Week ending February 24, 2014

This was by far the BEST week of my mission so far. It was so full of so many amazing miracles that I am struggling to even know where to begin! Sister McEntire hit my all mission high of lessons this week. We taught 35 lessons and we got 8 new investigators!!! There are so many people here in Overlake that are so prepared and just waiting for the gospel to enter their lives!

Here is our newest goal.... START A HINDI BRANCH! of course only if that is the Lord's will, but we have been saying "have the faith to start a hindi branch, teach like we are starting a hindi branch, etc." This area is literally 99% Indian and they are all so sweet and wonderful people. Many of them are Hindu and they do not believe in our God but they believe in A GOD which means that we have common round. It is so amazing to see how different their culture is. We knock on people's doors and they immediately allow us into their homes without even knowing our names or our purpose for being there. They are so kind hearted. So here are a few of the miracles of our week:

(This is a mirace blast we sent out to the whole mission)

We have had some amazing miracles in Overlake! We have been studying as a companionship about the city of Enoch and how it will one day return to the earth. We have been discussing how our righteousness and obedience as missionaries will help turn the Washington Seattle mission into the city of Enoch! So yesterday we had plans to find our potential *Sara, who lives in our apartment complex, but her address was incomplete. So we assumed she was in building M like the other potentials in our complex. However, when we knocked, no one answered, so we continued on our day. Fast forward to 8:53 P.M... We knew we had 8 min left and we had been praying that we would find one more new investigator this week, who was ready to hear about the gospel. So we ran from door to door in the building we live in to find our last minute miracle. First few doors... Nothing. With 3 minutes left on the clock we decided we would sing a hymn to the next person that answered the door and then be on our way... Well the door was answered by a nice CHRISTIAN HINDU! WHAT!?!? That doesn’t happen... Ever... She invited us in and we sang "Nearer my God to thee". She loved the song. We had a prayer with her to bless her home and then she asked us if we knew of a church around because she has been looking for one for six months! So of course we told her about church and set up a church tour for this next Saturday. We exchanged numbers with her and she told us her name was.... *SARAI!!! When we exchanged numbers she was already in our phone! She IS THE POTENTIAL WE TRIED TO FIND THAT MORNING! Elders and Sisters God wanted her to be found and there are so many others in your areas too. Go find them. We know that as we are obedient and run to the last minute, our Father will lead us to those waiting. -Overlake *Names have been changed.

We met another woman named Vibha. We knocked on her door, she opened it and said "please, come in" we proceeded to teach her about the God head and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We committed her to baptism and she said yes! She is going back to India for a few weeks though so we don't have a specific date set yet.

We decided to visit some formers and we picked a few out of our area book. We went and saw one named Nayer. Nayer is Muslim and is very interested in Christianity. The teaching record said that she was staying at her sisters back in October and that is why the missionaries stopped seeing her.
We decided to see if she was back now and this is the amazing part. She was back but only for one hr! she hasn't been to her apartment since october because she was living with her sister. She said she had decided to stop by her own apartment just that day and for just one hr. We ran into her the one hr she was home in 5 months time. NOT A COINCEDENCE! I know miracles do happen!

There were so many more miracles this week. This is just the beginning. I KNOW we will see even more miracles this week because the Lord is preparing people! Now is the time for his work to go to all nations!!! God is so good. Don't ever ever doubt that! He loves each and every one of you! I know this is true and he has a plan for each of you to have the most happiness and peace in your lives.

I was studying about the melennium this week and how we know that Satan will be bound during that time. I had an epiphany though....WE have to be the ones to bind him! It will be our righteousness that will make it so Satan will have no power over the hearts of men. I have often thought that the Melennium will come in the due time of the Lord... it will, but that doesn't mean that we can't help it along. As we live each day more righteously and truly seek after our Lord and Savior, Satan will have no power over our hearts or homes. It will be our strength and our testimonies that will leave him powerless. Just like in Revelations 12:11! We have this power! Now is the time to use it!!!!

People came up to us this week asking us questions about Jesus Christ and what we believe, that is the time we live in now! People are SO hungry for the word of God and they are seeking it so diligently that they are running to and fro to find the truth! I am so thankful that I have the call to be a representative of the Lord to help those seeking truth to receive answers!

I read a wonderful talk this past week that I highly encourage ALL of you to read! I can't find it on LDS.org but I will make a copy and send it to mom so you can all get it from her. but if you ever want to get fired up about missionary work and understand the importance of it a little more... READ IT!!! it is called Create Success. It is by Elder Ballard. SOOOO GOOD! Basically NOW is the time to act in faith and success isn't luck. So if you want to be successful ACT!!!!

On another note.... Transfers came... and I got ANOTHER new companion ha ha 4 comps in 6 weeks. I am on a roll! But on another note... SISTER NUDD CAME BACK!!!! WAHOO!!!! so glad she came back :)

I will miss Sister McEntire so much, she taught me so much in the two weeks we were together and she truly helped me love my mission like I never have before. She will do awesome in her new area. My New companion is named Sister Tanner and she is from Temple Square. So she is here for just two transfers. I am so excited to help her get excited and involded in the work of "little India"

(apparently I look sick from my kidney stones (they are reoccurring but not as bad as before) Sister Choi pulled me aside at transfers today and tole me I looked sick and thin.... great... I thought I was doing AWESOME!!! ha ha so now her and President Choi are keeping an eye on me. Honestly though I am doing great! slight pain I can handle and it is soooo much better than before :) )

Inspirational thoughts for the day....

Hurrah for Overlake!!!! ha ha (the new zion)

Alma 26:12 "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God for in his strenth I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in (overlake), for which we will praise his name forever" Ah How GREAT IT MY GOD!!!!!

What kind of missionary do you want to be? Alma 48:17 "Yea, Verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold the very powers of hell would have been shaken for ever, yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men." LET US BE LIKE MORONI!!!

Family/ Friend challenge:

Okay listen up everyone! I need testimonies/reasons why you love God. on paper please. Send them anonymously please and then I will give them to the people here that I teach. The people here have no concept of God (it is like I am on a foreign mission) so I need peoples testimonies and love of the Lord!!!! please send them my way!

10675 NE 20th st.
Bellevue WA 98004

(PS letters to me are appreciated too ;) )

I love you all so much but more importantly so does our Father in Heaven! I will write you more next week!!!! Stay wonderful!!!! Ps I am learning Hindi!!! ha ha

I made mom’s delicious dairy free cupcakes! Everyone loved them!!!!!

Our NEW CAR!!!! Oh yeah!

Delicious Benyats (sp?) from Louisiana! Oh I wish there was more!

Go Seahwaks!!!!

We got Jeanie pants from “little India”

Awesome District

We are going to start a HINDU branch!

Book of Mormon in Hindi!

Week ending February 16, 2014

Hello Everyone!!!! Well this week has been AMAZING!!!! So many miracles happened in Overlake. So this will be a little different this week but instead of telling you all about the days I am instead going to tell you about our investigators!!!! (and then some adventures)

Tatiana- Tatiana Is maldovian and she is wonderful!!! She was unfortunately sick this week but we tried to take her some soup and in the process we ended up having an impromptu lesson with her!!! wahoo! She has amazing faith and loves the Bible sooo much. She is having a hard time reading the Book of Mormon at this point but she does believe that the Lord would and does speak through prophets today. she just doesn't know who it is ha ha. She will get there.

Pratima and Ananta Sharma- This is our Nepali couple and oh man did we see miracles with them this week. We have pretty much taught them everything at this point but they don't really understand everything due to the language barrier. So we tried to show them finding faith in Christ this week. Our DVD wouldn't play on their laptop though so we pulled it up on
LDS.org and watched a video clip of the nativity with them! It was amazing!!!! Pratima has been feeling the spirit all along and told us she believes in God. Ananta is a scientist and he has had a harder time with the concept of a Loving Father in Heaven. But... after watching this movie he told us that he had goosebumps and that he felt good inside... Hello Spirit! So wonderful! We had to get running so we asked if we could have a prayer and Ananta raised his hand immediate and asked if he could say it! He offered such a sweet prayer and said he was thankful for the "energy" that they had felt! So happy for him that he felt and recognized the Spirit. We also got them to agree to start meeting with us two times a week!!! wahoo!!! So happy to meet with them more often to help them recognize the Lord and his plan for them!

Nidhi- Nidhi is our Indian investigator and she is soooo cute! We found her tracting and she told us we could come back to share more about Jesus Christ and his life! She is Hindu but she believes that all religions are good so she wanted to learn more about Christianity. So we began teaching her about the plan of salvation. We got to earth life and we were discussing the Role of Jesus Christ as our Example and we explained his atonement and how much he did for us. We then discussed how he was baptized and invited her to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized and she said YES! She is planning to be baptized on March. 15th. and guess what!?!?! She came to church on Sunday!!! Wahoo! She actually came to the church on Sat. morning thinking that was the day we said to come and thankfully people were there cleaning the church. She talked to them and they told her it was Sunday instead so she came back! She said she felt so peaceful in the church. We got to give her a church tour and She loved it! She is excited to come back next sunday and to bring her little girl to "feel more peace". We are meeting with her on Tuesday night and I cannot wait.

Raine and Richard Mo-  Our Chinese Couple. So we have been meeting with the Mo's for a while and they have finally agreed to meet with us weekly! We were able to give Raine a Chinese Book of Mormon this week to read along side of her English one and she is so excited to be able to understand it better! She is so sweet and so sincere in her desire to know if God is really there! Love them!

Alexis- our Hispanic investigator. He is so great!!!! So he is actually our Recent converts boyfriend. He started asking questions because he told us that he saw a change in his girlfriend in a good way. We gave him a Book of Mormon on Wednesday and when we met with him on Saturday he had read over 10 ch.! He doesn't know much about God but he told us he sincerely wants to learn about him and the plan he has for him! He is on date for baptism on March 22nd! He is really sincere in his desire to learn and he is excited to keep meeting with us!

Those are our AWESOME investigators! Don't worry we will find more this week ;)

Other fun things that happened this week.

Our Car broke ha ha we had to get new brakes, new front roter (sp?), and a new front axel... so the church sold our car and gave us a new one!!! and I mean NEW one! the vehicle coordinator loves my companion and I and for "dealing" with our run down car he gave us a 2014 Ford Fusion! I know Dad is a FORD but... it is soooooo nice! It is like a race car!!!! And we named him  "Fitzwilliam Darcy" from Pride and predjudice ha ha yup car owned by two Jane austen loving sister missionaries.

We got awesome sea hawks shirts this week! ha ha we thought they were seahawks eating broncos but somehow missed it was a seahawk eating a 49er ha ha oops oh well.

oh pday we went to India and china ha ha oh the fun of thrift stores in a culturally diverse area ;)

oh and my companion and I totally found out what I look like with super long hair ha ha oh the fun of sister missionaries! ha ha

 

 

 

Week ending February 10, 2014

Whew another week gone... and this one had snow!!!! Yup it snowed in Seattle! Wahoo!

This week has been crazy to say the least. Sorry if this email is a little short but... I have a new companion! Her name is Sister McEntire and she is AMAZING!!!!! She is a DANCER!!!! Ha as you can see... perfect match already! So what will we be doing for morning exercise you ask? Ha ha teaching each other Modern and Ballroom! Wahoo!

So Sister McEntire came to me on Thursday and we have had a blast! Our Nepali Investigating couple came to church on Sunday again which makes time #2!!! wahoo! They are so sweet! Pratima (The wife) is coming to our Relief society activity on tuesday and we are so excited!

Sister McEntire came from the UW area and she has never tracted before... only contacted... which is great because I haven't really contacted ever. So we are teaching each other and we are excited for the many miracles we will see this week!

Love Sister Franzen

Sorry super short this week but fun story of the week... so we were doing dishes and apparently our dishwasher is broken.... so we are now washing everything by hand ha ha

New Companions! (sister Mcentire (Utah) and Sister Franzen) p.s. fun fact… we are the exact same size in clothes ha ha except height. HA my closet just grew x2! He he just what I needed ;)

I love the snow!

Week ending February 3, 2014

Where has the time gone?!?! It is Feb. already! Well here was my week!

Mon- We met with Isabel (recent Convert) and her girls and played a jeopardy for Mormons review game ha ha. It was so much fun! I love when we can have "fun with the spirit".

Tuesday- This was my click day!!! I have been out for 5 months?!?!?! Crazy! My Bump day is almost here! How is it going so fast? Okay my rant is done ha ha. We worked a lot with less actives this day and it was kinda sad. One of our less actives is mixed up in a really bad situation and won't get herself out of it because she doesn't see the need yet. We arn't even allowed into her house because the situation is so bad. :/ Really sad.

Wednesday- We met with a Less active named Wendy. She agreed to come back to church this day wahoo! Oh ha while we were finding this night Sister Moore slipped and fell hard... on a hill... of mud.... ha ha I tried to not laugh but it was so funny. Thankfully she thought so too. So we had to go home and get her cleaned up before we did anything else ha.

Thursday- We met with our Nepalian couple again. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ! They are sooo sweet. They are Hindu so we cover the basics of the nature of God most lessons. They really understood the importance of baptism this time though and they are praying about it!!! We got them to learn how to pray to God for answers!!! So happy!

Friday- We watched Johnny Lingo with our Less active this week! Ah so much fun and it has been so long since i have seen that Movie! It was like watching a really cheesy chick flick ha ha loved it!

Saturday- We met with a family named the Foo's and they are wonderful! They are members and they have really taken a liking to our Nepali couple and a Chinese couple we are teaching. They are having a Chinese new years Prosperity salad toss tonight (monday) and they invited Sister Moore and I, AND both of our investigating couples!!! wahoo Such awesome Member Missionaries!

Sunday- GO HAWKS!!!!  Ya the Seahawks won!!! WHILE I WAS HERE IN SEATTLE!!!

We also had Elder Aidukitias of the seventy joined us for Stake conference and it was great! The main message... the work is hastening!!!! Everyone has to get involved!

We all have a role and now is the time to start! The Field is White already to harvest (D&C 4) "Ready to harvest" not ready to plant. The time of planting seeds is over. we need to harvest those seeds that we have planted already and work with the Lord to bring all of our brothers and Sister to a knowledge of their Lord and Redeemer. Love you all! Work hard and go find your  miracles!

Love Sister Franzen

Week ending January 27, 2014

Wow this week has been a whirlwind of adventure.... so many things have happened I almost don't know where to begin.....

So being in a three some took some definite adjustment but we did it and we taught really well together!
Monday- We had a lesson with our investigator Raine on Monday and that was one of the coolest lessons I have ever been in. Raine is from Beijing and speaks really great English but she prefers to speak in Chinease. so we had a ward member come with us that speaks Chinese! It was so much fun to hear them speak a different language almost the entire lesson.

Tuesday- We met a man named Don on this day that talked to us for over an hr. about how our church is wrong. That was a VERY interesting conversation. But the Lord was with us and we were able to feel the spirit and help right some wrong misconceptions about the church. Don told us we believe Joseph Smith is the same as Jesus Christ.... um no ha ha no one can be as perfect and wonderful and redemptive as our savior ha ha But an interesting conversation none the less.

Wednesday- okay so we found a less active a little bit ago that doesn't have her records here in overlake. She is very interested in the church still but worried people will judge her. She is living with her boyfriend and they have two small children. Anyways we prayed going in that we would be able to get her birthday somehow so we could get her records so she can have visiting teachers.... well 10 minutes into the lesson she randomly (well not so randomly ha ha) gave us her birthdate and then kept talking!!!!! MIRACLE!!!

Thursday- This day was extremely long... we ended up having a 4 hr. interview with President choi to help out the area of overlake. Then we weekly planned. ha so we didn't get out until our dinner appointment with our nepalian investigator couple. Nepalian food.... delicious!!!! except their chicken had a lot of bones in it and the couple never pulled the bones out ha ha so we didn't either. Crunchy chicken... not my favorite.

Friday- oh friday.... this day was hard. One of my best friends out here ended up getting hurt and had to go home this day. and as a result.... our tripanionship became a duo... (Sister Crockett was transferred elsewhere)... So this day we got sister Crockett packed and off to her new area.

Saturday- We had our ward Chili cookoff this day and it was a huge success!!! our Nepali couple and our Chinese couple both came! It was sooo much fun to have them both there. We were able to give them both church tours and they both talked about the peace they felt in the chapel!!! so wonderful!

Sunday- okay so a little bit of back story. Soooo. we have an investigator named Isabel that was supposed to get baptized on this day.... and she forgot/didn't know (works a lot and literally didn't remember) so our Zone leader and district leader went to her  house sat. night and suprise interviewed her and so we had an impromptu baptism! It was one of the best baptisms I have been too! So Isabel met president Eaton (Mission Pres. in Federal way) in the airport and he introduced her to the Gospel. He gave her contact info. to President Choi ) My mission president) who gave it to Sister Eaton (president Eaton's daughter who just happened to be serving where Isabel lives!!! Sister Eaton has since been transfered and I came in but.... President Eaton got to come to her baptism and confirm her a member of the Church! Also President Choi and Sister Choi came... and Sister Moore played the Violin. (she has a fear of playing in front of people though, so I ended up singing in front of two mission presidents, one of who is a first member of the seventy. ya nerve racking)

Anyways Isabel got baptized and Miracles are happening!!!! Wahoo!!!!

Quote of the week: "Don't wait to do tomorrow what should be done today!"

This can be used in so many ways but there is on that I hope to never forget. That is that if someone is ready to be baptized then do it! Even though they are ready and will be ready the next day still do it, even if it will be inconvenient for you.  It is there salvation, their celestial glory, their forgiveness, and their eternal family. Always trust God who IS hastening his work" -Sister Kelsie Jade Mullins Oct. 2 2013

Week Ending January 20, 2014

Happy Martin Luther Kind day everyone!!! Hope you all had a wonderful last week. I had a great week myself in Bellevue WA!
    So one compleltly random fact of the week.... apparently the Seahawks are going to the superbowl?!? (if this is  not true ha ha I play the "I'm a missionary and don't watch TV card") But... how cool is it that the Seahawks are going the year I came to WA!!! Go seahawks!
    Okay onto missionary related news... we had 30 lessons this week! Wahoo! My New comps. are great! I have had awesome companions so far! I have two new comps. this time. Both are from Utah. One is named Sister Crockett and she is awesome and has red hair! The other is named Sister Moore and she is so sweet and we came into the field together actually! I will attatch a picture soon.
    So we taught a 14 yr. old named Bryan this week and he was great!!!! He was wanting to do a research project for school on the LDS church so he referred himself to Mormon.org to have missionaries come and teach him. Crazy!!! So we went over to answer his questions about the church and we ended up teaching him the first three discussions in one lesson!!!! He is now on date for Feb. 15! So awesome!
    We also have a lot of Hispanic people around here and I am getting to use my spanish now more then ever. Especially because we are teaching a hispanic family. The three teenage girls were baptized in dec. and the Mom is getting baptized this up coming Sunday! It has been fun to talk to her in spanish!
    We are also teaching a family from Nepal. Their names are Ananta and Pratima. They are very sweet. They don't know much about religion so we have to start at the basics but they seem to enjoy learning about and discussing the nature of God with us.
    So this week was a really wonderful week full of many many miracles. It was fun adjusting to a new area and learning that I have entered into "little India". Most of the families out here are indian and know nothing of God. It has been very fun to introduce them to the concept that they have a Heavenly Father that loves them and knows them individually.
     in other news I street contacted for the first time! we went to a bus stop and I got to talk to people from literally all over the world! So crazy how much diversity there is here in Seattle!
    Well I hope you all have an amazing week and I will talk to you next week!
Fav. hymn of the week: Savior Pilot me! #104
Fav. Scripture of the week Deuteronomy 31:6

L to R: Sister Crockett, Sister Franzen, Sister Moore

Week ending January 14, 2014

New area, New experiences, bring it on!!!

 

Wow this has been a whirlwind of a week and a half. For starters transfers were this morning and I was transferred. I am now in Bellevue, overlake area. Basically I live right across from the Microsoft campus! So that is pretty neat. I am in a tri-panionship now and I will send pics of my comps as soon as I have some. Funny thing is that I am in Sister Thompson’s greenie area now. Weird huh? She stayed in Normandy park and is going to take care of my area.

So now onto the week! We had some really good miracles one of which was…. ALICA WHITE GOT BAPTIZED!!!! That was the most exhilarating baptism I have ever been too! It all started with a power outage. The wind was so strong the night before that the power and HEATER was knocked out. So we were filling her font, and it was 40 degree water! It was freezing!!!! We tried boiling water on the stove and pouring it in to warm it up. We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off! Luckily the water heater was fixed and her water was around 70 degrees by the time of her baptism. Still not super warm but not awful at least. She has been so scared of water and she has been trying really hard to overcome that fear! She went swimming on Wednesday with the activity day girls and she got right into the water! We were so excited for her! Sister Thompson and I also knew that she hated the jumpsuits we get baptized in so we bought her an adorable baptism outfit on Monday with our Christmas money ha ha. She looked soooo cute! When it came time for her baptism she had a look of pure determination on her face. She walked right into the font pushed her dress down and then stood ready for the prayer to be said. The minute she came out of the water she booked it to Sister Thompson and I. We compared it to a wet cat trying to get out of water ha. But SHE DID IT!!!! The whole ward clapped! Everyone was so happy that she was able to overcome that fear! It was such a testimony builder for us all to see what faith can do! (Mom I send you a copy of her baptism talk in the mail it is the CUTEST thing ever! )

On Sunday Alicia was confirmed a member of the church and Jonathan received the priesthood!!! And Latrece Bynum got her first calling! Ah it was so amazing to see all the people I have taught and loved participating in church. After Alicia received the Holy Ghost she kept hugging her grandma and saying “I love you grandma! So Much!” Her grandma just kept crying and telling us she is a changed girl! So sweet to see the influence the Holy Ghost has!

It was amazing to be apart of Alicia and Jonathan's' conversions. This last transfer was very difficult with my kidney stones and we had to stay in a lot. But the ward was phenomenal and THEY baptized Jonathan and Alicia. Ya Sister Thompson and I helped teach them but the ward were the ones giving them rides, taking them swimming, giving them a place to live, and actually baptizing them! So amazing! That is the true meaning of being missionary minded and having the ward and missionaries work together!

Jonathan had a birthday party with us last night and it was a blast! I am so glad that I got to be there to celebrate his birthday with him. He hasn’t celebrated his birthday in 5 years!!! Sierra Leone has pretty much the same traditions as America though with a few differences. It is tradition in Sierra Leone that EVERYONE cute the birthday cake, no matter how many people there are. So that was an interesting feet. I am so thankful that I got to meet and teach all of the people of Normandy park Washington. I am going to miss them all terribly but the work goes on and I will be back!!!! (oh ya mom and dad, that is one of our stops on the end of mission trip ;) )

Great week and I am sure great things to come in my new area: "overlake!" To ZION TO ZION!!!

 

Week ending January 6, 2014

Hello Family,

                This has been a week full of miracles! 1^st miracle…. My stomach pains have gone down to the point of almost being gone 100% of the time!!! I know that everyone's prayers has played a huge role in that so THANK YOU! I really appreciate it. My companion and I were able to get out and really work for the first time this transfer and it was great!

Jonathan is still on fire and so ready to be ordained with the priesthood and receive his first church calling! He sent missionaries to His wife in Sierra Leone and also to his Mother in Law in Bowie, MD.  He is such a great example of the Love of Christ to me! It is amazing to think that Sister Thompson and I have been allowed to be involved in the work in Africa! Elder Holland just released a video about the work in Sierra Leone and you should all watch it! The people there are so honest! They have been waiting for the Gospel for so long and now they have it!!! Amazing!
http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-003-unto-all-the-world-the-stone-cut-out-of-the-mountain?category=prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world&cid=HPFR122713281&im=true

So we had a good new years! We planned to be asleep when the new year rolled in ha ha but we got woken up by fireworks ten minutes to the New Year. So… we were awake for 2014!!! Wahoo. It is going to be a great and crazy filled year. Our 2014 baptism goal went from 1200 souls to 1664 souls to be baptized in the year 2014! It is totally possible through the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Read Alma 26:22!!! We just have to encircle ourselves more with the spirit of Christ. If we change ourselves others will change as well! We had a great conference this week that talked about this! We must convert ourselves daily and repent if we want to bring others to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our example will far out way anything we can say!

We were working with Alicia again this week. She has been planning to get baptized this next week but it was not looking promising because she refused to go with us to the font and practice walking down the stairs and such. So we rescheduled and took her to the font with an 8 yr. old friend of hers that has also not gotten baptized yet. Well a miracle happened! The spirit was so strong at the font and she went down into the font over five times! We also turned on the water and she was willing to walk into the font with a little water! Then we had her “practice” bending over backwards with someone holding her so that she could be comfortable for her actual baptism. The result? She is sooo on fire and wants to get baptized this Saturday Jan. 11^th and she wants our ward mission leader, Brother Stewart, to baptize her!!!! And her little friend Jackie told another set of sister “When I was talking to my friend about her baptism, God was telling me in my heart that I need to be baptized” Ah sooo sweet! The Spirit was so strong and he truly touched the hearts of these two little girls. We shared a scripture in D&C that says “Doubt not, fear not” We know that with the Lord on our side we have nothing to fear!  Such a great reminder for all of us to trust in our Lord and have no fear!!!! He knows exactly what he is doing and he is watching over ALL his people, whether they be in OR, WA, ID, MD, DC, UT, or Sierra Leone!!! (I think I got where all my loved ones are if I missed somewhere let me know ;) )

Sunday was a really great day! It was our fast and testimony meeting and I felt the Spirit soooo strongly. Sister Thompson and I have been working with a really sweet Less active named Lavell Wildon. Lavell is a young lad of 94 ha ha. We have had dinner with him twice now and we asked him to come to church with us! He agreed! So he Came and it was sooo sweet. He had an eye removed a few weeks ago and the other one is quite blind as well. So I got to help him take the sacrament. I couldn’t help but feel the spirit so strong as I helped this friend and Brother in Christ take part in such a special ordinance. It was so sweet to look around the chapel and see those I have come to love so much eat the Bread and drink the Water that helps them to become clean each and every week. Sister Latrece Bynum and her son Jeremiah were there, Brother Jonathan Tengbeh was there, and so was a few part member families, and Brother Lavell Wildon. I couldn’t help but just feel so overwhelmed with love. This ward is so special and they take care of each other. They really helped take care of me with my kidney stones, whether they brought us juice and meals, or by taking investigators in and teaching them for us! They are such a blessing!  I shared my testimony on the Love of the Savior in observing the sacrament and by the wards assistance over the last transfer. After that Brother Jonathan Tengbeh got up and bore his first testimony in sacrament meeting. I couldn’t help but cry. It was so sweet to hear the love he has for this gospel, our Savior, and his family. It was a really sweet experience. After that we visited our dear friend Lavell and he said that it was really nice to be at church, and that it was something he hadn’t done in a really long time. He wants to come back again! So many miracles in one week!

One bummer thing of this week:  We hit a rock while driving…. Sister Thompson and I are both very short and neither of us saw the rock but it got our car good. It left a nasty scratch on the bumper and it pushed our bumper in a little bit. So unfortunately that means one of us will be leaving for sure at transfers because Sister Thompson’s driving privilege has already been revoked but they allowed her to be the driver this transfer, but now she won’t be allowed again. :/ So I may be leaving Normandy Park this next Tuesday (Transfers). I will of course be sad to leave Normandy Park since I have come to love the people here SO much, but as far as Sundays go, this last one was as perfect as they come. So not a bad note to leave on. Especially since Alicia is getting baptized on Saturday! J

Here are a few tips I have found over this last transfer:

1. Have a prayer journal. A Journal that you keep next to you while you pray. Take the time DURING your prayer and right down all thoughts and inspiration you receive. Don’t wait until the end or you may forget. Write questions you have down before you pray and see how our Father in Heaven answers them for you WHILE you pray. It works I promise ;)

2. Play TIC TAC TOE. So we had a mission conference a while back where we were given an acronym for missionary work. We were given TIC. Well Sister Thompson and I came up with TIC TAC TOE and I quite like it. Here is is:

T alk with everyone

I nvite to be baptized

C ommit them

T estify of Christ

A sk inspired questions

C onvert yourself daily

T hank Heavenly Father

O bey always

E ndure to the end.

If we play TIC TAC TOE every day we cannot fail! When we do this we are LIVING the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Learning Heaven! I love you all and I will write more next week! Love you!

Sister Jennifer Franzen

Week ending December 30, 2013

Hello Everyone! Can you believe Christmas was almost a week ago! Time sure is flying! I hope you all had a wonderful Christ filled Christmas! I know I had a really great Christmas.

It was soooo good skyping hope and having a little surprise on the other end! BRYCE AND CANDICE ARE ENGAGED!!!!! I am assuming everyone knows by now so I don’t feel bad about getting excited!!! WAHOOOO!!!!! I tried to convince them that April of 2015 sounded nice but I guess they aren’t having it! Bummer! Oh well, it’s great to know I will have another awesome Sister in law when I come home! I was so happy that I got to see Grandma and Grandpa Bartley and Franzen, Amanda and Nick + the kiddos (ps I love love love the pics of Khloe and Lennox!!! Lennox’s cheeks!!!! She is soooo big! I love those girls) I was bummed I didn’t get to see Heather and Keith + the kiddos but I am sure they are doing well.

So my Christmas was kind of quiet. I slept most of the day due to my kidney stones. We went to our ward mission leaders home for skyping and then we went to a family named the Renchers. They were very sweet and fed us so well! They gave Sister Thompson and I Towels for Christmas! So sweet! We went back home after that and slept the rest of the day away. Like I said it was a very quiet Christmas.

On Thursday I went back to the Doctor and it was not fun at all. Basically I have Kidney stones in both kidneys and there are several. They are too small to blast and should not be causing this much pain but the doctor thinks that I may have passed a larger stone this last week and that my body is irritated still. So He gave me a new pain med to help me out and thankfully it works! So we got out and worked! The meds give me a lot of energy which is great!

Our investigator Jonathan Tengbeh got baptized on SATURDAY!!!! So Jonathan… I met Jonathan (Jon-a-tin) in October with Sister Mullins. He moved here the third week of September from Sierra Leone, Africa. He left his pregnant wife (She had the baby three weeks after he moved here, a little girl named Mariathan (mary-a-tin)) and came to the Americas to try and build a better life for them. We would go and see him every week and teach him about the gospel. He seemed semi-interested but our teaching pool was small so we kept going back. We got really busy however and didn’t end up visiting him for two weeks! He called us out of the blue and asked where we had been! He missed us sharing the gospel with him! So we went back and he has been on Fire ever since. He is the best/worst part: The family he was staying with started persecuting him for meeting with us. Instead of having a roof over his head, he chose to continue meeting with us and learn about his savior Jesus Christ. So he became homeless, we couldn’t allow that to happen so we worked with the ward and got two different families to take him in for a time. They both fell in LOVE with Jonathan. He is the most kind hearted person you will ever meet. As we continued to meet with him we discovered that he had an amazing testimony of the Book of Mormon and Bible both being testaments of our Savior Jesus Christ, and that the plan that our savior has for each one of us is true and that Families can be together FOREVER! He has now sent missionaries to his wife and Mother in law and they are ecstatic about having the gospel in their lives. This man has brought so much joy into my companion and my life. We love every single time that we get to meet with him! His baptism was such a special event. Everyone cried, Including me! The Spirit was so thick and you could just see the joy of taking our Saviors name upon his face. He was so happy! His wife is so supportive as well. She sent him an awesome African outfit to wear after his baptism. He told us “I want to wear this after my baptism, I want to look like a changed man, I want to look like an angel” AND HE DID!!!! He is such a sweet example to me and I hope that my testimony and continue to grow and one day be as strong as Jonathans. I know that he came to the USA to get a job and such but I also have a firm testimony that he was meant to come here to bring the gospel to his sweet family back in Africa.

I want you to all know that I have a testimony that this Church is true. I know that is blesses families! I have seen it in my family and I am seeing it work in Jonathan’s family right now! I know that we have a loving heavenly Father that has given the scriptures to help guide us back to him again someday. I know that the Book of Mormon AND the Bible are both testaments of our Savior Jesus Christ, and they both help us be the best disciples of Jesus Christ that we can be. I Love my savior, I love my family, and I love my mission. In the name of my Brother and Friend, Jesus Christ, Amen.