Hey everyone!

This has been a crazy week with transfers and all! I'm staying in Ellensburg but Elder Gibson is leaving and going to Vancouver, WA. I'm getting a new companion named Elder Roundy. He seems like a great missionary from what I've heard.

We have an investigator working for a baptismal date of January 28th. His name is Bryce and he has a pretty interesting story. He was dating a Mormon girl and at first started investigating to see if it would help their relationship be stronger, so he kind of investigated for 5 months without really trying anything. They broke up when she went off to school so he stopped investigating for a while. This past month he realized that he needs to investigate for himself, not his girlfriend. So he has been progressing so quickly now because he is studying very diligently, and praying all the time. The one obstacle he has is that he works on Sundays, he is working on trying to get his schedule changed now, and the progress he has made since I met him the first time has been amazing! He is a great guy and will be an awesome member.

So it is amazing to hear your progress each week, I know I say this every week, but it really is spectacular to know that even without me hollerin at you to work out you are making awesome progress :P

Well nothing really new is happening, other than what’s going on with Bryce, so I wish you all a good week.

Love,
Elder Pickett

Hey everyone!

Great week this week! We have an investigator who has been looking into the church for a couple months now, and he wouldn't read the Book of Mormon until he had read the Bible all the way through. Within the past couple weeks he has made great progress, and has accepted to be baptized on the 28th of January! That was an amazing thing considering how closed off he was at the beginning. It is amazing how some people are worked on slowly but surely by the Holy Ghost.

It is great to hear about how much improvement you make every week Mom, by next week you had better be riding 5-10 miles a day!

Christmas and New Years were a lot of fun, and Dad would be proud because we celebrated New York New Years, just how you like it. Christmas was great, we were able to have 2 dinners, and they were both great. Skyping my family was definitely a highlight too.

That is pretty crazy! I'm not sure if I told you but we had a small automobile accident too! We were backing up out of someone’s driveway, I was behind the car, and as we were making a small turn to get out, the front bumper caught on a pile of rocks and tore the whole thing off! So we drove around without a bumper for about 3 weeks, but now all is good and well.

I'd just like to say Happy New Years!!

Love,
Elder Pickett

Hey Everyone!

Merry Christmas!

This week has been a very strange week, the work up here is basically a roller coaster, you never know if you'll be able to teach anyone in a week. We are working with Candy and David more, and they are both progressing very well. She is a non-member who says she wants to be baptized eventually, and he is a less active member who rebelled when he was young, but wants to come back. They are both progressing very well, and this friday they said it's okay if the bishop came with us for our appointment.

Dad may have jazzed your progression up a little, but I bet you are moving along faster than you think you are! It's so exciting to hear about every thing that you do, it really makes me not worry about you cuz I know you are in good hands while I'm gone.

Thats awesome that Alex is heading out to the field today! I can't wait to hear all about his adventures in the mission.

I got the package, and funny thing is, I already bought a giant jar of marshmallow fluff so I am doing good in that area.

Well sorry for the short E-mail today, we are in such a rush today because we need to be down in Yakima in just a minute.

I love you all,
Elder Pickett

Hey Everyone!

This week has been a very strange week, the work up here is basically a roller coaster, you never know if you'll be able to teach anyone in a week. We are working with Candy and David more, and they are both progressing very well. She is a non-member who says she wants to be baptized eventually, and he is a less active member who rebelled when he was young, but wants to come back. They are both progressing very well, and this friday they said it's okay if the bishop came with us for our appointment.

Dad may have jazzed your progression up a little, but I bet you are moving along faster than you think you are! It's so exciting to hear about every thing that you do, it really makes me not worry about you cuz I know you are in good hands while I'm gone.

Thats awesome that Alex is heading out to the field today! I can't wait to hear all about his adventures in the mission.

I got the package, and funny thing is, I already bought a giant jar of marshmallow fluff so I am doing good in that area.

Well sorry for the short E-mail today, we are in such a rush today because we need to be down in Yakima in just a minute.

I love you all,
Elder Pickett

Hey everyone!

That is really amazing how far you are progressing! It just makes me sad to know that I'm not going to be there to see it happen. It sounded like the trike was really helping your improvement move along quickly, so make sure you get that up and running ASAP!

That is fantastic that Spencer and Nikki will be down, I can't wait to see you all! One thing I need to know is when you will be ready to skype though, because I will be at my WML's (ward mission leader) house after church at 10 o'clock, until noon thirty. So hopefully we can get our time in there. Is your sunday only sacrament meeting this year? Ours is and thats a new thing that I haven't really heard of.

We had our 1st ward christmas party on the third, and our 3rd ward party is the 17th. The gym here is quite tiny, so we will have to take turns sitting and eating at the third ward party because there are so many people in the congregation!

So we had a record breaking week this week, with a total of 10 lessons. Sadly, the man named Clay I was talking about 2 weeks ago isn't doing so well and we were asked to not come back. On the bright side we tracted a lady named Annette, and we taught her 2 lessons this week, and will be returning for more in the week to come. Things are looking up in elensburg.

Oh, the weather is pretty awesome. Fog, everywhere. The frost from the night looks like it snowed, when it really didn't. Super cold. Awesome. At least the tree's are beautiful when they are all frosted up.

Anyway, I'll talk to you all next week,
Elder Pickett

Hey everyone!

This week has been great, super quick because of the change of P-days, but still great nonetheless.

This week we had a hard time getting in with people, so we like to call it our "Ammon style mission" week. Our mission president asked us to do more service especially since the season, so we have been doing a lot of service. We worked at a food bank for a couple hours, which was awesome because we got to walk around and do "grocery shopping" as the people there call it. We go around and let them know what they get, and it is just awesome being able to talk to them and meet new people who are so humble.

We are trying to get the ward more into doing missionary work, they are very closed off from it. Except one 14 year old boy who is basically an inspiration to me. He has handed out 3 BoMs to his friends since we have gotten here, and keeps coming and asking for more. His name is Justin, and he lived in Carlsbad until he was 10, then his family moved up here because his Dad found a dentistry practice up in Ellensburg. The whole family is awesome, and the priest age boy Kyle is helping us to get to teach one of his friends. They are just a great family all around, and i hope the ward see's their example.

Well it is time to get going now, we have to rush off to Yakima.

Love you all,
Elder Pickett