Hey!

So I am getting transferred this coming Wednesday! And I'm making a cross state trip to the western side of Vancouver!  It's gonna be awesome to see green everywhere and finally get out of the desert!  I'm super excited for my new companion, Elder Nawahine.  It's pronounced now- uh- he- neigh!  Cool little story, the missionary that returned home to Oceanside in April trained this guy, and he is from La Jolla!  So it’ll be 2 Cali boys trying to survive in the rain!  I've only met him a handful of times, but I'm sure we'll have a ton of fun, and get a bunch of work done!

This week was a really funny week.  We keep running into Seventh Day Adventists!  It's kind of funny how many we've ran into!  This one, Lee Murphy is probably the coolest 79 year old I've ever met.  We were walking down the road and saw him doing yard work while leaning on crutches.  So we offered to help, and he said "I thought you'd never ask!"  So we went down into his basement, which isn't finished yet; only the foundation is remade, and helped him remove some trees that were growing into the side of it.  It was a fun little project and afterward he invited us in for some juice!  We sat down and got to talking, and he was on crutches because he broke his leg 2 months ago falling out of a tree while he was up there trimming it with a chainsaw!  (This guy’s intense.)  We then had a really good lesson, and he said he would read the Book of Mormon and pray to ask if it's true!  I won't be able to see him again, but I hope he will find the truth in the message!

We had a fireside yesterday and it was so good!  We had 3 recent converts speak and share their testimonies, one of which was TJ, who was baptized the Saturday I came into the area.  We then sang our mission song which is super cool, and then President Greer (mission president) and President Andelin (stake president) talked. It was a super good meeting and the investigators there loved it! 

Well that is my week in a nutshell!
Love,
Elder Pickett

Subject: Your missionary had lunch at my house today!!
To:

P-day lunch at the Pierces!! It was a pleasure to have them in our home!!

We love the missionaries!!

Love Sister Pierce in Pasco

Who's putting his dish in the dish washer?

Hello!

So I sent you new mission address, so don't forget to let people know that it's not the same one!  Our new address will be: 8202 W. Quinault Ave. #D, Kennewick, Washington  99336

Secondly, Happy Birthday Mom!!!
Sorry to hear about your Bursitis.  Aw, manL  but at least it’s slowed the progress but not stopped the progress.

Thirdly,  this week was way good! But mostly yesterday was so cool!  As a zone, we have set a goal of 30 new investigators per week!  And yesterday as a zone we needed 9 of them!  So I and Ruetti went to our appointment with the Coaly family, where we got 5 new investigators!  Then as we were walking home we knocked on a potentials door, and got 2 more right there!  It was such a good day yesterday!!

The lesson with the Coaly's was probably the best of my mission!  It started off kind of weird (Especially since they won't call us Elder so I'm Brandon when I go over there)  but other than that, it was super awesome and the spirit was there super strong!  So we taught them, and as a family they are going to read the Book of Mormon!  It is going to be super cool going back there and teaching them again, I kinda hope I stay because I don't want to miss out on that!

That AJ Edwards story is so cool!  I sent you a link to the Mormon Message they made out of that talk, it is really such an awesome story! http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages-for-youth?lang=eng&start=1&end=12#2011-09-005-sanctify-yourselves
AJ Edwards is the bomb!

We are doing a Book of Mormon challenge, and as a mission we will finish the Book of Mormon on Dads B-day!  It has been a really awesome experience, and I'm in Helaman 7 now!  It'll be my second time through on my mission.  I know what you mean about its kind of a new book every time!  I love it so much, and after I finish reading, up next is the New Testament!!  Have a good week!

Have a great week everyone!
Love,
Elder Pickett

Hey everybody!!

  The ward is doing good, and the work is really picking up!  This week we had the best week for the area in about the past year or so!  This specific ward is very very small so it is hard to find people that haven't already been tracted out or anything, but we are definitely being blessed with people all the time! 

So there is this one investigator, Linda.  We haven't decided whether she's super golden, or just super crazy... She is probably more golden than crazy, but yeah the first visit we had with her she said she was deciding whether she was going to be Mormon or Christian, and she took us coming over as a sign that she's supposed to be Mormon, so she keeps telling us she's going to be Mormon now.  That is pretty cool to be blessed with a golden investigator.

Another cool thing that’s happening here is we are starting to have "cottage meetings."  Or mini firesides that members host where other members or investigators or less actives, or anyone can come and we will share a thought, and then have desert or something!  It's going to be awesome, and the Snake River ward (Matt's ward) do them every Sunday.  The cool thing is every gator that has gone to one of them, has been baptized! So we're hoping that this will help the work tremendously!

Don't forget to feed the missionaries!!
Love,
Elder Pickett

6-5-12

Hello,

So I just realized that last week was my 8 month birthday! Woo Hoo!  But yeah, it has pretty much been the shortest 8 months of my life! 

So this week we found an awesome guy, his wife and he are looking for a church, and they invited us to come see if we were the right church for them (and we are.)  So we are very excited to get to go see them tonight and hopefully help them find the truth in our message! We are going to be doing a lot of work for him service-wise because he has a giant pile of dirt out front of his house that needs to be moved into the back, and he has been doing it all alone!  So there is some hope brewing in Pasco, and it looks like it's going to be a wonderful transfer!

So we have been doing a ton of service this week!  It was really cool to be able to help a bunch of people out!

So yeah talking to people on the bike path, it has actually reduced the quantity of how many people we talk to, because you can tract alot of houses quickly, and walking the path is a game of chance depending on how many people are out that day.  So yeah, the quantity has gone down, but the quality has increased by alot.  I guess when people are out and about they are more willing to talk to people!

We have been finding some awesome new investigators!  Yesterday this one guy came to church with a friend, his name is DJ, and he really like church which was super cool!  Afterwards, we went to the families’ home for a smore party, and he was also there!  It was super cool to get to know him, and teach him a little bit at the party!  This week has been super good for our area, and things are always looking brighter!!

I miss you and love you all!
Elder Pickett!