Elder & Sister Knowles

                              All In!

                                                 Week 42 Oct. 18-24

Sunday: Joyce made the usual calls to invite members to church with not real good results.  Karen was the only one going.  It was too bad because church was very good.  A new couple in the ward spoke and a great musical number.  All of the Holly Street Acostas were there, no Green House Acostas.  Joyce helped with the music for the upcoming Primary program since Sister Chamberlain is sick.  There were also a few investigators there.  The Stake President came to set apart a new High Priest Group leadership.  After church we fed all the Elders, Sister Harrison and Karen.  The Elder Sisters were going to feed them, but Sister Chamberlain is still sick.  We had dinner early so some of the Elders could go sing in the choir for the devotional.  Karen and Shakira went with us to the devotional.  Elder Call, from the Seventy spoke.

Monday: 

Because of our meeting this week with Elder Lawrence and his wife, we are having p-day on Wednesday.  Roger and Darla stopped by on their way to Darla’s sisters.  It was nice of them to bring us a boxes of real Idaho potatoes straight from the farm.   It’s hard to find good ones here.  One of those little blessings we over look. Not just the potatoes, but also our friends.   We were able to go to lunch with them and have a nice visit.  A set of Elders (Lappalainen and Raps) needed a ride to the LDS S.S. and we owed them lunch so they went with us.  After their appointment, which took most of the afternoon, we took them to their next appointment by way of trying to find a referral we wanted them to check on.  All we were able to find was that the address is not in their area.  On the way home we had to stop and sing happy birthday to Sister Chamberlain, even though she was still sick and didn’t go to FHE.

 Tuesday:  We met with Elder Lawrence and his wife all day long with four of the zones.  We were able to see lots of the missionaries that we have worked with and some will be going home soon so it was nice to see them.  The meeting was very good, but we will save that for the preaching. Elder Jiao didn’t understand much since he is still trying to learn English.  He has only been in the country a few months. All the missionary companionships were interviewed by Elder Lawrence after the meeting, while his wife did a question and answer session.  It was pretty interesting. We had a nice interview with Elder Lawrence.  He said that even if we influence four families or people, our mission would be a success, and we are working hard to do more than that.  We went to the ARP class in the evening and when nobody was there, we decided to go home since Art is still sick.  If anyone has any good ideas we are open for suggestions.  We seem to keep passing this cold around.   As we were walking into our apartment, a sister called to ask if the class was cancelled.  She had arrived late and couldn’t find anyone.  We are going to have to rethink how to handle the class since the attendance has dropped way off, but we will have it even if only one shows up.  The sister said she would call us every week to let us know if she is coming and we will have the class for her when she is there.

Wednesday:

  It is supposed to be our p-day, but we had a project that needed to be done.  One of the sisters in the ward has to move from the care center she is in, to another which gives a little more care.  They only allow her to take two boxes of personal items and they have to approve them.  All of the rest of her things had to be moved from the old place by today. She couldn’t even be there as we went through her things to decide what to throw away and what to haul to the D.I.  Art rented a U-Haul and the Skyway Elders came and helped load as Joyce and the Elder Sisters went through everything, deciding what would go to D.I and what to the trash.  What a project!  We drove to Federal Way to the D.I. and then to the church dumpster to unload what the D.I. wouldn’t take or throw away for us.  The Elder Sisters took all the other stuff and threw it in their apartment complex dumpsters.  Somehow we ended up with the bed in our apartment, until we can figure out what to do with it.  It won’t fit in a dumpster and the D.I. won’t take it.  It is kind of a sad way we deal with old people.  All of her possession are gone and she will spend the rest of her life in a bed and chair that don’t even belong to her.  She hasn’t been that active most of her life so she doesn’t even have a good gospel foundation to take with her. It was kind of a reality check on what really is of value in this life.  The missionaries were the only visitors she had and now she has moved out of our mission so we hope her new ward will help her.  She has no family around here and we’re not too sure they would have helped even if they were close.  We had to get it all hauled out today or the Care Center was going to charge her hundreds of dollars if they did it.  It was a hard day, but it’s nice to know that you have done a little good along the way.

Thursday:

 Kind of a lazy day with Art being sick all day.  He needs to go to a doctor, but he won’t.  Joyce worked on typing up her notes from conference while Art slept.

Friday:  We attended our Institute class in the morning and went to lunch at Jimmy Mac’s, a steak house, with the Bensons and Elder Sisters.  Joyce made a cake for the baptism tomorrow and made banana bread (thanks to Jean Shippen’s marvelous recipe!) and muffins.  Mhina is getting baptized on her birthday (Saturday) so that is what the cake is for and Mhina is in Joyce’s Primary Class.  The Spanish Elders called at 3:30 to see if Joyce would play for the baptism at 7:00.  They gave us the hymn #’s from the Spanish Hymn book, then we had to figure out which ones they were in the English Hymnbook, so Joyce could practice.  They also told her she may want to practice a few other hymns just in case she was needed for the musical #.  The baptism was for Nancy and Eglen, the couple we helped move last week.  We had been teaching Nancy English for a few times, but she is very pregnant and quit coming.  Karen went with us even though we told her it would all be in Spanish and we wouldn’t understand.  Joyce did have to play for the musical #.  The cute little Spanish girl sang so softly and beautifully!  The Spanish Branch is very supportive, so there was a big crowd there with lots of food afterwards.  This is the most we have ever seen at a baptism.  With them just moving, and Nancy being so pregnant, it was wonderful that she and her husband could be baptized before the baby come.  The elder had to baptize Nancy twice.  Sister Knowles was so glad that she did not go into labor!  Anyway, with it all being in another language, we now understand how hard it is for the Acosta’s, especially Estrella, the mom. 

Saturday:  Most of the morning and afternoon was spent at the Filipino Cultural Center doing service. Joyce was in the copy area making copies, and Art sat an information table.  We think we are getting close to having a couple of the people that we work with over for dinner and maybe a lesson.   Joyce did do a little shopping during the lunch break for some new earrings that a nice Pilipino lady makes.   At 4:00 we had the baptism for Mhina Bangura.  Joyce was asked to play the piano again.  Mhina had to be baptized four times because her hair kept floating on top of the water.  Sister Knowles told her to tuck her hair into the back of her baptism suit and that worked.  After the baptism we had a small birthday party for Mhina because today she is 10. There was not a really big crowd there, in fact the Elders were a little disappointed in the support from the ward.  There was just family and missionaries.

Preaching:  Faith, hope and charity are action words that grows miracles.  Have faith in your righteous desires and goals.  Live by the word of Christ and He will intervene by the power of the Holy Ghost when we pray to Heavenly Father for help.  Then, we must do everything in our power to help what we prayed for happen. Have the faith to believe and you shall not doubt nor have fear.  Rather than have doubt and fear, be creative and get to work.  If something is impossible, and we want it bad enough, it can happen. Nephi 3 when Nephi had to get the brass plates. Have enough faith to bind the Lord, worthily claiming blessings, without brashness.  Expect obstacles.  Sometimes when we pray, we have to plead.   You are all super awesome!   Love Joyce and Art

Remember in