It's a Girl

Hello family and friends!

Sister Lundquist and I are the proud recipients of a white, 2014 Chevy Cruze!! Her name is Zoe :) We received the good news via phone call Friday afternoon. We were told to be at the Stake Center in a half hour so we found a member who could take us and we went and picked it up! It felt so wonderful to drive home. It came just in time too; this weekend was a bit stormy. Everyone around here says they've never seen a fall this beautiful! We joke that they benefited from the Lord blessing us with nice weather while we were on bike. And now that we're not on bike, the rains are coming! Every time it has rained or we've gone up a hill these past few days we've counted our blessings :) I was on bike three days shy of nine weeks! 

We had a great week!! (As usual) It started out very fun with a trip to Portland on Monday. We went sightseeing with a member who knows the area really well. Our first stop was Voo-Doo Doughnut (hopefully you received my post card :)). We then took some pictures by the "Keep Portland Weird" sign and walked around all the food carts. We then went to Powell's bookstore. It was fun to see, even though we couldn't open any of the books. We ate lunch at a place called Little Big Burger; it's a fantastic little burger place with delicious fries. After lunch we stopped at a few quaint little shops, including Anthropologie. Sister Lundquist and I each bought a matching, adorable, hand-made bowl. It's the perfect oatmeal bowl! (Our other bowls are rather small and the oatmeal overflows in the microwave.) I'd love for this to become a tradition with each companion--to buy something matching. (Sister Porter and I have matching rain jackets.)

Monday night we followed up with R, J, and N regarding their thoughts on the visitors center. It was a quick doorstop visit with R  but we asked her if she had any questions. She said she knew she had some but she couldn't  remember them at the moment. We told her she could ask us any question anytime and we set up a return teaching appointment for Saturday. The next day, she texted us saying that she had some warm banana bread if we wanted some so we stopped by their home that night as well. She invited us in and we ended up talking about the temple for a half an  hour! She confessed that the banana bread was her alibi to have us come and talk with them ;) Haha. Since I'm already talking about them, I'll just tell you how our Saturday teaching visit went. We had a wonderful lesson!! R is becoming so studious! She had with her a study journal and had highlighted many verses from throughout the Book of Mormon (she's never highlighted it before, even though we suggested it several times). On Monday we had left her with a reading assignment and she said when she was reading upstairs she couldn't remember the assigned portion and didn't want to go downstairs to get the piece of paper so she just read where she thought she was supposed to from memory. She loved what she read and found out later that day that she had, in fact, read the wrong chapter. She told us she knows that wasn't a coincidence :) My favorite part though was that she said she also read the last chapter of Moroni. Her words were, "I had to know how the Book of Mormon ends!" Hahaha. It was a breakthrough with J too!! You see, he usually sits on the couch while we're at the table with R but this time he joined us and was a full participant-bible in hand! He asked questions, made comments and said he's curious!! Miracle :) We taught about the difference between the power and gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a neat discussion! They are SO close to being baptized!! It's wonderful to see them progressing again. Unfortunately, they didn't come to church. R said she doesn't own a skirt and we told her it would be fine if she wore slacks but I think that's the reason she didn't come. She did say that she wanted to go buy one though. We'll get to see them for sure on Wednesday because they signed up to feed us dinner!! :) We left them with daily reading assignments from the Book of Mormon. It was a pretty cute idea too; we made seven envelopes each with their respective day written on the outside. Each day has a theme and a cute little object inside. Example: Friday has a small rock inside with the scripture Helaman 5:12. R also gave us each a cute bookmark for our scriptures :) She's so sweet! 

Wednesday we had another great lesson with B! He knew the members present from high school! (It turns out that a lot of people from the Woodhaven ward went to the same high school in Lake Oswego) We talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy and the importance of the sacrament. The spirit was strong and you could tell he was wanting to change. After the lesson, we walked out of the room we were in at the church just as the scouts were getting through with their activity. B was able to meet many ward members!! We have yet another lesson set up for this Wednesday. He's our most faithful 'investigator'! We're planning to teach the Restoration. 

On Thursday night Brother P was stuck at work and had to cancel on us last minute. We asked the couple we had dinner with if they could go with us to the teaching appointment. They agreed and drove us over there. When we got to the door, we found a note. It said: "Dear Friends, I didn't have your contact information, to alert you that I had business that must be completed tonight. Yes, I am literally working 70+ hours a week. Crazy, but it won't be this way for long. It is my sincere desire to meet with you. If you wish, please leave your contact information for later rescheduling. In His name, N." What a kind apology! 

We had our second lesson with Chris on Friday in the L's home. We taught the Plan of Salvation and he said it answered many questions he's been having! Brother L was able to tell his conversion story and he's becoming great friends with the family. We talked a lot about baptism but didn't invite him (the spirit didn't prompt us to) We have another lesson set up this week--same time, same place. We texted him later that night and told him that he could ask us any questions whenever. He said he would and that he was reading some more out of the book we gave him last time. We textified (testified over text--Sister Lundquist and I coined that term ;)) of the importance of the Book of Mormon and receiving a witness that it's true. He replied, "Yeah, a lot of this stuff is making sense. It helps having you guys explain it to me though so I can understand it better. Hopefully I can get closer to Him as time goes on." We're planning to commit him to baptism this week. We also brought up the idea of the singles ward with him and he said he likes the traditional family ward but that he'd attend the singles ward at least once to see what it's like. It would probably be a better fit for him; he's kind of out of place in a family ward. But everything will work out how it's supposed to, I'm sure! What's most important is lasting conversion and retention. 

On Friday morning we helped the L with yard work. Weeding can be fun and satisfying. We also took care of the many leaves in their backyard. I'll attach some pictures if I remember. She fed us some delicious soup for lunch! She's going to give us the recipe. Speaking of which, I'm making a mission cook book! I have seven recipes so far! On Saturday night, the family who signed up to feed us dinner was having their annual pumpkin potluck! I got the recipe for the pumpkin-sausage lasagna they served. Also present were a plethora of pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies, roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin crescent rolls with pumpkin honey butter (delicious!! We're still trying to track down the recipe) and pumpkin doughnuts. They said it's fun to see what everyone brings each year. Speaking of food, last Sunday we had some delicious salmon and yesterday we had some mouth-watering tilapia (however you spell it). What made it so yummy was probably the mozzarella cheese on top. 

Each day during companionship study this week, we planned for E. And each day nothing really came to mind as to what we should teach her. Finally on Thursday we felt like we should go over the baptismal interview questions with her. During the subsequent days we tried to formulate a lesson plan but it just wasn't coming together. We discussed some things we could talk about and discussed her needs as we were meeting with the bishop on Saturday. We used many of the things he shared with us in our lesson and it went fairly well. She had never heard the baptismal interview questions and she said she didn't have a problem with any of them. She said she still doesn't feel ready and we explained that these are the qualifications the Lord has set. In life we're never truly read for anything; there's always more planning and preparation that could go into it. She said she's still waiting for that confirmation and that she'll know when she knows. We'll continue to plan for how we can most help her prepare for baptism. 

This week the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 64:33 has been on my mind. Many times it feels like Sister Lundquist and I are indeed laying the foundation for a great work. Missionary work requires patience; you can't force spiritual things. The spirit withdraws in times of desperation, coercion, and pride. As we pray and plead for the Lord's help and then take a step back, everything will fall into its rightful place and we can trust that we're doing His will. I am so grateful for the spirit and all of your prayers in my behalf. I love seeing the spirit work in the lives of those we're teaching. The spirit of God is the true converter; he deserves all the credit. By myself I am imperfect but all the Lord has to work with is imperfect people so he mercifully gives us the tools we need to do His work. He also gives us the people we need to help us along the way. As we saw on another church's billboard yesterday: "Gifts from God come wrapped in people." I am glad God has given me you :) I love you all!

Love,

Sister King