The 4th of July

Dear Family,

     Most of you have been wondering about the 4th of July and the weather.  Well I'll start with yesterday and tell you about the weather later.

     The 4th of July was good we got to go to a huge free breakfast at the church with our ward, the Elm Creek Ward, and Maple Grove ward.  All the wards that meet in our building.  There was a bike ride before with the breakfast at 8:30 and a kids bike parade afterwards.  Our ward was in charge of cooking, but Elder Haupt and I didn't get to do that.  We had enough volunteers from Elders Quorum to survive.  It was quite and event though.  They started cooking at about 7 and were still going until 8:30.  They made about 1200 pancakes with a ton of sausage, eggs, fruit and muffins.  We we rode up there about 8 the other ward had already set up the tables and everything in the parking lot before the bike ride.  It was crazy to see 8 griddles all going at once side by side in the gym flipping pancakes and sausage as fast as they could get them out.  Because the Elm Creek ward was a little short on volunteers to serve Elder Haupt and I did get to do that.  Once we got to eat though it was all worth it.  That breakfast was alot better than the cold cereal I was planning on haha.  Unfortunately here in the MMM we don't waste time or engage our selves in meaningless tasks like being in a parade like missionaries in other places ;) haha jk.  It was kind of weird though not being in or at least going to a parade for the first time in like 8 years.  We basically just tried to get all our other P-Day stuff done and went out tracting after dinner.

     It sounds like from what Mom and Dad said about Idaho that it was a good time and everyone seems to be doing pretty good up there.  I'm glad to hear it.

     Now as for the weather here I will say I'm not to sure how sympathetic I can be to Brady for 100 degrees and no swamp cooler.  Here last week it was up in the high 90's with humidity at about 80%.  Yesterday it had a little less humidity but was still almost 100 degrees most of the day.  Last Friday was crazy hot though.  It got up to 107!  And with the 78% humidity I got to learn about this neat little thing they have hear called the heat index.  It combines the temperature and humidity to show what the temperature actually is and feels like.  So basically the hot version of wind chill.  So with the temperature being 107 and the humidity what it was the heat index put in up at 115 degrees!  Lets just say that was not my favorite biking day so far.  Later that night though the weather made a crazy change on us.  Because of all the hot weather and moisture there was a crazy crazy thunderstorm that rolled in the night.  So in one day of biking we went from sweating through my shirt and slacks to getting absolutely soaked on the ride home with crazy thunder and lightening!  It was so crazy but made things really interesting too haha.   Luckily for us living in the basement of the Paynters it's already cool down there and on top of the the have central air, so when we are home it's a nice relief from the sun, heat, and humidity.  It's pretty funny that everyone here has a dehumidifier in their basements and it's crazy to see the gallons of water that we empty out of it everyday.  That's Minnesota for you I guess haha.

     To answer Dad's question yes we do get the Ensign and can read it but we only get them at Zone Conference, so we'll get them 3 months at a time.  I don't have the July one yet but when we do get it I'll look for that article.

     Sorry that this isn't very long and there's not too much exciting to report on other than the weather.  The pictures I attached are of first this sign to show you I was lying about the temperature on Friday, and the other 3 are of what I found out is called a wall cloud because that's exactly what it looked like and was when it hit us.  It's pretty intense and the pictures don't really do it justice.  I hope that everyone enjoyed the 4th and is doing well.  I can't wait to hear from you next week.  I'll be able report on how it was to meet President Clements next week too.  I love, miss, and pray for you all always!

Love, Elder Craft