Week 4: The Real World

Hello all!

It's been a wild week! That's for sure. I finally made it out to the field! I am in a tiny town called Yelm with my new companion Elder Brown. He is from Utah and has been out for 10 months. He's pretty cool so far! He follows the rules and is helping me step up and take the lead. Yelm is a strange place, that's for sure. It's a small town and it has a lot of houses way out in the middle of nowhere so I have a car. There is also apparently a fairly big cult out here called the Ramtha School of Enlightenment. From what I have heard, they all believe that Mt. Ranier is going to explode and lizard people are going to kill everyone but the "ramsters". It's really funny. They all have like copper plates on their house and wear copper on their bodies because that's apparently how to protect yourself. I haven't met a ramster yet, but I think it would be fun to.

I also got stopped this week by a guy named Raymond. He came up to us with alien swim trunks and a leather vest on and started talking about how God can make weak things become strong and claiming to be a missionary too. He offered to pray with us so we agreed and in it he said "might these missionaries have the strength of eagles that they may soar in their faith". What a guy haha. He also showed us his dentures and his part in the local Shakespeare play. It was the highlight of the day.

Something else cool was one of the people we are teaching, a less active. He is really nice and makes us food every time we visit. He made me sample like 8 different barbecue sauces he had made from scratch. He really wants to go to the temple, so me and my companion have been trying to help him go. He also has a 9 year old son that wants to be baptized but is deathly afraid of water, to the point where he has to be forced to shower. We are trying our best to help them and grow their faith and help them overcome the obstacles in their path. It's a really neat opportunity I have been able to do this, and I've been enjoying it a lot.

Anyways, till next time

Elder Parker

Ps the pictures are from when I have been out knocking on doors. As you can see, some days doors are hard to come by haha.