I will try to put photos in the blog posts as they are applicable and others at the end. The link to all of the photos is at the end of the post, just before the last of the blog photos.
NOTE: Chris has been out just over 3 months. Katy and I prefer to count "Fast Sundays", and we started at 24. We are down to 20. The saving grace in missing him is that we see, read, and hear how incredibly happy he is, and we know that he is serving, truly serving, God and the people of Washington for two years.
(Fast Sunday, in the LDS Church: The first Sunday of every month is set aside as a day to fast. We donate the money we would have spent on meals, or more, to the church fund, and that money goes to humanitarian and welfare efforts. We also know from the Old Testament and in modern times, that sacrifice with prayer can bring us closer to God.)
Disclaimer: italicized comments are mine. ;-)
-karen
May 20, 2013
P-day was so fun tday! We did our usual - email, laundry, etc. Went to Play It Again Sports and picked up a cheap hockey stick for later p-days with the young men (ages 12 - 18) in the ward! :-) After that we hiked down to Meadowdale "Beach" which was fun. (I love that he put beach in quotation marks. This boy knows real beaches from CA, Hawaii, the Cape, the Jersey shore, etc. So far, he doesn't consider this one an actual beach.) The tide was a little higher than last time but we had a great time. We did have a pretty full evening scheduled and then every appointment fell through! That's all good though since we got to tract and find people who would like to listen to us, or who were nice enough to at least open the door to talk with us!
They have gone on this hike twice...the link to Meadowdale Beach Park is below the photos. It does look very pretty (when it's sunny!). http://www1.co.snohomish.wa.us/Departments/Parks/Park_Information/Park_Directory/Regional_Parks/Meadowdale.htm
May 21, 2013
Tuesday...pretty good day! Had taco salad with the Elders (family's last name, not missionaries) & a nerf gun war with the two 9 year old boys! That was fun. We also had a pretty good lesson with Steve. After that we went over to a meeting and then on to Reed G's house. He told us more fun & interesting stories. It was cool to hang out with him and read a few scriptures. That's pretty much the day. One thing I ask for today is that all who read this look into your life and see where God has played a role in it.
(Will you take Chris's challenge?)
May 22, 2013
A few things today: Taitus & Julianna's family, Horner family & Shaw family. We had a fun time w/ Taitus & Julianna's family filling out baptismal records. Christina said she is nervous and doesn't feel ready to get baptized this week, so prayers out to her for getting a new baptism date and to feel comforted in this new step in life. Had dinner and a fun lesson on repentance! So I think that the only chicken that I can eat now is grilled. ALL other chicken is not good because of the experience with one of the members feeding us RAW chicken. I cut into it and it bled. Yeah, no good! After that we had a great lesson with the Shaw family on repentance.
Lesson on repentance...I'm not sure what, specifically, the missionaries teach but I am grateful for the principle of repentance. Here's a great explanation: Repentance involves a change of heart and a desire to forsake sin and serve God. It involves humbly yielding to the Spirit and submitting to God’s will. It requires that people increase their commitment to live in agreement with God’s will. Repentance requires a sincere and lasting change of thoughts, desires, habits, and actions. It is a positive experience that brings joy and peace.
Back when Joseph Smith was still living, he was asked to explain what it is we believe in. "We" being the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He wrote 13 declarative statements to sum it up. The story itself is cool, but the 4th statement is: We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Here's a link to break it down: https://www.lds.org/friend/2011/04/article-of-faith-4?lang=eng
May 23, 2013
It's a blur. Today was crazy. We went from 4 on-dates (4 people ready for baptism) to 1! Tiana Paul is the only one getting baptized. The other two in the Paul family, Angelianna (NOT "Julianna") (explanation coming in "tomorrow's" post) and Christina are not really ready yet. We feel we need to teach a little more, make sure it's understood. Kepler's mom didn't ever get told by Kepler that he was getting baptized, so he will be pushed back a week or two. None of the members are getting back to me about getting the baptism fixed (set up)! (This is the first time I sensed a small amount of frustration in any email) We had great lessons with the Moli family and with Wendi & Alex!
May 24, 2013
We, sadly, didn't have a lesson with Ken. He told us when we got there that it wasn't a good day and he was crying when we got there as well so keep Ken in your prayers, please. After that we did an exchange with the Assistants (APs), Elder Haviland and Elder Draper. Elder Haviland is from good ol' Gilbert AZ, and he went with Elder Frandsen; I went with Elder Draper (he's from Alpine UT which is not important, hehe) We went to lunch at 5 Guys and then went to a lesson with a UBC (unbaptized child) That is a child on the records of the church but didn't get baptized at 8. We had a fun lesson on faith with him. Afterwards we went and visited a less active family who is...well, let's say this: the husband literally talked my ear off. Crazy! So after an hour & a half there, we finally went to Taitus and Angelianna's house. Yes, her name is Angelianna NOT Julianna! Elder Frandsen has been calling her the wrong name for 4 months! HAHA! After that we went to Elder Draper's ward to an activity with them. We went to the Reptile Zoo. Mom don't send me a bomb that goes off right when I open my next package, but I forgot the camera in the car! :-( But either way it was pretty awesome! Saw an albino alligator and an american alligator. Got to hold an alligator and an iguana-thing.
I will ask Chris about Ken this Monday (June 10) and hope that we have some good news about how things are going for him personally.
I wonder how much Chris and Elder Haviland have chatted...they have several mutual friends!
Check out the albino alligator! http://thereptilezoo.org/
May 25, 2013
Alright...it's baptism day! :-) We helped a less active couple move. Had lunch with a family in the ward and their entire family as well! BIG family. After that we visited Sheryl & Taylor and then went to fill up the baptism font and had an awesome baptism service! Tiana was baptized today! So mom...I TOOK pictures, don't worry!! In the evening, we had a fun lesson with Aaron & Kepler!
 |
| Filling the baptismal font |
 |
| Tiatus & Angelianna's family |
 |
| Elder Udall and Elder Frandsen with Tiana |
 |
| Wojila, Tiana & Elder Udall (accidentally zoomed, per Chris) |
 |
| Wojila, Tiana & Elder Udall (unzoomed) |
Confirmed a member of the church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost? Check. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to do that ordinance. No meetings this morning but a good day at church. I confirmed Tiana as a member of the church and then gave Kepler a blessing after church. We went over to the Goodwin's for an awesome fireside! The fireside was in Arlington & it was a man named Jon Schmidt who talked and performed. A couple of songs he played were Waterfall and All of Me. You can look them both up on YouTube. He is VERY VERY talented and a great speaker! It was a very good night! I'm glad the Goodwins brought us! Oh man, he is an amazing pianist. Anyway, it was wonderful week! :-) I have one more week til I "kill" Elder Frandsen.
Click the links to learn more about the Holy Ghost and the confirmation Chris mentions:
http://www.lds.org/topics/holy-ghost?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/gs/gift-of-the-holy-ghost?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/confirmation?lang=eng
A couple of notes:
1. Jon Schmidt's piano solos, cello duets and other songs can be found on youtube. I'm linking two of my favorite's here (both are un-religious). I've since learned that Jon Schmidt's son is serving in the Everett mission, and Jon was in Seattle for a concert, so he asked if he could do a fireside for the mission. The rule for the missionaries was that they had to bring less-active members, or investigators, and they could attend. Chris told me this week that they had 4 families in their ward bring friends, so they were allowed to go. I'm also including a video that one of the Goodwin's took of the missionaries singing. There is a ton of movement on the camera, so if you can watch without getting nauseous, do so...it's really cool, and you'll get a glimpse of a smiling Chris at the end. The piano sounds amazing, so when the camera gets bumpy, focus on the sound. :-) (P.S. Don't think I haven't wondered why I can't just go to a fireside in Everett and see my kid!?!? haha!!)
You can find all of his videos by YouTube search: The Piano Guys, but here are a couple of our favorites (p.s. they are not religious)
- Five Guys, One Piano - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VqTwnAuHws Jon Schmidt is the redhead on the piano bench
- Charlie Brown theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyPDQpel8bI
2. Killing Elder Frandsen is the terminology the missionaries use (in jest, of course) for sending a missionary home. Elder Frandsen returned home on June 2.
Here is the video:
*****************************************************************************
Inserted at the top of the next week's blog letter:
"Mom,
The library was closed on Monday so we emailed on Tuesday (as you probably know now) but here's a funny experience that I had, and I can't remember which day it happened: "So the 1st house we came to down this weird street looked...well, not so great, and as we walked up to it and simply knocked on the door, this wonderful, kind, loving man said, "You religious freaks! Get the ** out of here!". HAHAHA."
I LOVE this boy's attitude! He makes everything fun and positive!!
May 27, 2013
Today was Elder Frandsen's last p-day! We did a couple of things. We went bowling and played basketball (I played/practiced hockey). We shopped and that's about it. Nothing much more than that for activities. We are now allowed to go coatless until Labor Day!! :-) We had a fun time with Paul W. this morning. We had breakfast at his house and talked about the Holy Ghost and a couple of other things. We also helped him move some cabinets to his office upstairs. He is a very cool guy! Tonight we had dinner at the Jenkins so that was fun! We had pulled pork sandwiches and corn. YUM! We also had our weekly lesson with the Shaw family. We watched "Mountain of the Lord". I think you can find it on YouTube...it's pretty good!
Chris has mentioned this video before, and I couldn't find it, but searched today and...ta da!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Dr7tUXMMU
May 28, 2013
Today we did some service for Sheryl & Taylor...we did some yard work again. Then everything cancelled BUT dinner! Actually, we did get to see Taitus a& Angelianna's family today, and then had dinner with the Valles. And then through the night we found potential investigators and every time before we got out of the car, we prayed and "wrestled" with the Lord as it says in Alma 8:10. It was a good day and the Lord gave us many blessings and his hand was in our work. :-)
Alma 8:10 - scroll down to read verse 10:
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/8?lang=eng
May 29, 2013
LOTS of finding time today! We were able to get our Cambodian investigator his Cambodian Book of Mormon. We saw a potential investigator named Mickey. And, we had 2 set lessons tonight: one with Aaron and Siobhan and one with Jacob Bradley. The one with Aaron & Siobhan went great and we read in Ether 2. Then dinner with Jacob Bradley at Mackateo Ivars (sp?)! SO GOOD!! I love seafood! I had this dish that had potatoes, kelp, crab and salmon with bread crumbs all stacked on top of each other! It was SO good! They have some really good clam chowder!
1. Is it any wonder why he's gained 12 pounds? Good thing he works out daily!
2. I found the restaurant, even with the spelling errors. It looks AMAZING! http://www.ivars.com/index.php?page=locations_mukilteo-landing
When we return to the area with Chris in 2015, we will need several weeks to hit all the yummy food places!
May 30, 2013
What a great day! We had our usual 3 lessons today: Taitus & Angelianna's family, The Moli family and Wendy & Alex. For Taitus's family we just went over baptisms again. They are such an AWESOME family! I'm so excited when they do decide to get baptized! After visiting with them, we had the Moli family and of course, lots of food and a good lesson watching Elder Holland's talk "Lord, I believe" from this past conference. You are able to find it on lds.org (or my mom will link it). We then watched President Uchtdorf's talk at Wendy & Alex's and you can find that on lds.org too. Both are very good and can be applied to ANYONE'S life! If you have already watched it, I invite you to watch again. If you haven't ever watched them, then I would invite you to watch. The sad part about today was that it was Elder Frandsen's last time with each of those families.
Here is Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk called Lord, I Believe. You can read or watch. He's Chris's favorite speaker at conference: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/lord-i-believe?lang=eng
and Elder Uchtdor's talk from the same conference called The Hope of God's Light: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng
May 31, 2013
Awesome day! We had a great lesson with Ken! (Chris told me on June 10 that they never asked, and Ken never shared, what happened last week, but that things are good now and they have seen him both weeks since) He is such a great guy! Got Aaron & Siobahn's car washed today which was really fun! We visited some AWESOME people and then Elder Frandsen had his exit interview with President Wilson. We had dinner with Brother Lopez and then the ward talent show! There is SO much talent in this ward! That was pretty much it for today, and tomorrow is looking very busy!
June 1, 2013
As expected, today was really busy. After having lunch with the Mays Pond elders, we went to a member's home to have a member-missionary lesson. Afterwards, we had a lesson with Troy at the church. We watched Elder Holland's talk from General Conference 2012, and then had 2 lessons in one. We had one with Clayton (Kepler's friend) and one with Aaron right after! For Clayton, we just went over the Godhead and the Restoration which was good! After that we had the lesson with Aaron and watched Elder Cook's talk from this past General Conference. We then had a great dinner with the Bright family, and then one of Elder Frandsen's old Ward Mission Leaders came down and had dinner with us at our favorite mexican place. Yes, you read that right...two dinners.
I'm not sure which 2012 conference Chris meant, so here are both of Elder Holland's talks. From Oct 2012: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/the-first-great-commandment?lang=eng and from April 2012: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/the-laborers-in-the-vineyard?lang=eng
And Elder Cook's talk from this past conference:
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/personal-peace-the-reward-of-righteousness?lang=eng
June 2, 2013
Well, today Elder Frandsen was the star of the show! He left today so everyone wanted to see him. It was sad but good! Elder Frandsen called it bittersweet. (Not ironically, that's the exact term moms often use about their sons and daughters leaving to go on their missions.) We had dinner with the Cutler's and then dropped Elder Frandsen. I took the Mays Pond Elders and we are on exchanges for 2 days until I get my new companion! I'm very nervous and excited! The one thing I know is to have faith in the Lord and who he gives me. We visited an active member in the Mays Pond Ward to follow up with them on something, and while we were there they gave us ice cream, cookies and cherries! YUM!
*June 10 - I got a few minutes to email back and forth with Chris (which is a SLOW process, but faster than snail mail). His new companion is Elder McRae from Kaysville UT and he said they get along great. Elder McRae has been serving for about 6 or 7 months.
Here are some additional photos! The link to view them all is: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200709177283807.1073741829.1592776047&type=1&l=607c261cca
Bottles from The Root Beer Store -
I'm pretty sure this is actually Chris's favorite place in Lynnwood!
Playing basketball with the Moli family and Elder Frandsen
Can't you hear his voice? "Bam!"
This is my absolute favorite! I have no idea what's happening but I can hear his
laughter right through the photo!
Chris's caption was:
Squirrel. POINT!
This is outside his apartment window
Wonder if Chris knows he can get rabies from squirrels
The good news is: according to the internet, most squirrels don't carry rabies! HA!
The elder on the right is the first trainee for Elder Frandsen,
and Chris is the last
Elder Udall & Elder Cameron Westenskow
Chris and Cam were good friends in high school
and got called to serve
on the same day
to the same mission
reporting on the same day
and were roommates in the MTC!
Cameron is in Bothell, WA which, as of July 1, will be part of the
Washington Seattle mission due to boundary changes
Both boys hope to come home together still
IF YOU HAVE MADE IT TO THE END...
Enjoy this video. Chris is not in it, although you hear his voice. His zone leaders, and another missionary, plus his comp are in the video. This shows that on p-days, boys will still be boys!