Only eight more days of August (8/24/09)

I had to laugh at Pops's comment about a camouflage scripture case, being here in Lewiston. In the high council room of the stake center some of the hymn books are bound together by camo duct tape on the spine.[1] (Speaking of duct tape, I bought a black roll to help keep my shoes together--they only have to make it three more months.)Guns definitely fit in with Lewiston.[2] A few weeks ago we went to a members' home and I was shocked when I saw a large deer rib cage sitting on the kitchen table, along with some other meats and body parts. At first I was like, "It's OK, it's just meat," but after being there a few minutes, I started getting lightheaded. It was gross. 

When I was in kindergarten I thought Mrs. Christensen was really old. But here it is, fifteen years later, and she's still teaching! I'm sure she won't remember me, but how interesting that she's teaching my niece. When I heard that Allie was going to Indian Hills, I thought it was sad, because she wasn't going to school with her local friends. Now I think it's sad because she has to leave all of her Indian Hills friends. But I get sad over silly stuff.

A couple of weeks ago I sent in my departing paperwork. You'll have to let the office know if President Brower's address has changed.

I do have a few birthday ideas. I bought a watch last week and settled for a gray one. But I really wanted an orange one, but didn't know how proper it was for that to be my only watch. I couldn't justify buying both. It was a digital Timex Ironman watch with an orange band (non-cloth, of course) and an orange clock part. I bought a cheapo orange watch from Wal-Mart a few years ago, but it didn't work well. This one is not as cheap so I know it will work.

Also, my razor is five years old. It has a battery in it and tells me how many minutes of charge it has left. Lately it has been dying when it says it has four minutes left. So it's getting old. But it still works so it is a lesser desire.

On Saturday we were going to go tracting so we were locking up our bikes to a stop sign and a wasp stung me on the neck. As scared as I've always been of stinging insects, I was surprised it didn't hurt more. My companion told me we needed to get the stinger out. He didn't believe me when I told him wasps don't leave stingers. He looked at it and thought there was a stinger, and even tried to scrape it out, but then he realized it was just a hair on my neck. He told me we needed to go buy Benadryl (we just bought the Western Family version) so I did. But the medicine made me very tired and the sting didn't hurt much. I think if I get stung again I just won't do anything.

Thursday was the hot day for us. It got to about 104 where we are, but in downtown Lewiston we heard it hit 117. Yesterday and today so far have been relatively cool. I don't care now because I know the summer's descending to a close and some day I'll look back and cherish the days my shirt was soaked with sweat.

I don't think too much interesting happened this week. Let me know when the deadline is for the BYU stuff. I hope when school starts (which is this Wednesday) the library won't be as busy and we'll have more time.

Love,

Elder Melville

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[1] Apparently this part of my letter was included in my home ward’s bulletin, and my mom was embarrassed to have everyone know that I was fixing my shoes with duct tape.

[2] My dad wrote to me, “You are getting close to your 21st birthday.  We were going to get you set of guns since you are in Lewiston.  Do you have room in your suitcase?  Would you like a new camoflauge suit and/or camo scripture case?”

Temporarily tolerable August (8/17/09)

This week we had more rain and clouds so it was a pretty cool week. Unfortunately, the coolness appears to have come to an end, and once again we will be having heat. But the month is halfway over, and in two weeks from tomorrow, the long-awaited September will finally come.

Nothing especially noteworthy happened this week. Today I am going to go buy a new watch. I came on my mission with two watches. One I bought for the mission because it had a plastic band, but it was cheap and the LCD didn't stay working. You had thrown in an old watch in my suitcase, which I have been wearing. But it has a cloth band, which I don't ever want to get again. I have always had a problem with cloth bands, because they get wet and all slimy. I now have a case of ringworm on my wrist, so I will purchase a band that will not get slimy. The problem is that plastic bands usually indicate a cheap watch. Why can't they put good watches on plastic bands? Is there some rule about it?

Anyway, as I said, this was an uneventful week, so I should probably use my few minutes left to look at BYU stuff. (Lewiston's library is stupidly small for its patronage.)

Love,

Elder Melville

A little cooler (8/10/09)

I did get approval today for me to go to besmart.com to commence some of the application process.[1]

And we had marvelous thunder and rain storms this week, which have made even the last few sunny days much better.

But there were things that happened that made me joyful this week.

The baptism we had was excellent. Katelyn's uncle and his non-member girlfriend (whom we have been teaching) attended. Katelyn bore her testimony at the end. The member of the branch presidency who conducted said that when he heard she was being baptized, he said, "One of our most active members is being baptized?!" I did wonder when she started coming if anyone even knew she wasn't a member. Yesterday she even offered to give the spiritual thought at FHE.

We also received word that Nick M., whom we baptized a month ago, received the Priesthood in the Marines, and that he recognizes what the Gospel does for his thoughts and his actions.

One of our investigators, Kim, knows it's true and wants to be baptized, but her mom will kick her out if she does. She told us last night that she has the potential of moving in to a place, so she's contemplating it, and if she does, she will get baptized.

I would like to tell you more. But alas, the Lewiston city library is exceedingly small for a city its size, and it seems there's a demand for computers today. So I must close.

Love,

Elder Melville

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[1] That is the website for applying to Church schools.

August disgust (8/3/09)

As far as I am concerned, there is nothing good about the month of August.[1] The first day of the month was the hottest I've experienced yet. We heard it was about 106 or so in our area. Across the river in Clarkston, 113 was spotted.[2] In order to save miles, we did a lot of walking and biking. I was absolutely soaked when we went inside because of the sweat. And everything is hazy now. At least there's only one month until September.

I guess the only ray of darkness (since there's plenty of light in this infernal month) is the baptism we will be having on Saturday. This girl has wanted to get baptized for six years and has just been waiting until she turned eighteen and got the approval from her parents. I feel privileged to be one of the ones to be here for this long-awaited day. I was in the right place at the right time, as I was for the last baptism we had. Yesterday she bore her testimony, as did our other investigator, whose parents have not yet given her the go-ahead.[3] It made my Sunday.

But July (which is hardly better than August) ended in sadness. In the mail we received our mission newsletters, but a special envelope was addressed to me, reminding me of the impending November 30. I am going to send in a special orange paper with information on it. I know most of the information. I know Salt Lake Int'l is the airport, you are not picking me up, Bishop Jones is the new bishop and he lives on Liberty, my home ward and stake have not changed, etc. The only thing I have to make sure of is that President Brower's address has not changed. I doubt it has, but let me know for sure.

Heeding some of the advice in said envelope, I am sending home a package of various items that are not extremely necessary for my next four months. I am sending home the digital picture frame, a binder I got in the MTC, a 1988 missionary manual I acquired,[4] some less pleasant CDs, a few special copies of the Book of Mormon, and some other odds and ends.

I would tell you about some of the persecution we've been getting, since some church is leaving these "Great Controversy" books on people's doorsteps and everyone thinks it's us,[5] and that the JWs are also in full force inviting people to a special convention, but I should start looking at the BYU stuff. The library's not busy today; I hope it's an August trend because then I may have more time for emails.

Love,

Elder Melville

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[1] My opinion of August has softened; but when I think about what I like about August, they are things that don’t apply to missionaries.

[2] That was probably a thermometer next to asphalt.

[3] This other investigator, Kim, started her testimony with, “I know I’m not a member of the Church yet, but…” We later complimented her for her testimony; she said she wished she had thanked more people, but we told her she had done just fine (and in fact she shouldn’t do a “thanktimony”). But Kim never got baptized, in part because of family opposition.

[4] I got this vintage missionary manual from the family I lived with in my first area. Just this year (2019), I recycled it while I was tidying up.

[5] The Seventh-day Adventists were placing a book called The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan on people’s doorsteps. When we visited investigators or less-actives, they asked if we had put them there. Once we were biking home, and someone followed us home and waved the book at us. Sometimes my companion wanted to take copies from people’s doorsteps because they were creating a Great Controversy for us.