Elder & Sister Knowles

                                                Week 13   March 28-April 4

     “Never answer an anonymous letter”

Sunday:  It was fast Sunday today.  Mary came to church so that is a worry with her.  She wanted to go up on the stand this time, so Joyce helped her up and she did ok.  Two different men talked about how they had turned missionaries away for 30 years, then finally let them in and came back into activity in the church.  Joyce had to elbow Art to make sure he heard them so his attitude will improve about knocking on doors.  Mary sang to us all the way home. We took a new member, Diane, home from church and we don’t know what she thought about Mary, but she’ll get used to her.   Everyone is usually so nice to her at church, even when she gets way off the topic of discussion.  In the evening, we took the senior sister to the Puyallup Stake Center to watch the “Lamb of God” production.  It uses a choir, orchestra and soloists to present the last week of the Saviors life and his resurrection.  If it is ever done in your area, go see it.  They use local talent so it takes months of planning and rehearsal to present it. This was a multi stake production and was “super” as Jace would say!

Monday:  It was supposed to be p-day but we spent most of it with Brother Johnson at the employment office.  They are very good with helping him to fill out applications. ^st hour was spent working before any classes would start.  They had to clean and maintain the school.  He has had a rough life, working hard growing up, his first wife died in childbirth, he had to leave a daughter he had raised in Ghana because he is not the physical father (the government wouldn’t let him take her out of the country) and his grandmother took one of his sons to raise (we think it was a cultural thing). We really have gotten to love his family.  He also told us that when he joined the church several years ago, his brother made fun of him, telling him he had joined a cult.  Six months ago his brother and his family joined the church in Ghana. He and his wife are the kind of people that you can’t help being happy when you are around them.  They are so thankful for anything you do for them.   Art stayed with Thomas and Joyce took the pick-up and went to the senior sisters to get her hair cut.  We had to go to the store then hurry home and fix dinner for six missionaries.  The ward has signups for dinner on Sunday and Monday nights, but they know to call us if no one signs up, which nobody did. We had a teaching appointment with Skyway A at 6pm, but it cancelled.  Probably a good thing because Elder Bennett was hurt play basketball today and he is not doing well.  He may have broken his nose.  He has torn a big chunk of skin off of it. The other elders didn’t have much sympathy for him.  They were worried that the President would ban basketball if he found out. We have noticed that basketball and backing up the cars are two of the hazards the missionaries have.  One has to stand behind the car when they back up.  We think that missionaries are easier to replace than the cars.  JK  It sure has a domino effect when they wreck one. Isn’t that right Elder Schwieder?

He has a hard time because of his English.  He is a truck driver and is very qualified in that job, but he needs a job where he can be home at night.  Because of the new baby he needs steady hours.  He told us when he was growing up in Ghana that he would get up in the morning at 4am so he could fill the water barrel for his home.  He would carry buckets of water 2 miles and make several trips to fill the barrel.  School stated at 8am and the 1

Tuesday: District meeting in the morning from 10:00 till 12:00. They have put us in a new district since they don’t know what to do with us.   We had to meet Soveth at 1:00 to help him with his computer class.  They are working hard trying to get ready for the New Year Celebration. 

We should go help them but can’t seem to find a good time.  At 4:00 we helped the Skyway A elders teach Ruth and Rubi about making promises.  From 5:00 to 6:30 we served supper at the Salvation Army kitchen.  We had a 7:00 appointment at the Acostas so we hurried home and walked to their house.  We thought we were late but the Skyway B elders weren’t there yet so Art pulled out his phone to call them and saw that they had sent a text at 6:30 telling us the appointment was cancelled.  He puts his phone on vibrate during lessons and forgets to take it off after the lesson so we sometimes get the messages late.  We seem to learn the hard way sometimes.  Oh well, it was a nice evening for a walk. 

Wednesday: Our service project at Northwest Harvest was cancelled, which was a good thing for us. We had to spend most of the day getting ready for a dinner at 4pm that we were having with the senior sisters and Shanchata, (a less active member) and Ravyn, her daughter.  Her husband and nephew were going to come but didn’t show.  Since we had spent Monday doing other things we needed to clean and do some shopping. The dinner went well and Art gave a short lesson, then we watched the new church video “Because He Lives”. Somewhere we had not communicated with the Skyway A elders because they we expecting us to teach with them at 7:00 and we didn’t know about it.  We made a quick trip across town to get there on time and we made it.  They are teaching a new investigator named Patti Delaney.  She has a big dog that loves attention so the lesson was distracted a lot by the dog. Patti is very spiritual and very interested in the gospel.  After the lesson we had another quick trip to our meeting with the Bishop and all the missionaries.  The Zone Leaders said in our meeting that many of the elders had received packages, so a big Thank You to those who helped us out with this project. Several missionaries had a good day because of you.   The Zone Leaders told us how surprised they were because some who got packages never get them. It seemed like we hadn’t done much during the day but we sure were tired when we got home. 

Thursday:  One of the Skyway elders wasn’t feeling well so they came over to get some hot packs we had.  It was early so we fed them breakfast.  We met Thomas Johnson at the Employment Office to help him fill out more job applications.  He had one place to go at 3:00 to see about a job, so we left and went to pick up a few more groceries.  It takes a lot of food when you feed missionaries.  Joyce told them she was going to start feeding them healthier meals and they begged her not to.  They said that the only good meal they get is when members feed them. We dropped off some fried chicken and a book about temples at Mary’s.  She likes to look at pictures.   We had to hurry home so Joyce could prepare a lesson for Ruth and Rubi at 6:00.  We tried something new.  Since they are 9 years old, (identical twins) we thought it would be fun to face time Elayna (who is also 9) in Heber City and let her tell them about the blessings she has received by being baptized.  It went very well thanks to Elayna and her sweet testimony of baptism, the Holy Ghost and being a member of the church.  The elders that are teaching Ruth and Rubi were in awe of Elayna because of how well she spoke and the experiences she shared!  Then, Joyce hid some Easter Eggs and had Ruth and Rubi look for them.  The last one was hard to find, and she compared that to finding the gospel.  It was a fun lesson for them, but we had to cut it short so we all could get to our 7:00 meeting with the Ward Mission Leader. A long meeting and another late night.  It takes a lot of time to coordinate 4 sets of missionaries and all of us are busy, so there is lots of info to discuss.

Friday:  We were heading out the door to go to the new institute class that started this week when Skyway B elders called because they needed some help in finding an ER they could go to that would take the mission insurance.  The elder that was sick had a very bad night and President Eaton’s wife told him to go to an ER.  We heard that several other missionaries have had the same problem.  Joyce took care of them while Art drove to Auburn for the class.  Our plans were to go knock on doors but after class it was pouring rain so we went to lunch with the Bensons and shopping for some things we needed. We are planning on making lunch for the missionaries between conference sessions.  It’s too far to drive back to our apartments for lunch.  We got to experience shopping at IKEAs. By the time we got home it had cleared up so we were going to go out when the Skyway B elders called to make sure we had gotten the message about the cancelled appointment we had that night.  We wanted to check on the one that was sick so we invited them to come over for supper.  We went all out, grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, but we did send them home with chocolate chip cookies.  By now it was too late to go out so we did some paper work that we have put off for too long.  The boiler in the complex broke, so we get cold showers for the next few days. 

Saturday: Thank heaven for General Conference.  It got us up early so we still had hot water to shower with.  We went to the stake center to watch conference with all the missionaries in our zone.  There were a few members there but most stay at home and watch over the internet.  In between sessions we went out in the parking lot and made sandwiches. .  Big thanks again to those who helped (Nancy and Jerry, and Fritz and Amy).  There were some happy missionaries, us included!  Thank you!   After the last session we took the Elders in our area (Skyway A, Skyway B, and the Spanish speaking Elders) to Arby’s for supper then back to the stake center.  Joyce and Art went home and Art watched the Priesthood session on the internet.  We did have to make a stop at Wal-Mart to restock for lunch between sessions tomorrow.  The senior sisters want to help so they are bringing food tomorrow, also.  We very much enjoy being with the missionaries no matter what we are doing.  At 8:00 we walked down to meet the Skyway B elders at the Acostas.  They weren’t home so we walked to McDonalds for a drink and then home.  The airport is south of us so we can see the planes lining up to land. It reminds us of Grandpa Phil.  He would have loved watching them.  At night they really show up plus it was a full moon so it was a nice walk home.

We had brought the stuff and let the missionaries make their own.  We didn’t know how many would stay so we ran out of bread, but we had plenty of other stuff.   The Zone leaders handed out the packages to those that got one.  That was pretty fun for us since they didn’t know who they were from and several there were lots of surprised comments from those who had received a package that never get one

Now for some preaching: “It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is.  It all works out.  I say that to myself every morning. It all works out in the end.  Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future.  The Lord will never forsake us.  He will not forsake us, if we will live worthy of this blessing.  He will hear our prayers:”       President Hinckley

  We hung this on our door to remind us that we are not alone in this work.  This week had a few challenges at the first.  Our sick elder had to have some minor surgery and is now doing well, Soveth finished his computer class, good news about our taxes and many more tender mercies so it does all work out.

                   Love Elder and Sister Knowles

Skyway D.I. dropoff