Clearlake

Dear Moms and Pops,

So about Clearlake. First off, it's the meth capitol of the USA and marijuana is EVERYWHERE. We are teaching this guy who's getting baptized on Sunday and his neighbor is growing weed on the side of his house. A ton of people grow weed up here. There are a few pot dispensors too for the "medicinial" purposes. It's nuts, BUT the people here are very humble. The surrounding geography is beautiful, no doubt, but the actual town is downtrodden. This is an extremely poor town. Most of the roads are dirt and gravel. So we get a nice truck to drive in. We've had to kick it into 4wd a few times. But my zone, Lake County Zone, is the highest baptizing zone in the mission. The area that Elder Gardenr and I cover is also the best area numbers-wise. This last week we taught 31 lessons! We picked up 10 new investigators too. I didn't even pick up 10 new "gators" all of last transfer! We went on 2 exchanges this week with our DL's and for one of them I stayed in my area. I, having only been here for a few days, didn't know where to go, who to see and whatnot. That day ended up being one of the best of my mission. I taught 8 lessons and found 3 new investigators, and invited one of them to be baptized on a specific date. It was incredible. I've gone an entire WEEK only teaching 8 lessons and I did it in one day. This place is a gold mine.

As for weather, it's pretty hot and muddy here. Don't let the name "Clearlake" fool you either. The lake isn't very clear. It's actually quite stinky. It smells like manure all the time. Gross.

The ward here is ridiculous too! I've never seen so much speaker to congregation activity in a sacrament before. The congregation will answer the speakers quetions and when the speaker says, "good morning" the ward replies! It's too funny. There is a guy that looks like the Monopoly guy too. He has a huge mustache that curls up and he has that scruff under his lip. It's all white too. Pretty funny.

Our ward might be the worst ward in the mission when it comes to dinners. Last week we only ate at a member's house once, and that was last night. So, I have to buy more food and I have to cook it, uggghhh. Oh well, it'll be good for me, right?

I had the opportunity to stand in on a confirmation of a recent convert that got baptized last Sunday. That was a very special experience for me. I only knew the lady for a week, but the Spirit was SO strong. I loved it.

Guess what? I've been made an online missionary. I will be using facebook and a blog to proselyte. I start on Thursday or Friday after an online training meeting. The mission world is changing. I don't really know too much about it other than I am supposed to go online for about an hour or so a day and teach people online. It's pretty effective, if it wasn't they wouldn't be doing it.

That's about it for me this week. I'm happy to be here. It's awesome. Oh, if you want to know what areas are in my zone, we have Lakeport, Middletown, Kelseyville and Clearlake. Just and FYI.

Love,
Elder Edwards