What a welcome to Kingwood, WV

Well, Kingwood has proven to be an interesting experiance so far. Yesterday, in a matter of 20 minutes, we had a downpour, thunder and lightning, and then snow...then earlier this morning there was a huge thunderstorm that woke us up about half an hour early(darn it) and its been raining since, with thunder and lightning on and off. On the bright side its getting warmer! :D

The ward here is pretty cool, but really small. It's pretty much a branch. The people in the ward are nice, and we're really looking forward to assisting them in missionary work.

We had a great week last week in terms of finding. They will make great additions to the ward. I'm really starting to appreciate Ashland ward and all the other smaller wards I've been too!

My newest companion is Elder Kevin Allred from Vernal, UT. He's an outdoors kind of guy and loves to hunt and hike and fish. Of course he's taller than me too, I dont think I'll be taller than another one of my companions haha. His parents sent us some buffalo jerky and it was SOOOO GOOD!! mmm :) He's been out one transfer less than I. He's one heck of a missionary though! His trainer was an Assistant to the President before they were together, so he was trained well!

Some pictures I'm sending out:

The last picture of Elder Kelsch and I. We were in the truck about to leave.

Elder Allred looking in our incredibly full fridge for something to eat. haha. I know I was sent tons of food for Valentines day, but I unfortunately had to leave what we hadn't eaten in Russell. :/

The sun came out and was peaking through the window for a couple minutes the other day. We took a joseph smith-esque study picture. Just trying to look on the bright side! ;D

Then our first picture together! I was holding something called a Doogle(i think?) that an investigator gave each of us. Its like a Disney themed snack box. Really good though!

Then a really short stop sign! I was taller than it haha never thought I'd see the day!

I hope all is well! Love y'all and God bless!

~Elder Shain C Wiederholt

202 E High St #3

Kingwood, WV 26537

TRANSFERS

This Elder is going to Kingwood, WV. From what I'm told, it's going to be a lot like if I were serving back home in Townsend, MT. No more than 3000 people, and tons of tiny towns surrounding it in the county. It's also the county seat. My new companion will be Elder Allred from Vernal, UT, whose been out one transfer less than me. I'm also going to be the District Leader. I'm kind of nervous for that part, but excited at the same time! :D

This week has been soo awesome. A couple weeks ago we decided go tracting and do less active work. Well, we went tracting down this one street where we knocked on 6 doors over the span of 3 hours, and so much success was found there. Then we decided to go tract a street that has been really sticking out ot me since I got here, and I recognized it from tracting it when I got here, but completely lost the tracting card, so we knocked it again. Two doors later, we found some super legit investigators who just kept the questions coming for like 2 hours. It was awesome. Too bad I'm leaving, cause they're legit.

We also went by to see how Kebo was doing and he let us in and was telling us how cool he thought we were...haha. We just sat and got to know him a little bit more and he gave us each a cd he recorded! He's soo cool. haha Of course we can't listen to it, but it's still really cool. I plan on sending it home sometime soon. He said that he'll have us over to teach him outside when it gets warmer, which'll be great! :D

Well, now we gotta go. I'm cutting my email time a little bit so I have time to pack and get all my laundry done and stuff. Talk to y'all later!

Love

~Elder Shain C Wiederholt

Until I get my new address, this is the mission office. They'll forward anything to me:

888 Oakwood Rd Ste 310

Charleston, WV 25314

Happy Singles-Awareness Day!

Blech, am I right?

This week we've been doing tons better! Theres one girl who's 13 and a grand daughter of a member, and the member wanted her grand daughter to learn about the church so we're teaching her. I don't know how far thats gonna go cause her grandma probably didnt have baptism in mind, but we'll see how it ll goes.
Then! We prayed hardcore over a couple streets we had in mind and decided to go tract on Fannin Dr. Well, there were only three doors on the entire street, and they were on an apartment building. We decided to tract them anyway and we knocked the first door, and the lady in the second door answered cause she thought we had knocked on her door. As we talked she told us how she felt like she really needed to answer the door and talk to us and then asked us if we have ever had an answered prayer. We were like YEAHA! You know it! We're going back to see her on friday, hopefully she follows through!

I've been finding myself cooking more often over the last couple weeks. We weren't getting fed by members for a while so the other elders asked me to make some hot and spicy stuff up. Well, it turns out I make some really good mexican. Fajitas, tacos and burritos, all hot and spicy! MMM! I shook things up a bit and made some really good burgers the other day. We're all spliting the cost for dinner and stuff, so it only costs a couple bucks a night, so thats good! I'm thinking about making a recipe a friend sent out to me a couple months ago that consists of rice, black beans, spinich and corn, along with some spices, so that'll be cheap, easy and tasty. I've had once before, and it was pretty darn good!

Well, transfers a week from this wednesday. We think that I'm up and outta here, so I'm pretty excited, but at the same time I think I'm gonna miss Ashland, KY! I'm gonna try and ask my new mission president if I can come back and serve here when I'm about to head home. That would be so cool! :D

One picture I'm sending is of a three piece suit that I got for 6 bucks, and it fit me perfectly, so I got it. I should practice more restraint for sure. But its sweet! definitely wearing that to district meeting tomorrow! Then theres a couple of me and a couple of other elders hanging around the truck for exchanges, and then one of the district at district Pday before playing some basketball! :D

Well, til next week! We're gonna go to the church and watch some church videos. "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" is soo good. I stand two inches taller every time I see it, and I need all the help I can get! haha

Love,

~Elder Shain C Wiederholt

1125 St Christopher Dr #48

Russell, KY 41169

or starting next week for about a week:

Elder Shain C Wiederholt

888 Oakwood Rd Ste 310

Charleston, WV 25314

P.S.

I forgot! The man that got baptized while Elder Moen and I were teaching him got the Aaronic Priesthood last sunday! and then he passed the sacrament for the first time yesterday! I'm sooo proud of him! shoot!

:D

~Elder Shain Wiederholt

Go Pack Go!

So far this winter has been making it waaay too cold out to really go tract too much, especially with the wind. Instead we have been staying inside, studying, and meeting with members.

We had Zone Conference yesterday, and it went pretty awesome! It was incredibly spiritual. I learned a lot just about teaching and what-not, and Sister Thornock taught us about marriage. It was a great talk, but it made a majority of the missionaries super trunky. Also, we somehow decided that the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth means having 5 kids. haha, I dont know how.

My camera is breaking down too. The zoom doesn't work any more, and the lens gets caught on something whenever it tries to contract, so I have to push it to get it to stop this clicking noise. It also has trouble focusing now. Essentially, its only really good for viewing the pictures I already have. I'm just gonna get all my pictures from my companions cameras now and save them to my card. Kinda stinks that the one who likes photography the most has the broken camera. Oh well, its getting old and I've put it to good use.

One picture is from Christmas, one is of our district last transfer, and then of the district this

transfer(plus the zone leaders), and one is just a goofy picture of Elder Kelsch.

Not much else, til next time.

Love,

~Elder Shain C Wiederholt

1125 St Christopher Dr #48

Russell, KY 41169

blech

Well, a slow week. We didnt have too much success in our teaching pool, unfortunately, but we worked hard trying to find people to teach. We got a contact from a cool lady from California who just moved out here who really respects the church's outlook on families. We're excited for her. Elder Kelsch and I are doing great, and workign hard. He's good at talking with everyone, and I like to work hard and push forward. We definitely help each other out and are going to do great these next couple weeks. He thinks that I'm gonna be transfered though. I kind of want to be, just so I can see somewhere different. I wanna see some of the elders that I was in the MTC with! :D

Well, we're getting fed a lot by members this week. Last week wasnt too good cause the meal calander was lost and so we weren't fed for like two weeks. As a result, we would just go eat while we were out and it killed our funds for the month. This month'll be better though. I'm excited! :D OH! A less active we visited taught me some banjo. It was pretty darn sweet. :D

Other then that, not much has been going on. The Super bowl is coming up and so the work is essentially gonna stop next sunday, for the day. I dont know what we're gonna do. We gotta figure it out. Between the Sports and the winter, not many people have been opening their doors for more than a couple seconds to talk to us and so we haven't been able to find anyone. Hopefully thats gonna change in the near future. This area has soooooo much potential, I know it!

Til next week!

~Elder Shain C Wiederholt

1125 St Christopher Dr #48

Russell, KY 41169

P.S.

This is a picture from when we were helping Bro Bea move. He gave us each a tie and so we all got it signed and took a picture with him. He's soo cool. He's gonna give me some essential oil of Nutmeg that helps to stimulate growth! You know what that means! hahahaha just kidding, I dont know if he is or not, but it would be cool to grow a couple inches. OH! He gave us all some frankensense. SWEET STUFF. Its a natural mood lifter and was the cure-all for just about everything back in the day because of it. He gave it to all of us cause we're all feeling kinda meh lately. By give us some, I mean like a couple drops in our hands. Its like 60 bucks for a couple ounces. He does soo much for the missionarys and the work in the area, in fact he's a mission legend! He even does work on our mission president and his wife.

~Shain