"Merry Christmas, Almost!"

hey family!

merry christmas almost! our super cold spell is over....i hope. its' been in the 40s. hasn't snowed as of late. sometimes it gets really foggy. 'specially at night. makes things looks kind of cool and spokey.

Aloha, Oregon weather report for December 16, 3013

nothing too exciting to report on this week. our three investigators are sick. bummer. so haven't been able to see them much. and sis newman was sick one day so we had to stay in. this thursday is zone conference. i'm excited for that. we deep cleaned our car for it this morning because we are going to have a car inspection.

tonight we are having a lesson. i can't remember if i wrote about the sister in my last email or not but she is the less active lady that we found who hasn't been to church in years but she's really awesome. she's hawaiian and super nice and i like hearing her hawaiian accent. we are bringing another lady from the relief society to fellowship her.

we also had a lesson with a less active man and nonmember wife that was good. he lives in a trailer that was messy the first time we stopped by but, when we went back for the appointment he cleaned up for us! it was awesome. and he came to church on sunday along with another less active lady that we meet with weekly.

so this week was our relief society dinner/enrichment night. it was awesome because we had about 8 nonmembers come! so, when we had our ward christmas party we invited some ladies from these halfway houses that are pretty close to the church. most of these ladies have some kind of record but are in good standing enough to live in these houses with their kids to get them going with jobs and stuff. anyway, a couple came to the ward party and the relief society president invited them to the relief society dinner and all of them came! with all of their kids! those poor young women stuck doing child care during the thing. they had no idea what was coming. we didn't either. but it was great. one said she is going to start coming to church. cool! we will se how that goes.

fun oregon fact: almost every jogger i see wears some kind of reflector vest thingy. just something that i've noticed.

k, love you all!

sis. mag

Duarte, California (Sis. Magnussons' hometown) weather report for December 16, 2013

"Seriously the Best Present Ever!"

 Have you ever wondered what to give your missionary for Christmas?  Wonder no more. 

Last month Rachel requested a Christmas wish list from Kristine. One of the items found on her list was:  

-some *mormon message dvd’s (my comp has one and we use it all the time but when she leaves i won't have them any more)

ps....

and if someone can find a mormon message dvd with "our eternal life" (the one about the plan of salvation with paper cut outs) you will receive extra blessings from heaven :)

Love,

Kristine
 
Santa found and sent just what she requested.  He even cut her a dvd of "Our Eternal Life".   He gave her permission to open the dvd presents  before Christmas because he knew she could use them right away as she visits with people .   

This is the letter she sent in the mail after opening the present: 

12/9/13

MA!

I just opened my present of the Mormon Messages and WOW!  Thanks so much!  I had to write you this hand written letter cuz it would probably get there sooner than telling you thank you by email.  This will be so great in lessons with  investigators.  And you even made me one with "Our Eternal Life"!  Ma, you are so tech-savy and smart!

Today is my 2 month anniversary.  Man, I can't believe it has been 2 months.  Time passes so weird on the mish.  I  can't tell if it's been slow or fast.  I think it's been fast.

Well, I love you, MA.  And thanks again!  That was seriously the best present ever! 

Love,

Kristine

She is sharing an important message to the people in Oregon.
 This is the video Kristine was excited to receive:

You can also watch "Our Eternal Life" by clicking here

*Mormon Messages are short videos from the LDS church.    

You can choose one to watch by clicking here.  

"It's Been COLD"

 so this is like the best pic ever...we were walking around and it was freezing, seriously like so cold (as you can tell cuz i braved the headband thing). anywho, so i went in for the pic and sis newman was trying to make the sad face with the lips but it was so cold her face couldn't do it cuz it was like numb....true story.

that's better, kind of.....

 Well hello everyone!

Now I feel like I can finally be apart of the club and talk about this crazy weather. I'll tell you what guys, it's been COLD. It snowed for the first time on Friday. Sis. Newman was loving it. Her first time seeing snow. Too bad it wasn't much to see. It didn't really stick. But man oh man, it hasn't been above freezing. But folks you must remember 30 and 20 degree weather here is a lot different then a Utah or Idaho 30 degree weather. This is damp, moist, wet cold. Tracting was pretty rough. We didn't last to long. We need to get hats and ear things. We went to target, Kolhs, and Ross today and there was nothing good. Nothing. We are going to try Dicks after emailing. I have green earband warmer thing but it doesn't look good. I've worn it a couple of times just because I had to.

This week we picked up another investigator. She was a former investigator a few months ago and her son that is YSA age got baptized up in Alaska about 2 months ago and has recently moved back in with her. She's recently gotten really sick so she is pretty humbled right now. Funny how we all seem to need to get to that point to really pay attention to things. We will see how things go with her. She accepted to receive a priesthood blessing. She said she felt more at peace afterwards.

It was the ward Christmas party on Friday. Dude, there was over 200 people. The lady that was in charge was running around with her head chopped off.  There was Santa and games, and TONS of food. So much leftovers. Sis. Newman and I were being all fluffy and going around to all the tables saying hi to everyone and chit-chatting, talking about the cold weather and stuff. It was great. A lot of members brought their friends.

We also taught the Sunday school lesson to the 17 year olds yesterday about how to share the gospel. I like teaching Sunday school. The kids are really great here. I'm trying to picture how Sam would fit in. People are all into huntin' and fishin' and stuff here. Just like your kiddos, eh Lisa?

Christmas tree cutting was fun last Monday. We took the branches that the family cut so they could fit their tree in their holder thingy and made our own makeshift tree. We have pass along cards and pictures as ordainments.

The day it snowed we were stuck inside for half the day because  we aren't allowed to drive when there is a possibility that their is ice. That fine with me man. Shoot, I don't know how to drive around in winter weather.

Funny thing: One time we were tracting and the lady opens the door and we are like, "Hi, how are you? We are missionaries for the Church of......" and the lady says, "Oh hi...um, I can see that you are from the LSD church and i'm not interested, thank you." and shuts the door. We are from the LSD church huh....?

Another funny lady was she opened the door with a bathrobe and towel on her head....I start my spill and she looks at my tag all close then she just says, "I'm already filled with the holy ghost!" and shuts the door. I don't know, I guess you had to be there.

K, well everybody be safe in this weather! Love you guys! The church is true!

Love,

Sis KMAGIZZLE

 s'mores!

How to Pick Out a Christmas Tree in Oregon

I'm pretty sure Sister Magnusson has never had an experience of picking out a Christmas tree like this before.

Remember, a picture is worth 1,000 words. 

I wonder if her missionay tag makes her stronger?

With their Christmas tree picked out you can now watch 
this music video for children (and adults) called:

Our Christmas Story Tree

You can also view the video by clicking here

Post Thanksgiving / Pre Christmas

 yo what up....me and sis. newman

this is "little provo"...it's a new development in hilloboro and all the houses, townhouses, and condos are so squished together! alot of members live here, especially the younger families.

thanksgiving

Hello everybody!

Thanks for all the emails and the run down of Thanksgiving and stuff. I loved all the pictures!

The Scott Magnusson family together in SLC the Saturday before Thanksgiving

Savannah pointing

Chase pointing

 I find it interesting to see children's natural instinct to point to Christ

The Kiefer Harris Family Thanksgiving day

My Thanksgiving was good. We had studies in the morning, then weekly planning and then went over to the Hills, this family in the ward, and they had a huge feast and all of their extended family and stuff. We basically just ate and talked and ate some more and played games and ate dessert. Oh my goodness so much dessert! Wish I took more pictures. I only took one of the desserts and stuff.

Yesterday was awesome because it was December 1st and we get to listen to CHRISTMAS MUSIC! It's a mission rule that we only get to listen to Christmas music from Dec 1 to Dec 25. But yeah, me and Sis. Newman were loving it. And we tracted this street and found a couple of potentials. AND we have been trying to get a hold of this less-active lady but every time we knock on her door she is not home but she was finally home yesterday and she is so cool! She's like 70 and she is from Honolulu! And she recently vacationed in Australia so me and Sis. Newman really connected with her and she was so fun to talk to. We are going to try to see if she will come to the temple visitor's center with us.

And today some less-active is going to take us Christmas tree shopping! There are tons of Christmas tree farms here where you can cut your own Christmas tree down. Like a lot. That should be fun! I haven't been Christmas tree shopping since what....like 1999? And we get to cut it down and wear jeans!

We have a lesson today with a lady we tracted into. I feel like she is so prepared to hear the gospel. I hope she remembers her appointment and we can teach her things that she needs to hear.

Today is transfers and nobody in the district is being transferred today. Actually only one sister in our zone is being transferred. Oh and so fyi, if i don't email on Monday it's because I'm getting a new companion or getting transferred so I'll email instead on Tuesday.

Sorry this email is pretty short and sweet but I don't have a lot of time today.  Love you all and hope your December is awesome!

Love,

Sis. Mag

Happy Thanksgiving!

We were tracting by a recycle center 

 A castle thing that this member made in their forest backyard

Taking a stroll through their backyard. it was awesome. 

I felt like I was in Hawaii but 60 degrees cooler.

Christmas tree farm

Me and Sis. Newman

 

They made this tree house thing...it was pretty cool 

This is Sister Newman waiting to back me out of our parking lot at our apartments. it was raining and she didn't want to get her bangs wet (which she calls her "fringe") so she was trying to stand under the little roof part that hangs down. it was pretty funny. 

Making carmel apples with some members

Family!

Happy Thanksgiving! That was so awesome to hear from you guys in Utah and see those pictures! We are having Thanksgiving with a family in the ward with all their extended family so it should be great. It will be my comp's first Thanksgiving. I'm excited.

Well it has been getting into the 30s this past week. A few days ago we woke up to frost on the ground and cars and such. My comp pretty much flipped. She's never seen frost before or ice on the ground. Hmmnmm, I wonder if it will snow this year. But my clothes keep me nice and warm. And so do my boots. Oh yeah, my brown boots came in this past week and I  LOVE THEM! Thanks for getting them here ma. So comfy and they keep my feet warm. I haven't even got blisters from them.

This past week we did a lot of tracting because we need to find people to teach. Saturday it was pretty interesting. That was the first time people were consistently rude to us...like each house. Whatever. I figured out a method to make tracting a more enjoyable experience....after each house I reward myself with a gummie bear. It's great.

This weekend was stake conference. It was pretty much awesome. We had Elder Richard Hansen from the 70 come. Saturday night was the best. It was all on missionary work and committing the members to pretty much be the finders and the missionaries are simply the teachers. Man it was good. The best part was he got four chairs on the stand. He and his wife sat in two and then  he called up our zone leaders on the spot and told them to teach the restoration to him and his wife in less than 7 min. They also gave them some microphones.  But he said it wasn't a role play, he and his wife were themselves. They both know the gospel very well, they both have strong testimonies. Man, if he called Sis. Newman and I to do that, I would flip out. The zone leaders did awesome. You could tell that they were pretty nervous but they did great. It brought the spirit in and did exactly what elder Hansen wanted to happened -To show the whole stake how a lesson could be with someone in their home. Simple, direct, powerful. He also promised that all those families with kids serving missions that if they bring people for the local missionaries to teach, that their missionary children would have people to teach. Something that the Mag Pad can think about as I am trying to find people to teach.....

We had a few lesson with some less actives. Those were good. Like I said before those people just need to feel loved. We did get let in with a lady that said we could come back that we tracted into. Her mom just died and she just got laid off...it was a good visit. Didn't teach her anything because she had dinner going but we see some good potential. Also met a man who's mom just died. We will come back to check on him after Thanksgiving. Man, all these people that just need to hear the gospel!

Well, hope everybody has a good Thanksgiving. I'll try to take lots of pictures!

Love ya!

Sister Magizzle :)

"It is...important that missionaries and ward members work together."

Hey!

Well, it is raining. Surprise surprise. It's getting cold. 

But randomly the sun will be out for a little bit and that makes me happy.

 

This week has been a week of lots of contacting. Basically contacting less-actives. Most of them will talk to us for about 30 seconds at the door, then say they are content where they are at and tell us that they hope we have a good day.  We have had a few lessons with some less-actives. Those are always fun. I actually like working with less actives. They just need to feel loved.

Our one investigator dropped us this week. Grrrrrr, super frustrating. Guys, it is so so, oh so important that missionaries and ward members work together. For example we found 8 people to teach while tracting. Eight people, folks. All have fallen through with their appointments. Yeah, our stats were no beuno this week.

So an elder just walked into the library and he is the spittin' image of our dear cousin, Shane Harris. He doesn't have a companion though....weird. Oh wait, never mind.  The companion just walked in.

The other day we had breakfast with a family in the ward who has a less active single daughter because it was her birthday.  They live on this 5 acre lot and three of those acres is dense Oregon forest. We took a tour of it after breakfast. It was so cool! I felt like i was in a rain forest...oh wait, I was. I forgot my camera cord today so pics will come later. (hence, coloring pages)

 

We had ward council this past Sunday. I like sitting through ward council. It's cool to see the behind the scenes of a ward and how much love and care the bishopric has for the ward. Our bishop is so great. Bishop Nelson. Every time we meet with him, the more he reminds me of Bishop Hatch.

We went to a RS activity. That was good. Gave us a better opportunity to meet more of the sisters in the ward. We had soup and did a get to know you thing....it was actually just like speed dating. You sit across from a sister, chat for like 3 min then, move on to the next lady. It was great for us!

Today is district p-day. We have a new mission rule that we can only do stuff with our district only one p-day a transfer. There can’t be any contact sports. So we are playing volleyball....elders vs sisters. None of the sisters in our district can really play volleyball, including this sister, so should be interesting how this goes down.

OK, times up. Sorry, this wasn't a very exciting letter. Hopefully next week will be more exciting.

Love ya guys!

Sister Mag