Dear family,
I am so excited to see what this new year brings. I have already seen a lot of good come out of this first week of the year. We found an amazing woman this last week. Her name is "C". Her father fell away from the church at a young age, so she never was baptized. But she started having incredible spiritual experiences that helped her to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Book of Mormon was true. She told us that she is ready to make changes in her life and get baptized. She's even ready to give up drinking wine and coffee! She also accepted a date. We are also excited to have a family that may be interested in the missionary lessons. We are struggling to find families to teach. The other elders in our ward just baptized the "A" family. They are a Filipino family that they contacted on the street. A mother and two daughters just got baptized on Saturday and confirmed Sunday. Their names are "E" (the mom), "S", and "M". One of the daughters, "R" is getting ready for baptism in a couple of weeks. Another one of the members in our ward (he wouldn't tell me his name) told us he was going to invite us and some friends of his to dinner this week. One is a Swiss German lady with a really thick accent. I didn't know this, but in Issaquah, Washington there are a lot of Swiss Alpine villages and lots of German people. Issaquah is in the Seattle mission though!
The other elders serve from Henderson street in Rainier Beach north to I-90 in Seattle. We serve from Henderson Street south to 21st street in Renton. Our areas are both densely populated, but I think the other set of elders have a little bit more.
Sarah, I'm glad you are excited about missionary work. It really is the most rewarding thing you can do. To help someone else come closer to Christ and receive salvation is a noble calling. I love every minute of it. No, missionaries don't pay tithing. 
But we can hug over e-mail.
Mom, I am so excited that you were called as a family history consultant. How cool! I would love for you to help me find a name to submit when I go to the temple. I am going to try and use ancestry.com to try and find a missing link in our family tree.
I love you all.
Love,
Elder Herbert