April 12, 2022

 Everyone!

Ethan didn't write this week, not that we are surprised (haha).  But he is doing really well.  It is transfers week and he is staying put for another 6 weeks. Elder Howard is being transferred which is sad.  They got along really well and will actually be roommates when they go to BYU in the Fall. Elder Howard goes home after Ethan so he will get home just in time for school to start.  Ethan is really excited that they will be roommates.  Watch out BYU!  Ethan is, however, excited for his new companion, Elder Nichols.  Ethan was his district leader previously so he knows who he is and said that Elder Nichols is a good guy. 

Ethan may or may not finish his mission in this area.  There is only one more transfer of Ethan's mission.  Ethan's release date is June 30th, which is 2 weeks earlier than we thought.  His mission president finishes on July 1^st so the missionaries are going home with their mission president.  Because of that, there will be a 4-week transfer for all the missionaries leaving.  Ethan said what has happened in the past is that the missionary going home is put in a trio for the last 4 weeks of their mission.  If that happens, he really could go anywhere.  He said that one elder serving in Loveland, CO was transferred up to Laramie, WY, and put in a trio for his last transfer.  So Ethan could end up anywhere.  It will fun to see.

There are only 10 missionaries coming in this month so Ethan won't get to go to the airport to pick them up.  He would only do that if there were a lot and the APs couldn't handle it on their own.  He is crossing his fingers that he will get to do it the next transfer.

They didn't have a baptism last Saturday.  They went over the baptismal interview questions and realized that she wasn't quite ready.  They are helping her with a few of her concerns and then she will be ready.  The work is going slow where Ethan is but they still have people to teach so that's good.

He said they were going to spend the day playing disc golf (if it isn't too windy), volleyball, and then hanging out with the other district and play board games. They seem to have a fun group so it will be interesting to see how many changes there are to the Zone and district.

Ethan had another suit catastrophe.  We just got his black suit replaced from when the seams all ripped open and now the zipper on his blue suit has broken and it isn't an easy fix.  If you get your suits from Missionary Mall, make sure to reinforce the seams because we have had a hard time with Ethan's suits.  But they are great to fix them or replace them, so that has been a blessing.

 

Funny story that tells you Ethan's personality.  I sent a package to Ethan with a member family who lives near him (not in his area but in one close) but has a vacation rental near us.  They said they would deliver it the next day so I baked him a loaf of sourdough bread, put it in his March pillowcase, and gave it to them.  They assured me it would get to him the following day.  Well, a week later Ethan finally got the package.  They had encountered bad traffic and took 2 days to get home.  They then delivered the package to the missionary who was in their area but who wouldn't see Ethan for 4 days or so.  Finally, the elder gave Ethan the package and it was over a week old.  Ethan was nervous to open the package because the bread had to be bad by then.  Each week I ask him if he has opened the package and he says "no".  It has been well over a month. Last night I remembered that I had put some summer sausage in the package along with Ritz crackers.  If he wasn't going to open it to save the pillowcase (which is in its own ziplock, don't worry) I knew he would open the package to save the summer sausage.  Today, I asked again if he had opened the package and he said "no" so I told him that there was also summer sausage in there and it doesn't go bad because it has a long shelf life.  He seemed really excited so I am hopeful that he has now rescued his March pillowcase and the summer sausage.  Priorities!  He's hilarious!

Ethan's latest pic of us:

Ethan likes taking screenshots of us when we talk to him on Tuesdays.  He looks really amused in this picture.  He must have been teasing Courtney.

That's about all from Ethan.  Thank you for all your prayers and support of him.