Week 12

THE SECRET OF WASHINGTON RAIN

Another week has passed and time seems to just be going faster and faster! I can't believe it is already 2015... that's just weird. This week was really good.  But I found something out about Washington winters - rain is good and sun is bad. That's because when it rains here, the clouds are out, and when the clouds are out the warm stays in. So on cloudy, rainy days, it feels a lot warmer outside. However, when the clouds go away, and the sun actually comes out, it is freezing outside! So I like the rain more than the sun here, at least in the winter.

This last week we got to meet with the Mission President. I thought it was pretty cool for me because apparently you only meet with him once every 12 weeks and my second week happened to be when we did. It was nice to get to know him better, and we talked about my visa. He actually asked me if I had any information, and then told me he had no idea what was going on in Salt Lake. He told me he would tell me as soon as he knew anything else. But I did get news from a different source! My old companion, Elder Millet, sent me an email telling me that his mom had received an email from the Taipei mission president. That email said they had a meeting with the Taiwan government about missionary visas, and apparently it went really well. On Christmas day the Taiwanese government talked to the mission, and told them exactly what they needed to do to get their missionaries to Taiwan, and how they could get them to Taiwan on time in the future! He then said this should solve the visa problem in Taiwan, and should get us over there before the next transfer starts. But remember I got that from my companion, who got it from his mom, who got it from the mission president, who got it from Taiwan... so I don't know how much we can trust that source. 

Anyway, back to Washington. This last week went really well. We met two new potential investigators, both of which promised to go to church on Sunday. However, one of them was a lady who has struggled with a lot of hardships in her life, so she was so ready to hear the gospel, but she might have been under some pain medications, and the other was drunk.. And neither of them showed up to church, or have met with us since... So, maybe not so potential. 

Teonie has still not met with us, but we have made some progress. We went to her house and scheduled an appointment for Saturday with some awesome members. She was willing to go, but 2 hours before the meeting she canceled, because she was "stuck in Seattle". Oh well, we will keep working on her, because  I know she felt the spirit. 

Then on Friday and Saturday I was able to go on splits with the Spanish missionaries. Because my trainer is a district leader, he has to go on splits with every elder in the district at least once a transfer, so that means me and Elder Nelson, as his companions, get to go on splits with every elder once every transfer. This week we went to the other area, the Spanish elders in our zone. We worked with Elder Li, who happens to be out in the field about 10 weeks, so he was the eldest companion. It was a struggle at some times, because most of the meetings we went to were with Spanish families who can't speak English.. it was an interesting experience. 

I get an hour to study Mandarin a day and I sometimes study with a recent convert in my ward who is from China. We just go back and forth speaking Mandarin and going through the lessons. It's great!

Everything is good here. Taiwan will come, but until then Washington is good! Thanks for all the letters and emails! Have a good week.

Love,

Elder Quist