Another Week

Cathlamet!

I cant believe its been another week.

Cathlamet is great! It's way fun to be here. It rains every day. Some days its just a little bit and on those days it is pretty nice. high 40's. humid. That's good weather... I cant believe I think that's good weather... In St. George high 40's is the coldest day of the year. Anyways, it's nice to have a car. When you actually have a car. We had to get some body work done on our car this week so it was in the shop on Monday morning. They said it would take 3-4 days so we came back into Longview on Thursday morning. We called them and they said it would be another day. So we went back to Cathlamet and came back into town the next day. We called them and they said it wouldn't be until 5... It was 2. So we had nothing to do. We were in Longview, 30 miles away from our area. So we walked to the Stake Center even though we had no way of getting in. We tried one door and it was locked and it was windy and cold and we had been walking all day. So we walked to the other door and called the missionaries in the area. Then we tried the door and it opened! Elder Crowther told me afterward that he said a prayer before we tried the first door and he thought it didn't work. But then we tried once more and of course the Lord answered his prayer! So we sat in the church until our car was ready. So we went this whole week without a car in Cathlamet... Where everything is spread out. That was a lot lot lot of walking. More than I ever did in Yakima.

Elder Crowther is trunky... He always talks about what it will be like back home h aha ha. I try and keep him focused and I tell him that this is the one time that he will have to be on a mission and he will have his whole life to look back on it either with regret or satisfaction. He kinda agrees with me but mostly he is just excited to be a normal person again. But he still works hard! He hasn't taken any short cuts as a missionary, he is going to work hard until the end. So I guess in that light he isn't so trunky. I think what did him in a lot was that he got his "trunky call" from Sister Wilson. That is just when you get the call to set up your flight plans for home. He still has 4 months left but they need to set that up. OH WELL! He is a good missionary and we get along. He always tells me that I remind him of his best friend from home.

There was a baptism in Yakima last Saturday. Adriana got baptized and she looked great. I still ask Elder Dutson how things are going back there. It sounds like its all going well. People are still on date. 2 other people are too. Yakima 3rd ward is on fire. That makes me sad that I had to leave... Cathlamet isn't on fire ha ha ha. But the work is just as important here. I have to keep telling myself that. There is a reason I am here.

I keep hearing a lot of news about Grandma Bingham. Everyone knew them!! And everyone loved them. Pamela, could you send me her address? or email? or anything and everything? phone number too. There are a lot of people here that want to get into contact with her. And I wanna write her. We visited the Hogans yesterday and they were telling me that the Binghams stayed in that very home for about 9 months! It was so weird to think of that. Then after that we visited the Fullerton's and they told us that they were best friends with Max and Ladonna and still stay in contact with them. They made a big impact on this branch. and that was 20 years ago! Its really cool to see all the connections.

Anyway. I'm happy. This place is very rural. There are farms everywhere. Its also right on the river so we see barges and tug boats floating on by daily. I need to send you pictures. Ill do that next week. I love the atmosphere here. We are always trying to help people with the work we know they need to do. I have done a little bit of work and its fun. We want to do more. We stacked wood for an older couple. We are going to help Brother Lomax on his house. Brother Leavitt need to finish tagging some of his cows. Elder Crowther and Elder Peterson did a lot for Elder Leavitt before I got here and we are trying to do more. That is the kind of work we do here. We just try to gain their trust by being their friend and helping them out. Different kind of missionary work. Lots of Less Actives. A few investigators. Mark Crystal Kyle and Stan are our four main investigators. Mark comes to church every week. Kyle and Stan said they would come this week but didn't. We are working with them. We just need to work harder.

I love you all. Especially Kristen.

Love

Elder Paxman