Back to Washington

WASHINGTON

FOR A WEEKEND

I went to Washington with Cortney Baxter for Allen Hartt's funeral. He died of a heart attack while he was driving home from an Ephrata high-school basketball state tournament. The attack happened while he was driving, he pulled off to the side of the road and the paramedics weren't able to revive him. This happened 1 March 2008. For those of you who don't know, I taught the Hartt family while I was serving in Ephrata for seven and a half months. I LOVE this family! We decided to take a road trip and head on up to Washington. It was the best weekend of my life to date I think... or at least one of them. We left on Thursday 6 March 2008 and drove home Sunday 9 March 2008. I was able to drive on the freeways so you should all be very proud of me for overcoming my fears. The drive home was WAY worse and stressful for me because it was at night and I have a hard a time seeing at night especially on the freeway going at top speeds of 85 mph. Anyway, we got to attend the redneck funeral, visit with our inactive friends, and stay with our member friends. It was wonderful! I LOVE Washington!


Me and Cortney getting ready to take off


I drove first, we took her car.


We spent the night at the Kaiser's house in Richland and then drove on to
Quincy from there on Friday Morning for the funeral.

This is Allen Hartt, my favorite "Heathen"
This is his program, it was a strange funeral because it was in an LDS chapel, but the only LDS person who spoke was the bishop. They had his nephew and daughter and co-workers speak.


This was the poem on his program


This is the belt buckle Bro. Hartt gave me when I was in Ephrata


The entire chapel was filled with all of his red neck hillbilly relatives and friends. I've never seen so many non members in the chapel before. It was like a wranglers convention for all the local cowboys. I loved it!

They held the funeral in Quincy where my good friend Elder Gastelum is serving. He and his companion happened to show up as we were eating in the cultural hall so we were able to say hello. I felt guilty for seeing the missionaries so I didn't dare take a picture with him, but this is what he looks like.

This is a funny video of Elder Gastelum and Elder Hale singing goodbye to me when I went home.


Elder Gastelum learned a lot of his English by memorizing all of the church videos and their songs in English and Spanish... does anyone recognize this song?

After the fueral we spent the day contacting our favorite inactive members and making lots of visits to our favorite members in Ephrata. This is Dinner at Time Out Pizza in Ephrata with Bishop Chamberlain. We ate there all the time because the owner is a member of the church and he would give us free pizza.

On Saturday morning we woke up and made some more visits in Soap Lake. This is Irma Alfaro and her girls Erica and Selena. She's great!




COLLETTE TAYLOR

This is Collette Taylor one of my favorite women in Ephrata, the video is of us surprising her at her newly opened dog grooming business.

We went back to the Hartt's home to say goodbye before we took off for Warden. Me, Cortney Kennedy, Karla Hartt, Sarah and her son Payton, Kasey, Cortney Baxter, and Kelsey. I love these women!

Getting our silly faces on

So Mexican

We had lunch at Tacos El Rey in Moses Lake where we used to eat with our District after District Meetings. They make excellent food.

Just enjoying the chips and salsa with my big double neck and no chin!

The Food... mmmmmm.... A Torta de Pollo, a quesadilla and a Sopa

Big ol' torta de pollo

Almost as big as her head!

Goodbye to Moses Lake!

Saturday evening we went to Warden and made more visits. This is Bob Beisel, Warden's greatest Heathen. We just love the heathens!

We spent the night at President and Sister Leavitt's home.

For dinner they had this cool little fryer/warmer that you cook meats and cheeses and veggies on. We heated up frozen chocolate chip cookies for dessert and they were yummy!
On Sunday morning we were about to head to church when we discovered that we had a flat tire... just in time for our return journey home. We went to church, and told President Leavitt about it. He in turn told his son, who left church to find our favorite inactive member Jeff Whitaker who owns a tire shop in town. He came and fixed our tire for free and it was great because then we got to see him too. The flat tire turned out to be a miracle in disguise! (Church was also a lot of fun because I got to see my dear friend Sister Littlefield! Again, I didn't take a picture... Sorry I'm so silly sometimes.)

This is Sister Littlefield

The nice thing about Warden is everyone is a farmer or a car guy so everybody can fix a car! He was really nice to give us such loving service. I sure do love Warden!

While I was there I got to enjoy some beautiful Washington skies, especially the sunsets! They're my favorite! I sure do love Washington and I miss being a missionary! To sum up my feelings about my trip I want you all to read
Alma 26:16