Week 37: Dad Email

Spring is here!!! It is so nice. I haven't been wearing like 4 layers and it's sunny until like...8 o'clock which makes missionary work easier.

We usually have one or two or three lessons we teach every day. We are working with a lot of part member families here and are helping them become whole member families. We have another lady who wants to be baptized but is too scared to call her brother and tell him which is hard.

I learned how to play Pokemon this week! That makes 3 card games I can play now. Magic is still the best by far though. Pokemon still makes world championship desks though, which is fun because I can play competitive-level games but not pay competitive-level prices. One of the elders in the zone has a bunch of world championship decks we have been using.

Week 37: Another Week Come and Gone

This week was a pretty normal week, going to be honest. Not a lot out of the ordinary happened. However, we did have interviews with our mission president on Wednesday! That was fun. President and Sister Leishman are both really cool and it is always good to see them again. At interviews, one of my companions was telling them about how he got bit by a dog a few days prior to interviews and Sister Leighman ended up buying us these ultrasonic dog sound maker things to make the dogs stop barking! They got to our house the day after interviews and we have been using them since. It is really cool. There were a couple of times it has worked really well and made the dog turn around and run in the other direction. Some of them it doesn't work well on, but it is still pretty fun. After interviews, we had a pretty normal week. We did some teaching and some tracting. All in all it was a pretty good week.

Week 36: Zone Conference and Stuff

This week was another eventful one! On Tuesday we had Zone Conference. That was fun as always. It was really good to see a bunch of my last companions and people I have served around. We had some training about door approaches and the importance of building trust with the people around you. It has been good to use at the doors and see people open up more with you and have conversations more often. It should help the mission a lot and it will be fun to use as well.

After zone conference and back in Gig Harbor we had a former missionary here come visit us and tract 5-7s with us. He was one of my companion's trainers 20 months ago and was back visiting all his old areas and President gave him permission to go and work with the missionaries. That was fun. He was really cool and you could tell that my companion learned a lot from him. It made me realize how weird it would be to not have all the mission rules to follow and have structure in your life. I'll miss it when it is gone I think.

Zone Conference

Week 35: Knitting

This week was a good one! We try to do weekly service here as a mission and every area I have been in has worked at a food bank! But not here in Gig Harbor! We knit hats for people! It was a lot of fun. I am not great at knitting but it was fun nonetheless. Plus, by the time I leave here, I'll probably be a professional. 

The AP's came this week as well and did exchanges with us. That was a lot of fun. I ended up just tracting a long road in the middle of nowhere all day. It was fun. I found a bunch of chickens and more big houses. 

Then, we helped a family move into Tacoma, which was good too. The wife was an artist and had a bunch of paintings everywhere that needed to be wrapped up. We loaded up their van and got permission to go over the bridge to Tacoma to unload with them. It's crazy that only a bridge separates Tacoma and Gig Harbor but the two places are so different from each other. It's cool. Here it is pretty woodsy with a lot of long windy roads and big houses and over there is a pretty dense city.

Anyways, that's all for today. Gig Harbor is treating me really well. I think it will be a great, fruitful place to serve. I am excited for what it has in store.

Week 34: Gig Harbor!

This week has been crazy!!! Every day has been eventful! I got to Gig Harbor Wednesday around 2 and went right to work! That evening, for 5-7s we were tracting in an apartment complex and a whole bunch of firetrucks and stuff showed up. It was crazy. One of the members living in there called the fire department because she thought she saw smoke over where we were at. I don't know if there was or not, but it was a cool experience nonetheless.

The next day we started out by trying to visit a lady in a different complex. While we were there we looked into the next window and saw a guy laying on the ground under the table. We went in and asked if he was okay and he thought he was still standing so we called 911 and had them come and help him up.

The next day we had someone invite us in and play with his Tesla coil that he had in the middle of his house for some reason.

Every night here we usually have 1-3 teaching appointments with members and nonmembers as well which is awesome. I can feel my teaching skills getting better already and I am very grateful for it. My new companions I have are also pretty cool. Only one is from Utah! (Elder Coombs.) Elder Sperry is from Las Vegas and Elder Ramos is from Belgium. They are all a lot of fun and we get along pretty well. I am excited for my time here! It should be a lot of fun.

Week 33: Oh Look, an Email!

 This week was a good one! Very busy. This week was MLC (Mission Leadership Conference, I think) so we had to make the hike down from Port Angeles to Silverdale Thursday night. One of my companions also got emergency transferred there because someone went home, so now I am in a companionship of 3 which is a lot weirder. We can't split up like we can with 4, so we have to do everyone together which makes tracting a little awkward, but it is a lot of fun! While we were down there I spent the day in Silverdale helping them out. It is usually a bike area but because the Zone Leaders carpooled the rest of the way to Tacoma, we had our minivan for the day. It blew the missionaries minds how fast things got done that day, especially given that their biggest neighborhood is about a 50 minute bike ride to it. After that, we drove back up to Port Angeles and the next day we got our transfer calls! I will be leaving Port Angeles this Wednesday and heading to Gig Harbor. It is going to be fun. It is a little closer to things, unlike PA which is forever away from everything. I will still be in a companionship of 4 which will be awesome plus I will be in one of the best houses in the mission. It should be a good change. I'll miss it up here but new adventure is always fun.