October 28th 2013

Well life hear in the Ashburn area is business as usual. Today for our P-day, President Riggs is coming down to our stake center to play basketball with us so im hoping that it will be fun. Riding bikes all day every day is definatly hard. For the first week i was slow, the second week my whole bottom half was killing me, the third week and so on has been getting easier and easier. The bike last night i was riding and something happened that im not sure what it did, but somthing is wrong with the cranks so i am going to take that into the bike shop, and hopefully it wont be anything major. Also concering the bike, the back axel is bent, so i need to get it repared so i will let you know whats going on with that. They got a car because we were getting rides from members to and from all our meetings so it was a big inconvenience. Neither myself or my companion can drive yet anyway. I have to be here in virginia for 1 month before to that will be soon. My companion cant because he went home for a little while then came back and they threw out all his info so he couldnt drive until he got that all back in. We had to throw out 15 bags not 5, it was crazy. But now it is clean and i am happy. That will be interesting to have Jared out here. Chances are though that i wont see him when he comes in because unless 1 of us gets transfered then we dont go. I am hoping that you guys have fun in orem. Sometimes i wish i could just get a pepper and take a drive, but sadly i cant. I dont like being with someone 24/7 sometimes i just want to be alone. We eat out every now and then, there are plenty of resturants around, we are going to go to a sushi house as soon as our money resets. But for most of the time its cereal, eggs, toast, and ramen. And then the memers feed us dinner. We have some great members in the ward, we visited a young couple last night, who were in charge of the halloween party, and just told them that they did great. Concerning Warren the hotel guy, we have a meeting set up with him tonight and we are going to invite hime to be baptized and give him a set date. Hopefully he is my first baptism. I will send some pictures, hopefully you get them. I love you all, I keep you in my prayers.

 

Love Elder Laing

15 bags of Garbage.....hmmmm

Hi Everyone,                                                                                       Oct. 25, 2013

I got your letters from the 18th. Its really good to hear from home every now and again. Right now we have 1 progressing investigator. The hotel engineer that I talked a little bit about earlier. He is very solid and we plan on putting him on a baptism date on Monday. Other than that we have now other progressing investigators. We have taught a couple of first lessons but nothing beyond that. So life here is still the same. The reason I get to email on Fridays is because we do progress records, and we switch off every week and they don't take that long to do. I can flex my quads now which is a little weird. I can bike pretty easily now. We ride about ten miles every day, so it sucks but its getting easier. There is 4 of us in our apartment, we had a major cleaning day yesterday and had 15 bags of garbage and other stuff we didn't want. So there is a lot more room now and it is actually enjoyable to be in there. I didn't get any pictures again. I am going to guess that they filter them so if you want you can send them to my other email and I can go on and get them that way. We will continue to work hard and it is so weird that its already been 5 weeks. Days go slow, weeks go fast. no idea how that works. We have transfer meeting in 3 weeks and I am hoping that nothing changes in our apartment. So the other elders with us got a car on Tuesday so they are able to drive us to the church and here to the library which is nice because its a 2 mile ride in the wind which is not fun. I am a little jealous because it is a 2014 Chevy cruize. So it is a very nice car. We had district meetings yesterday and they announced that in December that our mission in getting IPhones and Ipads. So the church is using the new technology to help us further the work. We are also getting Facebook. so maybe in a few months look for me :) Will continue to work hard and I hope to hear from you again on Monday.

 

Love Elder Laing

Hey are you guys Mormons?

Hi Guys,        

Sorry I didnt get to you yesturday, it was columbus day and so they aloud us to ocme write emails today. I wanted to see your new car, but i dont think it got attatched so try sending it again. Where did they split the ward boundries? Who is the bishop and counslers weather they changed or are the same?  I have realized since coming out here that. Its not all about today, there is more to come after high school and when you move out. You dont see how the gospel truly blesses people. In the month that i have been out here i think that i have grown up so much and have learned so much more than i thought i ever could. So what is your calling? What is dads calling? what else has changed? When i got here the day after was transfer meeting and my bike was waiting for me, so i have it and everything works still on it. I am in a biking area, and i think because of that i think that im loosing a little bit of weight so thats a good thing. I got the package you sent and was very appreciative. I am trying to eat healthier so that didnt really help out but a little treat never hurt anyone. The reason i only spent 12 dollars was i only buy apples, bananas, milk, bread, eggs, and cereal. The members feed us every night so i only have to worry about breakfast. I shouldnt be spending anymore on my debit card, because they gave us another debit card and we get 165 a week, and the reason i used my home is because i forgot my pin number, but i have it now. This week we are only teaching a couple of people, one in particular is named warren. He works at a hotel as an engineer and is a total stud. I think he is truly prepared for us. My companion is from Miles city Montana. he is a great guy! The 4 of us in our apartment went to the mall yesterday and had fun just hanging out. One other thing that happened there, we were waiting for our ride outside of dicks sporting goods, and a guy and his girlfriend were walking in, and he was like "Hey are you guys Mormons?  Us: Ya. Him: Your church sucks!"  His voice quivered at the end and it was kind of funny. We just smiled thanked him and told him to have a nice day. :)  So everything here is great. Loving life, working hard! Hope everything will stay great at home. 

Love your son,

         Elder Laing

     These Pictures are on the day after Blake arrived in the Mission. This is his Mission President and his Wife- President and Sister Riggs. There were 31 missionaries on the flight to DC, all going to the Washington DC South Mission!
If anyone wants to send Elder Laing a letter or Package, his address is:
Elder Blake Laing                                  E-mail: blake.laing@myldsmail.net
20030 Coltsfoot Terrace #101
Ashburn VA 20147

Breakfast at the Bishops

October 7th letter

There are a bunch of wards around but im not sure where they all are because i am still trying to figure out the rest of my stuff. So today we are planning on playing basketball at the church, so hopefully that will be fun. Conferance it seemed like the main focus was on member missionary work, and how members need to do more. Today is a very cold and wet day, it has been raining all day so far and everything is drenched. I like it better than the mtc so far, my schedule is alot less packed together, and i actually feel like i have control over what i do on a day to day basis. I am still trying to get used to the roads out here, there is no set pattern just twists and turns everywhich way, very confusing. We are teaching a couple of people right now. The first night i was here we taught a girl names Erica, so far she has read and prayed so it seems like she will be golden. Another family we are teaching are Penicostal, there a little bit harder to teach because i have no idea what they believe, and they are know everything about the bible, She actually wrote a book on it so they are scholars. Other than that nothing much has happened. We went to the bishops house for breakfast, it was great, and we had a good time. We did a little bit of tracting on sunday evening, so that was a little different and i realized that im going to learn how to deal with rejection really quick. I hope everything at home is all good, i still need to write dylan a letter but i dont have any down time so it is kinda hard. Other than that My life is great, and i hope the same for all of you. I love all of you and hope you have a great week.

Elder Laing

He made it to the Washington DC South Mission!!

     We just received a letter from Blake today, it was short and sweet, basically just telling us that he made it. It sounds like he will love it! We were able to talk to him last Wednesday morning when he got to the airport. He is well, happy,exausted  and full of the spirit! He was anxious to get to the Mission Field. He said that the last two weeks have been crazy, so much information, so much learning. He feels like he hasn't slept at all, only napped. was so good to hear his voice! He has already grown so much. We miss him so much, and even though I'm not suppose to tell him that, I did, but I wouldn't want him anywhere else. He is going to be fantastic!! He would love to receive letters!! His new address is :
Elder Blake Laing
20030 Coltsfoot Terrace
Apart. # 101
Ashburn, VA 20147                                                                                                
He writes:I
Arrived in Virginia on wednesday, met my mission president who owns a lawfirm in arizona and has like 10 lawyers working for him so i know now how he has so much money. I absolutely love him, hes funny and serious all at the same time. When we talked on wednesday night, i figured out that he is going to give us all the assistance we need, but he expects a lot and will treat us like adults so that will be good. Love my companion, he is from montana and has been out for 4 months. Other than that its not P day so i cant stay long. just wanted to let you know that im good. I am going to get a library card so i need a letter or something with my new address in the mail. just send something through dear elder if you could that would be great. My address is 20030 coltsfoot terrace apartment 101 Ashburn VA 20147   
Love Elder Laing