Another Week in Washington

Hello! Funny thing is I watched that shootout between the US and Canada at 6:30 in the morning while we were working out. It was very nice timing.  I have had some good member meals, but unfortunately member meals are now pretty much gone for us. There is now a new rule effective last Thursday that we cannot eat dinner with the sisters. So in order for us to get fed, we have to find a family with a husband home at 4:00, and someone who is not feeding the sisters. That's not going to happen. So we will just eat Ramen in our apartment and play monopoly I guess. Ironic as the reasoning behind the rule was to "be able to see more members". We play basketball at the church every Monday, I have gotten very good and can shoot very well. Yes, we have pretty much unlimited detergent so I wash things frequently. I  never iron as I throw pants in the dryer to de-wrinkle and hang them up. There were some nice days this week but it poured all day Saturday and Sunday. We opt to walk when it rains instead of bike. I get pretty tired of the bikes anyway. We had some good lessons this week with a guy named Jim who invited us on his private boat to go sailing in the Puget Sound. Its a real bummer that is against the rules. We also talked with some old guy who is a Christian Scientist. Hes is really nice and is interesting to talk to. I have figured their religion is entirely based on the Placebo effect. See if you can figure that one out. Look for the FBI clearance as it might come this week. Just send it to that address one day priority mail to that address in Salt Lake and let me know if it comes. That's pretty much all this week.  We found some new people with good potential last week so we will see how those turn out. Pray it does not  rain too much for me. At least it is not as cold as Iowa, haha. 

love,

Will

This isn't Brazil

Brazil Missionary Makes Snowman

Hello!

 Yes, it was a very cold week. We had some very cold biking nights. Luckily I found a way using my raincoat to create a very warm jacket wearing like 5 layers. We found a new family this week we are hoping to baptize. They are a Samoan family who have three kids who are not baptized. We are working with them. Samoans are really cool people. We had a dinner with the father of the home and if you do not know anything about Samoans, they love food. We had fried chicken and potato salad. I have never seen so much food. I could only eat 4 large chicken wings while the Samoan Dad ate 13. It was incredible.

 There are 3 other visa waiters that have been here longer than me in the Wa-Tac. We always have member dinners on sundays. I am back to reading the Book of Mormon but I think I am going to get a book called Rough Stone Rolling. I like reading about the history of the early church.Glad Anne liked her letter, sent one to Bon Bon too. I hope the US does well in the Olympics. Sorry I cannot watch it but I would rather miss the Winter than the Summer games. It snowed a good 4 inches on Saturday Night. Its was very pretty but it is now almost melted. We built a snow man since we had to turn in early for safety reasons. People freak out here if it snows. Who would have guessed I would build a snow man on my mission when I got my call in April ( To Brazil)? It was weird. I will upload some pics to my dropbox. Try to stay warm in Des Moines. Pray the missionaries there do not freeze. 

love,

Will

Outdoor Mural in Olympia

No Moving Boxes Needed

Yes! I am staying here so no new address. I think I am happy as Lacey is a pretty good area and I like my companion. There is a new sister being trained in my area so it will be nice not to be the youngest. We have not done much "official service" lately. And yes our entire mission gets together for transfer meeting. It will be tomorrow.  It's a fun time. Unfortunately our Seattle  trip to the temple got canceled. We met together as a zone at the church during the Superbowl and went home early. Sounds like it was not much of a game so I am not too bummed I missed it. 

The book bag was expensive but it is really nice. I usually do not carry it around during the day though. I fit everything into my pockets and my companion has a small bag to carry Book of Mormons. That is the nice thing about those small scriptures : they fit in your pocket. I am hoping we can find a baptism this transfer. We are both good missionaries so we should be able to. We just have to find some new people to teach. 

We had Stake Conference last week and our Mission President gave a great talk on Missionary work. He is an amazing man. We are off to a zone lunch at a place called Round Table today. It is nice to hear Bon Bon is doing well and yes I will send her another letter soon. I am also glad Kate is so in tune with the church. When you think about it, nothing matters that you do on earth other than the experiences you have and the things you learn. All other Earthly things are gone when you die. If only everyone thought like that. They would probably want to listen to us. 

We went to Olympia to get bus passes for February. The town is full of liberal hippies and homeless people. It's pretty dirty. Makes Des Moines look pretty nice. I am thinking March 18 for Brazil but we will see with this FBI clearance. My black friend who came here from my district left today for Porto Alegre. Just me and my MTC companion are left in the states from my district. Oh well, I will get there eventually. 

Will