To Dad from Will Aug 11, 2014

Yes the Nauvoo trip with the youth was always lots of fun. I am glad your car was the one to be in. Picking a good car to ride in is like one of the most important parts of those trips. I pride myself in having pretty good memory so I remember vividly that little Jersey Freeze place. I am surprised it is still in business. It is probably for the best that you did not take the Surburban. Though it is a great car the gas would have been expensive. I am glad you listened to my music. Hopefully it provided some entertainment. I think that as long as you do not use the language it's not terrible to listen to them. That is probably justification but missionaries are great at that so that is my two cents. No surprise about Madison Helton causing problems haha but I am sorry to hear that wrestling had to be stopped. I remember the bunks being in pretty rough shape when we got there but the wrestling did not help.

When I was in the MTC every Sunday night we would watch a movie they put on. The MTC would put on different movies in different rooms so you could choose where you wanted to go. My district hurried one week to get front row seats in one of the rooms. When the movie started it turned out to be "Remembering Nauvoo". We got so bored that we left and watched Prophet of the Restoration in our Classroom. I never did like that movie. The tours I liked, but not the movie.

The team with Lebron, Love, and Irving will be tough to beat. Probably better than his team in Miami but we will see. I do miss working at the fair. And the money that came of it. The Cubs stink.

Rice and I this week decided to start working on figuring out the people on the Ward list and look for families that want to come back and have kids that are not baptized. We found one family with a 10 year old who is not baptized and he and his friend came to church yesterday. We should be able to baptize him and hopefully his friend in a couple of weeks. The ward list has over 1000 names and only 250-300 active members so we should have plenty of work to do. We get about 40 miles a day in our Fusion which is a lot for this area. We also learned we should be getting a new 2014 Chevy Cruze at the beginning of next month so we are excited for that.

The weather has been very good all week. Today for a zone activity we are touring an old nuclear facility that the government built in Elma but did not finish and never used. It should be cool so I will take pictures.

Will 

August 11, 2014 Cosmopolis, WA

Mom,

I sent a long email to Dad so I do not have lots of time for this response. Just have Dad show you. That is crazy about Seminary starting 10 days earlier than in the past. I do not know why they would make it longer. You should try to have Anne work at the fair where I did next year. It would be a good first job for her that is not baby-sitting. We have heard nothing about Ipads for missionaries but we are pretty sure they are coming. The 400$ seems a bit much as you can buy a 16 gb one for 250$ brand new. 

We have a lot of miles for our area. We have 1300 a month. Other missionaries have to drive a lot farther and they have about the same miles as we do. I got the beach picture. Thank you for it. I do not carry around the shoulder bag I brought with me. It is too big. But I found a nice Small Targus bag I carry with me in one of the apartments so I use that throughout the day. 

Re-activating people is a very important work but missionaries do not like it in this mission because they would much rather baptize new people. It is more fun. We try to do both here in Aberdeen because we visit the Less-Actives to find Unbaptized Kids. It works well. Have not had a chance to talk to my ward mission leader  about Radiology yet but I really like the guy. I have had some cool WML but this guy might be my favorite.

And for your phone, you know I think Iphone's are boring but I am sorry I cannot help you with it. Hopefully Anne can help you.

Will

For the "visual learner"

Last Step....next Step Brazil?!

One More Step Forward! Keep Praying :-)

New Beach, New Companion in Cosmopolis

Summer in Washington 2014

Baptism in Gray's Harbor Ward

Things are much better this week.  It is true though. Transfers are hard. Everything that I was comfortable with and was used to for the past 4 and 1/2 months was gone. Thankfully the sun has been out almost everyday which is uncommon for this area. It has made the transition easier.

 I was not sure what to think of my companion but I think I have decided I like him. I was afraid he would never talk but he just has a hard time talking to other people but we talk quite frequently. I did start driving this week but have decided to let him drive most of the time as he knows where he is going and I do not. The Fusion we are driving is over 50000 miles so we are hoping for a 2014 corolla soon. I went on exchanges last week with an Elder Seamans in Ocean Shores. Sometimes I think we have nothing to do but they truly have little to do in Ocean Shores as far as missionary work goes. They have a really nice apartment which is cool and a very popular beach for Washington. Someone took our picture and I think sent it to Mom's Email. I was freezing in that photo. It was a fun exchange.

 We had a baptism of a 9 year old girl on Saturday which was cool. I will send a photo next week. We also have another women named Becky who agreed to baptism last night. We went and taught her the Gospel with a couple members in our ward. She will not be baptized until her two sons get back from camp so it will not be until mid September but that will be three baptisms so that is cool. Hopefully I will get to baptize one of them. I will put pictures of our 1900s home on drop box today. You will see it is quite old. It reminds me of the Wandro's home.

 I am glad you had a good time with Anne. Where did A-Rod go? Tell Anne I loved her Questionnaire and I sent it yesterday. Aberdeen is an interesting city. There are tons of really sketchy people. Drugs are very apparent. The other day while we were tracting some guy had out his 14 foot boa constrictor on his yard. Its actually really cool as I love snakes so I hope to grab a pic. Yes people here love Kurt Cobain. I am glad you enjoyed the concert with Anne. I am sure she had lots of fun. Thanks for all the advice. Much of that is very true. I am thankful for the family I have.

Will

Some photos from Old Ward and New Area

July 28 2014

Hi,

In my new area in Cosmopolis I live in a duplex that is not owned by members. We live in the top floor of a fairly large home. My biggest apartment by far. There are 5 rooms which include another bedroom and a large living room. I will take some pictures of the place this week. Aberdeen is actually not too small. It is the biggest area I have had on my mission. It is a pretty run down town though with lots of crazy people and drugs. Not the nicest place to live. I am glad it is summer though because the sun is always nice to see. The weather has been good lately.

No I did not know Jarom Anderson but his name sounds familiar. Congrats on beating Mr. Reece. I never thought he was a very good teacher but I always like the guy. My new companion is younger than I by two transfers. He is obedient and willing to work which is nice. He is very quiet though so sometimes life seems pretty quiet. Its just him and me. The ward was cool on Sunday. Our Ward mission leader and the bishop are both radiologists which is still my goal in life so I look forward to having that conversation with them.

The work is actually better than I expected down here. We have a baptism of a 9 year old girl on Saturday which will be cool. We also found lots of new people to teach this week. We have a Ford Fusion with 1300 miles a month. I am hoping to find a bike soon though so we can save miles and have more things to do during the day. People say lots of Visa are coming through right now but I have not heard of anything in months.

My companion is from Snowflake Arizona. I wrote lots of information to my letter to mom so just have her share it with you. Yes that is surprising to hear about the weather there. The weather here has been great recently with the sun shining. Unusual for Gray's Harbor. Having a washing machine and dryer is always nice. I have not driven yet but due to the fact my companion almost got us killed I think I will soon take over the driver's seat. Anne should enjoy the concert. That is a really fun idea to take her I am sure she will love that. Does Kate plan on going to school after Mines? I wondered about this the other day. This town is kind of dumpy but I have met some cool people so far.

And yes I always wondered why the church funded BYU and that is the reason. They are basically investing in future church leadership. It is crazy Kate will graduate before I come home. Maybe if she gets a job she can pay for my college. Just kidding. I won't have to worry about that for a while. Thank you for the sports update. I cannot believe James went back to the Cavs. Who would have thought? I love quotes from old people like that.  Lots of love

Will