October 11, 2010
Hey family,
This past week has been pretty good. It's had its ups and downs but overall it's been great. When I got here they didn't have any solid investigators so we've been spending a lot of time visiting potential investigators and tracting. Having someone slam a door in your face or yelling at you that Joe Smith is a devil worshipper isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Most people are polite though and just say they're not interested. We did run into a guy on Friday named Duncan Jones, he just joined one of the local churches a month ago but he was really open with us and said he would love to have us come back so that's always good to hear. We also went and visited a lot of the part member families; I think there are a few who are finally comin around.
So I really like my companion, he's your typical missionary always making stupid gospel jokes and such but I guess when you're out for eighteen months that's what happens. He also is one of those guys that makes lots of sound effects, like when we are studying in the morning and he reads something that he wants to tell me he'll just start gasping, oooing and aweing until I ask him what he just read; really annoying but other than that he's awesome. I do think I can push him a little harder then what we've been doing so this coming week should be pretty good.
Florence in so beautiful. We live in an apartment connected to a member’s home. It pretty much in the middle of the forest and the driveway is like a hundred yards long. When you driving though it a night it totally looks like you are in Harry Potter in the Forbidden Forest, or Fangohrn Forest in Lord of the Rings....take your pick. The rain started comin down on Thursday and rained until yesterday. I'm not too excited to be out in the rain but o well it’s not too bad. It's definately a different type of cold then back home. Back home you could at least stay dry- over here there's no hope.
It’s pretty cool here though cause there are sand dunes everywhere, so you'll be driving along with the forest on both sides so thick that you can't see ten feet through them then all of a sudden the forest stops and there's nothing but sand for a mile then you hit the forest again. I think we might have stopped here on our first trip to Oregon when we stopped at the sand dunes, when we pulled up behind a store and went through a fence into some dunes. There's a place here that looks just like that, but I could be wrong. But ya Florence is just your typical small town. It’s mostly retired people because there aren't a whole ton of jobs available.
We also cover another ward in Reedsport. It’s about a half an hour away from Florence. We usually spend Thursday night or Friday night over there in a member’s home. But I like Florence a lot better. Both wards are awesome and have amazing people. All the members are so willing to help the missionaries out. So far we've eatin at a member’s home every night and I think we have a meal lined up for the rest of the month. One of the members did give us some fresh crab to take back to the apartment. I really like it except it's just kind of weird playing with the crab claws before you eat it.
Tell everyone good job in there sports, it sounds like you're all having a lot of fun. Jake, when I get back you need to show me all these cave's you go to. Also I need you to do something for me. I was at a members house last night and they started telling me this story about how twenty years ago this whale got beached here in Florence and they couldn't get it back out in the ocean and they didn't want to bury it or anything like that so they decided to blow it up. I need you to get on YouTube and look up “exploding whale” for me and tell me how it is. I love you guys thanks for all you do for me.
Love, Elder Stephenson