Longview here he comes, oops, I mean he's already there!

Elder Anderson's parents got an e-mail this week and one of the questions they had on their minds was, will Elder Anderson be transferred this week?  Well, he had ALREADY been transferred!  The domino effect was in play as one missionary went home, Ben's companion had to take his place, and then Ben got moved to Longview, Washington!  He has a new companion, Elder Joslin from St. George, and seems very excited to be in Longview.

His address is 3506 Pennsylvania St., Longview, WA  98632. 

The mom of this residence called Ben's parents the next night after we got this word and told us about the area.  It is about 1 hour from Portland, Oregon and a little over 1 hour to the ocean, so it's damp and chilly there now.  The Henthornes (the missionaries' hosts) own a heating and air company, B & M Heating.  They work with the Young Adults in their stake so the missionaries get to spend every FHE with the young adults.  Longview, which is on the Columbia River, is an industrial area where there are corporations that specialize in paper products and things created from wood.  Weyerhauser is a large company there.

The missionaries spend time in Longview and two nights a week they travel out to the Caslamet Branch.  The members love the missionaries so Elder Anderson gets a home-cooked meal each night.  For those who are interested in sending Ben a gift card, they have Walmart, Target, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway and Panda Express close by.  According to Elder Anderson, "gift cards are a missionary's best friend!"

Sister Henthorne was really happy the first night that Ben was there.  Her battery went dead and the two missionaries were right out there helping her with jumper cables.  Without Coats!  So she told them to get inside.  This weekend the missionaries will help this family decorate their home for Christmas.

During the phone call, the missionaries showed up!  We could hear Elder Anderson in the background and felt very odd listening.  We did talk briefly with Elder Anderson's companion, who seems like a fun guy, but got off the phone soon.  (Ben sounded GOOD!, but we did NOT talk to him directly.  That would have been too wrong...)