12/14/2011
Dear Mom!
How is you doing? I liked your e-mail about "this is me- not e-mailing you!" hahahaha!!! Hopefully that e-mail that you got yesterday will make things all better!
So transfers went well yesterday. Elder Bytendorp is now in Redmond with Elder Hall. I served around Elder Hall when I was on the San Juans. And my new companion is ........ drum roll..... Elder Raschka! He's a way cool kid from Oroville, California. He's a convert to the Church, too! He converted when he was 14 or so. He used to go to the the Baptist, 7th day Adventist, and some other churches. Needless to say, he knows his Bible really well. I love having a convert as a companion because it will really help the people that we teach see a living witness of someone who had a similar belief to theirs and now is LDS! I'm pretty stoked!
He's a twin and his brother is a convert, too! They are both on a mission right now. They went in to the MTC on the same day, and flew out on the same day... one went to Pocatello Idaho and Elder Raschka went here. I think that's pretty cool!
I'm pretty excited about this transfer! I can't wait to see all of the new Elders in our Zone. We have Zone meeting today at 10:30 so I'll be able to see everyone then.
In our zone, we have tons of Spanish speaking elders! Apparently the Spanish work in this part of Washington is growing. Our District Leaders, Zone Leaders and the Bothell missionaries are all Spanish speaking. Just us and Juanita are the only English speaking Elders in our district.
12/15/11
Guess what today is?...... MY YEAR MARK!!! I can't believe that it's already here. I have exactly one more year until I'm done! Time goes by so fast at times. I need to not waste a minute!!!!
So, the work is going good up here. We asked Kiki and Emanuael to be baptized when they have come to know that the things we are teaching them are true. Kiki said that she will read the Book of Mormon and if God tells her that it is true, then she will be baptized. She said "there is no hiding from it!" I love how humble she is. Emanuel is the same, but he may have a harder time giving up his past religious ways. He's inactive in his faith, but we still think that it will be hard for him to change. But, he said that he will read and pray about the Book of Mormon with Kiki. So, hopefully all will go well with them.
We have some really awesome people that we are working with, too! We have Pauline and her sister, Paulette, Travis and Pearl. We are also working with some less-active members that we are hoping to briing to Church this Sunday.
We have a few cool things that we're doing this transfer. We are going to a Christmas Devotional next Wednesday. We are spending Christmas Eve with a member family called the Skiles. And, of course, Christmas Day with the Bruners! I'm not for sure yet, but we might be doing our temple trip this transfer, too! So, I'm pretty excited!
There are alot of friends that I've made out here that are going home in about a week. One of them is Elder Thorpe. When I was with him, he was at his 13 or 14 month mark. He's going home a little early for school, but still!!! It's crazy how time has flown since I've been with him! I'm sure going to miss all those guys!
Thanks again for all that you do for me, mom. I really appreciate that you're willing to do the kind of stuff that you do. If you would make sure to have stuff for Elder Rashcka for Christmas, that would be really awesome. I'm sure it's hard for his family with two missionaries out.
Tell everyone that I love them and tell Niner that I "ruff" him, too!
Love,
Elder Lynam (line-em-up)
ps.............. hi!
