Letter - November 26, 2009

Hey there how is everyone doing? I hope that everyone is well. I am so excited about Emily. I couldn't wait to read the email this week because i wanted to know how everything went. I am thankful that everything is well with her and Julie.

Well i got transfered this week. It very well could be my last time being transfered. But i am now in an area called Cheltenham. It is not too far from Swindon. Yeah i know what you are thinking. I can't get anywhere else in the mission. Haha. But i am glad to be here. It will be great. My companion is Elder Schmidt. He has been out for 2 transfers and he is from Germany. That makes him my first companion outside of Utah and Idaho. I am excited to be with him. He seems really good and i will be able to brush up on my german from middle school. Fritz is back!!! I was sad to leave Nuneaton but it is always sad to leave an area. I know that this is where i am supposed to be though. I am excited for it. My new address though is:

Flat 8 Centurion Court
Roman Road
Cheltenham
GL51 8GA
England

So i hope you are not mad at me for this next story but i thought that you might enjoy it. So President Ogden is a huge BYU fan. So i got that tree that you sent me and since i was being transfered i thought that instead of leaving the tree in Nuneaton, i would give it to someone who needed it more than i did. So the assistants came to pick a few things up from our old flat on tuesday and i told them to give this tree to President Ogden. So they did it. It has everything on it. All of the Utah decorations. So they take it and when President Ogden is out of the office they go and put it in his office. So he comes back and opens up the door and sees this wonderful tree sitting there in his office. He looked at it and said "Who on earth would put this in my office?" The assistants said that they looked at him and then pointed at each other. So President Ogden went all around the office asking who did this. He wasn't too happy about it apparently. So then he goes and he just drills the assistants to see who did it. They said that it was me and President said that i better watch it at transfers. Haha. So yesterday at transfers i was in the office for a little bit and i went and looked in President Ogdens office and there was the tree. Still set up and everything. I looked at him and said "President that is a beautiful tree. I see that you have repented. Where did you get that?" Haha he then looked at me and said, "Elder Rudd i can't believe you did that. I came in here and saw this tree and i was asking who on earth would do that." Then i said that i just wanted to make sure he had the right decorations up for the big game on Saturday. Then he told me that he can find out a lot faster than i can and he will be happy to let me know who won. I said to him that i will be happy to find out because Utah will run all over them. Haha. He then went on to say that he is sick and tired of hearing the Utah fight song because they keep winning. Then i said that he better get used to it. Haha so that is my big story for this week. President Ogden was laughing the whole time we were having this conversation though so don't think that we were just fighting back and forth. We have a good time with each other. I just put Go Utes at the end of my Presidents letters. But i hope that they can pull out the victory this weekend. That will be great if they can.

Well the mission is going great. Time is going fast. It is crazy. But i am so happy out here. I am so grateful to be here. I love serving. I love our Savior. I know he lives. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real. I know it. I know that we are led by a prophet of God. I know that Thomas S. Monson is that man. He is inspired. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it is true. It has changed my life. The gospel of Jesus Christ means everything to me. Your right mom. Nothing else really matters. All that matters is that we do our best. That we try our hardest to keep the commandments and to serve our Heavenly Father the best that we can. I love this gospel and i am so thankful for my testimony of it. I love you all and i hope that all of you know that. Thank you for everything. I hope you have a great week.

Love Elder Sam Rudd