Hey everyone!

This last week was very crazy! We went on exchanges for Monday and Tuesday, then Thursday and Friday, so I feel as if I didn't do any work in my area at all! The first exchange I had was with Elder Facuri. He is a way cool elder in my district, and he is going home at the end of the transfer (so he's fairly trunky.) The bad thing is HE'S IN VISTA 8TH WARD!! So it kinda made me a little trunky that day because he was talking about all the stuff he's gonna do, and who he's gonna see and whatnot! So yeah, he's going to come visit our ward and talk to you so don't be weirded out when a random guy comes up and says, I know your son! We had a really good time together and taught a couple lessons, and it was cool seeing a missionary, who has had almost all the experience he will get, teach.

There is a family here that just had their house burn down just under a month ago. They lost their whole house sadly, and we just had a big service project at their house, which was way cool! We didn't actually do anything with the wreckage, but we helped put gates around it so no one would go in, and we helped clear the area around it of the stuff that was there, mostly wood. 50 or so members were there and it really helped them out with everything they are going through. A really neat thing was that they served us lunch, but they had the Josi's father cook all the meat so it was awesome to get him around a large group of members to see that we're not all that bad haha.

We have a baptism this weekend, and Josi definitely won't cancel! (The baptism we were supposed to have on Saturday canceled on us) So that is way exciting being able to see someone embrace the gospel!

So it is the last day of winter, but it certainly doesn't look like winter outside! Sunshine and clear skies is what I'm seeing right now, and I am very glad to be out of the depressing rain we've been having!

Well time is short here in Oregon!
Elder "B-Dawg" Pickett

Hey everyone!

That so funny that there have been raccoons in our backyard because we were just visiting a man last night who has had problems with raccoons and coyotes in his backyard! But he lives in the country so he just uses his .22 to solve the problems rather than cutting down the grass! I'm not endorsing the use of firearms in the city limits... but it works pretty well for him.

I'm not sure if I said so but we were going to have a baptism this Saturday which was totally exciting because it would've been my first one, but he actually left us a voicemail while we were walking in to the library today, and let us know that he has decided to not get baptized... which was a total downer because he is a really great guy and I know that being part of Christ's church could help him out so much!

Josi, the 10 year old is still on track to get baptized on the 24th, and she is super excited for that to happen! Finding her was definitely a miracle! Elder Gwynn was given a list of less actives to visit (before I got to Hermiston) and they randomly chose to go see the Goodrich's. They are a part member family and Sister Goodrich had been looking through her grandmothers old things, and found her Book of Mormon and was thinking a lot about church, so it was a sign to her that the missionaries showed up later that day and visited her!

Well time is short all the way up here in OR,
I hope you all have a great day!
Elder Pickett

Hey everyone!

That is a pretty funny picture! Does drafting off of a trike even help? Especially at 8 mph :P

I did receive the package, and I'm sad to say, we don't have an oven or any pots/pans/anything. we have a microwave (that barely works) and a hot plate (that can boil water but has trouble doing even that) so I'm not sure if the brownies will be baked, or the noodles feasted on, but thank you very much for all the other wonderful things that were in there!

That is a pretty good idea to be teaching the young men like they are doing! They just need to get out there and find (or they need referrals from the ward) but I'm sure as soon as they start doing those things it'll turn into a great area! I think it's crazy that 4 missionaries are covering 1 ward though; I'm not sure how they do it! It's not easy finding people to teach in 2 wards, let alone 1/2 of a ward!

We are teaching a 10 year old girl who is probably the coolest person I have ever met! She has read up to mosiah already and she just barely got a Book of Mormon a week ago! She is going to be baptized on the 24th of March, and she will be my 2nd baptism because we are having one on the 17th of March. His name is Rick, and he knows the Bible like the back of his hand! It is super cool meeting with him because we teach something and he says "oh yeah, in James chapter something verse something, it says the same thing so that makes sense." And it is pretty crazy talking to him because he just knows it so well!

Well that's all that I have to report this week, have a good one!
Love,
Elder Pickett

2-27-12

Hey everyone!

So my new area is just like my old area, except instead of a Fred Meyer, they have a Walmart... It's all farmland and not what anyone thinks Oregon looks like at all haha. My new companion is a way cool guy or a cool head if you will. His name is Elder Gwynn and he is a 6'3" bean pole! Our new area has a lot of work to be done in it so we are working hard on keeping up with the rest of our stake. Our stake president is very missionary focused, last year they set a baptismal goal of 1 a week, and they got 50 by the end of the year! At this point in the year they had 8 baptisms already. This year the goal is set for 60, so we'll need to do a lot more work to get there eventually! Today the stake has 1 baptism in it for the year of 2012, so it'll be pretty hard to get that goal of 60! Our wards are great! But not as great as home haha, we are getting fed well and plenty of referrals so I have no complaints.

So one cool thing, is there’s an elder in my district, Elder Facuri. He's the one in the 8th ward, and he's actually going home at the end of the transfer. So be on the watch for a new RM and make sure to say hello when you see him!

I am jealous that I don't get to go ride with you and see your progress! Keep on keeping on!

Well, it is time for me to be off soon!
Sincerely,
Elder Pickett!

Hey everyone!

So this last weekend we got transfer calls, and it turns out I'm leaving my greenie area, and becoming a real missionary! This transfer I'll be going to Hermiston Oregon with an Elder named Elder Gwynn. I'm excited to meet all the new people I get to meet in Hermiston, but I'm very sad to be leaving Ellensburg!

Tonight, we have dinner with a non-member family, and it's a pretty crazy story of how we came to meet them. We were actually out tracting in the middle of nowhere again (Most of my area is the middle of nowhere) and we knocked on a door, which an older man answered. The first thing he said was oh it’s you guys, come on in! Which was totally strange to us still because this kind of thing never happens while tracting. Anyway, it turns out that she was baptized 5 years ago and stopped going when they moved away from Tacoma. We had a lesson with them, and at the end they invited us out to have dinner with them, and we're going to be doing that tonight!

A big highlight of this week was being able to attend a baptism with Bryce, one of our investigators. He is a great guy and is progressing very well, there was a baptism in Selah this past Saturday, and we took him down there so that he could see one. The spirit was so strong there, and it really helped him with his fears about baptism. I sure hope that after I leave he will still progress and find the truth in the gospel.

In total, we have about 15 investigators, but everything is going to change completely. There is only going to be one companionship for the whole valley now, so the 3 of them (they will be a tri-panionship) will be covering 5 wards, so they will be very busy all the time now.

Well it has been a crazy week!

Love,

Elder Pickett

Hello!
So this has been a super cool week!
So we have this investigator named Ada Perry, she is a very old lady and has trouble understanding what we're trying to teach but she is super awesome! We gave her a Book of Mormon last Monday, and by Saturday she had read up to Alma! We were amazed at how much she had done! She is a pretty good painter, so Elder Roundy gave her a picture of my face and she is going to paint me!

A missionary just got home a couple weeks ago in the ward I’m in and he is such an awesome guy. He wants to do missionary work so bad, and he takes us out whenever we need him. He was serving his mission in Arkansas Little Rock mission, and he came back with a drawl which is hilarious because whenever Elder Bell (A missionary in my district) talks with him, Elder Bells drawl comes out, he can usually hide it pretty well, but not around Ben!

It's great to hear about your improvements! Keep on riding and working out!
Love,
Elder Pickett!

Hey everyone!

This week has been a pretty crazy week! Elder Roundy and I have been finding people like crazy! Last Friday, we had to take our car into the shop (We didn't break it, I promise) and we went to sit down in the customer waiting area to go over our plans, and then head out. While we were sitting there, a salesman walks up, and then walks away before saying anything. He then walks up again, makes a little small talk then walks away. The third time he came up and shared with us that his daughter who is in Colorado with her mom just got baptize, and he wants to have us over so he can learn more, so that when she talks to him about it he has a point of reference. That was an awesome miracle to see, but wait. There’s more! When he walked away after getting our number, another man came and sat down next to us. He started a conversation with us and we had a great discussion about Authority and the Bible and Book of Mormon. We are going to go visit him sometime this week!

So this week we got to go on exchanges with the zone leaders, and the both of them came up and split up between the two companionships here. This was awesome because we got a chance to both learn from our zl, Elder Tuttle; he’s an awesome guy and taught me and Elder Roundy a lot about how to make our work more efficient. It is so great being out here, being forced to study has really helped me out with learning how to study haha. I sure hope I can keep that habit when I get home and start school back up!

Well I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Pickett