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Week 92: Last One

This email, in case you couldn't guess by the title, is going to be my last email I send for my mission. Yup, the clock is almost done ticking. This Thursday I will be home from my mission. It has been an awesome time out here in Washington, and I've gotten to meet so many awesome people. I wouldn't change any of it. Thank you all for your support.

This week was fairly uneventful. Not a lot of things out of the ordinary happened. We did, however, have transfer calls! That was fun. I already knew mine (home) but my companions got some pretty good ones. I am excited for them. 

Anyways, that's all folks.

Interviews

Week 91: Quarantine Quarantinues

Pardon my terrible title. This week was good. As you could probably guess, the vast majority of the week was spent inside. However we did get a few times to escape throughout the week.

On Tuesday we were able to go and deliver mail to the zone, which was fun. I got to see everyone and be out of the house for awhile. 

Then on Wednesday we got asked to go and help out at a church camp, so from around 9 am to 3 pm we were in the woods doing various tasks such as but not limited to, painting trailers, welding windowsills, fusing water slides, and eating burgers. It was a good break from the mundaneness of quarantine. I look forward to going again this week. 

Friday was spent at the church building because of MLC (Mission Leader Conference) and during/after we helped the Yelm elders film some videos for our zone Facebook page, "Come Unto Christ in Lacey". It was a lot of fun. So, all in all, it was not a bad week! It sure went by fast. I look forward to what this new week has in store.

Week 90: And So it Goes

This week has been a good one! Not a whole lot of things happened but we taught some good lessons over the phone and had interviews this week! Interviews went really well. It was my last one, so my mission president gave me a bunch of really solid life advice. I enjoyed it. We are starting to get more accustomed to working digitally and are getting better at it which is nice. Hopefully the work here will continue to pick up!

Week 89: Week 3

This week not a lot happened. We spent it all inside our apartment trying to do the best we can over the phone. 

We have been decently successful at teaching over the phone, although it is pretty awkward sometimes. I definitely miss being outside.

One of my companions got sent home this week because he had asthma and was considered to be at risk or whatever. It was pretty sad. Our apartment is a lot quieter now. But we are making things work.

Week 88: Inside, week 2

This week not a lot happened. We spent it all inside our apartment trying to do the best we can over the phone. 

We have been decently successful at teaching over the phone, although it is pretty awkward sometimes. I definitely miss being outside.

One of my companions got sent home this week because he had asthma and was considered to be at risk or whatever. It was pretty sad. Our apartment is a lot quieter now. But we are making things work.

Letter Home

Week 87: Springtime, maybe?

The last little while has been more than a little exciting. Since I've emailed last, it has snowed twice. In March. But then it was 60, so it's fine.

This last week was spent in my apartment due to some certain worldwide problems...which has led to a lot of phone calls, board games, and pajama wearing. Fun fact! If you do all your missionary work over the phone, nobody knows you're wearing pajamas!

Besides being cooped up, not a whole lot has been going on. Most of our teaching pool is hiding because of the sickness and doesn't want to talk because of it. Apparently they think phone lessons are weird or something. I kind of agree with them. Haha.

It's been taking a lot of getting used to. One of my companions decided to prepare for being trapped we needed tons of Oreos, so that may or may not be what we have been living on.

Besides feeling gross from the mass Oreo intake we all feel fine. None of us feel sick, just stir crazy if nothing else. One of my companions sisters works in the medical field and sent us this ginormous GermX dispenser. 

Home

Just got a call from my mission president. I am coming home April 30th.

Week 86: Staying in Lacey

I'm staying in Lacey. All my companions are staying as well. We went shopping and our Walmart today was stripped clean. 

We've got a Safeway, Target, Costco, Winco, Fred Meyer and Trader Joes so I'm going to try and find things we need. We are in good shape though because we were given a list of things to buy a couple weeks ago in case we are quarantined. It took us four stores to find powdered milk though. I guess that was a good thing to buy because there was no milk to be found. We did buy extra accidentally last week though so we are good. I have been feeling normal. Nothing too crazy in the world of me. Just the world around going nuts. I tried to get an eye doctor's appointment at Costco but it is closed due to the virus. I reached out to an eye doctor in one of my old wards to see if he can help. Brother Waggonner owns a place right here in town. He is able to get me in April 8 but said that people are cancelling a lot and I might be able to bump it forward.

We just got this text.

 This will be interesting since in our mission all we do is knock doors all day. Good thing I have collected a lot of games. I bought a new board game that we have played a couple times. It was 20% off. It is called Pandemic. Haha. 

Week 85: Daylight!

This week was good! Thanks for Saturday, it's no longer dark early! That makes missionary work a lot easier.

This week we had a baptism! It went really well. It was in the Samoan group that I am in, so we had a bunch of food and musical numbers and such. Afterwards they all played sports too. It was good.

Week 84: Winter is Back Again...Oops!

It's back to cold and rainy. Spring came and went quick. Oops. Anyways, this week was a good one! This Wednesday we had interviews with our mission president! They were fun as always. We spent a good chunk of that day driving all the bike elders back and forth from their interviews. Later in the week we did exchanges! Those were a lot of fun. We had one of the Spanish elders come with us for the day. We did a bunch of tracting and then ended up going to Soccer Night with some of our investigators. It was a lot of fun.

Interviews

Week 83: The End of Winter

Spring time is almost here, and I couldn't be more excited. Not a whole lot happened this week. just a lot of door knocking and talking! As it goes in the life of a missionary haha.

This week we did have zone conference though, and that was fun! I'm knowing less and less people at them as the missionaries I know have mostly gone home, but it was still fun to see those that I do know. We got a lot of new instruction at zone conference as well, a lot of it will be good for the mission I think.

Week 82: Another Week Down

This week was good! It was busy! To begin, we went on exchanges with the Yelm elders. Elder Denton came up with us to Lacey. It was fun! Then the next day there was a baptism in Yelm that I got to go to. It was awesome to go and see a bunch of the members there from when I started my mission there. We also had stake conference this week! It was good to have the whole zone at church at the same time. That was fun. We also had a bunch of really good visits and lessons with people throughout the week and strengthened our teaching pool a good bit. 

Stake Conference

Week 81: New Transfers, New Adventures

This week has been a good one. We picked up Elder Kirkland and Elder Kesall! It has been a fun bunch. They are good companions. This week we did a lot of tracting and visiting with the Samoan group, trying to build up the program. 

Winter is slowly in the process of going away as well, which is beyond awesome. Pretty soon it will be light for 5-7s again.

Also, I made pulled pork!

Week 80: Transfers!

This week went really quickly. They all go quickly now. It's crazy. Not a lot of super exciting happening this week. We did a lot of door knocking and teaching. We have a lot of good people we are working with here. It's been a busy area.

Transfers are this week. On Wednesday I get two new companions! It should be good. I don't know anything about either of them, so it should be a good new adventure!