August 22, 2016

Hey Mom!                                                                                           August 22, 2016

This week:

No coincidence names, The hellos and goodbyes, Elder Ackerman, Good ole' Marshall!, sudden living changes, existential objectivism, 

Ok, for the record I'm very happy to hear about Mason's marriage! Loved the pictures you sent! Every time I see or hear about a wedding it always recalls in my head the scene from Fiddler on the Roof when the wedding happens. And then I find myself running through the lyrics and tune Sunrise, Sunset.

Did you guys do anything fun while down in Georgia? I think it would've been fun if everyone in the fam could've come! But we all have our schedules and I'm "posted" (as Mckay says) in Ellensburg for another transfer. Still, before we sent Elder Summit off we had room for one more cool run-in. Last ward council we had, Sis. Grover, our dinner calendar coordinator mentioned we should go stop by a recent-convert named Vince. Later that week we stopped by and his room-mate, Tyler, answered. Basic door-approach more or less. Vince wasn't there, but Tyler then told us that he had been reading the Book of Mormon as we had knocked. Well, whaddya know? So we sit down with him and answer any questions he had. He's a researcher, so he does a lot of digging, but he's at least coming/going to the right sources. We hope. Vince eventually came home and joined us, and we met with him separately afterward. He was a real talker, but a good guy. 

Anyhoo, the next day we drove down to Yakima to drop Elder Summit off. After that I teamed up with one of the Yak companionships for a few hours. Funny, they were living in the same apartments our DL's lived in when I was there. Bro. Unsicker, the guy who let Elder Beatty and I skype at Christmas, lives right beneath them. But unfortunately I wasn't able to run into him. Still, it was a throwback, they really cleaned the place up! En route to one of their appointments we were stopped at a stop light. I then noticed a rather large hand in my peripherals motioning towards us. I looked over, and it was Marshall Slight, the town coroner, smile and everything! You'll recall he was the guy who fed Elder Beatty and I the "steaks" way back when! Before the light turned green I had just enough time to roll down the window and yell "hey Marshall!" before we went. 

At or around high noon we picked up the new guys. Ran into Elder Allen while waiting. He's still doing well. I was assigned to a certain Elder Ackerman from Elko, NV. A nice break from serving with all the Utah guys. After we got back to Ellensburg, we went through what it is like to serve in Ellensburg. He's a timid fella, and he's awfully nervous about talking to people. But he's got one heck of a greenie fire. So far we've been able to get along pretty well! It sometimes takes some time for new elders to open up. But I'm certain I'll come to love this guy!

I also don't think I mentioned, but we also got moved from our apartment to down the street a little way. The Sisters moved in with the Hermanas, and we got the duplex they lived in. Took some time to get it all situated, and we had to make brief trips back to the old apartment to make sure everything was accounted for. Which it still isn't. And just as soon as that happened, the other elders had to move to the apartment next to ours. So on Friday we spent the practical afternoon helping them and the Elder Call, one of the mission-housing staff members, move everything out. Yeah it took some time, but it was a good intro to the service side of things here.

Our first act of proselyting together took place when we saw Tyler again. He has a lot of questions, but he's sincere about his desire to listen to what we have to say. Later on we found ourselves tracting, where we ran into an elderly guy who had an incredibly odd view about spiritual things. It was very objectivist, meaning it only has meaning if you and you alone build it up. But in the end he said our life force all gets recycled, so I'm not terribly certain how that works out. Still, later on we saw Bro./Dr./Bishop Davis and Bishop Schilling to line out what we could do to help the ward progress in the work. Good visits! We have high hopes for the area. And it may just work too! Yesterday our friend Trent Walker (who just got home from Vegas West mission), shared a missionary moment in Elders quorum. We hope that experiences shared like that can create an atmosphere where member-work will want to come alive. Later on we dropped by Tyler again, and he told us he read a verse in the Book of Mormon that stood out to him personally! It was in 3 Nephi 18, Can't remember the verse.

Apart from that, that's the week in a nutshell. Things are going to be going super great we can tell. The rest of the district is going outstanding as well, 2nd ward had an experience similar to when we found Alva and Bev, someone just pulled them over and started talking to them. Even gave them food too! Yeah, it's been a good week. Can't wait to hear how the sanding at the cabin goes. Don't catch any fields on fire!

Love you,

Michael