Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the weather this week. Most
days it was foggy or rainy. It even snowed in Davenport this week, but
unfortunately we were in Ritzville that day. It seemed like in the winter Utah
weather mirrored Spokane weather, but not now. I hope it snows soon.
The following paragraph is an exact copy of what I sent in
my email to President Clark. I didn't feel like retyping it for fear of lazily
omitting details:
Yesterday we had a very interesting experience. We were
having dinner with some members. The parents are active, and the daughter is
too, but she's married to a nonmember. During dinner the nonmember, Don,
explained that he was having tooth problems and was going to see a dentist that
week. After the meal he told us he was going to go lie down because he was in
too much pain, and I could tell by his face and his voice that he really was
hurting. Elder L. asked if he wanted a blessing. He accepted, but he'd never
had an LDS blessing, only Catholic blessings. We explained it and gave him the
blessing. A minute or so after the blessing we were just talking with the
family and he had a stunned look on his face. He explained that it was the
first time in two weeks he hadn't had any pain. Even his shoulder, which he
hadn't told us about, wasn't hurting. He said he'd always been a skeptic, but
from then on he wasn't. The family took the opportunity to tell him that they
weren't surprised because they knew the power of the Priesthood, and that when
he is baptized he can have the same priesthood, and he is just a dry Mormon. I
don't know how soon it will be before he is interested in joining, but it was
definitely an important event in his probable eventual conversion. The family
thanked us because he had declined previous suggestions for blessings from
family members. It was the first time I'd seen a blessing work so amazingly,
but it was especially joyful because it was to a nonmember.
That was probably the highlight of the week. In addition to
that I got to learn the area a little better by going on exchanges (where the
district leader and us swap companions for a day) and staying in Ritzville. The
last time we exchanged I went up to Cheney. Having an exchange in your own area
when you have been there less time is the most excellent way to learn an area.
I hope what I learned won't come in handy soon; transfer calls are this
Saturday and I hope our call comes from the zone leaders, telling us we're both
staying, and not from President Clark, telling us one of us is leaving.
Last Monday Elder L. cut my hair, but he put the wrong size
on the clippers, and didn't realize it before he started cutting.[3] Therefore I had a very
short haircut, probably shorter than it's ever been in my life. I felt like
Gilligan when he woke up and proclaimed, "I'm bald!"
This week I got to travel to Odessa, another one of the
small towns we cover. It's always fun to get to a new town. I think there are
still a few towns and definitely a few settlements I haven't been to yet. This
whole area has a lot of German background--a lot of businesses have the word
"haus" in them. Lutheran has been the predominant religion here for a
while, although I think it's waning in popularity. Missionaries many years ago
left a bad taste in the residents' mouths when they went into a Lutheran church
and left pamphlets in all the pews. It sounds, though, like much of that
feeling has left as many people have left and members have set good examples.
There is, however, a sign in town that lists all the churches, but what I've
heard is that the other churches didn't want us listed, even though the Church
at one point did a service project to redo the sign. Even the Seventh Day
Adventists have a listing on the sign with as different as they are. But we're
not alone. The Jehovah's Witnesses aren't on there either. But the joke's on
the churches. Ours is the first steeple you see when you come into town that
way. I think we should get with the JWs and put up a big sign that says, "The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Jehovah's Witnesses welcome
you to Ritzville." It's so funny how much other churches hate us. Ding
ding ding! We have a winner for the modern-day Pharisees and Sadducees and the
true Church of Jesus Christ.
I'm glad you liked my pictures. I'm preparing a small memory
card to send home soon with my pumpkin dodgeball. I'm glad you liked the
Wenatchee shots.[4]
It was beautiful, but I think I like the aesthetics of arboreal areas and wheat
farming (i.e. Spokane and where I am now, respectively) more than the deserty
Wenatchee Valley. But don't get me wrong, it truly was beautiful. It probably
was more pleasing to the eyes there, but I like the environment more in this
part of the mission, for some reason. Maybe it just has to do with the time of
year.
Climbing up that mountain was scary. I don't know if you
remember my email about it or not.[5] The other elders suggested
taking a shortcut since we were short on time, but they didn't know that the
shortcut took us straight up the mountain, and took more time. It was very
scary. It was dangerous to go up, but it would have been more dangerous to go
down (which we inadvertently did do to some extent--gravel is not safe on such
steep slopes!). Rock climbing is against the rules, but hiking isn't. We just
didn't expect that one would turn into another.
Today I also sent off my birthday check with my verses to
"Follow the Prophet." The one about Zechariah is my favorite.
Well, my companion's waiting for me to finish. Goodbye!
Love,
Elder Melville
[1]
The title of my letter comes from a quote from an old Green Acres episode.
[2]
My mom’s letter said she still hadn’t sent my birthday package.
[3]
Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of this. Perhaps because my mom lost
the SD card with the pictures from this part of my mission.
[4]
My mom said she had just barely looked at the pictures I had sent home.
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