Birthday Week in Washougal!

Celebrating My Birthday

Greetings from WASHOUGAL!  Now let me tell you a little about this past week.  First thing first, and most importantly, it was my birthday.  I dined on fresh cod and taught the word of God to a lady with a parrot.  I could not have asked for a better day of birth.  Elder Johansen and I have been teaching a lot of lessons each week and really enjoying this area.  The free Wi-fi at McDonald's has become our best friend.  After a hard days work, nothings sounds better than a diet Coke and some AC at McDonald's.  This week we taught James Simmons twice.  James is a man of few words because he can't really hear.  We can't meet in his house either because his wife dislikes us.  Therefore, we have our lessons gathered under an oak tree beside his dwelling.  Which happens to be next to the freeway..If you are connecting the dots right now you are picturing a lesson where we are standing VERY CLOSE to one another and talking VERY LOUDLY and sweating profusely.  The lessons typically go well and James likes us to decipher his dreams.  He is quite prophetic.  He recommended us to his neighbors Moses and Dezi...who turned out to be Frank and Maggie when we knocked on the door!  So...anyway we started talking about the pros and cons of only having a Safeway shopping center around and this came to that...and they invited us back the next day.  This week we were also able to attend the Pioneer Day Vancouver East Stake Celebration and the Parker's Landing Ward pathetically lost in the tug of war contest.  Didn't even make it past the first round.  But there was tons of soda and a booth set up talking about pioneer history so I had a great time.  They were even playing Keith Urban on the speakers (not that I was listening)  BUT THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK WAS THAT MATT BAHR FROM MY LAST AREA WAS BAPTIZED AND I GOT TO GIVE A TALK ON THE HOLY GHOST AND BE THERE FOR IT!  Matt was more ready than you could ever imagine.  I will probably be friends with Matt forever and we will watch WWII documentaries sometime down the road.  It has been an excellent week and I have learned so much about VIRTUOUS thoughts.  I have truly had humbling experiences this week.  Remember always that we are all the same in the eyes of the Lord.  No matter who you are or where you are from.  Love you and merry Pioneer Day. 

Matt's Baptism