Elder & Sister Knowles

Week 17

Face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness & triumph with humility Thomas S. Monson

Sunday: Art spoke in church so we tried to get there early. We picked up Bro. Baker and stopped to pick up Mary but she was sick and couldn’t go. When we pulled into the church, the Skyway A elders met us and wanted us to go pick up an investigator for them (Maurice), so we didn’t make it early, but we were on time. Brother Munson asked Art to speak on Doubts versus Questions and it was a talk that everyone seemed to need. Maurice is committed for baptism, so that is exciting. We like to keep the evening open for when the kids face time us

Monday: So much for P-day. We spent most of the day helping Bro. Johnson fill out job applications and took him to the D. I. so he could talk to the person that helped his wife get a job. His wife worked as a cashier at the D. I. which trained her so she could get a job as a cashier at Wal-Mart, which helped her to learn better English so she could go to school and become a CNA. It’s nice to see the program work. When we were leaving the Employment office, they asked Art if he would stay because there were only sisters in the office then and they like a priesthood holder there. One man was a little upset because Art stayed. Joyce ran Bro. Johnson home, came back for Art, and we both waited until the last person left then they closed the office and the sisters went home. In the evening we attended the FHE group.

and took him to the D. I. so he could talk to the person that helped his wife get a job. His wife worked as a cashier at the D. I. which trained her so she could get a job as a cashier at Wal-Mart, which helped her to learn better English so she could go to school and become a CNA. It’s nice to see the program work. When we were leaving the Employment office, they asked Art if he would stay because there were only sisters in the office then and they like a priesthood holder there. One man was a little upset because Art stayed. Joyce ran Bro. Johnson home, came back for Art, and we both waited until the last person left then they closed the office and the sisters went home. In the evening we attended the FHE group.

Tuesday: It was back to the employment office with Bro. Johnson. This time we spent several hours in the Social Security Office. Bro. Johnson had someone steal his identity and he thinks maybe that is why he is having so much trouble getting a job. The other person has a criminal record, so if they pull up his name and the bad person shows up, no job interview will happen. It makes sense, since he is very qualified for the jobs he is looking for. We help him because of his English abilities. We waited at the S.S office for 2 hours to have them tell us that they couldn’t help him. He has all the papers showing that he is the good Thomas Johnson so we now attach those papers to his applications, hoping it will help. (Shred all your documents!) ARP was in the evening which was a very good meeting.

Wednesday: Northwest Harvest was our first stop for the day. We did frozen green beans with the sister missionaries, 6,900 pounds of them. We were running behind so we went in our work clothes to the Employment office with Bro. Johnson. A company has called and wanted a copy of his driving record so we made a trip to the license bureau in Kent, then back to the office and filled out two more applications. Help us pray for Thomas, so that he will get a job here in the city. We had a surprise appointment with Ruth and Rubi so we had to go in our work clothes to that. They promised they would stay for Joyce’s lesson on Sunday. After the lesson we finally made it home so we could change and go to our appointment at the Acostas. This is the lesson that is taught in Tagalog so we don’t understand much of it, but Elder Palo is good to translate and have us tell experiences and stories. We talked about temples and we felt like the girls were very receptive. Since we had walked to the Acosta’s home, we rode with the Elders to our meeting with the Bishop. The Bishop is trying to set up a session for baptisms for the dead at the temple in Bellevue, and the Acosta girls could attend if they choose to come. Driving to the church and home with the Elders was an experience we won’t forget. Joyce thought her boys followed too closely, but the Elder surpassed all expectations! Pray for our safety when we ride with themJ

Thursday: We have been asked to check out the bus routes for members riding to church so we took the bus to an appointment we had in Seattle. Our appointment was an interview for teaching English, which we had also been asked to look into by President Eaton. It was way out of the mission, but we were on assignment so it was ok. They were very excited to having us work down in our area because there is a big need here and nobody wants to come down this way. Since we had worked most of Monday we decided to take a few hours and look around, plus the bus fare is cheaper in the evening. We thought maybe we should wait before going home so we walked over and checked out the canal that was dug to connect Lake Washington with Lake Union. Someone had told us there were locks on the channel but they are on the other end of the lake towards Puget Sound. We went home and found out the shooting was on the corner where we live. No riots, just someone had tried to rob someone and the person being rob happened to have a gun so he shot the robber in the leg. We did meet a nice lady on the bus that lives in the same building as us. We visited for a while and she asked if she could go to church with us on Sunday. She was very helpful since we didn’t know what we were doing. Art left his jacket on the bus and she happened to ride the same bus going home and recognized the name badge so she picked it up and left it at the complex office. She and Joyce are going to start working out in the mornings, Art maybe. Our bus pass was still good, so we rode the bus to our 7:00 p.m. meeting with our ward mission leader. We missed one stop so we ended up walking a bit which made us late for the meeting. We had the senior sisters take us home after the meeting.

We walked around the U of W (UDUB) campus for a while and checked out the book store. Art wanted to buy a hat but they were too much money. We were just about to catch a bus home when we got a call from the mission office to check and see if we were ok, since there had been a shooting in our area and they thought maybe the riots were starting.

Friday: Our institute class was in the morning. We had a tour at the NAAM at 11:00am and the class is in Auburn so we had to leave early to get back in time. Because of May Day there were lots of protests going on and one was close by the museum so we took a different route. The tour was with a 3^rd grade class. 23 people, so we divided them up and each of us did a tour. The schools always do a project so it made it a little easier in the “Funky Turns Forty” Cartoon Room. The tour ended up being about 40 minutes total, which was good since their attention span is pretty short. After the tour we hurried home to change so we could help the senior sister move a member. We loaded a U-Haul with her stuff and our pick-up with stuff for the D.I. There is a thrift store close by so we took it there first but they wouldn’t take it. Most of it was junk. So, we drove to the D.I. in Federal Way and they took most of it. Art had to beg them to throw the rest away for us. Our plan was to go help unload the U Haul truck in Auburn, but with rush hour traffic and accidents, we were longer than expected. By the time we finished, they were almost done and they had lots of help so they didn’t need us. It ended up taking 4 hours for this simple trip. We had just gone to bed when we got a call from the Skyway A Elders (Zone Leaders) asking if we could go check on the Skyway B Elders that had just gotten in a wreck. They had turned in front of someone on a yellow light and got t-boned. It totaled the car and flipped it over. Both Elders we shaken up but ok.

Heavenly Father protects his missionaries! The May Day riots in downtown Seattle were over by now with 15 arrests and three officers hurt. The part of town that we were in where the accident was has lots of restaurants and bars so things were rocking there. If you wanted to see hand holding between same genders this is the place. These are good elders so before we left they talked to the driver of the wrecker and gave him a pass along card. They never miss a chance to share the gospel. We took care of things there as best we could and got them back to their apartment. It made for a short night’s sleep for old people.

Saturday: Our morning stared with a trip to meet Skyway B elders so they could get the info from the accident. We met them at the library so they could use a computer to file an accident report. Next stop was Wal-Mart. We needed some things so we can feed the missionaries. After we got the crockpots going we walked to some members. We weeded the burglar lady’s flower beds. We asked her if we could plant some beans and carrots and she said yes. We think it will be fun for her to watch them grow. The other member wasn’t home. We had all the missionaries from our area over for dinner, ten counting us. The senior sisters stayed so we could get Sister Harrison started on a photo book she wants to make. That took care of the rest of the day.

Your scripture to memorize this week is John 3:6. Remember to read your scriptures and pray every day. Heavenly Father loves you and wants to hear from you. Hope you’re feeling better, to Grandma LouiseJ We are praying for you!