I'm glad Elder L. dropped by.[1]
It was sad to part with History of the Church but it will be nice to have more
space in my suitcase (especially since HC is pretty heavy). I also sent that
sudden package off since I don't need that green shirt anymore now that I have
no more St. Patrick's Days. It is depressing that on Saturday I hit sixteen
months and I only have one more third of my mission. It is somewhat
inconvenient that I go home in November because I don't know how much of my
winter clothes I will need. This year it didn't snow significantly until
December. I think my boots are the only thing I know I will send home before
next winter. But it keeps snowing up here--we woke up to about an inch
yesterday and today--so I'm waiting a little longer to send them off. We did officially
get record-breaking snow up here (I'm assuming Coeur d'Alene area but maybe
also Spokane) this year, which we hit yesterday or Saturday. I think the last
record was the winter of 1959-60.
It's funny you should talk about getting a new countertop.[2] Yesterday our ward's fifth Sunday lesson was all about being thrifty. I just find it ironic that countertops was one of the things the bishop casually mentioned as an example of something people think they need but it's just a want. I have worried about getting home because I didn't have that much money in my account and a mission is expensive even without what we already pay.
The Church is significantly cutting back on expenses. The Ritzville branch was supposed to get an expansion this year but now it's on hold. Which isn't a good thing, because they barely had room in the chapel when I was there. My companion Elder W. was telling me that they're trying to see if they can use a trailer as an extra classroom because the building is too small.
This is also interesting because this week I had the opportunity to go up to Wallace, ID. There is a branch up there that has shrunk significantly over the years and now there are only about twenty active members. But their branch building (which still has a very 1970s look to it) is significantly larger than the branches I served in, even though they had higher attendance. Wallace was a nice area. Since I'm in the blackhole of the mission, I wouldn't mind being here one more transfer after this one, then going up and killing off the missionary up there now, and then die myself up there. We went up there to help the members go see a bunch of less-active members and part-member families.
There was a big fiasco with that. The activity had been planned for weeks and the two sets of missionaries that were supposed to go up I guess determined they couldn't do it. They were the other members of the Hayden district. So the Kellogg/Wallace missionaries called us up and asked if we could help, so we agreed. Then my district leader called me and told me not to do it, but I didn't feel like he had a good reason other than that I should work in my own area. Then my zone leader also called and told me not to. But I didn't feel they had any good reason to tell us not to. We live with the high councilor over the branch up there and he called up my zone leader and got us to go up there. It was good; I somewhat felt like my leaders were exercising unrighteous dominion over us.[3]
We put a ten-year-old on date for baptism this week but they didn't show up to church. We need to make it clear to them that he must come several times before the baptism occurs.
I know I had more to tell you but I can't think of it right now.
Love,
elder mellvie[4]
It's funny you should talk about getting a new countertop.[2] Yesterday our ward's fifth Sunday lesson was all about being thrifty. I just find it ironic that countertops was one of the things the bishop casually mentioned as an example of something people think they need but it's just a want. I have worried about getting home because I didn't have that much money in my account and a mission is expensive even without what we already pay.
The Church is significantly cutting back on expenses. The Ritzville branch was supposed to get an expansion this year but now it's on hold. Which isn't a good thing, because they barely had room in the chapel when I was there. My companion Elder W. was telling me that they're trying to see if they can use a trailer as an extra classroom because the building is too small.
This is also interesting because this week I had the opportunity to go up to Wallace, ID. There is a branch up there that has shrunk significantly over the years and now there are only about twenty active members. But their branch building (which still has a very 1970s look to it) is significantly larger than the branches I served in, even though they had higher attendance. Wallace was a nice area. Since I'm in the blackhole of the mission, I wouldn't mind being here one more transfer after this one, then going up and killing off the missionary up there now, and then die myself up there. We went up there to help the members go see a bunch of less-active members and part-member families.
There was a big fiasco with that. The activity had been planned for weeks and the two sets of missionaries that were supposed to go up I guess determined they couldn't do it. They were the other members of the Hayden district. So the Kellogg/Wallace missionaries called us up and asked if we could help, so we agreed. Then my district leader called me and told me not to do it, but I didn't feel like he had a good reason other than that I should work in my own area. Then my zone leader also called and told me not to. But I didn't feel they had any good reason to tell us not to. We live with the high councilor over the branch up there and he called up my zone leader and got us to go up there. It was good; I somewhat felt like my leaders were exercising unrighteous dominion over us.[3]
We put a ten-year-old on date for baptism this week but they didn't show up to church. We need to make it clear to them that he must come several times before the baptism occurs.
I know I had more to tell you but I can't think of it right now.
Love,
elder mellvie[4]
[1] My
mom wrote, “Elder Love and his parents came last night. They were very
nice and it was fun to visit with them. Elder Love was not a big talker
so we didn't hear enough about you....but it was nice.”
[2] My
dad wrote, “Your parents are crazy, if you don't already know. We are
going to spend thousands on countertops. Hopefully we'll recover from our
folly before too long.”
[3] I
often felt that mission leaders let power go to their heads, and they told us
to do things or not do things just because they could. The zone leader called
and asked, “How’s your area doing?” He told me I should work in our own area,
since it wasn’t doing great. But we had already tracted it out and contacted
everyone in the area book. One night out of our area was not going to hurt it.
[4] My
niece wrote, “i love u elder mellvie.”
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