Hola Elder

I have been informed that in my e-mail last week I had a paragraph in my e-mail that consisted only of the sequence of letters "Speaking of w". I must inform you that the text was not missing, but rather was invisible. Any and all rumors along the lines of "The computer didn't send the email even though I clicked the send button a full minute before my time was up and so I had to use another Elder's time to fire off the latest (read: incomplete) draft which ldsmail had" are entirely false and should not be taken seriously.

For those without the ability to see invisible text, I will provide a summary of said inviso-text:

"Speaking of which, the members around here feed us really well. We're usually able to have a member feed us every night, which is pretty amazing when you consider that there are six of us ravenous beasts to feed. Really, the ward here is pretty good, though it's been a while since there's been a baptism here so the enthusiasm for the work could be higher, but I guess that it's just something we'll need to work at.

Also, I just feel like mentioning how weird the housing around here seems to me. I don't think I've seen more stucco, front-yard fences, and backhouses (with backhouses) in my life. I've started to get used to it, but it was all rather bizarre at first (Washington, this is not)."

Anyways, as far as this week is concerned, I'll just have to express my surprise at the fact that I'm basically done with my first transfer in the field. The saying "Time flies like an arrow" has never been more true than it is now (same with "Fruit flies like a banana.").

I've learned quite a lot in the past 6 weeks, and hope to be able to learn and do much more in the coming 6 weeks (FYI, the new training program lasts 12 weeks total).

Weirdest thing that happened this past week was having one of our lessons interrupted by the Los Angeles Police Department. I still have no idea what exactly prompted their visit (they said the mother of the house called them, but apparently she didn't), but they ended up waking up one of the other persons we were teaching from that home, which was good because that meant that we got to teach him too.

On Saturday morning as we were trying to contact one of our investigators (I'm not sure why we planned on stopped by so early), we ran across some person on the street who just wanted us to teach him. Apparently he was a member who had been inactive for quite a few years and has had some trouble in his life, and now he's come to the conclusion that he should come back to the church. I guess that's just an example of the Spirit guiding us to people we need to talk to.

So yeah, this was a pretty good week.
Cuidase!
- Elder Oeste

Hola Elder

This past week has been rather interesting. We've had temperatures ranging from 100+ to the low 70s (muy frio). It just so happened that for the hottest day this week I was on exchanges and had to use a bike. I'm not sure if I drank four bottles or five bottles of water that day. (Mercifully, the mission president said that bike elders could have an extra hour of study time because it was so hot.) Regardless of the temperature, I actually enjoyed biking around. The main problem with it (besides being slower than driving a car) was waiting for the other elders to pick us up for dinner.

Speaking of w (he just breaks off here...)

On Saturday I learned that I have superhuman cockroach-ignoring abilities (and that my companion doesn't).

Los vemos,
Elder West

On the Road

Here's another little slice of our summer vacation:



There weren't a lot of lodging options in Grand Coulee, Washington - but I have to admit, I was digging the sign for our motel.  The Trail West was nothing fancy - but adequate for a one nighter.



Salmon, Idaho had a few more options - we chose the Sacajawea Inn based on positive TripAdvisor reviews.  It was awesome in a retro/theme room kind of way. As we pulled up in front of the office, I asked Steve if he wanted a slushy...there were 3 people sitting on chairs that reminded me of the characters in Baptists at our Barbecue.  Loved. It. 



Yes, I did say 'theme room'.  We had the 'deer room'.  Can you tell?  Not only did we have a large mural, complete with deer, the lamp next to Danny had deer on it, there were 3 or 4 pictures on the wall with deer, AND the blankets under the bedspreads had deer on them. 

 The Sacajawea Inn was a very friendly place - the manager asked if we would be staying the next night (Saturday) - as they put on a free steak dinner every Saturday.  Sadly we were not.