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Dear Mother and Father,

So, this letter, I was thinking about telling you about my area. Lacey is a fairly large version of Kaysville. Take the size of Layton and Kaysville, and throw in a gazillion apartment buildings. It's either raining (it rains everyday, just not constantly) or just cloudy. This week, though, has been a weird week. It has snowed five out of the seven days this week.

The people of Lacey, as a whole, are really nice. Although they are not interested in what we have to say, they still listen...then let us down kindly. There are, of course, those few who want to bible-bash, those that slam the door in your face, and the Anti-Mormons. But those are few and far between.

We have seen so many miracles. I believe I've told you about them, but there's one that keeps getting more and more amazing. Jamie and Oscar are just incredible. Oscar's ready to be baptized now, their son turns eight in April, and they are going to all three hours of church! We dropped by to see if they were going to go to church and Jamie was ordering quads online! QUADS!! What an incredible miracle.

Lacey has a few interesting things about it though. The first is that everyone here is supported, in some shape or form, by the government. Everyone! There are military dogs, there are three bases in this area, those that are disabled, and the large percentage that are out of work or poor, that are supported by welfare. Washington is a surprisingly poor area. Not really poor, but still...

Another thing, and this is my least favorite part, is the architecture. It is terrible! All of the buildings are ugly, and those that are decent looking are very strange in design. The kitchen sinks are right by the front window and the front door is on the side near the back.

Now my three companions. Now that I've been here for two weeks, I've really gotten to know them. And I still totally love them all. Elder Berger is a small, cocky wrestler. He is my favorite to go tracting with. He makes it totally fun! He's weird but takes the work seriously. Elder Cook is on the other end of the spectrum. He's a huge computer geek. In fact, he wrote apps for the iPhone. He is awesome, and he has taught me a lot about missionary work.

Elder Kanno is my favorite. He is totally crazy, nerdy and super fun. We talk about video games, movies, books and have a ton of fun. His crazyness can get a little annoying, but other times it's a blast. He is painfully shy which makes tracting and lessons really difficult.

Well, this week was great. Could you send me gloves? Leather, black driving gloves? It's been really cold, and we might get our car taken away, so I'll have to ride my bike. Warm hands would be great! Well, so long. Love and handshakes to you all.

Elder Courtney Casselman