Nov. 15th
Yesterday (14th) there was a half-mission conference and not only did I get to see 7 of my MTC District (Elders Dees, Metz, Thomas, Packham, Moon, Periera, and Gwynn (which doesn't count as much because he's already in my zone)), but just seeing them was amazing. Oh, did I mention that 3 of my MTC District are training new missionaries this transfer?! Elders Kendrick, Packham, and Thomas are training a new missionary, that is something that doesn't happen often, but it is the goal with the new training program (which is to train in new missionaries in such a way so that by the end of the 12 weeks they could train a new missionary). But, even more cool than that was to meet and listen to Elder Christensen of the 1st Quorum of the 70! Man, that was amazing. He had such amazing insight about prayer and so many ways that we could improve that it probably got everyone pumped and feeling the spirit of missionary work again. Then after the conference we got the November Ensigns and so then I got to look at the talks given at General Conference and feel the spirit of those messages. It was a very good Monday.
Oh, by the way there's a street in Longview with the name "Jimmer Place." How cool is that?
Nov. 8th
Yeah, it's been good here and guess what happened this Sunday? We were heading for church and I looked at the sky and guess what I saw? I saw the sun, and I mean I looked straight at it as if it was the moon because that was how foggy it was, it didn't even hurt me to look at the sun for a few seconds. Now, that was a strange experience.
So, first off this area can be described in two words; wet and hills. It's either fog, or rain, or heavy rain, or light rain, or mist, but there is a lot of moisture and then there are a lot of hills, or ups and downs and I guess that is true in an area like this.
About the people, they seem to be a little meaner than they were in Milton-Freewater, not that they aren't nice, just that they don't seem to be as nice and cordial out here.
I will be here (Kelso) for Thanksgiving (unless I get emergency transfer) and the transfer ends Nov 30, so there is a chance that I might leave and be in a new area for Christmas. And I do not know where I will be sent to next, that's part of the revelation that President Greer has. Also, transfers are six weeks; this is the 4th week, so you can start keeping track of when I might be leaving.
Nov. 1st
Elder Baca. A head shorter than me, wears glasses, dark hair, from Mesa AZ, and he doesn't know what he wants to do in school. There's nothing that annoys me really, we don't have a lot in common (except being skinny), his favorite colors are red and gold, he plays guitar, and he’s writing a funny story about Kelsoites and Longviewites.
Oct. 25th
So my new area is "Longview," technically Kelso and Castle Rock. First off, I'll say that Kelso is to Longview as Orem is to Provo (aka they border each other) the only difference is that apparently they have a fierce rivalry between the two. Castle Rock is a small "town" (I use that word loosely in this context) and it has over 10 churches (they have a sign of all the churches in the town coming in and out of the town.
There are actual mountains here! (In Milton-Freewater they claimed they had "mountains" called the blue mountains, but they were glorified hills). This area has mountains, and trees and rain. Oh, I forgot to mention that earlier. This area is known for two things 1) being the "black hole of all happiness" (not my words) and 2) raining constantly (I first thought the two were connected but I'll explain those common misconceptions)
First, it is known for being depressing because it is almost always overcast, so you don't see the sun that often and I guess after a while that could be depressing. The second error was that it does "rain" almost always, but this rain is not like rain back home. It kind of squirts small amounts (almost that you can't feel it) and it does that and then it sometimes gets worse where it's has a lot of these tiny droplets, but there hasn't been anything yet so bad that it reminds me of some of the bad storms back in Provo.
Mount St. Helen's is in my area so that's nearby and there's a certain spot that you can see that and Mt Hood and some other mountain nearby all from one spot (but it has to be on a clear day).
(He’s around 55 miles to Mt. St. Helens that someone said.)
Oct. 18th
I'm getting transferred to Kelso-Castle Rock ward over in the Longview stake so this is my last Tuesday here in Milton-Freewater.
Oct 4th
Yeah, the temp's been steadily going down, and Elder Fowlke, who is from Wyoming, has been enjoying the weather.
[About the new Provo Temple] I know!!!!! When I heard that it was awesome!! I felt the Spirit and it was amazing to hear that. You have to keep me updated on how that is going along because I want to visit the temple there when I get back
Most of the missionaries are good people and I'm getting along with most of them. The work seems to be slowing down, but we have some really promising people that we are working on teaching. Milton-Freewater depends on where we go. In most areas people are "you're doing a good work spreading the word, but I'm not interested (or I have my own church)" but in this one area we visited people were a lot more hostile, I guess would be the word.
