Week 47: Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I know I did!

Christmas Eve we spent with one of our investigators, and helped make
pies. That was super fun! We got to talk to her more about the gospel,
and her verses having the lessons focused on the kids. We went over to
a recent convert's house, and of course she had food for us. She
always has food! It was so good. It was this this fancy Mexican soup
that they make for parties. I sure do love me some homemade Mexican
food! She was also very kind, and got each of us sweaters, blankets,
and some candy. We then go to our actual dinner appointment with the
Mueller's. (Brother Mueller is the ward mission leader). They had
their children, and grandkids over. Good food, good company, and a
good spirit. The kids even preformed the nativity for us. I was even
recruited as a last minute wise man. Then we got to open presents! I
really enjoyed seeing the kids, and how excited they were. They even
had presents for us! We got some body stuff, and an electric handheld
massager, and some more candy. It was super sweet! Then after that we
went caroling with the sisters in our zone. It was so wonderful! This
one lady saw us from the window, and she clapped, and jumped for joy
she was so happy to see us. That is how we ended our night. Then we
went home, and opened Christmas Eve pajamas!

Christmas Eve gift

Christmas Eve gift

PJ'S!

For Sister Slattery too!

 That night I had a dream that we were opening presents, and I kept
waking up every hour to see if it was time to get up. Finally my
companion got up at 6 to use the bathroom. When she came in I asked
her if she wanted to open Christmas presents now. She said yes, so we
did! It was so much fun! Thank you to all who sent me presents, and
were thinking of me this Christmas season. It really means a lot. Then
began the house hopping. I can not tell you how much food I ate. I
paced myself very well I thought. There was no way to prepare for how
much food.

The Mueller's

Stockings and treats

Santa brought me an ipad case with keyboard

A new scripture case.

The Infinite Atonement.  Read it!

Favorite lotion

 Then finally, I got to Skype home! Great Grandma Frances was even
there! It was so good to see my family. They still really do exist!
That is how I spent my Christmas. I am grateful for the opportunity to
serve my God at this Christmas season. Christ, He's the reason for the
season! I have loved reading in this month's ensign the article Be At
Peace by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. It has a really good analogy of
being warmed by the fire. Of just being with the Savior, and let His
love warm you. Y'all should read it!
It snowed last night!!

Thank you all for everything! I love, and miss you all. I especially
loved reading all the notes, and cards from everyone.

Much love,
Sister Slattery

Week 46: 2 Decades Later

I never would have thought I would have a birthday on a mission! It
was a good one! My family is the best! They sent me a cute birthday
package with all kinds of goodies. Plus a new dress and an awesome
necklace to go with it.  I am super happy that my old area is in my zone,
 and not to far away. I got to have
lunch with some members in the Columbia ward. We had pizza and
brownies. 😀 it was so good to see them again! Favorite people ever!
Plus Sisters Mandin and Arbon were there also.. They're cool too I
guess. 😉 (wink, wink)  It was kinda awkward trying to tell people it was my
birthday because I didn't want to be that person that expected people
to do something for me. Our dinner appointment made a comment about
looking very nice, and I told her it was my birthday dress. She then
found the candles, and made her husband be the camera man. Haha she
even bought at the store birthday cake ice cream sandwiches.

Birthday cake ice cream sandwiches!

Happy 20th Birthday!

A favorite, chocolate orange as a birthday treat.

 We had zone conference this week! I got my birthday goodie bag, and we
even got a clean car award. That is a shocker! First time for
everything right? I got packages galore at zone conference! I love
mail! Thank you to all who sent me stuff. It really means a lot. We
also went caroling with the sister training leaders. It was super fun,
and people were actually kind to us at 8:30 at night. We should make
this a year round thing.

One night this week we went out to eat with a brother in the ward, and
we had to bring another sister, so we brought elderly Sister Campbell
with us. He took us out to a buffet. It was really good, and I was
full. Fast forward to our appointment after dinner with this recent
convert. She is hispanic, and always has a treat for us. Well that
night she had dinner for us! Oh my goodness, I was so grateful I wore
my stretchy skirt that day. I couldn't not eat it, and be rude. I kept
making faces at Sister Chance when the member wasn't looking, as I was
lifting the fork to my mouth for another bite. It was good, don't get
me wrong. It was just a lot of dinner.

Oh! Also this is probably the biggest highlight of the week. We has a
service referral pop up on our area book. This lady's back yard had
flooded, and there was this pile of mud. Long story short, I was
stressing out because no one was getting back to us about who was
planning on coming. The zone came through, and even some members from
the ward showed up. The lady is super sweet! She said that her door is
always open to us, and she was just so thankful for the service. The
member that referred her got into contact with us, and told us thank
you as well. We will let this new relationship grow, and see where it
goes. So grateful for the opportunity to serve! It really got me into
the Christmas spirit.

Outside our cottage.

Yesterday after ward council, Bishop drafted us for the ward choir. I
have been here two weeks, and both weeks I have been on the stand.
Then we had to come practice for the ward Christmas fireside last
night. It was an adventure, but a fun memory to look back on.

I have been in the northwest for far to long. Last night I had a dream
about Sasquatch. I will leave it at that.

Today for p day we are doing a white elephant gift exchange with
things from our apartments. Haha I am super excited about that! I
still need to find something to bring.

Our baby Christmas tree.

Stockings! 

Thank you for everything that y'all do! Christ is the reason for the
season. This is His gospel, and I am grateful I have the opportunity
to serve Him this Christmas season. Merry Christmas to everyone!
Sister Slattery

Week 45: Gresham Baby!

That is right, I am back in Gresham! I think it is so funny because
this whole past transfer I have been telling Sister Jacobs that she
would be going to the Columbia River Ward with Sister Chance. Then I
get transfer letters, and I am going to be with Sister Chance! Whoop,
whoop!

I get to live in the cottage! Brother and Sister Jensen built it for
his dad, but then he died, and they didn't know what to do with it, so
they started to have missionaries live there. Sister LeDoux was with
 Sister Chance, but she finished her mission this past transfer. I
realized this all before transfer day, and I knew that there would be
confetti all over the apartment. Sure enough! Sister LeDoux strikes
again! So much confetti.. Haha I love her. No more confetti wars for
the rest of my mission, but I will continue to find it everywhere. She
told Sister Chance it was her dying wish to confetti the cottage for
my arrival. I love the area! The ward members are awesome, and we had
the ward breakfast party on Saturday.

I have no idea what else to write! Oh also, when I wrote out my
Christmas cards, I may have put the wrong address. If I put NE 99th
that is wrong it is supposed to be NW.
Merry Christmas!!

Sorry this is short and scattered..

At the Mission Christmas Party

 

District Christmas Picture

 

Week 44: Crazy week!

Oh my goodness!  Craziness has been happening this morning! Okay so first thing, we knew that Sister Jacobs would be staying and training, but we had no idea where I would be going because no one has gotten transfer letters. Info has been passed by word of mouth. I told President in an email that I think Sister Jacobs would be really good with Sister Chance (MTC comp) in Gresham. I kept telling her she was going there. At this point I still do not know. Then we check the mail. Turns out I am going back to Gresham to be with Sister Chance. No freaking way! One I love Gresham, super happy I get to go back.

Also this morning... We wanted hot chocolate so I turned on the stove to warm up the water. Time passes, and we are changing out the laundry. I have my arm full, and am walking back to our room. There was this big pop, and explosion! I yelped. Scared the living day lights out of me. Any guesses what it was? There was a glass dish sitting on the stove, and I turned on the wrong burner. Glass was everywhere. Bobbi came out of her room. She thought I was hurt. Which I wasn't, thank heavens. Luckily I was standing far enough away that the glass didn't get me. I feel really bad that I destroyed Bobbi's dish. I plan on buying her a new one today. Sister Jacobs was kind enough to help me clean all the glass up. 

In other news, it's raining. 

 

 Super exciting to hear about babies, Christmas parties , and the changes to the stake. This week we went to night of music as well, but we needed an investigator or LA to come, so we asked this member who is returning, I wouldn't count her as less active, but her husband is super cool, and he came, so we could go 🙂 Also last night we went to the stake center to watch the Christmas devotional. Super fun!

Sister Jacobs' family sent her a tree with ornaments. They are our decorations in our room. 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 43: Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! We house hopped member's homes. We were invited
over to three houses!  I wore my stretchy skirt that
day Haha. I had no desire to go tracting. One, people were either out
of town or cooking, and spending time with family, two, I personally
would be mad if missionaries were knocking on my door on the holiday.
So, we went less active finding, which was successful. 

Last night we were walking around looking at Christmas lights, and we saw this one house that had this awesome nativity, and in front of the house it had a prayer box. I filled out the little paper, and put it in. What a great idea! There are just some awesome people out there. 

It was also very cold last night, so I was bundled up.

 

 

Week 42: Sick

 

Not a lot happening here. I caught the cold, and at one point my eyeballs were about to pop out of my head. Luckily it was Friday, and Sister Jacobs went on splits with a member, and I stayed home with Bobbi. I have been sleeping a lot this week. Partly because I am sick. STILL sick. I am going strong since Wednesday, but I am getting better.

We had a mission tour this week! I got to drive to the mission office! I was so excited! I got to drive with three elders squished in the back. That was fun. Haha. I brought my vocal point cd and was jamming out best I could because I was sick, and who cares what elders think. We get there and we are in the gym, and all of a sudden I am hug tackled from the side! Hello, who is touching me? It was Sister Mandin! She is doing great! Made me happy that she was excited to see me. We stood next to each other for the picture, and she told me about the guy who got baptized. Also told me some other fun stories. I love her a lot. 

 

It is getting cold here!  #almostxmas!

Week 41: Settling into Vancouver

I had interviews with President Taylor this week! I was in there for about 15 minutes. I told him about your 9 month package. I even wore my camel necklace to show him. He gave me some comforting words about not letting other people have power over how I feel. Also talked to me about how to help Sister Jacobs. The conclusion I came up with is to role play everyday. I also expressed to him my worries of if I was fulfilling my purpose as a missionary. He told me not to be worried, but that it tells him a lot about me because I am concerned about it. He told me that I was obedient, hard working missionary, and that as long as God and I, and he and I are good no one else really matters.

Bailey Metz got baptized on Saturday! She is so fun! Her husband teases me so much. It is so funny and we have some good inside jokes. The first time I met him he asked me if I have any brothers, and I said no. He told me I was in for it. Boy did he mean it! I was mimicking my hand movements. He is pretty funny. He has decided that we were best friends. 

-side tangent- my first p.day I met my district leader and his companion for the first time. Elder Robbins (DL comp) said a kid history quote, and I finished the quote. Then we found out that we both like studio c. -it is funny mom- ever since then, I have decided that he was my best friend. I was talking to Sister Jacobs about Sarah who is actually my best friend. She says to me " you pick the most unavailable people to be best friends with: an elder, a married man, and a woman." Haha it was so funny! 

Brother Metz mocking me!

Sister Stromness (I lived with her in Gresham) came to the baptism because her companion had taught Bailey. She told me that Sister Mandin and her new companion had a baptism that night. What! I was so happy to hear that. It had only been two weeks since transfers. Where was this guy? I do not know. I kinda was disappointed because I didn't see a baptism in that area. Then I realized that that man had the missionaries that he needed. Plus I picked up the area. I worked hard, and all that I needed to do. I have no regrets, and I left the area better than I found it. I also found out that Sister  Mandin was sick, and puking her guts out. Poor girl! Hopefully she is feeling better by now. 

 

The Metz, with the Sister Missionaries.

Bailey.  The 4th Baptism I have had a chance to be a part of.

Beautiful missionary.

 

Week 40: Hump Day

Hump Day package!  November 4,2015 - 9 Months Serving!

 

A friend to help celebrate.

And some fun bling as well.

Week 39: Transfer Week

 

Okay let's start on Wednesday morning. Sister Mandin and I were struggling to
get my suitcases squished into our car in the dark while it was
raining. Good start, do not worry this story gets better. We are
driving to the transfer site jamming out to Vocal Point. We made a
wrong turn. We try again. Made another wrong turn, we try again. Okay
maybe we didn't  go as far down as we needed? We drive for a bit, and
still can't find it. We pull out good old google maps. Guess what?
There are multiple streets named the one we were trying to find, so
that was no luck. We call the zone leaders, and ask them. We were told
it was off of this one avenue. Okay so we followed directions. We get
there and it was not what we were looking for. The whole time I am
progressively freaking out more and more. At this point I scream come
and find us! My gps was packed away, so we didn't have that resource.
We park, I fling open the door, and start digging in my bag for the
gps. Finally we are on the right track, and we get there fashionably
late. Turns out that the van was stuck in traffic, so all was well.

Walking into transfers was awkward because everyone was staring at
us.. Transfers was very uplifting. Sister Mandin got her baby, and we took a
4 generation picture. It was really sad to leave Sister Mandin. We really had
a fun time together. She will do great! Also it is not like she is
dead, I will see her around I am sure. Except maybe not because I have
crossed the boarder to Washington.

Sister Jacobs is so kind! She came out with Sister Mandin. She also white
washed this area with Sister Forsyth who was my trainer. I get to
greenie bust! Also big news! This area is a walking area. They had a
car last transfer, but I guess another area needed it more which I
understand. Our area is pretty small, and flat. We do have bikes, we
are just waiting for a couple of things for those. I live with a
member and her daughter. They are super nice.

I am just trying to learn the area and the people. Adventure is out
there! Happy P day everybody.

Love,
Sister Slattery

 

Four generations of Sister missionaries.

Knee deep rain!

The Sharps from Troutdale.

Bunkbeds!

Me and Sister Jacobs

 

Week 38: I'm going to be a Grandma....

Well we got transfer letters this week! Sister Mandin will be
training, and I will be up in the Mountain View Ward in Vancouver. My
new companion will be Sister Jacobs.

Yep I am super boring, and do not know what to write. Please refer to
 Sister Mandin's email about all the things this week.

 Love to all,
Sister Slattery



Hello everyone....a side note from me, THE MOM!  The rest of this blog post, minus the pictures, is Sister Mandin's letter home this week.  A huge thank you to Sister Tess Mandin for graciously sharing her daughters' letter with me, and all of you readers.  What I am going to do with my Sister Slattery!  Now that she has been transferred I sure hope she "remembers" a few things to write home about. 


I'm having a baby!


That's missionary speak for IM TRAINING!!!!! I'm kind of freaking out
not gonna lie. Sister Slattery is being transferred up to the land of
no return (Washington) and were bummed and pumped. Bumped.

This week was pretty rough AAALLL THE DOORS WERE SLAMMED. But that's
okay rough weeks are actually the best. The other day we were tracting
and nobody was home. #classic. The last door we knocked on answered
though! Her name is Erika and she's golden! We had our first lesson
with her the next day and it went great! She's so sweet I lover man!
The day after her and her husband wanted a church tour. We got
everything all ready then her youngest got really sick. #classic. She
sent us about fifty text messages telling us how sorry she was so we
think she's pretty sincere.

Yesterday was Christmas! I bought the closest thing I could find to
hockey socks for everyone and Santa got us pumpkins to carve. Twas a
blast.

I also had my first crazy yelling lady of the transfer. We were
tracting in this little neighborhood and when we got there this lady
busted out of her house screaming and swearing into her neighbors
window. By the time we got to her house she was still screaming and
swearing but into the phone this time. We decided it was best not to
bother her and to come back later. When we were going back to the car
she busted out of her house AGAIN but this time she was screaming at
us.

"HEEEEEEEEYY!!" She yelled

"YOU FORGOT ME!! THE ONE WHO NEEDS YOU THE MOST!!!"

*facepalm. We turned around to go and talk to her but she yelled at us
to go away. MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!! It was a lose lose situation. It made
me laugh though people are hilarious.

I can't remember what else happened this week probably because of
transfer brain. I'm excited for my new trainee I can't wait to tell
you all about her!!

BYEEEEEE
 Sister Mandin

Sister Mandin, Sister Stromness, Sister Kroener, Sister Slattery

Christmas morning, in Gresham..in October.

Sister Mandin getting some use out of her umbrella.

We carved pumpkins.

Week 37: Last Second Sunday

Yep good thing we are good at winging it.

We walk into gospel principles class, and our Ward Mission Leader asks if we have the lesson today. Very short notice, but the lesson was on the atonement. That is easy to ramble on about. I tried looking at the chapter in the manual, but I didn't just want us to read from it, so we kinda did our own thing. Shared some scriptures, and a Canadian Mormon message that Sister Mandin loves. I love teaching with her! We just have a good flow of picking up where the other left off. Before my mission I would have been so nervous to let alone teach, but on the spot; now not so much. I like teaching last second actually. #giftofthespirit The people in the class were very participant, so that helped. Afterwords we got a few comments about how well we did. I have found that when we teach a lesson by the spirit I do not remember what the heck we said.
After church we were asked to come to a meeting. I didn't really know what to say, and I look at Sister  Mandin to see if she had anything to say. Nope she didn't. Everyone was waiting for us to speak. Haha we finally figured it out.

After that the sister training leaders asked us if we would take a sister from a trio for the day that way they could go on exchanges with the other two. Why not? The sister had served in Columbia Ward before, so we took her to see a person she taught, and taught a lesson about prayer. Then we took her to dinner. That was fun. It was my first time eating over there, so we got lost trying to get there. Our evening continues and then it is time to go to Bishop's for our meeting. We forgot he has having a fireside last night, so we were standing outside his window all stalker like wondering if we go in or not. He sees us, and waves us in. There was a bunch of kids and chit chatter, so we made conversation, and talked to Bishop about our week. At this point in time everyone has left except for one of Bishop's counselors. The sister we have for the night is telling a story, and everyone is listening. As clear as day you hear Mandin toot right in the middle of this story. Nothing was said. Bishop just walked away, and the story continues. Sister Mandin was in tears she was laughing so hard. Then I look at her and I start laughing! No words can can describe how funny it was.

A lot of crazy stories this week, however I can not share them all. One story I will share with you from the perspective of my companion because I am to lazy to write it out. 

My first story requires a back story. Awhile ago my comp and I were tracting and we came across a lost cat poster. It was worded really weirdly and made us laugh so I took a picture of it. We then on referred to it as cat Benjamin. A couple weeks later I air dropped cat Benjamin to my district so we could share laughter.  And as always cat Benjamin delivered the lols. Fast forward to this week... I was washing my hands in the washroom and I heard a knock on the door. 

"Hwaaaaaaat??" I asked

"Elder hewhoshallnotbenamed is on the phone for you." Sister Slattery said through the door. 

"Hwaaat?" 

"HE SAYS THEY FOUND CAT BENJAMIN!!"

"HWAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

I swung the door open and yanked the phone from her hands. 

"You found cat Benjamin?!" I asked calmly.  Actually that's a joke I was screaming. 

"Nooo nononononooo that's not what I said at all!" Elder hewhoshallnotbenamed replied. 

"You guys are tracting in our area!"

"Ummmm what do you mean?" I asked. 

"We were tracting in OUR area and we came across a cat Benjamin poster. We compared it to the one you air dropped us and the picture was the exact same as where we were. YOURE TRACTING IN OUR AREA!!"

At this point I was pretty confused. I am a new missionary I thought to myself there is very high chance that I would get confused as to where our area borders were in this strange land of 'merica. But it didn't make sense! My comp was a pro missionary how could we get our areas confused? I marched over to a map to double check. Nope. They were tracting in OUR area!

"I think you guys miiiiiight be mistaken." I said. 

"No. We are not." These elders were standing firm. 

We debated back and forth for a bit then I heard his companion in the background say,

"Give the phone to me."

It was about to go down! You see, we love these elders to death but they can be very intense sometimes. I shook my head at the determination they had. I had a map right in front of me and they still thought I was wrong! #newmissionaryprobs

"Sister Mandin." He said trying to sound all authoritative. 

"Yes?" I replied all sweetly and not at all passive aggressively trying to communicate through my tone of voice that these elders were horrendously wrong and that they should just stop trying because the hole they were digging themselves into was almost deep enough to reach China.

"You're tracting in our area!" He declared. 

"Nope." I responded. 

This continued for longer than I admit to say. Eventually I handed the phone over to my comp and they came to the conclusion that they would check their area map and get back to us. 

A few minutes later they called us back. 

"Hi sisters." They said. Their voices thick with humility. 

"We were tracting in your area. We have seven referrals and two new investigators for you."

We of course responded kindly and thanked them. I felt pretty bad for them but we all knew that the whole situation was also kind of hilarious. 

That same day we had a few hours in the evening to go finding. Now there are areas that I do not feel comfortable going at night. We try and stay in the more nice areas with street lights. We say our prayer in the car and we go knock on the first house. No answer. My companion tells me that she feels like we need to be somewhere else. Okay, so we get back in the car and pray to know where we need to be. I got the impression that we needed to go to the area that I do not like to go to at night, so I didn't say anything, and probably looked disgruntled while I sat there waiting for Sister Mandin to say something. She knows how much I do not like going there at night. She said that she felt like we needed to go there as well. Then she gave me a cop out option to tract this other area. What do we do? We go where the Lord wanted us to go. First door we knocked on was a new investigator. He is this dad of three kids, and super awesome! He told us the day before he and his wife were talking about how they needed to go back to church. HERE IS YOUR SIGN. Haha we actually said that to him.

Well I think that is all this week. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great week!

Sister Slattery

 

 

 

District lunch

This sweetheart reminds me of Renae.

Week 36: Random Stuff That Happened This Week.

This week we rescued a dog. We were driving by, and we see this dog,
and it was all gimpy. We pulled over, and we thought that it would be
a good excuse to knock on people's doors. It kinda worked.. The first
door we knocked on was the dog's home. We learned that the dog was
born gimp, so he was okay.

After that we went to a potential's house. He was not interested, but
he had a friend from out of town that wanted to talk with us. He was
more knowledgeable than we were, and was bashing. He was polite about
it. That is the worst. I would rather they be mean, and yell at me
than being nice about it. We bore testimony, and we got out of there.
I knew something was wrong with Sister Mandin. She got real quiet, and
I could tell that she was holding in her tears. We got to the car, and
we had a good talk. All is well now.

I bought some rain boots finally! My calf muscles are just so buff
that normal rain boots do not fit. During lunch hour we went to Wal
mart, and they had ankle rain boots! Sister Mandin had to get a pair
too. Haha we matched, and got a lot of comments about it. It is
definitely fall here now. We went preaching in the rain! I love using
my umbrella.

There was also stake conference this weekend. We met Beau and Teresa
Larsen. He is Sister Mandin's dad's old mission companion, and Teresa is
Lisa Ellsworth's twin. What a small world! It was great meeting them.

We also got to teach a lesson to a messianic Jew couple. They were so
nice! We did a lot of finding this week, so hopefully it will pay off
in the weeks to come.

I am sure there is plenty more that happened this week. Having fun
playing games with my zone today. Also went to the Halloween store
today just to look around.

Love and miss you all!
Sister Slattery

Gimpy the Dog.

Rain boots!

Oh Sister Mandin!

Halloween store fun.

 

Week 35: What Happened This Week?

So much has happened this week!

Linda our investigator who was on date for baptism for the 10th will
not be getting baptized then.  She is still planning on it though! She
was totally cool about having to set the date back, and that just
means she will be more prepared for when she does get baptized.

Sister Koener (STL who lives with us) is dying at the end of this
transfer, and wanted to celebrate one more Christmas on her mission
before she went home. She has decided to combine Halloween and
Christmas! Our apartment has paper snow flakes for a Christmas count
down, we even have a little Christmas tree with some presents
underneath. Merry Halloween everybody!

For p day plans today we went with Sister Bangerter to the Twilight
prom house. It burned down a couple years ago. It was creepy looking,
but I can now check that off the bucket list. We then went to Multnomah
 Falls where we ran into Sister and President Taylor! They took some
 Sisters there for p day. It was great! It was kinda odd seeing
 President in something other than a suit.

We got to watch General conference! How exciting! The Tongans had this
big lunch spread for all the missionaries at the stake center both
days. It was good food. I really enjoyed Larry Lawrence's talk. It was
by far my favorite.

The STL's go on exchanges a lot, so we get to know the sisters really
well. This past week Sister LeDoux (my greenie buster) came to my
house! I was so excited! Remember how back in St. Helens, Sister LeDoux and I
had a star confetti war? The war has continued! I open the door to our
apartment, and there is this trail of confetti leading from the door
all the way to my bed which is covered completely with confetti. It
was everywhere! From the bed to the bathroom even to the refrigerator.
Our vacuum decided to stop working, so we had to get a new one. Plus
on top of this we were having house inspections a few days later.
Luckily we got it cleaned up best we can. I will forever continue to
find confetti forever.

Well I think that is all the highlights of my week. Hope all is well at home.
Miss you all!

Sister Slattery

Sister Mandin, finding her balance.

President and Sister Taylor at Multnomah Falls

Sister Taylor sneaking into our picture!

Checking another landmark off the list.

Kind of sad looking now.

Week 34: Where does the time go?

I mean really where does it go? I look back at each day, each week,
each month and wonder why does time go by so quickly.
As I am typing this email to you today I am having a really hard time
thinking back on what to share with you all. I do have one really
funny story, and that is about it.

At the beginning of this week we had found two new people. We were so
excited for the next appointment! It was this elderly guy and his 16
year old daughter. He is a war vet, and had many stories of when God
had answered his prayers. We left with them two copies of the Book of
Mormon. Anyway, we get our member, and we go back for our next visit.
We get up to the door, and we see in a clear bag the books, and a note
inside. The note reads as such: not enter resetted thank you. Talk
about a good game of mad gab! Haha we were standing there trying to
figure out what it meant. They were not interested just so you all
know haha. That was a good giggle.

I also got to use some Spanish this past week! One of our recent
converts is hispanic, and taught me how to introduce us in Spanish.
That was pretty cool. Nothing came of it though.

We have been trying to walk as of late. The only problem is that when
we are out the people aren't. That is okay I guess, the weather is so
nice, and the trees are turning beautiful colors. Sister Mandin is so
silly! She will collect the different leaves, and press them in her
preach my gospel book. Then she sends them to people.

This week I have been studying how the Book of Mormon and the Bible
support each other. I really like the scriptures Ezekiel 37:16-17 1
 Nephi 13:34-41, 2 Nephi 3:12 and Isaiah 29:11-14.
I know that God has provided for us scriptures that teach us about the
doctrine of Christ. I testify  to you the truthfulness of the Book of
Mormon. It does support the Bible. It testifies that Jesus is the
Christ. If you have not read it, I invite you to do so. It does not
matter what I say. I could preach to you until I am blue in the face,
and it still won't mean a thing. Read it,and ask God! I promise he
will answer if you have faith in Christ, a sincere heart, and with
real intent. Meaning you are willing to act upon the answer that God
gives you. I will not deny this truth.

I have finally met people who look at anti Mormon websites. Haha! It
makes me laugh some of the things that are clearly false doctrine, and
frustrated that he doesn't have time to read the Book of Mormon, but
has plenty of time to look stuff up on the internet. Didn't you know
everything on the internet is true? The only reason we keep going back
is because he and his wife really do have real intent. They want to
know if there is something else God has in store for them.

Something fun that happened this week was President Taylor's birthday!
He celebrated with the Portland, and Gresham zones. His children, and
their families flew into town for a couple of days. I got to meet his
daughter who lived in Casper. She was nice.

I hope you all are having fun in the land of endless p days! Thanks
for reading. Until next p day..
Sister Slattery

Sister Missionaries...

Sister Mandin serenading the world!

Larger than life?