Traveling and New Companion for now!!!!

Hey Mom and Dad!
I just finished reading Anik's and your e-mail! They were great as always and I loved them. Thank you. I am writing to you from Blanding, Utah. I explained in my audio to you this morning as I was driving why I am here in Blanding for P-day today. It was a 3 hour drive down here. We left this morning around 8. The drive was beautiful. Everything is beautiful over here. Beautiful desert. It is very different to home I think. Everything is explained in the audio. I don't know exactly what we will do here in Blanding today because this man, Bro. Charles, was supposed to take us to Monument Valley and around there, which is about one hour from here but he had a family emergency and can't do it. We found this out after we had already driven for 2 and a half hours. It's okay though. We'll find something cool to do and when we come back as a family to visit my mission, we can go to all of those places. They are awesome! Utah is a pretty nice place and it has a lot of tourist places. Especially down here in the south. It has really grown a lot. I have some baptismal interviews to do tonight here as well and on our way back to Price tomorrow we're going to stop in Moab and train the new district leader, Elder Call. The former district leader is now my companion for a week, Elder Nascimento (frm Brazil). It is a beautiful day outside so I can't wait to see what we'll do. The Manti temple was great on Wednesday even though I had a sore throat. I love those live sessions. It is such a beautiful temple. The detail and workmanship is just amazing. Things are going very well here. We need to find some more people to teach this week. We'll need the guidance of the Holy Ghost. I do miss Elder Brons quite a bit. I really love that guy and it is no surprise to me that he is now assistant to the President. We had a great time together and I feel I could have even stayed another transfer with him. I hope we keep in touch after the mission and even during. He will stay in the Provo Mission and I will stay in the St. George mission unless President decides to pull me out but I don't think he will. I don't mind going to St. George anyway. It's beautiful! I do have some crazy news. Do you remember my former companion Elder Patterson from West Jordan, Utah? He had those health problems that kept him close to home. Well, we got a call from President Pitts on Wednesday telling us that he took the mission vehicle and just left by himself Wednesday morning. His companion was pretty freaked out by the whole situation and he hasn't been out very long either. They only found Elder Patterson yesterday at a Wal-Mart in West Jordan. He was missing for several days. Isn't that something. They think it was because he was low on medication and hadn't taken any in a few days. He never did anything like that when he was with me. They will probably release him now. It's sad because he was a good missionary despite his health problems. He went to Idaho and Orem before he eventually ended up in Wal-Mart. They tracked him down because he was using his personal credit card to buy things. Never a dull moment here in the Utah Provo mission. I just love it! Alright, I must be going but I love you guys so much. I will try and soak my foot this week and see how it goes. Thank you for your prayers and concern. Love you!