Hey all,                                                                                                          Sept. 25, 2012

 So, I left the MTC at 5 am on Tuesday, waited for a while at the airport. I didn't call back, because my companion went right after me, so I waited until one of the others got off. I drove in President Cook's car to the mission home. We ate brunch and were interviewed. After that we went to a stake center for the transfer meeting. My new companion/ trainer is Elder Lake from Tempe, AZ. My first area is the Chapparal ward in Temecula, CA, the most eastern part of the mission. We are literally on the border to our mission and the Riverside mission. I had my first appointment that night with the Coffinos, a part member family. We taught (mainly, Elder Lake) about miracles in our lives. I unpacked and realized that no pillow was provided, kind of a rough night. Oh, because Elder Lake tore a meniscus in his knee (again, it's happened before in the other leg twice), and he needs crutches (which he usually doesn't use unless he's around the Evans or at church). We have a full time car, YAY!, I mean, oh darn. I did get my bike okay. Elder Lake really likes volleyball and basketball. He has 3 months left on his mission, so he's going to try to stick it out here and then go home for his surgery when it's all over. Elder Lake hasn't done a ton of training with me, but oh well. He doesn't really talk to me much, except in the evening when Elder Hegland and Lake ask me various questions, such as what is your favorite scary movie, or dogs or cats? We had a district meeting of 6, the next day: the 4 elders (myself included) from our apartment, and two sisters serving in French Valley. We went shopping Wednesday for food and a pillow. We went around trying to find people to teach with our map book (it's sweet). Temecula is pretty cool. We also have part of Murrieta. The area is about a couple miles by a couple miles. This area used to be in another mission, but got put into ours about a year or so ago, when we gave the San Diego mission two different parts. Our area is apparently hotter than is normally is, getting up to 100 degrees, but now it's cooling down, thank goodness for AC. We visited a couple active families and met with some of the youth and the Bishop at the end of Mutual. Thursday, we studied and went to the library to get onto mormon.org and Mormon Messages. I need headphones, so I can listen to them, so in the next package you sent, remember to send those. I tried to make a mormon.org profile, but I need a picture (Mom, you need to do it for me, one of me smiling up close. Go to mormon.org, edit profile, enter ryanrupper and mvbruins, then add the photo). We went to different places, trying to see some potential investigators. What's really cool is that we don't really tract here (people hate it), it's mainly member referrals. We had a service appointment Friday, helping out the Evans family with stopping the dogs from digging holes by putting in chicken wire. The Evans family is so cool. The kids (ages 18 F, 16 M, 15 F, 8 M, and 4 F) are actors, and they play Minecraft. They are super funny. We went around again later to find people to teach, but no luck. We ate dinner with the Garcia family. We had chili and rolls and taught about miracles. I have not yet had any lasagna, so that's a good sign. I'm still eating not as much as I should, but I'm trying to do better. I haven't really applied any teaching principles from the MTC yet, but hopefully that will change. We have had a lot of people cancelling appointments (even dinner appointments) here. Sunday was good, the Primary had their Primary program during Sacrament meeting. My P-days are Tuesdays, and I will be online around 11:30-12:30. I could be in this area anywhere from 3-6 months, my companion said. We get to go to a trampoline park here soon. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Lots of love, Elder Ryan Rupper

P.S. Devin, I will attack your face down monster with Blue Eyes.