My shortest area (5/4/09)

Last week I logically did not think I would be transferred but I just had a feeling I would be. It turns out my feelings were correct.

I'm staying in Idaho, but just barely. I am going down to Lewiston, which is right on the border of Idaho and Washington. Just on the other side of the border is Clarkston, the two cities being named for Lewis and Clark.

I didn't know much about Lewiston, but announcing my transfer, the members have educated me. Here's what I have heard:

It is in a valley, or a pit, and is only about 700 feet above sea level.
It is a warm climate. I was hoping to spend the summer someplace up north since I don't like heat, and since last year I was in the Wenatchee Valley, another hot place. I've heard Wenatchee's hotter, but I don't know.
The Clearwater and Snake rivers cut through it.
A paper mill operates in the city, and it emits a foul odor.

When I got my call, President Clark said, "Thanks for being willing to go where the Lord wants you." I don't know what he meant by that. Hayden has become my shortest area, which is all right, because I didn't really feel at home here, and I don't know why. At least I didn't get sucked in the Coeur d'Alene blackhole. I once again am exploring a totally different area of the mission. It will be my fifth area and my fifth zone. There are a total of eight zones in the mission, and the only ones I haven't been to (not counting Palouse, where I'm going now) are the Sandpoint zone in the northernmost part of Idaho, the Temple zone in Spokane Valley (where the temple and mission office are), and the En Fuego zone, which is the Spanish zone, but I kind of have been there, since it basically shares the same boundaries as the Columbia River zone (and the location of Wenatchee was officially in both zones--it's basically just social boundaries).

This may also be my last area, since seven month areas are becoming more and more common. My packing has been easier this time, since I have sent home more stuff in this area than I acquired. Losing the boots and especially History of the Church is really nice. I also sent home another small package today. Included are surplus clothing, a book, and those Easter eggs you sent.[1] I know you don't need or want them and I don't either, but then I thought of them sitting in a landfill someplace and it seemed wasteful for me to throw them away.

I am leaving Elder K. and getting Elder L. Both of them are from Las Vegas. They didn't know each other, but Elder L.'s uncle is Elder K.'s bishop. They also happen to be the missionaries I've been the most familiar with before I became their companions. Elder L. was in Medical Lake when I was in Ritzville and Davenport. I saw him weekly at district meeting and on P-days. Once we stayed the night at their house because we had zone conference the next day. I think he thinks I'm pretty weird.[2]

I will be covering the Lewiston 2nd Ward, and also a YSA branch (often the YSA units are shared units, so I don't know if that's entirely ours or not). I always feel uncomfortable with singles wards.

I wanted to have a baptism in every area. I didn't achieve that here. But what is more important than a silly baptismal statistic is that I left the area stronger than I found it, which is what Preach My Gospel says to strive to do. We are teaching about three times as many lessons as when I got here--mostly to less-active members, but that's better than nothing. The kids of one of the families we're teaching got a ride to church yesterday, so it shouldn't be long before they're baptized. The other family always commits to church but they never come. It's really annoying. But they're not my problem anymore.

I can't think of anything more at the moment. Next week you'll learn all about my new area.

Love,

Elder Melville

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[1] My mom sent me Noah’s Ark animal eggs for Easter.

[2] Ugh. I was trying to tone it down here. When my companion was transferred from Ritzville, this Elder L. said something implying he was sad I wasn’t the one who was transferred. Looking back, I can’t get over what a horrible person this guy was. Not that he did anything specifically terrible, just one of those inherently terrible people. He’s basically Donald Trump.

Tomorrow I hit seventeen months (4/27/09)

I haven't been quite pleased with the weather the last few days. I love rain, but I wish it would be more consistent. We've been wearing our rain jackets because it has rained off and on, but most of the time we're wearing jackets when it's dry. On Saturday morning we knew it was a little cold so we walked instead of biked to test the conditions. After lunch we decided we could bike to go see someone. It was windy riding and as soon as we talked with the person we wanted to talk to it started to rain. So we biked home to drop off our bikes. It rained really hard. We walked the rest of the day but it never rained as much as it had while we were biking. The clouds have been sparse. Generally I like some rain better than no rain but the inconsistency gets annoying as a missionary.

But the weather has been warm enough that the very final snow pile in our area was tiny on Saturday and completely gone yesterday. Therefore I can assume we are out of the woods as far as deep snow goes so I hopefully should send home my boots today. And if I do get transferred this week (and I really don't know what will happen) I'll send something else home next week. I have one month in which I can acquire new possessions and then I have to start sending stuff home. If I don't get transferred this week I can assume that my next area is my last.

If I do stay, we have a place to call home on Mother's Day. We spent Easter with this family, and we had dinner about 4:00, so that's probably about when we'll be over there, FYI.

In December I got new insoles from Mr. Mac. One of the brands was called Florsheim. I put the insoles in probably about two months ago and the Florsheim insoles are already worn. I've wanted to get new soles for my Rockports[1] but without a car I'm at the mercy of the other missionaries, and I didn't want to risk this week sending them in in case I do get transferred.

That book you bought sounds intriguing.[2] In an interview with President Clark in February he told me to forget all about vampires and werewolves and such, saying such an interest is unhealthy, but I don't understand how it's different than anything else.[3] Now, as a missionary, my thoughts should be Gospel thoughts, but that book sounds cool when I get home.

We got a new ward mission leader yesterday, which is good, since we've lacked one.[4] I feel that I have lived up to the challenge of leaving the area better than I found it, but there's still a lot of improvement. The only people we're consistently teaching as far as investigators go are kids who have less-active parents. I don't understand it: The parents have testimonies and they want their kids baptized, but when Sunday morning rolls along, they don't come, even when they said the night before they'll be there. That's a frustration. We're also teaching several less-active people, who generally are living the Gospel--except taking the sacrament.  It's a veritable frustration.

I can't think of anything else at the moment. I'm almost caught up with writing people back so maybe soon I'll be able to write snail mail home again. Maybe not.

Love,

Elder Melville

Just a thought

With Allie around you could get a Snoopy shower curtain for both of us! (I kind of doubt they make them, though)[5]

wow…

We are allowed two hours at the library and most of the missionaries like to use all two, which can be boring. I was looking at old blog posts from before I left. I had forgotten how fat I was! I had a significant double chin but I don't really anymore.

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[1] The bottoms of my shoes were severely worn down.

[2] My mom wrote, “I bought a book for you the other day (actually I got it free with my teacher points from Scholastic.)  It is called The Graveyard Book.  It is a story about a boy raised in a graveyard by all sorts of dead people and some other sort of dead people.  I know it won't be mission reading, but I thought it was right up your alley for when you get home.  He doesn't mind the dark or the cold.  Like some other boy I know.”

[3] I had this obsession with vampires and werewolves; I was internally emo. I wanted to be a vampire so I could be scary, but not evil. My companion had told the mission president that I was a little different because I wanted to be a vampire, and he had this conversation with me.

[4] That ward mission leader designed this electric Doritos logo.

[5] My mom wrote, “I haven't picked a new shower curtain for your bathroom but I promise not to go too wild or wildlife-y.  With Allie here I can't promise no princesses :)”

April is two thirds of the way over (4/22/09)

Sounds like you had a fun vacation. I don't miss Vegas. Maybe when we tour up here after my mission we can see the Grand Coulee Dam. When I was in the Wenatchee valley we went to the Rocky Reach Dam. While we were there some members from Salt Lake came up the stairs. She said, "Oh, the missionaries are here." Then she said, "We took the dam tour. I'm sorry, we don't usually talk like that." It seems that jokes like that are inevitable whenever you visit a dam.[1]

Sorry you weren't feeling well. My companion hasn't felt the best either. Saturday we were on exchanges and he had bad stomach problems. Yesterday evening he got a fever. One thing I'm glad I have is a strong immune system. I don't think I've really been sick since all my fiascoes in seventh grade.[2] I can remember:
A few mild congestions and sore throats that didn't really bother me;
The family upset-stomach party after general conference in October 2004;[3]
A strange tired feeling and lightheaded-ness the weekend after my graduation, which I felt again on my mission in October or November;
and a few times I've lost my voice on my mission. The only time that's really affected what I do was in January. I kept waking up with a painfully dry throat, so I would drink large quantities of water in the middle of the night. A few hours later I woke up needing to release the water and drink more. My lack of sleep left me very tired when I got up the next morning so I had to sleep a little extra.

I simply do not get sick. People always worry about me not visiting or shaking their hands if they've been sick, but I don't worry. I'm not careless, but I somehow acquired a healthy immune system.

Speaking of health, on my exchange this week I got to weigh myself. I think I'm now at about a net mission loss of fifty-five pounds. It will be weird for me to see the new countertops; it may be weird for you to see me. I could be transferred in two weeks and my weight loss could slow down if I get a car again, but I imagine I'll be here until June.

I noticed you still have the same decorations on the counters.  I think this may be a good opportunity to replace the paper towel holder to one that actually works, as well as the little canisters to ones you can actually fit your hand in. (Sorry, just my little cynicism for the day.)[4]

The problematic paper towel holder is to the left of the sink, and the containers are to the right.

Also when I was on exchanges we visited an old people community (there are a lot of them up here; in my own area I've never seen so many old people in my life). I thought the name of it was odd; it was called Golden Spike, complete with a giant golden spike at the entrance. One of the streets was called Bryce Canyon. I thought it was weird because I'm in Idaho, not Utah.

As for the batteries, I still have quite a few from my last package. I have fewer AAAs, but I still have some, and the only thing I can think of that I use them for right now is my bike tail light, so I might have enough to last my mission, if I remember to turn the light off.

Umm...I know I wanted to say more but I don't know what it was. (I feel like a broken record saying this.)

Love,

Elder Melville

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[1] My dad wrote, “We went and saw the power plant inside Hoover Dam (not a swear word.)”

[2] I had strep a few times in seventh grade, and on one occasion, I had an allergic reaction to the medicine.

[3] In October 2004, we had a family gathering for general conference and ate chicken and rice. At least four of us ended up with stomach problems.

[4] My mom sent me a link to see their new countertops on the family blog. My mom had decided at one point she wanted a bear theme in the house, so she had a bear paper towel holder and bear containers for sugar/flour/etc. I absolutely hated them. The paper towel holder did not allow for the paper towels to spin; using nothing was better than using the “dispenser.” The containers had very narrow openings, so you couldn’t fit a measuring cup in them, but they also had a bit of a lip that made it hard to pour the contents out. Obviously I did not like things that looked good that were not functional, and I still feel the same way.