Elder Huntsman LeBaron, Church Service Missionary

Could it be? An update on time? *Le gasp* Good morning! I hope this finds everyone doing well! Unfortunately, because my update last week was late, I don't have a lot to discuss here. We got my aunt moved into her new house! Now we're just in the process of getting her situated, but her parents are doing most of the heavy lifting on that. (Don't worry, it's not literal. I helped get couches and beds in place on Saturday. In other news, this is just a three day week for me. I'm going to get to spend Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with a close family friend. I'm super excited! I love all of you! Elder LeBaron

Yeah, I know that this is dated to Monday. I got distracted. This week has been pretty all around good. Except for the fact that my bike got ANOTHER flat tire last week. That wasn't fun. I also bought new lights for my bike (since daylight savings time happened, I've been riding home in the dark every day), and putting them on was the biggest pain in the rear since... Well, since Mk. III had a tire size that didn't exist. For those of you who are just now joining or struggling to remember the transit issues I've had, here's a handy chart: Mk. I, A.K.A. Tony : My first car, and theoretically my mission transportation. The transmission shifted its last the day I was supposed to drive to Utah. Mk. II : My first bike in Utah. Got a flat tire my second day riding it, then got stolen two days later Mk. III : My second bike in Utah. Got double flats within a week of me and my grandma purchasing it, and then turned out to have tires of a size (27.

So first of all today was VERY successful because I learned to make french toast this morning. I could get released from my mission tomorrow and be happy, because I have now learned the one life skill that truly matters. In other news, I broke the Comparison Project last week. Apparently it was supposed to be semi-confidential or something, and so I wasn't supposed to tell certain people. The way it was explained to me it would be cool so long as I didn't talk about the thing over the pulpit, but the project has been temporarily paused because I told someone I wasn't supposed to. Don't worry, though, they made very clear that I'm not in trouble. The issue was actually really well timed, because I have now moved up to research! It's the final skill/level of SMTC, which is fitting since I'm on my last transfer here. We've been suffering from a shortage of research missionaries, which has meant that the lower skills have been somewhat

Good afternoon, folks! It came to my attention this morning that I have missed two consecutive weeks in mission emails --- a near unpardonable crime, as far as mothers are concerned! However, rest assured that I am alive, I am well, and I am continuing to try to to my best. The last couple weeks have been tough as I have been struggling with some issues of an intensely personal nature with respect to my mental/emotional health. It's nothing I haven't known about for a while, but it came back to the forefront with a vengeance the last little while, and has been something of an impediment in some ways. Things became especially rough on Sunday the 22nd, as I went to my Bishop for help and came away feeling bruised, broken, and unloved. Fortunately, God is merciful and kind. He blessed me with amazing parents who have worked their butts off to try to understand and support me, and I have been especially blessed in terms of Stake Presidents the last sixteen-odd months. I wil

Holy night this week was eventful! Slight correction: Thursday onward was eventful. Story Time! So the street I have to ride my bike down to get to the train station is a hot mess. The thing has no bike lane and zero shoulder space, so I have to ride on the sidewalk. (Those of you who've read all my emails to this point, if your spider sense isn't tingling at the mention of my bike, it should be.) Anyways, I ride on the sidewalk, but that's not necessarily fool-proof. Both sides of the sidewalk at rough and uneven, not to mention ridden with obstacles such as fire hydrants, road work signs (in spite of a complete lack of road work), and low hanging branches. On the side of the road closer to the train station, there is a field that spaces the train station from the road. It is full  of goatheads, which are essentially multi-sided thorns. Needless to say, these are not good to have around bike tires, so I deliberately ride on the far side

So apparently I didn't send a mass update last week, or if I did, I deleted it. Anyways, I think I'm on week seven? Last week was long but good. I ended up taking a couple days off for exhaustion and had some very therapeutic visits with friends down south in Provo and American(?) Fork, in addition to getting to see my cousins Saturday evening. Work has still been uneventful beyond the continued work at converting from the old Comparison Project system to the new one. That's labor intensive but simple, which means it's really enjoyable as far as work is concerned. In addition to that, I'm being deployed! There's a tool for the Service Missionary program that apparently is having technically difficulties, and leadership thinks that my analytical mindset and quick experience in SMTC will serve me well in the help that they need. It's interesting because it's technically breaking the brand new rules about not deploying missionaries duri

So this week's update is pretty bare. Very little of note happened this week. I'm really, really tired. I haven't been sleeping well for about ten days now, and it's showing. Today my eyes were super dried out, and I've been struggling a bit with focus. On the nights when I have been able to sleep, I've had dreams that left me just as exhausted upon waking up as when I laid down. If you would keep me in your prayers, I would greatly appreciate it. I've basically been given exclusive domain over the comparison project, which is kind of cool. At the moment I'm the only one assigned to it, so I've just been working on converting our older work over to the new Excel format. That's basically everything for this week. Like I said, it was more or less uneventful. Love, Elder M. Huntsman LeBaron

Ok, the subject bar is technically a lie. I'm doing really well! I don't have a whole lot of good stories this week. My grandma was out of town all last week for a reunion with her sisters, so papa and I got to watch action movies together. I can officially say that I never want any more exposure to the Maze Runner series (I hate zombie stories. And now the dumb things can sprint? No thanks.), and I have discovered what may officially be the worst movie I have ever seen - Sicario. It's a "drug bust gang war" thriller and it's actually R rated, but we had the TV 14 version. Papa and I didn't realize how bad it was going to be, and we kept expecting something heroic and awesome, only for the movie to end without even a real resolution. It was disturbingly violent, even edited down, and cost me a lot of sleep. Needless to say, I have sworn off movies for the indefinite future  which basically means until the next Marvel movie comes out . In

Holy cow, time's fun when you're having flies! *Kermit laughs in the distance* I apologize for not emailing yesterday. My internal clock went completely screwy after last week. Between having labor day off and being sent home sick on Thursday, I only served about half a week yesterday, and I spent about fifty percent of my time between about four Thursday evening and about six yesterday morning asleep or in a hot bath. Before you call me a wimp and whip out the man-cold card, however, I would like to point out that I first came down with the cold on Tuesday and was determined to fight through it. Had my trainer not noticed that I was pale and shaky, I probably would have worked straight through it and, in all likelihood, would still be brutally ill. As it is, I'm still coughing up mucus occasionally and have a severely runny nose, but the worst is behind me, aside from the damage to my sleep schedule. Because I spent so little time at service last we