email from a sister in Temecula

Hi Cheryl, My name is Jeni Carpenter. I am in the Pauba Ward in Temecula. Your son is our Elder.....and we love him so much! I just wanted to tell you how great he is! He is our first "greenie" in our ward ever. We have been a ward for a little over 5 years and we have always had the zone leaders in our ward. We have always loved having such strong missionaries serve here. My oldest son, Brandon, is currently serving in the Paraguay Asuncion North Mission. he has been out 7 months. I always loved having Zone Leaders in our ward to take him on splits and come over and set a great example for him. I have to tell you....I would think your son was already a zone leader. He is incredible. He is so humble and has such a strong testimony. He is a hard worker and has a great attitude. He LOVES his mission. He gets along great with everyone in the ward and his companion....who is awesome too!! I was nervous and excited to get a "greenie". I have 4 children still at home. (I have 4 boys 19,13,10 and 5 and a girl 17). We always have the missionaries over and I wanted my kids to have the same strong example they have always had. But since my son was just recently a new missionary...I was excited to get a new one here. Your son is so great with my kids. They adore him. My 10 year old and Elder R can quote Brian Regan forever. My 13 year old asks to see his coin every time. I think I fell in love with him the first time he bore his testimony in our ward. We always love to hear the missionaries bear their testimonies...but they don't usually mention their families. (We always get them after they have been out a while.) Your son testified of the Savior and the truthfulness of the gospel....and then he shared with us how much he loved his family and appreciated their support. I cried and felt the spirit and thought of my own missionary who we miss so much! This is the very first time I have ever e-mailed one of our Elder's moms...but I wanted to tell you how much we love him. We will take care of him. I know you have already had a missionary out...so you are way more experienced than I am at this. I miss my son so much and I am thankful he is in the Lord's hands. I hope he has families in Paraguay that love him as much as we love Elder R.

Love,Jeni Carpenter

P.S. His mail comes to our house and he is so cute when he asks if we checked the mail. :)