December 10

Now we can all believe that Wesley was telling the truth when he said he'd gained 20 lbs.


Another amazing sunset!



Same foggy road as last time, but this one with two elders. Wesley is on the right.

Wes says, "The sign says it all." Elders have a weird sense of humor.

Weird sense of humor explains this picture.

A neat experience from the last letter: "We were tracting and talked to a lot of people, but not very many were interested. It was time for dinner, so we decided to knock on one more door. We knocked and nothing happened so right as we were about to leave I pushed the doorbell and someone answered the door. He invited us in (which never happens) and we sat and talked for quite awhile. His name is Wallace Chin, he's from Hawaii. He survived Pearl Harbor when he was 17. He is really cool and we are actually going to see him again."

I have been worried about Wesley riding a bike in the Washington rain. (My nephew Brandon ruined his suit pants as I remember!) Wesley's reply to my concerns was "I'm always careful and I can get wayyyy nice suit pants for like $10 at this Thrift Store if that happens." So, I'm wayyyy less worried about him wrecking his bike and ruining his suit pants.

Letter dated December 3rd

Wesley loves the area and loves the ward where he is serving. He says that the Blaine area is famous in the mission because the members spoil the missionaries there. The ward mission leader gives the missionaries $100 of Subway each month, so that explains this:

A twenty pound weight gain! Which is really crazy, because even if he is eating a foot-long meatball sub everyday for lunch, he still has to walk there! Wes is very proud of his weight gain. He was working on this before he left, but to no avail. Ahhh, the blessings of serving a mission. (Personally, I think it should work in reverse for his mother!)

The mission set a goal of 1000 baptisms for 2009, and so far are at 600. Although it doesn't seem that they will reach that goal in the next few weeks, Wes and his companion are teaching a man in his 50s who is very close to baptism and a lady, also in her 50s, who is struggling with her testimony of Joseph Smith. Still, he is very optimistic that they will both be baptized soon. Much of their work is with part-member or inactive families.

We (the family) are looking forward to Christmas day and getting to talk to Wesley on the phone. Christmas cards or packages need to be sent to the mission home and marked "Christmas". The mission home address is:

Washington Everett Mission

PO Box 13390

Mill Creek, WA 98082-1390