Issaquah

Family,

I am finally here! It is hard though. Gone are the days where the "investigators" took every word of advice and people (aka other missionaries walking around the MTC) on the "street" were always ready and willing to have another lesson or even listen to you.

I am assigned to serve in the Issaquah 5th ward. We are east of Seattle in the city of Issaquah, among the mountains and evergreens. It is a really nice area and the ward is really great! The ward is supportive of missionaries and they try their best to find us people to teach. Many people here are comfortable and not really interested in the gospel, but they are really nice and supportive to the LDS missionaries. But because of the members, we do have people to teach and there are 2 people on date to be baptized! This week we got one new investigator. His name is Marcello and he is from Brazil. He was referred to us by a family in our ward and we teach him at their home. So far we have taught him 2 lessons about the restoration, but it is hard because he doesn't understand a lot of English. Luckily Bro. Maximo (the man who referred him to us) knows Portuguese and translates for us. Marcello has a lot of questions, but is ready to accept the gospel. He went to church in Brazil, but when he moved here he didn't find one that fit for him so he quit going to church. I know that in our lessons he has felt the spirit.

My new companion's name is Elder Kitchen. He has been out for a little more than a year and is a really good missionary. He is from Mesa, Arizona. He has been serving in this area for 8 months and he knows the members well. They really trust him and I know that because of their trust in him, the Lord has allowed him to serve in this area for so long.

This has been one of the quickest, but longest weeks of my life. President and Sister Larkin picked us up at the airport and we were taken to the mission home where I met my new companion. President Larkin is really great and I can't wait to get to know him even better. Every day has been a lot of walking and meeting people on the street. We teach every day members, non-members, and our new investigators.

The mission has a goal to baptize 720 people by the end of the year. So far they have about 380 so we have a long way to go. President Larkin has continually told us that he prays every day that we can get that number and he has faith that if every missionary works hard that we can. So I pray every day that we can find people to teach. We are to try to talk to 80 people a day, but it is really hard, especially here in the suburbs. We haven't made that goal yet, but each day we do talk to more and more people.

Elder Kitchen and I have our own apartment, which is pretty nice. We do have a kitchen, but whenever we go to members houses, they offer us food. We have dinner with members about twice a week, but the generosity of the members helps us get by.

Washington is beautiful and I am grateful I have such a good companion. I am excited to see dad in conference this week. As always the Church is true and I can feel your prayers every day! I love you!

Love, Elder Richard Fetzer