It is fun to walk the streets through the leaves. They all
gather in the curbs and on the edges of sidewalks and they are very fun to
kick.[1] I can't believe November
is almost here, but November is my second-favorite month.
We do walk around generally when we are in our towns.
Everything is so close together that we don't feel we need our bikes too much,
and also we are in a top apartment so we don't feel like taking our bikes up
and down the stairs all the time (I don't think there's a place to park our
bikes). I actually still have my wheels separate from my bike from the
transfer. And it could get annoying to have to transfer our bikes on the bike
rack every few days. We do have a full-time car, but we have to use it to get
from town to town, not from house to house (although actually we did go farm
tracting the other day--knock on one house and drive to the next). Ritzville is
about fifty miles from Cheney and Davenport, and Davenport is about forty miles
from Cheney.[2]
Then it seems all the other small towns are twelve miles from our main small
towns. We get 1600 miles a month, and we're doing very well this month. I'm
worried for November to come because then we have to be careful again. We're
due for a new car sometime soon because the Church likes to sell them before
50,000 miles and we hit that on Saturday, I think. The office missionary in charge
of cars says he has some older cars he has to sell first and then he'll get
ours.
Exactly one year ago today was my first day of freedom from
Wal-Mart (today at the store I saw all the new "associates" being
trained and my heart went out to them) and my official full-time mission prep,
not working just to get ready for my mission. We practiced my bike riding and
carved pumpkins. Tomorrow I hit eleven months. It is Zone Conference tomorrow,
and to get there we will be driving through Mead. It will be fun to go through
my "greenie area" again. Actually all of us English missionaries who
came to Spokane from our MTC group will be at the same conference--it's two
zones and all five of us are in those two zones--Spokane, which includes
Ritzville, Davenport, Cheney, and the main part of Spokane and surrounding
areas; and Northland, which includes northern Spokane, Mead, Deer Park,
Chewelah, and Colville. (All these cities probably mean nothing to you.) Ah!
Memories abound this week. Last year's Halloween was probably my favorite one
that I've had.[3]
I think I will send home my birthday check to you, and write
Grandma and Grandpa today.[4] It's weird to think that
I'm still expecting a birthday package, because I've completely forgotten about
my birthday.
So I'm confused as to whether Allie's Sleeping Beauty or
Snow White.[5]
I still think her witch costume when she was two was the best. And I'm kind of
missing my fantastic cape.
I'm going to email Dave today, so I'll close now.
Love and Happy Halloween,
Elder Melville
I forgot to tell you
I forgot a few little anecdotes about this week.
Last Monday we got back home and an ambulance was there.
Brother H., with whom we live, had been vomiting blood quite profusely, and
was in the hospital for a few days after. That night we had to have a
ten-minute dinner twelve miles away so we could come back and give him a
blessing.[6] He's doing better now but
still not feeling the greatest.
The next day we went to Reardan, a small town, and we showed
up at an investigator's house just as their dog was dying. We have impeccable
timing.
A lighter--but grosser--dog story has to do with an
investigator named Crystal.[7] Her grandma is active; her
dad is an active recent convert.[8] Her mom, Lucretia (sp) was
ex'ed but still believes the Gospel. Both Lucretia and Crystal like us teaching
them, and we were at Crystal's house teaching. She has a very rambunctious son,
Edward, who is almost three. Among the three houses of Crystal, Lucretia, and
the [grandmother and dad], there are many, many, many kittens and dogs (I've seen more
kittens in this area than in my entire mission).[9] Edward was playing with a
puppy behind Elder L. (we were sitting on a bed used as a couch), hitting it
on the head and trying to resist my protective measures for the dog.[10] Suddenly Elder L. stood
up, and a yellowish liquid was on the bed. So after visiting with them he
changed his pants. But the problem is there are no dry cleaners around here.
None in Ritzville, none in Davenport, none in Cheney. So he won't be able to
wear those slacks for a while.
Just thought I'd give you another random note!
Love,
Elder Melville
[1]
I can remember walking through a pile that collected up to my waist. In
Ritzville, everyone would put their leaves in the curb, and a big truck would
come by and suck them up. I was surprised such a small town would have
something like that.
[2]
My mom had asked how far apart these towns were.
[4]
My grandparents had sent me a birthday check, but there was nowhere I could cash
it.
[5]
My mom’s email said she was going to be Sleeping Beauty, but then she said they
bought a Snow White costume. She was Snow White.
[6]
We had a dinner scheduled in the town of Creston, but the branch president
called and asked us to come back to Davenport, so we had to cut our dinner
short.
[7]
She actually spelled “Crystal” really weird, so I misspelled it here.
[8]
I kind of think the dad was only active because he took his mom.
[9] The grandma had more than twenty cats and a few dogs living in her
single-wide trailer. She was disabled, but her son didn’t do much to clean up
after them, and he even let a friend freeload there. I often said we should get
her out of the house, then torch it with the cats and men inside. That area made
me decide I didn’t want to own a cat anymore. I’ve overcome that, obviously.
[10]
That was your typical sad, poverty-stricken, “white trash” family—the drug
addictions, the filthy houses, the abusive ex-boyfriend that she kept letting
back in.
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