Christmas Car Crash

Well the title is exactly what it means. So here is the run down. We went to pick up Silver Lake on Tuesday for our Zones Christmas activity and well we were sitting at the apartment complex entrance, about to make a left turn onto 21st Ave. On the other side of the street a Dodge Durango was turning right on to 21st Ave. Now note this street is a two lane road. Well I make my turn into the left lane and the Dodge makes its turn into the right lane safely, making us basically parallel with each other. Well, I guess that other guy driving the Dodge had an amazing idea. Light bulb! Lets merge into the missionaries car. Smash! After that we pulled over into a parking lot. A Huge Black dude got out of the Dodge and all I could think was great now I am going to get beat up. Then he asks the worlds dumbest question in that very moment, "Did we bump?" As you all know I am pretty sarcastic person, so in my mind I was thinking "Oh of course not we only have these brand new scratches, dents, and lost hubcap because of Tokyo Drift." Obviously I didn't say that and we swapped insurances and all of that fun jazz.

Then we sang hymns at a old folks home and then headed to Sumner for our Christmas devotional. That was awesome! We got to see our version of a white Christmas which is just all of the baptismal pictures that happened that year. 

Then Christmas came along! Well that was a blast. I got to talk with my family and it was just so much fun! They are all pretty much exactly how I left them, just older and with Christmas gifts. I can't even remember half the things I said, but I did get to see my cousins Mitchell and Grayson. My family is the Greatest Ever!

Later in the week, everyone decided that it was time to be ridiculous to the missionaries. We had 5 or 6 canceled appointments all right in a row. It was just the biggest joke ever! I was just trying not to grab and flip the table in front of me. Luckily the Mauia family came through for us. We taught them a lesson using the video, "Wherefore didst thou doubt." Elder Moon connected it to how if we have the faith that we can give missionaries referrals, it is hard but possible. Plus it will all be worth while.

The third hour of church me and my companion have started teaching a Preach my Gospel class to the priests every 4th Sunday. I taught the first lesson on finding people to teach. We played a game where we split up into a couple groups and with people you were with you would choose an object in the room and try and have the other person relate it to the gospel. It was awesome, the ideas that some of the people in that room came up with. We then talked about how important it is to connect with potentials. I am still really bad at this but I am working on it. Bishop Dickson also related some of his experiences on his mission with what we taught it was just a super good lesson over all. Then I testified that I knew what we had taught was true and the spirit was so evident.

Well that is it for this week. I know this church is true. I know that Christ is our Savior. I know that we can strive to be like him, so start striving now.

Elder R. K. Northrup

Get in a car accident, well too bad, because no one can ruin our day when we have a Glove Box Pine-cone!

SKYPING for Christmas

This was what I (Mom speaking) have looked forward to since June, when Reggie went into the MTC.  I wasn't able to speak to him when he was at the airport, so I held out for this moment.  What a JOY it was to see him speaking and hear his voice.  Back in the olden days it was a phone call, but how lucky are we to be able to actually see our boy right in front of us.

The growth that has happened within him in only 6 months is amazing.  I was delighted with how focused he is on being EXACTLY OBEDIENT.  He was told by his mission president that the skyping could go from 30-40 minutes (which is what it says in the white handbook).  He gave us a 30 second warning and was out right at 40 minutes.  I wanted to show him his video that his friend Tim made of him heading off to the MTC.  He said, "Does it have the LDS logo on it?"  I said, "No, but it has the temple and the MTC in the background."  He said, "I better wait til I get home to see it."

He said the thing he has learned the most is that you can't do anything without the Spirit. He still has his "nerdy" ways and funny personality.  He is happy with his companion, Elder Moon, who also enjoys "nerdy" things.

Rod told him he seemed like he was settling in and has learned the gist of being a missionary.  Reggie agreed that he has the gist of it, but still has a lot to learn.

He was so excited to see his cousins Mitchell and Grayson.  They popped over for the last 5 minutes or so of the visit.  

Mitchell said, "I got so fat on my mission."  Reggie said, "Dude, I am so fat!  I haven't even gotten on the scale because I don't want to see the damage."  Mitchell informed Reggie that Talmage has gained 28 pounds.  Looks like that is the norm!

Mitchell shared with him some of the challenges he experienced in South Aftrica (hunger, employment, poverty etc.)  He mentioned that he was always a little jealous of the U.S.A. missionaries because they usually don't have to deal with that.  He asked Reggie what some of his challenges are.  Reggie said that he deals with homosexual marriages and "weed"...  "That stuff stinks so bad!"

Anyway, he is doing great.  We encouraged him to keep up the hard work.  Onward and upward.  This was definitely the highlight of our Christmas.  What a blessing and a gift it is to have a missionary out serving the Lord faithfully.

~Mom~ (Kandace)

Transfers and other super cool stuff you wouldn't understand

Well obviously transfers happened this week. I am staying in Dash Point as most of you probably already know. My new Companion is Elder Moon, he is actually from Kaysville, UT. Just like half of my previous companions. Anyways he is super cool, and does not live under a rock. He is a nerd and we talk about Star Wars, Yu-gi-oh, Skyrim, and a bunch of other cool stuff you wouldn't understand.

I heard Star Wars was pretty good so don't blow it for me! If you do then will unleash my power in the force.

On a more serious note. This week has been kinda lame. We have tried to set up lessons with basically all of our investigators and then right when we do. Guess what? Satan goes and says "time to cancel on the missionaries!" Which is just my most favorite thing ever. (Click,Click) That last part is an inside joke.

However on the flip side of things we are really working hard to have a bigger teaching pool. We haven't gotten anybody yet but we are really trying. We placed a Book of Mormon, with this Hispanic guy named Danny. (I know what some of you are thinking and it's not Danny Bailey.) He agreed to read it and pray about what he read to know if it is true. Pray for him!

Yesterday, (Sunday) we had a Recent Convert lesson with Ricardo. We taught the Restoration and without fail the spirit was brought into the room. We finished teaching him. He asked if he could share a story with us about what had happened earlier that day. He told us that he was driving back from Seattle and his tire blew out and he had to pull over. Since everyone is human, he was asking why this was happening to him. Right then a police officer came up to him. Ricardo was in dread and thought "great now what's wrong?" When the officer reached him, he asked Ricardo if he had a car jack which he didn't so he had Ricardo go to a car store and buy one, and he told him to leave his cars panic lights on. He did and rode his skateboard to where he could buy a car jack bought one and skated back to his car. When he had gotten to his car the lights were off. Meaning utter distruction in the eyes of Ricardo. Right about then he said a bit of a pray in his heart that he could figure this out and a few minutes later a guy pulled up behind him and asked if he need any assistance. Ricardo was just so happy. That guy helped him change his tire and gave him a jump for his car. He thanked the man and then thanked God for answering his prayer. It was such an amazing experience to see that Ricardo is already recognizing miracles from God.

After that story we chatted with Ricardo and Gabriella. When Gabriella asked us if we had been born in the church. I answer yes....and then said, "Well actually, I was born in a hospital, to be exact."  Everyone got a good kick out of that reply.

Well guys see ya next week and remember the Church is true.

Elder R.K. Northrup

 My new companion, Elder Moon.

Some old pictures before Elder Polson was transferred.

 Invisible Elder Polson!

He reappeared!

Federal Way Zone

I will try to get Reggie to tell me who everyone is.  Until then... of course, he is right in the middle of the pack!

False Gold, Satans Caveman, and Ripped pants

Bishop and Sister Dickson and two other guys

Well this week has been an experience!

It all started on the day we had exchanges with the Korean Branch. I stayed in Dash Point while Elder Polson went to the Korean Branch. We start off the day going to the street that me and Elder Kim were going to go contacting/tracting on. We arrived and started our trek down the street. We get a couple houses in when some events started slide our way. We start walking up this driveway to the front door. In between the door and us was this deck. I took my first step on it and discovered that it was pretty slick. I wrote that down in my mind for a mental note later. We make it the rest of the way to the door and start knocking. Nobody answered. We knocked again still no answer. At this point we decided to start heading to the next house. Well, as we turn to leave I was about to tell Elder Kim to be careful, when took a step down the wooden deck.  As soon as his foot touched the wood, his whole body decided that it had a different plan for him, and he collapsed to the ground. In doing so, it caused one of his feet to launch out from under him and kick this pot (that was on the deck) into some rocks and it broke. At that point, I could not hold myself together and started laughing so hard. (I am so mean!) We decided to go back later and tell the person living there what had happened. I was, you guessed it, still laughing at the whole thing. That was the first event.

Later in the night event #2 happened. We were going around helping the ward find out if there were any new move ins actually live where they say they live. Our first house we encounter has a sign on their door saying, "No religious queries." Gosh dang it people! After that house we started driving over to the next one. We got there and had a bit of trouble finding the house because at night everyone in Washington has sensor lights that turn on everytime someone walks by them, which means you get blinded for about 3 second, times however many lights you have. Eventually we found the house and we knocked on it. Well what happened next was totally lame. A lady decided that the proper apparel to answer the door in is with small towel on. I just whispered to Elder Kim the words, "Oh dear."  We hurried and asked her if she was the new move in and got out of there. Elder Kim just exclaims after that experience, "Thank you Bathsheba! That was totally the experience we needed tonight." 

After these experiences we went home for the night and slept.

Day 2 of the exchanges we went to the D.I. with the Silver Lake Elders who also happened to be on exchanges. About 2 hours later we finished our assistance at the D.I. and left for our apartments with the Silver Lake Elders. On our way back Elder Larsen told us about how Elder Snook had been seeing a Demon or Satan's Caveman in their closet and that weird stuff had been happening at in there apartment. We went to there apartment and Elder Kim and I felt like we had done something wrong when obviously we hadn't. So we decided to have them come to our apartment and Elder Larsen was a bit shaken up about the whole thing so we gave him a blessing. That blessing was just amazing. I anointed and Elder Tima blessed him. Ever since that day the Silver Lake apartment has been filled with the spirit!

Well now for the ripped pants story. First off I am just going to tell you guys that I felt like Spongebob the whole time during this event. We were doing service for a part member family and I was moving these massive logs. (Obviously I was doing it like I was Dwarf or He-man or something because I am a nerd!) Anyways when I bent over to pick up my 4th or 5th log. My muscles decided that I was too He-man to keep my pants together. Well as you can assume I just had to laugh at this whole thing and kept saying what Spongebob would say, "and its all because I ripped my pants."  

The down side of this week was that we were dropped by 2 investigators one of them being what I thought was our Golden Nugget, which apparently was actually False Gold.

On Sunday though, we taught Sister Calder's daughter and we were able to commit her to baptism.

Love ya all!

Elder R.K. Northrup

Oh and I am staying in Dash Point and my new comp is Elder Moon from Farmington, UT. (Who is Elder Polson's cousin!)  Elder Polson is going back to Graham.

 A couple more pictures from the Nativity Christmas event.  This is Ricardo (recent convert) and his wife Gabriella with Elder Polson and me.

 We did a Grinch Nativity play for our ward Christmas party.

 Us with the Jolly guy at the ward party.

 The Fields family made us Sunday dinner.  "Hand Meat Loaf" and "Kitty Litter Cake".  All of it tasted much better than it looked, very delicious!

The Golden Nugget

This just in.....I have just received great inspiration while praying this week and miracle's have manifested themselves!

I had been praying all week for us to gain a new investigator because Ricardo, as you all know, just got baptized. That means we need more solid investigators. Anyways I had been praying all week for us to find another gold nugget (investigator, for those of you who don't the missionary slang terms). I had prayed specifically for a person who was ready and prepared by God to hear the message of the restoration of Christ's church. Each night my prayers would get more and more lengthy as I prayed for this specific miracle. 

On Wednesday around 4:38 we tracted into this lady. That whole day I had been asking the question of "what is your favorite thing that Christ has done for you?" We got some amazing answers and blessings that people have seen in there lives, even though they didn't want to hear God's message, it was still interesting to hear from them. Back to this lady...we knock her house and she opens the door, looks at us quickly and starts to close the door.  Well, that's when I whipped out the question I had been using that day. She looks at me and opens the door and says, "Jesus Christ has done nothing for me....I am a Humanist, which means I am an Atheist, so I don't need God in my life." After that she slammed the door in our faces. I decided that she will eventually use her agency correctly and to just move on from there. As we start walking up the street we see another lady off to our right setting her house up for Christmas. We walk over to her and offer her assistance. She gratefully accepted and we went to work. While we were helping her set up her tree, she told us that she had been praying that people would come help her. I just thought in my mind "Dang right you did"! As soon as I had that thought she tells us that we can start teaching her while we work. Those words being said to any missionary is like the icing on the cake, the cat's meow, etc. We right then in there started teaching the Restoration. Plus she also wants to go back on Wednesday to keep teaching her. She is so golden. Her name is Denise Reed. All y'all need to pray for her.

Well sorry it is so short this week, but praying really helps and will never let you down especially when our Heavenly Father is on the receiving end of those prayers. Now guys go and pray always.

Elder R.K. Northrup 

 Me and Elder Polson giving gifts.

​Yeah I had the staff of moses...that was my gift to Jesus

 ​Left to Right: Elder Chugg, Elder Tima, Sister Dameron, Elder Northrup, Elder Polson

 These two pics were texted to me from Sister Petty.  I love these kinds of surprises!

 So we go to Buffalo Wild Wings and Elder Larsen (top right) decided that its a cheeseburger day!

 ​Elder Northrup, Elder Jeong, and Elder Palmer....still helping at the nativity

Basically the whole zone working on the Nativity.