Looking on the bright side

Heya mom :)

This week has been a tough one! Our plans looked amazing but a lot of cancelled appointments and dropped investigators and such. But hey, next week looks great due to all the appointments rescheduled for then! And dropped investigators just means that they weren't ready yet and we get to spend more time on people who are. All good things! 

We did get to see Bree and Tim this week. They decided that it is way important to know if this is true and that they have not been giving it the time and attention it needs. They decided on their own to read the Book of Mormon everyday with prayer. So that was great! We got to meet Bree's daughter too!

We also had exchanges this week and I got to go with Sister Young who is super sweet and we had a lot of fun! We met a guy who is just like Stephan from the weekly update on SNL. Literally. And his name was Steven and he had the same catchphrase. It was grand.

Love Jared's cute pics! My favorite is the one on the swings!

Good luck on the sandwiches! What kinds are y'all making?

I'm jealous of your and dad's date! BBQ sounds so good right now! I have made some bomb BBQ chicken tacos lately! We are about to go get our weekly sub zero! Did I tell you that missionaries get free ice cream there! Luckily it's not in my area or we would be there everyday! But on Pday we can go anywhere in the zone :) 

Also I'm excited to hear about summer plans!

Well I love ya! Thanks for all you do!!

Erin

Conference and Sweet Teaching!

Hey Mamma!

Yes conference was so good!  We watched most the sessions at the church! Sunday morning we watched at the Cahans house with Christina's family! And the son, Kuol, who we are now teaching brought his friend to watch too! so good! so good! Bree and Tim were going to come too but her son was sick. Bummer! We are going over there tonight though cause she really wants us to meet her daughter.

We taught Bree and Tim about the plan of salvation this week and it was awesome! Bree got so excited and just looked at Tim so happy. hHe was flipping through the pamphlet we gave him and looked up at her and was like "huh?" and she was like "did you hear what they said?" and he was like "sorry i was reading." Hah, total guy! And she was like "Tim we can be married forever!" It was so cute and he became a lot more excited with her when he caught up to what we were talking about. They want to be baptized but are going to have some word of wisdom struggles so they are currently praying about when their baptism date should be/when they can be done with that stuff. The spirit is always so strong in those lessons! They are way prepared!

A MIRACLE happened this week. We had a super slow day. We couldn't find people to teach, no one was home, blah, blah, blah. But lo and behold we met a girl named Berra! And she was bomb! And we set an appointment to come back the next day! And we came and she wasn't home. Instead her sister answered the door and said we could come in and teach them while we waited for her. We walked in and a group was hanging in the living room. 

and as we taught about the restoration more and more people piled in, including Berra when she got home. Turns out this is a family of 10! They are so great! And very prepared and interested! They just moved to America from Rwanda a year ago. The kid's english is really good but the parents don't speak it at all. It was fun.  We would teach them a concept and then they would all discuss in their language and then the 15 year old who was apparently the designated spokesman would ask us a question in English.  We taught a bunch of them again yesterday and it was really great the kids are ages 19,18,17,16,15,12,7,and 5. We are so excited for this family! We are finding Swahili and their Rwandan language speakers to help us teach the parents.

Also we taught another BOMB family from Kenya this week. Seriously prepared.  I just love africans!

In was walking up towards a house this week and I looked down and there was a snake on my foot just sliding on across it! Sister Northrup just made fun of my reaction which was my normal short high squeak.

I also got called "sister whore" again when someone was praying for me this week...

Also we met a girl yesterday while we were going over to meet a potential investigator. Our person wasn't home but her friend, Ariana, was hanging out at her house and told us she wanted to hear the message. So we told her and then she told us her story. Poor girl has had one of the hardest lives I've ever heard of and she is only 26. When we taught her about the apostasy and what apostasy is, she told us that that's where she is at - separated from God. She felt that we were totally God-sent and we felt similarly! We are going to see her again tomorrow and she is going to get a priesthood blessing! This girl needs prayers. It was such a blessing to meet her!

I'm gonna have to see a pic of your  fancy cake! Good luck on the sandwiches! 

Thanks for the forecast! It has been so nice this week! Like completely the opposite side of the spectrum from the past few months! Thank goodness for spring!

Well I love ya. I think that's most of my news!

Have the best week!

Love Erin

Happy Easter!!

Sister Orr, Sister Hampton, Sister Northrup

hey mom!

yes the sun finally came out and its actually staying for a second which feels like a miracle. since it wasn't cloudy president said we could all go watch the sunrise on saturday cause that's one of his Easter traditions. our zone leaders told us to all meet up at redondo beach which we did but it turned out to be a lame place to watch the sunrise. it would be much better to watch the sunset over the water! either way, we saw a baby seal so i was pretty dang happy. 

 

and then later that day KATHY AND CHRISTINA GOT BAPTIZED. it was amazing. they were so happy and the spirit was great! everything went well. and then we had dinner and then we went to the general womens broadcast! which was way cool. im going to try to look up that "i was a stranger" thing when im done emailing.

 

don't worry i figured the fruit and veggies were my Easter package. seriously the best. a lady in the ward gave us Easter baskets each packed so full of chocolate and i just gave it all away. i could not handle it.

 

church yesterday was so good! first of all christina and kathy were confirmed. also we just had an amzazing sacrament meeting.  we got to teach gospel principles. the usual teacher just gave us a 30 minute dvd and asked us to play it in place of her lesson since she coulnt be there. but it turns out there is only 1 tv in this building and everybody needed it today. so we just taught on the fly and it turned out really good! the spirit was strong! so that was a tender mercy.

tell bob her braces look great!

sounds like yall had a fun easter weekend! 

 

not actually alot noteable happened this week! lots of laughing and fun and hard work!

sorry for the short letter. i keep getting distracted by elder hollands face2face. so dang good!

 

ok welp i love ya more than i love the sun! which is quite a bit at this point

 

lOVE eRIN

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! 

Happy March!!!

Hello mamma dear! how are you??

this week has gone by so fast but so many things happened! I seriously just love this ward and the people that we are working with and everything involving present circumstances!

so Janiah the 9 year old was going to be baptized this coming Saturday but we are pushing it back a week because of a funeral so we are going to have 2 baptisms next Saturday on the 12th. so that will be a fun day! i am stoked!

Janiahs' family is from Louisiana and they are like the best sassy black family in the world. one funny moment was when we were over teaching Janiah and they had a friend over named Tabeaclyanna. haha and every time she said her name me and Sister Northrup were trying so hard not to laugh. anyway this girl was being loud and distracting. and then Janiah just brakes out in rage and goes "GET OUT!"  and her little sister goes "you don't have ta holla at her." ha! we just busted up! it was great! i love their family! all the kids LOVE primary songs so we turn on sing along videos on their wiiU and do that every time. they love it!

we also taught them and a couple other people the law of chastity this week. lots of that lesson!

we had another flushing hard drugs down the toilet ceremony with our investigator. those are always grand!

we are still teaching our Sudanese family who are just amazing! they fed us african food this week which was fun. it was pretty good! it was like soup over a mash-potatoey dish and they all just ate it with their hands. if they eat that with their hands I'm pretty sure there is nothing they would ever use utensils for. luckily they gave me a spoon! and they taught me some words in dinka! also their african friend was over last night and i introduced myself and he looked at the 18 year old, Kathy, and goes "she is sister whore?". and kathy just face palmed and was so embarrassed. he decided to call me sister "arrrrr" since he cant pronounce my name.

the past couple times we have taught the mom, Christina, we have brought a lady with a one year old baby and both times she has decided to breastfeed him in the middle of our lesson with nothing covering her at all. i never imagined so much nudity involved in sharing the gospel but hey, Christina didn't care!

Adriene fall off the face of the earth but ran into her this week by a miracle! she says they have had a LOT of family problems in the past few weeks but she still wants to learn and join! poor lady! we are just happy shes not avoiding/ dropping us!

thats rocks that y'all are having people over and such! one thing that i have seriously learned throughout my mission is the importance of being an example of the believer in word on conversation in charity in spirit in faith and in purity. most of the people we are teaching are all progressing and have gotten as far as they have gotten. the role of member missionaries in this work is of far greater importance than people realize. be a friend. share what it is that has blessed your life so insanely (aka the gospel of Jesus Christ). its not complicated even though satan makes it seem like it is. talk to the people around you. we have no right to withhold this happy as heck message!

learn it. live it. share it. thats the motto.

another thing we did this week was spend a significant amount of time helping an old lady named 

Rita move into a senior living facility. good thing me and Sister Northrup are buff cause she had a lot of really big and heavy stuff to fit into her hotel room sized apartment!

Your cakes and cookies look amazing! Have fun with all the wedding and cake and chickens and house selling things going on around there!

love you soso much!

Sister Erin Orr