparinen again. It doesn't happen too often that you get to serve with your MTC companion again. A lot of MTC companions don't get along, but me and Piips get along awesome so it will be a fun time here. It was really cool to get here and see how much we had grown. From not having a clue at the MTC to where we're at now is a big difference. You don't really notice how much you've changed until you see someone you came out with and work with them. Well, serving in YSA is definitely different than serving in a family ward or branch, but it's been really fun so far. Everyone is on a first name basis so it's a lot harder to get everyone's names down, as opposed to just learning family names. There are a lot of activities and we go and talk to all the nonmembers that come and it's been a blast so far for the past couple of days. We will work hard here and have a good time and be obedient while we do it.

On Wednesday Elder Piiparinen and I fly down to Anchorage for a Zone Leader Conference and then fly back Thursday night. I'm looking forward to it because I get to see missionaries that I haven't seen in awhile. Well, this will be a great week, and I'll have lots of great experiences to report on next week. See ya!

Love Mat