So close!!

The beautiful sisters of the Federal Way Zone

Hah! I cannot believe you were at the church!  (Erin's referring to mine and Garret's secret visit to Seattle where we accidentally found ourselves right outside of a church where Erin was meeting inside)

Yeah President and Sister Eaton came to my district meeting on Tuesday and then they were leaving and president goes "we are off to meet some people" and then he just looks at me and I'm like "..fun" and then he was like "do you know who?" and he's like " we are going to have lunch with your parents".  And I just laughed! And seriously I was 80% sure you were stalking me all week! I was fully anticipating seeing you guys! So funny! Thanks so much for all that fruit and juice and wasabi ranch snap peas! That's the best! I wonder which Elders you talked to! What did they look like? I bet the lake you walked around in Maple Valley was Lake Wilderness! I ran there every morning! (It was!)

This week has been awesome! On Wednesday, we had a training on studying which was pretty cool!

And we got to go to the Family History Discovery Center again with Kathy (the black girl from the pic) and Sister Bellessa came with us! Kathy loved the temple so much and never wanted to leave! She said she can picture herself getting married there! I just love all of those people! She and her mom are getting baptized this coming Saturday so we are prepping for that! They are amazing! 

Sister Northrup, Sister Bellessa, Kathy, and Erin

We taught Cheyanne AND her boyfriend Nate for the first time! He opened up so much and wants to change! He had a crazy experience in jail.  It was like a vision too! Heavenly father told Nate in this vision that he needs to change his life and to do that by meeting with us! So bomb! He talked a lot! So we didn't get to teach much but I'm stoked they are going to get married and baptized!

And you are absolutely right! People here talk to themselves so much!

So, I hit my 16 month mark this week! So nuts! I have been gone forever! Home is starting to feel like real life again and not just some distant non-reality!

Really good things are happening in this area! Me and Sister Northrup get to stay! This will be my 4th transfer here. Saturday was so long and dead and I was like "maybe I would be ok leaving" Buuut Sunday night we found out we were staying and yesterday was a miracle day! We found some awesome prepared people! So I am way stoked to stay for another 6 weeks!

I got my passport photo today and will try to scan it over to you. If I cant I will just mail it. Hope thats ok!

I was so happy there was sunshine this week for yall's visit! Especially so y'all could see Rainier. When its cloudy, that things gone! 

When I sent you that pic of us at the temple on Friday, I was like "oh shoot what if they're in Seattle??" So you calmed my nerves telling me you were home! haha! (all done through Sister Bellessa texting me - so handy!)

Where did y'all eat in Black Diamond? The Black Diamond Bakery? That place is the best!  (Yes, we did - and yes, it was!)

ok I lovve you!! Talk you ya later:)

3 months from today she'll be in our arms!! :)

Sweet Janiah's baptism day :)

The Federal Way Zone

hey mom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! are y'all doing anything fun?? wedding pics look way fun! i cannot believe Kaylee and Tyler have a baby!! what??

Glad the girls got my letter this time! Is Bob anymore wanting to go to efy?

The baptisms were great! We got kind of nervous cause when we first showed up they were having a huge stake pinewood derby scout thing that took up the whole church and was super loud! We then learned then somebody did not actually reserve the church for the baptism. So that was somewhat stressful. We just went ahead and filled up the font anyway! By the time the first baptism was supposed to start the scouts were pretty much done so that was good! Yvette's baptism was great. A lot of ward support and went way smoothly! The spirit was really sweet! She had to get dunked a couple times because of her hair floating the first time. Sister Westover got to come up from Puyallup so that was fun to see her! Yvette is samoan so her fam doesn't do things small! they had all kinds of food that was way good and way not american! There was bright red hot dogs that were bomb! And these spam and rice teriyaki rolls! It was fun!

Then we got things ready for the next baptism. While we were doing that Janiah's aunt - who is the member/ driver of the family said she was sick and couldn't make it so the kids and Janiah's mom would need a ride! We were a little frantic for a minute but soon Yolanda (the aunt) decided she could still come. When she showed up her face was way swollen. She is such s trooper! That was a sweet baptism as well! Janiah got a little nervous and her little brother told her to just let him do it. hah! She was all good and happy after she came out of the water:) We got to the church at like 10 am and didn't leave till 5. It was an all day thing!

The next day Yvette got confirmed. Janiah did not. Her aunt took some meds when she got home from the baptism and didn't wake up till 1/2 way through church! So nuts! So she will be getting confirmed next week :)

I decided daylight savings is good for missionary work! People usually aren't as bugged when we are knocking on their door and its still light outside!

We had another bomb lesson with Bree and Tim this week! We brought another couple from the ward and they loved each other. Tim said when we left last week they realized they had been looking for answers to problems and finding direction in their lives and decided it wasn't a coincidence we showed up when we did! He told us about a time 5 years ago when he was a truck stop fueling up at like 4 am. He said no one was there but all of a sudden an old man walked up from a car he had not seen previously and said "it looks like you need some help" and handed him a Book of Mormon! He said the man walked away and left right after that! He said for the next few days he kept asking himself and others "do i need help?" 

Mom, last week I bought amazing cheese that i have been putting on everything! It's gouda spiced with jalapeno, habenero, and chipotle peppers. I made bomb tacos with this stuff! I also made spicy indian mango chicken tacos with nectarine in it. Mom. It was so good!

Cheyanne's boyfriend went to jail over the weekend but apparently he keeps telling her over the phone that he wants to turn his life around and that he is done messing around and that he wants to sit in on our lessons now and start supporting her and learning himself! So thats good news! First lesson with him is tomorrow!

The new easter vid is out at mormon.org/easter! It's pretty dang good!

I love you mamma! I hope you have the best birthday! 

Oh and thanks for getting me hooked up to go to church in china!

Love you!!

Teaching and Baptisms

hey mom!

this week has been great! we are getting ready for the baptisms! still a lot to do but everyone is getting prepped! so they are on! thats exciting! Janiah brought her cute friend to church yesterday and invited her to her baptism. she is pumped! so are we! 

we taught cheyanne again this week and had such a great lesson. and it was about the law of chastity! who would have guessed that would ever be one of my favorite lessons?! but honestly. it was so good! she has 1.5 kids and is living with her boyfriend so we were thinking she has got to get married or get out or she cant get baptized. we were teaching more towards marriage since she has been with him for 8 years and they have the kids. but she said that she was really grateful for this lesson and that she has felt that god has been telling her to leave for a long time (her boyfriend is way bad news) and that hearing this commandment gave her the strength to even consider actually acting on these promptings! so that is in the works now. the spirit was way strong! on saturday we went to her baby shower at a buffet. they had the best cheesecake! :)

also this week the best thing happened! we had met this girl bree last week and mentioned that the everyone seemed to have construction shirts like the one she was wearing and that it was a total washington thing and we wanted one. when we stopped by this week she was like hold on. and came back with the shirts! it was so cute! so now we have bomb construction shirts. also even better news is that we taught her and her husband! they are awesome and they understood the need for the priesthood and the necessity of it! and they said if the come to know its true they will be baptized! i love them! they are named bree and tim.

us and a ton of people dropped everything and helped an old lady move into and apartment. we had the job of unloading the truck while others moved the stuff to the 5th floor. literally we got to a certain point of the truck and it was just a wall of  boxes of yarn, all the way back. so much stinking yarn. 

we taught our sudanese friend christina and we asked her if she has gotten answers to her prayers about what we have been teaching. she said yes. and that it came as she was watching some random african movie. all of a sudden a commercial came on talking about the book of mormon saying you can pray to know if its true, she said she thought to herself "i do know its true". and took that as her answer! how crazy! the lord works in mysterious ways! we have been talking to her and her daughter about the temple and family history and they are way excited to see the temple! so we are planning on doing a trip to the Bellevue discovery center. woo woot!

also we were teaching a lady named corrina and when we showed up she and sterling (her son) were about to go across the street to the park. so we went over and talked about the gospel/ swinged on some swings. and she told us she had met a guy earlier that day who lived down the street and they had been talking about the gospel. she invited him to come and we eventually taught him about the restoration and he wants to be baptized! so that was way good!

oh also president and sister eaton came and did comp study with us! they told us that this had been the rainiest washington winter on record! and i can attest! it has been rainy!

have yall gotten any china info? specifically where we would be? its making me a little nervous that i might not be able to get to a church very often. a lot nervous actually. do you think i could call and ask?

love you sososso much!