blessings

Today I am experiencing what it is like to send emails with an iPad. It's pretty sweeeet! Todd Kanekoa has provided us with the devices to email with today. Glad to finally hear from jordan and I look forward to getting to hear from him more next may! The News this week is that Oscar has gone AWOL. We haven't been able to get in contact with him at all. No baptism this Saturday. But as always happens in missionary work if you're trying to be a good boy, when one door closes 2 or more others will open up. Yesterday at church while all of the people we were trying to get to church that day didn't show up, 7-8 non-members whom we didn't invite, did show up! We've got some good stuff happening in the area. One of those being that our branch had the highest attendance it's ever had yesterday, with 140 people at sacrament meeting. Well I'm going to keep it short today. Merry Christmas! Talk to you tomorrow!

Live Righteously

Hey Everybody! Wow, I got a feeling you'd experience this at some time during your mission, Ma and Pa. I'm glad you're safe, we'll all keep you in our prayers. As far as Christmas calls go, presidents given the ok to talk to all family, so we don't have to worry about that. Be it group skype or conference call, lets get this figured out before I get on to email next monday. I'll have to find a members house to check it at since the libraries will most definitely be closed. Just let me know what phone number I need to call or what skype I need to call. Thanks a bunch! I got Brian's package the other day and opened it up! Thanks Hermano, I also received the 2 from heather, one with goodies in a tin, and the other with a wrapped present, the goodies went in the fridge and the present under the tree. an OYM is an open your mouth. When you talk to a nonmember that you've never talked to before and share a quick gospel message.

Its been a pretty good week in vancouver. We've been meeting with all our buddies. Oscar is on fire. We left a Libro de Mormon for his mom, and she had already started reading it before we came back to teach her for the first time. He also came to church on Sunday and really enjoyed it. We kind of had a road block this past weekend because Elder Judd got the flu. We had some pretty important appointments to get to so we arranged an exchange so I was able to go out and see some of our people. Luckily he was all better by sunday morning. Aside from a little bit of stomach pain.

Raul and Perla, a new couple we've been teaching, are progressing pretty well. They've been reading out of the book of mormon and really enjoying it. The next step is to get them out to church, they didn't make it this past sunday.

I don't know if you heard about the shooting in connecticut. I think it was fitting that our priesthood lesson yesterday was out of the "Ensenanzas de los Presidentes de la Iglesia: George Albert Smith" manual, last chapter "Righteous Living in Perilous Times" The class made me think back to a scripture I'd read recently. With a little bit of investigative work I found it. It is in Romans twelth chapter twenty-first verse, where it says,

21 Be not overcome of evil, but ^aovercome evil with good.

The best thing we can do in the "Perilous Times" we live in is live righteously. In so doing, we overcome evil with good. Just adding to the thousands of reasons to be a full time servant of the Lord in this time. I'm so glad to be on a mission right now. Its the best blessing I could ever have. Especially during Christmas time, when theres such an increased energy to the work. It is His work, I know its true. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and I look forward to talking to you next Tuesday.

-Elder Derek S. Partridge

Traditions

The hispanics have a nice little tradition for Christmas. The night before January 6th in preparation for the Wise men coming through there town on there journey, they leave some grass outside for the camels to eat, and they each leave one of there shoes so the wise men can leave gifts in them. I thought this was better than the fat guy in red who comes down the chimney. I told a couple of families about the 12 days of Christmas, and they thought they'd give it a try.

Well this week has been pretty good, we've been focusing on finding the elect. I guess one highlight would be sunday night. We didn't have an investigator coming to the christmas devotional, so we went to the appointments we had that night. Our 8 o clock appointment was a man named Alex. He had invited us to come back when we tracted into him a couple of days earlier. We had just finished fasting for help in finding the elect so we could meet our mission goal. We said a prayer in the car that if he wasn't home that Heavenly Father would guide us to someone who would receive us. We got to his apartment door and it was obvious nobody was home. We gave it a knock but immediately went to talking about what we would do as backup. We looked around and saw a woman carrying some groceries with her kids to their apartment. The first thought was "you tracted these apartments 3 days ago, you probably already talked to her." but after we just felt that we should go ask if she needed help. We introduced ourselves, we hadn't talked to her before. She recognized us as "Mormons." We told her we were sharing a movie about the birth and life of Jesus Christ, and that it was really good to bring the Christmas spirit, and asked if we could share it with her family. She started saying she had to cook dinner, but then said actually, she did have time, and we could all watch it while she got the food ready. So we got in and were able to share the video. They invited us to come back. Just another confirmation that the lord guides his missionaries!

I hope everybody has a good week!

-Elder Partridge

Hymns on doorsteps

Hello Everybody!

Its been a really good week here in Vancouver. Elder Judd and I are getting really excited for Christmas. We've started singing Christmas hymns to people on their doorsteps. We're also trying to get members to have friends into their home to watch the Joy to the World DVD with them. Another thing is that the Vancouver Stake does a Festival of Nativities every year, the first weekend in December. We're going to go there with some of our investigators this weekend. So lots of exciting preparations for Christmas!

 

We finally got our Conference ensign, so the conference reading challenge has continued. We're now back on track. I actually think I'll finish well before the end of December. I guess I'll have to start over. I've really enjoyed it. There have been a lot of little things I didn't catch just watching it conference weekend. I loved Packer's talk on the Atonement. I think Ma and Pa will relate to his story about Samoa. They'll at least know what he's talking about, going from Island to island. For me I just recognized the names of the Islands from your letters. I definitely recommend to everyone that they make a plan to read all of the conference talks. That's what the 6 months between are for!

Thanksgiving was tons of fun. We kept limits on the eating appointments we set and only had 1 lunch 1 dinner and 1 dessert. We had lunch with the Abdalah's. They made us a traditional turkey, along with some Hispanic sides, of which included, rice, and arepas. We had dinner with the Morelli family and they made us chicken and mashed potatoes. We had dessert with the Krout's from the English ward. They made a really good brownie. So it was a good day! We were pretty well fed.

I hope everyone else's respective thanksgivings were good wherever they celebrated it. I think we can all agree to meet at the home on Forge Ave. for next year's!

 

Well I hope everyone has a super duper week. I do like hearing from everyone. Remember Do a Good Turn Daily and remember the reason for the season.

-Elder Derek Partridge

Awesome Week

This week has been pretty awesome actually. Our mission tour was this week, Elder Pieper from the seventy came and we had a mission conference with him. It was really cool! A couple take-aways I got were:

1. the equation Doubt + Obedience = A Witness. See John 7:17 and Ether 12:6

2. All behaviors, Good or Bad are the result of a misunderstanding of the doctrine or Principles of the gospel.

For Example: Not paying tithing. If the person really understood that,

Doctrine: God Created heavens and the earth and all things therein

Principle: The lord asks for 10 percent of our increase (what he's allowed us to have) as a show of our faith and trust in him and for the building up of the kingdom of god on earth.

BONUS: He promises to pour out a blessing that we "won't have room to receive" if we do obey this commandment
Then they would change their behavior to obey that commandment.

I really liked that and can see how I can apply that to my missionary work.

3. Finding in missionary work can get discouraging if we don't understand. "We're not looking for everyone, we're looking for the elect." (those who are ready to accept the message.) We should pray earnestly to find them and then "think about where they might live, which members might know them, when would be a good time to find them" and then go look for them. If someone turns you down, says they're not interested, than you can move on to the next door to find someone that is ready.

It was a very inspiring conference and I look forward to using these to find more people and meet the branch, and mission yearly goals for baptism.

so 2 days later while we went to contact a referral, we were driving there and I was thinking about where to find the "Elect" I saw an apartment complex that I'd never been to before, and I didn't think any spanish missionary would have gone here recently, but it stuck out to me. So we kept driving contacted the referral and I thought to go to the other side of town where we had planned to knock doors that day. As we were driving back along that road though, Elder Judd asked, "So do you think we should knock some doors in this area?" I agreed, and we went to the apartment complex I had seen. After knocking a couple doors a guy answered and said there was no soliciting here, and to leave. We hadn't seen a sign, so we kept going. I think 3 doors later we found a family of 6 who let us in and received the message of the Restoration. It was Awesome! We have a return appointment for tonight!

Well last bit of info, we found out our branch presidency was getting changed along with some other changes and they were having a meeting to announce all the changes and the new presidency at a meeting last night. So we went and President Ross and his counselors were released, than they released the second counselor in the Stake Presidency, President Harbertson and called him as our new branch President. I could really feel the spirit as he bore his testimony and I'm excited for the work he'll do in this branch!

Everyone have a good week!

Elder Partridge

Specialized Training

Good day to everyone! we've had a good week! We had interviews and specialized training with Pres. Greer. It was a really good experience. They talked about finding, and how baptisms are great opportunities to find new investigators. We should ask the person being baptized to invite a lot of family, friends, and neighbors to come. They also gave us a new dvd about a guy named German who joined the church and how his mother later joined the church because of the spirit she felt there. Its really good and we're going to start sharing it with the members of the branch. Interviews went well. President Greer just encouraged me to keep up the good work in training Elder Judd, and then he repeated to me how we're getting 60 more missionaries in our mission starting next year and how the Spanish compliment will double. He then told me to expect to train 1, 2, or even 3 more times. So looks like I'll be busy.

Things are going good with Elder Judd, we've been getting around finding and teaching. We're hoping to find 5 new investigators this week. We have about 7 return appointments set up from referrals we have received and from people we've found tracting, so hopefully those will all work out. One of those is the Ex of our Recent Convert, Ismael. We got permission with Pres. Greer to go through with it and we have a fhe set up with her, Ismael and the Alquicira family this Friday! We're excited for that.

Other than that we've just been getting ready for the approaching holiday season. Last Monday i found a Christmas tree at goodwill for cheap cheap cheap, so I got that for our apartment. I'm glad we found that, I had to have a tree for Christmas, no matter how small. So I was glad we were able to find a 6 ft one. We plan to ask for ornament donations from the families we visit so we can get it looking festive.

Well that's about it for this week.

Take care, all!

Elder Derek S. Partridge

Happy November

Happy November!

Hey everyone, we have had a good week. On Tuesday Elder Anderson and I went around so he could say bye to everyone. Our branch and the salmon creek ward had a Trunk or treat, so we put on funny hats that we got at value village and passed out some candy. I wore a dog hat and he wore a leprechaun hat. It was pretty funny. The branch relief society was in the building knitting scarves while the kids went and collected candy. I guess it’s a stake RS service project so it was cool to see that our Branch was doing their part. On Wednesday morning I took Anderson to the transfer site and sent him off to Pasco, and then I waited for mi hijo to arrive. After a couple hours of waiting the transfer group showed up with Elder Judd. He is from St. George, Utah. He has 12 brothers and sisters, 3 of which are adopted from Ethiopia. He is 8th in line. He's probably about 6'2" so he's nice and tall like me, and he is a fire ball! He's doing good with Spanish, and he's already contributing a good part to our lessons. That day we went and visited Ismael and then had dinner with the Ortiz family. He loves the food so he is set!

So throughout the week we did a good amount of tracting and teaching people. Including Samira and Joel. Elder Judd invited Joel to be baptized and he agreed so we'll have another one coming up in January! On Saturday we had our Stake missionary breakfast at Bro. Chapman's house. He's the high counselor over missionary work in our stake. It was very good to mingle with the other missionaries and then to discuss the work in our stake. 5 of the companionships in our stake and 6 in our zone are training right now. So we've got a lot of fresh new faces. On Friday we went to the Vancouver Stake Center for a Trainer/Trainee mtg. It was very instructive. One of the things that was interesting that Pres. Greer told us was that our Compliment of missionaries in the WKM is going up from 190 to 250 starting in January. He also told us that the amount of sisters was going to double, which I had expected, than he told us that the number of Spanish missionaries was also going to double, which caught me off guard. I was expecting maybe 5 new companionships but 15? They're going to open a lot of new areas! It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Sunday went well, we had 3 confirmations, 1 baby blessing, and the sacrament. That was a lot of ordinances! We got Samira and Joel out, which was good. Something that surprised me was that Ismaels, Ex-, the mother of his children came to church! So we're going to try to set up a FHE with her and start teaching her! Maybe the gospel can patch up the relationship and they can get married! That would be really cool!

Well that’s about it, I hope everyone has a great week! Thanksgiving is coming!!!!

-Elder Partridge

Extraordinary Sunday

Dear Everyone,

We've had a ordinary week here in Vancouver topped with an extraordinary sunday. Throughout the week we went about business as usual getting Odi ready for his baptism, visiting other investigators. It was Stake Conference weekend and so we had to move the Baptism to Sunday afternoon because of the Adult session on saturday. We had the baptismal interview and he passes. The sisters had 2 investigators that decided they wanted to get baptized this weekend too and not wait: A woman named Gloria and her Daughter Giovanna. So they also got them all interviewed and ready to go. So come Sunday morning, we go to the church and start filling the font, and then go to the special Morning session. Elder Gavarret of the first quorom of the Seventy came and he wanted to have a morning session specifically to talk to the Spanish member Recent Converts and Investigators, and also any english Recent Converts. It was a really cool little meeting. We got a pretty good turn out and Odi came as well as Ismael. Elder Gavarret was really funny and there was a great spirit there. One of the things he talked about is how there are to types of members in the church. Mormones, and Mormoncitos ("little mormons" members that lack dedication, conversion, or deep rooted testimony) He said to not be Mormoncitos and to study the scriptures and obey the commandments so that we can have deep rooted faith, conversion and testimonies.

We then went on to Stake Conference where President Barrus President Greer and Sister Greer and Elder Gavarret Spoke. It was very good.

After that we went on to the Relief Society room and got everything situated for what was the most special and spiritual baptisms I think any of us had ever been too. We started with the prayer and hymn, and then Sister Morelli, (a great friend and fellowshipper of Odi) gave a great talk on the importance and meaning of the Ordinance of baptism. Following that Brother Alder, went into the font and first baptized Odi, and then Gloria and Giovanna. By the time it was Giovanna's turn he was in tears. We then watched Gordon B. Hinkley's testimony of the Restoration on the Special Witnesses of Christ DVD and sang another hymn. At this point Bro. Huerena came in and whispered something into our Branch President, President Ross's ear. Then after President Greer, Stake President Barrus, and Elder Gavarret walked into the door and took their seats at the front. It was then announced that All three would bear their testimony. First President Greer Bore his testimony and then President Bairus, with President Ross translating and then Elder Gavarret got up and addressed the converts in Spanish. It was so awesome, we were enveloped in the spirit. The Stake president related how they were on their way to leave and visit a sick member and then take him to the airport, when Elder Gavarret stopped and said he wanted to stop by at the baptism first. What a once in the lifetime opportunity to have a General Authority come to your baptism! That definitely went straight into the Journal. Well we enjoyed the rest of the day going and visiting people.

But Wait There is more. That night we were sitting in the apartment planning when we got a phone call from President Greer. He then asked me to train a new missionary this upcoming transfer. He than asked Elder Anderson to finish the training of a missionary who has been in Pasco with the Zone Leaders for his first transfer. So Transfers are on Wednesday, I purposefully left that for the end. Wow I'm pretty overwhelmed and excited to train. Looks like I'll be in Vancouver until January!

Well thats all the news for this week! Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Derek Partridge

Ishmael's baptism

Hello everyone! We’ve had a super good week. Ismael's baptism went through without a hitch. He invited his daughters to come. It’s really cool how quick he accepted the gospel. He saw that it was good for him and he knew that it was true. I think what really got him was general conference. Last week he was saying he wasn't quite sure he'd be ready for the 13th but this week we met with him the Monday after conference and he said he was ready. He truly must of felt the spirit and truth of the words of the living prophet and apostles of god. He's awesome! Sister Ruiz invited a friend to the baptism and she also came to church the next day. So we're going to start teaching her. Its really cool how we receive blessings and people are placed in our path as missionaries.

Elder Holland's talk in General Conference was excellent. It was actually a modified version of a talk he gave at the MTC in January of 2011. Every companionship in our mission has a copy of it on DVD. I prefer the MTC version of it to the one he gave in conference. He talks a little more about the history and Purpose of Preach My Gospel at the beginning and then goes in to talking about Peter. It is really a powerful talk but that version appears to be only available to a select audience of full time missionaries, and we aren't to take or make copies of it.

Well in other news this week Odi's son got baptized in California on Saturday also! Odi is very proud and happy and It has motivated him a lot. So much to where he is now on his 4th day without smoking. if he can keep it up than he'll be able to be baptized on the 27th so we're excited about that! The Sister missionaries also have a baptism planned for the 27th so it will be an exciting month for our branch!

We went to Multnomah Falls today. It was really beautiful! We went with 2 other companionships in our zone. We had a lot of fun and got some good pictures. Well I hope everyone has a good week!

-Elder Partridge

Derek's Address

Derek loves letters.  His address is 8202 W. Quinault Ave. #D
Kennewick, WA  99336

Conference

Well this week was pretty packed and busy. We've been trying to meet with our Investigators and then get them out to conference and all that. And than conference took a lot of time. But was very uplifting. We got Ismael out to the 2 saturday sessions so that was good. I was very surprised about the announcement that President Monson made. This is a very historic announcement I think. I think short term it will provide a big boost in missionaries, and long term, in conjunction with the new Young Mens, young womens, and seminary curriculum based on Preach My gospel that there will be more people that will be prepared and have the desire to serve missions. The work is hastening on! It appears this is also where the six week spanish pilot program comes in. Elder Holland stated in the press conference that the MTC training for all missionaries will be shortened by 1/3. This is a really exciting thing!

In other news our investigators are progressing pretty well here. Ismael is on track for baptism this Saturday. We just need to review a couple more things and than have his interview on Thursday. He really enjoyed conference and he says he likes church and believes in what we have taught him. We haven't been able to get in contact with German still sadly. It appears he is going to need more time. We met with Samira and Joel this week to and things were going good.

So this week I had authentic pupusas. The Pupusa is a food from El Salvador. I have tried it before at a taco truck in Boardman but this time I had them made by a real Abuela Salvadorena. They were so good. Essentially what it is, is a thick tortilla with beans and cheese cooked into it topped with cabbage and salsa rojo. They were very very good. I'm going to have her teach me how to make them before I leave.
Well thats all for this week, take care everyone!

con amor,

Elder Partridge

Portland

Wow 23 new missionaries?? Thats NUTS Happy Birthday mom!!!!!

 

Well its been a good week here in Vancouver. October has started and still no rain. We had our temple trip this morning, thats why I'm emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday again. It was cool to have another opportunity to go to the portland temple. I really enjoy the drive through Portland, everything looks so interesting, I'd like to visit Portland in depth when I'm able, but as for now its out of the mission. Anyways this week has been pretty good. We've worked a lot with Odi this week and his roomate Pedro. Pedro is the brother of sister Morelli and is a big old goof ball. Its hard to get him to take things seriously. We did however have success with showing him some of the ol' book of mormon seminary videos. He seemed to get a lot out of them and enjoy them. Odi's still doing better step by step. We're teaching him gospel principles that we feel will aid in his efforts to quit smoking. We talked about the power of prayer, and read Enos with him. We watched the BoM Seminary video about agency, which by the way is phenomenal. I would recommend it to anyone. As long as we keep working with him and supporting him he'll be able to make that change in his life. Ismael is doing good also. We're having some problems with german, but we're still working with him.

We're pretty excited for conference coming up!!! I like to read the opening verses of Mosiah 2 and apply them to my preparation for General Conference. I like how king Benjamin opens his address by asking that they not "come up hither to ^btrifle with the words" which he spoke to them, "but that [they] should ^chearken unto [him], and open [their] ears that [they] may hear, and [their] ^dhearts that [they] may understand, and [their] ^eminds that the ^fmysteries of God may be unfolded to [their] view[s]."

This is the attitude that I would like to be able to take towards every general conference. I know that as we do that we will be blessed and receive "that portion that shall be meted unto every man."

 

Well thanks for the birthday wishes hope everyone has a great week!!!!

Love, Elder Derek Partridge

branch activity, wedding, transfer calls

Good Morning to all!

Its been a great week! We had a branch activity, a wedding and transfer calls! I guess I will start with the latter. We received our transfer calls this morning, as opposed to Saturday afternoon, because of the large influx of missionaries and the hard work it takes getting these things all figured out. And Elder Anderson and I are both staying here in Vancouver for another transfer! I'm excited about this because I love the branch here in Vancouver. It is very strong and fun to work with. And also, we will both get to be here for German's baptism this Saturday. So its pretty exciting! So we have another 6 weeks together here to work hard and help prepare our investigator's for baptism.

So that out of the way, this week has been crazy! I went on an exchange with our District leader, Elder Macaraeg on Wednesday and we went and taught Samira and Joel the Restoration. It really answered a lot of questions that Joel had, and he commited to read the book of Mormon and pray about it. they didn't make it to the cultural activity, but they did come to church yesterday and really enjoyed it! So that was awesome.

Friday we had our cultural night! It was awesome! We were helping set up tables, chairs, and decorations for most of the day, and then we had the Activity. It was really cool to see the dances from all the different countries. I'm definitely a fan of traditional lLatin America music and dance. It was pretty cool because Sister Morelli and her non member husband Gino, did a Chilean dance together. In total we got about 5 or 6 of our investigators there. thats not including the Sister's investigators that came, and other non-members that we hadn't met before. In all it was a very good turn out and a super fun night. On Saturday we had our stake day of service at Heritage farms. This is a county owned farm that leases land to charitable organizations and uses other land to grow food for the local food bank! We were there harvesting, washing, and packing carrots. It was super cool! I've never seen so many carrots before in my life! After that we took the St. Johns ward elders to lunch at Don Pedro's and then headed to the hazel dell chapel to start setting up for the Wedding. We got all the tables and chairs and decorations set up with help from several members of the Branch Relief Society and Todd and Jessica Kanekoa. From there we rushed home, got cleaned up and ready and made it back for the wedding. President Ross married them and gave them some very good advice. That they needed to have Charity for there marriage to last there whole lives, and also he talked about how they could have an eternal marriage if Rachel decides to join the church too and they prepare and enter the temple. It was a very good and spiritually moving ceremony. After that we gathered in the cultural hall to eat and dance. And then we finished at about nine, cleaned everything up, and headed home exhausted, fulfilled, and ready to get some sleep. Next step: Baptism, this Saturday!

Well it was great hearing from you all and I hope you have a great week! Take care everyone!

Elder Partridge

Faith of Nephi

We've had a pretty good week here in Vancouver! Things have been coming together pretty good! We got the details hammered out on German's wedding. We got the building scheduled and everything. So that will be this Saturday night. The stake president wants to wait a week to do the baptism after the wedding, so we will have his baptism the following saturday, the 22nd. We had his baptismal interview yesterday and he passed, so he is good to go!

In the meantime we're working with Odi to help him quit smoking so he can get baptized. He's doing pretty awesome. He's been reading the Book of Mormon, and getting a lot out of it. He made some very good comments relating to what he's been reading, during gospel principles class, yesterday. So its good he's getting a lot out of it. He is really enjoying the story of Nephi and looking for how Nephi built his great faith and how he can build his own faith.

We had a cool finding experience this week. We were tracting through an apartment complex in SE Vancouver when we knocked on a door. A woman named Samira opened the door and told us she was an inactive member of one of the english wards, and she would love to have us come by on Saturday night to come talk to her and her husband. Leading up to Saturday we were looking at this and thinking, well this looks like a less active family of an english ward maybe we should just send the appropriate elders, but we felt that we should go and find out more about the situation. So on Saturday we had kind of a slow night. Everything had kind of fallen through except this appointment. My companion had prayed that morning that the Lord would give us something to motivate us and keep us going. Well the time came to go visit this Woman and her husband. So we went and knocked on the door, she answered and let us in. We quickly saw that while she wasn't hispanic her husband was. We talked to them and found out this husband was a nonmember, and that he had talked to missionaries many years ago, it didn't really go anywhere, but lately they were thinking they needed religion in there lives and were looking for a church to go to. We talked to them about how the gospel blesses families and that if they came to church and if he would get baptized then they could prepare to enter the temple and have the ultimate blessing of being sealed as a family. The spirit was so Strong!!! We told them about the Spanish branch and they both said they would like to go, so we invited them to come to the Branch Party on friday night and then the Church meetings the following week, and they said they would love to, and we got a return appointment set for this week. We let them know that we felt like we were led to them at this time for a reason and they agreed! I know our Heavenly Father answers prayers and guides us to people who have been prepared to receive the Gospel.

One more cool thing, while German was in being interviewed by President Hartley, we were walking over to the clerk's office and found the Ridgefield Elders with a member who spoke spanish waiting for us. There was a mexican family there looking for the spanish missionaries. They live in Oregon right now and were investigating the church down there. They are planning on moving up to Vancouver though and wanted to get to in contact with the church and get help finding a place to move! So that will be another family to teach! We've really been seeing the blessings pouring in this transfer and we are greatful for them!

Its been a very good transfer, we'll be getting the calls this Saturday and we'll find out who is staying and who is going. Its hard to believe another transfer is finally over!

Well thats about is for this week. Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Derek Spencer Partridge

Place for a reason

Hey everyone! I'm emailing on tuesday because we had a little hiccup in the schedule, we weren't able to because the library was closed yesterday. Well it sounds like everyone had a good week.

I can't believe its September! Time has really been flying. Well it has been a good week here in Vancouver. One little set back is that Odi's baptism is going to be postponed. We're going to have to put a little bit more work into helping him quit smoking. We've got an arsenal of Ideas, so that will help. We fasted for him on sunday, and encouraged him to do the same. He's still eager to quit so we'll keep working with him.
Things are going good with German though. His friend in the branch Todd Kanekoa has been helping us a lot.

 

We've been seeing a few really cool experiences in the work here. One in particular happened last night. It was about 8 PM and our investigator, Ismael called to cancel his appointment. So we decided to contact a few referrals that we had received. We tried 1 and it fell through, and than we traveled to another one which also wasn't there. At this point, it was 8:30, we were close to our apartment, we had already used a lot of miles that day so we didn't want to drive farther away to try anyone else. It would have been really nice to just call it a night, but we decided we wouldn't. Moments later to teenagers come down the stairs carrying a dresser. We offered to help them move and they said to go up and ask their mom. We went up and offered and she agreed to let us help. so over the next 45 minutes we helped them move things out of their apartment, inbetween trips down the stairs answering questions about our mission. She ultimately gave us her phone number and said she'd be interested in learning more, and we went home feeling accomplished. Its true that the Lord always knows where we are and if we are being good boys he puts us in places for a reason.

 

Well everything else is going good. We're working hard and seeing success!

Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Partridge

Tender Mercies

Well we had a reel good week here in Vancouver! Last Sunday we had a member bring his friend, German, to church. We talked to him a bit and set up an appointment for Tuesday. We went by Tuesday and had a lesson and got to know him a little bit. It turns out he's been taught everything by missionaries in the past. We talked about preparing for baptism, and he agreed to be baptized on September 15th! We met with him another time and he seemed to be really excited to do it, so we're going to review everything and than get him all ready! That was really a tender mercy. That night we were also able to meet with Odi, the brother in law of sister Morelli and we set a baptismal date for September 8th! So those are to great miracles we've seen this week!

We had interviews with President Greer also. It went pretty good, I talked with Sister Greer about how the family was doing and how the work in Vancouver was going. We had a good talk. President Greer talked about the approaching need for trainers and leadership in the spanish work, and that the younger group needs to step up to the plate and prepare themselves for these responsibilities. So, I might be training within a couple transfers! That will be exciting!

Some more good things that happened, we had a little scuffle in Relief Society between a less active member and a recent convert, to the which the recent convert had her feelings hurt and left church early. The branch members jumped in to the rescue and paid visits to this sister, and now the conflict has passed and she has decided she will return to the church, and she did come yesterday, so that was a relief! We went by with President Ross on saturday night, and she said that for a while she thought she would never go back to the church, but when the branch reached out in love to her, then she realized she needed to let it go. That was awesome. I loved seeing how quickly the members got on the ball to make sure we didn't lose a precious family.

We've been blessed with a lot of referrals from members and English missionaries this week. It has made doing work here in Vancouver a lot easier. Its hard because Vancouver is so big, and the hispanic population is spread out all over, and so it helps that when english missionaries tract into hispanic people, the send us over. We try to return the favor!

Well it was great to hear from everyone, hope you all have a great week!

Elder Derek Partridge

V-dub

Well its been a great week here in V-dub. (I think thats the latest nickname I've heard for it.) Its been a little slow this week. Some of our investigators and families we visit have been busy so we weren't able to meet with them, but the ones we did meet with went good. We found 2 new investigators this week, Erica and Rogelio. We taught them together at Erica's house this week about the Restoration. They seemed to take it well and are eager to read the BoM and learn more. We met with Luis again this week. He's taking everything pretty seriously, so thats good. We left him with a goal to read at least 5 pages in th Book of Mormon this week and pray about it and then from there he'll decide if he wants to come to church this Sunday. We're excited for him. We haven't been able to meet with Carlos or Odi, but we talked to Gino Morelli on Friday night and told him we want to help him to quit smoking and be baptized like his wife and daughter. Also Todd Kanekoa, a member of the branch, came back this week. I guess every summer he usually leaves vancouver to work and earn money and now he's back. He brought his friend German, who has read from the BoM and is interested in the Gospel. So we set up an  appointment to meet with him this Tuesday. So things are going good!

 

Friday we had the Branch campout, we were able to go for a little bit on Friday night. I hear it was a success and that they all had a lot of fun. It was a little sad that none of our investigators, that we invited could go, though. Oh well, there's always next months activity. Next month they will be having a cultural night, so that should be lots of fun. We have a pretty diverse branch. We have families from Chile, El Salvador, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Mexico. Those are all I can think of but there could be more!\

Well tomorrow we have interviews, which I'm pretty excited for, its been a while since my last interview and I look forward to talking to President and Sister Greer. Elder Anderson is getting a root canal on Thursday. It should be an eventful week! Que les vaya bien!!!!

-Elder Derek S. Partridge

The temple was beautiful!

Hey everybody!!!

It has been a very good transfer week in vancouver. I picked up Elder Anderson at the stake center early Wednesday morning, and after getting shopping done and going to the apartment to get him unpacked, we buckled down and got to work! So we've seen some cool things happen this week. On Wednesday we went and knocked some doors and found a new investigator! Luis! He let us come in right away which is always a great sign. We got to know him a bit and set up a return appointment for Friday. We went by Friday and taught him the Restoration and it went well! He said we could come back next saturday so we're excited to see how things go with him!

We weren't able to meet with Carlos this week. They're busy working and trying to find an apartment, but he did make it out church yesterday so that was very good! He said he'd call us back today to set up an appointment to teach him.

On Saturday there was a baptism for Nicole Morelli. She is 8 years old and her Family is from Chile. Her grandma, Sonia, met with the missionaries and was baptized several years ago. Sonia is the nicest little old lady in the world. The branch affectionately calls her Abuelita. Anyways after her baptism she went to do baptisms for the dead in the temple. She felt the spirit so well there that she excitedly went home and told her daughter, Ingrid (Nicole's mother) "Ingrid, the temple was so beautiful! You need to get baptized so you can go to the temple!" So next Ingrid met with the missionaries and got baptized. Her husband Gino was thoroughly uninterested in all of this, so for the last couple of years Ingrid has been going to church with her daughters and her mother, and Gino started coming out here and there for special occasions. Well this Saturday we had the baptism for Nicole and Gino and lots of other family came and it was a really good experience. Gino definitely felt the spirit. So our job this transfer is to help him resolve his word of wisdom issues and finally get baptized!

The gospel and its temple ordinances are the greatest blessings we can have!

Thats all of the biggest news this week! We went to the Morelli's for dessert last night before going home and a former sister from the mission was there visiting. Turns out she is from Tempe and was in the same singles ward as Brian! Small World!!

Well I love y'all! have a great week

transfer call

Well on to this weeks news!

First and Foremost, we received the transfer call saturday afternoon, and Elder Hundley will be transfered to Toppenish. I'll be receiving a new companion, Elder Anderson. Elder Anderson is actually in our zone right now so I know a little bit about him. He started his mission in Mexico, and then he got a parasyte and had to come back to the states. He's got a couple of months left before he goes home in december. He is from Oklahoma and seems to be a good missionary, so I look forward to serving with him. I'll be sad to see Elder Hundley go, its been a good transfer and we got a lot of work done, but so it goes in the life of a missionary. Something unexpected happended yesterday after sacrament meeting. First, Elder Hundley went to talk to Carlos to tell him he was being transferred, and when he approached him, Carlos said he wanted to get baptized and he wanted it to be a surprise to Ana Laura. So we told him we'd teach him the rest of the lessons and make it happen. (There is a catch, he's either going to have to marry her, or move out before he can get baptized) But we'll figure that out soon enough. So next we went to tell President Ross, our branch president. When we walked up to him he told us that Odie, the brother of sister Morelli, who had investigated the church earlier but got a busy job and couldn't meet with the missionaries for a long time, had gotten a job with more flexibility, he showed up to church that day, and told Pres. Ross that he wanted to prepare to  be baptized. Just like that! within 5 minutes of eachother, we have 2 investigators that want to be baptized! Needless to say that was a very good sunday.

Well Its hard to believe its august already, and that another transfer has gone by. Its really crazy! Time flies! Well I Hope everyone has a great week! Love y'all

-Elder Derek Partridge

Ape Caves

Well well well, we have had a good week here in Vancouver. We're kind of getting gipped on our sunny season in Vancouver. There are 10 months of rain and 2 months of summer in vancouver. Right now we're in the summer months, but its been pretty cloudy the last couple of days. Anyways, we're going hiking today and I just hope it doesn't rain on our parade. We're hiking the Ape Caves in Mt. St. Helens, so that will be quite an experience. We'll actually be going through the Lava tubes. I wonder why they call them ape caves and I speculated to Elder Hundley that they are infested with wild apes that will rip your arms off if you make them mad. I hope that isn't the case. Anyways we're pretty excited to go to that.

This week we had a class with President Alder, he is the Employment specialist for the branch. He served as a mission president in one of the Chile missions. So he has a class for the spanish missionaries every so often just kind of coaching us on language learning, and making a study plan to improve our spanish. It was pretty good, he taught some good stuff. We found out at this meeting that one of the spanish elders in Longview is going home because of health problems, and that Elder Barton, a zone leader who went home for surgery like a month and a half ago, will be returning to take his place. So we're sad to see Elder Marroquin go but happy to see Elder Barton return.

We had the Branch picnic on saturday, it was a big success. Its fun to see the fellowship of the branch and how involved investigators and Recent Converts already are. Daniela and Salvador, a couple who joined the church several months ago, brought a grill and cooked carne asada for everyone. Carlos was there and he was talking with everyone and joining in with the games and sports that we played, It was really a cool activity. We have a very strong Branch here in Vancouver.

Speaking of Carlos, we met with him during the week and taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel. He took it really well and said he'd pray about it. On Sunday night an older couple in the Branch, the Rodriguez' had Anna Laura, Carlos, and us over for dinner. She made us Mole, which is a special type of sauce poured over chicken usually. After all these months of eating Mole, I found out yesterday, that it has Chocolate in it. That was an interesting discovery. Nonetheless It does taste good! Before I come home I need to learn how to make these things so I can cook la comida mexicana para todos uds. I'd say my favorite food by far is still Carne Asada.

Anyway in church yesterday the announced the 5th sunday fireside again. I think I told you all about it last week, but they're going to cut sacrament meeting a  bit short. Go into the cultural hall and serve sandwiches and then we will be back in the chapel for the special fireside where they will make the special announcement, that the branch will be doing a Pioneer trek next summer. Well at dinner that night with the Rodriguez family they were speculating that they were going to announce they were making the Branch into a spanish ward. We kind of feel bad that they have their hopes up, we hope they'll be happy with the pioneer trek announcement. Hahaha.

So with all that its been a great week. We are looking forward to Zone Conference this Thursday and district exchanges on tuesday. It should be a good week!

Well thats about it! Que tengan una buena semana!

Los Amo!

-Elder Derek Partridge

Couver Town

Hey! Its been a good week here in couver town! Investigators are awesome, except in some cases. One of our investigator's boyfriends told her she can't meet with us anymore so that was kind of a bummer. She was progressing and doing good! Sometimes significant others are the greatest enemy to missionary work. Other than that everyone is doing pretty well. We've been trying to set up a time to teach Carlos, this guy thats dating a woman in the branch. He has come to church with her 3 sundays in a row now, he's just been busy with work so its been hard to set up a day to come by. But we think we've finally got him nailed down, and they're going to have dinner with us at the house of another lady in the branch this next sunday, and we'll teach him there. He is very interested in learning about the church, so this will be good! In Branch council yesterday, President Ross told us they're going to have a special 5th sunday program, to kick off preparation for the Branch Pioneer trek next Summer! I think that is so cool. This branch has a lot of really cool activities so that makes it fun and provides a lot of missionary opportunities! This Saturday we're going to have a Branch Picnic, thats going to be a lot of fun. Elder hundley and I signed up to bring a dessert. So I'll let you know how that turns out next week.

We had a zone meeting on wednesday. Its basically like a zone conference but President and Sister Greer, and the AP's don't come, just the Zone leaders teach. The theme was kind of tied into what we need to do to have the most success in our missions and how to become converted. The answer lies in the phrase "Leave your nets, and follow me" For missionaries we have certain nets. Things that distract us from the work, like whats going on with friends at home, or in the world, sleeping in, listening to music, watching movies, but as we put those aside to follow the savior we become converted and become entitled to the spirit. Same as after the mission, whenever we put anything above keeping the commandments those are like our "Nets" If we love Him, we will "feed [His] Sheep." So what they taught really hit home, I really liked it and it really strenghtened my desires to be better missionary than I am. Well thats about all for this week, Love y'all! Echale Ganas!
-Elder Partridge

Portland Temple

Hey everybody! We've had a good week 2 in Vancouver! Today was actually temple day so thats why I'm emailing on tuesday. We got to go down to the Portland Temple! Portland was really beautiful! I got some pretty good pictures, which I'll send in a later email. It was really cool driving through Portland this morning though, and the temple there is quite beautiful.

Well this week has been pretty good. Its been kind of hard to find some of our investigators, but we did some tracting, and reached our goal for OYM's for the week. We found some good potential investigators up in Ridgefield. There's a trailer park up there and its managed by a member couple, so they told us which trailers the hispanics live in and we went and knocked all of their doors. Some seemed to have some pretty good potential and others, no. We had one guy say he was familiar with our church and he didn't like it so he didn't want to meet with us. I picked up a bit of courage from being with Elder Evans for a transfer to open my mouth more in these situations, so I asked, "Why don't you like our church?" and he told us it was because we read the Book of Mormon and not the bible. So we talked to him about how we use both and how we know that the Book of Mormon, is the word of God, equal with the Bible. So after all that I asked if he still didn't want to meet with us, he still said no, so that was that. I always get a feeling of satisfaction when I get to bear testimony in defense of the Gospel. We encountered another guy the other day. He was up on the second floor of an apartment complex and he kind of gestured like he was shooting us with a rifle as we walked into the parking lot. We kind of ignored him, so he started calling to us, so we asked if we could give him a pass along card. He said sure, so we went over, and he tried telling us there was no God. "There is no god because little children strap bombs to their chests and blow themselves up in the name of Allah." So we kind of talked about how while that was a pretty good indication that there is a devil, that was no indication that their was no God. And he wouldn't really listen and he was really drunk so we bid him good day and continued on our way. So those were two pretty interesting experiences. Other than those two we've found a lot of other pretty interested people, I'm really enjoying Vancouver. Its a very nice place!

Vancouver

 

Well its been a good week! I'm reporting to you live from the Downtown

Vancouver Library. Monday and Tuesday were spent saying goodbye to

everybody in Boardman, and I was up bright and early Wednesday to make

my way over to Vancouver, WA. We met up in Kennewick, and then I got

on the bus which took us back down into Oregon, past boardman, we

stopped in the Dalles, OR and dropped off some and picked up some.
Side note: I got to see Elder Bao at the Dalles transfer site. He was
making his way over to Yakima. Then from there we kept on going,

crossed the river just before Portland and here I am! Vancouver! Its

really pretty here. This side of the state is what you expect when
you're going to WA. Lots of trees and lots of Rain. Luckily I got here
when the rainy months ended.
Well its a really cool place! Kind of wierd to be in the big city
after being in rural areas for 7-8 months. Its kind of a change of
scenery. Its going to be difficult to learn my way around here. Well
there aren't as many hispanic people here as the other side of the
mission but there is a pretty good amount. The branch is strong. A lot
of the leadership is people that aren't hispanic but served Spanish
speaking missions and married hispanic women. So its a pretty good
back bone. We have an Awesome Branch mission leader, Bro. Mendoza. I
was really happy to have a Mission leader since the branch in
grandview didn't. It's a big help. So this week I've been meeting a
lot of people, and teaching some good lessons with Elder Hundley. I'm
finally sending pictures. Some of these are from boardman and some
from Vancouver. Well thats about it! Have a great week everyone!

Elder Hundley

Well I guess I'll start out with the biggest news first, Transfer calls came on Saturday night, and I'm being transferred to Vancouver to work in the Spanish Branch there. This will be good. I'll miss Boardman a lot but Transfers are transfers. I'll be serving there with Elder Hundley, whom I went to High school with and we came out on our missions the same day. So that will be fun. In other news, Elder Bao got called to be a Zone Leader in Yakima, so I'm excited for him! He's an Awesome missionary and was an Awesome Trainer. They've made some big changes in the mission as far as Spanish missionaries go. There used to be 2 companionships of 4. One in Pasco and one in Yakima, but they made those both back into regular Zone leader Companionships. They're also opening a new Spanish area in Benton City. Also one of our Office couples, The Wilsons are going home. We're going to miss them, they've been great.
This week has been pretty good. We made progress with lots of our investigators. Our ward had its monthly Pot luck on thursday and they got a really good turn out. Bishop Rogers brought some of his neighbors and introduced them to us. They were really nice and said the missionaries could come by and talk to them. There is also a lady who teaches piano here in boardman to a lot of member families and she is interested to meet with the missionaries.
I've been studying the topic of conversion lately. Elder Hallstrom talked in conference how conversion to the church and conversion to the Gospel are 2 different things. though they're both important, conversion to the gospel is the weightier matter. One could be converted to the church and fulfill there calling and go every sunday, but its a shaky foundation if they aren't converted to the Gospel. As we become converted to the gospel by developing faith, repenting, renewing baptismal and other covenants, keeping the holy ghost, and enduring to the end, we are built on a firm foundation and we cannot be shaken or fall away.
I'm really grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission and teach people about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and bring them knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I know these things are true and can bring us more happiness than any other thing in life.
Well I wish a very Happy Birthday to Justin, and another Happy fathers day to Dad,
and a very very happy Birthday and Baptism to RACHEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
 Elder Partridge
8202 W. Quinault Ave. # D
Kennewick, WA 99336

Cody

Happy Fathers day! Glad to hear from everybody. Sounds like its been a good week. Things are going great in Boardman. Inez Romero is back working day shift, so we're meeting with them regularly again. On Tuesday, our zone leaders and District leaders and trainers all went to Kennewick for leadership training. So that left me working in Hermiston working with 2 other elders that day. Things are going good with Carolyn, our 80 year old investigator. Yesterday was her 2nd time coming to church, and she has the Gospel Principles manual and Relief Society manual to study from. She's a real nice lady, and she has lived in Boardman since 1947. We had the Young men do some service in the yard of one of our new investigators, Melissa. And we started teaching another new investigator through youth friendship in the ward. We've also set up an appointment to teach a friend of Bishop Rogers and he'll be joining us, so things are going great. On Saturday night we met with our Ward Missionary A-team and Sunday morning we started teaching our Preach my Gospel class to the Ward missionaries and prospective elders. So lots of exciting things are happening.
One cool experience in particular, is we were tracting through some apartments a week and a half ago and bumped into a guy named Cody. He said he goes to a christian Church in tricities. We talked to him a bit longer and he said we could come by that saturday afternoon. We went by then, but he wasn't home. We tried the next week and he answered and said he had to go somewhere that saturday but if we'd come the next one he'd be home all day and he even gave us his phone number to check back with him.  On Saturday we decided to leave the car home and get by with walking and getting rides, so we got a ride with Tory, one of the ward missionaries, over to our appointment with Cody, and found a note on the door that said "Mormons: I'm not interested, Thank you" So a bit disheartened, we left a note on the door that said "Thanks for the note, let us know if you ever need anything" with our phone number. That evening, we were walking, and we had 2 appointments cancel on us so we didn't know what to do. Elder Evans got the thought that we should go to Cody's, (He lived pretty close, and get some water) I wanted to just head back to the church and get ready for correlation. We decided to stop and pray about it, and we both felt like we should go to Cody's house. So we did and he let us in! We talked for a bit, had some water and, we'll probably end up being able to go back and teach him! I'm grateful the spirit directed us back there, and I know that something good we'll come out of it!
Well I'll close with a cool scripture I ran into the other day.
 1 Peter 3:15 But ^asanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give ^ban answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the ^chope that is in you with ^dmeekness and ^efear:

Have a great week everyone!
Elder Derek S. Partridge
8202 W. Quinault Ave. # D
Kennewick, WA 99336

referrals

Hey its been a really good week. The ward has been great, we've been getting all kinds of referrals and the members are awesome. We've been receiving a lot of referrals, Its actually become a challenge to keep up with contacting them all. We're hoping to be able to contact all the ones we haven't contacted yet within this coming week, and also to receive 10 more to replace those ones! For one reason or another we've been teaching the Plan of Salvation a lot this week. It seems like either friday or Saturday we ended up teaching it to 3 or 4 people in one day, and to top it off, Elder Evans gave a talk in Sacrament meeting about it yesterday. I see the reason behind it though, I personally love the Plan of Salvation. Although it is kind of lengthy to teach it is one of the most just, fair, and merciful doctrines. I enjoy teaching people about it. I don't think there is anyone who doesn't love the Plan of Salvation.
Well some exciting things have happened in Boardman this week. We're still visiting Humberto. He's still going strong and his Mother is starting to show more interest. We didn't find our 5 investigators last week but I believe we have the potential to get 10 this week, with the referrals and try backs we have lined up. We got a new Elders quorum President and 3 new Ward Missionaries, including a recent convert of a few months. I'm excited for him, I know it will strengthen him and might even motivate him to put in his papers and serve a Full time mission. The work is on fire here and I'm excited to see more miracles happen.
We've been teaching this Older Lady named Carolyn for about a week. She's been making good progress and came to church this Sunday. The Romeros are back on the map. The mom started working day shift again so she'll be less tired now.
Well Glad to hear from everyone Have a great week!

Sincerely Elder Derek Partridge

Humberto

Its been another good week in boardman!
So last week I told about how we found Humberto. Well we met with him a couple more times and taught him the lessons and he has agreed to be baptized on June 9th! He's so awesome, I think what caught his attention was when we first met him, Elder Evans invited him to church and told him that it could change his life for the better. Sure enough he came to church! He's read up to Jacob in the Book of Mormon since last Sunday and we can tell he's really experiencing a change and he is serious about making his life better, so we are really excited for him. Its awesome what changes the gospel can bring to the lives of others.
Jorge has been a bit slower, he is supposed to be baptized on the 16th of June but he works a lot and works all night Saturday, so its been hard to meet with him and hard to get him to church. But we're going to invite him to Dinner with the Jones family on Thursday so that will be good.
There is also a part member family, the Dunn's, that we've been visiting. Its a single mom with 3 kids. The mom is a member and the youngest daughter is a member, they got baptized about a year ago, but the older 2 kids aren't. The cool thing is that the older 2 are coming on the Pioneer Trek in June, so we borrowed 17 miracles and watched it with them, and it was a really good experience.
In other news, we traded cars with the AP's. So now instead of a gold-colored 2009 Chevy Malibu, we have a Charcoal-colored 2009 Chevy Malibu. I guess they want to put more miles on ours so they can retire it. I like the charcoal color though so I'm not complaining!
On Thursday night we took one of the Priests out on an exchange. His name was Matthew, we visited Humberto with him and then a Less active lady, and then we had some extra time so we asked him if he had any friends we could go visit, and he said he did, so we went and visited a female friend of his who had questions about the church. We told her about the Book of Mormon and left her one and she said she'd read it so it went well. Later on we found out her parents don't want us ever to come back. (Her Dad is an inactive member and Mom is a catholic) but we planted a seed, and even though her father has chosen to leave the church for whatever reason, there will come a point when she can make her own choice about it and, have the chance to accept it.
It was also good because we gave a young man the opportunity to get involved in missionary work and have the chance to share his belief with a friend so that was cool. We're going to try to do an exchange with a priest once or twice every week.
Well thats about it, hope everyone has a good week!
Elder Derek Partridge
8656 w. Gage Blvd. Ste. 205
Kennewick, WA 99336

Elder Evans

Transfer 5 has begun! Elder Richards said his goodbyes and then Wednesday morning I went and dropped him off at the stake center, and than I drove Elder Olson, the other elder in our zone who was dropping off his companion, and we went to the Hermiston duplex to pick up Elder Evans! Things have been going good. We're still having trouble meeting consistently with Inez Romero, so that is what is inhibiting them from getting baptized. But with everyone else, we've been making the rounds and seeing lots of success. There is this guy we found a couple weeks ago, Jorge Tlamaco. We've been teaching him a bit and after teaching the Plan of Salvation with Elder Evans the other day, he accepted the commitment to be baptized on June 16! We're really excited for him, he is awesome. On Sunday, Cesar, who is in the teachers quorum brought his older brother, Umberto to church, and during the third hour we taught him the first lesson with one of our newly called ward missionaries and set up a return appointment. We started teaching a guy name Luis Lopez. He is 18, and he's going to Blue Mountain Community College. We taught him the 1st lesson and he really felt the spirit. He has several friends in the ward who are currently serving missions so it'll be really cool if he is baptized when they get back.
Elder Evans is super cool. He is from Orem, Utah and has been on his mission for about a year. He was the student body president at Orem High School and was on the wrestling team and was part of several theatrical productions. He did a year at BYU before leaving on his mission and is super cool and a very good missionary!
This week we had some fun Dinners. We got to eat with the kirkendalls, they kind of live out in the middle of nowhere... but they're a fun couple. Sis. Kirkendall is from the Phillippines, they met on LDS singles. They gave us like 5 referrals, and Bro. Kirkendall invited us to come help cut bulls, so that should be an interesting experience. We went and helped bro. Young dig trenches for his sprinklers. He brought out some old binders from his mission. There were a lot of cool missionary things in them, like comics, time lines about the apostasy, little stories and jokes. He let us borrow one. Its a lot of fun to look through. We ate at the Sorenson's. They have 2 peacocks on their property. They let us take some feathers, they had a lot in their house. Apparently you can sell them for about 2 dollars a piece.
We went to the stake presidents house to teach Dave Baker, but he didn't show up, so we just talked about how the work is going in Boardman. He said he's going to start this saturday, inviting the zone over for breakfast once a transfer, so that will be a lot of fun. They have a really nice house and it's right by hat rock.
Well that is about all of the news this week! Take care everybody!

Transfer Calls

Well It's been a good week, I enjoyed skyping Ma and Pa. I got a good video tour of the samoa mission office! It was enjoyable. We'll have to set up a conference call for Christmas, we can cross that bridge when we come to it.
Megan, I'm probably half kidding about you introducing your mancub to Pres. and Sis. Greer, but that might be because I'm pretty sure they were probably kidding when they suggested it. But if you feel inclined to do it, feel more than welcome too. I'll be sure to let them know when you're coming. More news from you would be welcome!
Heather, glad to hear from you, sounds like the kids are doing well, dirt on the head or no. Preferably no dirt on the head though if Nathan can't bathe.
Jordan, have you met any european or asian girls yet? What does being in the field involve? I'm excited to hear what calling they're thinking about for you. Glad to hear you're really getting involved with your ward down there, that is awesome. You should have some of your lady friends try the bubbleyum challenge. If they can do that, they're definitely a keeper.

Well as for me, this week was pretty good. I guess I'll handle the big news, TRANSFER CALLS. Well I wasn't too eager to see Richards go, he was a good companion, but it was what was most likely to happen. He will be transferred to Yakima, and I'll be getting my new companion Elder Evans this Wednesday. Elder Evans is actually already in the same zone as me, so I already see him for p day and zone stuff all the time, so I know he's a good missionary and we'll get along very well.
Mothers day was super cool, we had an awesome turn out at church so that was cool. And then we got to call home, we enjoyed that.
I started the week out by getting a cold. That was a bit of a damper, but we still got out and visited some people. We've got a lot of promising investigators, that we've got to prepare for baptism, not to mention the Romero's so hopefully we can buckle down and get that all done!
Well I hope everyone had a good week, take care!
Elder Derek Spencer Partridge
8656 W. Gage Blvd. Ste. 205
Kennewick, WA 99336

Solid New Investigator

It has been a great week! We've had interviews too! It was fun to talk to the AP's and President and Sister Greer. We talked about several things, they wanted to know how everybody in the family was doing, how Ma and Pa were doing in Samoa y todo eso. Sister Greer wanted to make sure I was exercising and we came up with an exercise plan. It was a good experience! Interviews and Zone Conferences and District meetings are all so rejuvenating. You just come out wanting to be an even better missionary!
Well unfortunately the Romero baptism got pushed back again. She's working night shifts at the potato factory and its hard to find her awake at home. Things were a lot easier when she just worked during the day. We will meet with them this week and try again. We might have to push it back 2 or 3 weeks so we can have enough time to get the interview done and all of that jazz. We fasted for them this week. We also fasted for another investigator. Krysten, she's been meeting with the missionaries for over a year. Her parents won't let her get baptized until they're convinced she's serious about it. She's going to seminary and everything though. So we're hoping her parents hearts we'll change.
While we were out tracting the other day we found a really solid new investigator. His name is Jorge, he let us in right away and was really nice and accepting. He seems like a really solid guy. We were surprised to find out he was 49. He looks really young. So he told us he doesn't smoke and doesn't drink and likes to stay active, so thats probably the main contributing factor. We're excited to keep teaching him and see how that goes.
Well in other news, The end of the transfer is near. I believe transfer calls will come this saturday and next wednesday the change happens. Elder Richards will probably get transferred. This is his second time in Boardman, he was actually trained here before. So since after this he has 2 transfers left, and he's spent a ton of time in Boardman, he will likely get transferred to his final area and stay there for 2 transfers. I'll miss him, he's a great missionary.
Well, I forgot to take pictures of my knitting, but I finished my first hat and am working on a second. I'll send pictures next week. I promise.
Thanks have a Great Week!
Elder Derek Partridge
8658 W. Gage Blvd. Ste. 205
Kennewick, WA 99336

Temple Trip

Well today was zone temple trip so P-day got moved to Tuesday this week. So it was fun to be able to go to the temple with our zone this morning. There's a member in the stake with a 15 passenger van so whenever the Hermiston zone has to make a mass exodus they usually charter it out to us, so this morning Sister Hoffman drove us in the van up to the tri-cities to the temple. It was cool because the Yakima zone did their temple day today too so we got to see them. It was fun to see Elder Swenson again and ask him how Grandview was doing. Apparently basically nothing has changed haha. But it was fun to see my old zone.

Well this week was a good one. We're finally set with the Romero's baptism. The problem was that we'd set up the date, go to follow up and she'd always be asleep because she works night shifts and we'd have to postpone it. So finally we got talking to her and set it all up this weekend. So it should work out because she doesn't have work or anything that day.
This week for service we weeded Sister Hoffman's yard one morning and the next Brother Browning brought his Rototiller over and we tilled it. My hat is coming along quite nicely. I'm using a pattern from a book Elder Richards has. I'll take a picture and send it next week. I think this will be a fun hobby even after the mission. Well that’s about all this week.
Sincerely,
Elder Derek Partridge
8656 W. Gage Blvd. Ste. 205
Kennewick, WA 99336

P.S. I've seen a Mormonad around that I really like. It shows a picture of a sad looking missionary opening up an empty mailbox and it says "Write Away"
So there's the address peoples!!! hahaha

Knitting

I guess everybody has had a busy week? Well we've had a good week here. The Romeros are on track to get baptized this Saturday. So we've been resolving any worries and getting the kids ready and all that. We had Stake Conference this week. So that was cool that I got a double dosage of it haha. This week we were helping out a member do piping for a sprinkler system in one of his pastures and he broke a water main with his tractor, so we helped him dig out the broken part. Other than that we've been working with a lot of less active and part member families. Its been getting really beautiful here with spring in full bloom as you can see in the pictures I've enclosed. Sister Hoffman, the lady we live with, taught us how to knit so after we come home from work and do our planning session, we'll sit down and knit with her. I've been working on a hat but I'd also like to make socks and a tie. It gives us something fun to do at night after we get home. By the way we've got to figure out Mothers day. Get it all set up, it'd be cool if we could get multiple computers on a skype video conference so that way I could see the whole family. So the assignment is to see if that is possible. I'm not very educated with skype. Well thats about it for this week. I'd love to hear from y'all
Love, Elder Partridge

Romero Family

So some big news this week, eh?! My sister is gettin' hitched! Que Bueno, que bueno, pues.
Dad-Glad you and mom got a double dosage of Conference. I'm pretty excited to get the Ensign so I can read through it again. There were a lot of good talks. How was everybody else's week? The family Emails been a bit quiet!

Well we had a pretty good week here in Boardman. A bit off, but still good. It was Off because Elder Richards got sick, so we had to spend all of Friday, and parts of Saturday and Sunday at home. So during those times, while he was out cold sleeping, I got some extra study in and watched some of our Missionary movies, like Prophet of the Restoration, and the testaments, etc.

For the most part though we had a good week, we got a lot of work done. The Romero Family, the ones who are getting baptized, are all doing well but we had to push the baptismal date back a week because they were going to be out of town. Our stake is also planning a Pioneer Trek for this summer so we went and visited some less active kids and they agreed to go, so that will be a good experience for them. We also got a chance to have a lesson with the Bakers at the Stake Presidents house. I figure you're pretty good if you've got the stake President fellowshipping your investigator. The Dad has a prosthetic leg and he coaches track, and he has 2 sons, one 19 and one 15. They're pretty cool. Before the lesson President Schnell was talking about how they were also friends with the Cook family. I was amused but thought it quite natural that the Cooks and the Bakers would be friends.

I heard from Elder Bao this week in a letter so that was cool. I had written him and gave him the update on Grandview so he was happy for that. Elder Richards will be finishing his mission and going to BYU this fall so that’s exciting. Especially because he had a bad GPA but a good ACT similar to how I did, and he got accepted so maybe there will be hope for me! We'll get to that when the time comes though. This week we had a bit of a better experience in Choir. We practiced the songs again, and we did a lot better on the Bass part, so that’s good. We performed hymn 8 in sacrament meeting and it turned out good!
Well that’s about it for this week, Take care everyone!!!!!!!
Elder Partridge

 "Cowabunga!" as Brother Walty, one of the high priests in the Boardman ward would say. Transfers have come! I'm currently writing to you from the Umatilla library. Between Boardman and Hermiston. Its a beautiful sunny P day with my New Companero Elder Richards. It’s been a pretty good week! Lets Flash back: The beginning of the week was spent saying goodbye to the Members and some investigators in Grandview, then Wednesday Morning we headed to the transfer site up at the Yakima Stake Center. From there we waited, and watched Glenn Beck's conversion story to pass the time waiting for the transfer car to get there. Side note, Glenn Beck is a crazy cracker. Haha. From there we rode down to the stake center by the Colombia River down in Tricities. From there our transfer group split up, everyone was staying in tri cities except for me. Elder Vance one of our Senior Missionaries came and picked me up and we made the trek down to Hermiston OR. I remember crossing the Columbia River, the natural border between Washington and Oregon and thinking "Wow this is it, the beginning of the Next chapter of my mission. For the past 4 months I'd been in the Yakima valley with occasional trips to Kennewick, but now I was breaking new ground. Fun fact, we passed the world’s largest Irrigated farm on the way. Apparently its owned by the church. Elder Vance told me a little bit about it. Well we arrived in Hermiston, and from there I met my New Companion Elder Richards. Elder Richards is a good guy, he is from Houston TX, he's an old man, (He has about 4 months left in his mission.) and he trained Elder Swenson, was companions with Elder Bao and they got along very well, and to top it off, My first night in the mission home he's the one that took me out to get a teaching experience. So I'd heard a lot about him haha. He's a really good missionary and I can tell we're going to have a fun transfer.

As for the Boardman area, it’s a small little farming town. The people in the ward are really nice, and we get tons of service opportunities working on peoples farms. There's a family of 3 who are on date to be baptized on the 21st of this month, so that'll be exciting! So we've been having fun. Saturday morning, the Walty's invited us over to have breakfast at the Senior Center, (all you can eat breakfast buffet for only 4.50 CHA CHING$) and after to come over to their house and trim the dead branches from their willow tree. So that was a lot of fun. There a really good couple and we enjoyed helping them out.
The ward is really fun. Sunday morning we had ward council at 8 in the morning, and they have a really good ward mission leader. I was really impressed because they seemed to be men of action. It wasn't just like "Okay we need to activate so and so's sons" It was that and then, "Okay how are we going to do it" and they all brain stormed and it was beautiful. The ward is a great help with missionary work, they're really good at giving referrals and fellowshipping, I feel like this will be a great place to serve. After Ward council we had Choir Practice, and it was pretty funny because we were the only men there. The choir director is from the Philippines and she just had a list of obscure songs I'd never heard before to have us sing, and we'd go through it with some difficulty trying to sing the Men’s part without any practice and after each song, she would turn to us and say "Elders, you're sounding kind of weak, you need to be better"
I'm convinced she's going to make me tougher by the end of my time here, hahaha. Well that’s about it for the week, love ya bunches, take care!