HELLO SEATTLE!

Pike Place Market

 Hello all,

This week was actually pretty good! On Monday we went to Pike Place Market. It was a really neat experience. There were lots of shops and markets. The smell of fresh seafood was in the air. As we walked on the top floor we were stopped many times by members of the Church. We even met one man who is a Stake President in Taiwan and even pulled out his temple recommend in Chinese. We went to a store that specializes in all things that have to do with movies and comic books. I saw a script for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1," but resisted the temptation and didn't buy it. I'm pretty sure that is going to be the first movie I see when I get home. We visited the gum wall, which has officially become Seattle's most disgusting sight. But I didn't have a chance to add to it, so that will hopefully happen soon.

Gum Wall....SICK!

Every Monday we do Laundry at David's house, who is a member of the Seattle 3rd ward. As we wait for laundry, we play Settlers of Catan, which is actually a pretty fun game. David has all the expansion sets so the games get pretty intense.

We did a lot of tracting and contacting this week. We decided to walk around Greenlake, which is in the middle of the city and there are always people walking. When we got about halfway around the lake it started to pour and without any rain gear on we got drenched! Later that day we were tracting and it started to pour. We decided to wait it out on someone's porch. Good thing they weren't home!

We got a new investigator this week. His name is Clint. He is in his late 40's. He is a friend of a less-active woman named June that we have dinner with every week. Clint has been sleeping on June's couch for a couple of months and he is finally becoming interested in the gospel. He came to Church yesterday and really liked it. "It just seems so normal," he told us. The bad thing is that he is going to jail today for a DUI that he didn't show up to court for. He isn't a criminal though. He has just had some bad things happen in his life and he really wants to change. Hopefully it will humble him someday and allow him to be baptized.

Yesterday was a really good day at Church! A high school choir from Spanish Fork came and sang during Sacrament Meeting. It was a really great way to introduce Church to the people who came to Church for the first time. The spirit was strong! Seeing the choir brought back memories of Olympus High School Choir.

Well, things here are looking up for us. The Lord continues to bless us with people to teach and we are getting closer and closer to finding a progressing investigator. I can feel it! I am happy I am in the city and can't wait for the adventures that await me this week! The Church is true!

~Elder Richard Fetzer

View from the top of Elder Fetzer's apartment building

S-E-A-T-T-L-E

Hello All,

So now I am in Seattle. This definitely isn't Issaquah. There is so much diversity here. It is really neat to be in the city. Our area is HUGE!!! We cover Capitol Hill down to Mt. Baker, Fremont, Ballard and Woodlands. Needless to say, there are a lot of people who are ready to hear the message of the Restoration.

I love being in the city. People are everywhere and it is really quite easy to get the goal of 80 contacts a day. Seattle is a really neat city and I can't wait to see more of it. Since today is p-day we are going to Pike Place Market. I am really excited! We saw the troll under the bridge (it is in the area), but I didn't bring my camera so we'll go back again. It seems like there is a lot to see and explore so any suggestions are welcome!

The ward is interesting. There are about 800 people on the ward roster with only about 150 attending each week. There is a lot of reactivation work to do here. It is hard though. The ward isn't too organized and it seems that ward counsel doesn't really help much. But our Ward Mission Leader is really great and hard working is is trying hard to help us out more. Right now the investigators we do have seem kind of flaky so we don't really have too many people to teach, but we are working really hard to try to get some people who will actually progress. We did get a new investigator this week. He said he wants to be baptized, but he is on watch for about 17 more months so we don't even know if he is eligible for that right now, but we'll see what happens.

This week we met Lillian, a less-active member who is just returning to activity. She is about 23 and has two little boys. She reminds me a lot of what my friend Anne may have been like about that age. She just got out of rehab and is trying to put her life back in order. Hopefully she continues on the path she is starting and I can see her progress in the Church, like Anne decided to do.

We also teach a less-active blind man named Vince. On Wednesday we had him listen to the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration full-length movie while we watched. It is a really great film for those who haven't seen it yet. It teaches and will strengthen anyone's testimony of the Prophet.

I have been reading a lecture called "The Stick of Joseph." It is about a man who defended the Book of Mormon in a mock court case for one of his law classes. It brings up points about the Book of Mormon and shows the truthfulness of the book through facts. It is really interesting and I have learned a lot. As always though, the only way to gain a testimony of the book is to pray about it, as it directs in Moroni 10:4-5.

My companion is really cool! He has been out for about 20 months now and is almost done. Maybe we'll stay together for the next couple of transfers until he goes home, but we'll see. That is really all that is happening as of this week. I am excited for what the next 6 weeks will bring. As always, the Church is true!

~Elder Fetzer

*Richard's transfer brought some familiar people back into his life. He is now in his cousin Meka's ward!

TRANSFERS!!!

Hello all,

As I finish this email I will be going to transfers. Yes, I am leaving Issaquah 5th ward. My time here has been well spent and I have loved serving here. The news was somewhat expected. I have been here for six months now and this is still my first area. It was a bitter-sweet departure. It is hard to say goodbye, but I know that I will see my friends here again someday. Deep down inside I felt as though I had done my best here and that it was time for someone else to take my place. I feel that I can do good somewhere else in the mission. I am excited and nervous to leave.

Nothing much happened this week. Tracting, finding a few potentials, visiting the regular people. Same old stuff, but it was pretty sad to say goodbye. There are many families that I will remember, but I know that they will be blessed as they continue to live the gospel. As we visited family after family it became harder to say goodbye. Last night was especially tough when I said goodbye to my recent converts, Rebecca and Eva. We also said goodbye to Sue, who came back to the Church last year.The last person we visited is one of my favorite people I taught, Anne and her kids. Anne and her family had a party for me. We had root beer floats and the kids wrote me some very nice notes. It is amazing how much you start to truly love the people you teach. All in all, I am excited for the new adventures I will go on and the new people I will meet.

So now you're probably wondering where I'm going. Even though I haven't officially found out I checked on the program online I use to write presidents letters. I am going to the Seattle 5th Ward in the North Seattle Stake. My zone is in downtown Seattle! I can't wait to see what downtown is like!
Well, that's about all for this week. I love and miss you! The Church is true!

~Elder Fetzer