Marysville, WA - weeks 24 & 25 (August 20 - Sept 2)

A late video...

We sent Chris a CD called Popcorn Bopping which is LDS Children's songs set to a dance beat.  He listens to it often as exhibited by the memorized missionary rap here.  It makes me giggle each time I watch it, so I thought it needed to be shared. 

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August 26, 2013 - Short exchange of emails.  

There were transfers that week, so we weren't sure if Chris was staying in his location or not.  Approximately 25 new missionaries arrived in the Washington Everett Mission.  Of the 25 new missionaries, 22 were girls!  

My questions:

1.  Transfer?

2. Sports or other activities with youth?

3.  ASL investigators?  What happened?

4.  Moving out of home?

5.  Update on investigators??

6. How have you seen the Lord's hand in your life this week?

1. I am not transferred and neither was Elder Young. We ARE getting another set of missionaries in our home though. They are the elders in the ward below us. But no transfers.

2. Still nothing with the youth. I am tired of doing basketball. The guys there are not...its just different. Hopefully this week I can get it started with Bryce but school is starting next week so we will see how this goes.

3.  So a possible ASL investigator tonight. Bryce's younger sister Bethany has a friend whos parents are deaf and the mom needs an interpreter tonight for a parent meeting for the sport her daughter is playing. Sis Frenzel might be doing it or maybe myself. Not sure yet. BUT if you could send an ASL dictionary ASAP (not a overnighter, just a package this week) THANKS! :)

4. Still in our wonderful HOUSE :) We will have 2 other elders with us BUT it has to be temporary because the First Presidency doesn't want missionaries together in the same house.

5. Frank W. is our ONLY strong inv. We had 2 AWESOME lessons. Really stong spirit. Both were with less active members but they were good lessons.

6. I would say the Lords hand in my life is in those two lessons. One I will tell you about...We went over to Sis. C's house. She is 57, living alone, and was a member a LONG time ago (like 30 years). She was baptized in her early 20's. Our lesson at the beginning wasnt that great...Or at least i didnt think so. Although I knew we HAD the spirit and needed to testify about something. We had testified mult. times but nothing clicked. At the end, I felt like Heavenly Father talked through me....it was probably the craziest thing. All I really remember saying is, "As a disciple of Jesus Christ......"   I dont remember exactly what else I said but what I do know is it was what she needed to hear and it brought both her and me to tears. She didn't come to church this week but she will be back soon!   :) 

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September 3 

Questions - 

1.  did new missionaries move in?

2.  who are they?  and where are they from?

3.  heck - where is elder young from??

4.  what are you guys doing to stay obedient and focused with 4 in a house?

1.  Yes new missionaries moved in. I will have the member take a photo of us at the house.  (The members that live next door are in the photo here.  This pic is the kids showing the grasshoppers they are about to fry for a snack.  The link to the video at the end!  Don't miss watching it!)

2.  Our district leader is Elder Marshall from Alanta Georgia (a town a little north of Alanta). And Elder Rice who was in Firetrail last transfer from a little town in Az up near Sedona (I forgot the name).

3.  Elder Young is from Tremonton UT. Up near the border of Idaho and Utah.

4.  This is truly going to be the best transfer! We are all obedient! VERY!  AND we are having a blast while we are at it. We talk at night and in the morning but we stay pretty away from each other during the day and focus on our work!

Last week was good. We got the other elders in our house on Tuesday (Aug 27).  

Monday was just another pday of basketball and lunch and shopping and dinner and a lesson with that family and then thats it! 

Tuesday was probably the day of most excitement. We started by going to meet Sister Frenzel (a member of their ward) at the high school track to talk about interpreting that night for a mom whose daughter is friends with the Shepard's daughter.  After lunch we went to the jr. high school to pick up the ASL dictionary she is letting me borrow then to make some copies at the church. Afterwards we visited some names, met up with Bryce for 20 min or so and helped us see people. Then dinner with the Winters Family. We had terryaki again. There is terryaki EVERYWHERE UP HERE!!!  After that Brother and Sister Shepard came and picked us up so I could interpret for this mom. The beginning of this meeting was for the parents of all sports so it was good because 100+ people saw me interpreting...yay...haha! It was a good way for us to be seen not just as the guys who wear white shirts and ties and knock on doors and ride bikes.  haha! I will say that God helped me a lot during that meeting but he also gave me trials which humbled me and showed me that I was not prepared. But since I believe I have prepared more, we are going to visit the mom today. We then had a meeting with our bishop and the sister missionaries. 

Wednesday (Aug 28) District Meeting. In our district it is Firetrail Ward Elders and Sisters and Lakewood Elders and Sisters. Cool district too!  Sis. Gale (from my MTC district, and came out to WA with me, and was in my first zone) is now in my district! I think she is following me....just kidding.  Anyway, we visited some less actives. OH! We took more area of the ward, so we now have a little more of the ward area during the day. (this pic is typical of his new area)  I will take a picture of the shoulder and ditches we ride on.....or should I say non-shoulder we ride on, and the BIG ditches that we ride next too. If we lose our balance, or a car comes out of no where, or side sweeps us -  it's a 4 to sometimes 7 foot ditch usually holding MULTIPLE blackberry bushes.  (I'm guessing no one has had a major accident yet?!)   Anyway, after that we had dinner with the Hawkins Family and a lesson lesson with Marlene! She is our investigator that we found on the road 3 weeks ago or so.   We asked to help her with some service, she agreed and we have done service for her every week since. We watched the Restoration Video and talked about Moroni 10:3-5 and how this book, The Book of Mormon, is either from God or the Devil. And that the experience Joseph Smith had was either true or it was not. Now, if you already have your mind set that the book and Joseph Smith's vision is not true, we can not help those. BUT if you are willing to seek our Father out in prayer in the name of Christ, He will tell you the answer. 

Thursday, Had a lesson with a less active brother, Brother C. And afterwards, did service for a family with less active teens and young adults. We just shoveled grass or, actually, tore grass up. We had dinner at the Coopers. Love the Coopers but as we were on our bikes heading there, literally a minute and a half after we started biking, the rain came DOWN on us!  We were very very wet!  The bike ride to their house was about 8 miles or so. Maybe a little less from our house. They also have this HUGE hill right before their house. And right before we got to the hill, Brother Cooper was on the side of the road there to pick us up. We could have done the hill (we've done it before) but it was pretty nice to just ride up in a car!!  

Here's a video of the hill Chris mentions above:

Friday, We started doing our planning for the week when Marlene called asking for us to come help with stuff again. It was great! We picked up horse poop and helped move things in the garage around so she could get her car in there and I put some insulation (the big fluffy pink stuff) in her attic. (I hope he knew to wear gloves to do that!  Eeek.)   We visited people, then dinner with the Holmstead family! 

Saturday we finished planning for this week and then visited some less active families and potential investigators again. Then we had a WONDERFUL dinner at the Gates house. Brother and Sister Gates have just recently been sealed in the temple and we had an AMAZING dinner. Jalepeno Popper Sandwiches (I think is what they were called)   Whatever it was, it was GOOD!  Then we had a meeting with Bro. McClellan (the Ward Mission Leader). 

Sunday was meetings and a wonderful church session. I did bear my testimony on testimonies. I talked about what they are and how we need to bear them often. We had more meetings and visited people. Then we had a random dinner with Bishop's family because no one signed up to feed us and then more visits. 

Monday!!!! This P-day was a little different! We did shop and went with the Elders to drop off something to their investigator then went to the Thomas' house. Beautiful house and yard and EVERYTHING. It was a back to school party (because school starts tomorrow) and it was just a TON of fun!  Then we had dinner at the Greens. WOW that guy knows how to cook!  Roast and sautéed squash and macaroni zuccini something.  It was just good!  Afterwards we helped Brother and Sister Jones unload sixty 70 lb. bales of hay up to his rafters in the barn.  Now that is was I call a work out!!   SO good!  We then had Ice Cream with them after and then home. I am sorry I forgot the camera mom but I was COVERED in hay. I had my UDALL sweat going and all the hay just stuck to me!  Haha! Good night!   (Oh how I would have LOVED that photo!!!)

The "Udall sweat gene" is well known among Tom's side of the family.  All three brothers have it, but their grateful sister does not.  Several of the kids have it including two of mine, and some of the other cousins.  My niece is serving a mission in Bulgaria and commented in a recent letter that her sister would be a mess there due to the humidity causing heaps of sweat.  Chris must have read that recently enough to share this rather gross video with me, and I, in turn, had to share it here because of his comments above.

One thing I learned this week:  D&C 122 7 - 9 - Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail. 

Joseph asks two questions, WHERE are you God?  WHY is this happening to your people? 

Answer to WHERE is verse 9, I think, and answer to WHY is in verse 8 "The Son of Man....". 

It is extremely important to remember that we are going through trials and afflictions for the benefit of growth. Even if the very jaws of hell gape open wide after thee, remember my son, thine adversity and thine affliction are but a small moment, and if thou endureth well, God shall exalt thee on high. 
(Paraphrased...I dont have my scriptures near me)
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/122?lang=eng


Lastly - don't miss out on the video of the month!  Chris joined the Hepworth family (they live next door) for a snack of fried grasshoppers!!  The video is too long to embed in the blog, so click the youtube link!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkGJTfbRxu0