welcome to our library! 11:25 am

It seems that the computers in this library only allow 45 minutes so this might be a little short. Luckily I didn't talk too much about what I've been doing the last few days over the phone so now I actually have something to write about. I am in Waynesboro now in a dumpy 2 story townhouse. I get about 5 minutes in the shower which isn't terrible or anything but far less comfortable than the 15-20 minute showers I got in Chesterfield. There's a lot of food laid around the place and a lot of boxes that previous missionaries have left behind with all kinds of crap. So we're doing just fine here. Really.

My new companion is Elder Bronson and he's pretty funny and cool. We kind of have the same sense of humor so he says I'm the first funny companion he's had. He's at his 16 month mark or so (5 more transfers) so he's not about to leave like I thought. His birthday was on Thursday too so he had a little instant cake he got from his family that he made. We get along pretty good so there aren't really any problems there. He does a very good Chris Farley impression, and has just about all his stuff memorized. So we spend most of the day laughing at each other. We just about lost it at someone's house at dinner when we watched this old guy try to pick up a chip with his cane. Don't worry, the situation didn't make it disrespectful. I promise.

Waynesboro is an interesting place. We went to an antique auction on Saturday and had a bit of a culture shock there. Just lots of...back country people. Guys were driving up in old beat up Chevy trucks and the like. Some of them were very nice so I can't complain. Others just glare. The very first place I went to when I got here was to a blacksmith shop to teach a guy, so that should give you an idea of what it's like here. It was pretty cool but we didn't actually teach him cause we had him make a little rose out of metal which took longer than we thought. I'll have to take pictures next time we go there.

We don't really have a lot of people to teach or at least people that want to be taught right now, so we've done a lot of finding and tracting which I don't like much at all. We've done a whole lot of nothing teaching wise but that could change. The members here seem less...stiff than in Chesterfield which is cool so I think I'm getting to know them a little better. Sunday was interesting as I had to do the "handshake pleasantries" that I so strongly dislike but so strongly need to do. Lots of "hello"s and "welcome"s and "hope you like it here"s. I feel like I'm getting better at them but I'm still very much inept at it.

The computer just magically gave me 10 more minutes. So I should be good?

Because I'm driving now I can't take too many pictures of the area like I used to. It's a lot hillier so there's more of a view, unlike Chesterfield which was just forest as far as I could see. Driving's not too bad, but I do have to have Elder Bronson spoon feed me directions everywhere which I hope to eliminate through careful learning of the area. We do have a GPS which we use sometimes but it'll often take us on weird routes so sometimes we'll just ignore it. I'm still glad I'm not on a bike here though. That would blow.

Oh, another thing I forgot to mention is that the Spanish Elders also live in our area, so we often see them and talk to them and stuff. They have a much nicer apartment and it's probably the nicest apartment in the mission. They also cover Staunton which I guess is close to us but they rarely go out that way. But yeah sometimes we'll be driving and we'll see them at a door and think "Oh wow, is that what we look like?" Yeah. Wacky.

To be honest I forgot to try on my slacks. I'm sure they'll be fine though. I might need the short sleeve shirts a little sooner though cause I may or may not have ruined one of them. I was trying to get out a mustard stain with a bleach pen but I did it on a desk that had Sharpie writing on it so the Sharpie bled into the shirt. I might be able to get it out in the wash with some vicious scrubbing but there's no guarantee. Sorry. I was dumb.

I think that's about it though. So long!

-Elder Parker


Pictures:
1. Me and Elder Petersen in our final moments

2. Elder Bronson putting together his birthday cake.

3. The city of Waynesboro.