Week Ending February 9th, 2015

Dear Family and Friends

This week was so amazing! I LOVE working with Sister Thinn. She is such a hard worker and she loves the Lord so much. We saw so many miracles this week. We worked hard and saw miracles while tracting every night. We still had the usual "not interested" and door slams that I have gotten the last 7 weeks here in Duvall, but this week was different! We taught 35 lessons and 16 were other lessons! We got 4 new investigators and two of which accepted a baptism invite. Only one is on date currently and we put her on date this morning in an apt. Duvall is on fire! We received 6 referrals from members and this morning another member asked us if we may come have dinner sometime soon with her and her non member Father. The ward is trusting us and the work is moving forward. 

Training is going great! I feel like Sister Thinn came pre-trained. Before we would even discuss training and her focus areas she would bring them up and ask questions. She is so eager to learn and she has such a love for missionary work. I love hearing her testimony of the Book of Mormon and baptism. She is so powerful. I learned so much about the importance of keeping and extending commitments this week. We have people to teach and I have been brought to tears of Joy more then once this week.  Miracles are happening and I know it is the hand of the Lord.  I love serving here in Duvall. Here is some insight into some of our miracles this week:

Katherine- So while we were out tracting this week we knocked a street with no sucess... We had about 30 min. left of our finding time and we were finishing up the street we were on. We talked to a lady and she told us she was not interested in learning about a church but she gladly accepted the offer to pray with her and let us pray for her sick mother. While we were praying with her her neighbors came home. So after we left her house we decided to go and talk to her neighbors as well. I am SO glad we did! We met this amazing woman named katherine. She is so sweet and so prepared. She told us that she has many LDS friends, one of which has a son on a mission right now. She talked to us about how the family is so important to her and she has noticed a huge focus on families within our church. We shared the Family: a Proclamation to the world with her. https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation She agreed to read it. We also talked about church and she let us knkow that she is searching for a church right now! PERFECT! We invited her to church and then we sang for her. We sang "Nearer my God to thee" She teared up and told us that her brother in Law had been diagnosed with brain cancer that day and she wasn't sure how they were going to get through and we  just happened to bring a good message. We said a prayer with her and then she asked us to keep her Brother in Law in our prayers. We were able to go a step further and help her put her Brother in Law's name in the temple. It was so good to be able to help her to know and feel that people care, God cares, and prayers will be said for their family!

Collinwood Family- so a good half of our area is in the "boonies". Sister Thinn and I have decided as a companionship that when we go finding at 5, we spend the first lit hour in the boonies and when it gets dark we go to lit streets. At first we were scared of this prospect because dang some of those houses look like a man is going to run out after us with a rifle... not to mention there are no trespassing signs and mudd up to our ankles... everywhere... oh ya duvall is an ADVENTURE! Anyways we were tracting and we walked up to this house with a super long driveway... and before we can knock on the door a man answers and he is straight hippie.... first thing out of his mouth: "girls come in, get out of the rain!" Next thing we know his wife is rushing forward with handmade lotions and soaps and telling us "Here is a gift from one christian to another" So not what we expected. We started talking to them, and low and behold... they are looking for a church to go to! They are starting out a farm and building it and we are going back this week to help them build a pen for sheep ha ha awesome... never a dull moment here.

Temple names- Mom gave me names to take to the temple a few months ago and to be honest,.... I lost them. I have been searching for weeks for them with no luck. I really felt pressed to find them today. I searched everything I could think of. I said a prayer and continued to search. Finally I decided to go back to my personal study and search after. I opened the Book of Mormon and started reading about a war of all things and instantly knew where to look for the temple names! Talk about revelation through the Book of Mormon! Booyah! (I will get you the names soon mom ;) )

Mcbride Family- So there is a family in the ward here that I have been praying so hard to see. The mom died suddenly of a heart attack in september and she was in her early early 40's... devastating... anyways, in order to visit them we needed to take a woman over 16 and things have just not been working out for that. Last night we were at a different members for Sunday dinner, and who should join us, but the MCBRIDES!!!! I instantly knew my prayers had been answered and we got to share a message with the McBride family ;) God is so good!

Kassi, Robyn, Gail- These are 3 of our new investigators!!! Best part? They all three met with missionaries before. We knocked on their doors to see how they were doing and without saying hardly anything they all three ASKED for us to come back and teach them more! GOD IS PREPARING PEOPLE FOR US TO TEACH! P.s. we had an apt. with Gail this morning and she accepted a baptismal invite... WAHOO!!!!! Miracles ;)

Ukrainian Family-So this miracle is sort of bitter sweet. Sister Miller is originally from Ukraine and speaks fluent Ukrainian as well as Russian... We knocked on a door and got a 15 year old girl. We introduced the Book of Mormon to hear and we sang her "I am a child of God" We asked if we could come back and she hesitated and then told us her dad was a pastor of a "church of Jesus Christ". Her dad then came down and invited us in.... to tell us that we were drinking posion and damnation to our souls. Mind you all of this was being translated to us because he did not speak english.He said he was a prophet and if we read just the new testament (no old testament) then God would tell us who our husbands would be, and we would not need to wonder... um.... hmmm.... He told us that we don't read the bible and that we did not know what we read.... I tried to explain our Love for the Bible AND the Book of Mormon, but he did not understand. He kept saying that when we read the Book of Mormon "mormon's spirit is behind it and telling us what to do, not God. We tried to share scriptures that talk about how truth comes from God and that He will not ever deceive us... but he would not listen. He finally asked us to leave the Book of Mormon and never pick it up again. Sister Thinn and I realized that trying to explain things to him did not work, and he would not let us share anything from the Book of Mormon... The miracle you ask? We turned to the only thing we had left... our Testimony. We both bore powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it has blessed our lives and our family. We talked of how it testifies of our savior and Brother Jesus Christ. We were able to testify that because of the Book of Mormon we know that our families can be together forever and we know that God's plan is for his children. When we bore testimony it was the only time he looked us straight in the eye and did not need translation from his daughter. I can't explain it but he understood. He thanked us. He then sang us a song and had a prayer with us asked our Father to watch over us and keep us safe. It was a very sweet testimony to me that the spirit it the best teacher. My explanations and historical knowledge of the scriptures can do nothing... but my testimony can. The spirit helped him to know that we do know our Savior and that we love him. He  understood that we were not there to tear down his faith but that we wanted to remind him that he is a beloved son of God and that God  has a plan for him. It was a very sweet experience. 

Dan Vann- Dan vann is an awesome man that we met tracting. We had another night with no success... We  had 10 min. left of finding and a dark street. We decided to knock on the doors anyways. Got one door slam and then kept moving. We knocked on one and no answer... so we rang the door bell... Dan answered and he was one of the most pleasant and prepared people I have met. Right before knocking on his door we asked our Father in Heaven to guide us to someone that was prepared and we asked him to fill our mouths with his words. As we talked to Dan we were able to ask him about what Christ's atonement means to him and we had an amazing conversation with him. This led to introducing him to the Book of Mormon, The restoration of the gospel, we talked about the doctrine of Christ and we invited him to be baptized... and... he accepted! He is reading the Book of Mormon and He and his wife plan to come to church this next week! MIRACLES! 

AH DUVALL IS NOT DEAD! 6 weeks of door slams has finally paid off! We are teaching and miracles are everywhere! 

I have this joke that I have been telling myself and it is coming true... I love it... "I want to finish my mission like abinadi...on fire" ;) 

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1992/04/abinadi-prophet-and-martyr?lang=eng

I love my mission and I cannot wait for what the next 4 weeks bring! 

I love you all so much! May God bless you all and keep you safe!

Love Sister Jenn Franzen

Week Ending February 2nd, 2015

Hello Everyone!

So it was the weirdest thing last night... It was silent... EVERYWHERE! Clearly... we lost. DANG IT! The seahawks pride is still alive and well though! From colored hair to everyone wearing seahawks attire.... Seattle is still blue and green. So bummed we lost... ha ha I really hope that people don't stay too grumpy for too long this week... We need to find people to teach ;)

So as I mentioned this last week transfers came and Sister Miller and I were going to have another transfer together!!! Well God is good and he had other plans. Sister Miller has been dealing with some health concerns over the past 6 weeks and she has been working hard to fight them and stay on her mission. They have been weighing on her though and God knew that. On Friday night we got a phone call from President Choi saying that Sister Miller was going home the next day. I was absolutely devastated! I know that it is what is best for her. Earlier in the week Sister Miller and I had a really awesome spiritual experience where we wrote "letters to God" and we waited and listened to the spirit and wrote his response back to us. We each wrote our own letters but after that exercise we both knew that God had a plan in store and that he was taking care of Sister Miller. Sister Miller felt strongly that she was supposed to go home, but she was very torn because she loves Duvall and wanted to finish the transfer out with me since it is my last. When she told me this I prayed and asked Heavenly Father how I can help and I felt very strongly that I needed to support her. We worked hard all week long. Her health just kept getting worse though. So we were both shocked to get the call unexpectedly from President Choi, but it truly was for the best. God truly does have a plan, and He took action. She is home now and doing well. I have a new companion named Sister Thinn. She is from a small town in Arizona called Kayenta. It is on the Navajo reservation. Yup she is Native American.... Ready for the next surprise... I'm Training again! Sister Thinn has been out for 7 weeks... so I am finishing up her training. God sure does have a sense of humor and a plan to keep me motivated to the end. 

This last week Sister Miller and I got to do a lot of service for people here in Duvall. We helped out at Acres of Diamonds (The womens center) and we LOVED it! That is one of our highlights to our weeks. We also got to help sort seeds into small packets for a local farmers seed convention coming up! Ha the helpers got me to eat the seeds to "taste if they were good"... They kind of all tasted like dirt to me... ha ha. 

Sister Miller introduced me to two Ukrainian specialties this week... A Ukrainian Poppyseed bread, and a Ukrainian sausage.... oh they were so so so good! I LOVED IT. 

Sister Thinn and I are working to find some people to teach this week. We could use lot of prayers in that regard... 

I am extremely sad to have lost Sister Miller out here I really love her and we got along great! Sister Thinn is very sweet though and I look forward to getting to know her and learning from her. On to another great week in Duvall!

I Hope you all have an amazing week and I will write more next week!

Love always, 

Sis. Jenn Franzen

p.s. This is one of my fav. scriptures from the week! D&C105:14

14 For behold, I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil—I will fight your battles.

The Lord is on our side and if we trust in Him and call on His name, He will fight our battles. He loves us and desires our happiness! Of this I testify in the name of our Savior, Jesus Chrsit, Amen. 

 Saying Goodbye to Ssiter Miller

 My new companion and I... we went shopping ha ha 

Week Ending January 27th, 2015

Well Transfer Calls came in last night... I never have to go to a transfer meeting again.... weird.... And, we didn't get transfer calls! Sister Miller and I are both staying in Duvall! Wahoo! Another awesome transfer. By the end of my mission I am going to be So good at tracting and talking to people that have heard of missionaries SO many times.... Ha I am learning and growing  A LOT here. Sister Miller and I had a good week getting members involved in missionary work, and visiting people that have not been to church in a long time. Weird to think that I will Die in Duvall... But there are AWESOME members here and a lot of work to be done. 

We got to help Sister Centeno a lot this week and as always she taught us more then we taught her. It was such a good week of learning and growing. She taught us a lot about helping everyone around us. 

Here is a miracle that we saw in Duvall this week:

Miracles!!! We have been praying all week to know who to take to the member and missionary fireside. We have a 

less active woman in our ward that we really wanted to take and we knew she would benefit greatly from going... The 

Catch is... She didn’t identify herself as being less active... We prayed so hard things would work out but at 540 on 

Sunday night we had not heard back from her... But lo and behold miracles do exist!!! Not only did this less active get 

back to us at 6:05 and say she wanted to come, but her best friend who is another member of our ward pitched in and 

decided to drive all of us last minute... We made it on time and those two women felt the spirit big time. On the way 

home we had an amazing spiritual conversation and the less active realized that she needs to come to church! She 

acknowledged that she has not been going and that she needs too! Yahoo! :D 

–Redmond, Duvall

I am so sorry this weeks email is so short. I was helping my companion earlier to type a letter... and I lost track of time. More next week I promise. 

 This is Dominque Centeno. We get to help take care of her during the week. She has such a sweet spirit and I learn so much from her. She died as a baby and was brought back, but due to the lack of oxygen after dying she lives very similar to a cerebral palsy child. She cannot speak and has no control of her body.... She can gesture to things with her eyes and wave her right hand. She is such a sweet girl though. Her mother gave us two of her necklaces this week so we can always remember her. I love being able to grow close to those around me and I love that Dominque is able to connect with us spiritually! It was a great week!

Love Sister Franzen

Week Ending January 19th, 2015

So I have decided that I am a good luck charm.... The two super bowl seasons that I have been here, the sea hawks have gone to the Superbowl. Apparently that has not happened in a super long time... so naturally it's me... I am just their "good luck". ;) In honor of the Seahawks this email will be blue and green ha ha yup... I've become a fan... (only because they win ;) ) ha ha ha 

So Many good things happened this week! To start off with.. Erika. Okay so about a week ago there was a really nice lady that we met in the grocery store named Erika. She told us that she loved missionaries and that she wanted to meet with us sometime. Well another customer came up and interrupted us so we did not get her address... We went back almost every night trying to catch her... and NOTHING! So fast forward three days later and we were planning for the night. Sister Miller said something about trying a potential named Erika the next day.. to which I asked... "Erika? as in THE Erika?" Sister Miller then said: " I don't know lets try..." So that is what we did. We went and knocked on this door and prayed so hard that Erika would be the one to answer.. And.... when the door opened..... It wasn't Erika... So sorry I just got you all hooked and then to let you down like that... ha imagine us... we were standing face to face with not Ericka but Jared.... A red headed, single father man.... so not Erika... It's okay we did not let that get us down we talked to Jared and we offered to share a message about Jesus Christ with him. He was not interested but we did hold a conversation with him for a bit about Duvall and how it was a quaint little community... Then he told us that he has lived here is whole life, and he lived here even before Safeway existed. So naturally we asked if he went to Redmond to get food before then and he told us that a small grocery store called Family Grocer has been around for years (The grocery store where we met Erika.) He then went on to tell us that his mother happens to work there!!! We were getting really excited by that point. So we asked him if his mom happened to be named Erika... He then said "Oh no Colt (Name of his little boy) They found us... they know grandma!" AH MIRACLE!!! So after we left and said goodbye to Jared and Colt we raced to Family Grocer to catch Erika! We even found something to buy so we would have "a purpose" to be there... but alas she was not working that night. And she will not be working until this next Friday... but we know her schedule now ha ha (creepy?) and we will be able to get in touch with her again!

We helped a lady in our ward a lot this week named Sister Centeno. I absolutely love this women. She has such a deep love of the savior and she is an amazing example of how the atonement changed us... She left the church years ago and didn't want anything to do with God for 30 something years... but then her heart was softened and she came back and she is one of the strongest people I know. We go to serve her each week and I swear that when we go she helps us spiritually more then we help her. This week she bore the most sincere and powerful testimony of how God still speaks to us and provides healing to those around us. She told us about her sister that passed away a few years ago that led a rough life full of drugs and alcohol. Sister Centeno told us that she lived in fear every day of losing her sister to those vices... but she didn't unfortunately one night when her sister was drunk she was hit by a car and left in a wheel chair after being in a coma for a year. Sister Centeno had the opportunity to care for her sister, to feed her, bath her, take her tot he doctors, etc for the rest of her life. She was still sound in mind but stuck in a body that did not respond anymore. The nurses that cared for her sister told her after she passed away from MRSA, pneumonia, and her organs slowly shutting down.... :( That Sister Centeno's sister who had never believed and God, and never felt bad about how she treated her kids, or her family... found forgiveness and change. For the last month of her life she would talk in her sleep to God and plead for forgiveness of her sins. And only when she had found that healing did she leave this world. This was such an amazing example to me of how change is possible for all, and it is never to late. We cannot force anyone to change... that would be against their agency. All we can do is love them, let them live the way they want to and be there for them when they decided to seek forgiveness, healing, and family. It was a good lesson.. I loved that Sister Centeno also had the opportunity to see a different side of her sister. She ended with a sincere testimony of the Resurrection and how her sister will be whole. Her kids will not have a mother that is a drug and alochol addict. She found forgiveness here and the addictions will not follow.  That was such a sweet testimony to hear. 

So Tracting this week was quite interesting... We got almost every door slammed in our face ha ha.... one door a 9 year old answered said "oh!" closed the door and locked it and then stood in the window looking at us until we left ha ha apparently we are scary and everyone should run from the Mormons ;) It was funny.... It was super hard on my companion though. :/ I know that many people here in this area are very familiar with the church and are tired of missionaries knocking on their doors... but I can't and I won't stop until I know that every single person has the opportunity to learn about Jesus Christ. He makes the entire difference and He changes us. I want everyone to know that and have that chance. We sand for a lady and her little boy and he ran away while we sang... ha ha I thought we did a good job though. We sing in English and Russian and I think it sounds really pretty together :)

A less active lady in our ward refilled all my essential oils this week! HALLELUJAH! and ah she is so sweet she made me a special blend for kidney stones, and she gave me every form of on guard there is since I get sick a lot. She hooked my companion and I up! I have never had so many oils in my life! I am in heaven ;) 

We had a stake relief society fireside last night where a motivational speaker came. I learned so much from her. She has had cancer twice and she is so positive. I wanted to include some things that she said:

"Extraordinary people survive extraordinary circumstances... and they become even more extraordinary because of it!"

 "Your future is as bright as your faith" Thomas S. Monson

"We never have to carry our burden on our own. We can ask our Father for his help and protection"

"My Faith will ALWAYS be more contagious then any disease we can have"

"We all need a little more: 1. Faith, 2. Hope, 3. prospective, 4. Humor, 5. Good judgement, 6. Service. "

"It's not what they take away form you that counts... it's what you have left."

"A change of understanding can bring a change of behavior"

She was such an amazing speaker! 

Well that is all I had to share with all of you! I love you all so much and I hope that you have an amazing week. I will talk to you all next week! 

Love Sister Jenn Franzen

Week Ending January 12th, 2015

Hello Everyone! So This last week was... Slow... Ha Duvall could use some prayers.. We arn't really teaching anyone right now... but we WILL BE! We did some fun things this last week though.... 

On Tuesday morning we had a meeting in Bellevue. We woke up early to beat the morning traffic... but Duvall was COMPLETELY backed up.. That is strange since it is "off the beaten path" But it was so dark and foggy that we didn't think anything of it and we tried to get out of the back roads... They were all blocked off.... So we turned around and sat in traffic for almost 2 hrs for what would normally be a 40 min drive... Here's why: Duvall floods.... Not just one street and not just a little flooding... The whole valley... appx. 5 ish miles were complexly submerged in water! The back roads were blocked off because they were all under water. Our apt. is on a hill so we had not clue! Oh it was an adventure getting out of town. Apparently this is a common occurrence here in Duvall. So that was fun... Anyways after our conference we got to help a family in our ward lay tile! oh ya I am getting to do construction ;)

We got a new investigator on Wednesday. Her name is Donna. We have been doing service for her for a few weeks and finally asked if we can teach her more about the gospel and she accepted! wahoo! We provided some service at the womens shelter this week as well. (shelter for abused and battered women.) I really enjoy doing that. There is a lady in our ward that has a special needs daughter and we got to go and help her mom make dinner and we sang for her daughter. She reminds me a lot of Britney wilson. The Daughters name is Dominique. She has CP and she is such a sweet person... I think she is the closest we can get to Heaven... Not a bad bone in her body. Anyways we got to spend a lot of time with her and that was really special. We have started arranging some hymns to sing for people here in Duvall. I sing in English and my comp. sings in Russian! IT sounds really cool. I am learning a lot about different cultures. My companion and I are similar in a lot of ways but culturally we are different. It is cool to learn about the traditions and things that she has grown up with. ;) 

We got a surprise visit from president Choi to our Apartment this week. That was nerve racking ha ha thankfully our apartment was spotless! proud mom? Cleaning skills have paid off ;)

The Binghams (Senior couple I served with back in Overlake Bellevue) came to Duvall for a visit. We got to give them a tour of Duvall! That was a blast. 

This morning we went on a mission walk. As a mission we walked about Green lake in seattle. It was a 2.5 mile walk and we did it as a group in 50 min all wearing our mission shirts. I am sure it was quite the sight! It was fun. 

Excited for a new week and new adventures! 

 I saw this video on Lds.org and thought it was SO cute! Enjoy!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2322239730001

 I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Jenn Franzen

Week Ending January 5th, 2015

hello Family and Friends!

I am so sorry this weeks email will be sooo short! My companion had a doctors appointment in Seattle today and so we don't have as much time to email...  But I do want to share something with all of you... 

So I know this will be short but stay with me... This week I really thought a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.. We always talk about how because of Jesus Christ we can be cleansed from our sins... but I could not help but think that there was more to it then that. 

I had a companion that told me that Christ suffered so we could know Joy too. I thought about that a lot this week and it finally made sense. If Christ had not gone through the Atonement that We would not know what it means to be happy because we would be stuck in sin and misery all the time. But because of our savior we not only can be cleansed of sin but we can also feel true and everlasting Joy. We NEVER have to go through anything on our own, and we should not have to either. Accept the sacrifice of Christ.. embrace it and share your love for him with others... He truly is the best thing that has ever happened to us...
So sorry this is so short. more next week. 

I love you all with all my heart! 

Love Sister Franzen

Week ending December 29th, 2014

Dear Family and Friends, 

okay there is SO much to catch up on... so bear with me.. I hope I do a good job... 

To start off with our first Sunday here in duvall was CRAZY! We spoke in sacrament, and We were asked to teach relief society as well. It was a hectic day and quite a welcome to the ward... We were asked to teach in RS about how we keep Christ the center of Christmas... Mom we stole the star box idea that you used while we were growing up and we made a square box ha ha... but it was covered in pictures of Christ... We passed it around RS and had all the women "given a gift to Christ" for the year 2015 :) It was really awesome to hear what all the women want to give to our savior this year. 

So a member gave us a baby Christmas tree... that thing was very full of ornaments ha ha it was fun to decorate it though... i attached a picture (actually you all get a lot of pictures this week ;) ) So it turns out that Sister Miller has a tradition of getting Christmas oranges in her stocking just like we do! For her, an orange was the only present they got in the Ukrainian orphanage. It really meant a lot to her. they got a big orange and a few small candies in a box. As she grew up the big orange made her think of Christ and how he does so much to "fill us" and how little he asks of us (little candy surrounding) She shared this in her talk... and said that Christ was her big orange... Our ward cannot get over that... they bring it up in every conversation now ha ha. 

Oh another fun thing that happened this week... We made sushi! I had Sushi for the very first time. Salmon California rolls (No shellfish)... honestly they were good... but bland. It was weird to think that I was eating raw fish... but I didn't get sick... so oh well ;) It was a fun adventure. 

I taught Sister Miller to Crochet this last week. She and I made two small lap blankets for the people we had Christmas eve dinner, and Christmas dinner with. It was fun but stressful... I don't recommend 48 hrs. to make two lap blankets.... 

Oh we got to make cookies with a family in the ward to deliver around town. While we were there they showed us their sons Christmas present... A tiny turtle! Their son loves turtles but the Mom did not want a big one so they researched and found the smallest turtle they could.. It was TINY! That was fun. 

Christmas Eve we went caroling with missionaries and had a good time. We found a house that reminded me of Chevy Chase's Christmas... basically it looked like it had been thrown up on by lights.... and blow up figures.... 

Christmas eve was sooooo much fun! We had dinner with a family called the seamons. They made us a "traditional" English Breakfast with Yorkshire pudding and all.. IT WAS SOOOOOO GOOD! Not gluten free... but SO GOOD! It is on my list to find a way to make gluten free yorkshire pudding! That night we got to do a live nativity with them... but it was different. They had us draw a story out of a hat from the Bible and Book of Mormon that had to do with the birth of the savior... so not just Luke ch.2 My companion and I pulled 3 Nephi Ch. 1 out of the hat. This is where Non Believers doubt the coming of Christ and set a day and time in which all the believers would be killed if the signs of Christ's birth did not come to pass. A prophet named Nephi prays mightily to the Lord and asks him to save his people. The Lord comes to him and tells him to fear not, and that his son will be born that evening. As the sun went down sure enough it did not get dark, and a new star appeared in the sky! The sign was fulfilled and the believers lived! So to act it out we read the story in a little script we wrote.. and then at the end of the story we talked about how Angels rejoiced at the coming of the savior. Sister Seamons (Womens house we were at) turned on a cello and violin Silent Night piece and I got to Dance... REALLY DANCE! It felt so good... I am sure that I was still rusty but I didn't care... It felt so good to dance again and to dance as though I were one of the Angels that witnessed the birth of our Savior. It felt so good.. 

After the Nativity... Elves came and brought our Christmas eve present of... PAJAMAS! ha ha Even though I celebrated Christmas eve with a different family, I still got my pajamas... but these pajamas are farm pants... ha ha Sister Seamons made us farm pajamas so we could always remember Duvall Washington! ha ha Oh and we go mission shirts that Say High Expectations and Washington Seattle mission on the back, and have WSM on the front in the shape of the temple! so cool

So I was spoiled this Christmas! Thank you all for the cards, gifts, and love! It was an awesome Christmas! Apparently it's obvious that I get super cold ha ha I was given two blankets for Christmas... One was a crochet blanket that I admired at a ladies house. She is not a member of the church and we went over to provide service for her. I told her that her work was beautiful. We dropped a plate of cookies by for some Christmas cheer, and she told us to wait a second... she went inside and came back with the blanket and told me that after I left she kept thinking that she wanted me to have it and was hoping we would come by again! So SWEET! 

Christmas day was great! We got to skype our families and my companion even got to skype her family in Ukraine! We played games, ate food, and then visited members! It was a great day! 

The day after Christmas my companion decided we should rag curl our hair... oh big mistake I looked like Shirley temple! I tried to brush it out.... oh bigger mistake... my hair was HUGE!!! I attached pics. Never Doing that again ha ha

So i attached some pics of duvall... there is a broken down wagon as the welcome sign to duvall ha ha... boonies....

oh fun/not so fun adventure of the week... my companion and I did not get to go to church this week. She woke up on Saturday with an allergic reaction to something but decided that it was not too bad and did not worry about it... Well Sunday morning she woke up and her mouth was three times the normal size, she could not close it, and she had hives all over her body. So... We went to urgent care... She had to get Epinephrine, benadryll, prednizone. Oh my poor companion.. She was NOT a happy camper... but now everything is back to normal and she is fine. She let me attach a picture ha ha so no worries... i had permission. 

So we had a member and missionary fireside last night and I got to see JILL! and BLANCA and TIFFANY! Oh I was so happy i almost cried! I love those women so much! i can't wait to see them again in January!

Oh it was a good week! can't wait for 2015!!! Good things to come!

I love you all!

Love always

Sister Jenn Franzen