Elder & Sister Knowles

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