Dear Shanell,

Last Tuesday we went tracting in the pouring rain. We got drenched! We visited the Whites and they fed us hamburgers. Then we went to visit the Elders Quorum president, but he wasn't home. His wife was babysitting a young boy and the boy's dad came and we gave him some pamphlets and a Book of Mormon. We had a great talk with him about the church. We also visited the Woodums and Cooks.

On Thursday we met with the Elder's Quorum President and discussed which inactive members we can visit. I think we will have plenty to do for a while. Then we visited a man named John Costigan and his wife who are investigators, but they don't seem too interested. After that we wanted to visit Cindy Shultz, but she wasn't home so we went to the bank and post office.

On Friday we visited the Dugans and set up a chess game for later so that we can get to know one of the kids who lives there that is not a member. Then we went to visit Sister Stewart and Jose Lang was there, too, so we set up an appointment with her for later. After dinner we went over to see Ross Reed and he is super cool. He is not a member but we are working with him. We also visited David Mann and his wife. She is a member, but he is not. He would make an excellent member though!

On Saturday we went to see Sister White. Her son, Leslie is going to go tracting with us next week. It should be good. He listens to Iron Maiden, Wasp, Black Sabbath, and other hard rock groups. Today he was being quite nice to me and he was very calm until my companion started bothering him. Even though he was jokingly hitting him, it ruined all the trust I had built up with him. I was kind of upset, but I'll just keep trying. After that we went and invited Cindy Shultz to come to church the next day with her daughter and her daughter's friend. We also went to visit Stuart, but he wasn't home. His sister said he was interested in going so we decided to stop by before church. We had tea at the Ernesties that night. It was fun talking to them!

On Sunday we took Kylee Shultz and two of her friends to church and the girls were not treated nicely. Two of the girls said they would never come back. The member girls and boys ridiculed them and would not quit harassing them! It made me so mad! The members should know better than that! We are going to talk to the branch president and President Wells about it.

My companion showed me what is known as the "Southern Cross". It is a constellation of stars that can only be seen from the southern hemisphere. I also found out what "Whyalla" means. It means windy city. That fits very well right now because the wind is blowing dust and leaves everywhere! I received your package yesterday! It meant so much to me! The cookies were great!  The missionary work here is starting to pick up now. We got 7 new referrals from another investigator and we got an inactive x-Branch President coming to church again, too! He is a super man. There is an investigator we have that is really having a hard time with fighting the devil's temptations, so Monday we asked her if she would like a priesthood blessing. She said yes.  I know that it is helping her. There was such a peaceful feeling there! I love using God's priesthood to help others.

On Monday we visited Eon Clark and met Tony Morrison. He actually attended Ricks College and at a football game against Dixie College, there was a contest to see who could kick a football through the goal posts and win a prize of $5,000. Well, Tony did it and won the prize! Tony is a great guy and we had a nice time talking to him. Eon and his wife are super neat, too.

I am not perfect yet, but I am learning how to love everyone. I am also becoming more patient. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Love,
Elder Wallentine