Hello from Lacey, Washington!
As great as MTC life was, it's great to be out in the mission field. It's so much more fulfilling and fun. I do miss the MTC food a little though. Not that it was great, but just that there was so much of it.
We got into the airport and met President Bowen by the baggage claim. We put all our luggage and stuff into a uhaul trailer and rode to the stake center in a big van. Once there, we got the briefing on all the safety stuff and whatnot. Talking about driving privileges and the importance of keeping good records. We then got our companions.
I guess usually they train newbies in a foursome, but they're short on missionaries or something, so most are in a threesome. I'm with the zone leaders of the Lacey zone. Lacey is the name of the city I'm currently serving in. It's only a few miles outside of Olympia. You can look it up. My companions' names are Elder Draper and Elder Mauss (pronounced moss). They are pretty cool. This is Elder Draper's last transfer, so he's almost done. It's pretty funny though... on the first night, he was talking in his sleep and teaching lessons and scheduling follow-up appointments. Luckily he didn't do that last night too. I was worried it might be a nightly occurrence.
I guess usually they train newbies in a foursome, but they're short on missionaries or something, so most are in a threesome. I'm with the zone leaders of the Lacey zone. Lacey is the name of the city I'm currently serving in. It's only a few miles outside of Olympia. You can look it up. My companions' names are Elder Draper and Elder Mauss (pronounced moss). They are pretty cool. This is Elder Draper's last transfer, so he's almost done. It's pretty funny though... on the first night, he was talking in his sleep and teaching lessons and scheduling follow-up appointments. Luckily he didn't do that last night too. I was worried it might be a nightly occurrence.
Elder Mauss is a world-champion jump-roper. I saw a video of him doing a routine at the world championships. He's really good. He does all sorts of tricks and stuff. He aspires to eventually get Jump-roping into the olympics as one of the events at the summer games.
Tracting is great. Elder Draper and I spent a few hours at a trailer park yesterday. We met a lot of nice people, and a few crazies.
The big thing here is "church tours", which are exactly what they sound like. We show people around the inside of the building, and then ask them to be baptized while we are standing by the font. It's way cool. We've gotten two people to commit to baptism so far that way, and I've only been here two days.
Lacey is great, and I'm looking forward to these next 6 weeks. I don't know where I'll be after that, but I'm sure it will be great too.
My address is as follows:
Elder Trevor Giles
4625 45th Ave SE Apt. #M1
Lacey, WA 98503
Everyone should write me! I look forward to hearing from you.
I wish you all luck in your endeavors.
-Elder Giles
