Week B24 Transfer 13 Week 2 June 19-25

                                One year older and wiser too

Preaching:Our principle for this week in the Self Reliance class  “Wherefore, the lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself… [and men and women are free] to act for themselves and not be acted upon.”  2 Nephi: 16, 26  We worked on making a budget and managing money so we control where the money goes.  

Sunday:  It was a happy Father’s Day.  We did are usual routine for Sunday morning of picking up for church.  Eldrex, Princes Joy and Joyce and Eric Johnson got rides.  Only a few of the Acostas attended, but one of our less actives was there.  It was a good meeting.  Joyce Johnson needed to visit with the Bishop so we took the Acostas home then came back and took her home.  After lunch we mostly waited for the kids to call which they all did for Father’s Day, which made us so happy.  It was a beautiful day.  Thanks for all the fun gifts.   The forecast is for good weather the next two weeks.

Monday P-day:  Most of the morning was the usually stuff, sleeping, good breakfast, laundry ( we always wash the sheets on Monday) and some cleaning.  At 11:00 we picked up the Sisters,  picked up some “Heaven Sent” chicken and drove to Flaming Geyser for a picnic. and outing.   “Heaven Sent” is supposed to be the best chicken in Seattle and we think the most expensive.  For some reason there was water coming out of Flaming Geyser, but the methane gas would still light,  just wouldn’t keep burning. Not that it ever does that much.  Sister Beck was kind of ho hum, but Sister Stevenson enjoyed it.  On the way home we stopped at Sharis and bought three pies for Art’s birthday celebration at FHE. We did our taxi service on the way to FHE picking up Karen and Debra.  Diane is still out of town so we don’t pick her up.  We watched the “The Pump” for part of Sister Becks lesson and had pie for Art’s birthday.  On the way home we stopped and checked on Darlene Jones, She is doing much better.  

Tuesday district meetings:  We met our new district leader, Elder Nelsen.  Also, a different set of Elders, but the Sister missionaries were the same.  After our meeting we did some much needed shopping and got gas for the pick-up.  The plan was to go to our SRS class early and walk around the Farmers Market with Karen, but we ran late so Art went to class and Joyce and Karen did the walking and got there when right when the class started.  The class went well and it is the last one we have to facilitate for a while so that is good  Karen attended for the first time and she enjoyed it.  This week was about making a budget and managing money.  We had a good discussion.  We rode the bus home and called it done.  Yesterday there was a bike accident down the street from where we live and we found out today that it was two cars racing and they hit the bike in the bike lane, then took off.  The biker was moving a little when we saw him, but we heard he had neck and head injuries.  Not so sure we want to ride our bikes now, even though there are a lot of bike riders out.

Wednesday:  It has been a long time since we last worked at Northwest Harvest so it was good to get back there today.  Karen went with us.  We will miss again next week because it is closed for inventory.  We boxed Garbonso beans.  What a mess to clean up. Joyce made sure that the sister missionaries sang Happy Birthday to Art.  Since it is birthday time we went to lunch at Sharis so Art could get the free pie.  The Elder Sisters and Karen wanted to go to the Mall so the women shopped and Art went and listened to a book in the food court.  Pres. and Sister Eaton called to sing Art happy birthday and Pres.

Eaton played the Accordion for the music.  We are going to miss them when they leave next week.  After taking everyone home, we went home and had our own small birthday party.  We picked up Reymark, Eleazar, Princes Joy and the Twins and had a make shift YM/activity day and sang happy birthday. The Bishop did come in and talked with the boys for a bit.  Joyce stayed for the Bishop/Missionary meeting and Art ran the kids home then came back for the end of the meeting.

Thursday: The morning was spent getting ready to take Eldrex on the Access bus to Harbourview Hospital for his evaluation.  Joyce had to make calls to the school and the school bus to let them know Eldrex was not going to school today. On the Access bus we had an interesting thing happen.  The driver was lost so we took a few side trips.  We think it was just the streets that don’t go through and not lost.  Anyway, the streets are narrow because of the parked cars on both sides so only one car can go down a street at a time.  We came to a street where two cars were facing each other and neither driver would pull over to let the other one pass.  They both thought they were in the right.  The bus driver got out and was able to persuade one of them to pull over so the rest of us could go through.  Pride does funny things to the way people think.  The drive made this comment that we thought was pretty good. “ When the milk get spilled, lets clean it up, not argue over who spilled it”  Most times proving who is right doesn’t solve the problem.   Art put all the goodies away so the diet can start again.  The Access ride was interesting.  They were almost two hours late from when then told us was the pick up time.  Two more stops before we got to the hospital so that put us late for the appointment.  We still got it done and then waited for the ride home.  It didn’t take as long.  We did find out a lot about the whole process and how

it works.  Now we wait to see if Eldrex gets approved, which he should.  By now most of the day is gone plus it rained all day.  We attended the missionary meeting in the evening which was very interesting.  Only one member from the ward council was there so it was kind of hard to get much done.  That has been a big problem with the ward leadership. There was lots of discussion and even an argument between a couple of the Elders so it was an interesting meeting

Friday:  We picked up Sister Jones and took her to a Dr. appointment in Seattle. She wanted us to take her because she isn’t confident with the Elder Sisters driving in Seattle yet.  That took a big part of the day.  We dropped her off at her appointment then drove to Volunteer Park, which is not to far away.  Her appointment was by Swedish Hospital so we were in a new area.  We walked around the park, climbed the stairs to the top of the historical water tower and took some pictures.  We only had an hour so we didn’t go to the Asian Art Museum that is there.  We will try for a free Thursday later.  She wanted to take us out for lunch on the way home so we went to Jimmy Macks, it’s like a Texas Roadhouse.  Not on the diet but good food.  In the evening we picked up the twins and Princes Joy and went to a muli-stake youth production at the White River Amphitheater, in Auburn.  The kids loved it.  Each stake (4 of them) put on a play from the scriptures, but we had to leave before it was over because of the lateness and we needed to get them

Birthday Party

home.  Most of them fell asleep on the way home.  We take what we get, but it would have been good for the rest of the Acostas to have been there.  The Renton Stake was involved and we didn’t know about the conference until it was too late to get Eleazar and Reymark involved.  All we can do is invite if we know about that is going on.

Saturday: Karen needed a bus pass so that got us moving.  Since Margarita had to work and couldn’t go to the temple we decided to go ourselves.  It is closed for cleaning the month of July. We thought it would be crowded because it was the last day it was opened, but instead there were only six sisters and two brothers in the session. We did find out that we will be running the SR class again this Tuesday. The other brother besides Art was the one who usually runs the class.   Art tried to do the initiatory for the two names from the Acostas, but initiatory was way behind so the names will have to wait until next time.  We had ridden the bus to the temple and got home just in time for a quick lunch/supper and then ride the train to Bena roya Hall in Seattke for the Ensign Symphony Concert.  We had invited over twenty people but only one showed up.  We didn’t have as much notices as we would have liked so we didn’t get the turn out we wanted.  It was a very good Patriotic concert, with lots of beautiful

singing, as well as instrumental numbers! We hope we can get tickets again in October for the next concert and this time we will be better prepared.  The train was packed on the way home because of the Mariners game.  Another busy week with a few late nights, and next week looks like more of the same.  In July the ward takes over cleaning the building so on most Saturdays, thats where we will be on Saturday mornings.  We are doing good and the weather is very nice here now that the rain has stopped. Still lots of work to do.  We are getting a few less actives to church, but several new converts have stopped coming. Now that school is out, our goal, is to try and get a few young men out for Wednesday night and to church on Sunday.  Love Joyce and Art 

Week B25  Transfer 13 Week 1 June 12-18

After all that said and done, there is more said than done

Preaching:  As a Church, we believe in fathers, We believe in “the ideal of the man who puts his family first.”  We believe that “by divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families.“  We believe that in their complementary duties, “fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.”  We believe that far from being superfluous, fathers are unique and irreplaceable.  Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Sunday:  Church was disappointing for the Elders.  They had several committed to come to church and not one of them showed up. There were a few less active’s that they are working with.  We didn’t do very good with our invitations either. Ric, Raymark, Sunshine and Eldrex didn’t come to church. With Karen in Minnesota, we didn’t have anybody else that wanted a ride. Kind of different to go to church we just ourselves.  We did take the Acostas that were at church home afterwards.  After a quick lunch, we rode the bus to visit Darlene Jones.  She has been sick the last few days.  The Elder Sisters we there also, so they gave us a ride home.  Sister Stevenson wanted to see where we lived since she had heard how bad the area was.  We pointed out all the places where there had been shootings, which happens to all be in the Elder Sisters area.  We told her “welcome to Skyway”.  In the evening we talked to several of the kids and called it good enough.  We did have our last call from Elder Christiansen, our district leader, he goes home tomorrow.Thankfuls:  Estrella, Eleazar, Princes Joy, Michele, Joshua and the twins all came to church,also the Cabios who we haven’t seen for a few weeks, good weather, good talks and lessons at church, cleaning supplies from the mission, face timing with the family, working and leadership from the young elders, and the ward directory on the computer. 

Monday:  We did service for Darlene Jones until 1:30.  Lots of yard work and cleaning around her pool.  The Elders couldn’t make it so we didn’t get everything done.  It will probably take several days anyway.  After the service  project we went over to the Elder Sisters and ate left over turkey.  Home for more work on the ward list and changing into our missionary clothes so we could go back to the church at 5:30.  Sister Neuss was teaching an origami class before we had FHE.  The numbers there are getting smaller.  Thankfuls: playing in the dirt for service, friendly ward members, leftovers, safety again, calls from the kids, e-mails and cool weather.

Tuesday p-day:  P-day was today because of transfers this week.  Tomorrow we will see if we will have two sets of Elders back in the ward and see who was transferred.  Most of the morning we did more computer work on the ward roster.  We picked up the Elder Sisters and went shopping at the Landing and out to lunch.  After lunch we drove to old downtown Renton and Art dropped the Sisters off at the Farmers Market and he went and tried to find a place to park.  The Sisters didn’t shop long because of the cold wind.  After taking the Elder Sisters home we drove back to the employment office, parked and then walked back to the Farmers Market and bought some berries to eat.  At 5:30 we were back to the employment office center, so we could run the finance class.  We are being the facilitators for two weeks.  Class went well, with lots of good discussion, even ending on time, then home to bed, we have an early morning appointment tomorrow. Thankfuls:  Shopping, money to shop with, new places to eat, fresh fruit, warm clothes ( it has gotten very cool now) parking, new friends and birthdays to celebrate. 

Wednesday District meeting:  We picked up Eldrex at 7:15 so we could be at the Children’s Hospital by 8:15.  Lots of traffic that time of day.  Estrella was running late, so we had to wait a bit.  Since MaryAnn has gone back to work, Michelle has to stay and watch the baby.  We still made the appointment on time.  We had hearing tests first in audiology for Eldrex.  After two hours there, we went to ophthalmology.   After lots of tests, they dialated his eyes and then we waited another hour, so that all took about three more hours.  He does definately need glasses, so we will take him on Friday to Kent to get those ordered.   Our new district was meeting at 11:30  and we missed the meeting.  We didn’t finish with the hospital until after 2:00 and then had to drive back home. We did take Estrella and Eldrex to lunch in the hospital cafeteria when we were all finished.  At 5:30 we picked up Princes Joy, Michele, Reymark and Elezar for Achievement Days/YM.  We all met at Coulon Park and walked around the path and played on the swings. The Achievement Day girls had so much fun and ran around like little deer.  It’s just so nice to b3e outdoors!  Reymark was bored.  Next week we will plan better for YM’s, even though it is not our programs to run.  Art dropped Joyce off at the church for the Bishops meeting  and  then took the kids home.  He went back to the church to pick Joyce up, but stayed in the pick-up until the meeting was over.  He hates meetings.  It was a long meeting and a long day by the time we went to bed.  Thankfuls:  Healthy kids and grandkids, beautiful parks to walk in, friendly people who see our name tags and stop to say hello,  interpreters, short meetings (except we have never seen one,) scripture study, and bedtime.

Thursday:  In the morning went to Sister Jones to do more service.  Today we worked inside cleaning out a bedroom.  First we made a run to U-Haul for some boxes so we could pack up some books.  The Elder Sisters worked in the kitchen while we worked in the bedroom.  We will be back next week for sure, there’s lots to do!   Came home for lunch and then picked up the sisters and went to Kent to pick up a food order for a member.  After we dropped the food order off, we went to the church and Joyce practiced the piano before our missionary meeting, then found out that the meeting  was cancelled, sort of.  Not everyone got word it was cancelled, some showed up just as we were leaving.  Not sure what was going on, but we went home as most did.  Thankfuls:  money to meet our needs, safe travel, cancelled meetings,  nice cool weather with lots of sunshine, each other, letters and packages from home and friends.

Friday: Another early morning so we could take Joyce Johnson to look for plane tickets to Accra, Ghana so she can get her son, Gideon here to Seattle. We found the place, only to find out that they don’t help get plane tickets anymore. The interpreter that we had at Children’s Hospital is a travel agent so we will call  Maxi and see if she can help.  Next project was taking Eldrex to get fitted for glasse in the city of Kent because they will take the state insurance.  It will take 4 - 6 weeks to get the glasses because there is such a high demand on this insurance place.  By now it was time for lunch so we all went out to eat at Shari’s, Art’s new favorite place, (they have good pie.)  We took the Acostas home for a bit

then picked them up again for a trip to Children's Hospital.  Eldrex was fitted for leg braces.  Reymark was hungry so Art took him to the cafeteria while they worked on Eldrex.  It was so interesting.  Peter, the one that worked on Eldrex, put a sock on Eldrex’s leg, then taped a grooved plastic  thing down the front of his leg, wound the cast around his leg, and it hardened quickly.  Then, he cut the cast in half, down the plastic grooved thing.  Then, he did the other leg.  They will make the braces using these molds.  The right brace will not be real ridgid, as this is his good leg.  The left brace will be real ridgid, to get his foot down so he quits walking on his tippy toe.  Peter talked a lot to us about prosthetics.  They even make legs for animals and said to watch the show, Dolphin Tail. ( If you watch the show, let us know if it’s good.)  He got to go to Florida and see this dolphin get this prosthetic.  Pretty cool appointment.  Going home traffic was fun as always.  We are trying to talk the Acostas into singing in the devotional next week.  All recent converts, especially those of color from the past 18 months, are being invited to sing with the mission choir for President and Sister Eatons last devotional.  We met Skyway B for a 7:00 lesson but no such address existed, plus the lady won’t answer or return phone calls.  We don’t think she is that interested.  Thankful:  Safe travel in traffic, medical treatment, pie, busy days that make the time fly bye, two more packages from home and the scriptures.

Saturday:  We messed up this morning.  The plan was for Access to pick up Eldrex and take him to Harborview Hospital to be evaluated for riding the Access bus.  They were suppose to call Friday night and tell us the time, which they didn’t do.  Our plan was to go to the Acostas at 7:30, but the bus came early and we missed it. The Acosta’s won’t go without Joyce.  We will try again next week.  We rescheduled for Thursday.  Art tried to fix Eldrex’s wheelchair but didn’t have the right tools, We worked some more on the ward roster in the morning/afternoon, then went and worked on the wheelchair somemore, with the right tools this time. The screws have been stripped, so we ended up buying more tape and putting it back together.  Joyce will call some numbers on Monday so we can get it fixed.  Then, we hit the streets.  Saturdays works good because most people are home. We got quite a bit of information and the people we talked to were helpful and nice.   At least we got one more quadrant done.  It does seem like everything is up hill from our apartment.  Thankfuls:  good health, The Acostas, good weather, just a little rain to keep it cool, each other, people who are home and are courteous, people who can speak English, Advil and the Braves have won four in a row!

Happy Father’s Day!  

We are blest and lucky,

For all you dads.

We love you lots,

You make us glad!

June’s almost over,

Summer soon will come,

These last months of our mission

Will bring happiness and  fun!

This is our poem,

To my favorite “POPS!”

We love you so much.

And love never stops!

We love you forever!

“Elder and Sister Knowles”

  

                Week B26 Transfer 12 Week 6  June 5-11

             Bake the hall in the candle of her brane

Preaching:  Monday Night Family Holme Evening Lesson:  There was as man who was retiring as CEO of his company.  Instead of giving the company to one of his sons, he was going to turn it over to one of the young executives.  He called them all in and gave them each a seed and told them to plant the seed, care for it, and the one that took the best care of the seed would prove himself and become the next CEO of the company.  They each had one year to care for their seeds.  Kevin went home with his seed.  His wife helped him buy potting soil, fertilizer and the best pot to plant his seed in.  They placed the seed in the sunshine and watered the seed.  Each day Kevin watched and cared for his seed.  It never grew.  All the men at work were bragging about how big their seeds had grown and what beautiful plants they had.  Kevin mentioned that his seed had not even sprouted and was ridiculed at work.  The months passed and finally the year was up.  Kevin told his wife that he should not attend the big meeting, as he had no plant to show.  Kevin’s wife encouraged him to go because she knew that Kevin needed to face his boss.  Each man brought his

beautiful plant into the office for the meeting to announce the new CEO of the company.  Who would it be?  The boss entered the room and was amazed at the gorgeous plants.  Kevin had been made fun of and laughed at, so he was at the far end of the room, practically hiding.  The CEO asked where Kevin was, and Kevin came forth, bearing his pot that had a seed in the soil, but no plant.  The CEO clapped Kevin on the back and congratulated him.  He told the men to look at the next CEO of the company.  “Why?”  they all gasped!  The CEO calmly explained that each of the men had been given a boiled seed, that he had made certain that no seed would grow into a plant.  The boss’s intent was to test the integrity of each of the men.  Who could he trust?  He could trust Kevin!

Then, at Family Home Evening we talked about being truly honest in little things.  Did we lie, gossip, or take things that were not ours?  Sister Beck was listening intently and raised her hand.  Sister Chamberlain had just gone home.  Before she left, Sister Beck was watching her pack.  Sister Chamberlain mentioned how she would miss cleaning with the nice yellow clothes that we have that are supplied by our mission.  “Oh, just take one home with you.  We have so many of them,” said Sister Beck.  Sister Chamberlain shook her head and declined, as they cloths belonged to the mission and the apartment.  Well, Sister Beck slipped one into her suitcase and Sister Chamberlain did not know it was there.  It was a funny story as we called Sister Chamberlain and had a laugh after our lesson on integrity.  Sister Chamberlain said, “I wondered how the cloth had gotten into my suitcase.”  Such a little thing, We did get a kick out of the story, but may we always be trustworthy and honest as Sister Chamberlain, and also, Kevin! 

Sunday:  We had a pretty calm Sunday.  It was a sweet testimony meeting, with such heartfelt testimonies.  Not any investigators at church and not any of the less actives we had planned on.  We did take Eldrex, Princes Joy and Karen to church and then all of them and the twins home after.  We waited at home for the kids to call, but only got to talk with Joshua’s family.  Joyce and Karen went and walked at Seward Park.  We are thankful that Christie went to visit Mom and Dad and had a safe ride to Jackson Hole, ward family, Sunshine and Joshua were at church.  Ric, Estrella, Michele, Eleazar and Reymark were also there, plus the twins.  We were also able to see Geraldine when we took Eldrex home which is always a plus.  The weather here is great, just a little hot, also,  FaceTime with Josh and the kids  

Monday p-day: We had a fun day going to Mt. Rainier.  We picked up Karen and the Elder Sisters and headed out.  We made our usual stop at the Enumclaw Library for a picture and bathroom break. It was Sister Stevensen's first time there so we needed a picture. Our plan was to hike the “Grove of the Patriarchs” (the hike we did with the Lowther’s) but the bridge was blocked off, so we had a picnic and then hiked another short hike that was close by. It is a very long drive for one day.  We did stop once to get a picture in the snow and the rivers are running very high now with all the warm weather we have had lately.  FHE is at 6;00 so we had to get home for that.  It was Diane Nardi and Debra M birthday celebration with the usual turnout.  We got to sing to Mariah - Happy Birthday!  THANKS for sending us pictures!  It was a fun day and here are our thankfuls, Allison and her family for cleaning out our stinky freezer that quit! air-conditioning, good friends, beautiful country, safety in driving, bathrooms, lots of friendly people we met (name badges make us stick out), mail, celebrations and pictures of the grandkids and kids, cell phones, clean sheets after a long day of hiking and driving, scriptures to read every night, food at the picnic and FHE.

Tuesday zone training:  A really good zone training.  Not so much role playing but there was some good discussion on teaching with the spirit. Elder Christian goes home on Monday so we bore his testimony and we took one last zone picture before transfers.   After the training we walked to the Acostas and Joyce taught Estrella English and filled out more forms.  We hurried home and rode the Link and the bus into Renton so we could start the SRS class on Financial Management.  We have to run it the next two weeks.  It was another good class with lots of discussion.  We did make a quick stop at the store to get some suckers to help a friend stop smoking and some for us to help us not eat so much. It was such a nice evening that we walked from the bus stop instead of riding the Link home.   Thankfuls: Good leaders, all the missionaries in the zone, the Acostas, Metro system, nice weather, the SRS program, again, protection and safety (you meet some strange people on the bus and we have to cross some busy streets).  This is just a few of our thankfuls.

Wednesday special training:  We picked up the Elder Sisters and went to Federal Way Stake Center for the special training with three other zones.  This is the last time there will be training from the Eatons. It was a very good meeting about marriage and family.  With the four zones there we were able to see lots of missionaries that we know. Some of them will go home on Monday.  We had to take a set home with us so they could get to an appointment.  After dropping them off we went for a quick lunch with the Elder Sister ( Sister Beck looks forward to going out to lunch), then home so we could walk with Karen at

Seward Park.  We think she has stopped smoking now, but still having a hard time.  She said here skin crawls all the time.  She says it is the withdrawals.  In the evening we picked up Reymark and Eleazar and the plan was to take them to YM until we found out that the Tiffany Park ward had cancelled the outing to Renton Airport.  We go with that ward since we haven’t had any YM before.  So,  we ended up picking up the twins also and went and played basketball. Reymark threw the basketball on top of the church,accidentally.  Eleazar climbed up the side of the building and then, Reymark went to get a ladder.  As soon as we got a ladder from inside the building so we could get the ball down, the wind came up and blew it off, so Eleazar jumped down. The boys did go to opening exercises.  It still worked out good because Bro. Green from the bishopric came and played basketball with them.  We had to run them home then come back for the meeting with the Bishop.  Bishop Munson is very different from different from Bishop White.  It was a fun bishop’s meeting.  Bishop Munson is a lot more open and not so serious.  Thankfuls:  each other, family, (we got letters in the mail),the Eatons, cooler weather, our Bishop, Karen has stopped smoking (that was an answer to lots of prayers), and missionaries.  Time to take a short nap was also pretty good.  

Thursday: We spent a lot of the day catching up on some stuff that needed doing.  Estrella had us come over in the afternoon to teach English.  Joyce does the teaching while Art watches Filipino soap operas.  Then, we picked up Ruth and Rubi.  They wanted us to play a game with them so we went to the church and played “Would You Rather” and then some soccer and basketball.  Its fun being with them, but makes us miss the grandchildren!  After taking them home we needed to run to Sam’s for gas and groceries before our Missionary meeting.  The meeting was supposed to be cancelled but the message didn’t get sent so we all showed up except the Ward Mission Leader, so the Elders ran the meeting.  Thankfuls: Playing with the twins, reading the Book of Mormon with Estrella, short meetings, turkey bacon for the diet, each other again and cell phone to call home with.

Friday:  We went with the Elders in the morning to teach a lesson to Tasha.  She has been sick so they haven’t taught her for sometime now.  She still has many concerns about the Book of Mormon but she is reading.  It was good to see her and teach her.  After, we made a run to Winco for more groceries.  Wish we could find one place that had everything at one stop.  We still need to go to Walmart, which we did.  Karen flew out to Minnesota today to be with her daughter and family for a week.  We’re so proud of her for quitting smoking and hope she can keep it up!  Our afternoon appointment cancelled so we spent the rest of the day getting ready to knock on doors tomorrow by mapping out where members live.  We got a great picture of Grandma and Grandpa Allen with Josh and Rachel’s family.  We thought is was an old picture until we talked to them on Sunday and found out that they had made a trip to Utah to stay in Heber City with the kids.  Thanks Mom and Dad for going to see out kids!  And thanks, Josh, Rachel, fMaddox, Elayna, and Haley for making them feel so welcome!  More Thankfuls:  Not smoking and not having to go through withdrawals, Prayers:  so many times we pray for protection and when we are out walking, we could step in a big hole, slip, or fall somewhere and we have the safety we need! the computer so we can keep in touch! 

Saturday:  It rained, so we only walked to Safeway and the Acostas to let them know about more doctors appointments that we scheduled.  Instead of going out, we cleaned the apartment, which was desperately needed.    We had dinner at Sister Beck’s and Sister Stevenson’s apartment with the Elders.  They must invite us, so that there will be 3 males present at the sister’s apartment.  It was good.  They had turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, rolls, yams, vegetables, and all the trimmings for an early Thanksgiving feast.  It’s hard to be on a diet!   When we got home we got to talk to Braeden on face time - always fun!  We had a teaching appointment with Milagros at 8:00 with the Elders, so we decided we better walk to the appointment to walk off our dinner!  The Elders taught Mila the importance of being obedient and going to church to partake of the sacrament.  They talked about following the prophets message of  taking the “harder right instead of the easier wrong.”   It was much like the talk that Jacob had just mailed to us.  He mailed us his talk that he gave in sacrament meeting before they moved. Thankfuls:  for Jacobs, talk, FaceTime with Braeden,  friends and family that love and support us, being married to my best friend. It seemed like it was a slow week or maybe the others have just been to busy.  Next week is shaping up to be very busy again.  Love Joyce and Art

Week B27  Transfer 12 Week 5  May 29-June 4

                 Good-bye Sister Chamberlain

Preaching:  Gratitude is the best attitude…When we are not grateful, we are prideful.  We must rely on Heavenly Father and know all things come from Him.  Our hearts are full when we are grateful.  When we are grateful, we recognize blessings and we see the good in life instead of the bad.  When we are truly grateful, we don’t have the capacity in our brain to dwell on negative thoughts, so we are happier and less depressed.  The natural man wants us to do the opposite of being grateful, and instead just want more and more.  We need to be grateful for what we have.  People are grateful when we share, so we should be grateful and say thank you to others.  Gratefulness makes you more forgiving and is a catalyst for other Christlike attributes.  A change of heart happens when gratitude replaces greed.  It takes effort to be positive and grateful in these, the last days.  Keep a gratitude journal; we will see answers to prayers.  Gratitude for life experiences will replace regrets, as we live with a thankful heart.           

Sunday:  Bishop White was released today and Michael Munson was sustained as the new bishop.  The counselors didn’t change.  Bro Acosta was confirmed by Bro. Sablan, who is the ward missionary and teaches the Tagalog class.  We picked up Eldrex so we could take his wheel chair in the pick-up.   Karen and JoAnna went with us but no Diane.  Church went well with both lessons.  We took Ruth, Rubi, Eldrex, Michelle and Karen home after church.  JoAnna left after Sacrament meeting.  Our plan to take Sun Shine to church at the institute didn’t work out.  We are having trouble making contact with her.  We had the Elders (we only have one set now), Elder Sisters, Karen and Debra Driggs over for supper.  Josh and Jake both face-timed and Joyce went for a walk with Karen.  It was a very good Sunday with lots happening that we are thankful for, leadership, all the Acostas, the Elder Sisters, family, friends and being on a mission just to name a few. Several investigators were also at church today, plus a few less actives that are being worked with.  

Monday Memorial Day:  We helped Sister Chamberlain get ready to go home by waxing her car this morning and Sister Beck’s.  Most places were closed with the holiday so not much else to do.  We did have errands to run where things were open.  Just a lot of the normal stuff, laundry and grocery shopping.  We drove to Beehive Books and More looking for Art a suit but they were closed. The Mall wasn’t.  Penneys was having a big sale so we ended up buying  new suits there.  Didn’t really need that many but the third one was a close out and really cheap and they had one in Art’s size.  We had a lesson with the Elders at our place at 3:30.  Rachel and her boyfriend, (Henry), are fighting and he thinks that if he joins the church she will take him back.  Not the best reason to have the lessons but the Elders said they would teach him and see what happens.  She won’t talk to him and he thinks we can get her to talk to him.  We can’t even get her to come to church, so good luck with that.  Karen wanted to walk but instead we loaded the bikes in the pick-up and went and rode on the Soos Creek Trail.  It was a beautiful evening with a great view of Mt. Rainier when we weren’t in the trees. We found that there are a lot more members around when we get out of Skyway.  They see our name tags and always say hello.  When we got home, Joyce made a bunch of phone calls and she has the SRS classes mostly worked out.  We will not be running one, just attending each Tuesday at 5:30.

Tuesday p-day:  Joyce spent the morning on the phone setting up six appointments for Eldrex.  It looks like we will be busy going to the doctor the next few months: orthopedics, rehab, audiology  optomology, plus regular doctor visits at both the clinic and the hospital.  It is good since he is getting lots of help now.   He will be fitted for braces at one of the next appointments.  Another gratitude.   She also spent time on the phone getting the SRS program set up from our end.  All the ones who needed to be in the Saturday class, said that it is okay for them now to be in a Tuesday class.  This is a great blessing, as Saturdays are always busy.  It looks like we will attend the 5:30 class on Tuesday night and we will be subbing for many of the classes.  We walked down to the Acostas to let them

know about all the appointments we set up and to teach Estrella English.  Henry was there talking to Richel so we didn’t stay. Things were a little tense there. Sister Chamberlain came over with her two daughters so we could meet them and we all went to lunch.  They are delightful, just like their mother!  We are going to miss her.  After lunch we walked back to the Acostas and this time Joyce taught English and told them about the appointments.  Estrella has Joyce make the appointments because of her English or lack of it.  Henry was gone and we aren’t sure what happened with that drama.  We rode the Link and the bus to Ruth and Rubi’s so we could let them know about achievement days tomorrow and then rode the bus into Renton

for the SRS class.  We arrived early so we stopped at “Heaven Sent Chicken” (famous fried chicken in Seattle) and got something to eat, but not too much because of the diet.  It was such a nice evening that we took the food and walked over to a near by park and ate there.  The class was very good.  It is a really good program.  We highly reccommend these SRS classes when they come to your areas!  We met some more very nice people that we will be working with.  After class we rode the bus home as far as Henderson (scary part of our area) and walked home from there.  Henderson isn’t so bad when it is light outside. Pres. Eaton has asked the missionaries to walk more and drive less so that people will see them more.  AnJ. and the kids face-timed us when we got home!  Hooray for face time!

Wednesday district meetings:  Our meeting were good, mostly about gratitude and no role playing.  We didn’t get a chance to meet Sister Stevensen since our meetings aren’t the same times.  After the meeting we met Karen at Darlene Jones and Karen fixed lunch for all of us.  See is getting ready to move in there in August and may need our help to get things ready.  There’s lots of cleaning and moving to do before she can move in.  We picked up Michel, Princes Joy, Reymark, Eleazar, and the twins for Achievement Days.  Eleazar and Reymark ended up going with the Tiffany Park ward and playing Frisbee with them.  Another miracle.  These two boys are very shy, and we were so proud of them for going and playing ultimate frizbee with the other ward.  Prayers are heard and answered.  Please keep praying for this Acosta family.  We stayed at the church late so the girls could play a little basketball with Elder Knowles and the Bishopric, and so the boys could play Frisbee longer. 

The Bishop said we didn’t need to come back for the meeting after we took the kids home.  We are going to enjoy the new Bishop.  Joyce went out in the foyer with the clerk and found out more on the new member system they are using.  At least now someone is doing something with the information we collect and moving records out of the ward. Now she can enter information, and that will be very helpful.  Henry cancelled his appointment with the Elders.  Not sure what is going on there except Henry and Richel are back together so his interest in the church may have changed.   It was a good day with lots to be thankful for.  The boys going with the other ward was huge. Sister Kemp is going to start picking up the twins which will help in getting them used to other ward members for when we leave. Karen gets along with Sister Jones so that will make her move easier also for when we leave it will give her a good friend and she can do some service.  

Thursday:  We took the pick-up in to get an oil change and have the brakes looked at.  Since we were on foot we had to walk to Sam’s club and Wal-mart for some shopping.  On the way back to Firestone we stopped at the Elder Sisters so we could meet Sister Stevensen.  She is delightful, and needed some help with her I-pad so Art took care of that. 

The pick-up wouldn’t be ready until after 5:00 so we rode the bus home to Henderson and walked the rest of the way.   Another exciting day in the neighborhood with police cars all over and a helicopter flying around.  At 6:00 we rode the bus back to Firestone and got the pick-up, then went to our missionary meeting. Once back home we met Karen at the Link station so we could put more money on her Orca card.   A few thankful things today:  On the bus we ran into Joseph (we had taught him English).  We haven’t seen him for a while.  He is still working and remembered us.  Also we stopped at McDonalds to see if Joshua Acosta was working and he was.  We have had a hard time making contact with him, so perhaps he’ll come to church on Sunday. Plus, another member who has moved from Skyway was there so we were able to visit with him.  On the internet, Art found a couple of items we have been looking for, for a long time so we ordered them.

Friday institute:  This is our last class for the spring semester and the summer will be vacation time.  We will miss it.  We picked up the Elder Sisters and drove to Auburn for class.  Just a bit about Sister Stevensen,  she is from West Jordan, she and her husband served a mission,part time, from home before he passed away.   Their mission was in the inner city of SLC doing the same things she will be doing here, she has been a widow for five years, has 4 kids and 10 grandkids.  She is very nice.  After class we did our usual lunch run and then home.  We picked up Estrella, Eldrex and Michelle and went to the Children’s Hospital for Eldrex to have some rehab.  We were there for several hours and then took them our for supper and got some take out for the rest of the family.  We thought the day was done, but we ended up going back to the Acostas to fill out some more papers for housing.  They need to get them sent in and we won’t have any time to help until late Tuesday.  Here is our thankfulness for the day.  Eldrex is getting lots of help and can almost walk now.  He is getting braces for his legs in a few weeks.  We had a safe trip to and from the hospital even though the traffic was terrible.  Sister Chamberlain got home safely.  We get to attend Elder Holliday’s class. Weather is great.

Saturday:   Another pretty day with lots of sun shine and a great view of Mount Rainier. We went to the Acostas first thing so we could finish filling out the papers for Eldrex.  We took Diane and her niece, Morgan, out for lunch for Diane’s belated birthday, as she was in the hospital on her birthday.  We got to finish the first lesson with her and she had lots of questions, so the lesson took longer than expected.  We were going to meet the elders for a lesson after but we were too late so we just stopped and dropped off a bag of sunshine to the investigator.  (Thank you, Sarah, for the wonderful idea!)  On the way home we stopped at Milagros Fabon and gave her a bag of sunshine, also.  Joyce Johnson was our next stop to check on her and Joyce read the book of Mormon with her.  She wanted to read three chapters today.  She loves Mosiah!  Joyce is still having trouble with Thomas, so reading, discussing and applying scriptures with her, really helps her.  Our plan was to knock on some doors today but it was too late by the time we finished the visits so we just rode the bus home and called it a day.  We are thankful that we were able to teach Diane, and with her niece being there, that was a bonus for us.  Sister Fabon was home, she is hard to catch sometimes.  We were able to finish the paper work for Estrella and Eldrex and get it mailed.  We were safe while on Rainier and Henderson, which are two streets that are not the best part of town to be in, but we need to go there to make visits. Joyce Johnson had us come over.  She works a lot and is also hard to catch sometimes.  We are thankful for the bus and the train here.  We do get tired walking sometimes.  Most of all we are thankful for all your love and support.  It has been another busy week.  Love Joyce and Art