April 26, 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
This place is the best!!!!!! It's like a vacation out here! Well it’s not exactly a vacation but it is way different from my last area. One of the members gave us a key to their house to go do Laundry and raid the fridge if we want. They are the best family ever. This place is like a 180 degree change from my last area. We live right by the ocean; you can go street contacting right next to the beach. We aren't allowed to go on the beach though, it’s off limits. The area is really nice though, it’s still pretty cold and rains a lot but things will get better. It is a tourist town and it gets really packed in the summers so we will be pretty busy. Things are amazing out here though, it’s a pretty small town so everyone pretty much knows everyone. Last week we received like 14 referrals from members and we are going to work. The Lord is blessing this area and I see some success coming in the future. Elder Allred and I are working hard and the members out here support the missionary work 100%.
I’m about to turn 20 May 1st but it doesn't really feel like it. I feel like the only thing that has really changed is that my beard is getting thicker and I might have to start shaving twice a day now. But there’s nothing I really need, just whatever you send will be fine. Being out here makes you realize that material things don't matter for these 2 years because all I can fit in my suit cases are my clothes and books. I left a ton of stuff back in my last area that Elder White inherited. I might just buy some sweats out here that say Seaside so I can always remember this area. A cool fact is that the movie the Goonies was filmed like 20 minutes north of us in Astoria. I’m going to have to go check out the Goonie house one day on a P-day!
My companions name is Cooper Allred and he is from Orem, Utah. He is a really nice guy and we get along pretty well. He has been out for about 14 months and has served in an English speaking area his entire mission. He doesn't know any Spanish so when I do language study he just does his own thing ha-ha. He has desires to work hard and this will be a good transfer. Of course we are very different and this is the 3rd companion I’ve had that is really quiet. I’m starting to think my Mission President is trying to teach me a lesson or something. Well, my last companion, Elder White was really quiet and by the end of our companionship he was able to talk and express himself pretty well so I have hopes that by the end of this transfer Elder Allred and I will be able to sit down and have a nice conversation without it getting weird. With time we will be great friends, but right now I’m just trying to get to know the area well so I can help out more.
I’ll let you know what’s been going on this week and some funny experiences. Well, I’ll start with what we did this week. We basically stopped by all the members’ homes so I could introduce myself and we asked them if there was anything we could do for them. By doing this we acquired a ton of referrals and will be pretty busy this week. Our Ward mission leader is on fire and is the man. It's totally different from where I came from but I’m so glad I started in Keizer and got that hard working background right off the bat.
Some of the members out here have been giving me a hard time because I’m the new guy but it’s all in good fun. We went to go eat with this family that owns a car dealership. His name is Bruce Smith so he named his car dealership BS Auto ha-ha. He is a really cool guy and used to be in a big rock band. He gave me a hard time probably because I asked him where he got the name for his car dealership ha-ha. I told you about the family that gave us the keys to their house so we could go do our laundry and eat their food, well they are the best. They’re the Symonds’s family and he is a really funny guy. On the night before Easter I got a call from a number but I didn’t get to the phone in time and the person left a message. The message said, " And Lo the Bunny Cometh to thy door, checketh thou for thine basket before thy becometh wet with rain. I then looked outside the door and there were two huge Easter egg baskets full of candy. I later found out that it was Brother Symonds that hooked us up. It was pretty funny because that was the last thing I was expecting to hear on my answering machine. I’m going to get a lot of my funny stories from this guy because he is the man!
We went to go teach this little guy named Lawrence that just turned 8. He is about to get baptized so we went to go teach him what the meaning of baptism is and why we get baptized. Well after about 15 minutes we taught him about everything he needed to know. We asked him what he learned and he told us exactly what we taught him, almost word for word. He soaked up the information like a sponge. I was really impressed because most of the adults I have taught don’t grasp the information that quickly but an 8 year old picked it up in one visit. I was amazed and it was pretty funny because he reminded me of myself at that age as he couldn't sit still. But it's all good because he listened pretty well.
Easter day was awesome though; the Bishop called me up at random during Sacrament meeting and asked me to share my testimony. I was lead by the Spirit as I told every one of my love for them and my love for the gospel and Lord Jesus Christ. Later that day, we made little Easter egg treats for the members and we stopped by almost every members home and gave them an Easter egg. It was a good experience and now this upcoming week we are going to get down to work. It’s a whole different area and a whole different vibe but I know with the Lord’s help I will really make the best of my time here in Seaside.
Love you guys,
Nathan
