Week 29 July 19-25

Feed Your Faith and Doubts will Starve

Sunday:  We had a good day, but it has gotten hot again.  Two of the investigator didn’t come to church, but three did and also twelve others we have been working with. We didn’t stop to see if Mary needed a ride since we didn’t have room for her.  She has been in the hospital so we figured she wouldn’t be going anyway.  We took Joyce Johnson, Eric, Tesloach, Karen, and with Elder and Sister Knowles, we had a full car load. We then had to do more juggling to get a few extras members home.  So, between all of us eight missionaries we felt it was a pretty successful day.  The fun thing was that the Acosta’s were leaving after their Sunday School Class in Tagalog, because Sister Acosta doesn’t understand anything in RS.  Joyce invited them all into her Primary Class.  Ruth and Rubi were delighted.  It was a review game and they got prizes, so it was very enjoyable.  Sunshine and Richel asked if Primary was always this much fun and Ruth and Rubi assured her that it was.  Even shy Estrella and Michelle were contributing and getting prizes because Michelle said she was hungry.  The mission devotional was in Maple Valley and we had two investigators there and five others we work with. When you bring somebody you get to sit in the soft seats.  We could have taken more there but we didn’t have car room.  We put four in our back seat – Estrella, Sunshine, Michelle, and Eleazar, and still left two at home that wanted to go if we would have had room.  We put Karen Vargis up front with us, so we were full.  The elder sisters had a car load also or we would have called them. We need it get the members that are active involved more, but that is one of the problems we need to work on.  Too many of them don’t have cars, and they are looking for a ride themselves.  The mission devotional has lots of music and videos mixed in with recent convert testimonies, and closing remarks by the host Stake President and President Eaton.  It is only one hour.  It is always very good and spiritual.  Because of the late night, so sorry, we missed our calls from the kids

Monday P-day:  Elder Goodell came over and helped us put the ward directory onto the Garmin.  After we finished we took all the Elders to lunch (Goodell, Lappalienen, Walters and Kidwell).  Since we were close to the top of the mission we took them to the overlook on I-90 and took a few pictures.  We had an appointment to teach English in the afternoon, but Sister Acosta forgot so we worked on things at the apartment and did some shopping.  In the evening we met both sets of Elders and helped a member move.  Luckily she is staying in the ward since she is very active. Elder Tavo twisted his ankle, so he couldn’t help.  We were going to get him some crutches from the church, but it got too late and we needed to get the Skyway B elders home before 9:30.  Our planning was a little off.  The move was to be one trip and ended up being two.  The amount of furniture seems to multiple from what they original tell us.  Jennifer Amezucua was very nice and not demanding, like some, so we didn’t mind the extra trip.

Tuesday:  Rain in Seattle!  We had district meeting in the morning, but first we had to get the crutches to the Zone Leaders for Elder Tavo. We couldn’t find them until Art crawled underneath the stage.  We’ll have to clean that suit.  The rain didn’t last long. By 10:00 the sidewalks were dry.  Our meeting was good with lots of role playing, our favorite thing to do.  On the way home we bought some fried chicken for Mary and stopped by to check on her. She is not doing well and said she won’t be going to church for a while.  We will have to start checking on her more often.    We took Joyce Johnson to where she works on Mercer Island to drop off a doctor’s note.  Only problem was she lost the note so we had to go to Seattle first and get a new note from the doc.  It all worked out with just a short trip out of the mission and we can now say we have been to Mercer Island.  Also we leaned for the second time to not go west on Madison Ave.  It takes forever to go three blocks, even when it’s not rush hour.  We stated our English class at 6:30 and ARP at 7:00, but no one showed for either one.  We did have Karen with us for ARP, but she wanted us to help her with her homework for her Bible study class that she has to take, so we all worked on that.  Karen and Joyce Johnson both had appointments with the Bishop so we had to do some juggling for that.  Art stayed at the church so the Bishop wouldn’t be alone and Joyce and the elder sisters went and picked up Joyce Johnson.  Then we had to get them both home.  Karen has to be in by 10:00 so we took her home first then back to Joyce’s apartment.  It made for a long night but we got it done.

 

Wednesday:  We picked up the elder sisters and went to Northwest Harvest to work with the younger sister missionaries.  The worse thing there to do is spaghetti and guess what we did, 3500 pounds of it.  We then had to hurry home and change so we could go to Renton for our interview with President and Sister Eaton.  We do that every 12 weeks or so.  We did get some clarification on driving out of the mission boundaries for some of the service we do.  Mostly it was you don’t need to get permission each time, but don’t abuse it.  They are very aware of the situation in Skyway.  Talking to them is really a testimony builder and a big shot in the arm.  Being around them makes you want to do better.  We have a pretty full day tomorrow and dinner in the evening so we cleaned the apartment until time for our next appointment, which was picking up Tesloach and driving him to Y.M.  While Tesloach was at Y.M. we walked to the bus stop so we could see how long it takes to walk from there to the church.  Since it is close to Ruth and Rubi’s house, we stopped at the 7-11 and bought them a treat and took it to them.  The walk from the church to the bus stop takes 15 min. and it’s not that much uphill as we were told.  It is easy if someone wants to attend church.  There is the problem, they use the walk and the bus ride as the excuse for not attending church. The honest answer would be “I don’t want to attend church”.  Our meeting with the Bishop was short, so we could take Tesloach home.  We did find out that the Skyway B elders want to have a lesson at our place, with Eleazar before dinner, so it is going to be a challenge it fit everything in tomorrow.   We stayed up late getting stuff ready for dinner tomorrow because we’re not sure if we will have time tomorrow.

Thursday:   We went to W.W. first thing which wasn’t good.  It was too much eating when the kids were here.  We had to hurry then to the museum for our first indexing class, which no one showed up to.  That was a good thing since it took us most of the time trying to load the program on the computers.  They have them locked since they are public.  We got it figured out but haven’t solved the problem of creating e-mail accounts for guests.  We need to figure out how they can access their e-mail because of the locks on the computer.  We have a week to solve it.  After the museum we made a run to the Bishops Storehouse in Kent.  We had two orders we needed to fill.  One of the members was with us and we will deliver the second order later.  We came home and got ready for our dinner at 6:00 and squeezed in a lesson at 4:00 with Reymark, Eleazar and Skyway B elders that went very well.  This is the first lesson the Reymark acted serious. They talked about the priesthood and he wants to be able to pass the sacrament so we are making progress.  If Reymark and Eleazar get baptized, that will give the ward four active Y.M, (three of which are AcostasJ).

   After that lesson we finished cooking and had Renee and the elders (Skyway B again) for dinner and a lesson. We had two more investigator invited, but they cancelled at the last minute because of work, so there was plenty of food.  Renee and the elders will always take the leftovers so not a problem.    This lesson also went well and Reneee accepted a baptism date.  After they all left Karen came over to show us a video, and pick up a few things, and since it was such a nice evening and it had gotten dark, we walked her home. Another late night, but a productive day. 

Friday: Today was a day of changing plans.  We had a picnic planned with both Acosta families, but that fell through because of weather.  We spent the morning doing companion study since we are very lacks in that area.    After lunch we rode the train to an area we needed to work and hit the streets.  We were able to confirm three addresses out of the seven we went to.  We had an appointment for 6:45 then the elders (Skyway A) called to tell us it was changed to 4:00.  This was around 3:00 so we had a problem.   We were about as far from a bus stop or the train as we could be, and still had one more house to find in the area so we hurried as best we could, but because of waiting for busses, we got to the appointment as the lesson ended.  We were always getting to the bus stops right after the bus had left so we were late.   It was with Rubi, so we guess the elders haven’t given up on her.  We had planned to have a date night until Skyway B called, so we picked up Eleazar and Reymark and met the elders at the Bishops home for a lesson on temples. They are both still committed for baptism in two weeks if they can make it to church on Sunday.  Even though it was later than we had planned we went home and watched “Meet the Mormons” for our date night.  Wow, what a dynamic video, wish we would have watched it sooner. 

Saturday: Today was our “Fight Hungry with the Mariners” service activity.   We had gotten permission from President Eaton to go out of the mission to serve there.  The elder sister came to our place and then we walked over to the train station and met Karen there.  We all rode to Safeco Field and met the Bensons.  They were actually on the same train we were on.  The game was close to being sold out with mostly Blue Jay fans.  We have never seen so much blue in one place.   Our job was to stand with a bucket or sign and collect donations.  We also had a few boxes if someone happen to donate food.  We did that for two and a half hours and were grateful for generous people.  The check in and out place was on the opposite side from the train station, so lots of walking.  They had a raffle for all the volunteers and Art won a prize.  A gift certificate to Starbucks.  He told them to give it away to someone else.  Northwest Harvest Volunteers collected over $5,000 at Safeco Field before the game.  Then, there was a donation for $10,000, so it was good day!  We voted and decided to go into Seattle and find a place to eat.  The streets were packed.  We found out they were having a march to protest raising the parking fees.  After our late lunch (or early dinner) we rode back to our place, visited for a while and called it a day.  The Bensons had stayed in Seattle to do some shopping so they came later to see our apartment. We walked the Bensons back to the train and made a trip to Safeway for a soda.  The security guard (most of the stores around here have one) stopped us when he saw our name tags, to tell us he is taking the lessons in Everett and loves it.  It made a nice ending to a long day.   We were glad we hadn’t gone to the game.  The Mariners blew a three run lead in the top of the eighth inning and lost eight to six. 

Preaching:  Our sacrament meeting was about strengthening families through habits (traditions), listening, talking, and loving.  1.   Habits & Traditions:  have consistent scripture study, prayer, and singing of church songs.  President Kimball said, “You need more than your own wisdom; you need the help of the Lord.  2.   Listen with our hearts, as well as our ears; and ask what are your challenges, your dreams, and your fears.  3.   Talk and consult with one another in a Family Home Evening setting each week.  Be slow to anger and control your tongue.  The Savior never said, “Go to your room.”  He did say, “Come follow me.”  He never pushes us away.   Let us remember that when mistakes are made.  No one should hear yelling in the home, unless there is a fireJ  4.  Love & Kindness:  Say, “I love you,” mean it, and demonstrate it.  Show your love by making someone breakfast.  Why is someone your favorite person?  It is because they are nice and kind.  Be affectionate.  Bitterness is a poison only you can drink.  You can repent, but sometimes what you say can leave scars even though you are sorry.  Remember what Albert Einstein said about life, “You never fail until you stop trying.”

We love you all so very much and are so grateful for you in our lives and for your prayers!

“Elder and Sister Knowles” 

  

                Week 28     July 12-18

           Our purpose is to invite others……

Sunday:  All but one of our members and investigators we were going to take to church backed out.  We did have a few more to take home since we had some room.  There were several other investigators there so the Elders were happy.  We invited Karen Vargis over for dinner and a lesson.  It was a spur of the moment thing so we just had leftovers.  She had some questions from a bible study class she has to attend.  It gave us a chance to do some studying to answer her questions.  Sunday evening we like to keep open so the kids can call us, which Josh and Jared did, so we got to talk to their families as we walked Karen home. 

Monday P-day:  Joyce had a Drs. Appointment with the chiropractor first thing in the morning for her knee.   We made our usual trip to Wal-Mart.  The Zone Leaders sent us a text asking if we were going by the mission office.  They like us to go so they can have more time for basketball and also, they save miles on their car.  We like to help them out so we made the trip. We invited the Elder Sisters to go with us.  Sister Harrison had her Garmin stolen from her car last night so we stopped at Sam’s Club on the way home so she could buy a new one.  After lunch we did some laundry and worked on a few things.  In the evening we went and taught a lesson with the Skyway B elders to Eleazar Acosta.  We like him a lot and pray he will be baptized.  There was such a wonderful spirit in the lesson. 

Tuesday:   Our zone meeting was today for three hours.  Elder Jones and Tavo and Sister Hill and Jeffery did the training.  It was on helping people keep commitments, which is a big problem here, so there was lots of role playing.  After the meeting we ran to the store, picked up some fried chicken, got Ruth and Rubi, and took them with us to our English lesson at the Acostas.  We taught how to talk about your family.  We also made a family tree with her.  Sister Acosta does well in our class, but they still speak Tagalog in the home so we’re not sure how much practice she gets.  After the lesson we all went to the lake so the kids could swim and we could eat.  That’s what the fried chicken was for.  Ruth, Rubi, Reymark, Richel, Princess Joy and Eldrix swam.  Sunshine, Joshua, and Estrella Acosta and Elder Knowles and Sister Knowles all sat on the bank and watched.  Eldrix (4 or 5 years old) has something wrong with his legs, so he can’t walk.  He had a great time in the water and his family is so good to him. We found out that the lesson with Ruth and Rubi’s mom, Jennifer, didn’t go well (still too pushy with her), so we will start over again.  We will go to the lake with them again and hopefully, if we plan around her work schedule when she is off, she will come with us.   At this point all we can do is fellowship her.  After the lake we went to our ARP class and we did have someone show up. We thought about cancelling for the summer since no one was attending, but we’re glad we didn’t. We had to choose between helping serve dinner at the Salvation Army or having our class.  Nice to know we made the right choice.  One of the sisters that was going to attend with us had some trouble, so we sent text messages back and forth to give her some encouragement.  The home she is in wouldn’t let her leave and we can’t visit there, so all we could do was send text messages. Renee was home from the hospital and wanted us to visit her, so Joyce got her birthday present together and we went to her apartment.  One of her friends, Candace, was there so we invited all of them to come to dinner.  We have been wanting to have Renee’s friend over to see if she may have some interest in the church.  We found out that her grandparents are members.  We will try and do a little preaching after dinner with them.  It was a late night when we finally got to bed, but we had a fun day.

Wednesday:  We went to Northwest Harvest with the elders in the morning. It was kind of a strange day. They split us into two groups.  Everyone packed frozen carrots and they took all the missionaries and had us unpack frozen corn and peppers and repack them into bigger boxes.  They said the company needed their boxes back and they didn’t have the right amount in each box to send to the food banks.  They really want us to help at the Mariners game so we are trying to get permission for the 25^th of July.   The elders had an appointment to teach Jerimiah at 7:00 so we came home and cleaned the apartment to get ready for that.  We had to do some juggling to get Tesloach to YM at 6:30, then back to our appointment to teach Jeremiah (because the elders wanted him to be taught  in our home,) then back to the church to our meeting with the Bishop at 8:30, and then get Tesloach home.  It all worked out, we just had to leave the Bishops meeting a little bit early.  The lesson with Jerimiah went well.  He is an awesome young man and wants to do what is right.  He is scheduled for August 1^st for baptism. We did talk to the Bishop about the wards YM leaders coming to the activities on Wednesday night, or their lack of it, and he is going to take care of it.

Thursday:  We had a very interesting day.  If you would have told us we would have a day like today, six months ago, we would have considered you crazy.  Our first stop was at the Northwest African American Museum to give a tour to a group of Jewish senior citizens.  They were very nice and talked very highly about Mormons.  Mormons had been so helpful to them in Salt Lake when going through surgery there.  We just thought it strange for two Mormons from Idaho, to be giving a tour to a Jewish group, at the African Museum.  Several wanted to visit after the tour, but we had to leave and pick up Joyce Johnson and take her to the doctor, in downtown Seattle.  She and her husband are from Ghana and her husband is working in South Dakota.  She is not too happy with him right now.  She has a new baby and he isn’t sending the money home that he promised. We called him so we could get his side of what is going on. We told us he is doing what he can with money for Joyce’s rent and to visit with the Bishop on Sunday so we can pass the problem onto him.  Her appointment took most of the afternoon.  She has not been feeling well ever since her husband left, so that’s why the visit to the doctor.   At 5:00 we had our missionary meeting with the Ward Mission Leader. He is leaving so it may have been our last meeting with him.  After the meeting we picked up Ruth, Rubi and Joshua Acosta and took them to the church for a lesson.  The lesson went very well, but Rubi doesn’t want to be baptized yet.  We think this was the lesson where if she wouldn’t commit, the elders are going to stop working with her.  We will wait and see. 

Friday:

The Nowlins have finished their mission and are leaving today so they invited us to come to their apartment and take whatever we wanted.  The mission is closing their place so whatever we didn’t take will have to be stored.  Most of what we got were things that they had bought and didn’t want to take with them.  Since we were close to Beehive Books, we made a quick stop there for some temple books that Joyce needed for VT that afternoon.  We also checked out the scout shirt situation there.  We came home and started unloading the pick-up and some neighbors came to help; so we now have a good excuse to invite them over for dinner.  All day we kept running into the girl and the boy that helped us, so when Joyce was walking to go visiting teaching, she told them we would make cookies, which we did. When we left the apartment in the late afternoon, the young man was with his little nephew, so we gave them the cookies and got to talk for a few minutes.  We think maybe this is a family we met when we first got here and didn’t know what we were doing, so maybe we are getting a second chance. We rode the train to Beacon Hill and made a visit.  The member wasn’t home, but the man who answered the door said not to bother coming back.  They are definitely not interested.  We planned on walking home but we ran into Susan, a Pilipino lady that we knew, and talked too long to her, so we had to catch a bus home for our next appointment.  Our plan was to help Sister Vargis with her bible study class, but the Skyway B elders wanted us to teach with them at the same time.  Since Sister Vargis was our original plan we gave her options.  We could help her with her class, or the three of us could go with the elders to teach a lesson.  She wanted to go with the elders and teach.  They were teaching Eleazar and it went very well.   Sister Vargis even bore a powerful testimony of the Holy Ghost.  We were surprised because she is very quiet and she told us on the way home that she really enjoyed going with us.  On the way to our apartment we ran into Renee, Candace, and Renee’s cousin out front, so we stopped to talk to them which made for an even later night.

Saturday:  We took Tesloach to “Beehive Books and More” in Edgewood, by Federal Way, to get a scout shirt.  The owner has a scout bank there for used shirts that they give away every Saturday to scouts.  The D.I. and all the Thrift stores in the Seattle area give their shirts to him and then he gives them to any scout that comes in.  It’s kind of a nice service.  We did some shopping on the way home and took Tesloach to lunch.  Joyce sewed the patches on the shirt so we can take it to church tomorrow and give it to Tesloach.  The Museum has a new exhibit opening this week so we attended the introduction by the artist (Iris Vasquez) so we could learn what to say when we do tours.  It was very interesting to learn about working and sculpting in bronze.  Iris wanted her statues to talk to each other (there are three “girls”) and it is just delightful to listen as they interact with each other.  We then hit the streets.  We got to the apartment buildings that we were looking for and were perplexed as to the numbering.  We were walking very slowly and looking around when a nice friend from the Buddhist Temple recognized us.  He speaks very limited English, but he had the women that were with him show us to our addresses.  They even knocked on the door for us at the first apartment.  We weren’t expecting that much help so we were a little unprepared when the door was answered.   It is nice to have friends where ever we go.  The member no longer lives at the first address and at the next address, the couple we checked on have both passed away, we think.  It is hard to understand the Cambodian/English conversation.  The whole complex was Cambodian and very friendly.  On the way to our next stop we ran into a member (Sister Nardia) that was eating at a restaurant, so we called it a day and went in and ate with her and then caught the train home before it got too dark.  (Another late night.)  We don’t like being out on the streets after dark. 

Now for the preaching:

This is the story that Sister Chamberlain told at the baptism and then we had her tell it again at Addiction Recovery for closing remarks:  In Arabia, prized Arabian Horses are trained.  They are treated very well, even eating their hay and oats, at times, at the master’s table.  They are trained, brushed, talked to, and adored.  The master uses a bell or a whistle and as they are trained and fed, the master rings his bell or whistles and the horses come to the master each time he calls them.  This training goes on until the horses are ready to be chosen.  When the training is complete, the horses are put in pens and not given water or food for many days.  It is very hot in the Arabian sun.  Finally, the day of the testing comes.  The horses are let out of the pen with food and water in sight.  When the hoses are running toward this nourishment, the master rings the bell.  The horses all hear the call, they hesitate, and each must decide to follow their master and go to him, or not to follow their master.  The Arabian horses that go to the master, become the chosen horses and are valued and well cared for as they work with the master.  These are the elect. 

We are prized sons and daughters of God.  It is how we respond to the call, to see is we are the chosen ones, the elect.  In Doctrine and Covenants 121:34-36, we learn that many are called but few are chosen and that the way to be chosen is only upon the principles of righteousness.  In John 10:27 we learn “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”  Now is truly the time to prepare to know and meet Heavenly Father and our Savior.  May we all decide to follow our Master, Jesus Christ.

We love you!

“Elder and Sister Knowles” 

The "Girls"  Max, Joyce and Ann

                    Week 27   July 5-July 11

                 Take me out to the ballgame

Sunday:   Today was so fun to have Jacob, Lara, and Mariah with us at church.  We picked up our usual people, so they drove on their own and met us there.  Mary came to church with us and wanted to sing a song when she bore her testimony, but the Bishop stopped her.  She can be a handful some days. We may need to give her another lesson on reverence.  She wants to go visit everyone during the meetings or play with the kids, so she wheels her chair around and is very disruptive.  Mary fell in love with Mariah, especially when she figured out that Mariah was our granddaughter, and Mariah, as young as she is, was very nice to her.  It was very sweet.    Today we find out who is being transferred.  We already know that Elder Ludlow and Sister Keele will be leaving and going home.  Elder Lapolienen sent us a text to tell us he was being transferred so we will miss him, also Elder Pagett.  We will have to wait until Wednesday to find out who else in our zone was transferred.  Ruth and Rubi stayed for primary and Joshua stayed for young mens, so those were pluses.  Also Eleazar came to church and stayed the whole block and Ezekiel received the Priesthood so it was a pretty good day.  After church we drove to beautiful Snoqualmie Falls with Jacob, Lara and Mariah.  We took some gorgeous pictures.

Monday:   We were thankful for Preparation Day!  We went with Jake, Lara and Mariah into Seattle on the train, then rode the bus to the zoo.  On the bus a young lady overheard Jake talking to Jared on the phone about going to the zoo.  She told us she had a membership and could get us in for half price, so we got off the bus with her and she went to the zoo with us. It saved us a lot of money and it is always nice to make a new friend.  After we got in she left to go meet her boyfriend, but we ran into her again so we talked a bit and gave her a pass along card with our number.  It’s encouraging to know there are still lots of nice people around when all we hear about is the bad in the world. Also one of those tender mercies. It is the best zoo we have ever been to, and so fun to be there with a cute little two year old granddaughter!  We were there for several hours and only saw part of it.  We also ran into a set of sister missionaries from the Seattle Mission.  They were in the right mission, we were not. There was an artist there that would draw a cartoon picture of you for $30.00 apiece.  Art wouldn’t pay that price because he said Fritz draws him all the time for free.  After the zoo we rode the bus to Pikes Market and ate at the Crab Pot.  Someone in the ward told us it was a good place to eat and they were right.  We also found the famous gum wall.  We rode the train home and got ready for a lesson at our house with the Skyway B elders.  They brought Jerimiah (a young man they started teaching) over for a lesson and to watch a video.  We think they wanted to use our place because of the internet for the video.  Anyway it was a good lesson.  Jacob and Lara took Mariah to Seward Park.  They didn’t think that she would be a very good asset at a missionary meetingJ

Tuesday:  At 9:00 we needed to have Joyce Johnson at a doctor’s appointment for Eric.  That meant getting to drive into Seattle with the rush hour traffic.  Art couldn’t find a parking place so he dropped everyone off and drove around until he could find a spot.  Eric was fine, but Joyce J. ended up going to the E.R. because of dizziness and a racing heart.  They ran a bunch of test and after several hours let us take her home.  Everything checked out okay.  Since we had waited so long we had time to figure out exactly where we were at in Seattle so we took a different route home that was much easier than the freeway and with less traffic.  While we were gone, Anj, Beau and the kids arrived and rode the train into Seattle with Jake, Lara. And Mariah.  They got home about the same time we did.  Jake, Lara and Mariah packed and headed back to I.F.  Anj, Beau, Braeden, and Lexxi unpacked and we went to our A.R.P. meeting with nobody showing up for it again. Our D.L called to give us an assignment for the meeting tomorrow and let us know who is gone and who is new in the zone.  Elder Lapolienen is still in our zone and our district so we will see him at least once a week.

Wednesday:  Anj and Beau got up early and drove to the zoo.  Beau wanted to experience rush hour traffic.  They bought Seattle passes for five attractions and spent the day in Seattle going to three of them.  They went to the zoo, the Discover Center, and on an Argosy Tour aboard a ship on Puget Sound.  We attended our meetings.  We had an excellent district meeting on the Sabbath Day and met all the new Elders and Sisters in our zone.  We had to run several errands for the English class and find an address for later in the evening. We picked up Tesloach to take him to Young Mens.  They were going on a bike ride and the trail was the address we were looking for.  We thought we were in the right place, but ended up missing the right place by one parking lot.  None of the leaders from our ward showed up so, we stayed to take Tesloach home.  It was such a nice evening we decided to walk the trail while we waited.  The Tiffany Park ward invited Tesloach on their campout this weekend, so we will make arrangement to get him picked up and permission from his father.  They are going caving to the Ape Caves at Mt. St. Helens, so will be a great experience for Tesloach.

Thursday:  We took another p-day since our meeting with our mission leader got cancelled.  We all loaded in the Lowther’s van and drove to Mount Rainier for the day, by way of Enumclaw, where we stopped for a picture by the oxen and logger.  There are fires in British Columbia, so it was very hazy and Mt. Rainier was hard to see, so, after driving to the Sunrise Visitor Center and looking around for a while, we drove to another entrance called Stevens Canyon Entrance and hiked an ancient forest called the Grove of Patriarchs.  The trees are 1000 years old and we could not get our arms around them, even when we all linked together.  There was a cool swinging bridge over the river and the kids even had fun playing on the logs in the river.  On the way home we stopped at Auburn to deliver some tickets and a lady in our ward called us with a gospel question.  It’s nice to know that we are always needed. 

  

Friday: Early in the morning, we rode the Link into Seattle and went to underground Seattle with the Lowthers.  It was pretty cool.  We left them so they could tour some more on their own, using their Seattle passes, and see the Space Needle and the Aquarium.   We came back to Skyway so we could take Tesloach to a campout with the Tiffany Park ward.  It will be fun for him to see the Mt. St. Helens caves, and those scout leaders are so nice to him!  We went back to Seattle and rode the Ferris wheel, ate ice cream, checked out the gum wall, then went to Safeco Field for the ballgame.  It was (Mormon) L.D.S. night so we all got LDS Night/Mariner t-shirts with our tickets, which was cool!  The Bensens met us there, as we had gotten them tickets, as well.  It was a beautiful night, but the Mariners lost 7-3.  Nothing can beat a $10.00 drink at a ballgame and being there with your kids, grandkids, and friends.

Saturday:  Another easy day.  The Lowthers packed up and we all went to the Family Fun Center.  We tried the batting cages, go carts and the trampoline.  Joyce and Alexxis did the Screaming Swing.  We had one last time together for lunch and the Lowther’s headed for home. We called Soveth to see when was a good time to come see him.  He said to come right then so we drove up to the Temple and found they were having a big ceremony.  A famous Monk was about to arrive from Cambodia.  They wanted us to stay but we were on our way to pick up Tesloach from his campout so we had to leave.  They are so nice to us.  Tesloach had a great time.  The leaders and boys were very good to him, which answered our prayers!

Preaching for the week is from Ether 2 and 3 in the Book of Mormon: When the brother of Jared was building the ship, he was very obedient to the Lord and followed instructions, however, he still had questions and concerns.  He had questions about:  1.   Light in the barges, 2. Steering the barges, and 3. Air in the barges.  This shows us that as we obey, we still have questions and we need to ask the Lord for help in prayer.  The Lord answered the last question first, (showing that he doesn’t always answer our inquiries in order.)  He told the brother of Jared to make a hole in the top and also in the bottom of the barges and to stop the holes when water came in, but the one on top could be unstopped at times of smooth sailing and they could get air.  Question number 2 was answered by the Lord as the Lord would take care of the steering of the barges with winds, waves, and floods that would get them to the Promised Land.  Sometimes the Lord just takes care of things for us…  Question number 1 about light had to be repeated by the brother of Jared, showing that sometimes we have to pray for things over and over again.  Then, the Lord asked the brother of Jared what he wanted to do.  The brother of Jared had done his homework, he was humble, and prepared the stones that he needed the Lord to touch.  The brother of Jared asked the Lord for help in this hard obstacle of getting light into the barges, and the Lord was merciful and did answer him by touching the stones. 

From these three questions we learn that the Lord answers our concerns in three ways when we pray to Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ.  He gives us instructions, He takes care of some things for us, and other times, He gives it back to us by asking us to work it out with His help.  May we all be like the brother of Jared, pray and obey!

Love, Elder and Sister Knowles    

      

Week 26      June 28- July 4

Till we meet again…. Elder Olsen, Ludlow and Sister Keele

Sunday:   We had a good day at church.  A new lady in the ward wanted a ride to church and she lives very close to us.  Mary is doing better so she also went to church so that made life interesting.  Raymark, Ruth and Rubi stayed for the 3 hours so Joyce was able to teach her class.  After church we went to the Elder Sisters for dinner with the Skyway A elders.   

Monday P-day: 

We picked up the Elder Sisters and drove to Federal Way to shop at Beehive Books and More, with a side trip to the mission office for the Zone Leaders.  On the way home we stopped and walked around the Kabota Garden. It is close to our apartment and so peaceful and beautiful.  In the evening we went with the Skyway B elders to teach at the Acostas for a wonderful evening.

Tuesday:   Our district meeting was first thing in the morning. We needed to help one of the sets of Elders pick up a bike that was being repaired.  Joyce had an appointment with Dr. Jex. and then we went and taught English at the Acostas.  Sister Acosta is so cute and excited when we teach her.  In the afternoon we took several of the Acostas and went to Seward Park for a picnic, to play, and for a lesson with the Skyway B elders. It was fun, but on the way home Raymark said that next time we were not going to invite the Elders.  When we asked why not, he explained that next time he wanted to play in lake Washington with Joshua, Sunshine, Michelle, Ruth, and Rubi, and that the Elders would feel bad because they cannot get in the water.  We laughed.  He is very cute.  In the evening was our ARP class. 

Wednesday: We packed frozen carrots at Northwest Harvest with the sister missionaries in the morning.   We had three appointments after the service project, one to help a member with a bus pass, one to teach English, and the last one was to take Joyce Johnson shopping.  She is getting frustrated with Thomas being gone to North Dakota and has changed her shift so now she is working on Sundays and Mondays double shifts so little Eric doesn’t have to go so much to the baby sitter.  We surely do hate to see her miss church every week.  In the evening we took Tesloach to scouts.  They combine our ward and the Tiffany Park ward for scouts because of lack of young men.  Tesloach had a great time learning about bikes and repair and was invited next Wednesday for the bike ride.  We had our meeting with the Bishop, but left early so we could take Tesloach home

Thursday:    We hit W.W. first thing and ran a few errands to get some flyers for the English class.   The Johnsons don’t have a fan so we stopped by Lowes and got one for them.  While we were at the Acostas, teaching English, their fan broke so we ran back to Lowes and picked up one for them and got us another.  It has been so hot here, like the rest of the west.  They say it’s the hottest June on record. All of the lawns are brown and some places are banning fireworks for the 4^th.  We had a lesson with Joyce when we took the fan over and she was very grateful. Our preaching: Missionary Meeting was that night and at the end, Elder Ludlow bore a powerful testimony. He is going home on Monday and bore testimony of the Holy Ghost and how with the Holy Ghost we can do and accomplish things that we never thought possible as he gives us inspiration and insight.  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us so much, and it is through the Holy Ghost that we feel love, peace, comfort, confidence, guidance, and joy in our lives. 

Friday:  We picked up Renee and took her to Costco early in the morning.  She needed ribs for the 4^th, so we got us some as well, as we are feeding the missionaries on the 4^th.  These errands always seem to take longer than planned so we were late getting to a service project we had.  We painted at the Women’s Clinic that they are still working on, so Joyce was right at home.  We had to leave before we were done to go to a teaching appointment with Skyway A elders.  We hurried there only to find that they had cancelled.  We came home and were waiting to go to our meeting with one of our sisters when Jake, Lara and Mariah showed up.  What a nice surprise!  We still had to leave them and go to our appointment with Karen Bargis.  She wanted to buy us some sandwiches and chips so we ended up having a picnic at Seward Park and a walk at beautiful Lake Washington, so we did a lot of talking.  Jacob and Lara were busy getting Jacob a haircut and running errands so it all worked out.  It was so hot Friday night in our apartment, so Jacob, Lara, Mariah and Joyce walked to the park across the street.  Mariah was so cute.  She loved the big slide and all the playground equipment.  She would just run with her arms outstretch, like an airplane.  I think she had been locked up in her car seat in the car for too long.

Saturday 4^th of July:  The ward in our building combined with our Skyway Ward to have a breakfast and flag ceremony in the morning.  Our building sets on top of a hill and really has a pretty view of the Lake Washington and the surrounding valleys.  We had to pick up four sisters, so Jacob, Lara, and Mariah came in their car.   It was very nice until it stated to get hot.  Since we had a pick-up full of people, we didn’t stay to clean up or clean the church building.  We were feeding all the missionaries, in our ward, (ten counting us) at five so we spent all afternoon getting ready and trying to cool off the apartment. It was so fun to have Jacob’s family here eat with us and to meet all of our friends, the missionaries. Jake made us a redneck air conditioner that worked pretty well until all the stores ran out of ice.  After dinner, Jake, Lara Mariah and Joyce went to Seward Park to let Mariah

play in the water and on all the playground toys there.  Art stayed home and took a nap.  At night we went up on the roof and watched the fireworks for a while. It was cooler up on the roof.   The ban on fireworks didn’t work too well.  When the fireworks were in the park across the street, our building would reflect the sound and make you think they were outside our window.  It was so fun being on the top of our building so you could see all the firework shows in all directions!  We had heard that our roof top would be packed with people, but it was not too bad.  We took our own folding chairs, since all the lounge chairs up there were being used, and watched all the shows.  Mariah had fun just walking around watching all the people and children.     Love Art and Joyce