Hey Everybody!!

So I have some crazy news to tell ya! Next Wednesday is transfer week!!  Buuuuuut I am now serving in the Fairway Village and Fishers Landing wards in the Vancouver East stake!  I am with Elder Shuman, and I will be finishing up his training (his trainer got sick when he was 5 weeks out) so he I am going to be his new trainer! 

My new area is in the same stake as Camas!  So I'm actually going over to Andy and Carries home town for P-day today!!  That'll be way cool!

This past Sunday was the stake conference up here!  We got to go to the adult session because we had some people coming with us, and it was a really amazing meeting!  This stake is really set on family history and temple work!  So they set a goal to index (Make digital copies of handwritten records) 6 million names in the next year!  I guess that is a ton! But everyone in the room sustained the goal, and from everyone I’ve met they are all pretty excited about this awesome opportunity!  Sadly, as missionaries we don't really get to do that kind of thing, but hey it is actually a really good finding activity!  Yesterday we talked to a guy and he started talking about his old family history, so we started talking about this indexing challenge, and he totally would have been game if he hadn't been visiting his son for a couple days, he was from Reno, and so we learned that this is an awesome way that we can help people feel the Spirit, in an easy and non- invasive manner!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Pickett

11-15-12

Hello everybody!!

This week was just so amazing!!  I don’t know where to start, so I'll do it like a 5th grade essay!!  Into first!!

So this week we had a ton of miracles happen!  One was meeting William Wade, The other was how many investigators we had at church, and the last is Dick and Kathy Bigoni!!

So this past Tuesday we had dinner with the Wades, he is a member of the bishopric, and their 3 less-active grandchildren who live with them now!  So we go into dinner and it's a little bit awkward and quiet until brother wade starts talking and he says this,  "So the weather has been super nice, um, William here wants to take the discussions to be baptized,"  Then takes a bite of spaghetti. "Man this spagetti is good!  Did you do something different with it?"  It was the funniest thing I've ever heard, because the part about baptism was just like the most casual thing I've ever heard anyone say, and he didn't even let us react, just kept on going like he didn't say the GREATEST THING A MISSIONARY WANTS TO HEAR!  (My companions are really helping me come out my shell so yeah; I'm a little more animated than usual.)  So we shared a dinner thought and set up a day to meet with him again.  Thursday rolls around and it's me Elder La Rue, and Elder Ray (Exchanges) teaching Will at the kitchen table (His 2 sisters didn't want to sit in; they are not so app with church and God for now.)  He was starting Alma before we even taught him!  So that was awesome, and now he is just choosing between Oct. 27 or Nov. 3 to get baptized!!  It is really an awesome privilege to get to know him!

This week we made m mission record with, Drum roll please.......    6 Investigators at church!!! I was amazing trying to round them all up into gospel principles class!  Lucky we had 3 missionaries so it wasn't too hard!  It was an amazing sacrament meeting!  Elder Maybnes of the seventy came to the other side of the mission and talked about how amazing it is when missionaries bear their testimonies, so we decided to start the meetings off right with all 3 of us going up first!  It was an awesome experience and I don't think I'll go to a testimony meeting without getting up for the rest of my mission!!

So Dick and Kathy were a referral, Dick is a non-member and Kathy is less-active. Kathy wanted article of faith cards, because she goes to a bible study and the people there bash on Mormons all the time so she decided that she would hand those out so the people know exactly what we believe! We were expecting just lass-active apathy and laziness, but it turns out she is very active, in the gospel, but not in church attendance!  She studies a ton and loves the Gospel!  She just doesn’t come to church!!  He has a lot of questions but is verrrry open to the church and we're going to teach and baptize him!!

Well I hope you all have an amazing week!
Love,
Elder Pickett

Hello everybody!!

So we've had a crazy week this week!!!  Me and my companion Elder Davidson came home one day, and started planning the next day when suddenly... We get a call from our mission president!!!  I always carry the s=phone so I gave it to him jokingly saying, "It's for you."  Well turns out it wasn't a joke... and President Greer proceeds to tell him that he has a ticket for a plane on Friday!!!  Missionary headquarters saw all the health problems he was having, we were visiting doctors weekly, and decided that it was too much for him to handle out here.  So on Friday morning, we were both all packed up and the Hazel Dell area got shut down until the end of the month!  I am now serving in Woodland WA, a little dinky farm town 30 minutes north of my old area, with the zone leaders!  I am completely enjoying it because now I don't have to walk everywhere!  And I got to see a bunch of missionaries I haven’t seen in a while at General Conference, we went to a different stake.  Yeah, so hopefully at the end of these 3 weeks I am with them I get to go back to Hazel Dell, but there are no promises sadly :(

Last night we did a family home evening with some of our investigators, it was super awesome, we watched some I'm a Mormon videos for the lesson, and then played a game called Missionary Impossible!  It was a really fun game, and my companion Elder La Rue won, though he did have some help from me and my other companion, Elder Kendrick!

I have come to realize that I really love the smaller rural type towns more than the suburban areas. It feels like I went somewhere new, rather than just walking around Oceanside tracting.  I would probably not enjoy living in an area like that but it is cool to see different walks of life other than my own!

Well that is what my crazy week has been like! 
Love you all!!
Elder Pickett

10-2-12

Hellooooo!

I got the package, and it is reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally cool!  I am glad to have some new moccasins because I could stick my whole foot through the front of my old ones!  My companion really got a kick out of the whole camel thing for my hump day... And has been telling everyone since about how I just past my year mark when I say "about a year" to how long I’ve been out.  It's been pretty fun!

Today was awesome! We got to go to Portland (out of the mission) and go to the temple!!  It was super great!  I really love the Portland temple; I think it’s probably my 2nd favorite temple, after San Diego of course! 

This week was pretty cool!  No awesome break through with anyone, which was a bummer, but it was just a good solid week.  We saw a really cool lady, the one that has the baby doll, and she is great to visit with!  Her name is Trudie, and they live in a retirement home facility thing!  She is really funny, and even though she’s 60ish she is probably more energetic than most kids!  She has a lot of awesome stories about when she lived out in the middle of nowhere in Oregon, which are always funny, and how she ended up in the church is also a good one!

That quote about a study of the gospel changing us more than a study of behavior is by Elder Bednar, and its quoted somewhere in PMG, I forget, but yeah I really love that and it is super true!

Thanks for everything!!
Love,
Elder Pickett 

Hump Day

9/24/12

Hello everyone!

So this Friday is my year mark, and I am pretty not excited for it :(  it means that i only have one more year left , and it feels like i have only been here for a couple months!  Well it has been a great year, and I'm excited for the year to come!

I have learned so many things this past year it has been probably the most growing year i have ever had!  I have learned mostly of the saviour and his divine mission.  I know that he did all he did for us, and i know he really did it!  I have seen this through people while I've been out here, people who get baptized, people who investigate, and even people who are just plain old Christians and have no interest in finding more truth!  He is the most amazing person to ever live here, and i am happy i have the chance to know about him!

This past year has definitely been a roller coaster!  I have not had a companion for more than 1 transfer until this past Wednesday!  So i have had 8 companions, where most people i came out with have about 5 or 6,  i also have been tossed around the mission pretty well and have 5 areas, where some people i came out with are just starting their 3rd!!  It has truly been the best time of my life and i wouldn't trade it for any other!

This week was a pretty low level week, my companion got sick for the weekend, so i got a lot of studying done which was nice!  We went to the Rughs house this week, we are teaching their 9 and 11 ear old, and did a little bit of review of the restoration and the doctrine of Christ,  that was good and these kids are really sharp so they picked up on it pretty easily!  We are excited to be working with them, and we are planning on having the baptism before this month is over!

Thanks for all your prayers!
Love,
Elder Pickett

Sept 17, 2012

Hey everybody!

This week has been chalk full of surprises!  For the first time my whole mission i will have a companion for more than 1 transfer!  That is pretty cool and I'm excited to stay in this wonderful area!  We thought there were going to be a ton of changes this time around, because the mission is getting 25 new greenies, the most in mission history!  What really surprised us is les than half of our zone actually got transfered!  So that is pretty crazy to be expecting something, and some people even packing and getting ready, but then it turns out were all just staying in the same place!

There is a really awesome guy in th ward, his name is paul.  He has been less than active for a while, but he still is excited to see the missionaries whenever we go by his house,  he has a crazy set up with 2 TVs in his living room and 3 computers all hooked up to the TVs, its probably the best set up ive seen ever, but thats beside the point.  This man really likes to talk.  A lot.  But this last week we went by to visit and decided rather than talking a little at the beginning we would just jump right in to reading Helaman chapter 5, which was really a blessing because when we were done with that we talked a little and invited him to some institute classes, which I wish he got out to, im not sure but we'll see him tonight, and eventually he might come out to church again!  That would be really cool!

It is great to hear that everything is going well!  I will definitely pray for bishop this week!

Love,
Elder Pickett

Hey everybody!

This week we had a really awesome break through!  We have been working with less active family, really great people with 5 kids, and they haven't really had much motivation to come back to church or do anything for that matter.  But we had a really awesome experience with them, and they decided that it was time to come back!  It was cool because generally when we would come over the kids would go crazy and we wouldn't be able to talk much but this last week we go to talk and they opened up and really talked with us.  It was super cool!  They are gonna be coming to church alot more than they used to they say so I hope they keep to their word on that!

We had a really great visit with some other people too, I think I talk about them alot though.  They are 2 19 year olds with a 1 year old baby, he is a recent convert and she is recently reactivated.  They are doing great and we're helping them with finding the love they need for each other.  It has been a crazy time working with them because they are so much younger than we are but it is very rewarding to see people my age making such huge steps in the lives!

It would be awesome if you could get me some more moccasins mine have a fairly large hole in the toe area, I can fit my big toe out of the front :)  Other than that I’m fine with whatever you see fit to send!

Sorry about the weird time, the library shut my computer off before I could finish my letter!

Love,
Elder Pickett