"March is upon us"

 These pictures are from January when Elder M. Russell Ballard came to visit our mission

Elder and Sis. Ballard with Pres. and Sis. Ballard

Me and Sister Thurber her first week here

At Micky D's!  We had a buy one, get on free shake coupon.

We went on a little nature walk this mornin'.....

Hola Family!

Well, March is upon us! The blossoms are out...thanks to the very confusing last two sunny weeks of February. Hey, I'm not complaining...

Man, I can't even tell you what happened this week. It all just kind of comes into a blur. Last Monday we taught one of our families. We decided to go back to the basics and see how the wife’s prayers are going because the very first second we ever taught them she said she didn't know if Heavenly Father answered her prayers or how He did or if He even loved her. She said she prays every day and with her husband to but she still has a hard time recognizing answers because she says the answers just don't seem to come. We showed her one of the Patterns of Light videos about revelation and that seemed to help her and told her that Heavenly Father always answers,  but sometimes the answer is yes, or no, or just wait a bit. We had dinner with them on Friday and she announced that she is reading the Book of Mormon for the first time and for the most part she is understanding it but just got really confused in some of the Isaiah chapters. She said it was cool to read about the Iron Rod and stuff because that is stuff she grew up hearing about but never really read about it before.

You can also see the video by clicking here.  

So on Saturday we booked seeing Meet the Mormons at the Visitor Center with a couple where we are trying to get the husband to prepare himself for the temple. But then that night our investigator family that we are teaching said they could meet! We were devastated because we haven't been able to meet with them for a while and we didn't want to cancel the Meet the Mormons movie because we already had to reschedule with them twice. So originally we asked our other family if we could reschedule, even though in our hearts would probably wouldn't be able to meet with them again till next week cuz they usually can only meet on Saturday nights. So then we were like no! We are going to make this work! So we figured we would try to do splits. One of us going to the family's lesson and the other to the movie and get a ward missionary to go to the lesson with us because for the movie the wife is an active member so she could be our companion. Anywho, after some crazy legalistic work (I'm telling you people have no idea the planning that goes on in this!) we got it all figured out how we could do both! Then it was just a matter of deciding who went where. Naturally Sister Thurber said she felt more comfortable going to the movie and I teach the lesson with a ward missionary. So I said I was fine with that but then I didn't get such a good feeling about it. So I told her after a little bit that I felt that she should go to the lesson and I go to the movie. She looked a little nervous but she said she would do it. By the time we met up again, she told me about the lesson and it sounded like THE BEST LESSON we ever had with them! We planned to teach them God is Our Loving Heavenly Father and the Gospel Families because last time we taught about worshiping one God (Hindus worship lots of Gods and it's a concept we are trying to break through with the husband because he is the one that is Hindu, the wife is a Christian). Oh! And another awesome thing is the husband said that between our last visit and this visit he watched the whole Ten Commandments movie! That is awesome! Last time we read The Ten Commandments with them so that probably sparked some interest I guess. Anywho, Sister Thurber also said that when they asked the husband what it would mean if he knew God is his lovely Heavenly Father he said that it would change everything! He said that we would want to share this message with everyone and serve everyone and he would have a closer bond with God because he would know how to communicate with Him. THAT IS A HUGE STEP FOR HIM! When Sister Thurber told me that it seriously made me heart sing! AND ANOTHER MIRACLE IS THAT THEY COMMITTED TO SEE MEET THE MORMONS AT THE VISITOR CENTER NEXT WEEK! That is also huge! Every time I watch that movie and see the guy from Nepal I want them to see it because I feel like they would be able to connect with him so well! So I am very excited for next week!

Another reason to be excited for next week is that MY INVESTIGATOR  FROM GLADSTONE IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY AND I GET TO GO! ....as long as I find a companion for Sister Thurber to work in our area while I'm gone. I'm a little nervous about finding someone though. We will see how it goes, but oh my gosh I am so excited for Michele! She has prepared herself so well and has REALLY looked into this to make sure that this is what she wants to do. Man, when I think of Gladstone I think of her and her family. This will bless them so much! I love that family so much, you guys have no idea! It's amazing the love you have for these people just from knowing them for just a few short months! It's only a fraction of a fraction of the love Heavenly Father has for us all!

Well, I should probably go but I love you all. Thanks for all your emails and pics and such. I do love looking at the pics. Happy March! March is the best month of all! (Sis. Magnusson's birthday is March 24.  If you would like to  send her a birthday wish, her mailing address is on the side of this blog)

K, The Church is true and Heavenly Father loves you!

Love,
Sister Magnusson

February 21: "It was a happy, happy day!"

Angelina's baptism!  It was a happy, happy day!  

The young man who baptized Angelina is a friend that is attending BYU Idaho right now.  

He drove down from Idaho for the baptism.  

 Bishop Carroll also played a big part in her journey to baptism as well.

With Sis. Carroll, the bishop's wife.  

Kelsey is the Young Single Adult Family Home Evening chairperson.  

She has been great at fellowshipping Angelina.  

Sis. Jensen has a daughter Angelina's age.  When Angelina moved to the United States from Ukraine when she was 6, she didn't know any English.  It was Sis. Jenson's daughter who was one of the first people to be her friend during that time.  This is a picture of Sis. Jensen telling that story to Angelina.  Pretty cool.  

This is all the sister missionaries who have taught her...

Sis. Magnusson, Thurber, Reyes, and Larson.  

SisterLarsen was able to come up from Utah and Sister Reyes (a visitor center sister) was able to come because she was kind of the like the first official missionary to teach her because she came to the visitor center before she contacted us.  

Angelina wrote a blog post about her journey to finding the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  You can read the story by clicking here.

Other happenings this past week.... 

We were able to go the the temple last Tuesday...

Take notice of the sun and me not having a jacket or boots.  

It's so sunny right now .  I love it!

 Someday ya'lls will come to this temple and see how beautiful it is.  

Where's Waldo Sis. Magnusson?

 Hint:  "So that shadow of a person at the base of the temple is moi."  

We went to the temple with this family to see the movie, Meet the Mormons.  It was their first time coming to the Portland Temple.  It was cool to walk around with them.  I love them so much!

Don't mind the frizz.

All these shoes are from all the missionaries at the Stake Presidency Breakfast.   

It was a good breakfast...

Hello family.

Well, first and foremost happy birthday to my favorite brother ever. My brother is 19. For my 19th birthday we went to Haleiwa and went surfing with my freshman buddies. (Sis. Magnusson was a student at BYU Hawaii)  Sam I would like to point out that the majority of your 19th year will be spent as a missionary. All of your 20 year will be spent as a missionary too. I remember for my 24th birthday thinking, man, this whooooooole time that I am 24, I will be a missionary. It was an overwhelming thought but I'm getting through it!

The highlight of this week was Angelina's baptism. I probably count it as one of the of times I have felt the spirit strongest on the mission. It was seriously such a powerful experience. Angelina is so amazing. Hopefully someday y'all's can meet her. She should hear back from the BYUs sometime soon to see if she got in. She was so happy greeting everybody for her baptism. She had lots of support which was awesome. Sister Larsen was able to come from Utah and some YSA Ward people came, and our ward people came. It was such an incredible experience. I spoke on baptism, Sister Larsen spoke on the Holy Ghost, we had a member sing, I Believe in Christ, and then our bishop and the YSA bishop said some things at the end. Then sister Thurber, Sister Larsen, Angelina, and I went to Coldstone to celebrate! She was truly radiated that day.

So we usually have preparation-days on Mondays but yesterday we had a mission wide iPad meeting so they changed our p-day to today. We are going to get updated iPads this week. Pretty crazy. The director for the Provo MTC and this 70 guy gave us this training for missionary work in the digital age. It was cool just to get s sneak peek what the prophet and the 12 Apostles have envision for missionary work. Pretty mind boggling actually. The Lord is hastening his work, that is for sure. We also got a sneak preview on the Easter video that the church is going to put out. I won't give anything away but, I'll just tell ya, it’s going to be good!

We saw the movie, Meet the Mormons, with a family from the ward. They are preparing go
back to the temple and they should be going soon - either in March or April, I bet. I love them so much! We taught them more about the Fall and Adam and Eve and how it pertains to the Plan of Salvation to help them prepare for the temple. They said that was super helpful.

Random thing...so yesterday at the iPad training while we were on break I was standing next to some sisters and one of the greenies said something like, "You know Sister Magnusson, wanna know something kind of funny? I totally looked at your blog a lot before I came out. So when I saw you the first day I was like I know her from somewhere.” Anyway, I thought it kind of funny.

We had a lesson with one of our investigators this week. She is only kind-of-sorta an investigator because she isn't so much interested in changing her religion but she is listening to the Book of Mormon so we don't want to drop her just yet. Anyway, she is super sweet and loves us. She is 83 years old (I think). She is the one who we took to the family history center last week. Anywho she kind of talks a lot and this time she was talking a lot about her family members that have died. Like her husband died when he was 45. Her mom died when She was 29. Most of her siblings have passed away. It was pretty depressing to hear about all of it. Even though she doesn’t want to be taught, we taught he some of the Plan of Salvation anyway through our conversation. She said she hadn't ever really thought about a pre-mortal life before and hadn't really thought about getting our bodies back in the resurrection....well yeah, that's the best part man, and our resurrected bodies will be perfect!

We were able to officially meet with a less active family since the first time I've been here. They have let us drop by but never had set an appointment to actually teach them. They have two elementary school age kids that are pretty active. We catered the lesson to them but really we were talking to the parents. We gave a little lesson on the Sacrament and why it is important. Everybody was
agreeing with what everybody was saying and they said they would be at church on Sunday but they weren't there.

Our Book of Mormon reading with a member is going pretty good. Each time we meet for our little Book of Mormon study group he inputs more and seems to be understanding more. Someone from Church commented at a dinner we were at how much happier he is looking at church. When she said that I was thinking, you know what, it's true! I have seen him smile more which is awesome!

Alright, I'm going now. Sorry this took forever to get out. Lots of crazy stuff happening today. I would start this email, then have to stop, then start it again.  Good thing for iPads, eh?

Church is true and Sam is now 19! Whew-who! Love ya little bro!

This picture was taken when Sam was 12 years old.

Love,
Sister Magnusson

There is a baptism coming up this week!

We went bowling today...

So now it's my turn to write about how mother nature is confused. Man, it is so sunny and warm right now! We are talkin' the 60s and hardly a cloud in the sky! Last February it was snowing. It's been a super mild winter compared to last winter. Like, I don't have any leggings or tights on or nothing! Not even my boots! Just the black shoes you bought me Lisa. By the way, thanks again for getting those for me. I wear them all the time.....when i'm not wearing my boots.

Well our star investigator gets baptized next Saturday! So some of you may have seen what she posted on facebook about her baptism and read on blog about her finding the gospel. (You can read her blog post by clicking here.)  I'm really proud of her for posting that because it probably took a lot of courage! We have her program pretty much all squared away and Sister Larsen is able to come down for it so that will be awesome too! It's going to be weird seeing her not as a missionary but me still a missionary. I'm still going to call her Sister Larsen. I don't know if I can ever call my companions by their real names. I'm excited to see her. Our investigator  still hasn't ever seen a baptism, so last night I message her one of the district videos that has a baptism in it so at least she has a vague idea.

We taught our other investigators this week. This time when we asked if we could bring a member they said yes. That made me happy. She still had lots of questions about the Priesthood.  Good questions too. A lot of which I didn't really know how to answer and a lot I don't know the answer for. I am grateful for the Holy Ghost because it is the Holy Ghost that is going to testify to her the truths of the Priesthood, not Sister Magnusson's teaching style. Thank goodness because I am sure an imperfect teacher. We started the Plan of Salvation with them too and we got to our life on earth and she had some hang ups with some things with Adam and Eve. Once again, some super good questions that I really didn't know how to answer but good thing for the Holy Ghost once again.

We are kind of "teaching" another lady. She is this super, nice 78 year old lady (maybe she is a little younger), she is legally blind but she can  kind of see. Anywho, she doesn't have any interest really in learning more about our church cuz she is super comfortable in her Catholic church but she is very interested in family history work. So we had a super nice lady from the ward drive all of us down to the Beaverton West Family History Center and the volunteers there were so helpful helping her find her father and grandfather which she was super excited about.

We were able to teach quite a few Recent Convert/Less Active lessons this week. We are scheduled to see Meet the Mormons twice this week with two of them which I am super excited about. (You can download the video on demand by clicking here.) Three of our peoples are preparing to go back to the temple so we are starting arrangements with the member called to teach the temple prep class so that is super exciting to get that rolling. Speaking of temple, we are going tomorrow. Super excited about about that. I feel blessed to live in a mission with a temple available....and a visitor center!

On Valentines day we made some cookies and cut out some hearts and heart-attacked some peeps in the ward.   I think the people we did it for really appreciated it.

Well, love you guys! Thanks for everything! Happy Presidents Day! 

Love,

Sister Magnusson

A lot of good things happened this week

cold stone....i had a gift card from my first Christmas here and I'm finally  in an area where I have been able to use it!  Man, that was pretty good icecream.

the temple visitor! 

so we went to see meet the mormons at the visitors center with some potential investigators and guess who walks in with some members of the oregon city 4th ward?! it made my heart sing! the members were a couple in the ward and we would take the wife to his lessons. it was soooooooooo good to see them there because my sheep were being taken care off even though I wasn't there! that has always been a concern of mine when i get transferred....who is going to take care of these my sheep when i'm gone?! man, i really like him, such a great kid.  he has so much potential. 

our first temple picture together.  

Hello familia! It's been a good week. We taught a lot of lessons (for this area) which is good! Good things happened. Sister Thurber is getting more into the groove and feeling more comfortable and confident which is awesome to see! 

So lets see....

Last Monday night we taught the family that is preparing to attend the temple. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We wrote out the different points (faith, repentance, baptism/sacrament, gift of the Holy Ghost, endure to the end) on our little white board we brought, in the form of cycle and taught it like that. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ really is a cycle! We must continue to have faith, always striving to be better and make changes in our lives (repentance), being washed clean (through baptism and then taking the sacrament each week), and being worthy to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost because he will always guide you to want you need to do, then it's just a rise, wash and repeat....or in other words, ENDURE TO THE END! Yipp-eeee! So easy right?! Well, it's not complicated but sometimes it can not be so easy....but always worth it! I love teaching them. They are such great family. They have a cutest little 2 year old that is obsessed with any kind of sport and she is pregnant with twins.

Speaking of sports, our volleyball nights are going good. This past week we had the most people we had. Some youth brought their nonmember friends....they have brought them the past few times. Hopefully we can set up a good enough relationship with them that they will want to be taught. The mom of the youth boys already ask them if they wanted to be taught and they didn't seem terribly interested but minds change you know....especially with the youth. And my volleyball skills are somewhat improving....ish......

We had a lesson with one of our invistigator families from India. So funny story, Sister Larsen use to serve in a neighboring ward here called Hazeldale for 9 months and there is this guy that ward, Tyler, that served his mission in India. So he has come to a lesson with us and it was really good to have him there because he can break down some of that language/culture barrier going on. Anywho, long story short Tyler is Sister Thurber's first cousin! He came to our lesson with them this past Saturday so lucky duck Sister Thurber got to teach and testify with her cousin! Funny connection. We didn't tell our investigators  that they were cousins till the end (partly cuz Tyler came late) but yeah, cool connections going on. The lesson I thought went good but I don't really know how to help the husband progress. Hindus believe in lots of Gods and lots of religions are good. We have committed them to pray to know (and also baptism) but they are a no for go. Whenever the husband prays at the end of the lesson he kind of mutters under his breath for a good solid minute then you can hear him talk about things he is grateful for and such. Anyway, the first time we heard him do this Tyler said that he was naming  off all the Gods he was praying too. Soooooooooo, for this lesson we went back to the basics and taught them Exodus 20:3-5, Thou shalt have no other Gods before me..... We asked his wife to share examples of prayer in her life and more specially when prayers have been answered. We testified that when we pray to just God as our loving Heavenly Father, He WILL answer you! Anyway, had a good discussion and taught him how to pray with opening with "Heavenly Father...." then thanking and then asking, then closing in the name of Jesus Christ. He said the closing prayer and he opened really well but then he still went to muttering under his breath of all the Gods he was praying to. Uhhhhh, did we miss something? After the lesson Tyler reminded us that when he makes this change it will be HUGE! This is all that he has know, this is his culture, tradition, and family life, everything. It's gunna take some time. Well, I really like them. They really are a great family. I really like the wife too. Her English isn't as good as her husband's but i always like what she asks or has to say.

So there was a new girl that showed up to church the other day. She is a 28 year old single gal, and has chosen to go to a family ward rather than young single adult ward. She is doing a Teaching English as a Second Language Masters program in the area and she will be here for 5 months. Anyway, we make an appointment with her to get to know her and share a message, maybe ask for some referrals, that sort of thing.  She has a roommate classmate. Anyway, her roommate is from Japan and is super nice.  She joined in for our little message (we showed her the Hope of God's Light) and asked us questions like "Are Mormon's Christians?". It was a good! She mentioned something about her temples and I asked, "Have you ever seen our temple off the I-5 in Lake Osewgo? She said she had and it looked so pretty but never been to it!  Well, we should go to the Visitor Center and see Meet the Mormons! I told her about the guy on there from Nepal that converted to Christianity when he was raised (I can't remember what it was....Hinduism maybe...?) They both said they would love to go that weekend and they both thought of other classmates that could go! Sweet! So we went and it was great! So the YA sister and three of her nonmember friends came and they asked a lot of questions and it made the visitor center sisters oh so happy to talk to them!

So,….our other investigators that fell out of the sky. We met with them last week and the wife texted us and said she had a few questions about the priesthood that she wanted to ask us. So we spent a long time discussing a lot about the priesthood, woman and the priesthood,  priesthood power vs. priesthood authority, the difference between blessings and prayers, and some other stuff. Anywho, the next day we gave her Our Search for Happiness and the talk Elder Oaks gave a couple conferences ago about the priesthood. She texted us later and basically asked us like 4 questions on the priesthood she wanted some answers too in the next lesson. It was kind of a long winded discussion but in the end it made me excited because she is serious about her study in the church and she even said, "I have the potential to be a member someday and I want to know what I'm getting into." I like that. They came to sacrament meeting and she texted us later and said she enjoyed the meeting and felt welcomed. YAY!

Alright, a lot of other good things happened this week but i gotta go. We are going to go downtown today! Sister Thurber's first time! Keep Portland weird yo.....

This is a  picture that Sis. Magnusson took when she first arrived in Portland.  

The Church is true!

Love,
Sister Magnusson

A Busy Week for Sisters Magnusson and Thurber

FIRST OF ALL A HUGE SHOOT OUT TO OUR VERY OWN LISA! Happy  b-day man! Lisa, I'll have you know I tracted this street for you and......nothing. But that's okay! Seeds were planted! I thought of you all day yesterday. It sounds like the celebration of your birthday was everything and more! I spent the day in ward council, church, personal study, comp study, training, sweet hour of prayer, dinner, and a few missed appointments. a lot of sitting man. but that's okay! I'm excited to see you again in a few shoot months! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

I had to document Sis. Thurber's first teaching appointment...

Hello family! Well, what a week man. I feel like it went by pretty fast. Probably because it was transfer week and one of the days we pretty much had an all day training meeting that you go to with your greenie. Sister Thurber is a great missionary! The first few months are always hard because adjusting to missionary life is hard but she is doing good. It's been kind of crazy because nearly everyday this week our morning schedule has been thrown off somehow through service or having earlier lessons or mtgs, or whatever. We are suppose to have an extra hour of training everyday after studies but we haven't really had time to do even that! But that's a good thing, I rather be crazy busy instead of not being busy at all because let me tell you, not being busy as a missionary is the worst thing ever.

We started meeting with this less-active Young Single Adult from the YSA ward because the YSA ward just has elders and it's just better for her to meet with sisters. Anyway, her biggest thing is she needs more scripture reading in her life because she pretty much goes to church but there are some things going on in her life that she needs the scriptures very badly. Anywho, this last lesson was good because she started highlighting scriptures that stood out to her and made more commentary. She is going to two of our lessons this week which will be good.

Our scripture reading lesson with a recent convert was probably the best one we had. Probably because I think this time he is getting the swing of how to look for things in the scriptures that stand out to him and stuff so he also gave more commentary which was good. His lesson was Sister Thurber's first lesson as a missionary. I remember my first lesson as a missionary. It was with this 20 some year old, girl who we tracted into. Man, I sure was nervous for that lesson.

Every week we volunteer at this Alzheimer's center and do chair exercises with them and visit with them and such. Anyway, they have a piano in the front room and I was like, eoooooooo, Sister Thurber can sing and I can play the piano (kind of). So I played some simple hymns and she sang. The residents loved it! Man, I wish I learned how to play the piano better. That's a goal I have when I get off the mish, learn how to play better.

So another miracle this week. So we were volunteering at the Foodbank doing a shift when I get a call from a random guy saying that he and his wife want to be taught. Errrrrrrr, that never happens. Got his address and it was in our apartment complex. We made an appointment for the following day. We looked in our records and he was no where to be found. We asked bishop if he knew him and he didn't but asked if he could go to our lesson. YES PLEASE!  Anyway, we go and its this nice young looking couple. He is 29 and she is 26 He has active members of the church in his family and they have decided as a couple they want to be more unified as a family and they want a central religion in their life. It was so good to have bishop there and it turns out he knew of the guy from work (they both work in construction type stuff). They really hit it off with bishop which was great. Our bishop has a great talent for connecting with people. He is super down to earth. They were so open to everything and willing to learn, it was just so refreshing to teach someone like that!!!!! I feel like in this mission a lot of times you have to yank them by the hair and say, "You WILL have the desire to learn and sit and listen because I am going to force it in you!" Just kidding, that's not how it goes, but sometimes that how I feel. She asked some good questions and they are willing to come to church! But not this past Sunday cuz of the superbowl. I'm telling that darn superbowl is of the devil....keeping our peeps from coming to church! Anyway, but they will probably come this week. I'm so excited for them. I know she will get baptized and he will too. I keep telling Sister Thurber it doesn't usually happen like this......

So our other investigator....oh how I love her. We taught her the 10 Commandments, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, and Word of Wisdom this past week with the Relief Society President and her counselor. I was a little worried because she works on Sunday and I didn't know if she had a coffee issue or not. But nope, when we committed her to live the Word of Wisdom she was like, "yeah, I'll do it, no problem." Sometimes I want to pinch myself and say, woman, are you for real?! Then on Sunday at church she was all smiles and was like, "Guess what?! Starting in March I get every Sunday off!" Holy smokers! She is seriously the most prepared person I have met. Yes JMAG if she goes to BYUI I will definitely give her your contact info and you guys should hang out! She is all done with her BYU applications too. She applied to both Provo and Idaho. I hope she goes to Idaho. I think the smaller campus would be better for her. And when she gets her Sundays off in march she can start going to the YSA ward. That will be good.I have also told Sister Thurber, it doesn't usually happen like this....

Alright, I think I'm done. I appreciate and love you guys so much! I'm trying not to sound trunky but I am really looking forward to seeing you guys in 3 more months! In my heart I'm glad I"m training, it's keeping me more focused. Sister Thurber is great and with some experience under her belt she is going to be a dynamite missionary!

K, love ya! Church is true!

Sis Magnusson

"....THAT JUST MADE MY DAY!"

Hello Sister Thurber!  Goodbye Sister Larsen!

These pictures are from our hike last Monday.

We were at President Ballard's house with our zone waiting for one of the APs to show up because it was his birthday and they were doing a little surprise somethin' somethin' for him.  They have this super old dog named Belle and he was in dogie heaven as Sister Larsen was scratching it's belly. It was pretty funny but I guess you had to be there. 

(check out the smile on the dog)

Our investigators are so sweet, i really like them.

I was in a trio while our companions were on their departing temple trip and i was able to see the this family from the reedville ward! I taught the husband when I was there. It was so good to see them! They are a family I have really grown to love! 

We had a lesson with a recent convert at a member's house 

and the 7 year old made me these claws and this pic. Pretty epic. 

With our star investigator

The gal in the middle was baptized just before I came into Gladstone.  In this is is some of the sisters  taught her before she was baptized.   She is doing so good! She is so strong in the gospel! I'm so proud of her! She also came to see sister allen and a few other sisters off that taught her. 

Some more friends from Gladstone came to surprise Sister Allen because she is going home.  One  was one of my favorite investigator and she said she will probably be baptized before I go home! 

OH MY GOODNESS THAT JUST MADE MY DAY! 

Well hello family! 

Man oh man, it just has been a whirl-wind of activity! Transfers are always a bit nutty. So I have a new comp and she is brand brand new! She is fresh from the MTC! Sister Thurber (rhythms with the Gerber Baby) from Orem, Utah. I like her already. She is 20 and was a senior at BYU studying music. I was sitting next to her at transfers and singing the opening and closing songs I immediately noticed her beautiful voice. So I feel like I have sealed my fate and I will probably stay in the Five Oaks Ward till the end of my mission because training lasts 3 months and president rarely splits the greenie with their trainers after only a transfer but it has happened, so who knows. 

This past week has been the best week in the Five Oaks Ward.  We were able to teach about 13 lessons this week which is a record breaker for us! The star for this week has been our investigator that pretty much fell in our lap because she wants to go to BYUI but needed an ecclesiastical endorsement so she contacted our bishop and she has been investigating the church on mormon.org and was chatting with online missionaries before she even met us. Anywho, we were able to have 4 lessons with her this week! She is on fire. The most on fire, prepared person I think I have ever taught before! AND WE SET A BAPTISM DATE! FEBRUARY 21ST! She wants to get baptized so I am super proud of her. We gave her a church tour and we were able to teach her a few times at bishop's house. For one of the lessons we brought over a YSA (Young Single Adult) from the local YSA ward. She is 20 and really should be in the YSA but her work schedule conflicts with the YSA sacrament meeting times so she will probably stay in our ward till she can get her work schedule moved around. BUT she has Monday nights off and Kelsey (our YSA we brought) invited her to FHE. Yesterday at transfers we told the YSA elders about her and that she would be coming to FHE and they called us last night and said she seemed to fit right in and seemed to  had fun and stuff which is good! They played Bunco. We also texted her last night asking her how she liked it and she said she had a lot of fun and enjoyed herself which I am so grateful for! Yay for great member present.  Yay for great member missionaries! Members are ALWAYS the best missionaries!

So the active family that we are teaching the lessons to because they want to strengthen their testimony to return to the temple gave sacrament meeting talks on Sunday! They did so good! They talked on family history and temples. I'm so proud of them. The wife kept saying how much she learned in preparing for this talk and how much she loved exploring the gospel library app! The gospel library app is pretty incredible. If all yall’s that have a tablet or smart phone and you don't have the gospel library app on there, GET IT ON THERE! Man, that's pretty much the only reason why I would get a smart phone IF I were to ever get one.

We had a family move into the ward a couple of weeks ago (husband and wife and 9 year old daughter) and the wife has been in and out of activity most of her life and her husband joined the church in 2006. Anyway, they have been through a lot of hard trials lately and pretty much by a miracle with the help of the Lake Oswego ward were able to get this apartment in our ward. Anyway, they have a goal of getting sealed in the temple and having the husband receive the Melchizedek priesthood. I am super excited to work with them.

We were able to meet with our other investigator  family this week. We were afraid they dropped us but they are still willing to meet with us so we will take it! You have to take things really slow with them because there is a language and cultural barrier there, but for the most part we can understand each other. Anyway, Sister Larsen was looking through their teaching record and in turns out they haven't been taught the restoration! Oh goodness, that needed to be changed. So we taught them the restoration and it was probably the best lesson I have had with them. I feel like they were finally able to start connecting the dots of all the things we have been teaching them. The wife was brought up Christian and the husband Hindu and the wife doesn't say much during the lesson and the husband always agrees with everything until we bring up baptism. He says baptism is against his policy because that would mean there is only one true God and church. Er yeah, that's what we are saying. But this lesson was good because I felt that his questions were more sincere, like he was more sincerely asking why it would matter if we belonged to the true church. Break-through!  We also had a great member with us who already knew the wife because she works at the elementary school where her kids are at. They came to church too! Just for the last two hours. They came for just sacrament meeting at Christmas time and I think they were pretty bored and they said that 9am was pretty early for them on a weekend but they were willing to attend the classes. The younger boys were pretty nervous to go into primary (they are 3 and 6 years old) so the husband stayed in primary with them and the wife came to Gospel Principals and Relief Society with us. The lessons were pretty over her head and Sister Larsen and I did our best to whisper what the teacher was saying. Just remember folks, whenever teaching a lesson or giving a talk in sacrament meeting make sure it is simple enough that an investigator can understand. The primary teachers said that the husband loved primary! They said he was participating in all the songs and stuff and the primary lesson was on Joseph Smith which was perfect because that is what we just taught them! Honestly, both the parents should have been in primary. They would probably learn a lot more in there than in the other classes. We will see what happens next week if they come. The kids came out of primary with big smiles so that is a good sign.

We also had some great lessons with some less actives but I don't have time to write about it. But just know it was a good week! I'm excited to work with Sister Thurber. I'm a little nervous to train because this area is super bumping but it will be all good. It picked up a lot this week so it should be just fine.

K, love you all! Church is true. God answers prayers!

Love,
Sister Magnusson

Only two really good pictures....

Sorry, these are the only two pics we took for the week.  

Good thing they are some really good ones...

Hi ya family!

Man, this week has been long. Next week is transfers. I'm sad that Sister Larsen is leaving (She is finishing her mission) and I'll be getting a new comp but that's how it goes. Maybe I'll leave too and the 5 Oaks Ward will get a white wash.  But who knows. I'll find out Saturday.

We had a miracle happen the other day when a 20 year old nonmember called up Bishop and tells him she wants to go to BYUI and needs an ecclesiastical endorsement. She was introduced to the church by a friend and has already studied lds.org, chatted with online missionaries, listened to conference talks, and started reading the Book of Mormon She walked in the temple visitor center on her own because the online missionaries suggested she do that. She liked want she saw and wanted to surround herself with LDS people so decided to apply to an lds school. We started teaching her and she is golden! I have never had an investigator just fall into my lap like that! Everyone that I have taught I felt like I put in my blood, sweat, and tears to find and teach them. We committed her to baptism and she accepted but we told her to pick a date after she has talked with her parents because her parents still don't know she is investigating. The first time we met after she met with bishop was at the visitor center where bishop arranged us to all watch Meet the Mormons in the theater. At the end of the movie the sister missionaries there suggested we kneel and say a prayer and asked if she would say it. She said the prayer and it was one of the sweetest, most sincere prayers I have ever heard. She was crying and the spirit was so strong. She prayed to know truth and she said she wanted to join this people and man, it was just powerful. A few days later we taught her about the Restoration at bishop's home and it was pretty good. She told us she is up to 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon and she said she knows it is true because she feels warm and peaceful when she reads it. Wow, I'm telling ya I have never taught someone so prepared and ready to accept the gospel as she is. Maybe in other missions but in the Oregon Portland Mission it is more rare than common. We teach her again tonight the Plan of Salvation. I love the Plan of Salvation.

Speaking of the Plan of Salvation we taught the active family again last week that wants to prepare themselves to re-enter the temple. I really like teaching them because the wife really doesn't have a strong knowledge of the gospel but her desire is one of the strongest I have seen. She is keeping her commitments and she is getting answers for herself! Wow, what do you know...funny how that works, eh? Like her last question when we left their lesson a couple weeks ago was something along the lines of "What exactly is the Atonement?" Oh buddy, we will have to save that one for next time we come by. But then the next lesson she was like, "Hey, I received an answer to my question about the Atonement in something I read in a manual." Yay!

There is this recent convert that got baptized like 4 months ago. Probably mid 30s, single guy. He is doing his student teaching for teaching elementary school, used to be in the army. Anyway, he is doing awesome. We started to do a Book of Mormon study with him cuz he has always had trouble keeping his scripture reading commitments, and I don't blame him. If you aren’t really use to the language of the scriptures it can be hard to pick things out. Anyway, the members have been awesome in letting us do them at their home and we showed him how to use the institute student manual which should help.

K, sorry this is a shorter email. Got lots to do today. We had to help out at a funeral so that took a big chuck of our time.  I love you all. Next week I'll write on Tuesday.

Love,

Sister Magnusson