Its only been, what, 4 days??

Ok, first off, what kind of idiot tries to blow up Pioneer Square? Like really? I was eating lunch in the Cafeteria at the Hospital we volunteer at, said my prayer, looked up and the TV had a picture of Pioneer Square and said "Tree Lighting Bomb Plot Foiled." I jumped up and yelled WHAT in the middle of the Cafeteria. I was pretty bumbed for the last day or so cause of it. If I lost friends I probably wouldn't find out until I got home and tried calling them to hang out or something, and that wouldn't be good. Theres another Elder from Astoria that I told, and he did the same thing over the phone. Pssh.

Well, not much has happened over the past few days. We came a across a super legit couple. Theyre not married yet, and she's due on May 2nd with his baby, but she told us she wants to be married in the Church the day after we met them. theyre great. Super knowledgable too.

Also, one of our investigators owns the Longest Boa in possession in America. He's gonna feed it today a 24 pound rabbit. We're pretty excited to see it. haha, Boys will be boys! It has its own sealed room, with windows that we'll watch it from. And the rabbit will already be dead. He's not inhumane to the animal.

In a couple pictures we took at members homes during thanksgiving. One is of Bro Boyd and his grandson. Another is of Elder Moen and I. Another is of Elder Rish(in the Portsmouth area, and in our district) doing a backflip. Another is of the Snake, whose name is Jade.

We're doing really good as an area. We have one baptism set for the 11th, and we're doing so good that we had to split our Area. There are going to be bike Elders in the City of Ashland, and we're gonna have the truck so we can still do work in the country and the smaller towns in the area. We did lose a couple of our investigators though. Oh well, Im sure the other elders will do fine!

Oh! I've decided that for Christmas, I'd like friends and family to just send me Christmas cards with a letter and picture of them. That would be awesome! :D

Til next time!

Finally a Pday!

Sorry I havent emailed for awhile. We had our last pday monday before last, and then since today was a holiday and the President wanted to minimalize tracting and teaching as much as possible today, we had pday today. :/ But! We're doing great! I'm now the designated driver for our area, and so as such I had to drive to Huntington last Wednesday and then Charleston the next morning, which is a little over an hour away. By the way, Ohio drivers over arent good at all. Just in case you didnt know. We went to Charleston to see a General Authority speak to us. He's Greg Christiansen of the Quorem of the 70. It was waaay cool. And then afterward, he asked to interview me about the mission! It was a really cool experiance talking with him one-on-one.

Other then that were just teaching as much as we can. We're trying our best to place at least one Book of Mormon a day, and besides today, we're right on track. We tracted into a woman last week named Kirby. She's got a 6 year old daughter, Dakota, who's really cool. We've been having trouble setting up a return appointment, but we're excited to teach her.

We're working hard! OOH! I was in a parade the other day! We do service at a hospital next to where we live and they asked us if we could help carry a giant american flag in the Christmas parade. It reminded me of the good ol' days, for sure. There was a lot of people, kinda like the Rose parade or Macy's parade in Portland, but it was only like a mile long.

Sorry its so short today, but we're about to eat at a member's house and my companion needs to do his thing too. Til monday!

~Elder Wiederholt

Boooooring week

Well, like the title s uggests, we had a reeeally boring week this week. We had good numbers for a change, though. We had an investigator at church yesterday! We were super stoked about it. Also, it was a Primary program so all the little kids at church were able to teach basic, simple doctrine and it was great! Elder Moen and I were asked to come up and sing a song with them, the conductor had a suuper cheesy smile though and I started to laugh a bit and my voice cracked. Hahaha. We also taught a Nazarene Preacher on wednesday, AT his church. It was an interesting experiance.

Also, we found a legit family. They own a local towing company and whenever they get a call they go as a family. The kids are homeschooled and they are seriously an awesome family. The only problem that theyre trying to get over right now is how we used to practice polygamy. :/ Nonetheless, I've definitely been learning a lot since I came out here to the East about one month ago! Lots to do and people to teach.

In the pictures, I saw an orange tree with some blue sky and so I took its picture. I couldn't help myself. Then theres one of Elder Moen with a suuper short tie and we thought it was pretty funny. Theres one of my desk, which was kinda messy when I took it. I have pictures and cards that I've gotten from friends and stuff on the wall, along with sticky notes with scriptures and quotes. Sister missionaries used to stay in our apartment, and they left a lot of stuff behind including this purple photo album with flowers on it. I found it and w as like YES! hahaha Gotta keep things interesting, you know?

I also took a picture of the cool fog this morning, and then one of the porch area below our apartment. Our neighbor has a huge drinking problem, essentially. Thats all from yesterday and today. Its all he does, is drink, starting early in the morning until late at night. I here him drop a can about every 5-15 minutes during my study time. We can't do much about it, cause we're encouraged not to talk to anyone living in the same complex as us, for safety reasons.

Its interesting, to say the least. We're going to a thrift store today and we're gonna look for a cheap keyboard to buy so we can practice our piano playing a bit during lunch and dinner and stuff. I'm lovin it!

~Elder Wiederholt

Keeping on the work!

Another great week, as always. I think I've figured out a cycle of how bad weeks and good weeks come about. They seem to just take turns. Haha, it really keeps things interesting. We're really trying hard to work with the member lately. Tracting hasnt exactly been turning out too hot, so we figured there was a reason for that and decided to try something else. Our ward is seriously like three-fourths inactive, so we're going through each of the "cities" in our area every weekend and trying to get back in contact with the Less Actives or Inactive Members. Some success, but most of the time people arent even home, or not LDS anymore. We came across a lady who became Jewish recently.

..

We haven't had too many members feeding us this last week, and also dont really have any this week, but the good news is that it forces us to learn how to cook better. We had our district sleep at our apartment two nights ago because we had Zone Conference yesterday and just carpooled nice and early to Huntington. It was easier on the miles for everyone that way. Either way, they DESTROYED my kitchen! I made it all clean and pretty and cleaned the Microwave for the first time in what was probably months. If my manager at DQ saw what it was before I cleaned it, I would be in sooooo much trouble. So I cleaned the kitchen, and now its dirty again, and so I have to clean it again. The next step is the bathrooms. Not that theyre bad, but they just need to be cleaned. Then the other rooms. It's sort of ironic how organized I like the house to be, when my study desk is an utter disaster.

OH. Elder Moen and I have to go on exchanges every week with another companionship in the district cause Elder Moen is the District Leader, so I get to go teach all over the place. I was in Huntington last week with one of our Zone Leaders and we drove through Marshall University! I love that movie! Also, in the beginning of the movie when theyre in the theater, I found that theater. Oooh snap. The Elder I was with, Elder Stanovich, is from Astoria, OR. He's pretty sweet. Everyone guessed we would get along, I wonder why? He's a convert as of two years ago and is incredibley knowledgable. He reminds me a lot of my good friend Anthony Henry for more than one reason. Hahaha. Talks like him, walks like him and has the same interests in art and stuff. He doesnt complain nearly as much, amongst other things, but I still love them both. Great people. haha.

This next week we're quite busy. I'm going to help out in the Olive Hill Branch tomorrow for our exchanges. Of course everything interesting that can happen is happening when I'm gone. Elder Moen and the other Elder have been invited to discuss with a Nazarene Minister and have lunch with him. Can't wait to see how that turns out.

Well, I forgot we have to do a survey, til next week!

~Elder Wiederholt

1125 St Christopher Dr #48

Russell, KY 41169

Green never breaks

Well, while I've been out here I've definitely learned a lot. First day I was out here I said I was green and the member said "Well, the green stick never breaks." He had no idea where that came from, but we love how wise it was! Also, in church I finally met the ward and stuff and when I was introducing myself in priesthood I said I was green and someone said that I was the greenest thing out here! Hahahaha. Thanks to Fall its true, all the trees are now barren :/ but I did get some pictures of the pretty leaves!

We're definitely experiancing God's hand in our work. We had to clean out all the old food from past missionaries and found stuff that expired in 2001. We had a virtually empty kitchen. This last week we have eating with plenty of members, and the bishop and members keep bringing food over. We essentially dont have to go shopping this week! I just need Orange Juice. haha. A couple days ago we were tracting and every other house, although not interested, stood on the porch and talked with us for 5 or 10 minutes! I love those kinds of people! There was one guy who has a pet deer and we got pictures feeding it! Soooo cool!

Theres like 2 accupunturists in the ward, and both use alternative medicines and techniques. It's incredible. Bro Bea, he talks a lot about how the mind controls sickness and stuff, and he really good. Elder Moen had a headache and Bro Bea touched his arm and it went away. I'm farely certain he could touch my arm and make my bowels relax...hahahaha I'll be careful! For sure!

It turns out that most of our progressing investigators are all girls our age. Not our fault! I swear! Young people out here are all open minded, and theres not a lot of them. Mostly older people, who are all older and set in their beliefs.

I'm sending some pictures! Theres one of me feeding the deer. Then one with Elders Glenn and Weitz. Elder Glenn is from Ellensburg, WA, and Elder Weitz is from Billings MT! Oooh yea. Then we took a picture of us knocking at an abondoned house. The last one is a Van like from Scooby Doo! It was at a baptist church and had a bunch of scriptures on it.

Til next time! :D

~Shain

Elder Shain C Wiederholt
1125 St Christopher Dr #48
Russell, KY 41169