There are so many Pine Trees Here...

    I have had many people tell me that this is the coldest it has been in Washington this time of year for like 30 years so, I guess that is just my luck. It is really not too bad during the day but biking around at night has been a little chilly. 

We do not have a small Christmas tree yet. I will wait until transfers next Tuesday to start decorating since I could be leaving the Lacey Area. I hope I stay here one more transfer but I would not mind going to an area with a car. Most missionaries here are on bikes but this mission has a lot of cars for some reason. The church buys new Toyota Corollas and lets missionaries drive them for 50,000 miles and then re-sells them. So the missionary cars are all new and nice. The problem is they give all the sisters in the mission the cars so there are not many left for Elders.

 My relationship with my companion has improved. He is a very knowledgeable kid and I have learned a lot from teaching with him. Unfortunately we still have not had many opportunities to teach full lessons but he has found ways for me to practice teaching. It is fun to teach the lessons and to be able to share what I know with others. We have been getting fed at 4:00 almost every night but that will change when I leave a ward that has sister missionaries. If we did not have sister missionaries we would not be able to go in the house because the husband is not home at 4:00. There has to be three adults of the same sex to enter a house.

 It is looking like we will not have a baptism this transfer. The one lady named Kathy we have been teaching has not been available and did not come to church after promising us many times she was coming. She made some lame excuse yesterday. Our last hope seems to be in a cool Jamaican guy we met yesterday who is in Washington visiting his sister. We asked if he wanted to get baptized and he was like, "Ya man" so we are going over today to teach him and hopefully put him on date for baptism. 

I will take pictures and send them in an email next week. We made some pretty sweet Christmas cards with a professional photographer here in the ward. I will send them home when we print them out and you can distribute them to people in the ward and a couple of my friends. I really like the ward here in Lacey. It is a big ward and the members are really nice. We go to Ward Council every other Sunday. And yes the members always give us food so I am careful not to eat too much. I have realized that being a missionary means that everyone calls on you to do service. I have moved two pianos, an organ, and a freezer so far. We also spent 3-4 hours helping someone who owned a  house that had been fore-closed. It was sad because the people who lived there had absolutely trashed their home, and we had to carry a bunch of junk out before the police came and closed the property. It was really sad. It made me think of how fortunate I was to have a father who taught me how to take care of my stuff.

 I have had some good salmon for dinner recently. The seafood is good here because it is freshly caught in the Sound. I do not really think about going to Brazil that much. I try to focus on where I am and why I am here. It is tough to hear about elders in my district who have gotten Visas but I have decided I will be happy to be there by my birthday. The tree at home looks great! Is that a new table in the room? Why on that side of the room? There are so many pine trees here I think I will just find a small one and cut it down. 

As far as doctrine goes I have been reading Jesus the Christ and a book called Gospel Doctrine by Bruce R. McKenzie. I have also been studying how to teach the lessons in Preach My Gospel better. It is amazing how simply the Book of Mormon states gospel truths compared to the bible. Here's what people say when we knock on their doors and tell them about the Book of Mormon.

 Enjoy.

   6 Thou fool, that shall say: A ^aBible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?

To that I want to show them "the rest of the story.."

 7 Know ye not that there are more ^anations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the ^bisles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the ^cearth beneath; and I bring forth my ^dword unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?

 8 Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the ^atestimony of ^btwo nations is a ^cwitness unto you that I am God, that I remember one ^dnation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two ^enations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.

love, 

Will