Blog of Elder Hamish Macpherson

Well, I’m not in Sacramento anymore, that’s for sure. After being driven over an hour and a half south I’ve found myself in the one and only, Tracy California. A town of about 80,000 or so –  from what I’ve heard. It feels small compared to the big-city feel of Sacramento that I’ve grown accustomed to, but I’ve been here for a few days now and I think it’s starting to grow on me. Some of the more “new” neighborhoods here remind me of good old Elk Grove.

So yeah, here I am in the Tracy Ward, of the Manteca Stake. (Manteca is another city not far from Tracy). We’re actually all at the Manteca Stake Center right now, meeting to have a zone activity with all the missionaries — some of us, like me, are using the Family History Center computers to email. Speaking of the zone, there are a lot of missionaries here! 16 in total –  I think –  including 3 sets of spanish elders. We’re going to have fun down here, a lot of the Elders I don’t know very well yet, so I’m excited to make new friends.

We’re teaching a few people right now. A teenager named Brianna, a young Samoan boy named Jaivon, and a nice guy named Ed who works as a correctional officer for a nearby county. All of them are pretty neat people. Jaivon is hopefully getting baptized this month, and the other two are progressing really well. I’m still learning the area, but one thing I’ve noticed is that there’s a LOT of Spanish, Portuguese, and Punjabi here. Also, a lot of people who live in Tracy actually work farther south, or in the bay area, and just commute during the week.

I still haven’t gotten a new bike! I need to work on that. Right now I’m borrowing Elder McNeil’s — he’s our Zone Leader along with Elder Webber, and he’s not needing it, for now at least. But I’ll have to find a more permanent solution soon. I think I’ll call the mission office and see if they’re selling any used ones. Speaking of the Zone Leaders, we all live together in the same apartment, it’s a really nice place! They just moved in a few weeks before I arrived, since the last one had bed bugs… anywho Elder Webber has served around me for a lot of my mission, ha ha, he’s a great missionary, and it’s fun to live with him now.

Elder Deason, my new companion, is great. I’ll miss Elder Bellingham, my boy, but Elder Deason has a good spirit. He’s from Boise, Idaho, and has been in the field for about 5 months. He’s something of a grease monkey, since we’ll often talk to people and he’ll start asking about their car, and how much horsepower it has, etc. — usually if they have something classic, like an old mustang, camaro, etc. Which seems to be pretty popular here in Tracy. I know pretty much nothing about cars… maybe I can get him to teach me some more.

Well, I think that’s about all I’ve gotta say. I’m excited, as always, to be here. I hope to hear from some more of you. I haven’t got a letter in weeks! And not many emails either… yeah I know, cry me a river. I guess I’ll just have to get used to it.

Till next time, faithful readers.