Overview of Fourth Area: Klamath Falls

For my fourth area I was shipped back to Klamath Falls and I was there for another 6 months (August 2006 - February 2007), which means I spent 10 1/2 months of my mission in Klamath Falls. This go around I was in the 3rd ward. It was the first area I was in that we didn't have a car so I put a good many miles on my bike here (as well as my shoes).

This side of Klamath didn't have as many hills as the other turf I was familiar with. It was pretty flat and our boarders extended to the outer reaches of the boonies of the east side of Klamath. I didn't have the lake (or the midgees that I'll mention in a forthcoming story). I did get the opportunity to check up on the first person that I taught and saw baptized though so that was cool, and I got to catch up with a few friends from the old stomping grounds as well as create new ones in the 3rd ward.

This was the first area that I was a "Dad". I helped train a new missionary who is known as your "Son". Rather than trainer and trainee that just worked out better I guess. My son wound up being my most favorite companion ever. We got along really well and enjoyed the work that we were involved in. We had some investigators that we grew really attached to. Things went really well with them until everything just fell apart. It's still a mystery what happened to them. There is a street not too far from where I live that has a name that is very close to one of their names and every time I see it it makes me wonder what happened. It's crazy to think that their little girl would be 10 now. She was only a few months when we first found them.

This area is where I had probably one of the worst days I've ever had on record. I'll go into the details on that in a later story. I've heard that we are given trials because Heavenly Father trusts us with them. There are days I wish he wouldn't trust me so dang much. I know I mentioned my little ER trip in the last overview. It's comparable to that little trip, but without the ER trip. It does end on with a rather amusing/scary fellow we ran into as the sun was going down that day.

Our apartment was probably one of the bigger apartments in the mission. We had some awesome green flowery couches that clashed wonderfully with the lovely pink shag carpet. We had a private little courtyard for a back yard. We even had a garage to stash our bikes in.

The missionaries in the area I was first in had moved out of the house because it had a mouse problem (apparently things got worse after I left the first time). My MTC companion ended up being there at one point and he mentioned they had caught somewhere in the neighborhood of 70+ rodents.

I went through a pile of bike tubes in this area. There was just something nasty that kept blowing holes in my tubes. I tried some solid "tires" that go where the tube goes underneath the tread. They were way to loose so I took them back. I wound up finding this plastic lining that you put between the tread and the tube. I haven't had a flat since. Well worth the investment. I even had to replace the tread too because I was starting to go bald and because I was thinking maybe something was in the tread itself that was blowing holes in my tubes. By the time I got home I had 1459 miles (give or take a few) on my bike. The beast still sits at my home today. I love that bike.