Letter #64

This last week was actually quite eventful.  We had zone conference on Tuesday, which makes our last zone conference with the Weavers.  It was probably the best one that I've been to in a while, so that was good.  We talked about teaching simply and praying and keeping area books up to date and things like that.  We had it right in Silverdale, which is where our stake center is, so it was nice not having to drive for an hour to get to it.  The Weavers got all teary on us because they have less than a month left now, and they are sad to leave us.  I think they're pretty trunky though.  Anyway, that took up most of Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we went on exchanges with the District Leader.  I got to go to Poulsbo 1st ward with Elder Werk, and Elder Jameson stayed in Poulsbo 2nd with Elder Haynie.  So that was pretty fun.  We had a good time in the other ward, though it was hardly my most productive day on the mission.  Haha, but we still got some stuff done.  The biggest thing that interrupted our day was around 5:00 when President Weaver called and said that he wanted to interview everyone in our district.  So that was crazy.  We had to drive out from Suquamish back to the church for that.  And pretty much he was asking us all how we liked our areas and companions, because I guess there has been some amount of drama in our district.  Funny how that stuff happens sometimes.  Anyway, I basically told him that I'm pretty happy with everything right now, and then he asked if I wanted an emergency transfer, and I said no, and then he was all like, "Are you sure? You aren't just telling me that?"  And I was all like, "Ya."  So that was silly.  I'm pretty sure he brought all of us over there for nothing, but whatever.

And then I was sick for a couple of days after that.  It was the first time I've really played the sick card in a few months, so we had some blah days after that.  But I'm better now, so whatevs.

Oh yeah, and then Sunday was pretty wild too.  We were in charge of sharing time.  Which is 20 minutes long.  Twice.  So that's 40 minutes to entertain like 75 kids probs between the two groups.  And that was super stressful, but we made it through.  Thanks mom.

And yeah, that was pretty much our week.  Yesterday for P day, we played hockey with the zone, so that was fun, I guess.  I actually played the piano while everyone else did that.  I'm getting pretty good, actually.  But yeah, fun stuff.  We have the car this week, and there are more and more patches of "blue clouds" (aka clear sky) around, so that's nice.  We miss the sun sometimes over here.

Letter #63

Okay, so this week has been crazy.  The biggest thing that happened this last weekend was Viking Fest, which is basically this big carnival/fair thing that happens every year in downtown Poulsbo.  And that was in our area, so we went street contacting around there at the most opportune times of the day, because most of the city was down there some days.  And it was actually pretty boring most of the time.  We went during the parade, and talked to other people in the back of the lines who were also bored (mostly dentists, actually) as middle school marching bands marched and people on horses trotted about (well, the horses, not the people on them).  And then we talked to the viking people a little bit.  They were wild.  They spend their lives dressed up like vikings and crafting bronze jewelry and drinking horns.  They talked to us for a little while.  And then we met some members around there who talked to us.  And someone gave us a trillion dollar bill.  Turns out it was fake.

Well, the weather this week was actually really sunny, so that was pretty nice this week.  We got to help some people with some service, so that was pretty excellent.  We did some lawn mowing and such.  So yeah, jeans and stuff.

Okay, well this email is pretty boring, because this entire week was building up to viking fest, and then viking fest wasn't that cool, and now it's over, and we didn't find hardly anyone during the rest of the week.  So my DL said I can talk about him and all his special abilities.  He's pretty okay, actually.

Well, I'm literally out of material now.  Love you all :)

Letter #62

Well, I feel like I don't have that much to talk about today since I just barely emailed home yesterday, but I'll see what I can do.

So this week, we did a lot of walking, and the weather was super rainy, so it was a little bit miserable if we're in honest mode right now.  We don't have much of a teaching pool right now, so we have been trying to do a lot of finding this week, and we haven't been having too much success yet.  We are finally starting to pick up some people who have some decent potential, but we're excited about having the car again this week so we can make it around to places faster than we have been this last week.

So besides getting to call home on Mother's Day, I also had to give a talk.  And it was supposed to be pretty short, and of course, I talked faster than I needed to, so it was more like 2 minutes instead of 5 like it was supposed to be, but people still told me that I did a good job because they are really nice and stuff.  And luckily the other speakers went way over on their talks, so it was actually a pretty good thing that I didn't speak for very long.

We also volunteered at the food bank again this week, so that was cool.  The USPS food drive thing was this week, and so we helped sort all the food as the mailmen brought it in.  It's a pretty straight forward job, but sometimes there was weird stuff that you don't know how to sort.  The weirdest thing I found while I was there was a can of quail eggs.  That was pretty weird.

Also, our church got new carpet.

Well, that's pretty much this week.  I literally can't think of anything else worth talking about right now.  It was a pretty good week.

Letter #61

So this week was an adventure.  Poulsbo is way different than my last area in pretty much every way.  It's a pretty rich area, and people are not that eager to talk to you, so it's been pretty slow around here, but the ward is super nice, and the weather has been really good for us this last week, so there really isn't too much to complain about over here.  Poulsbo was settled as a little Scandinavian town, and so all the streets have weird names, and there are viking things all over the place, and stuff like that.  Poulsbo is a little port town just like Gig Harbor, and so they kinda have the same feel about them.  Also, I already got signed up for a talk next Sunday, so that's going to be fun too.  It'll actually be my first talk on the mission.

Well, my new companion is pretty cool.  He's been out for 6 months, and he's from Nampa, Idaho, so we're both from Idaho.  We're both relatively socially awkward, so that's alright I guess.  It's super nice being close to other areas again, so I get to see other missionaries once in a while.  And we even have sister missionaries in our district.  So yeah, that's nice too.

We are sharing a car with the other Poulsbo Elders, and this last week was our week with the car.  So we did most of our work on the outskirts of our area which are in the woods outside of Poulsbo.  And everyone out there is Catholic and rich.  But very friendly people.

Oh, here's something good.  I finally solved a rubik's cube all by myself this last week.  Thanks to everyone who said I would never be able to figure it out on my own.  Haha.  I am now open to learning alternate solutions.

My trainer is one of my zone leaders right now.  So that's cool, I guess.  I haven't been in the same zone as him since I was being trained.

One of the cooler things that we have done this week was that we got to help the food bank in the area move locations.  We knocked into the director of the food bank, and when we asked if she needed any help, she said that if we were serious, we could help them move the food bank over the next day, but that they would have plenty of help, so if we couldn't, then we didn't need to worry about it.  We went over the next day, and there were like 15 women in their 60's or 70's trying to move around boxes of cans.  There was this one guy over there, but he had a cane.  So I was really glad we showed up, because they had a lot of food that they were moving around.

We also got to teach an 8-year-old about baptism.  Her whole family is active members, but they wanted to have a lesson from the missionaries about baptism before she got baptized herself.  So that was pretty fun.

Oh, and then there was almost a fist fight that went down in Elder's Quorum.  That was pretty exciting.  And it was basically over the question of whether The Kingdom of God was literally the same thing as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or not.

Anyway, that's pretty much all that happened this week.  I really like this area so far, so I'm pretty excited to be here.  Talk to you guys later!