Dear friends and family,

Thank you so much for the letters I got this week! It brightened several “rainy” days to hear from you, and I am glad that people are still reading this thing!

Today we went to the LA Temple, and it was just amazing. I haven’t felt this happy in a long time. It was spiritual and fulfiling, but I was also happy because of the people I got to see whom I hadn’t seen in a while and who I won’t see for quite some time. (Elder Gersbach, Elder Murdock, Elder Hardman, Elder Atamanzyck, Sister German, to name just a few). The whole experience just had me on cloud 9. I got so much out of it.

Sunday I spoke in the Walnut Park ward. It wasn’t what I had expected or what I had hoped for, but it couldn’t have been too bad because the Chino Heritage Ward asked me to speak on the 19th. One thing that was disapointing was that 2 of the 8 investigators I was expecting came to church. If you promise to be somewhere, you should be there!!!

As the transfer winds down to a close, I have so many emotions running through me. I am certainly Elder Emo right now. It is thrilling and horrifying at once.

Can’t wait to see you all again,

Elder Embree

Dear friends and family,

I can’t believe I have only 4 weeks left. I am going crazy with the thought of it. For the first time, I don’t want this to end. I don’t want to go home. I can’t stand the thought of taking off my badge.

Being a missionary is wonderful. Aside from the fulfilment of watching others accept Christ, and aside from the joy of serving as an instrument in the Lord’s hands, a mission provides me with feelings of love and acceptance and fraternity. All of these things will be hard to leave behind. There are somethings that we do as missionaries that have helped me- things that I never had before but needed- that will not happen after my mission. This is a big deal to me.

Today was a lot of fun. It is preparation day, and I was in charge of the activity. I made 7 deep dish authentic Chicago pizzas and we played Calvin Ball, with Elder Davis in charge of the game. It was tons of fun. Elder Allen and Elder Coxson came- they are the coolest.

Just FYI, Elder Embree II (my brother) just got called to the Buenos Aires North Mission in Argentina- he departs in October. I am so stoked. I. I can’t even describe how I feel.

I wrecked on my bike the other day. While turning right, my tires (the tread is so bald) slipped on a puddle and I sideways sumersaulted with my bike and got pretty banged up. You’d be amazed at the patience and indifference to suffering I have developed.

Elder Allen and I have been having deep conversations about how Sensual and Spirital forces are both at work in art and in life in general. This is the kind of thing I used to think too much about. I enjoy talking and thinking about it again. It is quite the paradox. How can both aspects be righteously balanced? These are things I can blog about when I get home.

Speaking of home, I love you so much. I miss you terribly. Specifically I am just so grateful for my parents. I can’t wait to see you.

To all of you who would like to contact me, please write me before I go home at 170 W. Duarte Rd. Arcadia, CA 91007. I come home Aug. 21, 2007.

Love,

Elder Embree

Dear friends, family, and fellow xangans,

There are just too many thoughts going on at once for me to know what to say. I am still the District Leader over here in Chino- going on 7 1/2 months here. Things are going really well. I’m trying to keep things going in our wards- it is harder now.

My new companion is Elder Shafer from Connecticut. (I hope I spelled that right). Yay for the East Coast. He’s a cool kid. Right away he recognized my name- he knows someone who said to look out for me. He asked me if I knew her – April Mason. I asked if she was April Hargan, and we struck gold. She is my cousin’s wife. Apparently Elder Shafer is good friends with April’s little sister. Small world. It’s funny, but he knows my cousin’s kids much better than I do. Kind of fun to get to know them through him- he has pictures and everything.

I knew that Elder Shafer was going to be my companion right away because of the 10 kids, only 1 had emo glasses. As it turns out, he is not really Emo, but that’s ok, I have enough emo to cover the both of us.

Yesterday in Sacrament Meeting I had some very powerful realizations. One was that hope gives us faith. (Moroni 7:44) We need to develop hope because hope gives us faith. The second was that the reason I yearn for conversions is that seeing others change gives me hope, therefore faith, that I can, have, and will change. Those are some pretty provocative realizations as to why I need to do things and why I have been doing things.

We live with Elder Allen and Elder Coxson. Elder Allen is way awesome, and Elder Coxson continues to be cool. I hate making good friends knowing that in 5 weeks I leave. Weird. As an apartment, we fit really well together. I am the old, experienced, in-charge dad; Elder Allen is the nurturing, open ears mom; Elder Coxson is the strong minded oldest child; and Elder Shafer is the hyper youngest kid. lol.

Well, don’t think it’s too close to the end to send me a letter. I would especially appreciate knowing where everyone is, what up-to-date phone numbers, addresses, e-mails, etc is. I hear that facebook is on steroids (Heather told me). Stay close,

Elder Embree

Dear friends, family, and fellow xangans,

Today begins my last transfer. 6 more weeks. I can hardly believe it. Elder Smith was transfered today, leaving me without a companion. I am training, and so my new companion is in the MTC until tomorrow. Meanwhile I’m kickin it with the Zone Leaders.

It has been kind of an emotional day. Elder Flores went home to Mexico this morning, and it made me realize how close I really am. Of course I will stay focused and will work hard- I have an example to set for my greenie, and a legacy to leave.

Martha, who I baptized a few months ago, moved into the Creekside ward (where I served 6 months ago). I miss that ward. I can’t believe that I have been in Chino for 6 months, going on 7 1/2.

This past Monday was a really really good day. We found several new investigators in a neat area of Pomona. Previously we had never felt like there was work for us to do there. All of a sudden, though, we felt like this was where we needed to be. I felt inspired to knock an apartment complex and we found a family of 5 to teach there. Floating on the excitement of it, we went to another street and knocked. On the way there was a guy who stopped us and told us his address. He wanted us to go to his home and get some water. We knocked his street, and found a woman down the street from him that said we could come back later to share our message. Then we went to this man’s house and got water. He is a nondenominational youth pastor/motivational speaker and counseler.

After that we went to an appointment with a less active member, but she stood us up. We were going to leave because it was getting dark and it is not a great place to be in the dark, but my companion really wanted to try this small complex right in front of us. I decided we should. The first door was someone who didn’t speak much English. The second door wasn’t interested. The third door was a freshman in college. She had the light of Christ in her eyes. I told her about Jesus Christ visiting a people in ancient America. She said, “Wow, I’ve never heard that before. That’s really interesting.” I bore my testimony about the The Book of Mormon- about my first time reading it and asking God if it was true. My companion shared his testimony of it, and then I asked her if she liked to read. She said that she loved to read, and that because it was summer she had a lot of extra time to read. I gave the Book of Mormon and she agreed to read it.

I know that the Spirit of God directs us in this work. I say this so that you can know that I feel a great sense of fulfilment in being a missionary. I hope that you enjoy reading about the things that I am doing so that you know that I am happy and that I have grown and developed. These spiritual experiences are the only way I know to “measure” my success in what I’m trying to do, and that’s why I share them with you.

Well, I love you all a lot. I miss you, and will be with you all shortly,

Sincerely,

Elder “Emo” Embree

From an e-mail dated July 2, 2007