December 18, 2007. We new missionaries had spent the night at the home of some members, and they gave us breakfast. They drove us to the stake center, where we were to meet our new trainers. I got Elder Chun. We had an orientation and then headed to our areas. I met Brother Gibby, who took us to lunch at a Thai restaurant. Then we went to his office to wait until he headed home. He showed us a documentary he had made about the Church in the Spokane area. After that, he started another documentary he had made, which annoyed Elder Chun, because he wanted to go over our plans with me. So we just tried to ignore the documentary. Then we went to our house, where the Welshes, an elderly couple, lived. I met Harold, the ex-con who lived in the room next to ours. Then we went to a member dinner. A two-year-old in the house came upstairs with red marker all over her mouth--Elder Chun thought it was hilarious and said she looked like a vampire, but the girl's mother and grandmother were not so amused. We ate beef stew; I said that I didn't like beef stew but that I liked that one. Then we had a member pick us up to go visit people. I put a cinnamon Listerine strip in my mouth, and the member said I smelled like a Christmas tree. I didn't know what we were doing, but we tried to see less-active members who lived in the middle of nowhere. At one point we knocked on a neighbor's door to see if they knew about the people we were looking for.
June 3, 2008. I got up early, and the Welshes took me to the stake center by the temple so I could get on the transfer van. I met my MTC companion, Elder Hightower, and he told me he was training but didn't want to. In fact, the other elders of my MTC district were training as well; I was the only one who wasn't. (I never did.) Elder Chun was there to be transferred, and he came out and said hi to Sister Welsh. Eventually it was time to load up and leave. The missionaries in the van decided to listen to a talk by Bruce R. McConkie about seven deadly heresies in the Church; I was annoyed when one of his heresies was believing that evolution can be compatible with the gospel, and one of the other elders nodded in agreement. (If that had happened today, I would have explained the Church's official position, or rather non-position.) We stopped in Moses Lake, where Brother Olsen and Elder Bramall (BRAM-ull) were there to pick me up. We went to Arctic Circle for lunch, but the one there wasn't as good as the ones in Utah. Elder Bramall and Brother Olsen had a conversation about how often we missionaries ate out (about once a week). When we arrived in East Wenatchee, we talked about the member lesson we would give that night. I showed Elder Bramall the object lesson I had, which he liked, especially since the family had kids. We went to dinner with the Hill family. I was trying to be more outgoing in that new area, but apparently it didn't work, because one of the little girls said, "That missionary doesn't say a single word." Her mom told her that maybe she should try to ask me some questions, but she was too scared to do that. When I gave the prayer before we left, I accidentally called them the Hunts instead of the Hills. As we were leaving, Sister Hill shrieked because their baby son had put his hand in his diaper. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"The last few days have been somewhat hectic, but now I'm safely in East Wenatchee with Elder Bramall.
"I'm scared because I am killing him at the end of the transfer. Therefore I must rapidly learn the area to be prepared. Elder Bramall isn't one of the super fun missionaries--which is fine by me but it's the first time I've had a companion like me. This is his sixth transfer here so he really knows it so it'll be a stark contrast once I take over. This is my time to grow."
October 7, 2008. Brother Raab came to pick me up to take me to Spokane. I put my suitcase in his trunk, and he was acting a little gruff. I said goodbye to Elders Duncan, Moench, and Dobbins, and we were off. We stopped in Moses Lake, and then we stopped in Cheney so that Brother Raab could give some apples to his sister. Then he took me to the mission office to wait for my companion. Some missionaries were there, including Elder LaPratt, who introduced himself to me when he found out I would be in his district. I thought he was really weird looking. (I later learned he's ugly on the outside because he's ugly on the inside.) President Clark kept saying, "Poor Elder Melville," since I had to keep waiting. He told me I could go in the back and study (he didn't seem to like the idea of me just sitting there). President was having interviews with different missionaries. Eventually Elder Jack, one of the senior office missionaries, asked President if he needed me for anything. Elder Jack needed help with mission vehicles. First I rode with him and then picked up a vehicle, and I had to drive it back. It was weird being in a car all by myself, and I had to turn the radio off. Then he needed help getting a truck to be repaired. I had to back it up out of the parking lot, which terrified me, since I had never driven a pickup before, much less backed it up. I had to follow Elder Jack, and I was terrified for several reasons: 1) I had never driven a pickup before, 2) the truck had soft brakes (hence the need to be repaired), 3) I was in an unfamiliar area, and 4) I was alone in the vehicle. I kept waiting until eventually Elder Love showed up with Sister Stackhouse's son. Then we drove to Davenport. As we passed through Reardan, Elder Love pointed it out to me and said it was one of our towns. When we got into Davenport, I dropped off my stuff at the Herrons', where we stayed at the beginning of the week. Then we went and saw Sister Stackhouse. She offered us dinner, but Elder Love declined; he later explained they didn't have a lot of money. Then we drove out of town a little bit to visit a part-member family, the Zellers (they were having a tater tot casserole, which seemed to be a favorite meal in that area), and then another member family, whose name I can't remember. They gave us dinner. The husband explained why he didn't like the missionary I replaced.
February 10, 2009. Elder Wilson and I had stayed in Cheney because it was closer to Spokane. I think that morning the sisters came to get their laundry (they did theirs at the house where the Cheney elders lived) and I offered them some of the Valentine candy I wasn't going to take to my new area. We went to the stake center by the temple, and I said goodbye to Elder Wilson. I met Elder Betenson, and we piled into Brother Dan's vehicle. Elder Proctor was also getting a ride with us, and he had fishing poles that barely fit. Brother Dan was talking about having to have a cold shower because the missionary I replaced had done his laundry that morning because he didn't want to have to pack any dirty laundry. Elder Proctor was trying to defend such actions, but no one bought it. We ended up at the Dans' house, and I took my stuff downstairs. Then we went out visiting people. We stopped at a member home to use the restroom, and they offered us hot chocolate. I accepted, thinking that I wanted to get to know the members. But that was a little wasteful of time, since we were having dinner there that night, but I didn't know that. I apologized to Elder Betenson afterward, since I didn't know we were eating there. When we went there for dinner, they played a prank on me by pretending that we were eating a soup that had a fish head and other unwanted food in it. This is my journal entry for the day:
"So today Elder Wilson and Elder Holtom took me up to the Valley stake center to wait for my new companion. I was able to see my Elder Love, which very well could have been the last time.
"I am now with Elder Betensen [sic] in Hayden, in the home of the Dans. Today we saw some members and some others. I am glad that I'm momming [first companion after training] him, because he's already on the ball, so I don't have to do too much.
"Hayden is a fairly rich area. Elder Betensen thinks it's average, but these homes would be considered pretty nice in my previous areas."
May 5, 2009. Some older members took me to the stake center for transfers. Elder Colton was there and told me I looked good, since I had lost about 20 pounds in Hayden. I had planned on riding the transfer van all day and stopping in Colfax to get picked up when they were returning to Spokane, but the APs informed me there wasn't room for me to do that. So I had to get off at the first Colfax stop. We went into the gas station there, and I asked Elder Maxfield where he was going. He told me that he was the new AP, that there were three of them. I told him that I had heard Elder Wakefield was the new AP but that surprised me, and I felt bad because I didn't realize that Elder Wakefield was close by. I rode down to Lewiston with Elder Hinebaugh and Elder Foerster and their member. I was really quiet, but at some point I said that small towns were good at decorating for Christmas. The member stopped for us to take a picture outside of Lewiston.
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| It was after this picture that I realized my shirt was too big. |
"So the hectic several days are now over, and I am now safe and sound in Lewiston. The saddest thing about leaving Hayden was probably the Williams family. Robert basically did a confession to us last night.
"It's odd--I never really warmed up to Hayden. Logically it seemed I could be there a while, but I never really felt at home there. Sure, it was nice, but I didn't really feel attached to it as I did my other areas.
"I will probably change my mind, but I kind of think today that Lewiston looks like Wenatchee--not my side of the river, but when I went on exchanges, it just feels familiar."
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