Soon the missionary one-two punch of having two Sisters Bishop out and about will come to an end. It's a bummer to not be there for Becky's homecoming, but I trust my mom and dad will do a pretttttty good job of making her feel loved and well-adjusted.
The field is white in Lincoln - some of the youth we are working with include Amaura, Emily, Makai and Andrew. All of them want to be baptized, so we are doing our best to get them fully integrated into the Lincoln Ward and helping each of their parents want to learn more about the gospel too. These kids are like sponges - they just want to to everything and love everyone and have no reservations. They just want to be like Jesus. They are direct, honest and simple. They also have a five-second attention span, but I digress.
For Halloween, we had our Zone meeting (which required a pit stop to pick up dinner to go from the nicest Vietnamese family ever)
And if anyone was worried about missionaries not getting candy because we don't Trick or Treat...don't be. The Tacoma East Zone was abundantly blessed with goodies from family, friends and ward members.
After we had some training and prepped for our upcoming Mission Tour with Elder Snow next week, we ate/talked/goofed off and watched a thrilling movie..."The Best Two Years" (which made all of us grateful to not have to speak Dutch.)
Since we can't proselyte in costume, we saved some simple ones for our meeting - hence the Cambodians came as asian women, Allenmore and Lincoln elders were some low-key ninja turtles and I was a Hogwarts student.
(Don't mind the 'staches.)
All in all, it was a memorable Halloween for us Lincoln missionaries
Pop Quiz!
Daylight Savings Time:
a) makes Washington darker even earlier
b) makes knocking doors in the rain even more fun
c) is the only way missionaries get an extra hour of sleep
d) all of the above.
(if you were still wondering, the correct answer is d)
It's getting darker/wetter/colder which isn't super fun, but makes having lessons indoors even nicer.
Sister Lomu and I even found a "Little Library" in our area - so we're experimenting with how long our Book of Mormon will stay inside.
Other silliness involved going bowling with the zone on p-day.
Elder Kearns being Elder Kearns:
(he even knocked down 9 pins)
Sister Lomu and I have had a great time here in Lincoln. We are teaching some awesome people and have way too many weird things happen each day. Some of the more quotable quotes from three of our investigators lately include:
"I wanna take a break. Maybe for a week...for a month...maybe forever?"
"So, my court date is the day before my baptism. Can I get baptized in jail?"
"Hold up, the word of wizards says I can't do meth?"
Missionary work: it's a joy in Tacoma.
With all of these fun things happening lately, us missionaries have been asked to really focus on faith as a mission; to prepare for the Mission Tour and for life.
I have been thinking about faith, and how faith alone is not enough. Usually this is meant to imply faith without action, but sometimes our faith alone isn't adequate. Some miracles require collective faith.
In Alma 19, the Lord restates his promise to a dedicated and faithful father: "Now we see that Ammon could not be slain, for the Lord had said unto Mosiah, his father: I will spare him, and it shall be unto him according to thy faith—therefore, Mosiah trusted him unto the Lord."
Ammon's safety and success depended on Mosiah's faith too.
Elder Wong addressed this in General Conference with Christ healing the man with palsy - "when Jesus saw their faith" (Mark 2:5) the man was able to be healed physically and spiritually.
The faith of others, be it parents, friends, ward members or companions is the key to miracles. Our mission has been praying daily together for increased faith and for each other - which has only opened the door for greater miracles to be wrought in our areas and our individual lives.
Ain't this the best thing ever?
Signing off,
Elizabeth
P.S. Lincoln just got a new greenie - welcome Elder Goldstrohm (:
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