December 11, 2017 – Return to Wenatchee

During our late night office prep for MLC we
made Cookies and Cream hot chocolate
and drank it with Oreos

So, this week was absolutely incredible. I finally got to go back to Wenatchee on exchanges!! It was so good to be back in my old stomping grounds. For exchanges I was with Elder Klossner! It was so fun being with another old companion! Elder Klossner is incredible!

I also was able to see Jose Rios again!!! He's doing so well. He's in the Elders Quorum Presidency, he teaches priesthood often, he's read The Book of Mormon several more times, and he says he's still learning a lot. I miss that man so much. It was really neat. When he opened the door, he got a huge smile on his face and said his classic phrase "Que tal?" which means more or less "What's up?" It was perfect.  I also saw his kids Melissa and Ivan again! They are doing super well! Ivan is huge! He's taller and bigger than Melissa, but he's a year and a half younger. Melissa is still adorable. It took them a minute to remember me but when they did it was so cool.

We also ate dinner with the Clive's. Brother Clive was my ward

​Jose!! Melissa! and Ivan! I love them so much!

mission leader while I was there and we would eat dinner with them every week, so it was really neat to see them again. Their little boy, Russell, has grown a ton as well. It was so good to see them!

We also had MLC this week, which went super well. Elder Walker and I led a discussion on our mission culture and what we hoped to see as far as improvements go. It was a really eye-opening discussion and we are going to roll out some trainings on it in the coming months. I also had to give my departing testimony. That was super weird. I had not thought beforehand what I was going to say. In fact, it didn't register that I was going to actually have to give one until I announced who was going to be sharing their departing testimonies. It's really weird thinking that was my last MLC. They've become such a normal part of my routine. I'm gonna miss them.

We also had two other exchanges this week. The Omak Zone

Elder Miles and Elder Walker teaching during MLC

Leaders stayed here in Yakima after MLC and then on Saturday the Othello Zone Leaders were here in Yakima. I love doing exchanges with other Elders. It's always so fun getting to spend a little time with them.

This week we found a new investigator, Stevey, who is a young mom who is going through a divorce right now. She has two kids both under the age of 4 but she is really quite interested. Elder Walker met her on exchanges on Tuesday and she came to our Christmas Party on Saturday. We have a lesson with her tonight. Hopefully that goes well. Her little boys were such a big help as we cleaned up the party. The older one, who is maybe 4, was right in the middle of everything. Grabbing chairs and putting them on the racks. He just wanted to be a part of it all and he wouldn't leave until it was finished.

We've seen Sarah once this week. Luchi went in for surgery on

Elder Walker, President Lewis, Elder Miles

Saturday and the whole family has been super sick, so it's been really difficult to meet with them. Plus, her work schedule is crazy. Because of all the craziness we went over to the Magalei's house and did some "planning" with them on how we can best help Sarah and her kids. it was super effective and we've got some darn good plans for this week.

Alicia and Evelyn came to the Christmas party also. We had a "planning" session with the Gilman family (he's also our WML) for how we can help Alicia come to church. It also went super well.

I think that's it for the week! Love y'all!!

--

Elder Miles

Washington Yakima Mission