[10/14/2013] Week 31: Finding in the Fog

Hey!

This week is kind of a blur. It was the first week of the transfer, so things are a little different, but I'm still with Elder O'Rullian, so not too bad.

Everett District 3

The new elder in Thomas Lake is Elder Payne, who has been out for about three months. That means that Elder Black is now the senior companion! I think this is really cool, because it's just the motivation he needs to finish his mission out strong. So far they have done really well. I mentioned the new contacts thing last week. Well, Thomas Lake has repeatedly been the highest-contacting area in the zone over the past week. They really are doing well together from

what I can tell, and together they have found three new investigators already. In Thomas Lake, that is unheard of. I'm so happy for them right now.

Me and Elder Larson

Elder Larson was transferred to Arlington (just north of Marysville, where I was born) and is now in a nice, warm car for the winter. He's in a better place. :p

On Tuesday night, Elder O'Rullian's dad called our cell phone. It was sort of surreal, but really, Elder O'Rullian has been struggling a lot with missing home lately and staying focused on the work. He set up an interview with President Bonham on Wednesday evening and they talked through a lot of things. He really loves to teach and things like that, but he pretty much hates finding. And it's odd, because I've recently just developed this growing enthusiasm for finding as I described in my last email. We're gonna try and mix things up soon so that it's less discouraging for him. I need to figure out how to get him out of this slump and back to thinking about the work, but it's hard when there isn't a ton of teaching going on. Though, it has definitely picked up since I first got here.

On Wednesday, we hit 24 contacts - our personal record - and were the high for the night. Apparently, our whole zone has been catching the excitement because on Saturday, the zone contacted 202 total, setting a record for the mission, with a high of 51 in the YSA ward. Sheesh!

We visited the Copenhavers on Saturday night and committed them to church. They didn't show. I just don't know what else to do! Gah!

On Thursday night, we taught Tia the second half of the Plan of Salvation with Dennis, her dad (who is no longer a member of the Church) there. It was really cool to see how supportive he is of helping her make progress and eventually be baptized. All Tia wanted to talk about at first was her baptism! It was really interesting because when we started talking about the three kingdoms of glory, Tia had a lot of questions about homosexuality. Mind you, she's 9. But she has a cousin Kat, who just married her fiancee', Veronica. She's really close to Kat and wants her to be happy forever just like we can be. She wondered why God commands us to stay away from homosexuality, but then He also wants us to be happy. With lots of help from Dennis, we were able to explain that Heavenly Fathers knows how we can be the most happy and He has given us that knowledge through the Plan of Salvation and documents like The Family: A Proclamation to the World.

Just some good ol' fall-time street-contacting.

From my experience in this area, I've gotten really good at teaching children. It's kind of interesting.

On Friday, I spent the day in Mukilteo with the zone leaders. That was a blast and a day-long adventure. We started by tracting around a bit near the apartment, and ended up running into Elder Turley's very first convert, Brittany, whom he had lost touch with. Turns out they live in the same apartment complex! A little more relatively successful contacting and then lunch. After lunch, we took the bikes out (it was good to be back in the saddle again!). We really didn't get far down the road before we spotted [ta-da!] an unplanned service opportunity, for which we had prayed just minutes prior. A young man named Randy and his young family were moving out of a camper and into their very own place - their first apartment! We helped him move stuff in and talked meanwhile of his life story and of religious subjects. While we waited on him to get some things in order, he invited us to "feel free to take a look around and check it out!" He was so proud of this little place that he had acquired for his family.  He's a super humble and down-to-earth guy who's just trying to do right in raising his family. Talk about prepared! They invited us back for pizza and a message that evening. They had a lesson the next day and went to church yesterday! It was awesome.

In the evening, we tracted some large houses right on Mukilteo Beach and met an older Arab man, named Jasminder Door. This conversation went something like this: "Hey, we're the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!" "Where's your temple?" "Uh, it's in Bellevue, near Seattle." "The one I can go in?" "Oh! No, that one's right here in Everett." "What time will you pick me up?" "Oh, wow. Uh, church starts at 11:30, so we can be here at 11:00!" "How long will I be there?" "The full service is about three hours." "And you'll drive me back here after" "You got it!" "Ok, I will see you then." Needless to say, we were blown away. I haven't heard from the Mukilteo elders whether or not he ended up attending.

We got to teach Mateo, Giovanni's son, a few times this week by surprise and he even made it to church with his dad yesterday. Hopefully, he'll be back next weekend.

Our lesson with John on Wednesday fell through, as he was not home. Hm. We'll keep trying.

I think that's about it for this week.

I'm sorry to hear about Seth. That's rough. I always knew that Caleb kid was trouble. :p Hopefully, Seth will recover quickly. I will pray for him. That kid just doesn't get a break.

That's pretty cool that Brandon and Deborah are still talking and stuff. And that he's still being an awesome missionary.

Drive to the library this morning. It was SO foggy!

I'm doing well with the weather up here. It's coolin' down, but it's not freezing yet. And we've been spoiled this past week with a couple clear days, which means INCREDIBLE weather. I mean, just the most amazing fall days you

can imagine. Oh, Washington.

Leanne is in Collierville for another transfer, which means six months in her first area. That's a third of her mission! Keep sending her love. She really appreciates it.

Can I get James Thornock's most recent known address? I've got a letter for him, but I'm not sure where to send it because I think he may only work in California for the summer. Judging by the baptism pictures I got from Brother Herrera, he's home in Houston for a little while.

Attached are pictures of the bro's of Everett District #3 and another of Elder Larson and me at transfers.

I love y'all!

Elder Martin