Monday, Monday, so good to me (2/23/09)

[1]On Saturday it got really warm. We were out walking and it got too warm in our coats so we had to drop them off at a members' home. It was nice, but I would have liked it better without the sunlight. When the sun shines it reflects from the snow, so we walk around with our sunglasses on and we look like the MIB.

One thing I have found on my mission that annoys me is that members do not understand what we do. It is not at all uncommon to hear something like, "Oh, are you just out tracking?" First of all the word is tracting, as in placing a tract (although we don't usually do that), not tracking. But what is more annoying is that they think that is all we do. I do not know if they use the word "tracking" (or sometimes they get it right) to mean proselyting, which we do do all day every day, or if they honestly think that we only knock on doors all day long. If we did that, an area could get tracted out in a manner of weeks. This area is small that it gets tracted out in months, and a lot of the people up here aren't very nice, perhaps some of the meanest people I've encountered. Tracting is like eating a shirt--it's generally not the most effective, and it's not very pleasant either. We do so much more. We go out to try to contact potential investigators (who are generally people who have been tracted into and have said to come back). We see former investigators. We try to visit less-active members, especially if we have not met them. Even this does not encompass all we do. This week we were walking down the road in the evening and some people were moving in so we offered to help. Generally people decline, but these people actually let us help. We left them our number on a pass-along card in case they need any more help. (I later said we should have left them our number on a Word of Wisdom pamphlet, for the boxes they packed in consisted of diaper boxes and beer, vodka, and other foolish drink boxes.)[2]

Ever since I got here, Elder B. has been complaining about how weird our ward mission leader is. I wondered why he never told me about his wife. He was out of town when I got here, but this week I got to meet him. I got in the car, and wondered why I'd never heard of his wife. Well, the reason was that he really is weird. He was gone because he, a 66-year-old, eloped with a woman he met online two months ago. They have not been sealed yet, but they exchanged rings in the celestial room. Yeah. It does not at all surprise me that he preaches false doctrine over the pulpit to the extent that the bishop has to get up the next week to correct him.[3]

Last night we were visiting some semi-active members. They asked me how long I have left. I realized that this Saturday marks fifteen months, and I only have nine left. That's single digits! I feel like there's still so much I need to do, need to learn, need to accomplish. Nine months is a depressingly short time! If someone conceived now the baby would be born about the time I get home! :(

Continuing with the random incontinuity of my letter, this morning Elder B.1's stereo somehow didn't function properly. I like my Michelle Tumes CD, but not at 4:00 a.m. I didn't sleep too well, and my dreams were all over the place. At one point I dreamt I wanted to get mint oreos for St. Patrick's Day, but they didn't have any, so I was going to get mint chip cookies instead, but then I determined they were soap cookies.

At this point I'm just writing to fill up time. This week we started teaching an unbaptized ten-year-old. His parents have testimonies but for some reason don't come to church. He answers no to every question we ask, even if he knows it. The dad seems enthusiastic but the mom is kind of odd, even though we know she has a testimony. Another example of how a wife drags her husband down. This is the only area I've served in where there have been active brethren married to nonmember wives. But even so, these men haven't always been active. The only other case I've seen was in Ritzville, where the wife of the High Priests Group Leader had her name removed. But judging from my experiences with her, I think she'll be rebaptized within a year.[4] But it is not at all uncommon for an active sister to be married to a nonmember.

We get long email time here, so I'm going to close now, and if I think of anything else, I can write back.

Love,

Elder Melville

Another comment

Today I was looking at pictures of my cute nieces. I mean, nephews. Their hair makes them look like girls.

I've been reading old emails. My greenie emails are so cheesy I had to stop because it made me cringe! If you want a laugh, look back at the old letters I wrote.

---

[1] The title of my post came long before my 2013–2014 obsession with the Mamas and the Papas. This email was somehow deleted from my mom’s account, but luckily she forwarded it to my brother, and he still had it!

[2] Later I learned that liquor stores often have lots of extra boxes, so they might not have been as alcoholic as the boxes indicated.

[3] My companion told me about these horror stories about our ward mission leader. The night we found out he got married, my companion called the member we lived with and said, “Guess what Brother Wilhelm did.”

“He got married.”

“How did you know?

“He gets married more than some people change their underwear.”

[4] Indeed, that woman in Ritzville did get rebaptized within a year.

Way to go, Idaho (2/17/09)

[1]It is not P-day, so I have to keep this relatively brief.

When most people think of Idaho, they think of potato farms where fourteen-year-olds are permitted to drive. It is ironic, therefore, that this is my most urban area.

Now, in East Wenatchee we primarily stayed in the urban residential area. But we technically covered an enormous area, and I did get to some of those places a few times while I was there. Mead had busy city but it also had major boonie areas. And there wasn't a single stoplight in the entire Ritzville proselyting area (now that I've left there, I regret certain pictures I never got to take, such as the quaint German town of Odessa). My Hayden area is not as busy as the parts of Spokane I covered, but we are in mostly all suburban areas. It's funny being with someone whose only area it's been. Most of the area is what in previous areas I would consider to be rich. Elder B. calls it average, even though we do have a lot of places that match up with typical houses in my past areas. But there are a lot of new developments, including one called Strawberry Fields, where nothing is real, and nothing to get hung about.

Elder B. is doing great, and I think he may very well become a zone leader before I go home.[2] He makes my job pretty easy.

This is also the first time I have not had a car at all. We've been doing a lot of walking, because the snow is still piled so much that in many places there is not much of a shoulder, if any. Therefore, we do not think it safe or wise to bike. Where we live is not centrally located at all, so it can get annoying to walk home for meals.

I was totally not expecting to be transferred. I was sad that I got your package on transfer call day, because I no longer need quarters to do laundry, and I had to leave behind all my Valentine candy. I did bring the hot chocolate, however. The MoTab CD would be nice, although some missionaries can't stand it, but Elder B. and I are not among those.[3]

I feel old. Listen to these facts:

I probably only have one more area after this, although the pattern could change, since we will get a new mission president.

I am now the only missionary in the group who came out with me who has not trained, unless you count the Spanish elder Elder Gutierrez, who went home after four months.

I feel like I have a laundry list when I tell members where I've served.

I knew all five of the missionaries who just went home, one of whom (Elder C.) was a companion.

Our district meetings combine two small districts, and three of the missionaries in these districts have shared a past companion with me, and two of those are home.

My district leader came out in the group when the first of my MTC group trained.

I was one of four English elders to come out in my group. One of those is a district leader, two are zone leaders together, and all have trained twice. I am glad I don't have those burdens.

Not to mention being with a companion who hits his year mark a month before I go home.

Anyway, it's weird to adjust to Idaho license plates and 208 zip codes instead of 509. When I was a pre-missionary scared out of my mind I found comfort in the fact that Idaho was in my mission, and Idaho bordered my own state. Now, I think, "Idaho? I'm from Utah. I need to be in Washington!" I did meet someone in another ward here (I believe his name is Tim Shirtz) who was a bishop in Fillmore about twelve years ago. He talked about how he could always go in the lumber store and ask Grandpa Boyd anything about lumber. That was fun.

I bought a green tie for St. Patrick's Day, and I bought an orange hat to make us more visible at night, but it looked ridiculous, so I tried to experiment with it and ultimately threw it away.[4] Three dollars in the garbage.

I hope to write longer next week on Monday![5]

Love,

Elder Melville

---

[1] The title of my email is a line from Toy Story.

[2] Elder B. did not become a zone leader, but he did become a district leader. Once I made the mistake of telling him I thought he would be a zone leader, and he let it go to his head.

[3] My mom asked if I wanted the Tabernacle Choir’s Consider the Lilies because she got an extra copy.

[4] My first year, I asked my family to send me an unquestionably green tie, but the tie they sent me was not really green, and even they questioned it. I knew I couldn’t trust them to get me a green tie, so I bought one (and still use it). The orange beanie I bought was too small, so it looked like a swimming cap. I tried to make it go around my neck, but that looked bad too.

[5] We emailed on Tuesday because the library was closed for Presidents’ Day.

Why must we pay for hellos that we say--pay when we sigh an adieu? (2/9/09)

[1]Saturday was an interesting day. It was very hard to focus because we  were itching for our transfer calls. But we managed to do some work and Elder W. made a cake for our baptism.

It was wonderful to have the baptism. It was a pretty good turnout, and it was the first time Jason Johnson[2] had ever used his priesthood. (He passed the sacrament for the first time the next day.)They had a lot of nonmember family come, and we hadn't even thought beforehand to tell them not to take pictures of the actual ordinance. Maybe we can ask them to delete the pictures. There were a few mishaps; I had to direct them how properly to hold their hands. We selected to sing hymn 180, which has a disclaimer on the bottom to sing verses 1-4 for sacrament and to omit 4 but sing 5 and 6 for baptisms. So we put on the program to sing verses 1, 5 and 6, and it was announced, but the chorister just went on with the first four. It does bother me that no one ever pays attention to the extra verses on the bottom. So, we sang a sacrament song for a baptism.

This was my favorite baptism. Cassandra, the fifteen-year-old, is actually my oldest baptism, and I think the most sincere. She's also the only one I've baptized that I've taught all the way through. When we started the day before Halloween we wondered if she was just taking the lessons to please us and/or her family. But after not quite three months we asked what she thought and she agreed to be baptized.

And thus it was very sad and shocking to receive our transfer calls. All day we were speculating what could happen. We knew  that something was happening since our zone leaders didn't call us.[3] But I'm being transferred to Hayden Lake, ID. It's my first Idaho area. I'm going to be companion to an Elder B., who is just done training, and thus in mission lingo I'm going to be his mom.[4]

Since a missionary in Cheney killed off his companion we're with him today and I'm stuck at a 30-minute computer, so I don't have too much time. The baptism and confirmation was the most exciting, but transfer calls were also noteworthy. I thought I'd be here at least four transfers, but nope. Now I probably only have two areas left--a three-transfer area and a four-transfer area. An elder in Wenatchee was there ten months, so it could be my last area! :(

Running out of time (in more ways than one),

Elder Melville

I was granted extra time (this week's email Part II)

The friendly computer gave me an extra thirty minutes, so I can write a few more details.

Another sad occurrence about transfers is another person we're baptizing probably in March, Jessica P.[5] She came to church as she should, and her husband did too. He's a less-active member, and she asked him what he thought about her learning and baptism, and he said he didn't want her to do it alone, so he's coming back.

We had to teach the lesson in Gospel Essentials. It was on our Heavenly Father. It was a short lesson so we allowed for a lot of discussion. So I talked about how we receive commandments for our benefit, and that living these, like the Word of Wisdom and the law of chastity, makes us happier. Then we asked if there were any questions, expecting more discussion about God. But Jessica piped up, "What's chastity?"  She struggled with the word, but her husband helped her say it correctly, so I hoped he'd tell her what it was, but he didn't, and no one else was answering, so I had to. Then she kind of uncomfortably dropped it, but Elder W. told me later he worried that it was going to turn into a five-minute sex discussion.

That was better, though, than when we had to teach the law of chastity as the whole lesson back in November or December. That day the class consisted of me and my companion, never married; our branch mission leader and his wife; a single sister in her fifties or sixties, also never married; and an excommunicated member, who was also a sex offender. She had just had an interview with the branch president about being rebaptized, and had addressed her WoW issues with him. Then in the lesson we got to the part that said, "Breaking the law of chastity can make you commit an even greater sin--abortion." At this point the ex'ed member chimed in, "Oh, I forgot to tell him about that. It wasn't my fault; the government made me do it." Yep, she has no shame, and it's going to be a long road for her.

Anyway, I was also excited for a woman whose husband is the high priests group leader, but she had her name removed. We were walking down the street last week and saw her and she asked for a Book of Mormon. She talked our ears off and said various pastors and stuff try to get her to badmouth the Church, but she doesn't. She also said she's not ready for "discussions" (which they're not discussions anymore, and as a former member she wouldn't need them, but we'd gladly give them anyway), but it was interesting she said she wasn't ready, not that she didn't want them. She's consistently been attending church, bringing their ten-year-old son, whom she didn't allow to be baptized at eight, but she may allow for it now.[6]

I loved the story of Preston and David the ghost.[7] The pictures I've seen of Franklin are darling. It seems you keep changing your mind. Last I knew you were planning on shipping me to Tennessee when I got home. Honestly I'd rather them come out, but as long as I'll get to see my nephews, it will be good.[8]

Love,

Elder Melville

---

[1] My email title came from a song from the 1972 movie Snoopy, Come Home.

[2] This was the dad of the family. I feel like I can include the full name since it’s so common. I haven’t been able to find them. The summer after I came home from my mission, I went back, but they had moved.

[3] The mission president would call us if one of us was being transferred, but the zone leaders would call us if we were staying.

[4] You were in training for two transfers, and your trainer was your dad. If you got a second companion while you were still being trained, that was your step-dad. And your companion for your third transfer was your mom. This was not official, of course, but my mission president did tell me, “You’ll be momming him.”

[5] She didn’t get baptized in March, but she did get baptized within a year.

[6] The mom and the son got baptized after I left the area. I was Facebook friends with her in 2011, but she thought I was a different missionary and later unfriended me.

[7] My nephews were in Taiwan while my brother was still at home. My mom wrote me this in her email: “Preston has decided that David is dead, that is why they don't see him.  Dave has tried to talk to him on the phone to reassure him but Preston won't talk to him.  He finally told Ya-ping that the reason he won't talk on the phone is because dad is a ghost so that is too scary.”

[8] My mom’s email said they were going to bring my nephews to Utah for Christmas when I came home, and that is indeed what happened.

It's Groundhog Day, and we awoke to a dusting of snow (2/2/09)

This week it warmed up quite a bit, getting almost to fifty degrees. Ritzville hardly has any snow, but Davenport still has crusty glaciers everywhere, with broken tree limbs strewn all over the place. It was nice to walk around without a bulky coat, but we're getting closer to the peculiar March period. I like March, but I always get really weird feelings from after Valentine's Day through Easter.[1] It did get colder again later in the week.

We're excited for the work that's going on. We're having a baptism on Saturday. We didn't expect that her dad would be able to do it, but the branch president approved it. We also have a baptism set up for the end of the month. Transfers are in a week, and I hope I'm not transferred, but I don't think I will be. All of my companions have been two transfer companions except for Elder B., and that's only because he was going home. I kind of hope Elder W. will leave the area before I do, because I do think this is my favorite area so far. There are definitely disadvantages to serving in rural communities, but I feel privileged to be here.

We were at a members' home this week (where we taught the woman who called us the next day, and said she felt peace about being baptized) and we were looking at a map they had on the wall. It had a lot of cities and towns on it that kind of surprised me; for example, they had Pulaski.[2] I looked for Bettendorf, and it was there, but it was interesting when I saw Davenport. When I first learned of my area I kept thinking of the Iowa Davenport, but when I looked at the map I could only think of the Washington Davenport.[3] I do like Ritzville better, though. It's a cleaner town.

We just got a new Davenport branch presidency, and none of them actually live in Davenport. The branch takes in surrounding towns and communities of Reardan (where the new president is), Edwall (second counselor), Harrington (first counselor, who is the same), Seven Bays (a resort settlement--I think it has its own zip code but I'm not positive), Lincoln (another resort place, right on Lake Roosevelt), and Creston. Ritzville takes in Lind (where our new on-date lives), Hooper, and Odessa. Of all these towns Odessa is the most quaint, with German architecture, flowers painted on walls in European style, and "Haus" in the name of half of the stores, but it also seems to be generally the least friendly of all our towns. I'd say it by far has the most Do Not Contacts. (All those Germans immigrated before the Holocaust, so I don't think it can be because they're Nazis.)

I actually sent a package home this week, containing all my Christmas stuff and your picture frame. It is depressing to know that the next time I listen to my Christmas music I will be home. It was a big box, and should be there this week some time. I sent home some garments I don't wear and just take up space. I like to send home a package each time I'm transferred, to keep my possessions reasonable, so if I do get transferred, you'll get two packages within a relatively short time of each other. One of these times I may send History of the Church home. I will have to sometime before I go home anyway, and though I have learned a lot from it, I don't use it that often. It just makes my suitcase heavy. We'll see what happens the next time I send something home.

I can't think of anything else I immediately want to tell you. I need to catch up with writing back to all the people who wrote me over the holidays, but being fifty miles from home each preparation day, I'm bound to forget something I need to write.

Love,

Elder Melville

And one more thing

I'm losing my voice. But I don't get sick. I lost my voice about this time last year. It's not fun because my throat gets all uncomfortable, and I sound really weird, and I get bad tastes in my mouth. But I simply do not get sick. I don't think I've really been sick since seventh grade. I get stuffy or lose my voice (or my cookies) now and then, but I don't become ill. It's quite nice actually; I'm practically invincible. I just hope I don't jinx it.

---

[1] In 2012, I called these weird feelings “lemits.”

[2] My great-grandmother lived in the small town of Pulaski, New York.

[3] My cousin Tammy lived in Bettendorf, Iowa, which was right next to Davenport, Iowa.

enero, janvier (1/26/09)

It's kind of a good thing we lost our place to stay in Davenport with all the fog that's been going on. Ritzville has been clear of it for the most part, but in Davenport the fog has been around so much that ice has collected in huge quantities. On some things the ice is thicker than what it's on. We weren't there for it, but apparently the power has been off and on all over the place, mainly due to all the ice being too heavy for the lines, although I'm sure problems also come from ice being too heavy for tree branches and they fall on the lines. We have seen countless limbs lying on the ground, and trees bent over from all the ice.

All these branches fell off of trees because of fog.

We had zone conference this week. After lunch we were all in the gym to watch a security video (we always watch a cheesy missionary safety video--they're unintentionally funny). We all gathered around the TV, but it didn't go loud enough, so they paused the movie and we all had to move our chairs up. When I picked mine up it must have folded partially, so when I went to sit down I missed the seat and crashed to the ground, smashing my fingers under the chair. I was embarrassed, but it was pretty funny, even with my hurting fingers. Suddenly I heard the same "smack!" sound I had just caused and another missionary was on the floor on top of his chair. The first several minutes of the movie I couldn't pay attention because the sister missionaries behind me were laughing quietly among themselves, and that made me laugh. Afterward I asked one of them if they were laughing because of me; she said she was but also because I wasn't the only one to fall. You probably had to be there, but it was really funny; I laughed all the rest of the day whenever I thought about it. I also slipped on ice twice later that day, which have been the only times I've slipped this winter. That's surprising because for a day Ritzville was extremely slick. Walking on the roads occasionally I slid down into little dips for grates in the road. It was like I was trapped, because I couldn't go up. I might have slipped the day before because of my no-traction shoes. I've been too lazy to switch my insoles. When I do, I'll have two pair of shoes, but that still won't solve my traction problem. I'll probably have to wait for new bottom soles until I get transferred to Spokane, Moses Lake or Coeur d'Alene, if that even happens.

I do have a request. I have one of those expensive scripture marking pen things with all the different colors. I am running low on green (Joseph Smith Translation). I may or may not have enough to finish my mission (or the JSTs). If I need any other colors, it would be yellow and orange, but I may have enough of those. Can I have a green refill?

We didn't have too eventful of a week. We count the number of "quality gospel invitations," or QGIs, we extend in a week (basically, the amount of people we talk to about the gospel whom we haven't talked to before). We had thirty-six this week, which broke the record for our area.

I don't know what I'm going to do about my laundry now that we don't stay with members. Our complex has a laundry room, but that costs a dollar a load--in quarters. I may be having to wear a lot of dirty socks. 

I can't think of anything else right now I need to tell you.

Love,

Elder Melville

The Wintry Day, Descending to its Close (1/19/09)

[1]This past week fog has been the predominant weather pattern. One day we got a light dusting of snow in Ritzville and nowhere else. Usually it doesn't snow in Ritzville without it snowing elsewhere. The fog can be annoying to drive in, but it flocks all the plants and looks pretty cool. We tracted a dead end in the fog. We didn't know how far it went; the houses just kept popping up.

Elder W. was sick this week so that inhibited a lot of our actual finding time, but it was actually one of the best weeks I've had in a long time. We had a lot of good lessons, more than I'm accustomed to.

 We put a  15-year-old girl named Cassandra J. on date for baptism. Her family was baptized in August but she wasn't (she didn't like the missionary I replaced, nor did most members). The family hasn't been to church for a long time but they came yesterday. We asked her what she thought about what we've been teaching and she said she feels it's true. We asked about baptism and she said she wants it. They just need to keep coming to church. Her dad smokes. We would want him to baptize her but I don't know if he can stop in time and our branch mission leader wants us to be careful talking about smoking with them, lest they get offended.

We got a new investigator, Jessica [Here I listed her last name and a pronunciation, because her name looked like . . . something else]. We are hopeful, although the members seem a little less enthusiastic. She investigated in Alaska a few years ago and almost got baptized. Now she's married (we think) to a less-active member, and their kids are usually at primary (they come with members). Last week she and her husband came with the kids (which was a first for him) so I asked her at church if we could stop by that week. They live in Lind, about thirteen miles south of Ritzville, so we don't get out there too often (we try once every two weeks). She was excited for us to come over, and though she didn't make it to church, she called us after and asked if she could read more than the chapter we gave her from the Book of Mormon. We don't have records of her being taught since she's lived here, but that doesn't mean anything. The members are glad we're teaching, but it seems they don't think it will last long (she's been to church once in a while). But she liked what she felt as she read, and she's quite interested.[2]

We were in Ritzville two weeks in a row because yesterday we had to speak for high council Sunday. It was the first time I've spoken on my mission. I talked about testimonies and cited Paul, Nephi, and Alma the younger as examples of good testimonies, even though they had different experiences. The closest thing I got to a laugh was when I inferred that Alma was baptized at eight and then went less-active. I find no account of him being baptized after he repented. They also liked my sharing of your parents' conversion, some of which details I didn't know until their letter to me (such as Grandpa reading to argue but finding it to be true).[3]

The members we have stayed with in Davenport asked us not to stay there anymore because they are in poor health. We're not sure what we'll do now. Davenport will be quite neglected. We might shortly get a place in Reardan, thirteen miles east of Davenport, where missionaries were staying with a family before, but their daughter's family moved in. They're planning on moving out again soon, but not as soon as we need it.[4]

We had interviews on Friday and from what President told me with the just-mentioned situation, to work in Davenport less, my speculation of them splitting the area now seems much less likely to me.

I do think I'll send back your picture frame. I know with the stick I might get pictures more frequently, but honestly I'll probably only look at the pictures once because it is too annoyingly slow to go through all of them. I'm much more likely actually to look at pictures on my own frame because I can immediately go to the ones I really want to see. Sorry. Whenever I get that sent, it will include all my Christmas stuff.

I have become very depressed knowing I have no more Christmases or New Years. I had a dream about Allie the other night. She was very cute but it made me sad--not that I'll be seeing her, of course, but sad that before the end of this year I'll be home, and my two years will be all gone. I liked my other dream this week better; riding on a portable house with other missionaries and soaring above the Columbia River with a blanket as a cape.

I can't think of anything else. I love you all!

Elder Melville

---

[1] Now I know that “Its” in the title should be capitalized, but I didn’t know it ten years ago.

[2] Jessica did get baptized after I got home, but I doubt she remained active. I was Facebook friends with her for a few years. Then once she posted a profile picture that I thought was quite inappropriate (i.e. not allowed on Facebook), so I sent her an automated form message asking her to change it, and she unfriended me.

[3] You can find my grandparents’ conversion story here.

[4] We often spent nights with missionaries the next area over, and I think that was mostly because my companion was good friends with one of those elders. I think it was an unhealthy friendship, at least for those of us who weren’t in the circle. Later the missionaries would spend the night in the branch building. Then later, they moved from Ritzville to apartments in Davenport. After I came home, I visited the Davenport Branch the following summer, and I saw the missionaries there. There had been a house in Ritzville with a rude old couple who lived next to a mortuary. The old couple died, and the owner of the house (who also owned the mortuary) decided he would rather have missionaries as tenants next to a funeral home, so he made a deal with the Church. The elders thus had their own places to stay in both Ritzville and Davenport. I have no idea what the situation is like now.

FINALLY (1/12/09)

I'm sorry I haven't been able to email for such an extensive period. We had P-day on New Year's Day, so of course libraries were closed. We were actually allowed to email the Monday after Christmas, but we were in Ritzville that day, and for some reason the library was closed that day, even though it's usually open on Monday. The next week it had snowed and the city of Cheney declared a state of emergency. In their defense, it has become hard to find places to put all of the snow, but still, the state of Washington doesn't know what to do like Utah does. The temperatures have been rising, and in Ritzville we have hardly any snow and it's been raining. It was, therefore, surprising to drive up to Davenport (amid jellied-brain thick fog)[1] and see snow still on the ground, even fresh snow, that had snowed up north but was just rain in Adams County. Even so, the Mt. Everest Jr. of shoveled snow we had at the members' house in Davenport had shrunk to about half the size it had been. We were in Spokane after Christmas and the roads were down to 1.5 lanes instead of two full ones and a curb or shoulder. They even piled snow up in the middle.

Anyway, our Christmas after I talked to you was good. We had wanted to go down to Ritzville for part of the day, but we didn't get out of the members' house until the afternoon.[2] So, we made a belated visit to someone that had invited us for Christmas afternoon (which was over when we got there), and then watched Mary Poppins with our members. I would write about what an excellent movie that is, but I have other things to write.

Thanks for the package. A while back you mentioned sending me a letter from Jesse. I still haven't received that. Thanks for the picture frame, but I don't know if I'll send mine home. I know the memory card is harder for you, but my frame allows me to view thumbnails of all the pictures so I can choose what ones I want to see. I have not been able to find such a function on yours, so I must go through all of the pictures individually, and yours is a lot slower than mine. I hope it's not too much trouble to do the memory cards, because my frame really is a lot more user friendly. You can just have yours back, unless I find out how to make it do what I want it to do. Thanks for the CDs, and I am now eating the red and silver kisses in anticipation of Valentine's Day. (I'll save the green for after--stupid M&Ms has decided green's a love color. They'll sell their all-green bags better if they market them Irish, not romantic!)[3]

I wrote down that I need to write you something about pants. I think that's just referring to that I don't need my slacks until it gets closer to conference. I hope 36 isn't too big; I don't know now if I'm 34 or 36. Sometimes I now wear my belt at a hole I couldn't fit into when I first got it over three years ago. My service/P-day pants are getting big and ugly. I wanted to buy some pants at Wal-Mart, but they didn't have the kind I want. I used to have some dark gray and black pants that were kind of thick material; I don't know how to describe it. I wanted some of those (they were very comfortable) but couldn't find any at Wal-Mart, and I don't think there's anywhere else around here that would sell them.

Elder L. was transferred to Spokane. I think we probably got along best of all my companions. My new companion is Elder [Matthias] W.,[4] from Salina, Kansas. He's number six, and only number two not from Utah. He's my first companion that's been out less time (three months [less]) than I, but he's twenty-one so I still don't have a younger one in actual age. You mentioned something in one email. I feel I should tell you that I detest the term "senior companion." The experiences of my mission have taught me that if one missionary is functioning as such, one of them is not doing his job, and I have seen both. When I was with Elder C. I figured he was my senior so I just went along with what he did. BAD idea. Then Elder D. had the term go to his head (it was his first time) and tried to exercise unrighteous dominion over me. Therefore, I don't like the term.

With the transfers I now drive more than I did. After three months of not driving I got pretty bad, especially since the roads haven't been clear. I'm getting better, especially since the thaw, but I can still improve. It's interesting; I didn't drive that much before my mission. But now we drive long distances at high speeds. This week was the first time I'd ever been able to use cruise control. Last night's fifty mile drive from Ritzville to Davenport was kind of relaxing. Then Elder W. remarked how cool the fog looked on the side, and I was thinking it did and I was glad I wasn't driving in it, but then I was. That wasn't too fun but it wasn't bad.

New Year's was OK. We had a meeting on New Year's Eve. I had fun with the screeching balloons you sent. We watched Monsters Inc. on New Year's Day (I refused the incredibly idiotic Over the Hedge), which was good but not as good as,

"And from the cathedral the saints and apostles

Look down as she sells her wares,

And though you can't see it, you know they are smiling,

Each time someone shows that he cares." :)[5]

I don't know what else to write now, because I have had to abridge several weeks, so I don't know what else is important. But if there is I'll try to write a snail mail. Of course, I always say that. At the beginning of my mission we both wrote snail and email. Then I tapered off, then you tapered off. Which is fine with me.

Love,

Elder [Jeremiah] Melville

P.S. Weeks ago I tried to get my first name taken off of mission records since I am the only Elder Melville. They could not do that, but you do not have to put my first name. In fact, if you must address me anything more than Elder Melville, use Jeremiah as my first name, with any scriptural male name as my middle. You may call me what you wish in your letters, but I would prefer a change in what you write on the envelope. Thank you!

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[1] I’m referencing a line from The Nightmare before Christmas: “This fog’s as thick as, as—” “Jellied brains!”

[2] We visited some members in the middle of nowhere outside of Edwall, Washington, on Christmas Eve, and we got snowed in.

[3] In 2009 and 2010, M&Ms sold bags of all green candies for Valentine’s Day, which I thought was incredibly stupid.

[4] [Matthias] is what I put in the original letter. I made up first names for my companions when there was more than one with the same last name.

[5] From “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins.