Another Great Adventure!!

May the Fourth be with you!!

We had 2 baptisms this weekend for a boy and girl who are both ten. We were able to teach both of them. It was an amazing weekend!! We got to go to our ward and the next ward for the two different confirmations. That led to a really long Sunday. I haven't had a Sunday that long since I was a mini-missionary. Speaking of which, we have another mini-missionary: Sister Templin from Salem. She is awesome!! 

During the Newberg first ward Sacrament meeting, one of the young men who is preparing to go on his mission to Alaska told a story about one of his friends who asked him about his mission and said what if you are wrong and there is no God?? This is how he responded: 

"If I'm wrong, then I will have spent my life serving the God I loved. I will die surrounded by my friends and family. And it will all have been for nothing, because there is nothing. But if I'm right, then I will have spent my life serving the God I loved. I will die surrounded by my friends and family and I will spend eternity with the God I love, and my friends and family and my older brother: Jesus Christ." My companions and I thought that was the greatest answer ever! 

We have exchanges tonight. Sister Williams goes back to her first area: Forest Grove with Sister Mower. Sister Templin and I will stay and be joined with Sister Agader who served in Newberg a few months ago. We are enjoying the work. I just wanted to share my testimony about the 8th article of faith: 

"We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God." 

The Bible has been translated so many different times and there are so many different versions available. I am grateful to have a prophet on the earth who receives revelation from God for each of us and that we have the Book of Mormon, which is pure and untainted by the world of men. I know that the Book of Mormon is the most correct book on earth and it will bring you closer to God and Jesus Christ than any other book!  If you don't believe me, then pray and ask God and he will tell you! 

I went on a cruise!!

Jada's Baptism! Sister WIlliams, Jada, and I!

I went on a cruise!! Embark in the service of God, beehive conference!

Sister Williams, Jada, Sister Martin, and Sister Dibble

Selfie!!!! :)

Scooby Doo Mystery Machine!!

Sister Williams and I have had a busy week!! Jada was baptized this Saturday! I was asked to speak about the Holy Ghost. It is a lot easier to speak at a baptism because I focus on the person who is getting baptized, and I know Jada. She is a wonderful girl who went to her grandma in January and told her she wants to be baptized, so we started teaching her and she has now been able to be baptized!! 

We were then able to go to the Beehive Conference which was called Embark in the Service of God. So we boarded a "cruise ship" and Sister Williams and I were the special guest speakers, which was crazy intense. I got to tell them about my knee and a mini mission and how they can be good missionaries to their friends by being an example and also sharing the gospel with them. Sister Williams was able to talk about leaving a scholarship for volleyball and softball behind in Kansas. She told them she was going to serve a mission and they said that she would not hold her scholarship and she chose to come on a mission anyway. 

We are teaching a boy named Norris who is getting baptized this next Saturday. His mom is a member and his dad is not. Norris asked both of his parents to speak at his baptism!!! We think that is exactly what his dad needs to start taking the lessons and learning more about what the rest of his family believes. 

This week has been full of miracles, very intense, but great. I am excited to see the hand of the Lord in the rest of this transfer. My companion and I need to open our mouths and find more people to teach!! 

April 23rd! New companion!

We were able to go to the temple this morning for our Preparation Day! Sister Cluff drove us and we had a blast! Sister Williams is my new companion from Clinton Utah and she has been on her mission for 16 months, so these are her last 2 transfers. She has a twin brother who is serving in the Manchester England mission. She has 6 siblings including her twin brother. 

We are getting haircuts from Sister Dibble today, which is exciting! 

This transfer is so exciting because we have 4 baptisms coming up. Jada is 11 and she is getting baptized this Saturday! Then Brianna is 10 and she is getting baptized on Friday May 1st. A boy named Norris is getting baptized the next day: May 2nd, he's 10 and then Skyler is getting baptized on May 16th, and she is 13. What a great time to be in Newberg, we have so many miracles!!! 

Yesterday we were driving by a diner and Sister Williams told me to pull over because she saw President and Sister Samuelian, so I did. They had taken out 2 sisters from Forest Grove to lunch and they invited us to eat with them too! It was awesome! 

The highlight of this transfer so far has been the Temple! What a blessing to be able to go to the temple! There are over 140 temples all around the world. It is the only place where the rest of the world does not matter! 

April 13th

Wow, it has been two transfers already!! My trainer is leaving me. I get another companion tomorrow and I will find out where Sister Kinneard is leaving next. The other day, we were looking at the interactive pamphlets that the church has and we said that these are the modern day flip charts. 

We have 3 baptisms coming up in the next 6 weeks, very exciting!! I'm not sure I'm ready for Sister Kinneard to leave yet, but we will do whatever the Lord asks of us. If he thinks I am ready, then I am ready. We have seen a lot of miracles lately, and we even saw a rainbow this week!!! 

The guy in the purple shirt is Sandor and he is from Europe and he is in the Newberg 2nd ward! He is one of the best people I have ever met!!

The guy in the blue sweater is our investigator named Quentin! He turned 91 last week! He is amazing and we're sad because he is moving tomorrow!

This is Sister Kinneard and I and Sister Natalie Masse, her parents are "technology" missionaries here in the mission and she just got back from serving a mission in the Philippines!

Selfie!!!

Happy Easter!!

We had a mini-missionary this last week! Sister Cheyenne Forest from Albany, Oregon! We had a blast! She put in her papers almost 2 weeks ago and is now waiting for her call! Sister Forest and I took our 91 yr old investigator: Quentin to the temple! It was great! He is going back to Arizona in a week though.

We had an amazing Easter dinner with a member in our ward. She made lettuce wraps and they were so good!! Then she gave us about 50 cookies that she had wrapped for us to give to our investigators. We got to deliver them on Easter! 

We also got to watch Conference, which was fantastic! The first session of conference we watched with one of our investigator families! Conference weekend is the best!

We had a missionary meeting yesterday about technology, so we got to have preparation day today instead. The Family History Center was open today but when we got here, their internet was down. So I unplugged the router and plugged it back in and then plugged in another wire that was unplugged and voila' all better! Yesterday, I helped two different investigators fix their tvs too! It sounds amazing, but I really just unplug stuff and plug it back in and it works for some reason. I love being helpful though and I'm grateful for the many opportunities I have been given to serve others!  

Week 9!

This week, Sister Kinneard and I have been focusing on sanctifying and consecrating and purifying ourselves to the Lord. It has been hard work, but we've seen amazing changes in ourselves and the work already! 

We watched the movie Legacy with one of our investigators on Friday. We talked about the pioneers and how they were persecuted for their beliefs and then we talked about the Restoration of Christ's church! It was amazing! She is trying to quit smoking and she asked if she could receive a Priesthood blessing to help her, so the next day we brought the couple from our dinner appointment and Bishop Haupt and his wife and their daughter and son-in-law and they gave her a blessing! It was amazing! The spirit was so strong in her apartment  at the time. She came to church with us the next day!!! 

We've been telling everyone about the video #BecauseHeLives, the words at the end are my favorite!! 

We had our interviews with President and Sister Samuelian on Wednesday! They came to inspect our apartment and we passed with flying colors! Because our apartment is so small, we each got to take a walk around the block with President for our interview, it was great! We are getting a mini-missionary tonight! Sister Forest will be with us for a week! We are borrowing a bed from the ward YW President: Sister Freeman! We will pick Sister Forest up tonight! We're super excited!! 

I have been thinking about this short little video that I remembered seeing a while ago about a man who bore his testimony and it was plain but powerful! I couldn't remember anything else or where to find it, but sister Kinneard has a Doctrine and Covenants video guide with lots of church movies and clips on it and it was on there!! The clip is short and it is called: A Man Without Eloquence. This is the link to it on LDS.ORG: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-07-048-a-man-without-eloquence?lang=eng    The summary says: "The testimony of a humble teacher helps Brigham Young become converted to the restored gospel." You should watch it and if you haven't seen the new Easter video that came out on Saturday: Because he Lives, you should do that too!!!

#BecauseHeLives!

2 Months!!

Sister Kinneard and I went tracting yesterday with the intention of passing out copies of the Book of Mormon. After the first few doors of no interest, we were becoming discouraged. Then we had one door who opened it and then closed it and said to the others that we were Jehovah's Witnesses. We knocked again to correct them and they ignored us. We had decided to leave and as we were getting in the car, we decided there were four more doors on that street, so we needed to knock at least one more door. 

We knocked and a guy named Jeremy answered and we gave him a Book of Mormon. Then we were going to leave, but we knocked on one more door. A man answered and he told us that he already meets with spanish missionaries and has a spanish Book of Mormon. 

Then we knocked on one more door and met a 14 year old boy: Christian. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he was really interested and we gave him another copy of the Book of Mormon to give to his friend. He has spring break, so we can't teach him for another week, we taught him to pray though! It was great! 

We knocked on the last door and gave a spanish Book of Mormon to a guy named Gustavo, he's interested in becoming the best person he can be. It was an amazing hour yesterday! We taught Jada this week, she's 11 and amazing! She's getting baptized on April 25th. Her dad has been coming back to church since October and he is a recovering addict. His mother has prayed for him for over 30 years and she is seeing her prayers answered now and she is receiving even more blessings. Her other grandson, Jordan, Jada's brother is interested in learning more too! 

We had dinner with the Paynes last night, they are an amazing family, both are RMs. We've been teaching this 91 year old man named Quentin, he needs company more than anything and if he doesn't embrace the gospel in this life, then he will in the next!! 

Sister Kinenard reached her year mark!! I am so blessed to be here in Newberg!!

These are pictures from weeks ago of Sister Kinneard and I in Jac's Diner!

I almost thought this was the TARDIS!!!!

 Amanda, Sister Kinneard, and I. Amanda is leaving for her mission on April 1st and she is going to Chicago Illinois!!

Zone Training Meeting Friday, March 20th: Hermana  Villalobos  Sis Kinneard,  Hermana Meise, Hermana Barrios, Hermana Johnson and I!  Hermanas Barrios and Meise are our sister training leaders and they are actually in the Keiser Zone.