Transfer 15 Week 3 Sept 19-25 Week B11

                  And He shall reign forever and ever

Preaching:  In Hebrew, Religion, or to do something religiously is referred to as ligos, or to bind.  Thus, we get the word ligament that means to bind muscle to bones and organs.  So, our religion binds us to God.  As we think of Eldrex having his surgery tomorrow, the word ligament, to bind, has new meaning to us, as the doctor will lengthen his tendon in his hamstring by a process of unwinding some of it, and then will lengthen his Achilles tendon by a process of unwinding it and sewing it in the place that she want it to stay.  The doctor will put a bone in the outside of his left foot to lengthen the foot and also put pins in the arch of the left foot.  Anyway, the whole process of binding his leg and foot to make them longer and better has a real analogy with us as we think of us binding ourselves to our Savior, our Heavenly Father, and to our religion, the gospel of Jesus Christ.  May we listen to conference this next Saturday and Sunday and hear what our living prophets have to say to us about binding ourselves to what is most important.  The simple things will keep us on the path of binding ourselves to our Heavenly Father and to Jesus Christ, our Savior:  CPR:  Go to Church, Pray every day, Read the scriptures, every day, especially the Book of Mormon.  

Safeco Field

Monday:  Thank you for p-day!  We did our usual laundry, cleaning, letter sending and fixed two crock pots of soup for the Sablans and us first thing in the morning. We also had to do a little prep for the class Tuesday night that we volunteered for ?????? We got an e-mail from the Vreeken’s  thanking us for volunteering to facilitate the job search class.  Somehow we missed the volunteering part.  After a quick visit at the Sablans (their baby is so small) we made a stop for Joyce to get a hair cut and then made three more visits/deliveries. Joyce had made a blanket for the Martinez, Lopez, and Batemans. Art will be glad when members of the ward stop having babies. Only one more to deliver and we will have them all done.  We came home, did more cleaning and then met the Elder Sisters and Sister Kemp at our place and rode the link to Safeco Field. It was a great night for baseball.  Lots of Canadians there and the Blue Jays won.  That will about finish off any chance of Seattle making the playoffs.  We all had a great FHE.

Tuesday:  Our district meeting started at 11:15 so we didn’t have to get up to early after our night out.  Then the day fell apart.  Just as we were leaving to go to the district meeting we got a call from Children’s Hospital and they wanted Eldrex there at 2:00.  Eldrex is kind of a priority for us right now with getting his surgery done.  We left our meeting early so we could get him from school and make the appointment.  We had a 4:00 appointment to teach with

Skyway B which when Art called them to say we may be late, he found out it was at 2:30 so we missed it.    We also needed to help serve at Salvation Army at 5:00.  With the going home traffic and taking everyone to lunch, lets just say we didn’t make it there on time.  We did show up for fifteen minutes and then had to leave for the 6:30 SRS class that we supposedly volunteered for.  We were not very prepared which didn’t make much difference since when we got there we were given different books to use.  These pilot programs are so much fun.  The class went okay even though we felt unprepared.  Then to finish the day, Art stopped for gas and couldn’t find the credit card in his wallet.  We were glad to get this day over with.  He did find the card in his shirt pocket on the way home.

Wednesday:  Eldrex had a 9:00 appointment so we had to leave by 8:00 to get there on time.  At least this appointment we knew ahead of time.  Michele and Richel also went with us.  This was for a hearing test which was normal.  We stopped for breakfast on the way home and then back to the school to drop off Eldrex.  He wouldn’t stay so we took him home.  Joyce worked on things for achievement days before picking everyone up.  We picked up all the kids (Reymark, Ivar, Michel, Princes Joy and the twins) and drove to the

Sablans to see the new baby.  That was the young mens activity.  For achievement days, the girls etched temples onto mirrors while Reymark and Ivar played in the gym.  Art picked up Justine and Jasmine and attended a lesson, at the church, with them and Skyway A.  Afterwards we took everyone home and missed the missionary meeting with the Bishop.

Thursday:  We had a slow morning so we invited the Elder Sisters to ride to Dessert Book in Bellevue with us.  Elder Bodily is now a Spanish speaking elder and he wants a set of scriptures in Spanish.  We stopped at the temple first so Sister Beck could put some names on the prayer roll and found that the power was out.  Deseret Book was also closed.  With no traffic lights it was a mess.  We waited for a bit and then decided it wasn’t going to open so we slowly made our way back to Renton by way of Newcastle.  The freeway was a mess so we took the back roads and stopped on the way for lunch. We were

able to deliver the last baby blanket.  Skyway B called to change a few appointments that they needed our help with.   We picked up Eldrex, Estrella and Princess Joy and drove to Children’s Hospital for the pre-op appointment.  We were there for several hours.  Everything is set for surgery on Monday at 11:30 so we need lots of prayers.  Looks like he will stay in the hospital for a few days so that will be interesting for us.  Not sure how we are going to work around our schedule, plus Estrella will need to work out something with her family for tending Nathalia.

Friday:  Elder Holiday started teaching the institute class this morning.  It was so good to be able to attend his class again.  We are going to study The Teachings and Doctrines of the Book of Mormon. The Elder Sisters were sick so they didn’t go.  We stopped on the way home to do some shopping for tomorrow.  Joyce has to make a casserole for a funeral tomorrow.  In the afternoon we had our interview with President Rasmusson.  December 5th is our official release date so party on the 10th at our house.  He didn’t know about a

Aohy, Mary Ann, Irma, Geraldean and Ruth

replacement for us, as of now there isn’t one.  Art just wanted to see who really reads our letter thats why he said we would be home after Christmas. We had to give the zone leaders a ride home so we were at the church for a few hours.  The 7:00 appointment with Skyway B cancelled so we came home and Joyce made the casserole so that it will be ready for tomorrow. 

Saturday:  We took the Acostas on a field trip, on the ferry, to Bainbridge Island.  We have been wanting to do this before Eldrex has his surgery.  We had invited Holly and Green house but Jenefer from Green house wanted to go later than planned.  We wanted her to come so we put it off for an hour.  This gave Art time to go and help clean the church while Joyce waited for Sister Kemp to pick up her casserole.  We had fourteen of us on our field trip.  Estrella, Eldrex,Reymark, Eleazar, Michele, Sun Shine, Princess Joy, Jenefer, Ruth, Rubi, Ivar and Elder and Sister Knowles all went.  We rode the link to the ferry, rode to Bainbridge Island, walked into town, ate pizza and did some shopping.  Eldrex loved the crossing.  It gets cold out on the deck, but he couldn’t go inside.  Seeing his excitement made the trip worth it.  He loved being on the water.  We voted on going to the Discovery

Back: Eleazar, Michele, Sun Shine, Estrella, Ivar, Sister and Elder Knowles, Ruth and Jenefer
Front: Reymark, Eldrex, Rubi, Irma and Princes Joy

Center or the Great Wheel and the Great Wheel won.  A few were not sure about riding the Great Wheel but by the time we crossed back to Seattle and walked to the ferris wheel everyone wanted to go.  We had a great time and Eldrex loved this ride, also.  We were pretty tired by now so we rode the link home and walked to Holly house, but the day wasn’t over yet.  It was Natalia’s six month birthday, (24th) which they celebrate every month the first year so there was a big party waiting for us.  It’s not just cake and ice cream but a great big meal.  They had made our favorite soup and Joyce’s favorite dessert.  They asked Elder Knowles to bless the food and no one would start eating until we did.  They treat us like we are somebody important.  It was a fun party and a good ending to a fun day.  This is our kind of missionary work.

Sunday:  Church had its up and downs.  Several people we are working with showed up and several we thought would be there didn’t come.  Eldrex was hungry and had a rough time in Sacrament meeting so Estrella took him home after.  He was pretty tired from yesterday.  There is no Tagalog class for Sunday School because of Beverlyn having her baby, so Estrella has no class to go where she understands what is said.  Joyce didn’t have any help in her class so Art went with her to help out with the plays for Primary class.  We came home after church, made a few phone calls and took it easy the rest of the day.  We were tired from our fun time yesterday, also.  It has been a good week with lots of things set up for next week.  The big focus has been surgery for Eldrex and it will happen next week.  Keep him in your prayers.  Saturday went better than we hoped for with Jenefer and Irma coming with us.  We are still praying for them to take the missionary lessons.  We also got some good news from Karen so it was a good week for us.  Hope is was for you all too. Love Joyce and Art.

Transfer 15 Week 2  Sept. 12-18 Week B12

               Don’t believe everything you read

Preaching:  “Like two sides of a coin, the temporal and spiritual are inseparable” (D&C 29:34) President Uchtdorf  We had an interest discussion about this topic last night at our meeting.  Try this topic at a family home evening.  See what your family comes up with on how earning money, going to school, working or what other activities you may be involved in can be both temporal and spiritual.  Also, ask yourself if you are spiritually self-reliant and what that means to you.

 Monday: It was a beautiful day so we picked up the Elder Sisters and drove to Crystal Mountain to ride the Gondola.  It closes next week so today was our last chance unless we wanted to go when it snows. Joyce is still not a 100% but a lot better than yesterday. It was a very nice drive except for all the road work we had to go through.  We rode the gondola to the top, took some pictures, and then decided to eat at the restaurant.  It was a little expensive and not a big choice for things to eat, but a great view.  The drive home was a lot faster through the road work.  Joyce is still not better so we stayed in after we got home.  It was late anyway.

Tuesday:  Joyce had a rough night so we skipped zone training in the morning.  Today’s meeting didn’t apply much to what we do, so no big deal.  Art ran some errands while Joyce slept other than that we stayed in and let Joyce get better.  We both read and Art worked on a puzzle.

Wednesday:  We did Northwest Harvest in the morning.  Joyce still isn’t 100% so she sat in the pick-up and rested.  We thought the medicine would have worked by now. They called to say if she wasn’t better to come back in. Joyce stayed in the pick-up and Art put meals together with the Spanish Sisters and the Elder Sisters boxed beans.  There was only the missionaries and the regular volunteers so not a real big crew.  We are going to talk to the Zone leaders about the missionaries making more of an effort to fill the commitment we have made at Northwest Harvest.  The missionaries are thinking it is a thing to do if nothing else is going on.  We

took the Elder Sisters home and then picked up Joyce Johnson.  She needed a ride to a job interview, to K mart to look for Gideon’s uniform, to the mall to look for clothes for Eric and Gideon, and to Costco.  She wants to start working two jobs.  We aren’t sure how she will do this and sleep sometime.  After coming home from Costco she asked Joyce to go with her to a school meeting about Gideon. She said she was afraid to go alone. The school doesn’t know what to do with Gideon because he doesn’t behave.  We have experienced this first hand when we take him shopping and he still speaks no English.  The suggestion at the meeting is that they are going to put him in a half day kindergarten instead of all day kindergarten, with some support in the mornings.  They will try this for three weeks and then we will meet again.  In the mean time, they will see if funding is available to see if they can hire a safety person for him in the afternoons.  That will mean for right now, Joyce Johnson having to pick him up at 11:30 each day.  She is still working nights and needs to sleep sometime, but  Gideon tries to run away and they want somebody to be one on one with him, so, this is the solution for a few weeks.  With that all done, we went back to the Urgent Care again.  The medicine isn’t working for Sister Knowles. Her fever was down from 101.6 to 101.2. They gave her a shot and a stronger antibiotic.   We hope this will work.  We finally got home at 8:00, so much for a restful day.  Beverlyn Sablon had her baby today and Dylan wanted us to bring the young men to the hospital for their activity, but we were too long at the urgent care and Wal-Mart picking up the prescription.

Thursday:  Today we stayed in again so the medicine will have a chance to work.  We only had to cancel one appointment and that was with Skyway A.  We did get a text for Skyway B wanting us but Art said no.  Joyce is doing much better so the medicine must be working.  Mostly Joyce organized the receipts from our finance class and Art worked on a puzzle and read some. Joyce is having a reaction to the antibiotic and has a rash. We did walk around the park for a little sunshine and fresh air. We also skipped the missionary meeting.  The Elder Sisters brought us supper.  Art did manage to buy some tickets to the baseball game that we will go to on Monday night.

Friday:  After making a few phone calls in the morning we just took it easy.  The recovery has been slow.  Joyce feels pretty good in the morning and then not so good by evening.  We picked up Eldrex, Estrella and Richel and went to the Children’s Hospital at 2:00.  Things are not good with Estrella and Ric, but it was fun to have Richel with us.  The hospital did call while we were home and scheduled Eldrex’s surgery on his foot for Sept. 26.  On the way home we were all hungry so we stopped at our favorite fish place and the owner gave Art a shirt, Emerald City Fish and Chips.  It does pay to get to know the owners of places.  Eldrex did good at the hospital with the therapy.  We came home and Joyce sent a bunch of texts so we can line up the next few days and Art needed to get more tickets for the game on Monday. The R.S. president , Sister Kemp, wants to go with us. We have lots on conflicts the next few days so we need to let people know what we are attending and not attending.   Joyce is feeling much better.

Saturday:  The High Priest are  cleaning the church this month so thats where our day started.  After that project we drove to Kirkland to deliver Karen her bike.  We delivered the bike and then took Karen shopping for groceries.  We didn’t want her to have to carry the groceries on the bus,.  We also took her to lunch.  After taking the groceries home we dropped Karen off so she could shop for some clothes and we drove home.  She would ride the bus back to her home.  We just made it home in time to go to the Jacksons for dinner.  They are a delightful little family.  Sheila is our Primary President and they have been trying to have us over for a while.  After dinner and a fun visit, we went to the SRS devotional at the Stake Center.  There was not a real good attendance.  We thought we were finished with the program, then found that we are running the job search class for the next twelve weeks.  Only three signed up and we were told by some of their ward members that they have a pattern of not following through with what they start.  That will work for us since we may go home before the class is

over.  We will find out more what is going to happen next week when the class starts.  We do have the option with this class of having longer classes to finish sooner and if those in attendance find a job they will probably stop coming.  It was another long night and a long day.

Sunday:  It was a good day at church.  Ivar, Eleazar and Reymark were there for the sacrament.  Ric took them early so they could bless and pass, but still no Ric or any of the older girls were there for the meetings. Still work to do.  We took Eldrex, Estrella, and  Princes Joy with us.  Diane Whitney also rode with us.  She is doing so good.  After rain all day yesterday, the sunshine is back.  In the evening we drove to Graham for the mission devotional.  Graham is about as far south as the missionaries are assigned and takes about one hour from our place.  We wanted to go because we get

to see a lot of the missionaries that were once in Renton and we may not get the chance to see them again before we go home.  We did find out that Elder Bodily is back with Elder Richards.  There was a conflict with companions so there was an emergency transfer.  The best thing about this week is that Joyce is feeling better.  Love you all Joyce and Art  

P.S.  We got some information this week that our replacement is coming the week after Christmas so we can go home when they get here, we just don’t know the exact day yet.  

P.S.S.   We are really coming home on the 5th of December as far as we know, so if any one asks, tell them sometime in December.  The 5th is a Monday so we will be home by Wednesday or Thursday for sure.  We just want to see how many really read our letters.  So, the plan for a family/friend dinner on the 10th is a go if any of you can make it.

Transfer 15 Week One Sept. 5-11  Week B13

     If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.

Preaching:  We have been having lots of discussions with the missionaries in district meetings, about what to do to increase faith.  There are lots of ways we have come up with, several that you can invite people to try.  One of the ways we have found that works for us in making correct choices.  When we pray for increased faith we will be given opportunities to exercise faith and by choosing wisely our faith will increase.  Come up with your own list of what you can do or invite others to do, to increase faith.  Study Alma 32.

Monday:  Today is a work day because of the holiday and transfers.  We would be working anyway to move Karen.  We met Sister Pineda and Yost at Karen’s (West Wind Motel) , loaded the pick-up and drove to her new place in Kirkland.  Everything fit in the pick-up, but it was crowded and we forgot to bring her bike from our place.  After unloading at her place, Karen wanted to go walk around a park and eat so we drove to several places and walked a bunch before deciding on a place.  There were some cool old ships on the lake where we walked that we got to see, snd two “pirate ships”.  After a late lunch we needed to get back so we dropped Karen off at her place and drove back to Renton.  Karen was a bit nervous but she should do all right.  Sister Jackson, our Primary President, was having a small birthday party for the twins and we were going to play games.  When we arrived there we

found that Jenefer had cooked another big meal.  It was more Filipino food but we did recognize what it was and we did have cake and ice cream. She had made yummy soup and spaghetti,   So, we mostly ate and visited.  Jenefer was very friendly and talked a lot which was very good.  She told us all about being pregnant with the twins and how it felt.  The twins loved all the attentions. Sister Sablan sent Dylan with the ice-cream, because her baby is due and she is not feeling well. Sister Jackson, brought her young family and she had made cake and a Filipino fruit salad.  It was very good and made a big impression on the twins and on Jenefer.   

Tuesday:  Today was our p-day so we were able to leave the mission. Since the Bloedel Reserve is closed on Mondays and our p-day was today we took a little trip out of the mission.  Sister Stevensen went with us but not Sister Beck.  She is having trouble with her

feet and can’t walk too far.  We rode the ferry over to Bainbridge Island and caught a bus to the Reserve. The Reserve in at the opposite end of the island from where the ferry lands. It is the property of the Bloedel family that they didn’t want developed.  It looks like they were pretty rich.   Its about a two mile loop and and takes about one and a half hours to walk it, plus time spent touring the huge house they once lived in.  We took a lot longer because of all the pictures we take.  We did have to catch the last bus at three twenty.  The bus doesn’t have much of a set route (except for the last pickup at the Reserve), so you tell them where you want to go and they take you there.  If you miss the last bus then you have to walk back to town which is a long ways.  We had them drop us off at the pizza place in town.  It is one of the few places to eat that we know of.  After lunch/supper, we walked around town then rode the ferry and link back to our apartment.  It was a pretty fun day.

Wednesday:  The rain and cool weather is back.  It is starting to feel like fall.  Our district meeting was in the morning.  We have two new missionaries from other areas of the mission and one new Elder from the MTC.  After the meeting we did some shopping for achievement days tonight.  After a quick lunch we walked down to the Acostas and Joyce helped Michelle prepare a primary lesson for Sunday.  Michelle, Princes Joy and the twins all came to achievement days, (we picked them up), where they worked on their scrape books.  We took them home which keeps us from going to the missionary meeting with the Bishop because of the distance of delivering them all home.  Art talked to the Bishop while the girls worked on their scrape books so it’s okay that we missed the meeting.

Elder Sidyk and Richards

Thursday:  We got an early start shopping with Joyce Johnson.  She wanted us to take her to the mall in Auburn so she could buy clothes for Gideon and Eric.  We ended up going to K-Mart in Kent first, because they were supposed to have his uniforms, but they didn’t. Then, we went to the outlet Mall in Auburn.  Art stayed in the pick up.  Joyce told Sister Knowles to take Gideon and look for him and Joyce would take Eric and look for clothes for him.  That did not last long because Gideon kept leaving and would not mind.  So, we traded and that worked out much better because Gideon is naughty.  After lunch she asked if we had after noon appointments and we told her they were cancelled.  She asked is we had a Costco Card.  She needed food for Gideon. We said we did not have a Costco Card.  She said that was okay.  Would we take her to Costco so she could get a card and shop?  So, we were on our way to  Costco in Federal Way.  We tried to keep the boys in the pickup.  Sister Knowles was not feeling too good.  First Elder Knowles took Gideon in to look for Joyce.  Then, Sister Knowles took Eric in.  You could not believe her shopping cart when we found her.  It was a balancing act!  Then, when we got in line, she had forgotten two things and had to go back,  That took up most of our day.  It was a good thing our afternoon appointments had cancelled.  We had a pick-up load from Costco, plus the two huge sacks from the outlet mall, so Art had the Spanish Elders meet us at Joyce’s apartment and help us carry everything in.  She lives in an upstairs apartment.  After being around Gideon we understand why she never goes out shopping by herself.  He is a handful. Everything is new to him so he wants to touch and look at everything, plus he is smart so he wants to figure out how things work.  She is worried about how he will do in school since he doesn’t mind.  He starts school next week so it will be interesting.  Pray for his teacher.  She is going to need lots of prayers. We are hoping that when he learns English he will behave better.  We came home after our day of service and rested. Sister

Knowles still is not feeling well so we skipped the missionary meeting.

Friday:    We didn’t have much going on today that we couldn’t reschedule so we took it kind of easy so Joyce could get feeling better.   We needed another catch-up day, too.  We did have three appointments in the afternoon that we wanted to keep.  The first one with Diane Whitney had to be changed because of her work schedule.  We rode the link and then walked to Diane Nardi’s for lunch/supper and a lesson.  We went to our favorite fish place so we could visit with the owner.  They are very friendly.  The lesson went well. We taught about the Articles of Faith but only got through three of them.  She has lots of questions which is good.  We are supposed to be practicing but it is a round about way of teaching her.  It is kind of fun and she enjoys the visit, So do we.  It was later than we planned so we rode the link back to our apartment and stayed in for the night.  It was a little tough on Joyce.  Our last appointment was a health lecture at the Filipino Community Center that we said we would attend.  We did want to go to it, but, oh well.

Saturday:  Today was the Renton Day of Service.   Art went and cut trees with Bro. Reckling, his two boys, Reymark, Eleazar, Ivar, Dylan, Bro Weaver and Skyway A Elders.  He had to wake the young men up and wait for them to get ready. Two hours didn’t make much of a dent in what needs to be done, where we worked, but the trees did get cut up. 

We also went to the Freylingers to cut down some trees but there was a mix up and the chain saws didn’t show up. We are guessing that Bro. Reckling  got lost.  Bro. Johansen, Stephens and Meldrum were working there.  We will have to go back another day and cut down the trees for them.  The Sisters cleaned the church and then sewed burp cloths.  Art made Joyce stay home.   There was a picnic, after the projects, for all those who worked.  Art didn’t go, he came home to check on Joyce. Dylan took the boys to the picnic and then home.  We were going to stay home the rest of the day until the Spanish Elders called because they needed a third person for their dinner appointment with the Elder Sisters.  Art went and Joyce stayed home.

Sunday:  We had a pick-up load for church, Estrella, Michelle, Eldrex, Princes Joy,

Reymark, Diane Whitney, Debra Driggs and us.  Joyce Johnson was there but she has a hard time staying awake.  She did have to leave early.  She is trying so hard but has her hands full with two little boys.  Gideon is still a behavior problem in Primary.  He may need some one on one teaching.  The Elders had three investigator at church and they all stayed for the three meetings.  We took the Acostas to our house and made homemade pizzas for lunch, after church.  Michelle had wanted to invite us for pizza, but when we found out that she was going to buy pizza for us and it would be Sunday, we quickly invited them to our house for our famous homemade pizza, even though the twins could not come today.  Dylan Sablon brought the boys home because of youth committee meeting and he stayed and ate.  So, they all ate with us all of us.  Even Eleazar liked it, and of course, you can’t fill up Reymark.  No baby yet for the Sablans.  Beverlyn wasn’t feeling good so she wasn’t with Dylan and Sister Knowles surely missed Beverlyn during Primary class, even though Donella Mitchel and Michelle are there.  After pushing Eldrex home and delivering Estrella, Princes Joy, Michelle, and the boys home, Joyce finally agreed to go see a doctor and get some medicine.  That took up the rest of the afternoon so we stayed home in the evening and talked to the kids when they called. We haven’t heard how Karen did on her first Sunday in a new ward.  It was a slower week with Joyce not feeling good but the rest was welcomed.  Love Joyce and Art.

Transfer 14 Week 6 Aug 29-Sept-4 Week B14 “Roleplaying,  You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” 

Preaching:  We have been thinking and talking a lot about why so many members fall away or stop coming to church.  There are lots of reasons we hear in the Skyway ward but we have decided it mostly comes down to following the prophet.  With General Conference coming up we pray that you are all making plans so you will be able to listen.  We need a prophets direction in this day.  Don’t just listen, do what is asked of us.  Remember, faith is an action word.  Our decisions have eternal out comes.

Our District 

Monday: We did the usual p-day things in the morning.  The pick-up needed gas and a washing so we took care of that.  While at Sam’s Club we did a little early Christmas shopping and then lots of our usual grocery shopping at Wal-Mart.  We thought maybe we should go home for the weekend to take care of a few things with our home, so we sent Pres. Rasmussen a text and then realized we were committed to something else this weekend so we cancelled the first text with another text.  He probably wonders if we can make up our minds what we want to do.  Nobody wanted a ride to FHE so we went alone.  There was mostly the same people there.

Tuesday:  We had our last 

district meeting for this transfer with two from our district that will go home on Monday, Sister Bailey, and Elder Li.  We did some roleplaying that was a little different from what we have done in the past, so we didn’t have to do it.  We just watched the other companionships and we all made suggestions.  It was pretty nice!  After the meeting we took a district picture since it is the last meeting.  We were close to Kent so we ran to the Bishop Storehouse to fill a food order.  After dropping it off we picked up Princess Joy and the twins and went to the Family Fun Center.  This was the reward for what the girls had done in primary.  Jasmine was working and we got to visit with her, even taking her to the Farmers Market in Renton on the way home.  The kids had a good time and we fed them lunch while there.  Jasmine works in the food court and that was another reason we went there.  In the evening we met the Elder Sisters and the employment office sisters and watched Lehi’s Journey in the R.S. room.  It’s a movie about physical evidence of the book of Mormon.  We had all kinds of refreshments plus it is a pretty good movie.  It is on You Tube if you want to watch it. It’s always nice to get together with the older missionaries.

Wednesday:  Northwest Harvest was in the morning.  We packaged rice. This would be our last time before transfers and Sister Baileys last time before going home.  We wanted to take the sisters to lunch but we had to hurry home and pick up Estrella and Eldrex for an appointment at Children’s Hospital.  We drove there then found out it had been cancelled.  It was way past lunch time so we drove to the Emerald City Fish and Chips and ate.  We have gotten to be friends with one of the owners so we like to stop there every so often, plus Estrella likes the fish.  We had a break in the day waiting for Karen to get home from work.  She needed us to take her to Kirkand so she could make a deposit on an apartment.  It is a room in a house that she will share with three other people plus the owner.  The owner is very nice and pretty strict so that will be good for Karen.  The house is across the street from the church and a bus stop. 

It comes furnished so not sure what we will do with the stuff we are storing for her and there isn’t room for all of the stuff she has with her, so we may be storing more.  It should be a good move for Karen and her and the owner get along great.  Kirkland is a thirty minute drive north of Bellevue so we got home late.  Karen needed money on her Orca card, which she forgot to tell us until we were almost to her place so that made us even later.  It is so fun to park on Henderson at 10:00pm and get an Orca card. Not our first choice, but Rainier Beach was the closest Orca card vending machine.  It’s a good thing for guardian angels.

Thursday:  We didn’t have any pressing appointments so we slept in a bit.  At least is was sleeping in for us which was still early in the morning.  Old habits are hard to break.  The plan was for a catch up day.  We had several errands to run, Sam’s club, JoAnn, Ulta and U-haul. St. Vincent thrift store took all the things we had in the pick-up so we didn’t have to drive to the D.I. in Federal Way.  That was just a small tender mercy.  Most of the rest of the day was spent working on projects at home.  We did go to the church for our 7:45 meeting and when nobody showed up we made some calls and found out it had been cancelled.  No one bothered to tell us.  Time for Elder Knowles to work on charity some more.  

Friday:   There was no sleeping in today.  We went to the Filipino Community Center first thing in the morning to do service.  We both worked in the office making copies until about 4:30 then walked home.  We did eat lunch there even though the chicken wasn’t cooked as much as we like it.  Nor sure what was in the other stuff we ate except for the vegetables and noodles.  In the evening we went to a baptism for Bro. Dean.  He is in the Tiffany Park Ward.  They always have a good turnout.  He has been investigating the church for many years.  President Rasmusson and his wife were there.  They are very good to come visit the different ward and very easy to visit with.  We were going to help Skyway B but they never showed up.  We guess the investigator must have cancelled, which we thought would happen.

Saturday:  Another early morning so we could get dinner in the crock pots and walk to the Filipino Community Center by 08:00.  We worked in the copy center again. There was plenty of help by 11:00 so we left and walked home in the rain.  It wasn’t raining when we left home and the forecast was good so no umbrellas.  It is a good thing we came home early because to discovered Art didn’t plug in one of the crock pots.  We took care of that problem and went to a baby shower for Geraldene.  They always have lots of food at a Filipino party and again we weren’t sure what it was we were eating.  One thing we recognized was the raw steak they gave us.  Most of the Holly house Acosta’s were there and a few from the green house.  We did get to meet several of the in-laws and friends.  It was kind of an all day party, but we had to leave so we could feed the Spanish speaking missionaries at 4:00.  On the way home we

got a message saying that Skyway A and B didn’t have a dinner appointment so we added them to our list.  We the Spanish Elders showed up they had another set of elders with them so we ended up with 15 missionaries in our apartment. ( Skyway A is a threesome so thats why the odd number).  They did come in shifts, some at 4:00, 4:30 and 5:00.  The first crock pot was empty pretty fast and the second wasn’t done at 5:00 so the last group had to wait and several wanted more.  Art tried to pressure the crock pot to hurry it along which was not a good idea.   We had trouble getting the lid off until Elder Richards (a rugby player) got if off, but in exploded all over the counter and cupboards.  No one got hurt and no harm done was done. Elder Richards said, “You have a small problem to clean up, actually a huge problem to clean up.”  Then, he was cute, and said, “NO, We have a huge problem to clean up, Where are your cleaning supplies?”  Three of the Elders pulled out the fridge, scraped all the noodles in the trash, cleaned and washed the cabinets, counter and fridge, and left it all shiny clean!  What great young men!  They were

wonderful!  They did all leave by 5:30 except the Elder Sisters and the Spanish Sisters came back so we could play one round of UNO. Skyway B wanted us to teach with them but the Elder Sisters went so we could go see Karen.  Karen didn’t come to dinner because she was depressed, but she did want to visit, so we picked her up and went to Coulon Park to walk.  It was a beautiful evening with the sun going down over the lake and very nice weather.  It did put us getting home late.

Sunday:  We had set the alarm on Joyce’s phone to make sure we got up in time.  The battery was low so it was plugged in, only problem was the crock pot disaster had tripped the breaker so there was no power in the outlet. No alarm.  We got up late, just making it in time for church.  Diane Whitney had come over on Saturday night before we picked up

Family Fun Center

Karen to walk, and she wanted a ride to church.  She is have trouble at Hope Place and wanted to come back to church.  Estrella  and Eleazar were the only green house Acostas at church but Ivar was with them and blessed the sacrament for his first time.  The twins showed up late, but they came! Donella taught the Primary lesson, which was nice for Joyce to just have to help out.   Art taught the Gospel Principals class.  We got everyone home and then had a bite of lunch.  At 5:00 we went to dinner at the Elder Sisters with the Spanish Sisters.  We ate there then went to Holly house for a birthday party for the twins.  Another round of lots of food at a Filipino party that we weren’t sure what we were

eating.  Joyce visited in the house with the sisters and got acquainted with people that we had not met before, but had heard of.   Art stayed outside and played with all the kids. We did get to see most of the Holly house Acosta’s and talk to them about coming back to church.  Most of the problem is the 9:00 church and their work schedules.  When they joined the church it started at 1:00.  We will see what happens next week.  We may make a few wake up calls on Sunday morning.  It ended up being a good day even with the poor church attendance.  Joyce Johnson and Sister Fabon weren’t there.  We did get to talk to Jared’s family, but missed the other kids because of the evening dinners. We did learn a good lesson  tonight and will be more careful from now on.  That is most of the highlights of the week. There is always lots of other stuff going on but this letter is already too long. Hope everyone had a good week and will be safe and wise. Love Joyce and Art.