I've been struggling with the fact that my missionary is gone and how much I just want to touch him, hug him and hear his voice.  It's been a really hard few weeks for me for some reason.  I think the Lord has heard my prayers because I got this letter from Jake yesterday.  Here is a part of it-

Dear Mom!
Hey, what is up?  I hope that this letter gets to you soon, and hopefull the fate of the malman will be a good one.  So I'm stuck here in the apartment with a companion who keeps losing his sushi. :(  So, I think that I can write a decent sized letter to you.
So, how is everything going back home?  I got some awesome updates from the awesome letter you sent me.  I really like those pictures (clip art) in the letters by the way, especially the Adam and Eve one.  ha ha ha!  Anyway, is there anything new that happened since the last letter?  How are the guys doing?  Is Jessi and Alan still doing awesome?  How's Roberto doin'?  Fill me in on the latest.  K?
Oh! By the way, I got my East package today and it's HUGE!  Thank you soooooooo much for it!  I will make sure to open it up on Sunday!  And thanks again for including stuff for my companion.  I really appreciate all this stuff that you're doin for me.  And just like you said in your last letter, I really shouldn't feel bad for getting things here because there's people out there who have very little.  It will just make me work harder to help people get the gospel and get help with other things.
So, I have to tell you about my area!  The Hrbour Pointe area is really awsome!  The first day of transfers we drove past Boeing and it's ridiculously huge!  There's alot of people in my ward who work at Boeing.  I also really like seeing the Puget Sound, with Widbey Island in it.  Apparently Widbey has a bay called, "The Useless Bay"...... are you kidding me?!!!  Anyway, I have some awesome sunset pictures of Widbey Island that I'm going to send you soon.  Yesterday we had dinner at the Bishop's house, (and it really doesn't help that his daughter is ridiculously good looking!)  Anyway, we saw bald eagles like 4 times!  There's a tree kind of by the Bishop's house where there are Eagles just chillin' almost daily.  I thought that was pretty sweet.  The only bad thing is that we can't take the ferries becasue they go out of our area and zone.  But we can go to the beach, so we want to do a zone or district P-day there and do a barbeque there, too.  This place still has some awesome trees, not as tall as in Woodinville, but they're still pretty cool.  Oh!  and it's really cool because since Paine Field is right next to us, we get to see alot of planes close up.  It was really cool to see the Dreamliner, the airplane that looks like it's pregnant, take off when we were really close up.  Apparently, you can fit disassembled plane in there.  But other than those things, our area is just really cool.
My companion is still doing good, except now, he keeps hurling us chunks of yesterday's spicy enchiladas!  So yeah, we're doing good here and the members up here are way cool, too!  Especially our ward mission leader, he's a really funny guy.  I'm also pretty siked for the baptisms that are coming up.  I will definately send you the pics of the baptisms.
And I'm doing pretty good.  Of course some days you just feel like blah and you just want to stay in bed all day and eat pie.  And some days it's really fun!  It was really cool, yesterday night we got done with a lesson and we were just about to leave when all of a sudden it started to hail like crazy!  Or investigator let us stay inside until our ride came.  His mom and other family members were really nice and we waited together for a bit until our ride came.  While we waited, we talked for a bit and then his mom started asking questions about the Book of Mormon! YES!!!  She started to ask stuff about why she thinks the Book of Mormon is false and some other stuff.  Then we talked to her about the Book of Mormon and we told her about the promise in Moroni 10:3-5.  We told her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon if she wants to know the truth of our message,  She said that she would and we're going to check on her next week.  It's cool because if it didn't start hailing like crazy then we would have never had the chance to sit down with her and invite her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  And I don't think I've ever seen it hail like that since I've been here.  So it's really cool to see that miracles really do happen!!!!
So, enough about me, how is you doing?  I think that the rape crisis job for you would be really good, but I do agree with Robert that you might get too attached, but being attached could be a good thing.  I think that could be a good job in the future.  I think it's really cool how you want to help people.  And there are thousands of different things you can do right now to hep people.  Like, you're really helping people in the Labor and Delivery Unit.  To do that stuff takes alot of effort.  I couldn't do that GROSSNESS every day!!! What we should totally do is the African humanitarian thing like you did.  That would be really awesome.
I think that it's really cool how you have people asking about me when they see your bracelet.  You're doing awesome by using that to start a conversation about the Church.  That's what we want all memebers to do out here.  There are literally thousands of different ways to spread the gospel message without scaring people away.
Make sure and go to all your meetings!  We should all be doing things that allow us to feel the Spirit more often.  And remember to not listen to negative stuff about the Church.  The Spirit IS the ultimate confirmation of truth.  People can say all they want about the Church, but tey cannot and will not ever disprove the spirit that comes to everyone who lives the gospel and especially those who receive a witness from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true.
I love you mom.  Keep being awesome!  And keep helping the guys with getting all of their papers in.  Ryley, Su and Derrick are all way cool guys and they are all going to be awesome missionaries.  Oh!  Here's my scripture that I want to put on my plaque-
Alma 29:10  "And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my sould filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me; yea, even that He hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember His merciful arm which He extended towards me."

I love you, Mom!  And please tell Robert, Kayci, Jessi, Alan, Niner and everyone else that their awesome and I love them, too!!!!

It's so wonderful to see the growth in his testimony in the past few months.  The fun thing about the scripture for his plaque is that I gave that exact one to the Bishop last week.  I miss Jake so much, but knowing the good he is doing for other people makes this time sweeter for me.  But knowing the good that he is doing for himself is what makes this whole experience all worthwhile.

4/12/11
Dear Mom,
How is you and the family doing? Jessi and Alan have a kid yet? They better not until I get back! Kayci still being awesome? Roberto doing good?
I really like my new area so far. The people here are really nice and the people we are teaching are way cool, too. We have a 13 year old boy on date for April 23rd and one guy, Steve, that looks really promising. The elders before me did a really good job. I have also really liked the scenery here, too. In some spots in my area you can see Widbey Island way close up and it sits right in the Puget Sound. I have really liked Washington's scenery so far since I've been here. Especially the trees! We don't have trees like these back home. I am also kind of glad that I'm on a bike still because I won't get fat anytime soon! I heard that the average weight gain out here for people who aren't on a bike is 40 pounds! We take our calories like men!
My new companion is Elder Shaw and he's about 20 I think He likes sci-fi alot like I do and also like video games alot so our personalitites fit really well. So we get along really well. My new Zone has alot of cool people in it and my District is really cool because our District has the Zone Leaders in it and my old companion from the MTC, Elder Gosney.
I have to say thanks again for the packages you sent me, they were way awesome. Like I said in my e-mail, don't worry about sending me packages alot, or feel like you have to. I truly appreciate them soooooooooooooooo much. The only thing that I'm worried about is making my companions jealous, or homesick or disappointed because they didn't get anything from home but I am. But regardless, you are still way awesome and thanks again for all the stuff you do for me and the family.
I honestly don't know yet on a scripture to use for my plaque. I like the one in Alma that you shared and I was actually thinking about that one for awhile but I don't really feel like that is the one that I want to put up. So I will get you an answer either this week in my e-mail or in a letter. I pinky swear and promise! I have a few in mind so I'll make sure that it's a cool one.
How's Ry Ry doing? Are you guys seeing him alot? I think that getting him a job with Robert would be way good for him. I really need to write him a letter ASAP, I can't let my letter stall any longer or else it's Garbage day! Is Derrick still working on his papers? How is he doing with everything" I really hope the best for all of the guys. Keep being there for them and encouraging them. I really need to write my letters. Please keep me updated on all of them and keep being a friend to them. You're doing an awesome job at that.
So, how's Robert doing? I got a letter from him yesterday and he had to include that he and Jessi went to La Luna...grrrrrrr. Anyway, you still getting him to Church? Did he watch General Conference?
Thanks for all that you do for me and for being the most awesome Mom ever! Oh, yesterday we had a lesson with the Hesby family. We put Brother Hesby on date! Me and ELder Shaw brought a ward missionary, Brother Carey, to the lesson with us and he talked the whole time and he really was the one that put Brother Hesby on date. Even though he talked the whole time, we learned alot from the things that he said. One of my favorite things he said was that if you want an answer to a question on whether you should do something or not ( in this case, Brother Hesby didn't know if he should be baptized or not), but that you know what the right thing to do is, then you don't really need a miraculous answer to a prayer or something. If you know that it is right, then you really don't need permission or an answer to do it. You already have an answer enough knowing if something feels right or not. So it was a pretty cool lesson. I really liked also in the lesson Sister Hesby said how good the LDS people are, she started to tear up a little bit. It was a pretty cool lesson.
So, thanks again for all that you do and I'm really sorry that this letter is getting to you way late. It is indeed Garbage Day. It was pretty funny how you put that saying in my food package! So love you, keep being awesome, and love, peace and chicken grease.
Luv,
Elder Lynam (I have to pronounce my name EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!)
p.s. May the force be with you!

Dearest Mother

I think by now you have gotten good news that the mailman is alive and well. There was a slight distubance in the mailing process by your extremely awesome son when he was under heavy bombardment from a swarm of ninjas. Dont worry, I am ok, remember that if it only takes me 20 minutes to watch 60 minutes, then I think that I can fend off a swarm of ninjas.

Hahaha but I is so sorry for getting your letter late. I am afraid to say that I have no excuse (even if I had to fight off a swarm of ninjas). I got your really awesome letter in the mail a couple days ago with Elder Pork-chop's letter and the talk. Those things were really awesome!!!!!!! Thank you sooo much for them and it totally made my day after a kind of hard day. I hope that you got my letter with the SD card ok. I put a list of names of the people in the pics so you know who is who. I am going to send you the other SD card with some AWESOME pics of Widbey.

So, here is the latest. WE HAVE BROTHER HESBY ON DATE!!!!!!!! He was pretty much prepared to be Baptized before I got there, but I did a little to help him though. We were in a lesson and we brought one of our Ward Missionaries with us. He pretty much used the whole time to talk, but we learned a lot about the Holy Ghost and he was able to put Brother Hesby on date. And the date for the Baptism is going to be the 25th of this month and we are also having a Baptism this Sunday so we are pretty stoked!!!!!!! So I will definately send you pics of the Baptism of both of them. Some other cool things that happened is that some of our investigators are progressing really nicely and we have a bunch of potentials and a few promising potentials. So other than those things we are doing pretty good down here.

 So I love you and I wish the very best for the mailman in future visits and I hope that I wont be attacked by ninjas anymore. So off I go to hand write a letter to an awesome mother who wont hurt her son at all when he gets letters in late.

Love

Elder Line-em-up

 P.S.

Please forward this paragraph.

 Hey everyone!!!!!!!!! Way good news, WE GOT SOMEONE ON DATE!!!! It really wasnt me that got him on date, it was the missionaries before me, but I helped with the final blow hahaha. So we will do our best to keep him on date and we will do our best to keep our other investigator on date too. We are also working with and teaching our other awesome investigators.

We are still doing good here in Harbour Pointe. We are still biking and walking alot and getting HUGE calves. We have had rain for a while and yesterday it was sunny......for like 3 or 4 hours haha. But you tend to appreciate the sun a whole lot more when your deprived of it for days on end. But other than those things were doin pretty good. Make sure you all still keep on reading and praying EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!! and also going to Church every Sunday. I hope the very best you all and keep on being AWESOME!!!!!!!! 

Love

Elder Lynam

Here's the e-mail I sent Elder Jake Man- (hence the ninja comment!)
Dearest Jake Man:

Apparently my mailman has been either-

A.  Attacked by rabid gophers
B.  Taken hostage by the hobbits on their way to Eisengaard
or
3.  Unable to carry out his very most important mission, which is to deliver very special mail written to me with love from my missionary whose most important task, besides bringing souls to Christ, which is to report to his mother.

Please update me on my mailman's status..

Mom

4/11/11

Heres my new address

4500 Harbour Pointe Blvd. #725

Mukilteo, WA, 98275

Please send this letter head to everyone PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone, what is up!!!!!!!! Everything is going great up here in Washington. I got transferred last tuesday and I am now in the Harbour Pointe Ward area in Mukilteo. Its a way cool place and in certain spots you can see an awesome view of Widbey Island sitting in the Puget Sound. The people here are way cool. All the members in my Ward are way awesome and the people that we are teaching are way cool too!!!!!! Some of them are really promising too!!!!!!!!! So my area is still a bike area so my thighs are not very happy.   But other than that i'm doing pretty good. I'm going to miss Woodinville 1st Ward area and I am already loving this area though so I'm pretty excited to serve here. I love you all and keep reading your Scriptures, going to Church, and praying. Your all awesome and peace out for now!

Love

Elder Lynam

Dear Kayci

What is up!!!!!!! How is everything doing for my awesome sister? You still having fun at Harmons? You being nice to Mom and Roberto? You still being a super studet? I hope everything is doing good with you.

First off, i have to say that I am sooooo sorry for not writing you lately.   I promise to write you letters more often.

So, heres how things have been up here in Washington. I just got transferred to a new area called the Harbour Pointe Ward area. Its a way cool place. You can totally see Widbey Island from certain places in my area. I'm still in a bike area so im pretty much going to be the buffest guy you'll ever see when I get back. My new companion is Elder Shaw. Hes a way cool guy and he likes nerdy stuff like Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings like I do! Yay!!!!!!!!! We are teaching some really cool people and we are hoping the very best for them.

Kayci I want to let you know that I love you very much and you are really awesome. I love it how you are nice to everyone and how you keep laughing and keep on having fun even when times are tough. You make people smile all over their faces!  Seriously though you are way awesome and keep it up and make sure that you read your Scriptures, go to Church, and to pray every single night. I love you and WRITE ME BACK!!!

Love

Elder Lynam

P.S. TELL TAYLOR THAT THEIR TAKING THE HOBBITS TO ISENGARD!!!!!!

4/6/11


OK, so I guess I should stop sending Jake packages for awhile!  Actually, I have sent him stuff for every holiday and I always send something for his companion.  Hmmmmm.  I have sent him some food because I think it must be hard to grocery shop on a bike and they don't get to have dinner appointments.  Oh well, after Easter we really don't have any holidays until the 4th of July!  He'll be anxious to get something by then!

Dear Mom:

 

Hey what is up!! I really am starting to feel spoiled because of all the stuff you send me and how I also got a package from Dad. I really appreciate how you do stuff like this. Don't feel like you need to send stuff all the time. I really am grateful for a few packages every once in a while. If you keep sending me stuff I'm going to get fat (not phat).......even though I am pretty phat.

 

But you really awesome and thank you a ton for sending a 72 hour kit because the first Sunday in this Ward in Elders Quorum we talked about always being prepared in cause something happens. And what was pretty cool is that we learned how we have to be mentally and even spiritually prepared when something bad happens.

 

My area is way awesome so far. My area is still a biking area so my thighs are going to continue to get bigger until my pants wont fit anymore.......not that its a bad thing. Its way cool here too because in certain spots in my area you can see Widbey Island up close. Im going to send you some pics once I get my card fuller. So we are teaching some really cool people and have some really awesome potential investigators. I also went to the Mission Home for Cottage Meeting. Its where a few recent converts speak and talk about their conversion story and about their testimonies. The only way to get to go is if you bring an investigator with you. The meeting is designed for people who are investigating the Church. It was way cool and some of the people who spoke were really brought the Spirit. They also had two people from Africa speak and their accnts were way cool. Alot of the time you couldnt understand what they were saying but I really liked to just hear their awesome accents!!!!! Any way the area is way awesome and the apartment is really nice too. Especially the gym, its dumb though because some of the machines in the gym have T.V.s on them. 

 

Other than that everything is going really good here. I think you got my new address but in case if you didn't ill send you it again at the end of this letter. So I love you so much and you are seriously so awesome for all of the stuff that you do for me. Just make sure to not feel like you need to send tons of stuff all the time, I'm starting to feel spoiled, especially with all the food you sent me.  The only thing that I'm afraid of is my Companions getting home sick or disapointed when I get alot of things. I truly, truly, truly appreciate all of the stuff you send me though. I am soooooooooo grateful I have a Mom who does that kind of stuff for me. I just kind of feel bad because last transfer I got a bunch of stuff when Elder Thorpe only got a few things. But still, your way awesome and I am going to send you my actual HAND WRITTEN LETTER ASAP!!!!!!!!!! I love you and peace out till my letter!

 

Love

Elder Lynam

 

Heres my new address

 

4500 Harbour Pointe Blvd. #725

Mukilteo, WA, 98275

3/28/11
Dear Mom!
How is you?  I am doing good.  I am just sore from biking around so much this week.  We are still working with alot of awesome people.  But we just need them to come to church.  It's still pretty hard out here at times.  Especially when you're talking to people in your district about how many months we all have left.  Some of them are like 2 months or 11 months and 1 1/2 months.  Then there's me- 21 months.  hahaha  Oh well, it's going to be fun.  As long as I don't get eaten by a dog while reiding my bike.  Hahaha  once I'm out a bike area I won't be exposed to all these WRETCHED DANGERS!  jk
Is Bishop Funke telling you to put 72 hour kits together?  Because down here our Bishop is telling us to do that.  So thank you sooooo much for sending me a 72 hour kit  Now I won't have to survive off squirrels:) 
Luv,
Elder Lynam

Hey Mom!!!!!!!!!

Guess what I AM GETTING TRANSFERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im kind of happy but kind of angry at the same time. I wanted to stay here for another transfer or two Oh well, I will get over it. I will get my transfer location tommorow so i will let you know asap. I would write you more but i am to busy writing an extensive letter to a loving mother who gave me life.So peace out for a bit!

Please forward this letter.

Hey wats up yall

Guess what...... IM GETTING TRANSFERRED TOMMOROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am kind of happy but more on the sad side because i really liked my area. So im kind of hoping for the San Juan Islands but wherever i go it will be AWESOME!!! The people that were here are awesome and i hope the very best for them. So i will let you all know where i will be getting trasfered to asap.

Peace out for now

Luv

Elder Lynam