May 24, 2022

Hey everyone! Thanks for the emails, packages, and letters for Ethan's birthday last week.  He said he was spoiled and appreciated being thought of.

The last transfer in Ethan's mission (minus the one home) happened this week!  He stays in Windsor, CO, continuing with Elder Nichols, and continuing as a Zone Leader.  There are quite a lot of changes in their Zone but Ethan said that change is really good and he is looking forward to a shake-up of things.

They had some success last week finding people to teach.  Ethan and Elder Nichols have been driving to parts of their area and then walking around.  They don't knock on doors, they just walk around and talk to whoever is outside.  They were blessed to find people to teach on Sunday and Monday just walking around.  One of them let him borrow an umbrella because it was starting to sprinkle.  When Ethan protested, the man told them that he would get it back from them at Church on Sunday.  They are hopeful that he will show up.

Ethan's funny story of the week is that they had to kill a mouse.  There was a woman who was freaking out because she had caught a mouse in a sticky trap.  The mouse was little but it was still alive.  Ethan said the woman is like a buff weight lifting woman but was freaked out by a little mouse. So they took the sticky trap with the mouse out of the house and had to kill the mouse for the woman.  Ethan said it wasn't pleasant at all but they did it.

They got to ride on some electric scooters at a member's house last week.  There is a member who is very wealthy and has a bunch of toys.  So they went over and rode on the electric scooters.  Ethan said it was fun.

For p-day, they are going to breakfast with their District so they can all say goodbye but since so many are transferring, they don't have a ton of time to spend together.  So Ethan and Elder Nichols are going to hang out with the older District and play board games and disc golf.

I asked Ethan about funding because I have been curious about how much money they get for groceries and stuff.  Ethan said that the amount has gone up since he started his mission, so they now get $85 every 2 weeks (just twice per month so if there is an extra Monday, they have to ration their groceries to last for the extra week) for groceries and household stuff.  As Zone Leaders, they also get an extra $20 per transfer because they are going with missionaries on exchanges and need the extra food money.  I thought that was interesting to know.  Ethan eats with members quite a lot so he is taken care of.

Ethan is doing well and is enjoying his mission.  We are trying to not talk to him about things of home too much so he doesn't get baggie (or trunky).  He is doing well and still working hard.  Thanks for all your support of him.

Just to make everyone aware, Ethan flies home on June 30th.  We are driving down to Las Vegas to pick him up.  His original travel plans changed (a flight from Salt Lake to St. George was canceled) and the Church Travel Department gave us three options: Denver to Salt Lake to St. George arriving at 12:02 am on July 1st; Denver to Salt Lake arriving at 7:30 pm then we would pick him up from the Salt Lake Airport; or Denver to Las Vegas arriving at 5:20 pm and we would pick him up from the Las Vegas Airport.  I asked if we could add another option: Denver to St. George arriving at 10:20-ish pm.  The Travel Department said we could pay part of the ticket and get option #4 (direct to St. George).  We talked to Ethan on the next p-day and he decided he would rather spend the least amount of time at the airport as possible and get home quicker.  He will probably be dropped off at the Denver airport between 2-3 pm and the flights to Salt Lake and to St George don't leave for hours.  The one to Las Vegas leaves around 4:30 pm so he wouldn't have too much time to wait in the airport.  So that's the one he chose and the Travel Department sent us the updated travel plans.  Yeah!

Ethan doesn't know yet but he will be speaking in our ward on July 10th.  Our meetings begin at noon.  Anyone is welcome to attend.