Briefly (3/24/08)

So I know you're on vacation, which means you probably won't read this for a while. But today we didn't reserve computers at the library, so I only get a half hour today, so I have to keep it simple. It was a very eventful week so I will try to write you a snail mail if I can find the time. We are super busy--which is good--so I don't know how soon I'll be able to send it off. I'm also sending a package home soon but I'll wait until you're home from your trip.

Love,

Letter Mark[1]

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[1] A few months before I left, someone had posted a sign in my neighborhood that said, “Welcome home, Elder D!” My mom read it to my four-year-old niece, Allie, and said they could make a similar sign for me. But a four-year-old has never heard of “Elder D,” but they have heard of “the letter D.” So Allie began saying that they would make a sign for me that said, “Welcome home, Letter Mark!” I was sorely disappointed when I returned home and six-year-old Allie had insisted on “Elder Mark” instead of “Letter Mark.”

(no subject) (3/17/08)

[1]So my new companion is another white nerdy Utah boy with glasses who worked at Wal-Mart[2] so it makes the Church seem less diverse than when I was with Elder Ch., a Hawaiian Californian Renaissance Man. It will definitely be a different experience with Elder Co. He looks like Chicken Little. He is kind of what happens if you cross me and Elder Ch. as far as various interests go.

I'm officially no longer a greenie but the wards don't tend to think so and they don't really trust me.[3] Oh, well. It's not my permanent ward.

Sorry I didn't send a paper letter this week. There wasn't anything else I really needed to say and I didn't have time. I might try to write you a little less so I can catch up on writing back the other people who've written me.

So our new district consists of Elder Melville and Elder Co.; Elder C. J., district leader, and his greenie, Elder D. (I listed them in our phone as My Two Sons,[4] and whenever I see it the <i>My Three Sons</i> theme pops into my head, so I might have to change that); Elder Cly. and Elder B., the latter of whom is sort of notorious for being an apostate;[5] Elder G. and Elder Cla., zone leaders; and Sister Sha. and Sister Shi., the latter of whom had an anxiety attack during district meeting.

Yesterday Duane, our investigator, showed up at church and participated in classes. They are so completely golden. There is a scary possibility with them with a funny story behind it. When he was on the wrong track Duane stole a computer from Wal-Mart then fell asleep in the car in the parking lot. He also tried to load thirty lawnmowers on a truck and steal the truck. He was caught with both crimes but they were going to let the lawnmower charge go since he was going to jail for the computer. Now, four years later, the lawnmowers have come back so he has a court hearing in a few weeks. We hope they'll let him off.

Speaking of jail, our drunk investigator (who was sober when we saw him this week) might go to jail because he was charged with indecent exposure and then failed to go to court. He wants to go to jail so he can quit smoking and drinking but he worries without medication he'll die in jail. I've never met someone who wanted to go to jail before.

Well, the Welshes[6] are going to take us to Costco and Elder Co. is waiting for me even though I have a while left on the computer. If I think of anything else important I'll write you a snail mail.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Easter. The 22nd or the 23rd (I can't remember which) is the earliest Easter can be so this is an unusual year.[7] My tie isn't terribly green but no one wants to pinch missionaries, as far as I know....[8]

--Elder Melville

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[1] I don’t know whether I forgot to give the email a subject, or if I consciously typed “(no subject).”

[2] I worked in the Walmart deli from June to October 2007.

[3] I’m so quiet that people thought I was green even in my last area.

[4] Both their names ended in “son” (I edited the names out for the internet).

[5] “Apostate” in mission lingo means disobedient. This elder toned it down by the time I met him.

[6] The couple we lived with.

[7] Easter was on March 23, 2008, the earliest I can remember.

[8] I had asked my family to send me a tie that was unquestionably green, so what did they do? They sent me a tie and said, “I’m not sure this is green enough for you.” Exactly what I wanted them not to do. They said they wanted it to match the suit. :/

Transfers (3/10/08)

Tomorrow are transfers. I'm staying in Mead and receiving an Elder S. Co. (I don't know if that's correct spelling)[1] while  Elder Ch. goes to Coeur d'Alene to be a zone leader. I'm terrified about being left with an area. I know as far as my benefit goes it's better than me going to a completely new area--then I'd feel like it was my first day again--but it's really scary.

Last transfer everyone stayed the same and this time every companionship is changing. It will be an interesting experience. Elder C. J. has been out six months and this will be his first time as a district leader and trainer. Elder Ch. doesn't really like my new companion but Elder J. does. I don't know yet because I don't meet him until tomorrow. We are also getting an elder with a lot of rumors--bad thing--and Sister S., the odd duck I wrote about who showed me the video of her skirt flying up.[2] This will be a  veeerry interesting transfer for Elder J. I will officially be no longer green, which is both good and bad because I am sick of being new but I no longer have an excuse for my mistakes.

I had my first baptism this week but I don't feel like  it's anything special because I only taught her two pre-baptism lessons--not the real lessons--and her dad baptized her.  It was a  ten-year-old in a less-active family.[3]

We have a couple of new  investigators. Duane and Vickie are golden--they already are planning for baptism and we just started teaching them. They know the Church is true and Duane knew he had to quit coffee since the Church doesn't use it before we even talked about baptism. There are so many fantastic things denoting their readiness that I'm not even going to try.[4]

Mark is not so golden. Three of the four times we've met with him he's been drunk. The other time he was going through withdrawals. We gave a shave and a haircut to him (Elder Ch. did the hair, and yes, I shaved a drunk man's beard) and he liked it then but last night when he was drunk he told us he didn't like us and if we wouldn't get a book from the bookstore for him he wouldn't let us keep coming over. We're going to see him tonight and see what the case is with that.  He is lonely which is why we're meeting him and why he's an alcoholic. It just makes me realize how inspired the Word of Wisdom is. Between the beer and the cigarettes--LOTS of those--we leave his apartment smelling terrible.[5]

We teach a less-active woman's unbaptized ADHD kids who are very funny. We need to take a tape recorder to the lessons. Last week the ten-year-old boy was talking about how his mom has the Gift of the Holy Ghost but sometimes she loses it when she yells at them. Elder Ch. was teaching repentance and said, "Let's say you cheated on a test." His response was, "How did you know?" When he saw "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" on the Book of Mormon, not realizing it was the same as the one he already had, he said, "This must be the second season!"

By the way, thanks for the package, although the g's are way too big. I'm excited about the books and candy.[6] Regarding the History of the Church, I know it's big, which is why I wasn't totally sure I wanted you to send it. It would not be something that I would want to have one volume at a time--I would like it for a reference, not for something just to read through (I have enough of that).[7] I wonder if they have it on CD. That would be less convenient as far as reference  goes but would be easier for shipping and carrying purposes. I still would like one of the said media but it's no big rush, hurry or desire. I'm not asking for it now but next time you do send a package I might like a Children's  Songbook both as the small book and the CDs. I really like some of the primary songs--I just wish the CDs didn't have them sung by children since that can get tiresome.[8]

It seems like there was something else I was going to write. I know I'll think of it later and hopefully I can put it in my snail mail. Next week you should get the installment concerning my new cpmpanion and taking the reins of the area.

Love,

Elder Melville

P.S. If you want a laugh, read Mosiah 12:1.[9]

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[1] Remember that I am not including full names, or even unabbreviated names of my companions, for privacy’s sake.

[2] See this post.

[3] I don’t think they remained active. I wish I had done things differently in the ensuing transfers, but I didn’t know any better.

[4] Duane and Vickie are one of the great mysteries of my mission. They were golden and very excited for baptism, but then they just quit really talking to us. Duane was a recovering addict/criminal, and his probation was extended, which delayed baptism, so that might have had something to do with it; but they were really gung ho, and then stopped.

[5] We started visiting Mark because his therapist was a member in a different ward. Mark did later quit drinking, though after we had quit visiting. The member would make comments about me being scared of him. I resented the comment, but he was somewhat right. Thanks to Mark and other people, I can no longer distinguish the smells of beer and cigarettes from each other. They just go together.

[6] She sent me the JST of the New Testament and Easter candy. Easter was on March 23 that year, the earliest I’ve ever seen it.

[7] My mom had suggested she could send me one volume at a time of History of the Church and I could send them back when I was done.

[8] I did come to enjoy listening to the Children’s Songbook CDs, since missionary music is limited. But the music on the CDs is terrible! So bad!

[9] “And it came to pass that after the space of two years that Abinadi came among them in disguise, that they knew him not, and began to prophesy among them, saying: Thus has the Lord commanded me, saying—Abinadi, go and prophesy unto this my people.” Pro tip: If you’re going to wear a disguise, don’t tell them your name!

Interesting week (3/3/08)

This continues my series of mission letters. For a few weeks there, the Sundays when I post these had the same date as the letters themselves, but 2008's Leap Day threw that off.

I'll start with the ugly this week and if I have time I'll get to the good.

Last week we stopped by an inactive member. He was really nice--if not really believing or keeping the commandments--and let us in and said we could come back sometime maybe if we were in the area.

Saturday I went on an exchange with an Elder T. and we drove by a house where news vans were taking pictures of flowers on the lawn. Elder T. said the windows were boarded up. I didn't look because I was driving, and I didn't pay complete attention to where we were. Well, it turned out that the inactive member was stabbed a few days after we had met  with him, as well as the girl he was dating. I've heard they think alcohol and drugs were involved. The murderer (who has been caught) tried to burn the house down to hide the evidence but didn't succeed.[1] I think the dad, who lives about sixty miles away, is the only active one in their family. They're not having an LDS funeral.

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When I was on the week-long exchange with Elder R. we taught a lesson to an investigator, Kristy, and her less-active boyfriend, Doug, with the Elders' Quorum president there. When we got there he had already started his own lesson about the scriptures so we didn't have an opportunity to teach what we had planned. As we left Elder R. remarked about how he hated when members talked the whole time.

We've been meeting with a less-active man, Richard S., who married a non-member, and last Sunday our bishop asked us to prepare a lesson that would motivate him to invite his wife to hear the lessons.

The Elders' Quorum President told our ward mission leader that it seemed we didn't have anything planned at that lesson we had with Doug and Kristy--but he was the one who prevented us from teaching us what we had planned!

We prayed and thought to know what to teach Richard, and we decided on the MMTC (Member Missionary Training Center), a four-week lesson designed by previous missionaries to motivate members to do missionary work. The bishop was there and he seemed like  everything was fine.

Yesterday (Sunday), however, at ward council the bishop chewed us out  for not planning an appropriate lesson for Richard, followed by the Elders' Quorum President telling us we need to plan and pray about our lessons. It's just so frustrating that they think we don't plan when we totally do. The bishop thinking we taught the wrong lesson is one thing  but thinking we didn't plan, as well as the Elders' Quorum President thinking we didn't plan when he's the one who prevented us from teaching our lessons, made us quite upset yesterday.[2]

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OK, I've vented  and I don't have time to write about good stuff. I'll try to do that in my snail mail. (Sorry I didn't send a paper letter this past week--I wrote back to Tammy two months after they wrote me.)[3]

--Elder Melville

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[1] See this post, including this article and this article.

[2] I remember my companion remarking that that attitude was why that ward hadn’t had any baptisms in years.

[3] My cousin’s family sent me a letter while I was in the MTC. People care about you when you’re in the MTC, then they forget all about you. In the last year, I’ve been filing the letters I received on my mission, and I still have this one.