it has been a beautiful and marvelous and miraculous week. like, i really love this week!
MONDAY
so monday was p-day as usual. but, it was transfer monday,
so we had a zone breakfast to say goodbye to all of the missionaries
leaving (all none of them!), but we jump on any opportunity to get
together with a big group of missionaries. our entire zone stayed
exactly the same, which is pretty unusual. im sorry if i already wrote
this home. i cant keep things straight! so we had a big partay. every
time that we are around the elders i am just more and more shocked that
they are actually old enough to be missionaries! they are just dorks,
funny dorks, but dorks.
we ordered district t-shirts. we designed them, drew
it up, picked the colors, ordered them and then sister stone and i were
picking them up monday
morning to bring to the breakfast. we pay for and pick them up and then
look at them and they forgot my name and sister stone's name...the ones
who put in all the effort to get them made! hahah, the man who did it
for us is extremely friendly though and agreed to redo them all for us.
they are pretty adorable. maybe i will send a picture home at some
point, of me modeling it.
then we went to visit Ladelle in her
art studio. she did a lesson for us in ceramics and we had a blast. we
invited kimberley, one of our almost investigators, to come along and
join with us! we had tons of fun. i made an absolutely hideous
giraffe/camel hybrid. i asked her to help me make my giraffe and so she
comes over and starts fiddeling around with it. then halfway through she
says, "oh my this camel is going to look great." huh? camel, why would i
want a camel! so he started out as a giraffe and then Ladelle came in
and did some distinct camel characteristics. Then she started calling
him a giraffe again. i am not really sure what he turned out as. i will
definitely send a picture home of him when he is done and you can help
me come up with an ugly enough name for this little sweetie. Ladelle is
84, so i excuse her confusion! what an interesting little memory giraffe
i get to have though :)
later on, we had dinner with the Coy family, which i
believe i have talked about before. it was a blast. their family is so
much fun AND i saw a nutria for the first time. i never knew a nutria
even existed. macey, google a nutria and attach a photo of these lovely
little mammals (i think it's a mammal) to this post, because i had
forgotten my camera! they are hideous and they are the nasty swamp
animals from the princess bride. movie starrrrrr. anyway, so we had
dinner and then shared the first vision with them. they opened up to us a
lot more this time and i am really looking forward to returning to
visit with them again. we are hoping to extend the invitation to them to
start the lessons with us! i think they are ready.
TUESDAY
tuesday
we had district meeting and got to meet the new sisters in our
district! yay! their names are sister porter and sister beames! they are
both from utah, u-u-u-utah! they're sweethearts and i am still the
youngest sister in our district. i thought for sure i wouldn't be
anymore, but i am. district meeting was really great though. elder and
sister nees taught the lesson and we learned about applying scriptures
to every situation that we are in with our investigators. the lord has
provided us with such a wonderful resource and so often we don't take
advantage of it. i really, REALLY love the scriptures now. i cannot
believe how much i look forward to that hour every morning that i get to
read by myself. they are just so great and so applicable to each of our
lives. i love thinking about how everything in there is for our
benefit, it was all put in there for a reason!
then sister stone and i kinda got ditched at lunch.
the new sisters did steal our thunder a little bit, but that is OK. they
deserve to have the attention, it's fun!
then
we had a beautiful day focused on the less-actives! mom, i swear you are
the most inspired lady on the planet! i got that talk you sent me at
the beginning of this week. and it was totally focused on less-active
missionary work. my favorite line said something along the lines of,
"every less-active member you come in contact with has loved ones on
their knees daily, praying for them to come back into the fold." we are
the answers to their prayers! we can answer their prayers by inviting,
loving, and caring. then i applied that idea to an even broader topic.
if you think about it, we are all less-active. we all lived with our
father before and were fully active and complete believers. then we came
to earth and became "less-active", because we couldn't remember our
time with God before. and God is there now on his knees daily, praying
that we all will come back into the fold. we are the way for his
children to come back into the fold, ALL of them are important to him.
GO MISSIONARY WORK. do it. everyone has an important part in this!
p.s.
i got a package and a letter from the beautimous kitty richards today.
thank you so, so, so much! also, sister stone LOVES burt's bees and was
so happy to get a little package too! i appreciate you so much :)
WEDNESDAY
my highlight from wednesday
was tracting. sister stone and i have been trying to do an hour a day,
where we pick a street in our area and go knock some doors. this helps
us become more familiar with the area we are serving in and of course,
an opportunity to meet some people, our favorite thing! so we went down
talawa street and we planned on going at 2 pm,
hottest time of the day, what were we thinking! also, it was the
hottest day of the summer. it was at least 100 out. hottttttttttttt.
however, we came across several people who definitely showed some
interest! i am so excited to go back and meet them again. one woman
opened the door and was crying really hard. she could hardly even talk,
but she got out that her dad had just been diagnosed with cancer. she
said now wasn't a good time, but we could come back. my heart has been
aching for her ever since we left her doorstep. i just want her to know
that families can be together forever. she was just so sad, i wanted to
give her a big old hug, but i also didn't want to scare her off since i
had only known her for legitimately 45 seconds. i hope we can see her
again and share a message that will help her!
also on wednesday!
we had our first lesson with sharon! sharon was the referral from a
member that we talked about last week. her husband was a member,
but she expressed interest in learning and our member extended the
invitation and she accepted! so we met her for the first time and she is
so stinkin excited! she wants to be baptized and asked, "what all do i
need to do in order to be baptized?" we were floored, i never expected
to hear that question! it reminded me though, back in our zone
conference we were talking about the atonement. someone said, "if
everyone truly understood the atonement and what it can do for us,
people would be crawling across broken glass and begging to be
baptized." we obviously need to teach the atonement better!
then we had a lesson again with chad. he is very
excited and wants to keep learning. chad has the most intense questions i
have ever heard. it is so difficult to teach him sometimes because i
loose focus and start thinking about really deep stuff he is asking
about. hahaha, he is just a crack up though, and a really great kid!
THURSDAY
thursday
i had a wicked intense personal study for about 3 and a half hours.
sister stone wasn't feeling well. it was so good though! i got to read a
lot of conference talks, it's coming up again! cant wait.
then we did my favorite thing. WEEKLY PLANNING. i
inherited my mother and father's love for planning. and it's at this
time that we set our goals. our goals are really lining up now. it is
incredible. we set some really big goals for ourselves for september,
and at the time we weren't even teaching anyone. we have been acting on
that faith though and people to teach have just been appearing! the lord
is surely involved in this!
thursday
night we went and contacted the Chavez family. the mom is being taught
by the spanish elders. the children have been sitting in on those
lessons, but would feel more comfortable in an english setting. so we
taught them about the Book of Mormon and they are on board with learning
with us and are so excited!
SO MANY PEOPLE TO TEACH NOW. it is blowing my mind :)
FRIDAY
friday we had quite a few more less-active appointments and got to spend some time with a lot of great people! we also got to do mormon.org time. i love mormon.org.
i love getting on there and watching those "im a mormon" videos and
just enjoying other people's lives for a bit. it is quite nice!
im so running out of time. goodness! this is gonna
get real sweet and too the point. i should start out this direct from
the beginning.
SATURDAY
saturday
we joined the young women in their temple walk. we walked from the OC
stake center to the temple in Lake Oswego. it was so much fun. and so
hard. it was 13 miles, but so great! i really love getting to know the
YW better. they are so wonderful and happy and just so in tune with the
spirit!
i also got my package from my mom and dad today.
thank you so much! i love everything about packages. especially
pictures, music, candy, and my patriarchal blessing! nothin better.
then we had another lesson with chad and got to talk a lot more
about the atonement. it was really good! we also invited him to the
visitor's center. yay, love that place!
we then
went home, sister stone was waddling pretty good from the walk. so she
basically bathed in bengay. my eyes were watering it was so strong! dad,
you would be proud that i shared the lovely story about the snake and
bengay and the train set to lighten the mood. it was so funny!
SUNDAY
sunday
was great as usual. actually sunday's are usually pretty tough because i
always am reminded of home and my family and being at church with them.
but, the chavez children, 14 and 10, came to church with us! so it was
absolutely wonderful. I LOVE having investigators at church with us.
they were just soakin it up too. they are great kids.
then we went to the VC with chad. we met the YSA
elders there. we are trying to transition him over to that ward, because
it would be best for him. he is craving friends and activities! so it
would be perfect.
i really gotta peace out. i love you my family and
friends. two things of advice for learning to love others. 1// notice.
take the time to notice the little things going on in the live's of
those around you. 2// take a small step. act on the things you notice.
go out of your way just a little bit and make someone feel important!
LOVE YOU. xoxoxoxox
Sister K
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