Hey Mom! Dad! Everybody!

How are you all doing? I'm great! This has been a wild ride of emotions! Seriously! So, we went tracting and something totally weird happened to me. We set up an insta-tour. This black guy, Shamal, came down and checked out the church. It was so weird, especially compared to the weeks and weeks of not finding anybody. We've set up dozens of church tours, but most of them are set up with these super flaky people we meet on the street. It's too bad, because I know they won't really come, nor do they have any desire to come on a tour. They are usually very poor or homeless people, and I just don't know what to think of them. I know that even if we were to baptize them, they wouldn't progress in the gospel and stay active. To me, that's condemning them. Although it is their choice, it's still not fair, because they don't know what they are getting themselves into. So, I feel like the axe will fall on my head. I'm just not sure what to think about it.

But hey! We have some totally awesome investigators that we are teaching right now. Seriously. Ludie is an older black lady whom Elder Howard tracted into eight weeks ago, and she loved the Restoration! In fact...I asked her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and she said that she already knew that it was true. She came to church yesterday and even bore her testimony! Holy cow. She's being baptized next week on Sunday. It's weird having to plan for baptism without them being nine weeks out. Ha, ha. Adrian came out to meet us. He saw us out his window and came to talk to us. The church tour happened on Saturday and although he didn't commit to baptism (he said it was too soon) he's so excited to learn more. And I'm excited to teach him.


Another, Maurice, was taken on a church tour by the Zone Leaders in Lakewood. When they found out he lived in our area, they forwarded him over to us. He's jobless right now (he was a former drug dealer, and now is struggling because of that decision) and so it's super hard to get a hold of him to teach. It's kind of annoying, because he's already been to church, but he can't make it because he's working his butt off for just $5 an hour. We'll find out if he got kicked out of his place today. We'll see. I have full confidence in God that he will do what is necessary to get him and his son baptized.

Well, I had three flat tires this week and Elder Howard had one. It's funny. The rims of the bike that I took began to tear at the stem of the inner tube until it ripped it off. It happened on Tuesday, then Wednesday, and then on Friday. Finally, the guy we live with (Coker Michael, an old cranky guy who is hilarious) got so frustrated, he took us to the office where Elder Anderson, the guy over the bikes, gave me two new rims. I offered to pay him, which he refused. So, I spent $20 on inner tubes. YAY!!! That's the drama of this week.

Lastly, our new address is 215 South 40th Street, Tacoma, WA 98418

Well, that's all that's going on right now. Just surviving stress. I love you all and am so grateful for your support. Hugs, loves and handshakes. Good luck!


Elder Courtney Casselman


Still Alive