Last. Crazy. Week.

At about 10 at night I got an email from Sister Martin, unfortunately I didn't check my email until midnight but I got this email...

                         My mission president gave me permission to email right now and I sent
 an email to mom, but I don't know if she is awake or not..... Will you let her know that I have emailed and to check it? Thanks! I love you. Email me when you get this. I have maybe 5 minutes.

 Sister Kelly Martin

And then during the regular scheduled Monday Pday time, this was sent out.

                          Hello, so this week has been crazy. On Thursday, we got a call from President Samuelian during our daily planning session. He told me that he felt prompted to look at the departing missionaries for the next two months and he noticed that my date to leave was in the middle of the transfer. So he called and told me to think and pray about going home in 5 days or 47 days. Well after a sleepless night, I received the answer to go home. Things have been crazy but good since then. Sister Ure will be teaching a new missionary here in Willamina! I will be home in 2 days. 

We have seen so many miracles since then. I know that my father in heaven is so aware of me. I am grateful for all that He has given me, especially my family. You have all been so supportive of me. Thank you so much. I love you! See you on Wednesday!

Sister Kelly Martin

Zone Pday in Lincoln City

We hiked Cascade head today. I ate some salmon berries, A.K.A. golden raspberries. Today was quite fun! I love you all lots!

Sister Kelly Martin

I love pictures like these!!!

BIG GROUP!!!

Miracle of the week.

Finally words this week! -Stacy

We went to go contact a referral given to us by other missionaries and we couldn't find the address. We stopped at a house and a couple looks the address up on the computer and they couldn't even find it, but they found a similar address. We went there and talked to a little boy who didn't know the guy we were looking for. How mom came out and didn't know him either. She asked what church we went to and we told her that we are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She said her husband was a member, so he came out and we talked to him. He gave us information to get his records transferred into the Ward and he is going to let us practice teaching the lessons on his family! No one is a member but him and they have 5 kids. We are so excited to teach them. I love you all!

Sister Kelly Martin

They are giving these away as birthday presents and I won't be here
for my birthday but I really want one! (OSM Temple Recommend Holder)

All pictures for the GRAND PIX.

On this day, I literally only got pictures, but they're AMAZING pictures! I'm jealous that I'm not there in Oregon surrounded by the beautiful scenery!!!

Literally my favorite picture!!! #shockedface
Let's call it "Act-like-you-just-got-your-mission-call!"

Not sure if this is appropriate to say, but I'm going to say it anyway..... "#photobomb."
(That was it.)

BEAUTIFUL!!!!

S.M.I.L.E.

Trying to be a Sister Martin. ;)

Most likely the BEST picture in this email!! 

Last week of transfer!

We got to go to the temple last week! We also had interviews with President Samuelian. Sister Ure and I were the last two regular interviews that president will ever do as mission president. Next transfer is zone zonference and then my last transfer, I will get a new mission president halfway through and he will do all of the interviews. On our way to our interviews, we just barely left Willamina and the the gas light came on! I totally forgot that we needed to get gas! We made the 20 minutes to the gas station in West Salem where our interviews were but in the mean time, I was worried that we were going to run out of gas on the highway and that we would be late to our district meeting/interviews.

We have a baptism this week! Our 11 year old investigator is getting baptized. Her grandpa will baptize her.

President has invited all of the missionaries to focus on strengthening their faith in Christ.

Not much else is going on but I love you all very much!

Sister Martin.

Missionaries.

100.

Hello,

There are 100 days left of my mission... Wow! 2 weeks left of the transfer and then 2 more transfers left. President and Sister Samuelian have less time with me.

Sister Ure and I got to go to the temple visitors center! This week we have really seen how we are often in the right place at the right time. It has been amazing!

We were running late to dinner one day and as we were driving, we saw someone we were teaching and we got to talk to her. Another time,, we were on our way to our coordination meeting and we saw a guy who volunteered at the food bank with us and we got to talk to him. We walked up a hill to see someone in our area book and they weren't home, but we talked to a member who recently moved into our ward. Then at the visitors center, we saw a member from Sisters than I knew, 2 people from Newberg and Sister Clark!! It was amazing!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!

Love, Sister Kelly Martin

Send letters to:

Oregon Salem Mission
700 Deborah Rd. Suite 260
Newberg, Oregon 97132

March

Sister Ure and I will be staying in Willamina for another transfer. We have much to be learn from each other still and we are excited for a chance to be able to do so. This week was the best week of missionary work that either of us have ever had. We have seen so many miracles!

A lady called the church this week and someone answered the phone and she told them that she was looking for a church and they told her what time church was and she came! We will teach her this week!

Also a lady we have been teaching went to church for the first time with her granddaughter! We were so excited!

A huge thank you to my family for sending me an Easter package filled with candy and Easter eggs!

Stacy!!! I was so excited to get an Easter egg from you and that it
had the beads I gave you to fix. Thank you so much!!!

February

My transfers are all double digits now! Only 4 left! It's crazy! Has it really been that long??

We had interviews with the mission president last week. I found out that I go home at the end of July and the Samuelians go home at the beginning of July! I will have a new mission president for the last 3 weeks of my mission!

I will be staying in Willamina for another 6 weeks with a new companion! I found out that someone I taught in Newberg is still taking the lessons and her grandson who I met a few times is getting baptized next month! From what I hear he has changed so much!! It is really cool to hear about seeds that I have planted and how they are blossoming. Springtime is almost here! Sending another companion home is hard. I'm so glad that I got to spend with Sister Drown. I'm excited to hear about what the future holds for her and for me as well.

January!

So I told Kelly that Alan Rickman passed away and this was her response:

We were having a meeting with some people in the ward and they mentioned that we lost some celebrities recently and I didn't care until they mentioned Snape and then I was devastated!!! But now he has a chance to learn about the gospel in the spirit world! I love you! Thanks for making sure that I knew! Have we lost any other Harry Potter stars?? Of course we lost Richard Harris, but that was a long time ago and he was our favorite Dumbledore!

Not much has happened this week. We gave a pass along card to an investigator and he told us that he looked at it and it had a number to call to get a free bible and so he called and asked for a free bible. We were trying so hard not to laugh because we knew that his name would show up as a referral asking for a bible which we would then deliver to him.

In our weekly Book of Mormon study class we finished reading about Isaiah in 2Nephi. It was really interesting  comparing what is written in 2Nephi with what is written in Isaiah. I love being able to read from the Bible and the Book of Mormon side by side. I know that both books contain God's word and I am grateful to have them in my life.

Love ya!
Sister Kelly Martin.

Sister Kelly Martin

Oregon Salem Mission

700 Deborah Road, Ste. 260

Newberg, OR 97132

Happy New Year!

December/January

Happy new year!! We got an inch of snow here on Sunday to start the new year off. Everything shuts down when they get snow here which is really difference from Central Oregon. Almost all of the wards in the valley cancelled church. It was pretty funny and slightly bummed at the same time. Sister Drown and I convinced 4 of our investigators to come to church in the snow and when we showed up for choir practice the bishop said he cancelled church. We talked the bishop into doing sacrament and 2 of our investigators came. It was still really good. It was good to start the new year off right. To set new goals and to help others set new goals of their own.

2016 feels like a good one!

I love you all!
Sister Kelly Martin.

T. 8

November.

I have only 5 transfers left after this! President Samuelian told the zone leaders that he has been seriously thinking about taking away the mission cars, He thinks our mission would be more successful. He has encourages everyone to get out of our cars more. So this  week we did. We walked over ten miles. It has been below 40 almost everyday. I wore a pair of boots one day and they were not made for walking. Unfortunately I need to retire them this week. We bundle up everyday before we go outside. I'm totally a Cali girl! Still not used to the cold!

A member gave us some knit hats! I love them!! We have zone conference this Wednesday! We helped the youth in the Sisters branch find over 200 names to take to the temple this week! They had so many names that they couldn't actually do all of them! I'm learning of the importance of genealogy each time.

Not much else to say! I love being out here on my mission! I have had great range of motion in my knee for a long time now! I am so thankful for that!

Love ya! Have a great week!
Sister Kelly Martin.

Awesome week!!

From Kelly's last email she mentioned that her and her companion were speaking in church about missionary work so I sent Kelly an email of a story that relates really well with missionary work that many of you are very familiar with. It is The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley. There are many different versions to the story, but here is a basic one.

"Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up. 

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water he said, "It made a difference for that one."

I love this story! There may be all the people in the world criticizing you for the things that you do, you may be tempted to quit, but that doesn't mean you have to. My goal in life is to make a difference in the world someway somehow. How do you want people to remember you by? Would you be skeptical about everyone around or the one making a difference in the lives of others?

Anyways back to her email. 

We had a lot of crazy things happen this week. We went to the donut store and my companion and I were going to split a donut (because it's cheaper and healthier) and the guy who was working asked us if we were missionaries and we said we were and he gave us our donut for free! Amazing!

We also went to Newberg for iPad training for Sister Clark to get her iPad. I got to see Sister Dibble. Being in Newberg was like being home! The member who took us also bought us dinner. That was so nice of them!

President Samuelian told us that obedience is the "price for safety."

I dreamed about In N' Out one night. Nothing beats In N' Out in California (except Icebergs in Utah).

We spoke in sacrament meeting and our investigator and her dad came! We helped the youth find names to take to the temple! We found probably over 100 names with the youth!

Love ya!
Sister Kelly Martin