Thanks for the package. It will be nice to have pants that
actually fit and hopefully they look better than last year. I think my shirts
may still look big but at least the pants won't. (The shirts only look big
because I'm big--but this week I got to weigh myself and I think I am
officially about fifty pounds lighter than the night before I left.)
Thanks also for the Easter candy. I gave the Oreos away but I'm still chowing down on the chocolate. Also thanks for the music. I love the Cherie Call CD--it's upbeat enough to be fun to listen to but it's still nice and mellow.[1]
This week I hit sixteen months. I figure once I hit eighteen I can get no more possessions because anything I send home I need to have room for what I already have. My past companion Elder L. went home today and a member up here (in another ward, one he served in) is taking a bunch of his stuff down to Utah this coming weekend. He called and asked if I needed to send anything. So, it is with great sadness that I will send away my History of the Church. It will get to his place this weekend and shortly he will probably come by and drop HC off. (His grandparents live in NSL.) I've learned a lot from the History so I will be sad to lose it, but I've had it for almost a year now and it is heavy to put in a suitcase. And this is an ideal way to send it because I don't have to pay for shipping. (Just like how it came up here!)
Elder L. spent a lot of time in Idaho. So did Elder Br. Judging from their experiences I had already determined that Idaho is the blackhole of the mission--once you go there it's hard to get out. I think I've dodged it for long enough, but if you get here early in your mission you can expect to be here a while.
Originally, there was a Hayden district consisting of five companionships. Then they opened up a new area back in October which made it six. More recently they split it into two districts of three--the Hayden district, and the Lakeland district, which is where I am, but basically it's still one district--we go to the same district meetings and geographically we are closer to the Hayden district, so we are more likely to see them on P-day than the members of our own district. Many members of our district(s) have been in other areas of the district(s).
Considering the pattern of this area, it is not surprising that my new companion isn't going far. He is upgrading from the Hayden 3rd ward (which seems to be one of the biggest participants in the blackhole pattern) to the Hayden 4th ward. He is technically changing districts but he is moving one area over. His name is Elder K. and I am momming him.[2] His first two areas adjoin each other. It was weird yesterday to see him at church. He doesn't even get a change of ward buildings.
Elder Be. is going to the North Spokane district, which is the same district as I started my mission. He will be with Elder M., with whom I shared the car in East Wenatchee and saw almost every day.
This week it got pretty warm. I haven't been wearing my coat as often, although yesterday it was pretty rainy and we woke up to a dusting of snow. It's still pretty cold for the time of year, though, but I like unseasonable weather. We've been biking regularly now and I'm still getting better. It's so much easier to bike here.
I don't know if you recall, but I tend to get depressed annually--I call it my "March depression"--from about the time between Valentine's Day and Easter, climaxing just before St. Patrick's Day. During this time sad things are sadder and normal things become sad. I did not feel this until this weekend, and then only mildly, and I think the cold was in large part responsible for thwarting it. The early DST might have also helped. (I don't know if you've known about this or not, but it's happened almost every year since I was eleven, and my councilor didn't even have an idea why it happens.)
From my experiences with Elder K. on P-days and district meetings I like him. If I am correct he is from Las Vegas. It seems most missionaries are from Utah, then Arizona, then Vegas--not Nevada as a whole, just Las Vegas. It somewhat makes sense, since it was founded by Mormons.[3]
On Sunday I will be twenty and a half. Last night I called Elder D., who's been out three transfers longer than I. He received his "trunky papers," the preliminary forms for going home, and he told me that by the time he goes home I will have mine. If I am with Elder K. for two transfers, which is what I expect, I will make my last phone call from this area. I probably only have one more area. I feel really, really old.
And this week I had a dream that [my cousin] Peter died of a heart attack. I received the news shortly before I was biking up a steep hill in East Wenatchee with my new sister companion. (For some reason, when I was in Ritzville my thoughts kept reverting to Mead, but here they keep reverting to Wenatchee. In my next area they'll probably revert to Ritzville.)
Love,
Elder Melville
Thanks also for the Easter candy. I gave the Oreos away but I'm still chowing down on the chocolate. Also thanks for the music. I love the Cherie Call CD--it's upbeat enough to be fun to listen to but it's still nice and mellow.[1]
This week I hit sixteen months. I figure once I hit eighteen I can get no more possessions because anything I send home I need to have room for what I already have. My past companion Elder L. went home today and a member up here (in another ward, one he served in) is taking a bunch of his stuff down to Utah this coming weekend. He called and asked if I needed to send anything. So, it is with great sadness that I will send away my History of the Church. It will get to his place this weekend and shortly he will probably come by and drop HC off. (His grandparents live in NSL.) I've learned a lot from the History so I will be sad to lose it, but I've had it for almost a year now and it is heavy to put in a suitcase. And this is an ideal way to send it because I don't have to pay for shipping. (Just like how it came up here!)
Elder L. spent a lot of time in Idaho. So did Elder Br. Judging from their experiences I had already determined that Idaho is the blackhole of the mission--once you go there it's hard to get out. I think I've dodged it for long enough, but if you get here early in your mission you can expect to be here a while.
Originally, there was a Hayden district consisting of five companionships. Then they opened up a new area back in October which made it six. More recently they split it into two districts of three--the Hayden district, and the Lakeland district, which is where I am, but basically it's still one district--we go to the same district meetings and geographically we are closer to the Hayden district, so we are more likely to see them on P-day than the members of our own district. Many members of our district(s) have been in other areas of the district(s).
Considering the pattern of this area, it is not surprising that my new companion isn't going far. He is upgrading from the Hayden 3rd ward (which seems to be one of the biggest participants in the blackhole pattern) to the Hayden 4th ward. He is technically changing districts but he is moving one area over. His name is Elder K. and I am momming him.[2] His first two areas adjoin each other. It was weird yesterday to see him at church. He doesn't even get a change of ward buildings.
Elder Be. is going to the North Spokane district, which is the same district as I started my mission. He will be with Elder M., with whom I shared the car in East Wenatchee and saw almost every day.
This week it got pretty warm. I haven't been wearing my coat as often, although yesterday it was pretty rainy and we woke up to a dusting of snow. It's still pretty cold for the time of year, though, but I like unseasonable weather. We've been biking regularly now and I'm still getting better. It's so much easier to bike here.
I don't know if you recall, but I tend to get depressed annually--I call it my "March depression"--from about the time between Valentine's Day and Easter, climaxing just before St. Patrick's Day. During this time sad things are sadder and normal things become sad. I did not feel this until this weekend, and then only mildly, and I think the cold was in large part responsible for thwarting it. The early DST might have also helped. (I don't know if you've known about this or not, but it's happened almost every year since I was eleven, and my councilor didn't even have an idea why it happens.)
From my experiences with Elder K. on P-days and district meetings I like him. If I am correct he is from Las Vegas. It seems most missionaries are from Utah, then Arizona, then Vegas--not Nevada as a whole, just Las Vegas. It somewhat makes sense, since it was founded by Mormons.[3]
On Sunday I will be twenty and a half. Last night I called Elder D., who's been out three transfers longer than I. He received his "trunky papers," the preliminary forms for going home, and he told me that by the time he goes home I will have mine. If I am with Elder K. for two transfers, which is what I expect, I will make my last phone call from this area. I probably only have one more area. I feel really, really old.
And this week I had a dream that [my cousin] Peter died of a heart attack. I received the news shortly before I was biking up a steep hill in East Wenatchee with my new sister companion. (For some reason, when I was in Ritzville my thoughts kept reverting to Mead, but here they keep reverting to Wenatchee. In my next area they'll probably revert to Ritzville.)
Love,
Elder Melville
[1]
Cherie Call’s album He Gives Flowers to Everyone.
I have been a fan for ten years now!
[2] I
was his second companion.
[3]
Ehh…now I know this isn’t completely true. Mormon pioneers did establish a
community at Las Vegas in the 1850s, but it was abandoned. Then other people rebuilt
it later. Today’s Las Vegas was not founded by Mormons.
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